#direct hire search firms

[employvision]

The recruitment process has undergone significant changes in the past few years. Locating and hiring new and pertinent talent has become a more complicated procedure. It is estimated that talent shortages are at a ten-year high, creating a situation where the talent demand is greater than the supply. Research shows that more than 85 million job positions could remain unfilled due to the lack of enough skilled people. In 2022, new innovative and disruptive trends will drive the recruitment process. Organizations and tech recruiting firms need to adopt a more proactive role in sync with the latest trends if they want to find the right people to take their businesses forward.

Let’s take a look at the top 4 talent acquisition trends in 2022.

[prosearchgroup]

Navigating Talent: Insights into Finance and Healthcare Recruitment Strategies

Recruitment within the finance and healthcare sectors is a dynamic and multifaceted endeavor, driven by a confluence of industry-specific trends, evolving skill requirements, and broader economic forces. In this section, we delve into the current landscape of recruitment in these critical fields, highlighting the key trends and the most sought-after skills and qualifications.

Current Trends in Finance and Healthcare Recruitment

The recruitment landscape in finance and healthcare is continuously shaped by several pivotal trends. In finance, technological advancements are revolutionizing the way organizations operate and recruit. The rise of ProSearchGroup, into financial systems have created a demand for professionals adept in these cutting-edge areas. Financial institutions are seeking candidates with not only traditional financial acumen but also the technical prowess to navigate and leverage these innovations.

Regulatory changes also play a significant role in shaping recruitment strategies in finance. As governments and regulatory bodies introduce new compliance requirements, there is an increased demand for professionals skilled in risk management, regulatory compliance, and ethical governance. These changes necessitate a workforce that is both adaptable and knowledgeable about the latest regulatory landscapes.

In the healthcare sector, the recruitment trends are equally compelling. The rapid advancements in medical technology, telemedicine, and electronic health records (EHRs) are driving the need for healthcare professionals who are tech-savvy and proficient in these new tools. Additionally, the ongoing global health challenges have highlighted the critical need for specialized healthcare practitioners, from epidemiologists to critical care nurses, underscoring the importance of a robust and responsive recruitment strategy.

Economic factors further influence recruitment in both sectors. Economic fluctuations can lead to varying levels of demand for financial services and healthcare, impacting hiring trends. In times of economic uncertainty, financial institutions might prioritize hiring risk analysts and financial strategists, while healthcare providers might focus on recruiting frontline medical staff to manage increased patient loads.

Skills and Qualifications in Demand

The evolving recruitment landscape has led to a distinct set of skills and qualifications that are highly sought after in finance and healthcare.

In the finance sector, there is a growing emphasis on data analysis and risk management. Professionals who can interpret complex data sets, identify trends, and provide actionable insights are in high demand. Expertise in financial modeling, forecasting, and strategic planning is also crucial as organizations strive to navigate volatile markets and economic conditions.

Moreover, the integration of AI and machine learning into financial operations requires a new breed of finance professionals who are not only proficient in traditional finance but also have a strong foundation in technology. Skills in programming, data science, and cybersecurity are becoming increasingly valuable as financial institutions seek to protect their assets and enhance their technological capabilities.

Healthcare, on the other hand, demands a unique blend of clinical expertise and technological proficiency. With the increasing adoption of telemedicine and digital health platforms, healthcare professionals must be comfortable using these technologies to provide patient care. Additionally, there is a significant demand for specialists in critical care, mental health, and geriatrics, reflecting the changing demographics and health needs of the population.

Interpersonal skills, empathy, and the ability to work under pressure remain paramount in healthcare. The ability to communicate effectively with patients, families, and interdisciplinary teams is essential for delivering high-quality care and ensuring positive patient outcomes.

In summary, navigating the recruitment landscape in finance and healthcare requires a keen understanding of current trends and the ability to identify and attract candidates with the requisite skills and qualifications. By staying abreast of industry developments and aligning recruitment strategies with these evolving demands, organizations can build a workforce capable of driving success in these critical sectors.

[yozzers]

ouuu some more stuff for my nyon port town au... people outside of nyon

my rambling below the line

prowl is more based on his g1 incarnation and that one abridged dub I saw where he was very soft-spoken and walked all over. idk about you guys but some hospitals I see have security at the front and this is basically what prowl does, checking people go in and out.

i have nothing special for ironhide i just think he makes a really good Old Guy Coworker who annoys you at worst and endears you at best, hes still working in security god knows why and has a beautiful wife working as a tankermen at Iacon's ports

red alert heads the security firm that Iacon's hospitals hire out of, not for very long though i imagine he ends up out of the job like 6 months in bcs of the stressful workload getting to him and gets whisked off to work as like, in search & rescue w/ inferno

also this really is a case of everyone kinda vaguely knows everyone if you reach hard enough you could add how ironhide and chromia know elita, op and kup and that gets the rest of the nyon citizens connected to everyone else in someway shape or form

characters who arent drawn but I've also been thinking abt:

jazz and blaster are both radio hosts and in the entertainment industry. blasters cassettes work in diff parts of it, rewind idrk yet, eject and ramhorn commentators for cube, rossana and steeljaw are in music

all ik fr rewind is itd be cute for him to work w/ the reflector trio

soundwave and his cassettes stream gladiator battles, frenzy and rumble are ofc the commentators while soundwave works more like a producer and the others go between working cameras/mic/directing

IVE BEEN STRUGGLING W WINDBLADE AND STARSCREAM TBHHH, starscream polisci space engineering double major nightmare working w/ xenobiologist jetfire in tandem... but also smt funny abt making him part of a circus w/ windblade, bumblebee, cliffjumper and skywarp

[space-helen]

By tonight

Words: 1613

Pairing: Fox Mulder x Reader

A/N: I hope you enjoy!! Also damnnn this gif.

Request: A fox mulder and reader where she fires a gun for the first time in defence and is totally upset and shaken up by it. She'd been given one as a safety measure and she has to use it. maybe shes the secretary and theres an attack there? something residing in his and scullys office - Anon

______________________

“We're heading out to grab something to eat. Want anything?” Mulder’s voice was smooth as he spoke to you from across your desk.

You smiled and lowered the papers in your hand “I'm ok today. I actually managed to pack a lunch.” 

The man smiled “Alright, see you in a bit Y/N.” He turned and made his way to Scully who'd been hovering in the doorway watching, and smiling, at the interaction between the two of you. 

As soon as the door closed behind Mulder she let out a small laugh as they walked to the exit “Are you going to actually ask Y/N on a date soon or are you going to carry on pining for each other?”

The man let out a small laugh of his own “I'm not sure she entirely likes me back.”

“Oh come on. She does. Trust me.” she walked ahead of the man as the corridor got busier.

Mulder pondered what Scully had said and he could feel heat rising to his face. Before they'd even managed to leave the building he'd promised himself he'd ask you out by the end of the day. 

Lunch moved slowly. You’d been picking on your lunch gradually and looking through paperwork and notes for Mulder and Scully. You'd been hired by Skinner a couple of years ago and mainly focussed on research for him. You'd got to know Mulder and Scully pretty early on but only in the past year had you specifically been tasked with doing research for them. 

You'd been on one trip with the pair and that was a couple of months ago. You wouldn't say it was your most favourite thing in the world but you’d go again if given the opportunity. 

You heard movement outside of your office door and saw figures pass the glass. Knowing not many people came down this way often you assumed Mulder and Scully had returned from lunch. 

Picking up the pile of useful notes you exited your office and made your way to Mulder’s.

You gave a quick knock on the door before letting yourself in. “I've managed to find some-” You cut yourself off. The room was significantly colder than you ever remember it being and darker. Your friends definitely weren't back from Lunch yet.

You froze on the spot and were unable to move. Clutching the papers in your hands you listened to the room around you, it was almost as if you could hear the air in the room.

Sufficiently spooked you took another step into the room and took a deep breath. Moving to his desk you placed down the papers and reached for the lamp.

What you didn't expect to see was a hand move over yours as you went to turn on the lamp. Pulling backwards instantaneously you stumbled backwards and came into contact with something firm. There was definitely not a wall that close behind you. 

Stepping forward you frantically looked around the room to see nothing. Freaking out you reached for your gun. You'd been given it as protection before the first trip with Mulder and Scully and had kept it since. Wise considering the type of people the two often came across.

Your fingers brushed the weapon as you continued to search the room frantically. Diving forward you switched on the lamp to give even a morsel of light.

You felt something grab your ankle and begin to pull. The motion entirely throwing you off balance and dragging you to the ground. You tried to kick out of the grip but there was no chance. 

you caught glimpses of the figure. Not many features were distinguishable but the teeth, and smile, were unforgettable. 

Reaching again for your gun you swiftly removed the safety and fired shots in the direction of the figure. Squeezing your eyes closed you dropped the gun and cowered backwards away from its grip.

