#there's already such a dramatic drop in any positive feedback on this website

[mademoiselle-souffle]

Why oh why, God, did someone just put x reader headcanons in the tags on my art.......

[seb-owns-these-tatas]

Witcher Of The Night (Chapter 11)

THIS IS MODERN ERA READER WHO WOKE UP IN THE DIMENSION OF THE WITCHER. 

CHAPTER 10.1

WITCHER OF THE NIGHT MASTERLIST

Characters: Geralt of Rivia x small!Naive!Reader

Summary: Men couldn't really be trusted with a girl who had her first menstruation especially in their dimension because their hunches could get a good laugh out of you; suggesting that Cirilla has been attacked by some beast. Feelings are shown and couldn't be avoided, however; after the Djinn incident, it seems like those feelings turn into cravings that seem to be voracious for you and Geralt.

Warnings: Sexual implications. (But, still no smut. I'm frustrating myself in this one) Mention of breasts. Ha! Geralt being one enchanted and cheeky lil' shit. (Ya’ hot witcher 😫😘🥰😒) Reader being one innocent, naive lil' shit as well. Jaskier and Geralt being idiots. Cirilla being our soft baby. Mention of coochie. Honeypot slang also means vajayjay. The menstruation talk. Blood. Also mention of WOW characters and LOL. 

Words: 8.8k

A/N: 💖 Thank you for all the positive feedbacks I've received from this fic of mine! This is quite long but I hope you'll love it because I did! Hehehehhe!�� Thank you to @uncoolcloudyhead​ because she has told me about the menstruation idea and I actually liked it so here it is! THANK YOU, BB'S! Also, this is prolly my bday update for Henry Cavill! (It’s already May 5 in my time, so...Heehehe) HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOVEYYYY! *CRIES* WHERE YOU AT? WE STILL HAVE BABIES TO MAKE, HENRY. 😭😭👶😭😫🥰😂😂😂

TAGLIST IS STILL OPEN FOR THIS ONE! Heehee! Don’t forget to REBLOG, COMMENT OR GIVE FEEDBACK IF YOU DID LOVE THIS CHAPTER! IT’LL MAKE ME SMILE!

Disclaimer: PNG’s used in edits are not mine even the GIF’s too. However, the edits and oneshots are definitely from moi. Characters, places and said monsters aren’t from moi as well. GIF’s INCLUDED ARE CREDITED TO THOSE WHO MADE THEM! I DO NOT OWN THEM!

MY WORKS ARE NOT NOT NOT NOT NOOOOOOT TO BE POSTED ON ANY OTHER WEBSITES. My official username in Wattpad is “TATATHEPOTATO” and that’s the only other site I have for writing aside from Tumblr. Thank you, Tater tots!

Random familiar voices came echoing outside the room. The sun was shining, in a way that got you groaning because it was attacking your face in full blast. There were ravens standing on the edge of the windows, chirping quietly as a form of your alarm. You've straightened your arms to reach for a certain person who had slept beside you, but you've tapped the mattress to feel the cold white sheets, informing you that he had already been up for hours.

You were alone. Again. Well, it wasn't like you and Geralt had a rule to not leave the bed when the other hasn't yet nor did you both have some sort of relationship that gives you that kind of priority.

The loud exclaims began to echo louder, lifting your back to squint your eyes and scrub them with the back of your knuckles; swiping off the morning glory that has been stuck on your eyelashes. You've heard the panicked voice of Cirilla down stairs as you rested your back on the headboard, listening to their talk, "I'm bleeding, Geralt. Why am I bleeding?!"

Then, Jaskier's voice resonated next, "She needs a healer!" pause. "What beast must attack her in such a delicate part of a child?!"

The witcher woke up with Cirilla never leaving her bed. He'd knocked on her door three times because they had training today before he'd heard her screech so loud, throwing the sheets away to see her bed with blood.

Shock was the least to describe Geralt's expression, he was utterly floored when he realized that their house has been invaded by some type of beast that devours a woman's delicate pearls. He deeply tried to search inside his head for whatever was close enough to be too sleek that he hadn't heard the monster enter their house nor did he even got the gist of its smell.

