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linabirb · 26 days

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Lina I need to know more about your mahou shoujo story 👀👀

hi hi aurora!! warning 15 y/o lina's writing ahead

honestly i don't.. remember that story that well? it definitely was very important to me, but i cared about character designs and the mahou shoujo theme more than the actual plot jndksls

so from what i remember, that story didn't just have mahou shoujo elements and mental health theme. so like, you know how magical girls often have some kind of aesthetic they stick to? like animals, space, etc.. SO MY OCS HAD A CHEERLEADER THEME. THIS WAS MOSTLY AN EXCUSE FOR ME TO DRAW THEM IN CUTE CHEERLEADER UNIFORMS. but also it was important to the plot, because the whole story was supposed to be about some kind of game that the male characters were going to play and the girls were supposed to be here to support them or something like that.. i literally don't remember anything about the guys. i found them very boring and while i was able to draw references for all the giirls, with them i was like ". their outfits are so boring i don't wanna draw them" (younger me put her everything into female character designs and when it came to guys she was like "eh. you look fine i guess")

the only guy i remember (not counting the. the main guy) was basically just asahi but a redhead. i do not know why i already was so obsessed with all my original stories having a male character whose whole thing was that he's rich, spoiled and angry all the time, maybe that says smth about me.

the protag was a girl and here's the thing: her team was supposed to have five members, including herself. i remember every single member's mental illness/disorder BUT I DON'T REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT HER. i remember that other members had anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and i think adhd? but i don't remember anything about the protag.. all i remember is that she was very silly and goofy and had some memory issues (ironic.)

about the main guy. he was like, kinda supposed to be her love interest (but i also made sure to give her more chemistry with all the other girls instead of him.) BUT. THERE WASN'T JUST ONE MAIN GUY. THERE WERE TWO OF THEM. and the only difference between them was their hair color and that one of them wore glasses. yeah. but also the other main guy was from an enemy team and he was kinda weird and basically was protag's stalker.

the main twist was that the whole thing took place in a virtual reality THAT WAS ACTUALLY VERY IMPORTANT BC IT WASN'T INTRODUCED ONLY IN THIS STORY, IT CONNECTED LIKE AT LEAST FIVE OF MY OC STORIES. AND THERE WAS THIS WHOLE LORE, I EVEN REMEMBER DRAWING A TIMELINE OF EVERYTHING. but anyway her love interest was actually already an adult in real life and he created this virtual reality because the main girl's irl counterpart had committed suicide right in front of him many years ago and he wanted to create a world where she could feel like the main character and could feel loved and appreciated by everyone. i do not remember why his other version (the stalker one) was there too. probably bc the dude had a really bad self-esteem and wanted to make himself the villain?? but he also made himself her love interest. sounds kinda problematic now that i think about it but also i was 15 trust me some of my writing was. a lot worse

but anyway in the end the irl counterpart of the main guy dies while trying to protect his invention from that criminal organization leader from that earlier post of mine (he doesn't succeed btw and that world will be used for some very bad things later). the girl doesn't know about it and continues living there not knowing her world is going to change and not in a good way. the end

#YEAH ALL OF MY OC STORIES WERE. REALLY DEPRESSING BACK THENSJSKSLSL #they still are but now i'm trying to give at least some hope. though i like to make my characters suffer a little too much!#i should clarify that i haven't actually. written a lot of my stories. like the timelines are there the lore is there art is there too #but i did not have the time and energy to actually write them tbh so they just existed in my head. yeah #[ 💌 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 ]#[ 💕 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚'𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 ]#[ 💫𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝: 𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐚 ]

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mythgirlimagines · 3 years

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It’s time for a brand new talentswapped Myth for this Tuesday! Brimming with passion, good sportspersonship, and boundless optimism, is Myth Anon, the Former Ultimate Team Manager!

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BACKSTORY AND TALENT

In her elementary and middle school years, Myth had an unbridled passion for sports and athletics, despite her scoliosis making heavy movement difficult for her, and in her middle school years, she even managed to secure spots in prestigious sports teams. Unfortunately though, all those dreams were crushed once she reached her high school years, when a freak accident costed Myth her legs and thus, her ability to walk and run. But the optimistic Myth wouldn’t let this sudden accident qstop her, for she decided to switch her career plans from improving herself to improving others, and that was how Myth became a team manager. Renowned amongst her students for her optimism and motivational spirit, she’s able to turn a ragtag bunch of amateurs into experts within a single season. In fact, Myth even managed to create Lil’ Ultimates and Jr. Ultimates within her career. Now that she is in her adults years, she is currently working with high school athletes and even created actual Ultimate athletes thanks to her stellar coaching.

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RELATIONSHIPS

Wyre Anon, Former Ultimate Lucky Student

As the reckless childhood friend of Myth, Wyre is always getting into all sorts of trouble and is lucky enough to get out of trouble, with the help of Myth. Unfortunately, when one of Wyre’s little shenanigans cost Myth her ability to walk, Wyre still feels guilty about it, even to this day, despite Myth’s constant reassurance. Wyre acts like a bodyguard of sorts to Myth, scaring off anyone who dares to pick on Myth’s handicap. Imagine Myth and Wyre’s mutual joy when Wyre was chosen via the Hope’s Peak lottery to attend Hope’s Peak alongside Myth. They both act like cheerleaders for each other.

Outfit: Bandages wrapped around her forehead, arms and hands, a green tank top with a darker green clover design, tan cargo pants, white socks and scuffed-up green high tops.

Anon Scar, Ultimate Traditional Dancer

Famous in certain circles for her dramatic stage presence and her beautiful dance moves, it was no wonder that Anon Scar joined the Hope’s Peak roster as the Ultimate Traditional Dancer. Myth may not be an expert in choreography, but even she can tell just how amazing Scar is at dancing. Myth quickly realized just how how seriously Scar takes her craft, underneath the whole “Queen of Yokai” schtick she developed for stage performances. The two girls quickly bonded over their motherly natures and overwhelming concern for others. Myth is currently planning on arranging an oendan group to cheer on Scar.

Outfit: A dark purple kimono with a red flower petal design on the bottom and a matching obi, flower decorating her side bun, white socks and brown geta, always carries a fan, has an oni mask on the side of her head.

Fusion Anon, Ultimate Gamer

While Myth normally views video games as health-sapping distractions for lazy layabouts, she can’t fault Fusion for his hobby. Myth noticed that in MMOPRGs, Fusion usually acts a lot like Myth in the game world, healing his teammates and sending encouraging words via the game’s group chat, and he acts equally paternal in real life. Myth also notices that Fusion gets very hyperactive and passionate when talking about video game lore. Myth thinks that if Fusion applied that energy and paternal nature to sports and had a proper sleeping and eating schedule, he could potentially be an awesome team player and a star athlete.

Outfit: Black and red headphones on his ears, a hoodie colored like a Nintendo Switch over a black shirt with the GameCube logo on the front, black pajama pants with a white stripe on each side, white socks and red slippers with Pokeballs on the front, glasses from original design.