Mulder and Scully had heard the first shot and instantly began to run towards the sound, unknowing of what would be on the other end. Mulder burst through the door as you fired the final shot and watched as a figure relaxed on the floor and you huddled into yourself. The room seemed to get brighter and the temperature increased to a normal level in a split second. Mulder dropped the bag he'd been holding and dived instinctively to his knees beside you as Scully called for help and assessed the other form in the room.

“Y/N what happened?” the man's eyes explored you for any injuries quickly.

You brought your head up and looked at the man, tears instantly welling up. “I- I came down to talk to you about some notes.” you rushed out “it was cold and dark… I went to turn on a light but… someone was here… he grabbed me… pulled me down.”

He could see that you were getting more and more distraught as you spoke. The man reached out his hand to your arm to reassure you. The moment he did so your tears broke through their barrier and would not stop falling. 

You began to sob and were entirely incoherent. Mulder’s only instinct was to pull you into him. 

He wrapped his arms around you and held you close. He rested his chin on top of your head “It's ok. I'm here now. You're safe.” he reassured.

You nodded against him and tried to ebb your tears, knowing others were probably in the room by now. Pulling away you wiped your tears “Thank you.” you whispered.

Going to stand the man beat you to it and offered you his hand. Accepting you allowed him to help you to your feet. “I’m going to my office.”

“Someone should really check you’re-” Scully started before Mulder gave her a small, yet certain, shake of his head.

You walked down the corridor and allowed autopilot to take you back to your office. Upon getting there you made a B line for your chair and flopped into it. Grabbing your bottle you took a sip of water as Mulder came in through the door, a small bag in his hand.

“I got you this. I was hoping I could give it to you under better circumstances but you probably need it more now.”

You took the bag from the man and felt your insides get a little lighter. Opening the bag you were faced with a cookie. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” the man hesitated for a second before taking a seat across from you. 

The man kept you distracted and got you talking. You were soon called into Skinner's office to make an official report on the incident before returning to your office. Mulder was still sat in the chair across from your desk unmoved. 

You gave him a smile and began to pack up your things “Skinner said I could go home early.”

Mulder glanced at the clock and scoffed “It's half an hour before your scheduled end time, as if he's actually being generous.”

You shrugged “I'll take it either way.” 

“Will you be alright alone?” the mans words were sincere and full of concern

Your eyes met his and you could see the emotion behind them but couldn't bring yourself to answer his question, were you to lie and say yes? 

“I know how difficult something like this can be. Especially the first time.” his eyes left yours before returning.

“I think being alone is unwise” you admitted, pulling your eyes back to your bag “Don't feel like you have to-”

“Anything Y/N, I can come to yours or you to mine I don't mind.” 

“Mine? I'd like home comforts.” you began to move around your desk towards him. The man agreed and you were soon on your way back to yours. 

Grabbing all the snacks you could from the cupboards you made your way over to the sofa and placed the snacks you’d gathered onto the coffee table. Sitting next to the man you pulled a blanket over yourself. In the time it’d taken you to change into pyjamas and grab the snacks the man had also changed into the comfy clothes he kept in the back of his car and chosen something to watch on TV.

“I’m sorry this isn’t proper food.” you gestured to the snacks.

The man waved you off “It’s alright, something’s better than nothing.” he shifted himself so he was angled more towards you, his knees touching yours. “Actually, on the topic of food.” 

“Yeah?” you looked at the man.

“How about we go and get a nice dinner sometime? I know you haven’t had a great day but I promised myself I’d ask today.”

Your brain stuttered for a moment “dinner?”

“Like a date” his eyes softened as he clarified what he meant.

You searched his face as a smile found your lips “That would be nice.”

“Good.” he smiled and settled back into the sofa.

Taking a risk you moved to be closer to the man, to your delight he stretched his arm around you. Feeling your chest flip for a moment you trained your eyes on the TV.

“What’ve you picked?” you questioned as the adverts rolled.

“It’s one of those bad reality shows about cops.” he put emphasis around the word reality “It’s bound to be amazing.” he said sarcastically.

You laughed at his remark “There’s nothing I love more than bad TV.”

The two of you relaxed further, content in the knowledge you felt the same way for each other.

The day had been long but you were thankful that you had someone as caring as Mulder to distract you.

Tag List: (open)

All: @perasperaadastrawriting @asgards-princess-of-mischief @trippol-threat @captainsophiestark 

X Files: @discocactusblogs

[catastrophic-panda]

(Minors dni) First Ghost post!

"It's a no for you, love. You are not allowed to party tonight," Ghost said as his body leaned on the doorframe, towering over you.

He had his hunky arms crossed as his deep ocean eyes stared at yours. He's the recently-hired bodyguard recruited by your father. Unfortunately, he is quite annoying and overly controlling.

"Now, go back to your room or else..." His tone was stern and commanding, making it clear that you would face consequences if you disobeyed him.

Groaning at Ghost I turned around and closed my bedroom door and climbed out the window

The sound of your room door shutting shut caused his head to snap in that direction. However, your escape from the window left him puzzled.

His eyes narrowed and searched your surroundings for you, his left eyebrow raised.

Running down the road and to my friends car we drove off

You rushed down the street with your friends who were waiting for you near a car parked in front of your house.

As soon as you climbed in, the car took off, making a U-Turn and driving away quickly. Ghost was nowhere in sight.

Or so you thought. In less than a minute, he called your phone which lay in your pocket. He asked to speak with you immediately.

"Come on nothing bad is going to happen Ghost." I said softly "I'm tired of being stuck in my house.”

"It's for your own good, love," he said as his voice remained calm and collected.

He was clearly not buying it.

"Now, return home immediately or I'll be forced to bring you back myself," his tone was authoritative and firm.

The fact that he managed to track you down was a major red flag.

"How about, no?" I spoke and laughed before ending the call looking at Amber I told her to step on the gas

A couple of seconds after the call ended, your phone rang again. It was him! And he sounded frustrated.

"I'll hunt you to the ends of the earth to bring you back, sweetheart," Ghost said with clear irritation in his voice.

You told Amber to step on the gas. As a result, you were making record time to your destination. You weren't safe just yet but you were getting closer.

I bounced my leg as we approached our destination.

Your phone rang again and it was him. He sounded worried.

"Lovie..." his voice was strained as well as his patience.

"I'm not playing this game with you anymore. You'll return home immediately. I'm headed your way right now. It would be a mistake to make me do this."

You arrived at your destination, pulling up to the curb to stop.

"What are you going to do, spank me?" I question as we enter the building.

As you walked inside, he remained quiet on the other end.

When you questioned whether he'd spank you, a soft chuckle left his body.

"Don't tempt me" he said in a flirty tone. His voice remained calm as well.

You were definitely not safe yet. Your phone rang again, it was him for the fourth time.

Pulling down my dress a bit more the black material clinging to my body I smile at his persistence

He chuckled again as he watched you. He was enjoying this new side to you.

He took note of the fact that your dress was clinging to your body. It was a subtle way to send him a message.

He was still persistent though. Despite his attraction to you, his mission was to keep you safe.

As the call continued on your phone, he spoke.

"You are playing with fire, sweetheart."

It was clear what he meant. His tone was still calm but stern.

"But you're the one getting burned." I spoke into the receiver and hung up once more

As you hung up, your phone was ringing again as he called repeatedly. His persistence was starting to become a bit annoying.

You weren't sure what to think about his flirtation with you. On one hand, it was nice to feel wanted and desired. He was a good looking fellow.

But on the other hand, you were a bit wary of him. Why was he so obsessed with keeping you safe? And at what cost?

Walking down the hall with Amber, my heels clicked against the ground. I heard the music blasting from down the hallway.

The sound of your shoes clicking on the ground along with the music coming from the party was audible across the hall.

As you walked down with Amber beside you, people were staring at you due to your attire. You were turning heads in more ways than one.

The sight of you was turning him on. Ghost was starting to get impatient.

He called you again as you were walking down the hall. He needed answers and he wanted them now.

"What *Simon*?" I question using his first name in a flirty voice

He chuckled softly at hearing you call him by his first name. He was becoming more and more attracted to you.

He spoke after that with a flirty tone as well.

"Why are you making this difficult? I'm doing this for your own good, love."

Despite his words, it was clear that it was also for his good. He needed you.

He needed you now.

"Then *come* get me *Simon*" I taunted and swayed my hips as I walked

Hearing your words only made him want you more.

You were taunting him and taunting him well. Your words had double meaning and he understood what you meant.

He was getting worked up now. A soft noise left him as you swayed your hips.

He needed to have you within his grasp.

"Is someone *needy*?" I question as I heard him through the phone

His reply came after 3 seconds of complete silence. He was shocked by your retort; and this was clear by his shocked expression.