The monster was technically too good or maybe somehow idiotic as well because of how it probably only bitten Cirilla in between her legs.

"Jaskier, calm down." Geralt deeply rumbled, eyebrows tightly creased to the extent of thinking too much. The bard huffed to himself, crossing his arms in a snobbish way to watch Geralt leaning on their new dining table, hands flat as he had his head dropped down, thoroughly thinking it through.

"You're panicking as well because you've been too distracted with your delightful slumber with your midget that you were slacking and your witcher senses were unrealiable because of your protective fingers threading along the scented locks of her hair---"

The witcher snapped his head back to see Jaskier forming flowery sentences about what he saw last night. Though, he processed it and simply to say that he peeked through his room to see you and Geralt cuddled in each other's arms, "Did you enter my chambers?"

Jaskier looked around to see who he was talking to, but see no one and muttered an answer devoid of guile, "No?"

Geralt roughly growled, his nose scrunched in ferocity as he gave the bard a sharp glint of his cat-eyes. He should've left the door locked last night, "I'm locking the door next time. You can't be trusted anymore, bard."

The bard had a smug look on his face, a winning grin because of how he had caught the witcher red-handed. Geralt gave him a subtle roll of his eyes; ignoring the gloat etching his features.

The princess of Cintra stood in the middle of the kitchen, her beige silky night gown all bloody from her thighs down to her feet like there has been bloody murder. She was cocking her head in a way that tells she was wondering what has happened and why she feels no pain other than the part of her lower belly.

"Geralt, the only thing hurting is my stomach. What beast was it?"

"I...don't know," the witcher sincerely murmured, sighing a loud one as he straightened his back and stood tall, his amber eyes scanning Cirilla from head to foot to see what else was wrong; though, she appeared to be utterly normal, "---If it was a beast, then it is too conniving to have invaded our home,"

You cautiously took a trek down the stairs, your soft pitter-patters along the wooden staircase can be heard by the witcher as he instantly snapped his head to where you're coming from. Howbeit, before even jumping on the last step, you've took a sneaky peak at the family; head out in the open as your eyes immediately saw questioning amber eyes that held softness beneath the glow while Cirilla and Jaskier has been arguing.

What a wonderful sight to wake up in the morning; maybe having your three wishes from the djinn can be worthwhile when having Geralt look at you with a hint of such tenderness; stirring warmth growing in your belly.

You've raised a hand to give him a little wave before receiving a surprising small beam from the witcher himself as it was completely out of the blue; you've expected him to arch a brow or scowl but today seemed like a better day than he had prior to the mornings before.

Jaskier continued to deliver his tirades, palms spread out to exclaim Cirilla's current condition that knocked down all their feathers first thing in the morning, "Oh, dear gods! You looked like you were stabbed--stabbed in the---"

When you've suddenly emerged from the staircase and in the guise of being sardonic, your face was apathetic as you sarcastically muttered; pacing through the middle of the kitchen and interrupting their panic attacks, "This is why men can't handle a child alone; more so, a woman especially in times like this,"

From the moment you've seen Cirilla and that blood trailing down her legs, staining her night gown; you instantly knew what was happening. It was a natural circumstance in the lives of women.

Cirilla was having her first ever menstruation and these men were thinking of other worst case scenarios that made you wince from how uneducated they were about a menstrual cycle of a woman.

"Midget." You've heard Geralt acknowledged your presence, those butterflies in your stomach twerking from his gaze that rested upon your face; yet you tried your best to appear like he wasn't giving you any effect.

Probably too late for trying to let him know that you weren't that into him because you actually were. Big Time.

You were head over heels for the amber eyed witcher; even feeling a lot more after you've wished to a genie.

You bashfully bit the insides of your cheeks, clearing your throat to retain from squealing by how the witcher was trying to melt you with his peepers, "Tell me what beast it is," a demand was sent to the bard who gave you both rogueish looks when he glanced at the witcher who kept on staring like he was smitten with you.