Fusion Anon II, Ultimate Animal Breeder

As much as Fusion II tries to act like an apathetic and snarky delinquent and claim the scratches she gets are from gang scuffles, she is actually a regular volunteer at animal shelters and has a particular soft spot for cats, to the point of keeping a chubby black one named Cheezburger. As Myth eventually figured out, all of Fusion II’s snark and apathy are just a cover-up for her less-than-stellar social skills and desire to be seen as cool by her peers. Myth realized eventually that both of them have slightly-similar talents, with both of their talents involving caring for others: athletes for Myth and animals for Fusion II.

Outfit: A red shirt with a pawprint design on the front under a black sleeveless leather jacket, black fingerless gloves, brown cargo pants that hold pet care supplies, red shoes with a paw print design on the soles, scratched up arms and one scratch on her face hidden by a bandaid, sunglasses from original design.

Just Anon, Ultimate Animator

Despite Janon’s chronic procrastination, Janon’s fans claim that his animated works are worth the very long wait. Now this is one Anon that the normally kind and optimistic Myth has a serious grudge against. The lazy and cynical animator, who wants nothing more than to sleep all day long, would of course clash with the energetic and optimistic team manager who wants people to improve. Unlike the other Anons, Janon isn’t even trying to improve himself, and that just drives Myth up the wall. But Myth heard rumors that Janon has a particular soft spot for children, which would make sense, given Janon’s talent.

Outfit: A pink ski cap with cat ears and an adorable cartoon face, a white face mask with a cat’s mouth and whiskers, a blue denim jacket with several patches and pins over a white shirt with Mickey Mouse on the front, colorful pajama pants, pink bunny slippers.

Sparkle Anon, Graduated Reserve Course Student

Despite being passionate about both acting and puzzle-sloving, neither of those skills were enough for Sparkle to garner Ultimate status. Her rich parents managed to scrape enough money for her to take the test and get accepting into the Hope’s Peak Reserve Course though, and now that Sparkle graduated, she is currently chasing her dreams of becoming a top performer, despite her non-Ultimate status. Never before has Myth ever found someone with an even louder voice than her, but Sparkle‘s loud and dramatic voice made Myth consider starting an oendan group with her, and Sparkle was happy to oblige. Outfit: A white dress shirt and a sparkly pink tie, a skirt that matches her tie, knee-high socks, brown slip-on shoes, glasses from original design.

Egg Anon, Former Ultimate Princex and Wet Sock Anon, Former Ultimate Nurse

Egg is the current crowned princex of Desruc, a cursed locale in the middle of nowhere, and Wet Sock is the skilled field medic and excommunicated/exiled-royal-twin. But it seems their inventive customs don’t cross cultural boundaries, for their odd idioms and sayings just wind up grossing anyone willing to strike conversation with the foreign and cursed twins. Interacting with the Freak Twins may be internally painful for Myth, but she managed to power through and found out that the two are surprisingly caring, despite what their cursed dialogue would suggest, with Wet Sock being especially maternal in particular.

Egg’s Outfit: A green gakuran with golden details and shoulder pads, a red feather cape and matching earrings.

Wet Sock’s Outfit: A ragged black gakuran with blue details and shoulder pads marked with a Red Cross design, a black cape and hood.

Curious Anon, Jr. Ultimate Swordfighter

As the adopted child of a yakuza family and the loyal bodyguard of a yakuza heiress, Curious has been raised with one and only goal and purpose in mind: prevent Young Mistress Iris from ever getting harmed by foes. Just like with the other athletes on the Kibo-Con roster, Myth feels her maternal instincts kick into overdrive when she’s training them, probably helped by Curious being the youngest of the athlete roster. Despite being famed by Iris’s rivals as an emotionless brick wall, Curious is surprisingly impressionable and gullible, probably due to his less-than-stellar upbringing as a servant.

Outfit: Hair in a small ponytail, a black t-shirt and a red tie with Iris’s family logo on the front, black pants, always carries their sword in a black and red scabbard, shoes from original design.

Anon Nerd, Former Ultimate Musician

Famous for his loud vocals, his vulgar lyrics, and the pessimistic worldview of his lyrics, Nerd is the head of the infamous metal band, “DEBATE”, a band intent on showing people just what’s wrong with the world we live in, using nothing but the bare-bone facts. Just like with Janon, Myth has some serious beef with Nerd, thanks to their conflicting worldviews. Myth can’t stand Nerd’s constant and vehement negativity, and Myth’s stubborn optimism just nauseates Nerd. They get into regular shouting matches, that always have to be mitigated by the Brain Cells, much to the irritation of said Brain Cells.

Outfit: Wilder hair that covers his left eye and hides his scouter, a spiky black leather jacket over a white turtleneck, a red and black guitar slung over his back, black polished nails, torn black pants, spiky black boots.

Eldritch Anon, Ultimate Gymnast

Originally from the wrong side of the tracks, Eldritch taught himself parkour and gymnastics to avoid both muggers and bullies. Eldritch’s small and light form makes executing high-flying flips and rolls a cinch for him. Despite having never entered a single competition, talent scouts have noticed Eldritch’s mad parkour skills. Myth really wants to train this young athlete to his full potential, but for some reason, Eldritch shows a vehement distrust for just about everybody, and given his backstory, who can blame him? But Myth is determined, and she will show the tiny gymnast that people can change and are worth trusting.

Outfit: A black tanktop, a camo jacket tied around his waist, blue jeans, black ankle socks, white and blue sneakers.

Dream Anon, Ultimate Mechanic

Despite motorcycles being her main speciality, Dream can fix just about any mechanical device you throw at her, with her signature sunny smile. Despite not being an athlete, Myth quickly established Dream as one of her all-time favorites of the Kibo-Con roster. Dream and Myth quickly bonded over their overly optimistic and energetic personalities, and the two girls act like each other’s cheerleaders. Dream seems to show fascination with the mechanics of Myth’s wheelchair, and yearns to tune it up and soup it up with some rocket boosters or something, and Myth surprisingly doesn’t mind.

Outfit: A blue bandana wrapped around her head, a black tank top, orange and oil-stained gloves, a pink jumpsuit tied around her waist, an orange tool belt, tall black boots.

Iris Anon, Jr. Ultimate Yakuza

When Myth first found out that she was going to be chaperoning the heiress of one of the most dangerous yakuza families in all of history, she was prepared to be on her beat behavior, lest the heiress calls her folks to feed Myth to the fishies. But as it turns out, Iris is really friendly and superbly optimistic, despite what her upbringing would suggest. Iris is up there with Dream in Myth’s favorites list, and for the exact same reasons. But as it turns out, for all of her optimism, Iris is also really clumsy and falls, trips and bumps her head all the time. Myth is currently working on improving Iris’s balance and coordination.

Outfit: An entirely black gakuran with a red ribbon and her family logo in the form of a badge, black stockings and red shoes, glasses from original design.