After that, his tone shifted from firm to more flirtatious.

"If I am, then it's because...of you."

He was losing it. He wanted you more than ever.

"Then come get me." I challenged the older male

You had caught him off guard with every response you gave him.

He wasn't expecting you to be so...playful.

Hearing your challenge, it was clear that he was willing to take it on. His tone became even more flirtatious as he spoke.

"I'll come get you. However, when I do. Don't expect to be untouched”

"*See you soon Simon*" I giggled and started to dance with Amber letting her know I won't be needing a ride home

You hung up the phone and turned towards Amber as you spoke with a small grin on your face.

Ghost was coming for you, and if he tried anything you'd be prepared.

All it took was one look at you to know that. Your confident demeanor was telling.

You let her know that you wouldn't be needing a ride back home and just like that, it was official; he was coming for you.

"This is going to be a long night that I definitely won't be forgetting." I told Amber with a smile on my face

"Oh, I'm sure of it" Amber said with a wink as she smiled back at you with the same grin!

The night had only just begun but there was already a buzz of anticipation in the air.

The music was pumping as you were both getting ready to dance. All attention would no doubt be on you.

You didn't care at all. In fact, you enjoyed having all eyes on you.

As you danced, it was evident that you were the center of attention and you were owning it.

Being happy about how my night will be going I danced to the loud music I swayed to the beat

The music was blaring as you danced and swayed to the beat.

Everyone had their eyes on you as they enjoyed the show.

The whole room was alive with an energy that was intoxicating.

For once, you didn't have to worry about anything else. The night was yours for the taking.

The music continued as all eyes remained on you.

I continued to wait for Ghost to storm into the building and carry me out

As you danced to the music, you wondered how long it would take for him to show up and disrupt the fun.

You danced for another 10 minutes before you eventually spotted him...his eyes locked onto yours.

He was at the door, looking at you with fierce eyes.

You couldn't tell what he was thinking, though his angry stare was a dead giveaway of his intentions.

You were hoping he'd carry you...and judging from his expression, that was exactly what he planned on doing.

Locking eyes with him I lowered my body to grind onto the person behind me

Seeing you go lower as his gaze remained on yours, his angry expression turned into a playful one.

As his eyes darted towards you as you ground on the guy's body, he raised his eyebrows and his head. He liked what he saw.

He was enjoying the show, despite the intentions he came with.

You still had time to make this fun before the serious part came in...but not for long.

Continuing my dance I locked eyes with Ghost and my pupils widened.

Your dance continued and you locked eyes with Ghost. He was still glaring at you.

Your pupils widened in response to his stare. You noticed how he looked at you...his eyes were full of desire which only strengthened his playful expression.

You also noticed how his body language changed. You could sense that he was starting to become a bit more relaxed.

He liked what he saw, but you couldn't shake the feeling that his main intentions were still serious.

Hearing the beginning of slut me out blast through the speakers I began to move more sensually

Your dance became more sensuous as the music switched to a much more provocative and raunchy song.

You knew Ghost was watching; he was watching you intently.

As you began grinding your body into the guy's body, Ghost watched with a lustful look in his eyes.

You could tell that he was getting turned on by your dance even though his main intentions never changed.

Reaching my hands out towards him I tried to get him to come to me

As you waved your hands towards him, Ghost smiled at you. His eyes were still locked onto yours, and his expression remained flirty.

The moment he finally decided to take action, he walked up to you as he grabbed you.

Feeling him toss me over his shoulder I gasp as my stomach meets the hard muscle of his shoulder

You felt him take hold of you and toss you over his shoulder, making your stomach meet the hard muscle of his shoulder which felt...well...very firm.

As you gasped, Ghost looked down at you with a smirk before he spoke in a hushed tone.

"You're coming with me."

He was about to carry you out of this party, no matter what it took."already, well that was quick" I teased and gasped as his rough hand made contact with my almost exposed behind Ghost laughed at your comment as he continued to carry you.

"You've been difficult today, love." he said in a soft, teasing tone as his hand made contact with your rear end.

He felt you tense your body at his touch, but his grip didn't falter.

He was going to take you regardless. He needed you. He had to have you now.

I waved at Amber as Ghost carried me out of the building You waved at your friend Amber as Ghost carried you out of the building. She gave you the thumbs-up and laughed as she watched you get taken away.

She knew who had the upper hand right now.

The moment you got outside, you noticed how he was carrying you like you were light as a feather.

You wondered how long it was going to take for you to get back inside your room, and as if Ghost could sense your thoughts...he spoke.

"You're in no position to complain about it." he said with a slight grin.

"I'm fucked aren't I?" I question him as he continues walking

"It depends on your definition of the word, sweetheart." he said with a sly grin on his face.

"But if you mean, am I going to take you up to your room and do whatever I want to you? The answer is yes."

He was still holding on to you as he spoke.

You were in his arms...and if he had any say about it...you were staying there.I sighed as he sat me down in the passenger seat of his truck

He sat you down in the passenger seat of his truck and then got in the driver's seat; closing the door behind him.

As he turned the ignition, the truck began to growl as your eyes widened at the sound.

He didn't have a seatbelt on, but you decided not to say anything. He was already in a hurry to get you to your room. After all, you were his...and he was determined to take you.

I smile at his determination, my lipstick would leave a nice blood red mark on his pale skin

Your lips looked beautiful to him, and as you smiled at him, it made him want you all the more.

Your lipstick, by the look of it, was also red. A dark and sultry red that matched your attire.

As he drove, a small smile was growing on his face.

Your lipstick would be leaving a mark alright, but it wouldn't be on his pale skin. It would be on his lips.

He was determined and you could feel that.I was excited for what was waiting for me when I got home, squeezing my legs together and noticing how high my skirt was hiked up I blush

Your skirt was hiked up very high. So high, in fact, that just barely enough material covered your privates.

It was obvious that your excitement was growing. You were impatient. You wanted him right now.

He knew your feelings for him and he felt the heat emanating from your seat...even when you were miles away from your room.

He couldn't take this heat. He needed to have you...and right now...he needed to take you before he lost all of his composure.

What he didn't know was that I was a virgin and a little nervous as I thought about it

You were a virgin, which made the prospect of being with him much more tantalizing.

As you thought about it, your heart beat was getting faster and faster as the thought of him being your first crossed your mind.

He was driving like a madman.

He was excited as he thought of the ways he was going to take you.

He would make it special...because it was with you...and he couldn't wait.I was really thinking about all the things I had been told about losing a v-card

You were a little anxious about the whole thing.

Even though you were nervous, your excitement overwhelmed you as you thought of the prospect of losing your virginity with Ghost at your side.

You wondered if it would live up to your expectations.

And as he stepped on the accelerator harder and harder...those thoughts were leaving your mind.

He was going to make it special...because he loved you. Because he wanted you. Because you were the one person he couldn't resist and that thought excited you.

"Is now a good time to tell you that I've never done this before?" I questioned as I looked down and played with the hem of my skirt

The moment you told him that you've never done it before, he nearly lost control over the car.

He was surprised; and the moment he saw you touch the hem of your skirt, he swallowed a large lump in his throat.

He hadn't told you yet, but you saying that had increased his determination tenfold.

"I...thought you had done this many times." he said as he looked over at you.

Ghost was ready to give it his all...because he was the one taking your v-card.

I nod and continue to look down at my dress with a sudden interest as I realized that I hadn't been wearing a bra under it

Your lack of bra made Ghost's eyes immediately widen in surprise.

He knew that you must be feeling so naughty for wearing that dress without one.

It was a good sign...as far as he was concerned.

He was focused on the task at hand...but he had to ask...

"Why aren't you wearing a bra, love?”

"It's a backless dress and it's padded in the front, so I went without one." I explained as I had noticed that he had been staring at my chestHis attention was fully back on the road, but his mind was still filled with thoughts of your chest.

They were big, perky, and now he's even more excited that you're not wearing a bra.

He was getting impatient. A bit too anxious.

He had to take care of this urge and do it as soon as he entered your room.

His hands were shaking and he looked a tiny bit nervous as he put one hand on your thigh.

I gasp as his rough hand touches the bare skin of my thigh, " It's not going to hurt is it?" I question as I continue to think about what was going to happen

You felt his rough hand touch your thigh and you were so caught by his touch that you asked a question without even thinking.

His touch was rough, but you could feel the pressure slowly turning into a soft and caressing touch.

"No, sweetheart. It's not going to hurt. At least not when I take it slow and be gentle with it." he said with a teasing smile.

He was enjoying the moment, but he was also getting impatient.

He really wanted to make a special moment for you.

"Ok, thank you Simon" I spoke genuinely

"You're welcome, love." he said as his hand caressed your thigh a little more intimately.