The bard couldn't help but try to bite his tongue from saying any mockery to the both of you because there was a serious situation at hand, "Ughm. We've had hunches about a Nightwraith because it has been a full moon last night," Jaskier explained, holding his cup of water on one hand while the other was used as gestures as he continued to widen the scope further, "---Also, they appear in meadows or fields, and apparently we are in one. Right, Geralt?"

Jaskier glanced at the witcher, his forehead furrowed in seeing the witcher who still has his gaze fixated on you. The latter only gave him a pleasant hum to answer his question; never sparing him a glance.

"Hmm."

In which, Jaskier couldn't help but dramatically roll his eyes at Geralt from not being able to keep his eyes away from you, "Oh. Oh-no-no-no-no, here he goes again,"

You've clicked your tongue, trying to hide the blush from the witcher as you turned your heel a little and angled till you were face front with Cirilla and Jaskier, your side-profile only being seen by the man who kept his eyes solely on you like he was trying not to let you get away from his line of vision.

Oh, dear. He was utterly making your insides go in a twist.

"Nightwraiths eat women's coochies?" you lightly snorted, biting your lips to keep yourself from laughing out loud by how clueless Jaskier was.

He slanted his head to the side, thinking what you actually meant and raised a hand, "I eat coochies," pause. You've snorted another one, louder than you had before as Cirilla was looking at the bard like he'd transformed into something else, "I mean, you were referring to cookies right?" Jaskier subtly pointed to the witcher beside you.

"---Geralt does too,"

Your snorts were suddenly ceased all of a sudden when the bard pointed to the witcher who still had his eyes fixated on you. The snort died down and so was the smile that was about to creep up your face at the realization and memories that Jaskier and the lady in the marketplace said that he'd bedded a lot of women already, only does his whores in brothels and actually thought he'll live like that forever.

Huh. So much for the hoity-toity. Geralt was a fuck boy in his dimension. He's a fuck boy, you needed to remember that. Do not relish in the thirst. Do not. Not today. Not ever.

Fuck boys are assholes. But, if it were boys looking like Geralt...then, why not the lucky impaling?

You cleared your throat and push those thoughts away, "I bet he really does. No doubt," a nasal, sarcastic response was enough for Geralt to give the bard a glare of his cat-eyes. He sensed the hostility when Jaskier has said whatever he did, and the small frown etched on your face was no good.

The bard gave him a shrug, eyes all guileless and questioning.

You crossed your arms in front of everyone, masking up the prior disappointment and insecurity with a small, teasing smile, "What's the next theory? Sylvannas Windrunner? Illidan Stormrage? any world of warcraft characters? Or maybe league of legends too?"

Jaskier was expressive as he bellowed, "Gibberish. Utter gibberish, Small rat. We do not speak alien language,"

"You know aliens?" you blinked in surprise, eyeing the bard with a look of antonishment for even knowing what an alien is before he began to take it back, "I don't know, did I say aliens?"

You've narrowed your eyes at the troubadour, trying to see if he knew what he was saying but see none but only a confused epic teller. One tap, two taps on your arm and you gave a tiny beam at everyone, giving each a look of reassurance as your gaze lasted longer when you've passed by Geralt and then Kolby who was crouched under the living room table.

They've waited for your answer, patiently and intrigued by what they could learn from a person who lived in another dimension. You gave a soft sigh before grinning like a cheshire cat, "You are panicking over a girl having her period,"

Thus, your explanation made their foreheads crease a lot more as they couldn't understand.

"Do you both trust me?" you've given Jaskier and Geralt a look. The witcher gruffly answered in a jiffy, quick as a wink when he did so; leaving Jaskier to give him the craziest expression he could create.

"I do."

"We don't especially when you came from another dimension---" he gave his friend a double take, feigning the stun and offence as he brought a hand to his chest like he broke his heart, "---A traitor you are, Geralt!"

You gave the bard a crooked grin, shaking your shoulders to infuriate him, "It seems like your witcher trusts me enough, Jaskier."