Purple Anon, Ultimate Chef

Purple commonly cooks and caters for fancy high-class banquets, and her food is beloved by every upper-crust family that she serves. Purple’s work is commonly behind-the-scenes, and for good reason, because Purple is supremely timid, and often hides behind bigger Anons, when not in the kitchen. Purple is Myth’s go-to-Anon when it comes to nutritional advice, even if Myth needs help translating Purple’s overly-formal dialogue. Sometimes, when Myth is off to train her students, Purple stocks Myth up with crudités or finger sandwiches to give to the young athletes, in between or after practice.

Outfit: A white chef’s top with a purple cravat, black pants, shoes and beret from original design.

This series centers around an optimistic and hot-blooded team manager, trying to train her con-mates into only the best versions of themselves, and battling a couple of Negative Nancies (read: Nerd, Janon and Eldritch) in the process.

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APPEARANCE

Myth has shoulder-length brown hair with an ahoge on top and black sports glasses. For her clothes, Myth wears a red and cream colored tracksuit over a white tanktop, and matching high tops. Around her neck is a red megaphone, a golden whistle, and a golden necklace with resin in the middle that is colored like the bisexual flag.

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PERSONALITY

Myth carries herself with a loud voice and motivational words. Myth might just be one of the most optimistic people in the entirety of the Kibo-Con, for she can find the good points in just about anybody, and knows exactly how to weed the good points out of them. Despite being confined to a wheelchair, she has energy that is very contagious, which assists her in pumping up her students. But for all of her optimism towards other people, she doesn’t quite feel the same way about herself, feeling like the accident squandered her own potential and she advances other people’s development at the cost of her own. But Myth refuses to be seen as weak, so she never opens up about her actual feelings.

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I hope you like this talentswap, and please let me know what of this Myth! Don’t forget to watch out for brand-new content from yours truly!

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acecorvid · 5 years

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This is probably super dumb but have you ever written spideypool at hogwarts? What houses would they would be in, what their fav classes are? Idk it seems cute lol

this isn’t dumb at all! I don’t think I’ve ever written a Hogwarts AU for Spideypool but I have several ideas about it (also, to be clear, fuck TERFs)

Wade is canonically a Hufflepuff

depending on the verse, Peter is either a Gryffindor or a Ravenclaw (it’s a fun balancing act between Peter’s wit and knowledge and his obsessive nature to learn and build and perfect his inventions but also his headstrong and reckless tendency to throw himself into danger without thinking of the consequences and his sense of justice where he will never kill his villains), but I would say it’s more common for him to be a Gryff and that’s what I’ll be going with for this particular headcanon

Gryff!Peter might be a little disappointed that he’s not in Ravenclaw but he gets over it pretty quickly as he mixes fairly well with the rest of his Gryffindors (and he still makes friends with many of the Ravenclaws in his classes)

Wade has such a big personality that it’s hard for any other house to deal with him, the other Huffs are much more patient with him and join in with his enthusiasm

Peter’s favorite classes are Potions and Flying, he’s a pro when it comes to mixing Potions perfectly and he loves the thrill that flying gives him (later, in third year, Peter excels at Arithmancy)

Wade is a fan of Transfiguration (and he definitely doesn’t tell anyone that he’s secretly fascinated with the idea that maybe this is a timeline in the multiverse where he’ll be able to change his skin back to “normal”) and he’s a quick learner when it comes to the jinxes and curses/counter-curses they learn in Defense Against the Dark Arts (and I have an idea of third-year Wade absolutely loving Divination)

Wade and Peter haven’t been introduced yet, they just share a lot of classes because they’re both first years. Although Wade spends most of Flying class staring at Peter - who is a natural up in the air - and this means that Wade flies into things more often than he should bc he’s too busy ogling (Peter doesn’t notice bc he’s too preoccupied with the joy and thrill of flying, and that smile he wears is the one that Wade slowly finds himself falling for)

Peter first notices Wade in Potions bc Wade is atrocious at it. Almost everything blows up in his face and he’s starting to terrifying the students around him to the point where Peter purposely switches seats with the girl sitting next to Wade. Wade immediately turns into an awkward mess and for the first time he’s glad that his scarred skin doesn’t show him blushing. He doesn’t understand why his quiet crush decided to sit next to him when they haven’t even said a single word to each other. But then Peter is leaning over and whispering the proper measurements to him when he’s starting to mix his potions and his hand comes up to stop Wade from pouring in the wrong ingredient and he realizes that Peter saw him struggling and decided to come over to help him and Wade falls even harder

and now Peter starts flying closer to Wade which takes away precious ogling time but also means that Wade is closer to that beaming smile and can see the sparkle in Peter’s eye when he does something particularly challenging on his broom and Wade starts flying better

it doesn’t take them long to get a good rapport going. They banter with each other, sharing whispered jokes in class, Wade feels more comfortable slinging his arm over Peter’s shoulder and pulling him in close when they’re joking around. And Wade thinks this is a great, a friendship with Peter Parker, more than he could have ever asked for, so he settles for that and tries not to let on that he’s crushing super hard on his new best friend

Peter tries out for the Quidditch team and gets one of the Chaser positions, Wade shows up to his first game in a Hufflepuff cheerleader outfit (that he designed himself) but with Gryffindor pom poms

the first few months of school go great, the two have a close friendship and spend most of their time together chatting or studying and it isn’t until everyone is talking about dates to the Yule Ball that Wade starts seriously thinking about his crush again

every time Peter brings up the subject, Wade immediately makes excuses about other things he needs to do, or that he forgot his wand somewhere, and he runs away before Peter can tell him who he’s planning on asking to the ball bc he’s seen the way Peter and MJ have been talking, and also Peter and Harry, but it could also be Peter and Gwen, and Wade doesn’t know what canonverse this is AU is going to follow so he just avoids it all together

it’s a week before Yule Ball when Peter properly corners Wade and asks him why he’s been avoiding him, Wade denies it, but Peter won’t let him go and Wade comments that Peter doesn’t have the means to properly tie him down in this universe so he shouldn’t bother, but Peter pins him against the wall with his hands on Wade’s wrist and Wade thinks “oh, nevermind, I guess you can” and then Peter’s leaning closer to him and Wade thinks that maybe he got too wrapped up in thinking about the canon bc he’s leaning forward too and then Peter whispers “can I kiss you?” and Wade can see the cartoon hearts floating above his head when he nods and Peter’s lips are on his and they’re kissing in the corridor for so long they’re late to their Potions class

they go to the Yule Ball together and Peter has the same beaming smile when they dance that he has when he’s up on a broom and Wade doesn’t think his heart will ever stop beating this fast

#spideypool #arrawrites #marvel #hogwarts au #headcanons #i can think of so many more things to add to this headcanon but I think I'll stop there #mfic #spfic #look at them notes

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fromageinterrupted · 6 years

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21 - Kiss on a dare combined with 64 - Being Unable To Open Their Eyes For A Few Moments Afterward for plance

Hooo boy! This prompt possessed my soul and made me churn out 3,000 words just so the babies could kiss. @hailqiqi I hope this does justice to the prompts. I love you and your amazing writing ability!

You can find me on AO3 fromageinterrupted.

Fair warning, it does get somewhat T rated.