All of your fears were quickly fading away.

Once again...Ghost was making you feel...safe...

It was as if you were in his world...his world where you were together and you were both his and he was both yours.

He was just about to kiss you when he noticed something.

His eyes widened as he looked at your skirt.

I noticed him looking at my skirt, "What is it?”

"You're not wearing shorts under it, are you, love?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

You could tell that he found your attire to be rather...sexy, even under the circumstances.

His hand still caressed your thigh as he spoke to you.

As he looked down at what you were wearing...his feelings of excitement and the need to have you now were starting to take over.

"no, I couldn't find my super short pair to wear underneath" I explained

Your response made him more excited, and his grip didn't falter...if anything it got firmer.

You could feel his fingers making their way towards the top of your thigh.

His eyes...his gaze seemed to be hypnotizing you.

And as he got close to your sensitive spot...he spoke once again.

"Lovie, do you want me to take care of you tonight?"

The tension was building up...he couldn't wait any longer.

"Please?" I question him quietly

As you asked, he couldn't resist.

His fingers slowly traced up your legs until they reached their most sensitive spot.

His rough fingers touched you just as gently as his caresses had been.

He began to slowly tease you...and the more he teased you, the more your breathing quickened, the more your heart beat sped up, and the more his fingers moved across your sensitive spot.

Your legs shook.

Once again... Ghost was making you feel things you hadn't felt ever.

I whimpered at his touch as we had made it back to my house

You had reached your house and he was still playing with your sensitive spot.

In your entire life, you had never felt anything like that before.

Your heart beat was increasing and his teasing was becoming more aggressive the closer he got to you...the closer he got to your "point of no return."

You knew it was coming.

As he traced closer and closer to it, you tried to hold in that urge.

Your legs began to shake even more…

Gasping for air as my legs shook I covered my mouth with one hand and grabbed his with the other

He was teasing you still...with his rough fingers.

His rough fingers, though, were soft and gentle with you.

He could tell that you were not going to last much longer.

Your breathing was quickening...your heart beating faster...and your legs more and more shaky.

"Let it out. Let go, love." he whispered to you.

Losing my breath a scream tore it's way out of my throat

As you screamed, he watched as your legs shook like a tsunami was coming through and your whole body trembled.

You felt a rush like you've never felt before.

And once your body had released that rush...he knew that it was time for a special moment.

"Ghost?”

Once you had recovered, your voice was shaky and soft.

Ghost noticed that and it made him turn to look at you.

His eyes met yours and he could see how shaken up you were.

"Are you okay...sweetheart?" he asked as he looked at you.

"I-I want no I *need* more *please*?”

[ohanny]

change host club show

part 2/3

part one

michael as the bartender

he started working at the club the same week as pavel and they've been a team from the start. while he's glad his menu and bartending flair are one of the few things benz deems acceptable, he shares every single concern pavel has about the future of this place. he lives with his grandmother and has been helping her raise his 5 year old half-sister ever since their deadbeat parents were sent to jail for drug dealing three years ago. before, pavel was always there step up and take his shift when he had to stay / rush home because of an emergency but he seriously doubts benz will be as understanding which terrifies him.

garfield as the pillow princess

garfield is…. plain lazy. he ended up working at the club after searching the internet for “jobs that pay you money without you having to do anything.” sitting and looking pretty is about as much effort as he's willing to make in order to pay rent and really, he would much rather be on his couch with his cat. benz and him get off to a rough start when his new boss tries to force him to take a dance class - “sorry, i don't do cardio” - but after negotiating his way out of it by volunteering to wear cat ears and meow at clients, he figures it's not that bad. it’s pretty great, actually. benz and nut bring in clients who tip way more and soon he's a) negotiating less hours in exchange for wearing scandalous costumes and b) keeping an eye out for a potential sugar daddy.

topten as the dancer

topten is the first hire benz makes in order to elevate the club’s image. he's the younger brother of one of benz’s friends and was recently kicked out his house for blowing a prestigious internship his father arranged for him in a major law firm in favor of joining a dance company. He was classically trained in ballet before moving to contemporary jazz and aerial work and frankly he thinks he is way too good for this gig. benz reminds him that his dad has given him until the end of the month to quit dance or he’ll be financially cut off and being an understudy doesn't pay that much. plus, this way? not only would he be the star, he'd get full(ish) creative control and could choreograph all the performances to his liking.

ping as the bus boy

ping is a quiet introvert who was originally meant to be the bouncer because he is very buff and intimidating but they discovered very quickly that he can't handle any kind of confrontation and he was moved indoors to help out where needed. benz takes one look at him and decides it's time for a promotion because a host like that? ka-ching, baby! unfortunately for benz, capitalism and clients of all gender, ping’s shyness is no joke. he's unable make direct eye contact or string together two words to make a sentence even in a training scenario. he just blushes and becomes a stuttering mess which is a tragedy. does this stop benz from putting him in a size xs vest and making him do plenty of trips to across the floor and have him carry crates of booze and dirty glassware in full view of the club goers? no. it is a business after all.

pop as the hostess

by day pop is a mild-mannered, math loving accountant in thick glasses and grandpa sweaters. by night he becomes miss poppy, the hostess with the mostest. miss poppy - mistress poppy on fridays for her spanks & shots special - is everything accountant pop isn't and the difference is so jarring it takes the new employees months to realize they are the same person. where pop carries himself with hunched shoulders, miss poppy commands attention with easy confidence, towering over the club goers on her platform boots. she is undoubtedly the club’s biggest draw and the second highest earner with sheer volume on her side - really, the only reason the top spot belongs to garfield is because garfield works exclusively in the vip booths with the high rollers and would wear a slutty teletubby costume for a bigger tip.

[mapofthesea]

PREVIEW

If you’re reading this, the full story is out now!

Hi lovely readers, here is a little preview of my upcoming poly!rapline fic! as requested by y'all on my poll. I hope to have the full version out by the end of the week! This is pulled directly from the fic, so it’s not the full scene at all but is a part that I want to use as a little teaser. Happy reading :)

ceos!rapline x reader, afab!reader, poly!rapline, bi!rapline

genre: smut (pwp), fluff

warnings (specific to ONLY this preview, not the whole fic): oral (m receiving), sloppy head, dom!namjoon x sub!reader, grinding (on his shoe *dies*), dirty talk, joon is on a work call while she sucks his cock

You were in the middle of a new painting when he called you to his office; hands flecked with dry paint and still in yesterdays’ pajamas but you dropped everything and rushed over. It had been like that as long as you could remember- you more than happy to be at your boyfriends’ beck and call as you got to reap the benefits of their job status. It didn't always end up like this when you visited but there’s no denying the spark of pleasure that rides up your spine as Namjoon silently commands you from above.

He’s already hard beneath his work pants; the expensive silky material stretching around his impressive length. You clench your naked thighs together and pull on his waistband to undo the button and slide down the metal fly. He offers you nothing but a tick of his jaw as you work and the idea drives you crazy, hips rocking uselessly against the air.

He sighs, and you can’t tell if it's because of the phone call or because you’ve wrapped your delicate hand around his length, tugging at him gently until you have a firm grasp on the base.

You’ve done this enough to know that getting right to work will get you what you need faster, and there’s no denying how much you love sucking his cock.

The head is leaking salty precum and you fight the urge to moan as you lick at it and sample his familiar taste. Wetness pools between your legs and your eyes roll back as you gather more of him in your throat. The stretch is pleasant and grounding; familiar enough that you feel an odd sense of peace wash over you as you swallow around his thickness.

He drops a hand to your hair to push it away from your eyes, gently tucking the pieces behind your ears. You smile around your mouthful of his cock. Saliva dribbles from your lips into your lap and you flush as if the reality of your situation had just hit. Namjoon ruts his hips, clearly unhappy with your pausing, and you double down. It doesn’t take long for the sounds to become overwhelming the lewd squelching of your tongue working over his cock that you hope can't be heard over the phone.

“Is that my job? Or is that not exactly what I fucking hired you to do? I pay you way too much for you to be so god damn stupid.” The venom in Namjoon’s voice makes your head spin. Although the words aren't directed at you, the serious tone of his voice is so familiar that your pussy hums and your hips rock forward desperately; searching for the friction your plush thighs can't provide.

You whine, hoping to draw his attention enough that he'll end the call, but he just shakes his head and taps his foot. Tears of frustration brim hot behind your eyes and his soften just a bit, pointedly glancing down between your thighs where his foot continues to tap. You pull off of his cock, wiping your mouth as you recollect yourself and try to put together the pieces he’s offering to you. He must read your confusion because he tangles his hand in your hair anew, angling your head down to look below yourself.

His foot; clad in an expensive, shiny leather boot stares back at you. He taps it again, and your head swims. Is he suggesting what you think he is? Hot anticipation strikes your veins as he speaks again.