He crossed his arms like a braggart, loudly huffing to his disappointment and shaking his head in consternation, "Oh, I swear he's acting like the dunderhead he is again. Next thing you know, he's as cold as a dead Alghoul's bum,"

A quick trudge towards Cirilla, you've gently held onto her shoulders; giving her a genial gaze of your eyes as she eyed you back skeptically.

"Cirilla, you need a warm bath. You feel uncomfortable, correct?" in consequence to your question, she'd felt another blood flow down her thighs, making her squirm from how uncomfortable it felt. It's like an endless stream that she couldn't handle, "I want the blood to stop, it doesn't cease!"

You gave her arm a gentle pat, trying to dispel her fears and perturbation about periods, "Don't panic. That's normal. I also do get that because I'm a woman. I prolly would soon. We get it every month, alright?"

Jaskier paced towards where Geralt was; regarding what seem to be a captivated witcher who was watching you handle Cirilla like a mother.

"Geralt." the minstrel tried to catch his attention, yet he paid no heed as Geralt was likely and certainly giving you the heart eyes already, "---I thought I may never see you acting like this again but this is perfect for bribery and another marvelous epic to be written. Geralt of Rivia, thoroughly under the rat's spell as you may see fit, looking like the witcher would give her the sun, an eye of a dragon, a dead body of a Golum or the moon if she wanted to," his bard of a friend scoffed, finding humor from the doting Butcher of Blaviken.

Geralt turned a blind eye from Jaskier's jeers. His expression lethargic as he continued to gawk.

"Why? Why must I be born as a lady?!" Cirilla fumed out of nowhere, slightly growling to whatever mischances she have gotten.

The rhymist threw an arm around the smitten witcher, his silence humoring him to the bones as he snorted, "You can ask Pavetta and Duny on that,"

Cirilla of Cintra gave him a lour as you bunched the hem of her nightgown, bringing the ends of it in a degree that let you saw the small pool of blood she created. Obviously, there were no napkins in their time if the men in the household don't even know what a period is. You tried to think how you would get one when you remembered those DIY menstrual pads in Pinterest that you have saved in your phone; maybe making one would be nice, "Will you get me new clothes for Cirilla? Let's give you a bath, shall we? I'll also try to create something that can help the blood from dripping,"

The request was sent to Jaskier, since he wouldn't be frugal for any help that was asked. Though, you were moved and taken aback when you've instantly saw Geralt stepping out of the ground he was rooted on and literally given effort to your demands.

He was certainly giving you wonders that will never cease in each passing day.

"I can get that---" the bard stumbled when Geralt moved away to your command, puffing out a breath as it gave his heart a jump, "---Oh. Geralt's doing it already, you're quite helpful today, witcher. You're very much appreciated!" he loudly tattled, watching Geralt evaporate from the walls of the staircase.

The bard snickered; giving you a shit eating grin, "The power of honeypot can be quite impressive, don't you think?"

You've gave him a baffled glance, tilting your head in wonder. Honeypot. You thought in the back of your mind, it sounded nice and scrumptious to your ears and so you left it at that; sending the bard a twinkle of your smile and an ingenuous flicker of your eyes because you didn't understand him and his references but chose to be kind.

"Maybe it is quite impressive, Jaskier."

You were gobsmacked to see a room that had a largely square in-built bath tub nailed to the floor of the room; like a bath house back in the medieval times. You've crouched beside the undressed princess, mindlessly tapping the floor with your index finger as you waited. They seem to be bold in terms of their body; thinking she would dismiss you once she was unclad from her night gown but alas, Cirilla wanted you with her. Not that you mind because she was also a woman and maybe she was just very much comfortable with you.

"I must say, you like Geralt?" she uttered, very straight to the point as you stopped tapping on the marble floors. You've heard a splash and realized she was already washing the milk away from her skin.

That question. Do you want her to know your honest thoughts?

"Oh--what?! yes, I mean--no. Yes?" you sheepishly stuttered, swallowing your embarrassment down your throat because it was that obvious to the eyes of people.

