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sullustangin · 3 years ago

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SWTOR Secret Santa 2021

This is a Secret Santa gift fic for @empire-at-war! Request was for a fic with their OCs potentially with my OCs and/or a Christmas theme (and nothing like the old draft of your post going up before the polished one!)

Vic Greydon, Shavi, and Ayessha all belong to @empire-at-war

Eva and Gronn belong to @sullustangin (me).

Rating: PG-13+ for lots of swearing and the ending.

Makeb, 3638 BBY/14 ATC

“In or out, Greydon, what’s it gonna be?” The lady called Risha demanded a response from him, the dealer’s deck in her hand.

The hulking man pointedly ignored her, snuck a peek at his cards again, and resumed his vigil over the cards face-up on the pazaak table. Kriff. Gronn had said he knew a girl with a game, but unlike other establishments, they weren’t cutting his alcohol off and the women running the game didn’t scare easy.

This made it impossible end the game early because he couldn’t get kicked out of the bar or intimidate the other players. It was impossible to win, because the liquor was seemingly never-ending.

The dealer tried to spur Vic onward – or at least stir some sort of response from the taciturn bounty hunter. “Do they teach counting up to 20 where you’re from, or did you attend the same esteemed institutions as Corso?”

“Hey.” Corso sent a sharp glare Risha’s way. “Dealer’s meant to be neutral – don’t go antagonizin’ players.”

The Captain scoffed, further down the table. “That’s a 23-point word, Riggs. You must have a peach of a hand.”

Corso’s eyes went huge, and he hissed, ��Aay-vaaaa, quiet.”

“Don’t need your help, lady,” Vic Greydon said, without an ounce of agitation. Calmly, he tapped to signal Risha for a card.

A 3. He didn’t bust. He stayed in. The bug zapper went off over their heads as they lounged out the back of Virtue’s Thief, the name of the ship. Vic thought it was funny when he first heard it, and now it was hilarious, four or five drinks in.

Vic did feel he was like he was playing in a daycare, though. These smugglers – kids. He was … shit, over 40 now? That was considered ancient for hunters and smugglers alike. The captain – Eva some-weird-ass-last-name -- looked like she was half his age. Corso and Risha didn’t look much older. Corso wasn’t too young for Vic, but he had waaaay too many hang-ups. Vic didn’t have time for that nonsense.

The next card that Risha dealt to Eva put her over; she played her final card from her personal deck and hit 20 on the dot, no pause for counting required. Her wrist comm buzzed as she sipped her gin and tonic. Vic thought that was hilarious too – young kid drinking some old soak’s drink. She checked the sender and kicked back from the table to send her response.

It was half-way through the next round that a familiar jetpack flew overhead and then set itself down a safe distance from the ship. Within thirty seconds, a shuttle set itself down. Vic, despite another drink down his gullet, tried to square himself up at the table.

The Grand Champion of the Great Hunt had arrived, and that fucker stood over seven foot tall in his armor. He was one of the few humans or near-humans that was actually bigger than Vic.

“Evita?” he called out in his raspy voice toward the ship captain.

“Don’t tell me you brought the problem with you.” Eva got up from her seat and the game and went to meet Gronn a ways away from the ship. “I swear on the entire planet of Corellia, Gronn –”

At that moment, Eva’s Mando – Akaavi of Clan Spar, she’d haughtily told him (as if he gave a shit) – came down the gangplank with her dinner: a large bowl of soup that… actually smelled fan-fucking-tastic to Vic, even with all the alcohol. He’d have to talk to the Wookiee in the galley. After this hand. Or at least after this drink.

Minus the soup, fresh script was the only reason Vic was happy to see Akaavi, especially when the fucking Grand Champion took a step back from her. She was not to be messed with. “I—ok, I’ll be blunt: I fucked up.”

Vic shotgunned the last of his liquor and rapped the table for another. Corso supplied.

Akaavi glared at Gronn then sat herself down at the table on the far side of Corso. She refocused her attention on her soup. “He says this as if it’s news.”

Gronn sighed. “You know Clan Dakari?” Eva swiveled to look at Akaavi and her answer.

Akaavi’s spoon stopped in mid-motion. “No, I have not hunted with them, but I am aware of their skills. The finest Akk dogs in the galaxy are bred and raised by them.” Akaavi put down her utensil.

That distantly rang a bell in Vic’s mind. That, or it was an over-tuned speeder.

Gronn’s helmet bobbed, its rill bouncing the lights from the ship off it. “I’m friends with one of them – Ayessha.”

The bell?/speeder? got louder. “Togruta. Great akk dog breeder, right?” Vic dredged his memory.

“Got two big beautiful animals with her right now, and I said to her, ‘the terrain on Makeb would make for a good training test.’ So she’s here right now.” Gronn gestured over toward the shuttle, where a door was opening.

Eva put her hands on her hips. “This another hot broad in the galaxy that needs you to play hero?”

Gronn shook his head, and Vic could practically hear the walnut rattling around in there. “No. It’s Shavi that needs my help this time, because he didn’t tell me he was coming to Makeb until fifteen minutes ago.”

“Your damsels in distress have diversified to include men?” Eva eyed Gronn around her gin glass. “Seriously, you’re a magnet for sob stories – ”

Gronn waved his hand. “No, not a sob story this time. This is a – meeting, a crossroads of three people’s bad luck right now, and it’s going to happen here.”

Eva’s jaw locked. “Why here?”

Gronn, completely encased in his armor, made no noise minus the rasp of his respirator. He went still, like an Alderaanian deer caught in the headlights.

“ …because I’m getting the impression that you mean my ship.” Eva turned to address Akaavi. “Are you getting that impression?”

“Yes. He needs to start talking about relevant, useful things.” It was at that point that Akaavi shifted her grip on her eating utensil and got up from her dinner.

Since their first meeting a few weeks ago at the card game, Vic had started to wonder whether Akaavi could kill someone with a spoon, and it looked like he was about to find out.

Gronn seemed to have the same realization, and he started to speak, rapid-fire. “Shavi is a … uh… smug, I guess. He’s running blasters right now, but he used to do bounty jobs with an old friend. Miss her. Anyway, he needed to offload, and I tipped him off about Makeb – Imps will buy them to make sure they have a supply to control the planet now that the Pubs are evaccing –”

A voice pierced the darkness on the far side of the ship, where the sunlight had already disappeared. “Gronn, you didn’t tell the game was run by gorgeous ladies –”

“YOU!” The voice was as a thunderclap, and if there were gods, Vic imagined they sounded like her when enraged.

“You idiot, hide!” Gronn charged toward the voice in the dark, smacking his forehead right into the underbelly of Virtue’s Thief. His head snapped back, but his legs kept him moving “Kriff, she’s already here.”

Moving swiftly, the Togruta woman – over six feet tall in her armor – ran across the mesa as Makeb’s sun began its final descent. At her side were two akks, long as speeders. Their tails swished as they sensed their mistress’s ire.

Vic’s pickled mind conjured up some sort of poetic idea of a moon-huntress with her companions, but what came out of his mouth was “I hate dogs. But you’re awesome.”

With a sharp cry, Ayessha let the akk dogs charge out into darkness. For a split second they disappeared –

-- and then they came charging back through in hot pursuit of a male Chiss, who was cursing at them as he ran. Gronn clanked back toward the card table to try to keep an eye this awful race.

On the first pass in front of the pazaak table, Risha dryly commented, “I think the dogs are bigger than he is.”

“I heard that! Where do you get off – when I’m running for my life – ” His retort was pre-empted by a “Baay Shfat!” aimed the sky as he kept moving.

“What the hell did he do?” Akaavi asked Gronn, crossing her arms.

“He sold her a shit ship,” Gronn answered dejectedly.

“Oh, in that case, let him die.” Eva rattled the ice in her now-empty glass and began to hike up the gangplank to the galley.

“WHAT!” yelled Shavi. “GRONN, YOU BROUGHT ME HERE TO DIE, YOU COCKSUCKER.”

“Dinner and a show. Nice. Get me some of that soup?” Vic snared a piece of his Imp-issued script between his two fore-fingers and held it out to Eva. She waved it off.

And here was the reason Vic played here – the free food. Hell yeah, even with the iron-jawed broads running the show and the non-stop liquor --- wait, why did he ever think that was bad?

Vic put his script back into his pile and noticed it was smaller than when he started. Oh, yeah, that’s why.

“Eva –” Gronn stretched to his full wingspan to latch onto Eva’s arm and prevent her from going inside her ship.

Vic shook his head, then he laugh-snorted. “I want more alcohol and snacks to watch this. Normally, they only put this kind of thing on pay-per-view.”

Corso made a “pfffft” noise and got up from the table to address Gronn. “The hell you thinking bringing trouble here?”

Gronn gestured helplessly – which was a hell of an achievement for a seven-foot-tall fucker. “I thought I could get Shavi on and off the planet faster than Ayessha could figure out he was here. I was gonna introduce her to Akaavi and Eva to distract her – she’s tight with her dad like they were with theirs, and reads novels like Eva does and –”

“You thought we could sit here and braid each other’s hair too?” Akaavi snapped.

Gronn tilted his head to the side. “No, two of you don’t have hair.”

Eva facepalmed, and Vic cackled as Akaavi’s green eyes narrowed. “You are so, so stupid,” spat the Zabrak.