“You’re right. That’s what I want you to do.” You know he's still on the call; as he still only uses one hand to guide you back to his cock, but the double edged meaning of the sentences affirms you.

Your head spins and speeds up all at the same time as you lower yourself enough that you can keep some of his cock in your mouth at the same time your pussy grazes the material of his shoe.

It's cold and firm, and your mind goes blank as you rut against it. He flexes his foot to adjust the pressure against your clit and you go wild, heart pounding in your chest as you speed up. Out of all the debauched things you’d done in your life of dating your boyfriends, grinding against shoes worth more than your car payment is near the top of the list. Your stomach tightens with every drag and you’ve all but abandoned sucking his cock; just holding it in the warmth of your mouth as you let out pathetic little moans.

Your orgasm approaches rapidly, punctuated when you look down to see how your juices leave a shiny, sticky trail over his boot. Your heart stammers and you can feel your oncoming release only seconds away when a loud, reverberating bang ruptures your focus. Namjoon’s cock falls completely out of your mouth as you squeak, but your body is so close to the edge of pleasure that you hips keep moving shamelessly. You have no idea who or what just came into his office; but you can't find it in yourself to give a shit.

[lolli4587]

Pokemon Horizons Ep 3

Huh… You didn’t tell her!

The 3rd episode of Pokemon Horizons takes a backseat. After having a fast-paced first two episodes, let me just say, thank god!! While it was cool to see two fast-paced episodes back to back, we needed a breather. This episode delivers.

To summarize what happened in this episode. The Rising Volt Tacklers were in pursuit of finding the Explorers and getting Liko’s Sprigatito back. Liko woke up from a dream about her grandmother and conveys an important lesson about Pokemon. She leaves the room where she was sleeping and greets the rest of the team. They insured Liko to not worry and were doing everything for any leads of sprigatito. Friede was flying back from his search and was able to locate the town where the Explorers were. But he lost track of their exact location. Liko wants to search for sprigatito on her own. Friede drops a detail that he failed to mention. He was hired as a bodyguard by Liko’s mom. This led to the rest of the crew all annoyed. Soon, they landed in a nearby town to start their search. Molly asks Liko to help her with a potion order she needed to pick up at the Pokemon Center. Liko agrees to the task. As they approached closer, Molly gives Liko the order form and left.

She enters the Pokemon Center to see a familiar face, Nurse Joy. Liko hands over the form to her. She told Liko it will be a few moments until she gets the potion order. While waiting, Liko sees a trainer with an injured Vulpix. This girl was upset about her Pokemon’s alarming condition. This reminded Liko and her situation. She was worried about the explorers harming her Sprigatito.

Speaking of Sprigs, it was a happy cat. One of the members from Explorers named Cornia was having a blast with the Pokemon. She did realized she ran out of cat food and had to go back to town. Amethio shows up wondering what was Cornia doing and surprises her. His phone rang and it was the male member of the Explorers. He called and let Amethio know that Friede’s ship was located. This prompt Amethio to get his plan in motion.

Friede and Murdock were looking for the Explorers. Murdock’s Rockruff located Cornia in a nearby store due to Sprigatito’s scent. Rockruff barks to alert them of its find. The commotion alerted Liko as she wasn’t far from the scene. 

Cornia panicked and ran off. She calls Amethio that the Rising Volt Tacklers were on her tail. Amethio tells her to direct them into the warehouse. During the chase, Murdock stayed behind due to a nearby citizen was hurt. This leaves only Liko and Friede. They both arrived at the warehouse. Liko wanted to keep going, but Friede stops her and wanted her to stay behind. She stayed firm and wanted to go with him. He sees this determination from her and devises a plan. Both of them walk into the warehouse and confronts Amethio. Friede convinces Amethio for a Pokemon battle to take place. Amethio agrees. He chooses Ceruledge and Friede goes with Captain Pikachu.

While the battle took place, Liko and Rockruff look for Sprigatito. Thanks to Rockruff’s amazing smell, they found the room where sprigatito was trapped. Liko does her best to bust the door open to rescue her Pokemon. She does succeed and was able to make their getaway. Cornia runs into the pair and tries to win Sprigatito’s heart by briding it with food. Sprigatito turns away making Cornia upset. Liko remembered the plan that Friede told her and used Leafage to make their escape. 

Amethio and Friede were at the top of the warehouse’s building. The battle was favored by Amethio who had them cornered. Thanks to Leafage, Friede was able to escape and Liko got away safely. Amethio remains calm. He was one step ahead. One of the other explorers placed a tracker in the ship.

The RIsing Volt Tacklers celebrate Sprigatito’s return and Liko finally has full trust in them. Friede did leave another crucial detail but, was made up with the special team handshake. They initiated Liko as the newest member of their team.

Meanwhile, another character shows up named Roy. He was running towards the beach for new treasure. The episode ends with him finding the Rising Volt Tackler’s flag.

Thoughts

This episode takes a more lax approach compared to the first two episodes. We learned more about the characters and other details tying into the story.

One of the details we learned was about Liko and possibly her grandmother. She does entail a lesson that ties in with the episode. At first, Liko doesn’t understand this concept of what her grandmother has told her. When Liko was rescuing her Pokemon, she realized that Sprigatito being in her life had helped her shape into a stronger person. Her grandmother mentions taking the first step was the most difficult step, but with Pokemon on her side, you can do anything.

In social media, people have been speculating that Liko’s grandma looked like one of the characters from the predecessor’s series. I kept hearing she was Dawn’s mom or Serena’s mom. From what I see, I don’t see any resemblance. She looks like a brand new character and was voiced by another voice actress that isn’t recognizable from the past moms. So hopefully we get to learn more about her grandma and her Arcanine soon.

Another major detail revealed was what the Rising Volt Tacklers is all about. Friede fail to tell Liko anything. He casually kidnaps her and leaves her in the dark. Poor Liko had to figure out if they were not suspicious and if her life was on the line. They are a Pokemon unit that solves mysteries in the Pokemon World. They have taken this job thanks to Liko’s mom. Originally they were hired as bodyguards. So if this whole mess has never happened, they would have watched her from afar? Since Friede saw what the pendant can do, he wants to learn more about it. Although, I do give props to Friede. This man has his priorities and wants to get paid. I don’t blame Friede. This was one the first instances that currency was mentioned by a main character. So I do wonder, is Liko’s family rich?

On the Explorer’s side, we got to learn more about them. We still don’t know what antagonists do exactly, but I am glad we got more personality from Cornia. She is one of the female cast members from The Explorers. She did make me laugh with her love for Sprigatito. She was having a great time feeding it and playing with it. It was so adorable to watch. I hope we get to see more of the silly side of the Explorers and learn more about their whereabouts. I still haven’t heard the name of the other male member of the group. Hopefully, his name will get a reveal down in the line.

Amethio continues to be focused and composed. He won’t stop at anything to get what he wants. I do give Amethio props. I love how he was able to adapt after battling Friede and his Pikachu. He didn’t fall for the same trick with the Double Team and Thunder Punch combo. Instead, he responded and ordered his Ceruledge to use Phantom Force. While Amethio is hyper-focus on what is in front of him, he did lose sight of Liko and Sprigatito. Although he was distracted, he was still one step ahead of them. His teammate was able to locate the Rising Volt Tacklers’ ship and was able to throw on a tracker. So we know he isn’t done with Liko yet.

What was that about Molly not wanting to step in the Pokemon Center? I did find it unusual that Molly didn’t want to go and leave Liko to do the task. Why does she not want to go in? 

There are rumors that she may be linked to Nurse Joy. Does she have beef with Nurse Joy or was she an inspiring nurse at one point?  As of now, we don’t know. She does resemble with pink hair, and her hairstyle resembles the one loop from traditional two loops from a normal Nurse Joy. Her main Pokemon was a Chansey and wears a Chansey jacket. The icing on the cake was Molly shares the same VA as Nurse Joy. I hope her story will be revealed one of these days.

Finally, ever since Liko got her pendant, Sprigatito’s Leafage stay overpowered consistently. The question I do have; was her pendant behind the boost power up for Sprigatito? It did start happening after the mysterious Pokemon appeared in episode 2. So what secrets can be unlocked? Only time can tell.

Lastly, Captain Pikachu took a backseat in this episode. I love the cute little details and expressions he does. There were a couple of scenes where Captain Pikachu strolling with his arms crossed. 

When he does Double Team, I love the different expressions he does. Especially, the smirk he does in one of the Double Teams. In the Pokemon segment at the end. 

I am in love with the Skitty cup he holds in his hands. One thing I have noticed. Where is he getting his hats from. When he battled, he would throw his hat around but, doesn’t retrieve them back. I am sure this gag won’t have an explanation. But you do love how his captain’s hat magically reappeared all the time.