STB

This was was stupid. The whole thing was completely ridiculous and Pidge wanted none of it. The dumb town had lost their mind.

“Do I have to, Hunk?” She whined. She wasn’t much of a whiner, but the whole thing was getting out of hand and Hunk had her backed into a corner.

“Nu-uh. No way. You are not getting out of this. You AGREED to my terms and now you must pay the price.” He held their agreement over her head like some malevolent angel sent to deceive the desperate.

“Maybe we could alter the terms of our agreement? I’m sure I can come up with something else besides this.” She shoved her phone into his face, but he pushed it out of the way.

He grabbed her shoulders. “I got you the goods, now pay up.”

“God, they were just brownies, Hunk. Regular brownies at that. Not even frosted.”

She wanted to pretend that they were ordinary, but she knew better, everyone knew better. Hunk’s brownies were the literal best dessert in town. Everyone wanted them, but he insisted he had to be in the right mindset to make them and he had to love the person he was making them for, thus making them a sought-after and rare commodity. Pidge had to agree with this faulty logic because,one time she had one of his brownies he was coerced into making for their home-ec class-- a class Hunk could have taught with both hands behind his back-- and they were terrible. Though, she suspects he did that on purpose so the teacher would leave him alone the rest of the semester.

Pidge had needed his brownies. Hundreds of them. She was going to go to the summer program at Caltech if it killed her and she had to raise the money for the final payment somehow. All her spec work had dried up, so her mom suggested a bake sale. Pidge couldn’t bake to save her life, but Hunk was an angel (albeit an evil one-she knows this now) sent from heaven who agreed to offer his services for free...except one thing. She had to do whatever he wanted her to do for whole day. Which, at the time, seemed a pretty fair price.

The day had gone swimmingly; they hung out at his place, planted the starters for his summer vegetable and berry gardens, did some homework, then ended up at Shakes, a candy colored building with a giant spinning shake on the roof, a beacon of socialization for much of the town’s teen populous. Inside offered raised booths surrounding groups of tables that could be arranged in any configuration, some more quiet nooks off to the side, and a long counter with stools where the patron not traveling in a pack could order a darn good burger and shake, any flavor imaginable. Pidge and Hunk had taken up residence in one of the raised booths, offering them a full view of the daily drama that a collection of teens can bring, as well as shielding them from being front and center to the drama.

She had been lulled into a false sense of security that a good burger and a great shake could bring; her trust in her friend was too great apparently.

“You’re going to do it, and you’re going to enjoy yourself. Sometimes Pidge-” Hunk sighed as if the burden of his friend’s singleness was too great,”- I think you’re made of stone.” He pinched her cheek and winked at her. His hand shot out to point suddenly “Look! There he is now!”

Pidge swung her head over her shoulder to see where Hunk was pointing, her stomach dropping when she saw him. Lance McClain, resident co-captain of the swim team and the lead in all the school drama productions. He was as cliche as they come; tall, dark, and handsome. Or hawt-- “H. A. W. T. Won’t McClain Please Look at Me!?”--as the fanclub liked to say.

There were at least 12 seniors in his group. They had pulled together several tables and were lounging around them in one position or another, pretty girls in cheerleading outfits sitting on some the guys’ laps, other ones leaning over their burger baskets, their elbows on the table, fully invested in their dinner, one guy was doing the thing with the knife. He looked a little less than thrilled to be there and Pidge suspected his presence had everything to do with the girl he was sitting next to. Lance was sitting on the end, his chair turned sideways along the table, his long legs sticking out into the space left when they grouped the tables together. He was popular and well-liked and Pidge was....well...not. Popular that is. Sure she had a name for herself among the academic crowd, but she was persona non grata around the rest, no reason to get to know one of the teacher’s nerdy children.

Lance suddenly looked right at them, a smile blooming on his face when he spotted Hunk, then started waving. That’s right, Pidge remembered, Hunk was pretty popular and well-liked too.

“Hey Hunk! Hey Pidge!”-Huh?-Maybe not as unnoticed as she assumed. To be fair, he was good friends with Hunk, and Pidge had been around them several times during study sessions. Hunk waved backed, a crooked grin on his face. Pidge nodded at him over her shoulder and turned back to face Hunk.

He flipped her phone over, face up. “Turn it on Pidge. It’s time”.

She stared at it like it was a pen at a scantron test. “No Hunk. Please….” She couldn’t do it. She was not brave enough.

As if he could read her mind Hunk responded, “You’re one of the bravest people I know. Besides, your brother made the app. Think of it as supporting your family.”

“My brother can go die for inventing that app. It’s ridiculous. Look around:” Everyone in the place had their phones face up, a colorful digital spinner visible on many of them. When they went dark, someone would get up and find someone else and they would kiss. Most of it was pretty vanilla, but they were teens and pretty hormonal. Pidge rolled her eyes.

“Spin the Bottle? Come on Hunk. Why is this popular? Why doesn’t everyone just use tinder?”

Hunk laughed, “Really, Pidge? Tinder? That’s for hooking up you know. STB is for fun. Just a little non-committal lippage among friends. Mostly harmless and a whole lot of fun.”

“Says the guy who has girls pretending the ‘bottle’ landed on you.” her food had come mid conversation so she took the opportunity to stuff a bunch of fries in her mouth in disgust.

Hunk chuckled, “And who am I to turn them away? I’m not in the habit of breaking girls’ hearts. Anyway, turn the app on Pidge.” He tapped her phone again.

Pidge wiped a hand across her mouth. “Alright, fine. Gimme.” She grabbed her phone and turned it on. The app already open on her phone, Hunk having started it up when they got to Shakes. Lance’s name and current location displayed. Pidged shivered.

Matt had made a pretty good app actually. He developed software that could vet those who wanted to use the app, making sure high schoolers only met up with other high schoolers and so on. He’d made it for his senior project and school prank all in one. Spin The Bottle. Simple, easy to use, and it spread like wildfire. Everyone she knew had the app, and most everyone would open it during lunches at school and when they were hanging out at Shakes.

It worked like this: you would spin the colorful wheel on the screen, it would cycle through anyone signed up on the app and signed in at the time in the radius you choose at that time. Then, when it lands on a person, you find them and kiss them. You can always deny the kiss, but there was a leader board for both amount of kisses and time spent kissing. And, being the hormonal teens they all tended to be, the competition was strong.

Even though it was her brother’s creation, Pidge did not play STB. She was not “dtk” or whatever everyone said. Now Hunk’s evil design had placed her squarely in the game and she was...well..nervous. She had never kissed anyone before and this was a most public way of checking that off her list. Not to mention, she was already a wreck around Lance usually anyway. Where other’s flirted with people they liked, Pidge ignored them or made kind of mean comments. Both things she’s directed toward Lance numerous times.

She folded her hands in plea. “Please Hunk. Pretty Please. I can’t do this.”

Hunk stared her down. “You can and you will. Not only do you owe me for the brownies, but--and I’m sorry to bring this up-- you still owe me a dare.” A smug look of triumph crossed his face. Pidge could not believe this.