“Don’t break your hand on his head. I know, it’s tempting. I’ve done things that hurt worse, but a fist off beskar ain’t a walk in the park either,” Vic said as he kicked up his feet on the table to watch Shavi make another mad dash across the mesa. “Anyone want to bet how long he lasts? Or which dog finally gets him?”

~~~~~

Gronn had awful taste in friends, herself included. That was Eva’s conclusion on the matter.

Risha gave Shavi a cursory glance as he ran past again. “Seven minutes. The bitch. The stud isn’t pacing himself.” She laughed, darkly, at her double entendre as she turned to look up at Eva.

Yeah, she had a point. He was nice to look at, and he was in decent enough shape to survive to this point.

“I’ll give him another five. Also on the bitch.” Risha and Vic slid script to the center of the table and watched Shavi run for the rest of his short, little life.

A low, rumbling noise drew Eva’s attention. That wasn’t unusual on Makeb, honestly; the Imps were still putting effort into making the planet look like it was about to fall apart. …but there was something different about this earthly groan.

At that moment, Guss popped over the horizon. Eva vaguely remembered him mentioning going out to do something, but the liquor and the card game made her forget why and what. Something had him excited – yelling and screaming and – oh, he was running to the ship – because --?

The akk dogs finally caught up to Shavi, and one had latched on to his arm, the other his leg, in a perfectly executed take-down maneuver.

A near-deafening crack erupted, and a subteroth broke through the hill behind Guss, setting off the perimeter alarms of Virtue’s Thief.

“Ah SHIT.” Vic, despite his size, was quick to his feet and reaching for the arms he’d checked at the door.

Eva froze for a second, staring at the gin glass in her hand before chucking it over the side of the gangplank, nearly hitting Corso (‘goddamn!’). She skittered toward her own holster, which she’d left with her jacket on the back of her chair. Corso had already turned up his chair and had dropped to his knees for cover. She heard Bowdaar charging down the gangplank, his bowcaster in hand.

Risha was on her feet and backpedalling up the gangplank as Gronn grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her behind him and out of Bowdaar’s way. Then he set up position with his rifle. Akaavi was already taking point, her soup forgotten --

“No! Don’t fire!”

Ayessha let out a sharp whistle, but her dogs didn’t heed her.

The akks had already changed course and were headed straight for the subteroth.

Ayessha unholstered her blaster, trying to wait for her shot.

Akk dogs were good hunters and great companions, but subteroths were decidedly out of their typical prey category. (Hell, Eva didn’t even know if their exoskeleton was permeable by teeth; she’d always aimed for the red, fleshy bits that poked out in between the plates.)

The stud akk leapt at the subteroth, even as Ayessha desperately commanded him not to. Eva’s hand instinctively went up, silently ordering her crew to hold fire. Crew or not, everyone near the ship did as she directed.

With one heavy swing of the subteroth’s jagged arm, the poor animal was sent flying, his belly slit open.

Just as the creature turned around to grab at the bitch, before anyone near the ship could fire, a single bolt arced through the air and hit the subteroth right through the narrow slot that exposed the electromagnetic crest of the creature.

With a horrific shriek, the subteroth was effectively blinded, and the bitch was smart enough to finally heed her mistress. Once the remaining akk dog was out of range, the bombardment of fire began. Blasters, rifles, bowcasters, and one incendiary grenade Guss had “just in case.”

By the end of it all, the subteroth was a burned-out shell, smoldering from within as it hit the ground.

Vic lowered his blaster, then gave the thing one last shot before approaching. “This place has enough weird creepy crawlies without that kriffing thing coming up out of the dirt.” Vic nudged the creature with his boot, then used the long muzzle of his blaster to take a good look at the back of its head. He let out a low whistle. “Nice shot.”

Gronn shouldered his rifle and walked toward him. “Wasn’t you?”

“Nah.”

“Me. I did it. I’m the man of the hour.” Shavi shoved himself to his feet, and Eva could see his blaster’s barrel still orange-hot from his contribution to the night. As she replayed the critical shot in her head, his was the only angle it could have come from.

“Wait. You were armed the entire time. Why didn’t you shoot at the dogs?” Eva asked as she holstered her blaster.

Shavi blew a few strands of his blue-black hair up out of his face. “I kill a dog, she kills me. Or if I kill her, Clan Dakari kills me. Shit quality of life either way. Figured I could do or say … something. Not that.” He gestured at the dead creature. “But something.” He flashed an exceptionally charming smile at her. “What can I say? I know how to deliver.”

Before Eva could volley back with an “I hope you do,” Ayessha knelt by her injured companion, shushing him as she started triage. “He’ll live. May I use your medical bay?”

Eva nodded. “Yeah.” Gronn gave her a nudge from behind, and she glared at him. “My associate wants to know if you can call it even for Shavi – you don’t kill him if you cross paths again.”

Shavi’s heavy breathing stopped, immediately, probably biting his tongue hard in order to keep his yap shut.

Ayessha glared at Shavi, but the whimper of her akk dog stole her attention away. “Yes. Fine.”

In the trace light from Virtue’s Thief, Eva could see the worry etched into the Togruta’s face. “Uh… listen. I get that they’re like your kids… stay on the ship with them. Akaavi can set you up with some reading material while you wait for the kolto and stuff to its job….” Eva gave Shavi a once-over. “You got basic medical facilities on your ship?”

“Yeah. I’m not dumb enough to go in there with her, so yeah, I’m heading back to my ship.” Shavi’s gaze shifted slightly from Eva to Risha, who had decided to insert herself into the situation. “Would … one of you like to help me get some of those bite marks on my back? Or both of you?”

Eva and Risha exchanged a look and they decided to settle this the usual way: lizard-toad-snake, best of out of three.

Eva won.

Gronn grunted, disapprovingly.

Eva shook a finger at him. “Hey, you brought trouble to my ship – I’m taking it away.”

As Ayessha moved up the gangplank with Akaavi, Bowwdar carefully picked up the injured akk and huffed at him, telling him he was a good, brave warrior. He just had to be wiser next time. But he was still a good boy.

The remaing akk dog paced around the bottom of the ship, impatient for her lady’s return already. Ayessha hushed her as she moved away, reassuring the bitch that she would return with her mate. She just had to be good.

Eva grabbed her jacket from her chair, stole and swallowed down the rest of Vic’s drink, and placed the empty glass on the table. “Let’s go.”

Vic realized the game was over. “Ok, she gets her puppy fixed, he gets you. What do I get?”

Corso gave Eva a whistle, and she took the hint and activated a switch on her comm link. “You and Corso and Guss can console yourself with one of the hidden caches on Virtue’s Thief. Think there’s a bottle of twelve-year-old scotch with your name on. Corso knows where it is.”

Shavi’s red eyes blinked a few times. “You’re coming with,” he said, almost in disbelief. His bravado only lapsed for a second before that mouth picked up speed again. “I’m glad you could see that –”

Eva wheeled around and grabbed him by his coat collar. “You’re a piece of drekk, but you’re a great shot and cute when you’re quiet. Move.”

Eva only looked back toward her ship once. She saw Gronn standing alone there. She turned and continued the walk with Shavi. Gronn would be here when she got back.

The Chiss inevitably started to run his mouth once they got off his speeder. He probably didn’t want to compete with the volume. “So, captain of your own ship. Just bought this one on my own. All paid off, all mine. Not big like yours – little jump job. Works for my type of business, plus I can take care of myself and a couple of friends in there – as you’ll see.”

When they reached the doors of the smaller freighter, Eva grabbed the hatch and blocked his path in. “We may not be on my ship, but I still got rules.”

Shavi’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Oh?” He watched, intrigued, as Eva knelt down to untied her boots.

“I come first. You wrap it. You don’t darken my doorstep with your problems, ever again.”

As her boots hit the earth, Shavi’s hand popped the hatch open. “And what concession do I get?”

Eva checked a laugh, a tight ‘heh’ emerging into the dusk. “You’re not the only one who wears lifts around here… I’ll let you keep your boots on.”

Eva rose to her full, natural height… and she still had to look up at Shavi.

He liked that.

~~~~~

Hope this was in-character and up to your standards, @empire-at-war. Let me know if you want any changes/corrections/etc -- it’s your gift, so you call the shots! :) Happy Holidays!

@chokit-pyrus

#swtor #swtor fan fiction #2021swtorss #empire-at-war #vic greydon #shavi #ayessha #oc: eva corolastor #oc: gronn #akaavi spar #corso riggs #risha drayen #makeb

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empire-at-war · 5 years ago

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KotFE/KotET Headcanon Time

Tagged by @kaosstar 1. Starting with basics. Who is your Outlander (which class, what their aligment)? How did they end up being frozen in carbonite for 5 years? Why did you make them the Outlander?

I don’t really have a canon Outlander either, but I did play the story with Starv (IA), Varlock(Sith) and Silvass/Var’lin (Jedi) and consider it kind of an AU for them.

2. Now, to the rest of classes. What happens to them during KotFE/ET? Did they know the Outlander? Were they allies, enemies, family? Do they join the Alliance or have something else to do? Do they play a major or a minor role in the story? Spare no detail (if you wish, of course)

Vic doesn’t really care what happens to the Republic or Empire, he’d continue to work for whomever paid the most. I have thought a lot about what Kaliko would do (if KOTFE/KOTET were canon for her). Re-join the Republic? i’m pretty sure she would at least use her ressources to fight against Zakuul, if not outright join the Alliance.

3. What about companions? Do you follow their in-game story or have headcanons for them? Did they stay with your non-Outlander characters or not? Why?

I love most of the SWTOR companions, but the only one that is vaguely canon is Mako who worked as Vic’s pilot for a while.

4. If applicable: how your characters react if the Alliance joins the opposite faction on Iokath and after that? For example: how do Sith characters feel about joining the Republic? Will they stay or leave (if it’s too spoiler-ish, then feel free to skip this)?

Apart from my underworld characters (Vic, Tal, Shavi) I don’t think any of my characters would stand for it. The big exception is Var’lin, who is currently my only full saboteur playthrough.