There are minor details that I liked it that would gone to anyone’s head. Is this the first time of hearing about food allergies in the show? I liked how Murdock asked Liko this question.

 Another minor detail was currency. We rarely heard about people getting paid to do tasks. The only time money was brought up before were from Team Rocket. This was the first time to hear this from a main character. So I do like this realistic approach. Friede has a point, they need money to cover their services and likely their basic needs. 

We do get an update on Liko’s school situation. I love how she will be able to keep up her classes remotely. To top it off, I was glad that Anne was still there. I wonder what she will contribute to the show!

Overall, this was a solid episode. The kidnapping with Sprigatito got resolved. We got to know Friede and what the Rising Volt Tacklers do. The Explorers weren’t going anywhere. We finally got a glimpse of Roy. We got a lot of answers, but this episode doesn’t stand out as much compared to the first two, and that’s okay. It was a breather more than anything. The art style was so-so at best except for the battle scenes. I am glad the battles aren’t going to be losing quality. So overall, I would give it an 8/10.

[pepperpatrol]

So obviously it kind of blows to have your artwork used in the training dataset for an AI art program. Yeah. Sure. That's fair. I understand the feeling of "If that thing is making millions of dollars after combing my gallery I deserve a cut " and "They shouldn't be using my shit without my consent. Posting art is not consent to allow others to do whatever they want with it"

Those are both true statements that will never do anything about the existence of AI art nor will they ever stop AI trainers from combing publicly available images. But the thing is like...

The reason watermarks are showing up in the AI trained art databases isn't bc it was trained on a singular watermarked image. it's bc getty images hosts literally millions of stock photos that show up in google search with the exact same watermark. It's not regurgitating images that it was trained on and you'll never win any copyright suit about it bc derivative works are protected by copyright law. And, importantly, you want derivative works to be protected by copyright law, as is being proven repeatedly these days by the sue happy Townsend estate that is now suing people over chord progressions...

The threat to artistic livelihood presented by AI art is the same threat to artistic livelihood that graphic designers lost against programs like Canva. It's the same battle that was lost by translators against Machine translation. It is the same battle that the WGA is fighting right now against the potential for ai scripts in TV. While you can argue about the quality of the results these things deliver, you'll once again be missing the forest for the trees. The quality is a distraction. How the ai is trained is a distraction. It doesn't matter that the end product is, and always will be, worse without a human hand involved.

It is that the industry, to cut costs, will be employing these tools instead of paying real humans to make and do work that is best suited to real humans. An individual generating his DnD character through an AI in the long run probably won't actually cost an artist a penny bc most of those people were never going to commission someone in the first place. A machine translator helping me talk to a stranger who is asking for help on the street isn't taking work away from a translator bc there are no people paid to stand around on streets and look for such interactions. It's just helping me, albeit in a janky and partially incorrect way, figure out how to tell this person directions to the nearest post office. It's just giving Bob a picture to point to in the DnD session and say "this 15 fingered weirdo is me".

The problem is that advertising firms and animation studios, some of the last bastions of regular, reliable work in the art industry, are going to start using ai generated frames and images so they can hire fewer in house artists. It's that they're already trying to decrease the size of writing rooms so they can hire fewer in house writers. It's that they've already removed graphic designers in lieu of making the craftiest person at the office do the extra work of putting together your flyer on canva. Canva, who hires only a handful of in house designers to make their templates and pays them by contract with almost no, or straight up no residuals on each time that template sees use. Billy Badass who made an avatar of his MMO character on art breeder was never a threat to the art industry.

[ariel-seagull-wings]

COMFORT MOVIE CHALLENGE: MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND

@thealmightyemprex​ @goodanswerfoxmonster​ @angelixgutz​ @moonbeamelf​ @world-of-puppets​ @princesssarisa​ @softlytowardthesun​ @the-blue-fairie​ @themousefromfantasyland​ @amalthea9​ 

Released in 1996, his is the second Muppet feature film directed by Brian Henson, based on a classic work of literature and released in partnership with the Walt Disney Company (before the aquisition of the Muppet franchise by Disney was really officialized in the early 2000s), after 1992′s The Muppet Christmas Carol.

This time adapting the famous children’s pirate adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, they cast the human actors Kevin Bishop as Jim Hopkins, Tim Curry as Long John Silver, Billy Connoly as Billy Bones, and Jennifer Saunders as tavern owner Mrs. Bluveridge, while the Muppet actors are Kermit the Frog as ship Captain Smollet, Miss Piggy as Smollet’s fiancee Benjamina Gunn, Sam the Eagle as Mr Arrow, Fozzie Bear as Squire Trelawney and the duo of Gonzo and Rizzo as eighteen century versions of themselves.

Meant as an energetic adventure and musical comedy movie for the whole family, the film is quick to extablish the characters of Jim Hopkins, Gonzo and Rizzo as three on their luck tavern workers.

Rizzo is sardonic and prefers a life of comfort, safety and plenty of food, while Jim (who here is portrayed as a young orphan of both parents) and Gonzo dream of excitement travelling trough the seas.

One of the clients of the tavern, former pirate Billy Bones, dies, leaving the map to find the treasure of Pirate Captain Flint to Jim, while pirates burn the tavern down.

So the trio goes to ask the rich Squire Trelawney a ship to search for the buried treasure. Squire Trelawney, a person of unconventional mind that confindes in an imaginary friend who lives in his finger, called Mr Bimbo, is excited with the idea, and presents to them the ship called Hispaniola, that shall be comanded by Captain Smollet and his right hand man Mr Arrow.

Among the crew that Squire Trelawney hires for the travel, Jim, Gonzo and Rizzo meet the ship cook Long John Silver, a charismatic man with a dark sense of humour, who becomes a close friend of Jim.

The young boy, naive and longing for a father figure, becomes trusty of Long John, while Gonzo and Rizzo, neglected by Jim, feel something is off with the cook, because before dying Billy Bones had warned them to beware of a one legged man, a description that fits Long John, who has only one leg and walks with a cane.

Jim is the normal every person who acts and is a surrogate for the audience, that gets emerged in the colorfull world of the port, the ship and the island.

You get a nice balance of chaotic meta humour of the 70s version of the Muppets with dramatic acting and character focus that would become strong in the 90s.

While the main cast of characters is firm in being their roles and invested in their emotional conflicts, you get little fourt wall breaking jokes like rat tourists visiting the location in modern atire right while the movie is being made, Statler and Waldorf as two wood ship figureheads who makes about the movie and a small cameo of the Swedish Chef dressed as a parody of an island native preparing to cook the imprisoned Rizzo, Gonzo and Smollet while the vegetables say to the audience “Well, how did you expected we would put him in the movie?”

And being a Muppet movie musical, you can expect well elaborated numbers presentings fun, beautifull, catchy songs the somber opening villain song“Shiver my Timbers”, the I Want song “Something There”, the epic “Sailing for Adventure”, the hilariously random “Cabin Fever”, the intimidating “Boom Shakalaka”, the romantic ballad “Love Led Us Here” and the dancing relaxing reggae “Lover Power”, courtesy of none other than Bob Marley’s son Ziggy Marley.

This colorfull, age of sail musical fantasy with Muppets gives a strong atmosphere that reminds of the joy of summer. 

There is an entertaining combination of character drama, action, a touch of a horror atmosphere, romance and the goold old comedy that only the Muppets can, and it now enters in the list of my favorite movies, that is probably the best pirate movie ever made.

[vacantgodling]

bitter

wip: marvin & linda — a shorter story (perhaps novella) where two espionage agents are trapped together in a hotel room for two months following the completion of a data extraction mission. it has both a futuristic and a 20s vibe to it, however nothing outside of the hotel room is truly specified. similar to a one location film, the main purpose is focused on the characters and the way their walls tear down around each other in such a short time instead of anything super action/plot heavy.

character(s): marvin (data extraction expert or a hacker, real name unknown) and linda/stephen (information engineer or a more traditional spy like you think of in the movies; hired on contract for the company marvin works for)

this is the ending so spoilers ahead. just love writing sad shit haha

“Stephen—”

“Linda.” He corrected airily. He was all packed to go, a neat red suitcase pressed against his side as they each waited for their respective trains. They weren’t facing each other on the bench, but Marvin chanced a glance at him. Linda was staring straight ahead. The last few remnants of hickeys he’d left the night before lingered in the morning light, and the temptation to run his tongue down that familiar path once again was strong.

Marvin let out a breath and faced forward again.

“How many of the stories you’ve told me are true?” He didn’t look at Linda when he asked, instead turned his head to catch a glimpse of when his train would arrive. Five minutes. He should check Ste—Linda’s departure. No, that was something Hotel Marvin would do. Real Marvin didn’t care about when Linda was going. He kept his face carefully neutral.