Cirilla quietly giggled from your bashful reaction; finding it funny that you were that shy enough to tell her.

"You always blush. Always clumsy and fidgeting whenever he's around. It tells me how much you like him when he could get you acting weird like that,"

You bit your lip, feeling the heebie-jeebies come around because of the topic at hand, "I think he likes you too," she surprisingly revealed, scrubbing some Epsom salt around her skin.

The abrupt presumption made your heart skip a beat. That wouldn't be possible especially that you were...you. A weird, insecure, small woman who came from another dimension wouldn't be liked by a dashing witcher. You expected nothing with the affection you had for Geralt, your hopes always on the low to keep the disappointments lesser and the pain more tolerable.

Besides, you were useless. A midget who held no strength nor magic within you. Your existence would certainly only be a burden for the witcher, so expecting fondness from him was the least of your worries.

You were happy this way, just seeing or having the witcher around before he sends the cargo off to her rightful dimension.

Cirilla was unaware of your frown as you crouched behind her, she continued to tell her findings out in the open; oblivious of how your self-doubt was starting to eat you up alive, "Geralt can be quite unscrupulous by bedding tons of women in brothels,"

You studied her from behind, forcing a smile at the honest facts you've received since the day you've arrived, "Who'd given you that talk?"

"Jaskier. He tells them whenever he's drunk. You couldn't trust the bard with your secrets, he tells them in the midst of his intoxication,"

"Yet, he didn't give you the period talk. Nobody did, even though they knew what it was and just chose to act like idiots," Your mouth fell into a tight, thin line. Obvious that you were dismayed by their lack of teaching thereof, it was not like you expected the witcher to give her the talk; Geralt of Rivia, teaching Cirilla what a menstruation is to his child of surprise. It can be comical because all he'll ever say was 'Hmm's' and a ton of 'horseshit' with that scowl on his face because he didn't know what it even is. You've had hopes for the toubadour but he'd crashed those faith of yours by telling Cirilla that it was probably a Nightwraith.

You'ce softly bitten your lower lip as you tried to elucidate what a menstruation is to the princess, "Having a period, symbolizes your maturity. You're beginning to grow older, a flower that's about to bloom. You're turning into a woman now," pause. "You can bear a child if you..do the birds and the bees with the man you love, Cirilla. But, bleeding means to tell you that your ovaries is actually punishing you to death because you haven't gotten pregnant yet,"

You've heard soft splashing of the waters, seeing the child turn to her curiosity, "Birds and the bees?" there was a soft wince that came from you, lately realizing the words that came out of your mouth. So much for being educated about periods yet here you are labeling sex as 'birds and the bees' like you were a Tumblr account.

Nevertheless, you continued for the better of life and for her sake as well, "It's an act where a man and a woman does a natural deed after they're married or before when they both prefer it to as long as it is with consent. It can bear you a child," another biting of your lip got you scrapping your dried, chapped lips; tasting a little bit of blood as you do and suddenly hissing to yourself as your fingers held onto your vermillion, "---Sometimes, it can be because of love or utter lust. Happens between lovers,"

The lioness of Cintra gave a nod of understanding, swashing herself with her bathwater before straightaway delivering her thoughts to you, "If you and Geralt become lovers will you do the birds and the bees too?"

The question caught you off guard. Entirely floored as you felt your saliva caught in your throat, igniting loud sputter of coughs as you felt like choking from her query, "W-WHAT?" Cirilla beamed back at you, looking so child like as her smile turned into a grin.

You couldn't imagine how stunned you appeared to be like at the princess, "---Did you even understood a single word I said?"

She seemed to not care for your genuine explanation about menstruation and took your 'sex' labeling into account, the mistake of naming it like a fable would probably drown you in your own shame as she went on; especially now that she knew you honestly told how you liked her father or step-father or---how Geralt is labeled for the princess.

Her smile turned pensive as she poured the water from her palms down her arms. She continued to wash, "Though, you probably won't be bearing a child of your own,"

Your eyebrows were tightly furrowed together, perplexed by what she was trying to point out, "Huh?"