5. If applicable: if your Commander decides to be a saboteur, would they tell anyone (PC or companions)? Why/why not?

Speaking of Var’lin: I hope he’s smart enough not to tell anyone, but I guess it would be quite easy for certain people to get that info out of him (Hel, Banshee).

#kotfe #kotet #thank you for the ask #kaosstar

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waitingformessages · 5 years ago

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Pass the happy! 🌻🌈 List 5 things that make you happy and send this to 10 of the last people in your notifications.

I was tagged by @x-shavy-x (thank you x)

God I have to think of things ah

1) My cats. They love to cuddle and it makes me happy

2) I guess playing video games(???).

3) My favourite characters always make me happy

4) Currently TikTok makes me happy and whenever my favourite cosplayers make content

5) due to lockdown my family is interacting a bit more by playing games together and it makes me happy.

For those I tag please don't feel pressured to do it and if you want to do and I haven't tagged you feel free to do it.

I tag - @ishizusv @thirstyvolleyballhoe @achillmango @jossea-mysme @fricking-ghoul @twurg @mxsticmess @miissmichaeliis @ask-the-mystic-messenger @muntax

#tagging game

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andy-loves-corgis · 6 years ago

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All of The Lights - Ch 4 (TRR AU)

Book: The Royal Romance

Pairing: well, now just the dysfunctional Rileyx Liam and the awful Liam x Madeleine

Rating: PG

Word count: ~ 3,300

Notes: I’m so sorry and I hated this chapter, that’s all I can say. Thanks, whoever is still here ♥️

WARNING: Read the Prologue! Every chapter has TWO timelines, Before (about a year before the Prologue) and After (two years after the prologue), if you don’t pay attention to that you might get confused!

Fast cars, shooting stars

BEFORE

Drake stretched his fingers absentmindedly, after a week immobilized he decided upon taking the gauze off and though a little sore, they seemed to have healed perfectly.

“What in the seven hells?!”

Liam was horrified, Drake could see by his contorted face looking outside the tinted windows of the limo.

Looking like every bit of a Cordonian Sweetheart, Riley stood in front of the press, half of her chocolate locks now a deep shade of red, some blonde spots seen between the brown and the red, redder than Liam’s livid face.

“I’m telling you, Drake. She has a very unique way of driving me insane” Liam said burying his face in his hands.

“I think it suits her” Drake tried to control the smirk in his lips.

Yes, Riley had her own way of bringing hell to Liam, or basically anyone who crossed her way. He knew she had been stressing over her broken ankle and not being able to care for herself, whether dying her hair herself or painting an entire wall of her home, she would always find a way to express her need of change.

Leaving the limo with a now very composed Liam, Drake spotted another livid individual, Madeleine’s nostrils flared under her perfectly done makeup, of course she would hate to divide the spotlight with Riley.

The press went wild as Liam walked to Riley, pressing a chaste kiss on her cheek, and whispering something on her ear that made her face fall as he turned smiling to the camera.

That’s none of your business

He just walked away from the frenzy of the crowd, who had just spotted Leo, poor guy, Leo was suffering so much he even lost weight, which could be completely related to his drinking habits and whole-night sex with his maids. The future king was doing anything to forget that he would soon to be married to one of those uptight bland women or worse... Madeleine.

On the far corner, next to the boats, Drake found his father’s pupil, looking as tired as someone could be.

“You look like shit, Bastien” Drake laughed, standing beside his only living father figure.

“Every night with Leo takes a week out of my life span” Bastien whispered.

Drake tried unsuccessfully suppress a laugh.

Looking at all the nobles in their exclusive designer clothes gathering around the harbor just to see those girls who never tied a knot in their life, Drake felt glad for living in the invisible sidelines, he always thought that he preferred the snarky comments and side outraged glances than the fake smiles and sugar-coated condescending words.

“I hate those stuff, how to you manage to survive to every one of these things?” Drake sighed as soon as the boats sailed. “It’s just so boring.”

“It’s just work, it’s not every time that we are breathing on some terrorists neck” Bastien simply said. “Sometimes you are in Bósnia-Herzegovina at 04:23 am to pick up a drunk heir to the throne.”

Drake snorted again, excusing himself to get some water.

“No, Liam, YOUR problem is that I didn’t tell you I was going to dye MY hair!” It was undoubtedly Riley’s voice behind the drink station.

“Well, if you wanted so much to look like Olivia, you should’ve dyed it all” Drake could almost picture Liam’s smirk, knowing he’d hit a soft spot.

“EXCUSE ME?!”

Drake cleared his throat and the voices turned to angry whispers, until he heard hard steps towards the Riva, Liam appeared chewing the insides of his cheeks and adjusting the collar of the shirt under his sweater, barely throwing a second glance at Drake.

The commoner made his way to the secluded place where Riley stood leaning on a fence massaging her temples.

He was about to greet her when they heard the cheering voices of the crowd.

“Shit!” Riley exclaimed.

Even though what unfolded in front of him wasn’t anything new, every time Drake saw Riley inhaling deeply before putting the most dazzling smile on her face, he was amazed - saddened to the core, but amazed nonetheless.

“Oh hi!” She said in a cheerful tone, if Drake hadn’t grown up with her, he might have believed she was happy. “Mind to help?”

One of her crutches had fallen to the ground and Drake quickly lowered himself to get it, he noticed her swollen calves and a crease formed in his eyebrows.

“Thanks” she smiled and left walking like with her head held high.

Sometimes he couldn’t understand what it took to be like that, to live like that.

Madeleine won, obviously, as if she hadn’t paid Nick Thompson to sail for her, but in the end, it was all power games during social season.

Imagine a dozen of the most well-crafted women of the kingdom, they were molded since they were able to walk to sit still, look pretty, pour tea and to think like true strategist.

No, Cordonian court wasn’t a complete sexist place, of course as in any patriarchal society men would have the upper hand on the ladder to success, but women were always behind that.

Drake watched as Madeleine hugged Riley while the other suitors clapped, those sweet smiles only hiding their next step.

“Do you like whiskey?” He heard Liam’s voice next to him.

“Was that even supposed to sound like a question?” Drake rose an eyebrow to his best friend.

“Hope McCallan isn’t too cheap for you” Liam’s smirk grew.

“Liam, every time you come up with the whiskey talk it’s because you’re gonna ask me to do something I don’t wanna do... what is it?”

Liam cleared his throat but kept the smirk

“Well, there’s whiskey... in Olivia’s yacht”

The prospect of that night becoming a huge nightmare has shifted to 112%.

“Please...?” Liam gave him a forced smile.

Gathering all the force he still had, Drake just nodded, rubbing his eyes to avoid the scowl.

Well, at least there will be whiskey.

Olivia’s yacht was big enough for a family of four to live comfortably, but oddly enough she gathered her guests on the small deck by the jacuzzi.

The sun was setting and they were a swimming distance from the shore, but the view was still a breathtaking, sipping from his whiskey, Drake noticed that Riley was focused on another view.

By the jacuzzi Liam laughed with Olivia, their elbows touching as they sat side by side in the hot water. To any spectator the scene unfolding would look as friends having a good time together, but to anyone who knew that little love triangle, it was way more than that.

York: I’m about to throw myself in the waters.

He tried not to laugh at the message on his phone, Riley was known for being dramatic, so he casually walked to the jacuzzi, under Kiara’s blushing gaze and Olivia’s scowl.

“Hey” he squatted next to Liam. “I don’t think Riley is feeling well, I’ll take her back okay?”

Liam’s knitted his eyebrows puzzled.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“She’s feeling nauseous” Drake came up with the first excuse he could think of.

“Oh, well...”

“Leighton can take them to the shore, Li” Olivia interjected without looking at Drake.

“See you at the palace” Drake taped Liam’s shoulder, wetting his hand in the process.

He walked between the crowd, their champagne glasses glinting on the fading sun.

“Let’s get out of here, York” he looked at his miserable friend.

“Thank God” she answered grabbing his hand for support.

It was a short way to the shore and they made their way in silence as droplets of sea water splashed on their faces.

Drake helped her hop on his truck and finally felt at ease feeling Riley get comfortable turning the radio on.

Night fell as the black truck made its way through the woods near the palace where a clearing welcome then along with a smirk Riley couldn’t suppress.

“And I thought you were just going to leave me alone in my room to scroll through Twitter” she laughed as he helped her out of the car and proceeded to open the pick up truck bed where some pillows and covers awaited them.

“I got your back, York” he smiled as she got cozy on the pillows and he pulled his guitar.

After a minute of only the soft melody he was playing and the wind hushing on tree leaves she turned to him.

“Sing something”

He gave it a little thought, slowly striking the chords before he decided.

I wanna be drunk when I wake up

On the right side of the wrong bed

And never an excuse I made up

Tell you the truth I hate

What didn't kill me,

It never made me stronger at all

Love will scar your make up

Lips sticks to me, so now I maybe lean back there

I'm sat here wishing I was sober

I know I'll never hold you like I used to

But a house gets cold when you cut the heating

Without you to hold I'll be freezing

Can't rely on my heart to beat in

'Cause you take parts of it every evening

Take words out of my mouth just from breathing

Replace with phrases like 'when you leaving me? '

Should I? Should I?

Maybe I'll get drunk again

I'll be drunk again, I'll be drunk again

To feel a little love

“That’s beautiful... and sad. You should really start playing it somewhere” her small voice filled the silence. “Is it about Erika?”

Drake shrugged.

“I guess it was when I first thought about it”

“You never told me why you two broke up” she propped herself on her elbows.

“It just didn’t work out”

“Well, I never liked her” Riley laughed.

“You never liked any of my girlfriends, York” he threw a pillow at her.