“I owe you a dare? How does that?...That doesn't even make sense Hunk!” It was ridiculous. “You can’t owe someone a dare.”

“Uhuh. Back in fifth grade, at Stinky’s birthday party, when we were playing ‘Truth or Dare’. Your mom came and got you before I could give you a dare. It’s time to--”

“-Don’t finish that.” She glared at him.

“Pidge, I dare you to kiss Lance McClain. Now get up. Get on with it.” He had stood up, pulled Pidge to standing as well, placed her phone in her hand, and pushed her forward. She almost fell off the raised platform. “Wait!” her heels dug into the floor. “I. I have french fry breath. I can’t kiss-” Hunk cut her off.

“Open up.”

Her body must have decided to do it’s own thing regardless of her brain cause she opened her mouth wide. Hunk took the opportunity to dump quite a number of Tic Tac into it.

“There. Now chew those on the way over and you’re golden.” he gently shoved her off the platform.

Pidge stumbled forward before straightening herself up. There was no use in fighting it. If she was going to follow through on a dare from fifth grade and her promise to Hunk, she was going to do it right.

The Tic Tacs melted quickly leaving her mouth feeling cool and hopefully smelling nice as well.

Pidge held her phone in her hand, Lance’s name flashing as she came closer to him. His own phone was in his hands, his attention fully on the screen as STB alerted him to Pidge’s proximity. Everyone at the table fell silent as she stopped next to his outstretched legs. He looked up at her, a question in his pretty blue eyes.

“Katie?” Crap! She forgot Hunk signed her up using her real name. A million thoughts were running through her head as she contemplated her next move.

“Pidge? Your real name is Katie?” he kind of laughed “it’s cute, it suits you.”

Some of the initial nervousness left her stomach, replaced by the feeling of butterflies. Her cheeks warmed. “I..yes. I’m Katie.” real smooth Pidge.

Lance titled his head toward her phone, “Looks like we’re paired up on STB. You ready to do this?” Pidge though she saw something like hope in his eyes. Could he want to kiss her? Seems unlikely but here they were regardless. She looked over at Hunk in the distance, he gave her a thumbs up.

“As ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s do this McClain.” He straightened up and Pidge moved herself between his open legs. He was so tall (and she was, admittedly, very short) that Pidge wouldn’t have to bend down too much to align her lips with his. She leaned forward.

“Hold on Pidge.:” Lance pressed a button on his app accepting the STB pairing and reached out and did the same on hers. “We still have to find out how long this is going be.”

That’s right, Pidge forgot the length of the kiss was randomly generated by the app. Most everyone got 10 to 30 seconds, some 1 minute, and very few higher than that. The most time a couple could get was 5 minutes, but, she’s heard, that was very rare. Their apps flashed 3:00 in big red numbers. Dang! Three minutes? That seemed like a lot to Pidge. As someone who’s never kissed anyone before, this was daunting. Lance however seemed elated.

“WooHoo! No one ever gets over one minute. This is awesome.” He made some sort of look at Pidge, she assumed it was meant to be flirty and seduce her all at once. All it actually did was make her laugh a little. She responded with a bravado she did not possess. ‘“I don’t know McClain, think you can handle kissing me for three whole minutes?” She stared him down, judging his reaction.

He put his hands on her hips, pulling her toward him. “We’re about to find out, aren’t we?” The timer on the phones beeped signalling the start. Lance moved one hand to the back of her neck and pulled her head down toward his.

Pidge didn’t know what she had been expecting. Two people’s skin touching each other shouldn’t feel like this. Objectively, she had known she wanted to put her face on Lance’s face for some time even though she had no frame of reference for having this want.

She didn’t move for a moment. Lance’s lips were soft and warm as he moved them . He kept placing tiny kisses on her lips, barely any suction at all, and it felt incredibly good to Pidge. His next kiss pulled her bottom lip out just a little, and, as it snapped back into place, something other than Pidge’s brain took over.

Her lips did their own thing and she went with it. She started to repeat whatever Lance did. Soon the kiss became more intense. Lance had shifted both his hands back to her waist, his fingers sliding just under the hem of her shirt, barely grazing the skin there. She moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck, sliding her hand through the hair at the nape. She pressed harder, tilting her head. Lance seemed to enjoy that because he pressed back, the time between their lips losing contact becoming nonexistent.

A beep from their phones indicated a minute had passed. If felt like the fastest minute of Pidge’s life. She didn’t want three minutes to end. No amount of imagining kissing Lance had prepared her for how good it felt, how the butterflies in her stomach bloomed into something else entirely, some energy that flowed through her veins and warmed every inch of her. She wanted more from him, more from this kiss. Lance apparently did too because the next thing she knew his tongue had begun to trace the seam of her lips.

Pidge was no dummy. She had read a lot of source material, she knew french kissing was merely a part of kissing as a whole, but again, she was not prepared. She followed suit however, opening her mouth a little, giving unspoken permission to Lance to do his thing.

Which he wholeheartedly did. His tongue swept into her mouth, moving along her lips and running along her tongue, Pidge felt the overwhelming drive to reciprocate moving her tongue along his, astounded at the intimacy of this kiss.

The two minute beep sounded and Lance’s kisses became intense. He had pulled her so close to him their whole bodies were touching. His arms were holding her tight which Pidge was very thankful for, because what he was doing with his tongue and lips was leaving her weak in the knees. Somewhere in her mind she was chiding herself for being so cliche, but the rest of her was screaming for more. The game required the kiss be lip to lip, but she couldn’t help wanting him to kiss her neck, her ears, down her jaw, the possibilities were endless.

He made a noise, low and rich, that sent shivers through Pidge and made her toes curl. Their tongues were moving in unison now, their breathing getting faster. She was getting light-headed and overwhelmed. She was sure whatever was going on between them was something more than two acquaintances exchanging spit. Hunk may have been the better person at chemistry, but her and Lance were creating an explosive formula that seemed to be working very well.

BEEEEEEEP! The three minutes were up. Pidge tried to slow down, her task completed, but Lance didn’t stop, he kept slanting his lips over hers again and again. Then the whole restaurant started cheering and whooping. Reminded of their audience, Pidge pulled back abruptly, embarrassed by the show they just put on.

Lance however still had his eyes closed. His lips were puffy and red, his cheeks were flushed against his tan skin, his chest was rising and falling with rapid breaths. His tongue flicked out and licked the corner of his mouth. Pidge couldn’t help but want to kiss the spot his tongue had just been in. She shuddered.

Finally Lance opened his eyes. His lids still half lowered like he was coming out of some dream. Pidge could only assume the look on his face was one of desire because all she knew at that moment was how much she desired him too. He reached over and touched the “completed” button on the app.

“That was….” He stared at Pidge, his hands back on her hips. “....amazing. You...you want to hang out?” there was a note of unsurredness in his voice, Pidge didn’t understand why he would be remotely worried she wouldn’t say yes after that whole kiss, She pulled the words out of her fog of emotions. “Sure….maybe we could go sit with Hunk?” She glanced at Hunk in the corner booth, beaming at her. “Ooor…” She hesitated when Lance didn’t respond right away.