"Barren. Sterile. Comes in becoming a witcher when they had their trials,"

Now, you were gobsmacked. Utterly dumbstruck that you couldn't form any words to say.

Your heart stopped beating from the news. His fate took everything away from him, included being infertile; a man's duty on earth to have an heir or another form of happiness for one man is to see a child of his own. Yet, because he was a witcher; it was impossible that any form of magic wouldn't do the job just as how Cirilla explained the whole thing to you.

Though, there was Cirilla as his child of surprise so you didn't know if it was a bad thing or a good thing for Geralt.

You've looked at her, solemnly. "They've taken that away from him too?"

She subtly nodded, peering back at you, batting her long eyelashes as her blue eyes gave you an earnest gaze, "They've taken everything from him. Even his childhood which explains why he's...unstable and complicated to understand," pause. "---If he somehow hurts your emotions with his words, he probably doesn't mean that at all or it's just a habit that he does; pushing people away because he doesn't know how to handle his feelings well,"

Thus, as she muttered her next words; her eyes turned downcast and face turned as long as a fiddle like she'd remember something that already was in the past, "---It took decades for Geralt to accept his duties for me,"

The whole talk ended with that. His duties for the princess of Cintra; giving you a head start that she was his child of surprise for a distinct reason. A reason that made the princess fall into silence and you didn't try to dig onto the information because apparently, she appears to be sensitive at the topic and you respected it.

Cirilla offered that you should bathe as well when she was finally dressed in casual leather clothes that had been given by the djinn since you've wished for it. They were now blessed with more clothes and food; you name it, the Djinn has made it possible.

You gently took your bandages off, seeing how it was better than before. A lot better. The medicine was magical for it to be better in just three days; or maybe the numbness tells you that it was going well when it probably even wasn't on the inside.

"I'll fetch you your towels, Y/N." Cirilla softly announced as she was all dressed and proper, her ashen hair wet and all down as she fixed her leather boots.

You gave her a genuine smile as you tried pulling your tight leather boots free, "Thank you, Princess."

She stood beside the thick frame of the wooden door, brushing her locks with her fingers and trying to untangle them as she talked, "Ciri or Cirilla will be fine. It feels different and...enlightening when somebody doesn't tries to treat me like one,"

She was that type of princess. A humble one too. You were obviously lucky on getting to meet them because they were decent and kind. A quick nod was sent for her wants as you deeply respected it before she left the bathroom.

Before you could even go stark naked, Jaskier was kind enough to drop the towels for Cirilla; you've sent your thanks to the bard but eventually groaned when he left and saw how it was a bunch of face towels and not actually a large bath towel that you could use while you try to get your clothes in Ciri's closet because you forgot to take them with you.

So, there was reasons as to why Geralt was sometimes hostile as he can get. However, the antagonism has somehow faded through time to time for certain reasons; especially noticing how gentle he can get after raking those fingers through your hair as he slept was the most amiable gesture you have gotten from any man, ever.

But, Jaskier was right. You never know when he begins to turn cold like an Alghoul's bum because he was complicated to understand sometimes.

You were thinking about Geralt as you sat in the end of the tub. His prompt thoughtful gestures that certainly dithers your feelings for him while you were in your birthday suit. A soft creak of the door was heard and you languidly continued to scrub at your breasts; giving them gentle rubbing with some Epsom salt with a little bit of lemon that you've managed to get from the cupboards; not glancing over the princess as you pointed at a small wooden chair and expressed your gratitude for her kindness.

"Thank you, Cirilla." you continued to heedlessly exfoliate your body; abruptly pointing at the chair as your eyes were fixated on your body, "You can lay the towels over there, I can get it."

Chances of being lucky has never been a part in your life. Hence, hearing that familiar, rough, low baritone of a voice you've desired to have for the rest of your life as you bathed was surely giving you the shilly-shally when you've seen Geralt of Rivia standing rooted on the ground; his amber eyes bemisting with obscure thoughts that you certainly also felt as his eyes were glued to your perky, unclad chest that was displayed before him.