“Hey! I’ll like her when it’s the right one okay?”

“Yeah, now shut up and look up” he adjusted himself next to her.

He heard her soft gasp at the sight of the falling stars, as if she was the same 10-year-old girl he brought there along with his sister and father to see their first meteor shower. He felt her hand grabbing two of his fingers and smiled.

“Make a wish, Walker”

AFTER

The sun wasn’t too high in the sky when he finished shaving, God forbids Madeleine saw a glint of facial hair on anyone at any of her events, not that he minded what she thought, but he rather be invisible at this event.

A cup of coffee and a croissant later, he found himself at the site of the barn raising, it would be so fun watch the nobles having the day to pretend they have any inclination to do hard work. Penelope and Kiara for example were wearing high heels, he betted 5 euros one of them would fall in 5 minutes.

Drake laughed to himself but got pulled out of his thoughts by a loud engine blasted on the road, the feeling of déja vu overcoming him, he knew exactly who loved loud engines drawing the attention to her entrance.

Shit

A white Bugatti stopped at the entrance and for a second, after seeing the frightened face of Hana getting out of the car, he forgot that he was pissed.

Although he remembered on the next second when Riley got out of the driver’s side laughing heartedly, she was wearing a simple plaid shirt, jeans shorts and sneakers, all the flashes were on her, the first press appearance since she was back two weeks ago.

“Lady Riley! Lady Riley!” The press screamed to get her attention. “How does if feel to be back?”

“Amazing!” She smiled, but he saw right through her, she didn’t get any better at hiding her lies and discomfort than she did at 18.

“Lady Riley! How do you describe your style today?”

“Riley York ready to build a barn” Maxwell made his way through the press to hug Riley and Hana.

“Lady Riley! Don Brine here! We see your coming with a new crew, Lady Hana and Lord Maxwell, does this has anything to do with your best friend getting engaged to your ex while you were away?”

Her smile faltered for a second, Drake held his breath without even knowing, across from the press he finally acknowledged Madeleine grabbing Liam’s arms forcefully while the future king didn’t blink watching Riley getting close to them.

“I think I’ll have to set the record straight” she pulled Madeleine’s hand into hers, locking them in an uncomfortable hold. “Liam, Madeleine and I all grew up together, and some people change along the way, some relationships change along the way.”

Riley’s angelic face gave the future monarchs the sweetest smile, Drake could almost touch the longing in Liam’s eyes.

“Liam and Madeleine will rule wisely and will be remembered for generations, and I couldn’t be more than happy for them. i guess that’s all.”

“One more thing Lady York. Ana de Luca for trend. We got an anonymous tip that you were away on a rehab clinic for self harm, what do you have to say about that?”

Drake saw Riley twisting Madeleine’s hand.

“Ana, some people don’t know when to shut up” she smirked and left them under the urges for more words and flashes blinking.

He watched as Liam cleared his throat and gave his speech on the barn raising, completely mechanical as he forced himself not to look over to Riley laughing with her friends.

Drake saw himself standing awkwardly with his hands buried in his pockets until he felt a light touch in his arms.

“It will all happen again, won’t it?” Kiara’s black eyes met his and wandered where Riley was. “She’s a bulldozer Drake, I remember how you were when she left, how Liam was, god, even Penelope...”

“Shall we start?” Liam started gathering everyone, not giving him any time to answer Kiara.

“Kiara and Penelope can help with the hay, Maxwell and Hana can take care of painting the fences and... Drake and Riley will work lifting the wood of the barn walls.” Madeleine smiled proudly at herself and Liam choked.

“It’s too much of manual labor for a Lady, my dear, I’m sure Lady Riley could trade places with Maxwell” Liam pondered.

“No way, it would give my hands blisters!” Maxwell interjected and Riley laughed.

“Don’t be silly dear, Lady Riley spent the last year as a working woman in America.” Madeleine’s fire gaze pierced through Liam’s blue eyes.

“Hey Liam, it’s okay really, I used to do some heavy lifting at work...” Riley finally spoke and Liam’s gaze went from her to Drake.

At that moment Drake understood why Liam didn’t want her inside the barn.

“Told you so..” Kiara whispered beside him.

“I can help you two...”

“No, you can’t!” Madeleine exclaimed more fiercely that she probably intended. “We need to make rounds and pose for pictures dear, it’s our engagement event after all.”

“Then we should go!” A completely anxious Penelope stated, wanting as much as any of them to be excluded from the awkwardness.

Drake sighed and made his way to the structure of the barn without a second glance to Riley. He was preparing the wood when she reached their spot.

“Hey, let me help” she said smiling and reaching for the wood he was carrying, he didn’t reply.

They worked in silence for almost an hour, she didn’t back up from any activity, from carrying heavy buckets of water for the horses, to helping him pulling up the wood.

“We’re still a good team!” She exclaimed after most of the work was done, he stole a glance and her proud look and warm smile, a drop of sweat descending from her neck.

“We’re not a team” he grunted at his relapse.

The smile vanished from her face.

“After everything, how you can say that?”

“After everything, how can YOU say that?” Drake spat turning fully to her. “Why the hell did you come back, Riley? Why didn’t you just disappear and let us live our pathetic lives here?”

“Why didn’t you let me drown, Drake? It would definitely be better than be here now, right?”

Drakes face fell, and suddenly flashes of that fateful afternoon flooded him like the gelid winter see, the white dress plastered on her numb skin, the muttering blue lips, his heart beating so hard in his chest, wanting to trade places with hers, to make her alive again.

He got close to her, closer than he should for the sake of his sanity, he could feel the heat coming from her body as her resolve slowly crumbled and his rage grew.

“Go to hell, Riley. Fuck you!” She shrank at his words, spat so cruelly it made her eyes watery.

Drake suddenly couldn’t breath so he left the almost finished barn to the hired workers to complete, the sun hanging low in the sky only heating his chest more, he wanted to scream, but he refused to be seen by anyone of the court, so, like a coward, he just sneaked out.

The humming sound of his truck engine was the only thing calming him right now, he drove aimlessly for more than an hour until night came and he saw himself somewhere he almost forgot it existed, somewhere he locked in her mind along with every other memory of Riley.

He sat on the empty boot of his truck, opening a can of beer and looking at the sky, as if he was a child, he was desperate for a shooting star so he could ask for everything to be normal again.

The loud engine once again pulled him from his thoughts, the white Bugatti now had several brown spots of dirt on its side, she sat on the hood, no respect for a €4 million car, one more reason he could add to the list for hating her.

“I’m sorry.” She said without looking at him, her tired eyes lost, miles away, in the sky.

Drake looked at the beer in his hands, then back to the sky.

“I shouldn’t have said that today.” He heard her sighing. “I actually never thanked you, so thank you, Drake.”

“For what?” He gave another gulp to his beer.

“For taking me out of the waters, whichever mean it has, you saved my life in more ways than that for years, but that day, that day I only came back breathing because of you.” Her eyes were full of tears once again, eyes pleading to him. “I didn’t come back to screw everything, I just... I miss my best friend, Drake.”

“I just can’t understand why, Riley?” He licked his dry lips, thinking of how to say it. “You gave up on us, you decided to stay, and then... why? You really meant it? You really wanted it?”

He really hoped she said no.

“Yes” Her voice was almost a whisper. “I wanted to die that day.”

“Why?” He tried in vain to keep his emotions under control.

“I don’t know” she dried her cheeks with her sleeves. “ I came back to try and find it out, it’s the only thing holding me back, I need to find out. Then I promise you’ll never hear of me again.”

If you wanna be out of the tags, just let me know

@drakewalkerrosenberg @sleepwalkingelite @agent-bossypants @pug-bitch @iplaydrake @rtinaz @silviasutton1989 @ooo-barff-ooo @likethetailofacomet @notoriouscs @mind-reader1 @annekebbphotography @walkerismychoice @tmarie82 @blackwidow2721 @thequeenchoices @missameliep @jovialyouthmusic @perksof-everything @choicesmacmakes @carabeth @drakenazario @drakesensworld @moneyfordiamonds @ao719 @lynne1993 @ilovedrakewalker23 @msjpuddleduck @iplaydrake @drakewalkerisreal @violinist3121 @wannabemc2 @gibbles82 @furiousherringoperatortoad @jenp02cutie-blog

#drake x mc #drake walker #choices fanfiction #choices trr #trr fanfic #the royal romance fanfic #choices stories you play #the royal romance #trr drake #trr

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camera-worker · 8 years ago

Photo

Ravi Shavi Chess in Rehearsal Sapce, 2015 #03-0200-001

#chess #ravi shavi #providence #board games #35 mm film

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mils-choi · 4 years ago

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Oww I'm never doing any tag game usually but this one is just so cute 😌

First let me hug you back @colletivedoor ❤️

And I also wanna hug the best people on Tumblr @velvetgala @hanamyo @svnflowery @nozomiasl @x-shavy-x @mysticmyth ❤️❤️ don't feel obligated to participate it was just a little proof of affection uwu

i just gave you a hug, go hug someone else!!

@bus-kids @salvatoresupremacy @haileyyturner @meganskane @tenelvez @reidspoet @reidselle

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uneasylisteningradio · 6 years ago

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Transistor Sister Shows #38, 39 and 40!