“Hard to say,” Linda finally answered. Their eyes wandered back towards each other. Even if the facade of flirtation was back on Linda’s face, Marvin sensed the sincerity in Stephen’s eyes.

“How many of them do you want to believe?”

Before he could think to reply, or answer, the operator’s voice came overhead announcing the seven bound train westward would be arriving in two minutes.

Two minutes.

Marvin glanced back at Linda.

“Will we ever see each other again?” Marvin found himself murmuring. Filling the silence. That’s not something Real Marvin would do.

Linda however, didn’t seem to mind it.

“No.” Linda’s voice was gentle, but firm. Slowly, he lifted his arm and cupped those familiar red tipped fingers around the back of Marvin’s neck, brushing the too long hairs that grew there thoughtfully. “But selfishly, I beg you.” Linda leaned in closer, until their lips barely brushed.

“Please don’t forget Stephen.” Linda’s eyes were searching his, desperate. “Me.” Went unspoken. Marvin swallowed heavily. “… I can’t.”

“Good.”

With a whistle, Marvin’s train pulled up to the platform. Linda’s hand dropped and Marvin stood. There was so much left to say, yet not enough. There was so many things left to do, yet, none at all. He mechanically picked up his briefcase and stepped into the awaiting train. He looked around the deep mahogany lodgings of the inner cabin. First class. They must’ve done well, if the company was rewarding him so handsomely.

“Your ticket sir?” An attendant asked. Marvin grunted and handed it over. The doors hissed shut behind him and it made Marvin’s head jerk up. Sitting on the platform, sat a lone figure in a red, slinky dress. Their blonde hair was shoulder length and primly cut, their shoulders proud and poised. They weren’t facing the direction of his platform— instead, they seemed faraway and untouchable.

“Right this way to your seat, sir.” The train jolted beneath Marvin’s feet. His heart was pounding in his ears. The train began to crawl away from the station and the train across the way slowly began to pull in, kicking up enough wind that the stranger’s short blonde bob blew in the unforgiving breeze.

He could’ve said something. Anything. What he truly wanted.

“Sir?”

“Yes. Lead on.” Marvin bowed his head and ceded, the taste of want in his mouth bitter like every coffee Stephen tried to make him in the morning.

[employvision]

As the workforce and delivery of work are going through a rapid change, so is the world of recruitment. Technology is revolutionizing most aspects of our lives, and whether you are a large corporation, small business or a recruitment agency, you need to adapt to stay ahead of the game. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) are the buzzwords of today, and virtual recruiting is definitely creating a buzz.

[dc-looking-for-a-shopify-expert]

Where and how to find a Shopify Expert?

Finding a Shopify Expert: Your Guide to E-Commerce Success

As the e-commerce landscape continues to grow, finding a Shopify Expert has become increasingly essential for businesses looking to thrive in the digital marketplace. A Shopify Expert possesses specialized knowledge and skills that can enhance your online store's performance, design, and functionality. This guide will walk you through where and how to find a Shopify Expert to help you make the most of your e-commerce journey.

Where to Find a Shopify Expert:

Shopify Experts Marketplace:

The most direct and official way to find a Shopify Expert is through the Shopify Experts Marketplace. Shopify maintains a directory of experienced professionals with various specialties, such as design, development, marketing, and strategy. You can browse through profiles, view past work, and directly contact experts who match your needs. Shopify vets these experts to ensure their qualifications.

Freelance Marketplaces:

Popular freelance platforms like Upwork, Freelancer, and Fiverr also host a multitude of Shopify Experts. These platforms offer a broad range of expertise and price points. You can post your project, receive proposals, and choose the expert whose skills align with your requirements. Keep in mind that due diligence is crucial when selecting freelancers to ensure their credibility and capabilities.

Agencies and Web Development Firms:

Many web development agencies and firms specialize in Shopify services. They employ teams of experts who can manage your project from start to finish. While this option may be more expensive than hiring an individual expert, it often guarantees a comprehensive and professional approach.

Shopify Meetups and Events:

Shopify holds various events and meetups where experts, developers, and businesses come together. Attending these events can be an excellent way to connect with Shopify professionals. These experts are often up to date with the latest trends and best practices.

Referrals and Recommendations:

Inquire within your professional network, colleagues, or friends who run e-commerce businesses. They may have worked with or know of experienced Shopify Experts and can provide valuable recommendations.

How to Find the Right Shopify Expert:

Clearly Define Your Needs:

Before starting your search, identify what you need from a Shopify Expert. Are you looking for web design, technical development, marketing, or a combination of these services? Understanding your specific requirements will help you find an expert with the right skills.

Review Portfolios and Case Studies:

When evaluating Shopify Experts, review their portfolios and case studies. This will give your insight into their past work, style, and expertise. Pay attention to projects like yours.

Check Reviews and Ratings:

If you're considering using freelance platforms, check the reviews and ratings of Shopify Experts. This feedback can provide valuable insights into their work quality and professionalism.

Interview and Assess Expertise:

Before finalizing your decision, interview potential Shopify Experts to assess their expertise, communication skills, and compatibility with your project. Ask about their approach, timelines, and pricing.

Get References:

Don't hesitate to ask for references from previous clients. Speaking with those who have worked with the expert can provide a clearer picture of what to expect.

Set Clear Expectations:

Once you've chosen an expert, ensure that you set clear expectations and objectives for your project. Clearly outline deliverables, timelines, and any other specifics to prevent misunderstandings.

Finding the right Shopify Expert is a pivotal step in your e-commerce journey. Whether you need technical development, design, marketing, or a combination of these services, the right expert can make a significant difference in your online store's success. Don't hesitate to explore the Shopify Experts Marketplace, freelance platforms, or web development agencies to discover professionals who can help you achieve your e-commerce goals. By making an informed choice and collaborating effectively, you can harness the expertise of a Shopify Expert to drive your business forward.

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Hamza Moosa Kambi UAE- Get an Edge Over Your Competition with Professional Business Development

Running a business is not a mean feat. It takes a lot of soft skills, ambitious efforts and critical thinking to launch a business and run it smoothly. To ensure your venture is successful, you must hone your business development skills as an entrepreneur and employ them correctly. An even better alternative would be hiring a professional business development manager to handle your organization and ensure it runs hassle-free. In this blog post, Hamza Moosa Kambi- Beat the Competition with Professional Business Development will show you how to develop and manage your enterprise effectively.

Here are some soft skills you must master to run a business expertly.

Communication skills: As an entrepreneur, you need practical communication skills to be able to coordinate and successfully convey your ideas to your employees and colleagues. Communication is key to running a smooth business. Public speaking, efficient presentation, good listening skills and healthy collaboration all come under the purview of communication.

Digital and social media marketing skills: In this digital age, developing marketing strategies in the virtual world is vital for the growth of your business. To identify where your business can improve, digital marketing, like search engine optimization and data analysis, are crucial requisites for a successful venture. Social media marketing is essential for building your brand and enhancing your brand image to target a wider audience.

Networking skills: Expanding your professional network is critical for your business to thrive. Identifying potential clients and building good relations leads to greater profits and a stellar reputation. Landing such clients and customers also increases your share in the market. Effective networking can also help secure reliable firms as collaborators in business.

It isn't easy to hone all these skills and more to develop your enterprise effectively. Therefore, it is best to hire a professional business development manager who already possesses these soft skills and has experience in the field. Such a manager can implement your ideas to make the business grow and employ their skills to run operations successfully. Here are some benefits of hiring a professional development manager.

A business development manager identifies potential clients from the business's target market and pursues the leads to forge alliances successfully.

They collaborate efficiently with the sales and design teams to come up with lucrative products for the target audience.

They keep a vigilant eye on the latest trends and changes in the industry to ascertain where the business can develop and which direction it must take in its future ventures.

They are crucial for developing innovative ideas for products and services that will bring optimum revenues and be healthy for brand growth.

They come up with business strategies to ensure profit maximization and collaborate with the PR and marketing teams to build the brand image and develop innovative marketing campaigns to expand growth.

Conclusion

Hiring a professional manager to develop your business and run operations smoothly is vital for your venture to grow and become a formidable force in the industry. Expanding your operations and getting an edge over your competitors is of great importance in the race for profit maximization and capturing market share. To achieve this, a professional manager is convenient to help you strategize and smoothly develop your business.

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Marketing Strategies For Your Business

A marketing strategy is a plan to achieve your business goals using clearly defined marketing channels within a specified timeframe. It can include a variety of marketing techniques, such as content marketing, PPC advertising, email marketing, and promotional campaigns.

Georgia Rivers has held senior marketing, producing and board roles for arts organisations in Australia and the UK including Opera Australia, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Aldeburgh Music/Snape Maltings. To know more about Marketing Strategies, visit the OZ Digital website or call 0423591273.