“No..that’s...fine. I mean..good. Maybe after we eat we can go somewhere?” His eyebrow raised in question.

Pidge flushed. “Sure. Let’s..hang out more.” She hoped she was conveying that she wanted to make-out with him more, but also get to know him better at the same time. That darn kissed had unlocked something in her and all she could think about was kissing him again. It wasn’t the point of the game, but somewhere along the way the game had been forgotten.

Lance stood up. Pidge had forgotten how tall he was, she had to crane her neck to see his face. She started doing calculation on how to remain in places where she could easily kiss him without serious calf exercises and high heeled shoes. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they went to meet up with Hunk.

“See you later guys..” He finger-gunned at the group, the knife guy rolling his eyes at him.

Hunk was stifling his glee when they got to the booth. Lance and he high-fived. “Nice work there buddy, though I would have saved that for a more private location. “

Pidge grimaced, Lance responded “Thanks, Pidge deserves my best work. Next time I’ll keep it less public.”

“Next time?” Pidge asked him in a slightly threatening way. Sure she absolutely wanted a next time, but she wanted him to ask, not assume. He rubbed his hand on the back of his head. “I mean..that is..if you agree to a next time.” It made Pidge’s stomach do flip-flops to see him squirm and ask her. “Yeah. Next time let’s not be so public.”

“Yeah!” Lance gave a triumphant fist pump to the air and sat back in the booth, patting the spot beside him. “Have a seat Pidgey. Your food is cold, it’s my fault so I’ll get you more. “

“First I need to go use the bathroom. I’ll be right back guys,” Pidge turned to leave, Hunk was still going on about Lance’s “moves”. They probably thought she couldn’t hear them. The last thing she heard Lance say before she was too far to make out their words was “Thanks man, that was totally worth helping you make hundreds of brownies.”

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anewdirection-ff · 6 years

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What are the characters fashion sense?

Hazel - She would wear a neat long sleeved blouse with a high waisted pleated skirt. The hem of the skirt usually ranges between knee length and tea length, never above the knee. She would wear white socks with dark coloured kitten heels. Her clothes are usually pastel coloured and she prefers soft pink and purple hues. Sometimes, she would wear patterned casual dresses with a pleated skirt. She would either pair it with a cardigan or some tights. At home, she dresses much more casually. She opts for tshirts and lounge pants most of the time at home with her hair tied up with a scrunchie.

Emilia - Normally you’ll find Emilia in her cheerleading uniform. She is the queen of bralettes and jumps at any opportunity to show them off. That means a lot of off-the-shoulder or open-back shirts. She’s not very big on patterns, but loves lace and other textured materials. She loves soft purples. She’s mostly a jeans kind of girl, she very rarely wears skirts or dresses. All in all Emmy’s style is pretty casual-cute. For make-up she very much sticks to soft colors, like pinks and light browns. She keeps her make-up pretty “natural” looking.

Arcelia - So normally you’ll find Arcelia in her cheerleading uniform. Whenever out of her uniform Celia is not afraid to show what her mama gave her. Her dance background also comes out clearly too. She wears a lot of unitards with skirts. Celia often designs her outfits around her jewellery and accessories. She doesn’t mind a good choker every now and then. She loves playing around with different textures and she does have a soft spot for the occasional sparkle. There’s a little bit of cool girl hipster to her style.

Kalyani - Very tomboy chic. Lots of bomber jackets, often with a cool print (she would steal all of Karamo’s bombers). Black skinny jeans, boyfriend jeans or sweatpants. She will occasionally wear leggings, but rarely black ones, they mostly have a fun pattern. She is exclusively a sneakers girl, but might wear little ankle boots on occasion. She isn’t big on accessories, opting to use patterns to get some interest in her outfits. She usually leaves her bob alone, opting to just leave it as is instead of doing anything with it.

Tobias - His sense of style is pretty typical for a guy, its nothing very exciting. He wears a lot of t-shirts, mostly white or sometimes black under flannel or chambray shirts or his letterman jacket. He might wear henleys sometimes too. He usually wears denim jeans, occasionally black jeans. When he was dating Emilia she pretty much showed him what to wear to not stand out (in a bad way) and he has pretty much just followed those instructions ever since.

Stella - Stella is very fashionable. She likes subdued colours and pastels because they go well with her skin tone. In the summer she’s a big fan of maxi dresses, soft flowy bottoms, lace and crochet shorts and skirts. She also likes stylish fitted crop tops. When the weather drops she loves her berets and tan trench coats, and normally wears tight skinny light washed jeans with a baggy jumper and a lace bralette peeking under it to give some sex appeal. She loves ankle boots more than anything but owns some pumps, flats, sandals and sneakers, and she also loves sweater dresses with thigh high boots. She especially loves tan boots. She’s into the off the shoulder look lately. She never wears anything high waisted because she’s got crazy long legs and they make her body look out of proportion.

Dakota - Kody is one of those typical boy athletes who feels the need to wear long shorts year-round even during the winter when it’s snowing. That does not mean he won’t ever wear pants, because he will if he’s going out somewhere fancy that he really shouldn’t wear shorts to. He’s much more comfortable in shorts though. For shirts he isn’t picky really. The first clean shirt he finds is what he wears. He doesn’t own very many “fancy” shirts, tee-shirts for the most part in every different color. He also does own a bunch of relaxed button down short sleeve shirts. Wearing one unbuttoned overtop of a tee shirt is something he will often do.

Katrina - You will never catch Katrina wearing expensive clothing. Number one: she can’t afford it, and number two: it’s just not her. She has a laid back yet still cute look. It’s rather grungy, definitely not bright “girly” colors. She will nearly always wear a beanie, always in a dark color, sometime with patterns (always simple though). Tank tops with a loose off the shoulder top is her normal go-to. Very rarely will you ever catch her wearing a shirt that is low-cut or too form fitting and you will never catch her in a dress or skirt. She will typically pair her shirt combo with a pair of leggings and black beat up lace-up combat boots. She has had those boots for nearly 4 years and loves them too much to give them up. If she is feeling overly lazy or is having a really bad day, she will just throw on a hoodie and jeans.

Brielle - Brielle’s style is very feminine. She loves patterns and pops of color. People often joke that she always looks like a model who just stepped off the runway. If she is not dressed up, then you know something is wrong. Dresses and skirts are two things she adores as she isn’t a huge fan of pants, feeling too confined. Even during the winter, changes are you will catch her in a sweater dress or a maxi-skirt. It’s rare to catch her wearing the same outfit twice as she loves to shop and her parents have lot of money to buy her whatever she wants. She’s got shoes to go with every outfit. Flats or sandals are what she will typically wear.

Winchester - His day to dayoutfit consists of dark shirts or t-shirts under jackets. He usually wears hoodies during a casual setting and parkas during chilly days. He would mostly wear jeans with sneakers and an occasional snapback. While his sneakers are obvious well used, he still keeps it in a good condition. He usually goes for a dark green or nude colours whem he dresses like this. If he’s out in town or wants to dress a little fancy, he would wear light coloured polo shirts paired with a demin jacket or bomber jacket. He wears it with black or navy slacks and the same sneakers.