Suburban Lawns

AND FINALLY here are THREE episodes of Transistor Sister to hold you over! Next live show is Saturday June 22 when you should be going to see Collate at the Mothership anyway (if you’re in Philly). Byeeeee!

link to show 38 audio

link to show 39 audio

link to show 40 audio Show 38 playlist: Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon - Transistor Sister Go-Go's - Beatnik Beach

Wreckless Eric- Tiny House Motorhead - Motorhead Richard Papiercuts - The Riddle Andreas Dorau in die Marinas - Fred vom Jupiter

The Music Machine - T.R.O.U.B.L.E. The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms Family Fodder - Debbie Harry Brats - Can't Sleep Kizza Ping - Mannen

Morricone Youth - Driving Decoys The Bee Gees - Sir Geoffrey Saved the World Penetration - Don't Dictate Kitchen and the Plastic Spoons - In Bars

The Move - Message from the Country Show 39 playlist: Freddy Cannon - Transistor Sister Legendary Pink Dots - One for the Pearl Moon

DJ speaks over X-Ray Spex - Warrior in Woolworth's (demo)

Arteries - Archons in Akron Curtis Mayfield - Toot an' Toot an' Toot Fresh Colour - The Source

The Misfits - Mommy Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight? Idoli - Plastika Juniper - Boys Boys Boys Boys Boys Sinead O'Connor - Jackie New Model Army - Spirit of the Falklands Sozz - Lurch Gang Tarzan 5 - Boys Game

Kasenetz-Katz Super Circus - Up in the Air Larry Williams - You Bug Me Baby Ravi Shavi - Midnight Rixe - Infatigables The 101'ers - Keys to Your Heart

Young Fresh Fellows - My Boyfriend is in Killdozer Show 40 playlist: Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon - Transistor Sister Jobriath - Morning Starship

Chronic Sick - Dress Code

Cyanamid - Support TMA - Dying the Empire Way Ishmael United - Song of the Last Generation

Daniel Johnston - Speeding Motorcycle Collate - Selective Memory Dogmatic Element - Strange Passion Blast Off Country Style - Giggles 'n Gloom Suburban Lawns - Janitor Dark Blue - Let Me Tell You a New Story

Kraut - All Twisted General Strike - My Body Rev. Charlie Jackson - I Shall Not Be Moved Shoes - She'll Disappear

Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers - I'm Straight (live 1971)

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chunhua-s · 4 years ago

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2, 5 & 30! 😘

2. What are you obsessed with right now?

right now i’m obsessed with haikyuu!! considering i got into the fandom about two months ago (let’s ignore the fact that it’s been on my fyp since March 💀) i’m still fairly obsessed with it now they just make me insanely happy

5. How many people have you kissed?

5! (just like the number of the question jddjgh)

30. Tag someone you want to talk to but have been too shy to message.

//inhale so basically my entire following list 💀 but uhhhh i think @queenofallimagines cause i was lowkey lurking over their black reader x haikyuu oneshots and imagines and when i tell you i FEASTED 😤🥴 (dead ass the black!reader x haikyuu is a whole full course meal i’m glad i found it last night)

ask me whatever!

#kween shan!#shavi 🥴#ask games!#lets interact #🥺👉🏽👈🏽#pls send me questions lemme talk to y’all

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businessguide12-blog · 6 years ago

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Optimizing Your Site for Voice Search, Business Guide to CRM

New Post has been published on https://businessguideto.com/trending/optimizing-your-site-for-voice-search-business-guide-to-crm/

Optimizing Your Site for Voice Search, Business Guide to CRM

20 Things Small Business Owners Need to Know

1—How to Optimize Your Site for Voice Search

Google voice search is changing the way users search for the information they need.

Nearly two-thirds of all smartphone users have used voice search to find local business information in the last year. The impact of voice search is changing the way Google handles search queries—and businesses need to ensure their websites are optimized to keep up.

The key to voice search is speed. Google knows that when someone asks for information out loud, they don’t want to wait around for the answer. Websites that load more quickly rise up Google’s SEO rankings.

And the informality of voice search puts greater value on a conversational tone of writing. Consumers are asking questions in natural language, and they want brief, down-to-Earth responses such as those typically found on an FAQ page.

Voice search is still new, but it’s likely to account for half of all online searches by 2020. Optimizing for search requires a business to be constantly ahead of the game.

Check out the infographic below from Headway Capital to learn more.

2—The SMB Guide to CRM in 2019

Guest post by H. John Oechsle, President & CEO, Swiftpage. He has a 30-year track record of building highly profitable and sustainable revenue growth for emerging companies and established global leaders.

The New Year to-do list for an SMB owner can be daunting. No doubt you’re thinking about myriad administrative and organizational needs relating to accounting and finance, staffing, your product and service roadmap for the year and more. In the course of all this productive planning, and as you look to build stronger relationships that drive ROI in 2019, consider how you’re responding to customer information.

Your patrons have shared their data all last year through clicks, subscriptions, customer service requests, sales inquiries and more—and now expect your business to be able to turn those interactions and touch points into a more targeted, holistic experience.

SMBs that cater to the right customers—and to enhancing the customer experience—can expect to see big gains. With CRM revenues at $39.5 billion and growing, leaders are investing in this software to improve customer interactions that lead to sales.

From improved customer experiences to increased productivity, CRMs are on the rise for a reason and have become powerful and customizable enough to adapt to the needs of SMBs across industries. With that said, let’s take a closer look at what small businesses need to know when looking for a CRM—or evaluating their existing solution—in 2019.

CRMs are big with small businesses

Popular for a reason: The CRM landscape is evolving, with SMB-focused solutions increasingly providing greater value to small businesses than enterprise level competitors are able to offer; the social CRM sphere alone is estimated to reach $10 billion in 2019. With real-time insights into customer information, the ever-evolving CRM model will drive relevant content to better fulfill customer expectations.

Easy does it: The right CRM can work magic, serving as a single platform that can span across the entire breadth of an organization—sharing information and providing value for customer service, sales, product development, management, operations and more. The sales-cycle will no longer be filled with fragmented or piecemeal information conducted offline on notepads and whiteboards.

Time to act with analytics

Playing nice with predictive analytics: Businesses need to craft effective ads, select which customers to cross-sell to and address their customer churn. Since you have access to intelligent information, the question becomes—how will you aggregate and leverage all this data? Today’s best SMB-focused CRMs capture metrics more effectively than ever before. You’ll receive digestible and actionable information in one space.

Getting real with artificial intelligence: CRM and AI are quite a dynamic duo. When combined, they can bolster the revenue of your business with a predicted $394 US billion dollars gained by 2021, according to Statista. When paired with a good SMB CRM, AI technology can act as a virtual detective that collects clues to build customer personas, improve your ability to personalize interactions and put the right information in front of your team (and your customers) to help create meaningful interactions.

Machines that dance to your algorithms: Once an external function of CRM, machine learning is now integrated into advanced CRM solutions for SMBs. And as the demand for customer intelligence increases, you can take the next best step to make a sale based on your history in the sales cycle. These systems recommend communications based on your customer preferences. The best SMB CRMs are designed to make sales and marketing recommendations that help you close deals faster and cater to your customers’ specific needs.

Experience is the new journey

Mapping your customer’s path: If you want to improve the customer experience, listen to your patrons. Trust that your target market is willing to pay more for a quality 1:1 experience. Old data models relied on placing people into broad groups, casting customers as two-dimensional characters based on gender or profession. The best SMB CRMs go well beyond raw data to construct a realistic snapshot of each customer based on new intel they themselves provide: clicks, online accounts and conversations. From awareness to post-purchase, analyzing the ups and downs of your strategy will show when to apply the gas (or brakes) with a customer and focus on retention.

Grow through retention: As a small business, you want to move seamlessly from conversion to retention. Make sure your CRM taps into behavioral insights and personally re-engages lost customers. CRM automation can free up your time, allowing you to focus on building core customer relationships without having to manually track down interactions. Tech-driven CRM systems will communicate across channels to rapidly seek information in order to understand each unique situation.

Automate your marketing process: Natively integrated marketing automation technology in an SMB CRM solution can help a business improve sales in a hurry. Once you’re able to see which pieces of marketing content lead to customer engagement, how the customer engages, how long and what their next steps are—you’ll wonder how you managed before automating. Marketing automation technology designed specifically for SMBs has gone a long way toward leveling the playing field between small and enterprise level competitors across a variety of industries and market verticals.

Nurture the conversion: Nurtured leads convert faster, and more reliably, than when a business relies on the customer to do all the work. Understanding when and how to act on a lead is critical. Since good rapport is all about good timing, the right CRM will work in tandem with your sales team to proactively guide customers toward the products and services best suited to their needs.

Reach for cloud-based solutions

Mobile is flexible: Increasingly affordable, elastic and with you everywhere you go—the sky’s the limit when your CRM lives on your mobile device. In fact, 68% of CRM solutions will be cloud-based in 2019 and the best cloud-based SMB CRM solutions will have a dedicated (and strategically designed) mobile component. Plan to adopt a CRM system you can rely on while in the field visiting customers with an app that gives you access to specific information instantly at your fingertips.

Go for layers with a subscription model: For SMBs, it’s often preferable to pay a small flat monthly fee instead of a more substantial upfront cost. The subscription billing model allows small businesses to effectively control, plan and manage their budgets—while also ensuring their technology is updated and they have access to customer support as the company grows and needs change.

The bottom line

In 2019, an effective CRM can provide your SMB with an opportunity to proactively anticipate customer needs and guide the customer experience while streamlining and unifying disparate areas of the business. A CRM won’t solve all your problems, but the right CRM can lead to marked improvements throughout the business while positively contributing to bottom line growth in a variety of ways. Get out there and find the right solution for your business’s growth in 2019!

By Shavi Goel, Product Marketing Lead for Jobs at Facebook

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are more job openings than unemployed workers in many regions across the U.S., forcing businesses to rethink how they find new employees.

This means hiring will become even harder for small businesses, many of whom are already strapped for time and resources. In fact, nearly 40% of U.S. small businesses today report that filling jobs is more difficult than they expected.