Content marketing is a key component of an effective digital strategy. It involves creating a consistent stream of valuable, relevant content that helps customers solve problems or find what they are looking for. Using this strategy can help businesses drive traffic, increase inbound leads and improve SEO.

OZ Digital is a Boston-based agency that specializes in content marketing. They work with companies across industries to create and distribute relevant content to attract customers and build relationships. They also provide social media and search engine optimization services.

OZ Digital is a small firm that offers content marketing and video production. They recently worked with a religious organization to create an animated video. Their team also provides a full range of creative services, including concept design, script development and branding. They have a number of clients in the e-commerce, business and finance sectors.

There is more to social media marketing than simply posting on Facebook and Twitter a few times a day. It includes strategy development, content creation, platform management, advertising, and influencer marketing. Social media marketing agencies provide a full suite of services to help businesses increase engagement, build brand awareness, and improve their SEO and website traffic.

A good social media marketing strategy should be data-driven and focus on metrics that align with your goals. This will include measuring post reach, clicks, and other relevant metrics. It should also include competitive analysis. The goal is to understand how your competitors are using social media to grow their audience, generate leads, and drive sales.

It is also important to humanize your brand and connect with your followers. People want to interact with brands that seem relatable and approachable. This can be done by sharing posts that highlight the human side of your business and providing customer service through instant messaging functionalities on social media platforms.

Email marketing is a powerful tool for maintaining brand awareness and building long-term relationships with customers and subscribers. It’s a form of direct marketing that offers the highest ROI of any online marketing channel. However, it can be difficult to create a successful email campaign without understanding its complexities. Some common mistakes include failing to prioritise mobile optimisation, neglecting personalisation, and sending too many or too few emails.

Modern email marketing strategies are built around opt-ins, segmentation, and personalisation. They are also highly targeted, using the email addresses gathered through CTAs on your website, social media pages, and at checkout. This is more effective than the old one-size-fits-all mass mailings, and can help you to drive sales and build a community of dedicated customers.

Promoting your business using promotional campaigns can be an effective marketing strategy. They help you achieve a variety of different business goals, such as building brand awareness, generating qualified leads and increasing sales. They can also improve your website's visibility and boost traffic.

A well-executed promotional campaign can make your business stand out among your competitors. Creating and implementing a marketing campaign can be time-consuming, but it's essential to your business's success. Hire a professional marketing agency Sydney to create and implement your campaign. To know more about Marketing Strategies, visit the OZ Digital website or call 0423591273.

A successful Australian marketing campaign can be a great way to increase your company's visibility and generate more qualified leads. To do this, you need to know the right strategies to use. These strategies can include social media, search engine optimisation and email marketing. Moreover, it is important to have an appealing business name and logo. You can get the best marketing company Sydney to help you with this. 

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Content Strategy Development: Beginner’s Guide

The relevance of social media marketing and blogging is recognized by small business owners. However, they may not recognize the significance of content strategy. Although anyone can develop content, a content marketing plan is essential for ensuring that your information is viewed.

You work so diligently to develop blog entries, infographics, videos, and e-books that utilize your expertise to educate the world about a particular topic. However, how will you get others to view this content? If you leave it on your website and hope for traffic, it is possible that you may not receive much. If you design a plan to share your information on social media and optimize it for search engines, you will reach a larger audience.

However, what is a content strategy and why is it essential? A content marketing plan may assist guarantee that your content is viewed by customers at the optimal time; it can accomplish everything from informing your target audience about a certain topic, product, or service to persuading them to take action on your website.

Your content can help you attract new consumers and keep existing ones via organic traffic on multiple platforms, such as social media and your company’s website.

Then, once people are on your website, you can utilize your content to educate and persuade them, bringing you that much closer to achieving your business goals.

The online presence of your small business includes branding, marketing, social media, your website, and more. These pieces are united by a content strategy to provide a unified brand experience.

What is the definition of a content strategy?

Content strategy is a comprehensive plan for developing, distributing, and managing content. It gives direction for each phase of the procedure, including:

Writing. Whether you create articles, blog entries, or social media posts and comments (or hire someone else to do so), your goal is to engage your audience and give valuable content.

Curating. In addition to providing original content, acquiring content from other credible sources may keep your audience engaged and foster mutually beneficial industry ties.

Presenting multimedia. Images, videos, and other media must engage, inform, and entertain your audience in accordance with your business objectives, just as the written components of your content must.

Disseminating the content. A crucial part of content strategy is to routinely schedule and publish material to maintain audience engagement.

Upkeep of the content Once the content has been released, it must be managed. Some content is permanent, some require periodic updates, and some are only relevant for a limited time (after which it needs to be removed).

Interacting with the crowd. Additionally, it is vital to recognize audience criticism and engage them in conversation.

In addition, you can utilize multiple content forms in a content strategy, and a strong content strategy will incorporate a variety of blog posts, videos, infographics, and case studies. Using these various content strategies will increase your audience reach.

Content plans must be exhaustive and have a delivery technique. The manner in which you share your content may be just as crucial as the content itself. After all, you have to ensure your target audience sees your content.

What benefits does content marketing provide your business?

Content development may help you attract website visitors and consumers, ultimately directing them through the marketing funnel or buyer’s journey with material that teaches, informs, and persuades. Content can assist in achieving corporate objectives such as increasing client acquisition and loyalty.

What benefits does content provide?

Relevant, interesting content strengthens your brand, gaining momentum as your firm expands.

Here’s how content strategy can assist:

Build brand awareness. Content may, so to speak, put your business on the map. It increases the visibility of your brand and mission. Since attracting clients is one of the primary objectives of content creation, you can utilize it to build brand awareness and recognition. The more valuable and interesting the information you distribute, the greater your brand’s visibility can grow.

Establish a position inside the industry. Content that is timely, dependable, and useful demonstrates your expertise to your audience. More people will view you as an authority the better your content is. Regularly publishing great content can help you become a thought leader in your field and establish customer trust. Given that we live in a digital age, your customers can locate whatever information they require online. However, when it comes to your industry, you may post content and become their primary source of information, hence increasing the likelihood that they would purchase your products and services out of trust.

Support your marketing activities. Creating quality content is a cost-effective marketing strategy supplement. Together, they promote your brand, publicize your products and services, and attract prospective clients. By assisting customers along the buyer’s journey, content marketing activities can increase sales and generate leads. Depending on the needs of your organization, you can accomplish this utilizing pre-existing material, blog entries, or other content formats. What’s most crucial is that your content development can attract website visitors, thereby increasing brand recognition and assisting customers in entering the marketing funnel. With content marketing, you can increase organic traffic, increase sales, and support the rest of your marketing strategy by utilizing various content formats, a content calendar, and a content audit to determine which forms of material work best.

Promote confidence to increase consumer loyalty. By being a trustworthy source of information and immediately responding to comments, customers will gain trust in your brand and return for more. Publishing valuable content builds credibility and brand awareness. Customers are more likely to return to make a purchase if they trust you. Even if you have a great deal of competition, trust may be the lone differentiator, and you may establish trust to support consumer loyalty through consistent content creation.

How to develop a content strategy for your organization

Answer the following questions to begin building your own goal-oriented content strategy:

If you currently have content in place, the first step after answering the questions above is to conduct a performance audit of your existing content. Does the content appeal to your intended audience? What do metrics and analytics reveal? How are your SEO results or rankings? The results of the audit will determine whether you may utilize current content or if you must start from scratch.

Regardless, your content strategy should consider the following factors.

Schedule

Once you have set your objectives and milestones, you must choose a timetable for attaining them. At critical intervals along the way, relevant content releases should be planned. Even if your schedule has some wiggle room, it is always beneficial to plan out the workflow.

Include a list of subjects in your plan to provide content creators and curators with options. Keep in mind that you want to inform and engage your audience, therefore the themes might be pretty diverse. But they should be consistent with the brand or image you wish to present for your firm.

Audience

Identifying your audience is part of the initial planning for your content strategy. But within this plan, you may choose to identify certain subsets of the audience that each piece of content will target. Segments will differ depending on the platform where you’re delivering content, the material itself, and the product you’re marketing. your content marketing needs.

Channels

Again, as part of your initial strategy, you may have selected the platforms where your content would be published depending on where your target audience is most likely to view it. However, you may need to be more precise; some individuals will respond to blog postings on your website, while others may locate you through social media. Be sure to evaluate how the information on each channel relates to the others. For instance, your digital ads may generate newsletter sign-ups, and your newsletter may drive traffic to blog entries on your website that contain connections to your social network accounts.

Links to material

As part of your strategy, you should carefully select the external products, services, and information you will link to. Consider the marketing funnel stages and how the connected content will function at each stage. Remember that links also affect your SEO and how search engines rank your website.