Iris - She has a preppy but cute sort of look. But since her family doesn’t make that much money she usually dresses on a budget. Expect to see her wearing a lot of Peter Pan collars weather it be a shirt/blouse, sweater, or a dress. She also mostly wears skirts and has few pants (she wears pants if it’s really cold outside), but she also wears black stockings during Autumn and Spring (her favorites are the ones of polka dots on them). Shoe-wise she wears flats and boots, but she wears heels sometimes to make herself taller. She wears a lot of clothes that have pastel or bright colors.

Frank - Although he comes from an upper class family, he likes to dress casually. He usually wears buttoned up shirts, hoodies, sneakers, he also wears graphic t-shirts with his favorite superheros/musicals/TV Shows/characters on it.

Levi - Levi is rarely seen without his leather jacket. He’s often seen wearing an oversized chequered shirt with a graphic t-shirt or tank top underneath. He’s often seen in dark jeans, normally ripped and far too tight. He tends to wear vans or converse.

Everett - At school you’ll often find him in track pants and plain t-shirts. Outside of school he usually wears lots of slightly outdated band shirt and graphic tees. It’s rather endearing. Besides that his style is pretty basic, lots of dark-wash jeans and plaid shirt.

Lorelei - She pretty much invented the matching tracksuit as a fashion statement. Its very much the Sue Sylvester-look, but make it fashion.

#questions

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itsyourturnblog · 5 years

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Inspired by NPR’s How I Built This Podcast

Booty Caller. It was the way-too-crass working name of a mobile app idea a buddy and I had in 2008, the year the App Store launched. Booty Caller would use your phone’s GPS to connect you with potential nearby romantic partners. We made a logo, designed the app interface, and engaged a developer. But ultimately, cowering under a daunting cloud of uncertainty, fear of failure, and lack of know-how, we filed away the project into the coulda-woulda-shoulda folder. Four years later, while we wallowed in nine-to-five obscurity, Tinder revolutionized dating.

After a decade of working for corporate America, NPR’s How I Built This podcast, hosted by Guy Raz, has re-awoken my entrepreneurial vigor and armed me with an instruction manual and the courage to capitalize on the next great idea, should it ever come my way again.

Every episode is must-listen material, but below is a list of practices you’ll need to follow to become the next How I Built This founder.

1. Ball on a ramen budget

Let us first agree it won’t be easy or glamorous, especially in the early years.

During Chipotle’s first year, founder Steve Ellis slept on a friend’s basement couch and worked from early morning until late at night.

Clif Bar’s Gary Erickson, kept his day job working in a bicycle factory for two years, all while sleeping in a garage.

Dermalogica’s Jane Wurwand worked 16 hours a day, every day, and lived a meager existence. “A big night out was a burger on a Friday night. That was huge,” she said. “We saved everything.”

2. Finance creatively

In addition to living on a tight budget, you’ll have to get creative about raising capital for your venture. Some How I Built This founders borrowed money from their moms, some from venture capitalists, but many hatched innovative financing methods.

After being rejected by 20 investors and maxing out a bunch of credit cards, the founders of Airbnb created and sold a cereal called “Obama O’s” to pay off debt. More importantly, their cereal-box hustle impressed potential investors, landing them a spot in Y-Combinator, a prestigious accelerator for small businesses.

When times were bleak, Samuel Adam’s founder Jim Koch put a coupon on 6-packs of beer offering customers a chance to buy shares in the company. All they had to do was send a check. The result? Sixty five million dollars.

3. Prototype, launch, and refine

My perfectionist tendencies often keep me from shipping projects. I want to wait until everything is perfect before launching, which it never will be. How I Built This is a great reminder to move forward with “good enough,” learning from mistakes and consumer feedback.

“There were a lot of typos,” said VICE co-founder Suroosh Alvi of their first magazine, “but it was alive.”

Airbnb was quickly thrown together for attendees of SXSW. They only managed to attract six hosts and one customer, but they learned valuable insights to improve the product. Notably, they realized exchanging money in someone’s home is awkward, leading to the creation of online payments and a way for Airbnb to monetize the site.

4. Learn as you go

You don’t need an MBA. Most of the founders just figured out things as they went along.

Richard Branson of Virgin Brands dropped out of high school to start an anti-Vietnam War magazine. When asked how he knew how to publish a magazine, Branson responded “the best way of running a business is to just throw yourself in the deep end and learn…and ask lots of questions and listen, listen, listen.”

About not going to journalism school, VICE’s Surroosh Alvi commented, “we were going to school in public.”

Even today, after Buzzfeed’s enormous success, founder and CEO Jonah Peretti feels “very unqualified for the job…I’m still figuring it out.”

5. Fake it ’til you make it

Who hasn’t heard this advice? But I was surprised to actually see it utilized by many of the builders.

Before launching TOMS Shoes, founder Blake Mycoskie had another business venture in which he convinced building owners in Nashville to sell their exterior walls for advertising. The key to getting owners to agree was to position his idea as a ‘business’. “You don’t wanna use the word ‘idea’,” he said, “because if it’s just an idea you’re not going to inspire a lot of confidence.”

While trying to secure their first space for WeWork, Miguel McKelvey and his partner secured a meeting the following day with a building owner but had nothing prepared. Spending all night creating a business plan, business cards, and marketing materials, McKelvey felt as if they had no credibility. To their surprise, the investors enthusiastically responded “oh, you actually have something here” and leased them the property.

Barbara Corcoran, real estate mogul and Shark Tank shark, was only seven weeks away from going out of business when she made her first apartment rental. With her first check she made a wise investment — a fancy coat. “It was the smartest thing I could have done with the money,” she said, “because in it, I felt powerful.”

5. Hire or partner with experts

Not everything can be faked so many brand builders found experts to help design their product.

Wendy Kopp of Teach for America did not know how to train teachers so “that’s why we found experienced teacher educators.”

Founder of Samuel Adams, Jim Koch, was a sixth generation brewer and knew a little bit about brewing beer, but also “realized I had to find the best brewmaster in America to help me…He turned me down at first.”

6. Persist in face of rejection

When times have gotten tough in my entrepreneurial endeavors, it has been tempting to tuck my tail between my legs and walk away. How I Built This has given me permission to be persistent.

In trying to find partners for Rent the Runway, Jenn Hyman was on the way to a second meeting with fashion designer Diane von Furstenburg when von Fursternburg’s assistant called to cancel the meeting. Hyman acted like she had a bad connection, hung up, and showed up anyway. Furstenburg was not interested in partnering, but introduced Hyman to Nieman Marcus, which helped get Rent the Runway off the ground.

In trying to gain ownership of the phone number 1–800-GOT-JUNK, founder Brian Scudamore made about 60 calls to find and convince the owner to transfer the number to him. “I could have given up after call 54 or 55,” he said. “I just kept going.”