Whether you’re a family-run restaurant, a local clothing boutique, or fast-growing tech startup, these five tips will help you hire the right people for your business this year:

1—Make your job description crystal clear. Start with a straightforward, well-defined job description, so potential candidates have a clear idea of the job’s requirements and can understand if it matches their skills and interests. Make sure to include the key details including salary, benefits, work hours and more to inform as many qualified applicants from the start.

Pro Tip: Don’t get too creative in your word choice—job seekers are much less likely to discover openings with eccentric keywords.

2—Use additional questions to gather information. Learn about job candidates quickly by using extra questions to gather information. Example questions could be, “are you looking for seasonal work or something more permanent?” and “Have you ever worked in this industry before, and if so, what appeals to you about it?”

Pro Tip: Using additional questions in the application will help you save time later on in the hiring process by narrowing in on candidates that match your needs.

3—Reply promptly and professionally. In a tight job market where openings outnumber candidates, it is even more important to respond quickly to applicants. To save time, keep your replies short and to the point. Develop canned responses that you can easily customize to ensure responses are polished yet personal.

Pro Tip: If you need support, try enlisting your coworkers so they can help with job postings and communicating with candidates.

4—Try using video for screening. After people apply, try asking them to record a short video on their computer or phone introducing themselves and explaining why they’d be a good fit for the role. Video is a quick way to get a sense of a candidate’s personality, especially if you are hiring for customer-facing positions.

Pro Tip: Ask candidates to send the video over a messaging app such as Facebook Messenger so that you can easily create a rapport about the video and ask follow-up questions.

5—Respond to every applicant. One of the top frustrations from job seekers is not hearing back from a business after they apply. Whether or not you are interested in their applications, remember to reply (with a thank you) and let them know you’ve received their response.

Pro Tip: There’s a possibility that your applicant might be a customer, or refer a future customer, so you want to make sure they have nothing but a positive experience with your company.

Hiring doesn’t have to be difficult. By implementing these best practices, small businesses and entrepreneurs can find the right candidates without having to sacrifice on time or resources.

4—State of Female Entrepreneurship

According to the new “State of Female Entrepreneurship” report from Visa, 79% of American women entrepreneurs feel more empowered now than they did five years ago. However, they still face a number of obstacles to growing their businesses. To help, Visa just hosted its first She’s Next, Empowered by Visa event in Atlanta, one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. for women-owned small businesses.

“Women-owned small businesses are essential to our economy and Visa wants to provide these incredible women with tools and resources that can help them grow and advance their businesses,” says Suzan Kereere, global head of merchant sales and acquiring, Visa.

Visa surveyed female small business owners across the U.S. The full study is available here and key findings include:

She’s Next, Empowered by Visa – Atlanta Event

In Atlanta more than 150 female entrepreneurs heard from industry leaders, including, Facebook, Square, Yelp, Instagram Story School and Authorize.Net. The keynote was delivered by fashion icon Rebecca Minkoff.

There was also contactless-enabled vending machines creating a unique shopping experience featuring select items from Atlanta-based, women-owned small businesses—100% of the purchase price of products sold from benefited Women’s World Banking, a non-profit providing low-income women entrepreneurs around the world the financial tools and resources they need to thrive and pursue their dreams.

Attendees received a resource-filled She’s Next toolkit full of information about how to run and improve your business from industry leaders, key resources and a description of Visa’s full suite of payment services designed for virtually every business need. The toolkit will soon be available to download online for small businesses nationwide.

For more information on the She’s Next, Empowered by Visa initiative, visit www.visa.com/shesnext.

5—Workplace Trends

In a recent survey Paychex, Inc., a leading provider of integrated human capital management solutions for payroll, benefits, human resources, and insurance services, asked full-time employees working in companies with 1,000 workers or fewer about workplace hot topics, including benefits, pay equity, HR technology, corporate social responsibility, and if these HR trends are impacting them.

Maureen Lally, Paychex vice president of marketing says, “While employers can implement changes from the top, employees ultimately define what the American workplace looks like. Their habits, preferences, and behaviors are what shape company culture.”

Response highlights:

Benefits: Employees are split on the most complicated aspect of making annual benefit elections: 29% say it’s keeping up with plan changes; 28% say it’s trying to predict personal and family needs; and 28% say it’s evaluating all of the providers and plan options. For women, trying to predict personal and family needs when making benefits selections is the number one most complicated aspect of the process at 33%. That ranks third for men at 24%.

Retirement: 51% of employees feel very confident in their retirement savings, but for 25% that confidence is dependent on Social Security remaining intact. This confidence increases as employees get older: 48% of w: orkers age 18-34 are confident in their retirement savings, 51% ages 35-49, and 58% of those 50-65.

Pay equity: 48% of employees—regardless of gender—have expressed verbal or written concern to their current employer that their current pay rate was not equitable to another employee with a similar role and responsibilities at least once during their career. 77% of men are confident their employer is auditing employee pay for gender equity, while 74% of women say the same.

HR technology: 71% of employees expect their employers to provide them with a high level of employee self-service that allows them to accomplish various HR tasks (update address, enter life event, fill out tax forms, report hours, manage retirement, etc.) on their own. And 85% expect such self-service applications to provide a simple, intuitive user experience, similar to the consumer apps frequently used in their personal lives.

Workplace ghosting: When asked if they had ever “ghosted” (leaving a current job or not reporting for a new job without informing the employer) from a current or potential job, 27% of employees admitted they had. Younger workers are much more likely to have ghosted companies. Of those aged 18-34 and 35-49, 33 and 30%, respectively, admitted ghosting, compared to only seven% of employees who are 50-65 years old.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR): Working for an organization that is socially responsible is important to workers regardless of age—95% of those aged 18-34, and 94% of those 35-49, agree that it’s important for their employer to be socially responsible. That dips slightly to 90% for those aged 50-65.

“CSR is an important driver in attracting and retaining talent for companies today,” says Laurie Zaucha, Paychex vice president of HR and Organizational Development.

Click here to read a white paper featuring a deeper dive into data about these key workplace trends.

6— Need for Speed

Speed is essential when it comes to websites. Load time statistics from numerous studies clearly show that if the average page load time exceeds 3 seconds, abandonment rates soar. High bounce rates telegraph to search engines that visitors don’t find the website useful, which directly affects your ranking.

And if that wasn’t enough, the numbers clearly show that shoppers avoid returning to e-commerce sites with performance issues.

The marketing truism that there is no negative publicity doesn’t coincide with the digital reality of social media and interconnectivity. Nearly half of the users share negative experiences with their peers, spreading the word of heavy, unresponsive sites faster than said web pages load.

Check out the infographic below from Hosting Tribunal to get up to speed.

7—Infusionsoft Rebrands as Keap

Infusionsoft has rebranded the company as Keap, a name it says represents the very essence of the grit and passion small businesses put in each day to keep going, keep serving and keep growing. It is also launched a new product, also named Keap, the industry’s first smart client management software built specifically for small businesses in the home, personal and professional service industries. For 17 years Infusionsoft has been a pioneer of CRM and marketing automation software for small businesses. With the Keap product launch, the company is expanding to serve a new market.

Keap COO Keith Reed says, “With the introduction of our Keap, we are able to serve an even larger market of small service providers who have been shut out of the benefits of automation because software providers have made it too hard and expensive.”

Targeted at small service providers such as interior design, home repair, fitness or business consulting, Keap is smart client management software that automates repetitive sales and client-related tasks like appointment scheduling, following up on leads/quotes, and collecting payments. It does this by intelligently prompting the user when and how to follow-up with personal and professional communications.

Keap CEO Clate Mask adds, “We discovered small service providers waste time juggling five to seven tools just to book appointments, send communications, provide quotes or collect payments. That is 50 hours a month that could be spent servicing more clients, growing the business or at home with family. We knew we had to make this easier.”

Here are some of the top benefits of Keap’s new smart client management software:

The company revealed a new Keap brand identity, visual redesign, logos and a marketing campaign Quiet the Doubters.

8—ADP National Employment Report

Private sector employment increased by 213,000 jobs from December to January according to the January . Broadly distributed to the public each month, free of charge, the ADP National Employment Report is produced by the ADP Research Institute® in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics.

January 2019 Report: Total U.S. Nonfarm Private Employment: 213,000

By company size:

Small businesses: 63,000

Medium businesses: 84,000

Large businesses: 66,000

Franchise employment**

**Complete details on franchise employment can be found here.

“The labor market has continued its pattern of strong growth with little sign of a slowdown in sight,” says Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “We saw significant growth in nearly all industries, with manufacturing adding the most jobs in more than four years. Midsized businesses continue to lead job creation—however the share of jobs was spread a bit more evenly across all company sizes this month.”

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, says, “The job market weathered the government shutdown well. Despite the severe disruptions, businesses continued to add aggressively to their payrolls. As long as businesses hire strongly the economic expansion will continue on.”

To obtain additional information about the ADP National Employment Report, including additional charts, supporting data and the schedule of future release dates, or to subscribe to the monthly email alerts and RSS feeds, please visit www.adpemploymentreport.com.

9— How to Vanish from the Internet

Want to disappear from the world wide web? WD Storage (Whitefields Document Storage) shows you how in the infographic below.

10—Help for Massachusetts Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll), a leading inclusive entrepreneurship program and its Spanish language program, EparaTodos, are stepping up in a big way to support small businesses affected by the gas explosions on September 13, 2018.

EforAll’s program EparaTodos was named the lead organization to conduct outreach to businesses owners who have been impacted by the recent gas explosion in the communities of Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover.

EparaTodos has been working with a consortium of partner organizations and cities/towns: City of Lawrence, Town of Andover, Town of North Andover, ACT Lawrence, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Lawrence Partnership, Mill Cities Community Investments, Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network, MassDevelopment, Merrimack Valley Small Business Center, Essex County Community Foundation, and Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation.

Esther Encarnacion, Outreach Project Manager for this effort says, “We have a team of 10dedicated individuals who have been working tirelessly to address the needs and concerns of the 840 businesses that have been impacted by this emergency. The outreach team is out in the community, pounding the pavement, and working directly with affected business owners to offer assistance in a number of key areas.”

EparaTodos, in partnership with the Lawrence Partnership and the Essex County Community Foundation, is offering the following services at no cost to affected businesses:

David Parker, EforAll CEO says, “When so many businesses were impacted by the gas incidents, we knew EforAll had to do something. Some of our very own staff and entrepreneurs have been affected and we see our support services as a way to not only lend a helping hand, but to help businesses contribute to their local economy once again.”

11—Pricing Violations

ORIS Intelligence, provider of actionable insights that preserve pricing integrity for manufacturers, recently unveiled new insights into pricing violations and unauthorized sellers. Online spending grew by nearly 20% during the 2018 holiday shopping season, reaching over $110 billion in sales. With the continued increase in online shopping comes an increase in pricing violations and violators. New ORIS data shows that for the average brand, 75% of their total sellers are unauthorized, with the housewares industry at the highest rate of unauthorized sellers at 85%. In addition to violators, pricing inconsistency is also an issue as the average violation rate sits at 14%, with the apparel industry showing the biggest discrepancy with 20% of their URLS in violation.

“With the proliferation of online marketplaces, third-party sellers and ecommerce activity comes more opportunity for pricing inconsistencies and violations,” says Pamela Springer, CEO of ORIS Intelligence. “A Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP) policy is only as good as the enforcement behind it, so ORIS is continuing to focus on ensuring brands get control of their online presence by helping them understand and catch issues before they escalate. Our data and tools assist in making it easier to enforce policies and reinforces the complexity and extensiveness of this issue, which is why we are delivering near real-time insights across all channels.”

With its deep expertise into MAP, ORIS is also sharing its top tips for 2019:

Make the most of MAP: More companies are realizing the impact a properly executed MAP policy has on not only brand integrity but revenue. In addition, trusted retailers will start ensuring the brands they work with are committed to their MAP policy, and we expect to see retailers that exclusively work with brands that enforce MAP.

Sniff out seller strategies: As more manufactures enforce MAP, sellers will continue to be creative in trying to find ways around MAP by playing games. ORIS data shows that 12% of violations only occur during non-business hours, when retailers think manufacturers are not watching.

Push prices: Due to the increase in brands enforcing MAP, we’re seeing brands begin to increase their minimum pricing, to counteract those that violate it.

Get more information here.

12—Performance-Based Pay in Communications Industry

Bevel, a public relations consultancy that connects clients with stakeholder communities, recently announced the first application of performance-based pay to the communications industry. At Bevel, Associates and Directors are driven to achieve results through year-end performance-based bonuses and quarterly payouts based on success metrics including number of speaking opportunities, award submissions, customer events, in-person meetings with reporters and media coverage for clients.

“A first-year analyst makes on average $150k and third-year analysts make up to $350k. An assistant account executive (AAE) in PR generally makes 34k a year, the same rate as a cashier at Trader Joe’s and the industry wonders why there’s a massive talent drain. It’s simple. Top talent wants to get paid for their work,” say Jessica Schaefer, CEO of Bevel.

The structure of the firm mirrors that of a typical hedge fund or private equity firm leveraging a PM/analyst model. Bevel’s Directors manage their own portfolios of clients and have two associates working underneath them. Each portfolio is diversified and includes a mix of crypto, fintech, consumer tech and venture capital funds. Directors are incentivized by client retention and management of their respective associate teams.

“Our success as a firm is driven by how much we can move the needle for our clients. We want to work with and build category leading brands. In order to do that, we need to attract top talent and maintain peak performance,” Schaefer adds.

The New York-based firm recently opened an office in Los Angeles and was named 2018 “Small Agency of the Year.” For more information, please go here.

Quick Takes

13—How to be a Better Negotiator

The better your negotiation skills, more likely you are to succeed. Take a look at this guide from Hiscox insurance to sharpen your skills.

14—Facebook Advertising

Want to know more about advertising on Facebook? Check out this guide from AppInstitute.

15—Getting Personal Loans

Best Egg, the consumer lending platform supported by Marlette Funding, LLC, is partnering with SuperMoney to help consumers achieve their financial goals. SuperMoney integrates with leading financial service companies to offer a seamless and transparent comparison-shopping experience. Borrowers complete a short online form and receive real-time personalized loan offers from SuperMoney’s lending partners.

The partnership with SuperMoney is another step in Best Egg’s ongoing journey to make online personal loans frictionless for customers. Find Best Egg here.

Cool Tools

16—New Tools from QuickBooks

QuickBooks just launched a sales tax calculator landing page on their site. With nearly 11,000 local sales tax jurisdictions in the U.S., the goal is to help SMBS see how the different sales tax affects their businesses. It also can help avoid the hassle of figuring out sales tax and all of the rules that exist in each state, including the multiple factors that could change a sales tax calculation.

Quickbooks Sales Tax automatically takes into consideration the important information from your business, as well as tracks and automatically updates all of the rules and rates according to every change by the states, to produce the right rate for every transaction, from calculation through filing. This reduces your business’s risk of error and minimizes the likelihood of a sales tax notice or audit

17—Compensation Management App for SMBs

Zenefits just announced the availability of Compensation Management, a new app within the Zenefits People Platform. Based on actual salary data from small businesses nationwide, Compensation Management is the first software tool designed specifically to take the guesswork out of competitively and fairly paying the people working in SMBs.

While compensation benchmarks and software tools exist on the market, both are priced and scoped out of range for small businesses, which are left to make their best guesses. With the average cost to replace an employee at 33% of their salary, according to the Work Institute, making poor salary decisions can have a significant impact—especially on small businesses.

Compensation Management can help small businesses identify market competitive and fair wages by role, industry, and geography. The app poses questions during set up to help business users determine the compensation philosophy that best maps to each company’s unique priorities and values. Then it provides insights on salaries for new hires, new promotions and new roles as the company grows. It helps young businesses keep a pulse on pay equity across its organization, aligning pay to role and performance, which call all be tracked in the Zenefits platform.

Key features in Compensation Management include the ability to:

18—Mobile HR App

TriNet, a leading provider of full-service HR solutions for SMBs recently announced the release of its latest version of the TriNet Mobile app, which further enables SMBs and their employees to access their HR data—anytime, anywhere.

The updated TriNet Mobile app helps SMBs streamline HR processes, improve employee engagement and offer real-time access to HR information. It also includes easy access to HR functions, such as submitting time-off requests, retrieving information on health benefits and accessing a detailed view of payroll data. Additionally, employees can access a company directory and communicate directly with their teams through the app.

TriNet mobile features

TriNet Mobile is available for download on iOS and Android.

19—Guide to Social Media Analytics Tools

You can’t get the most out of social media unless you monitor and analyze your results. How do you do that? Check out this guide to some top social media analytics tools from FitSmallBusiness.

20—The Art of Shipping Specialty Goods:

The shipping of specialty goods, such as fine art, furniture, oversized or fragile objects has not yet been streamlined. With the recent report that U.S. online sales of non-conveyable goods has hit $30 billion, equal to about 10% of total e-commerce sales, ARTA, the contemporary logistics platform for shipping specialized items, is introducing a new approach to logistics.

“The market for buying and selling luxury items has exploded, and ARTA has been at the forefront of helping art dealers, auction houses, designers, businesses and consumers manage the end-to-end process, including providing stellar customer service from collection through the last mile,” says Adam Fields, Founder and CEO of ARTA. “This industry needs an automated solution that allows for the fulfillment of specialized goods as easily as FedEx does for small parcel items, and ARTA is poised to deliver it. ”

In 2018, ARTA upgraded its solution, adding 10 new features including ARTA Instant Quote, which enables buyers and sellers (businesses or consumers) to immediately receive bookable quotes through the ARTA Shipping Calculator. The platform already allows users to easily shop for additional quotes from ARTA’s vast network of more than 350 service partners.

Looking ahead to 2019, ARTA predicts a few trends for shipping specialty items:

Increased demand for buying specialized goods online: Buyers are becoming more comfortable with purchasing high-value, fragile, or oversized goods online—goods that cannot be shipped and handled by conventional parcel networks. And given the global nature of ecommerce, online sales of items from furniture, art and design objects to medical and workout equipment will present a tremendous opportunity for businesses and individuals invested in this category.

Focus on digital fitness: Businesses that understand how to leverage new technologies, from data analytics to automation and platform solutions, will come out ahead in 2019. Along with an increased demand for buying specialized goods online, consumers will expect that fulfillment of these items should be as seamless as purchasing something on Amazon. Thus, companies will have to invest in supply chain solutions that can support these trends in order to compete and gain market share.

Perfecting payments: Just like with the traditional e-commerce market, the payment process will become more automated for specialty items as shippers and logistics providers cater to providing a more ubiquitous experience. Compliant solutions that support various payment methods for high value transactions and multiple currencies will be essential to support the market demand.

Business stock photo by Africa Studio/Shutterstock

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Optimizing Your Site for Voice Search, SMB Guide to CRM, How to Hire Smarter and Other Things Entrepreneurs Need to Know

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empire-at-war · 8 years ago

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Multimuse meme 5-10: if you HAD to choose, who’s your least favorite muse?which one of your muses have you been playing the longest? which one of your muses has the most ships? what is each of your muses otps? notps? why were you drawn to each one of your characters? which muse is the most fun to write for?