7. Tell white lies

I don’t necessarily condone these examples, but according to RXBar’s founder Peter Rahal, “In the early stages of a business, you can’t break the law, but you need to bend the rules a little bit.”

In order to convince a grocery store owner to carry his yogurt, Stonyfield founder Gary Hirshberg had his friends call the grocer and ask for Stonyfield yogurt by name. The grocer later called Hirshberg claiming demand had gone off the charts.

VICE’s founder said in a media interview that a certain investor was interested in buying VICE. This investor, who had never even heard of VICE, caught wind of the story, reached out to VICE and ended up buying 25% of the company.

8. Steal from other industries

Innovation often occurs at the intersection of ideas from different disciplines and there were many instances where How I Built This founders borrowed from other places.

1–800-GOT-JUNK’s name was inspired by 1–800-Flowers and the “Got Milk” campaign.

Before TOMS Shoes, founder Blake Mycoskie had a business of selling ads for music albums on the side of buildings in Nashville — an idea he borrowed from movie ads on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

9. Remember that marketing and PR actually work

I’ve been a marketer for almost two decades and still sometimes forget that marketing actually works. It doesn’t have to be rocket science — just get your brand in front of people.

In order to generate users of dating app Bumble, Whitney Wolfe who also co-founded Tinder, went to sorority houses claiming there were a ton of frat guys on the Bumble app waiting to connect with them. She then ran over to fraternity houses and told them that a bunch of sorority girls were on the app waiting for them.

Barbara Corchoran invented a NYC real estate newsletter called The Corchoran Report and mailed it to the New York Times, who ended up quoting her on the front page of the real estate section. It gave her instant credibility and within one day she became a recognizable name to potential customers.

10. Capitalize on a previously unsatisfied consumer need

Before any of the above practices should be implemented, you obviously have to have a good idea. A key criterion for a good idea is that it meets a consumer need, ideally a previously unsatisfied one.

Rent the Runway was inspired by Jenn Hyman observing that her sister needed new outfits to wear for big events that she had not already been seen wearing on social media.

Clif Bar was created by an avid cyclist who reached his breaking point of eating gross, highly processed energy bars, so he figured out how to make a good tasting, whole-ingredient-based bar himself.

Finally, even if you already know all of this stuff, How I Built This is a great cheerleader, always providing a healthy dose of confidence and motivation.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

*All quotes sourced from How I Built This podcast.

10 Practices of Successful Entrepreneurs was originally published in It's Your Turn on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by Robert Heavrin via It's Your Turn - Medium #itsyourturn #altMBA #SethGodin #quotes #inspiration #stories #change #transformation #writers #writing #self #shipping #personaldevelopment #growth #education #marketing #entrepreneurship #leadership #personaldev #wellness #medium #blogging #quoteoftheday #inspirationoftheday

#ItsYourTurn #It's Your Turn #IYT #altMBA #Seth Godin #Inspiration #Stories #Change #Transformation #Blog #Medi

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heroesacademy-blog · 6 years

Text

Strength in Numbers? (Year 1, Week 8)

Today marks the midpoint of session 2, along with the realization that it is moving quickly. So far it has been full of rich learning experiences as the heroes have worked in core skills, the architecture and nesting quests, and writer’s workshop.

Architecture Quest

On Monday the heroes in flying and soaring freedom levels began working on the blueprint and elevation sketches for their architecture quest. The energy was high as ideas began forming of what they would include in their dream studio. It has been an exciting process to see their designs develop throughout the week and their ideas for a dream studio come to life.

Nesting Quest

The nesting quest has also presented the nesting heroes with a variety of challenges this week, beginning with this:

Build the tallest structure you can using only playdough and toothpicks.

This engaging challenge saw these heroes attempting different ways to create their structure, facing frustration and distraction along the way and learning how to adapt their design to create an even taller structure. Arturius ended up creating the tallest structure that was 10 inches high!

SOLE Question

The studio was taken over by witches, cowboys, spiders, soldiers, cheerleaders and Egyptian princesses on Tuesday as the heroes arrived dressed in their halloween outfits! The morning then began with the heroes being presented with another SOLE question to investigate and explore. This time the question prompted the heroes to look to the past and consider:

Which invention has changed the world the most?

The creator of the SOLE approach, Sugata Mitra, identifies how SOLE questions support children to tap into their innate sense of wonder and work together. Heroes are beginning to experience more the power and challenges of team work as well as how to provide evidence and examples to back up their opinions.

Perseverance Launch

The heroes were put into the shoes of surfer Bethany Hamilton during the Wednesday morning launch. Bethany is a skilled surfer who, after the life-changing experience of losing her arm in a shark attack at age 13, decided to continue pursuing surfing and is now a professional surfer. After hearing the story of Bethany, the heroes were faced with these questions to consider if they were in Bethany’s shoes:

Would you persevere and try to become a professional surfer, even though you had lost an arm, or would you find something else to be really good at?

What would be harder: returning to surfing or finding a new passion?

An engaging discussion followed about perseverance and the hero’s journey with the heroes also sharing what they believe will help them persevere when they are faced with challenges and trials on their own hero’s journey.

Writing

Writing is becoming more a part of the studio this session as the flying and soaring heroes continue to work on their creative writing during writer’s workshop. Check out the photo below for this week’s writing prompt.

The nesting heroes have also been practicing writing using a fun studio hack. On Tuesday the nesting heroes explored how to turn their speech into text on a google doc and then copy down the words by hand to write a note to a family member. This skill was quickly given another real-world application when a football went over a neighbors fence during free time (thanks to Jake). One hero helped write a note to leave at the neighbors house explaining what had happened, by using this speech to text process.

Handing Over Responsibility

More responsibility was handed over to heroes during Thursday morning’s outdoor game time. Instead of guides deciding on and presenting the game, the heroes broke into two teams and came up with games they wanted to play. The teams wrote down the rules and then each presented their ideas to the whole group. A vote was taken on which game to play and, after appointing a leader to run it, the heroes all enjoyed a game of Mouse Trap together.

Character Callouts

A wonderful tradition has formed here at Heroes Academy that happens every Friday afternoon. Friday’s closing group is reserved for character callouts, in which the heroes call out admirable character traits that they have seen in their fellow travellers. It has proven to be such an encouraging and uniting time and a great way to end each week. The heroes call out these traits by identifying the admirable action they saw and then choosing a word to describe that characteristic. An example from this Friday’s close was this callout given from Caden to Betsy: “I saw Betsy working hard during Quest time when there were a lot of distractions. I call that hard working.”

Special Visitor

A special day this week was having Jake’s daughter, Adri (who will be joining us soon), for the morning. The heroes were asked why a new student would want to come to this school, and a wonderful discussion evolved about studio life and the joy of being a hero at Heroes Academy. They then expressed encouragement and excitement for her to come. This display of character and kindness is a strong signal of how deep the roots of the tribe are forming.

One powerful comment was “I don’t feel alone here,” coming from someone who attended a school with hundreds of kids. One might ask, is there always strength in numbers?

While it’s not always easy, it’s clear a wonderful tribe is forming thanks to the decisions of these young heroes.

#year 1

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