I already answered the first two, so here’s the rest:

which one of your museshas the most ships?

This one was really hardto answer. I think if we count AU versions of a character, Silvass wins this one since Sith!Silvass has quite a few ships too.Otherwise I’d say Starv or Vic, who has a lot of one night stands andchemistry with a lot of people, but I’m not sure I personally SHIPhim with all of those people.

what is each of yourmuses otps? notps?

Generallynot a fan of NoTPs, I’m a dirty shipper and I can be persuaded toship everything, trust me…

Vic: OTP Julien and Hel –NoTP women in general(although there are quite a few broTPs so…)

Starv: OTP … the Empire?– NoTP idk, a relationshipwith a submissive partner wouldn’t work well, I suppose (or should Isay: challenge accepted!)

Silvass: OTP Naya (sortof, I love their relationship but it’s not really a romantic OTP) –NoTP anyone evil hurting him(oh no, don’t give me ideas)

Varlock: OTP Aileis(honorary mentions: Lord Zash, Overseer Harkun, Empress Acina, Anne)– NoTP a strong male top(probably? I’m really giving myself terrible, terrible ideas here)

Sarvis: OTP I have no idea– NoTP weaklings

Julien: OTP … damn you,it’s Vic of course (and maybe Saselea too?) – NoTPhis wife (I kinda shipped them too for a while but lets keepthem away from each other now before respect turns into outrighthate)

why were you drawn toeach one of your characters?

Vic: because I love bountyhunters in Star Wars and I love how fiercely independent and straightforwardhe is, Ialso love that he has absolutely NOconcern for people’s emotional baggage, he’s just so much FUN for meto rp

Starv: if Im honest,because he’s a Chiss with a really kinky side, I love badasssubmissive characters with a burning passion, and also because I lovestories about snipers and agents (and all the tropes that go with it)

Silvass: he is a genuinelygood person and I love how he handles his (in my eyes inhuman)philosophy of loving everybody equally

Varlock: mostly because Ioccasionally love being super evil in video games and hurting peoplefor the fun of it

Sarvis: I just love strongwarrior ladies *swoons*

Julien: his biggestredeeming quality is that he is incredibly pretty ;)

which muse is the mostfun to write for?

Most of the time thatwould be Vic, but losers like Julien or Shavi are fun too. :P

#sifaseven #you gave ma a lot of terrible terrible ideas here #curse you!#;)

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rbeatz · 8 years ago

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7 Hot New Electronic Tracks in India Right Now

Hi everyone,

Anuj Kashyap signing in.

Today, I have 7 tracks for you, and they’re absolute brain-freezers. I’m all about beautiful melodies and dynamic beats to appease my highs and lows

1. Lars Beck & Henri Purnell ft. Zekt – Silent Games (UOAK Remix)

youtube

2. Arty – Idea of You (feat. Eric Nam)

youtube

3. dwilly – HMU (feat. Meg Lieder)

youtube

4. Seven Lions – Where I Won’t Be Found (feat. NÉONHÈART)

youtube

5. Shavi – Drama Queen (feat. Beatrich)

youtube

6. BAR9 – On All Fours

youtube

7. Dodge & Fuski – Comeback (Apashe Remix)

youtube

Hope you guys like these!

Listen to Rbeatz Radio and download the app for more new tracks all the time on the go.

I’ll be back next week.

Stay Blessed, Stay Tuned.

Love & Peace

from rBeatz.com http://ift.tt/2tlin6j

#rBeatz.com #7 Hot New Electronic Tracks in India Right Now #Music #Fun #Dance #Love #Baila #rBeatz

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shnnn · 4 years ago

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all the colours are so chaotic 💀💀💀

but as your loyal simp/dumpling, yellow!

DAVI, DUMPLING 😍 yes of course, c’mereee

send me colors uwu.

#shavi 💘#shumpling #ask games #chunhua-s #shanswers

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12th-shavie · 2 months ago

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[20 hours in]

I like Throné and I'm now afraid terrible things will happen to her in her pursuit of freedom (please let the puppy survive her story)

I'm still struggling to find a part of her skills to focus on in a team but her high speed is promising

Agnea's second chapter was nice too, but I see the pattern of tavern owners with 3-letters name that look like G+a variable vowel+a fitting consonant and fully expect a new one called Gab for the third chapter and one called God that reigns over the big stage in the sky and will promote her to actual stardom

After these nice chapters I went back to recruit Hikari and he is so soft spoken I find his voice very soothing

He strikes me as a good balance between a chill guy who just wants friends and an edgelord who will fight anyone

And if his support skill that raises the damage cap tells me anything it is that this boy wants to become the greatest crit machine ever

Since Throné's second chapter for the Mother route was close by and low level I took the detour to see how that went (very badass on Throné's part, more unfortunate on the maybe hidden son of Pirro, definitely deserved on the slaver)

Going about with the newbies for a hot minute raised their level high enough to take on Temenos' second chapter which I gladly did

Crick's return was yet another highlight, I love his dynamic with Temenos so much

I'm completely on board with that storyline and its mysteries and I cannot wait to see Crick again

That also unlocked a crossed path with Temenos and Throné at the church town which I hope builds upon that bit of banter between them I just got in that chapter

I then finally took the boat to recruit Ochette and assemble everyone ! I picked the owl as her companion lowkey expecting the other to join eventually but I guess not :c

I'll have to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of her storyline so far but she might grow on me as I go

The capture mechanics are pretty neat too, especially with no SP consumption attached

Anyway I benched her to bring back my higher level team (Agnea Partitio Castti Osvald) and take on Partitio's second chapter after a teeny-tiny bit of grinding and finding a hidden sword in a higher level area (and running away) that I gave to Partitio to basically quadruple his physical attack for this occasion (I will be giving it to Hikari later tho, he should make very good use of it)

Partitio keeps growing on me every time he says anything he's just such a good noodle <3

I also found the thief license and immediately gave it to Temenos because that felt right (and more weapon access for coercing is very good)

And now I'm setting my sights on either Castti's second chapter or the crossed path between Partitio and Osvald because I'm not immune to bias

Octopath Traveler II delayed playthrough blogging

[10 hours in]

Contains light spoilers of some early chapters I guess

I started the journey with Agnea because she looked like a sweetie (and she is) and she really has the most jrpg "leave of this small village to see the big wide world to make your dream come true" beginning

I got her to allure a villager that replenishes SP with every dancer skill she uses and she's been the cornerstone to most battles ever since

The second traveler I got was Partitio and he's a funny lad, I love his vibe, hat, jacket, and speech ! Also, the atmosphere of his storyline was a nice dramatic change of pace after the cozy first one I got

I headcanon that Roque's betrayal was in fact very much a divorce with Partitio's dad and I cannot wait to see how that applies to future chapters (I do hope it ages like fine wine rather than milk)

Partitio's combat performance was pretty solid despite a lack of AoE but the weapon variety for breaking was the early highlight

I ignored the fork in the road that lead to Hikari in favor of recruiting Castti because I wanted a healer and I feel slightly guilty (but also not at all)

Castti is literally so nice to people I can't wait to see if she really has an extremely shady past that will torment her for at least 1 chapter before she decides that she's going to be a good noddle in spite of all

Her concocting is pretty fun but I wish I had more diffusing serum (I can make do with latent power for now but it'd more fun to let her do some fun nuking)

Castti is also extremely tanky (she's the only one I have with over 1k HP so far) so she was a very welcome addition to the party

The next step in the journey was recruiting Osvald (I wanted to start with him but the 2 forced chapters made me decide to instead make him the reward for reaching the eastern continent) after I ignored the boat that lead to Ochette and wandered around until I stumbled upon a boat that lead really close to Osvald on the map and eventually found him face-down in the snow (which makes my decision to no start with him even better)

His first two chapters cemented him as one of my favorites beyond the visual vibes I got from the first selecting menu, and his skillset was a cherry on top

AoE magic nuking when I already have some buffing and BP donating in my party ? I'm sold. Free weakpoint reveals every battle ? Even better ! Osvaldo battle voicelines ? Yes please !

After that I found the scholar license and decided that Agnea should also learn to buff spell intensity to make my Osvaldo nuking engine even stronger (she's been doing great and I'm very proud of her)

Since it was on the way to Agnea's second chapter for which she was at the recommended level, I went on to recruit Temenos and he did not disappoint ! He really gave me an impression of being a seemingly upstanding fellow who is in fact not only shady but just the right blend of ambiguous tease with genuine words thrown in (props to his voice acting that really sells it)

His detective moment was also pretty cool, especially after seeing the duality of his abilities to get people to follow him without risk of failure and his (very shady) coercing to get more intel

I considered replacing Castti with him as my party healer but he is very squishy compared to her, and she also has weapon diversity and more consistent debuffing over him so for the time being he's just chilling at the tavern waiting for a party composition that makes him shine

On my way to the big city I found the inventor license and could simply not resist giving it to Partitio it simply fit him too well (and more weapons to break with is very nice), although I'm thinking of changing it later to try a Temenos build that would allow him to break even more and coerce better

Now onto the big city to recruit Throné and let Agnea's story unfold further !

#octopath traveler 2 #ot2 #ramblings and musings #the travel banter is my favourite new thing to come with this wave of second chapters #I kinda wish I could make pre-set teams to switch quickly at the tavern but oh well #the Upstanding crew™ and the Shady squad™ are now fairly well defined #it's Agnea/Partitio/Castti and Osvald/Temenos/Throné #Hikari and Ochette are the Dubious duo™ (will fight you honorably/befriend you with food but also bribe you/have animals fight you)#shavie games

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