He was a man; heedful of his needs and wants. Especially that the woman bathing in front of him has been clouding his mind since day one. The witcher would obviously stare and ogle at the unexpected blessing that you ought to share.

Geralt was apparently staring at your boobs and he shamelessly seemed to not care at all.

"Ugh," he hoarsely croaked out, those glowing peepers clouding with something primal, raking your form with those piercing eyes as you were knocked out of your socks by seeing the witcher whom stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the bath room, "I've fetched you your---" Geralt cleared his throat, forehead creasing in surprise as he went on with his gawking; ceasing the moment to sketch the image inside his head by heart.

"---breasts---towels, I mean towels. Fuck," the latter gruffly cussed, scrunching his nose for even admitting that he was impudently ogling at your tatas.

You didn't know what to do as your arms began to fidget, trying to find anything that could cover you up as you panicked; not used to being in decent in front of people especially by a man who has crept inside your heart. The water furiously splashed as you squirmed in your side of the tub, yelping when you've seen those face towels far from your reach and you've decided to just cover your breasts with an arm.

Fortunately, your breasts weren't that huge enough for some nipple slipping. So, an arm would suffice. As well as your heated center that was covered with your bath water.

"Geralt!" you've finally called out the elephant in the room, doing nothing but stare at you like you've saved his life, also humming in a pleasing tone as he blinked, arching a brow in amusement.

It was utmost shameful to be seen by a man you were fond with; thoroughly starked like you were showing him your adorable sized watermelons at the witcher who didn't seem to mind the image. "Where is Cirilla?!" you demanded and panicked, the heat flowing up your face when you glanced at Geralt in utter stupefaction.

The witcher was trying his best not to snicker from what he'd seen from you like it was a gift to mankind; his mankind, "Plotting her vengeance for my attitude prior to that day," he remembered that he'd pissed the princess when he planned to bring you back in your world with a Djinn. Therefore, Cirilla was salty about the whole situation and didn't forget the retribution that he needed to receive after pissing the child off.

You could hear the nark and frustration in his timbre, though he sounded to be too quelled to your surprise that he actually didn't find Cirilla's plan to be rather much annoying because of what benefits was given, "---and she already got what she fucking wanted. That cunning child,"

The latter clicked his tongue, blinking out of his amazement in giving him an accidental flash of your breasts. Well, he'd seen more breasts than any type of normal, but seeing yours was different. You could see the crooked smile wanting to carve upon his lips, making you narrow your eyes back at the witcher who found everything delightful, "She promised you were...decent,"

Your brow instantly rose at that, skeptically glaring back at the witcher, "Is this decent enough for you?!"

Thus, he cocked his head to the side, feeling his heated gaze on you alone; never leaving, "Even...better?"

You've finally hugged yourself together, both arms crossed to cover those angels you were hiding from, giving Geralt the death stare as the witcher continued to gape; eyes definitely intrigued for what else could he find pleasing to look at. His face was now back to being stoic and serious but his eyes seem to be the opposite.

"Stop staring!" you timidly commanded, voice higher than usual due to the embarassment.

He didn't need to be told twice. Geralt sighed in way that got him smiling, entirely beguiled by your reaction.

You were a conservative woman, even pure as well based on how you were panic-stricken by being immodest. Unlike those other women who he has been with, they were all poised and unfazed by showing their perfectly shaped bodies at the witcher who they find utmost alluring and ravishing.

Yet, here you were. Being you.

"I'm trying." Geralt snickered, his grin lifting his lips in haste when you couldn't see his face as he turned around.

It was like you can feel him grinning. You knew he was grinning and so you stated your accusations out loud as he was grinning from ear to ear, "I can see you grinning! Judge my body for all you want! You probably saw better," "

But, his smile slightly fell when he'd heard your voice waver a little at the final thought of your message; hearing a little bit of insecurity or maybe a lot more if you were covering them up to not let them see.

"You---You can leave the towels there. Don't look as you do!" you pointed at the wooden chair close to him, raking his form from hair to foot and still couldn't believe how large his build was. A puff of breath left your lips when you could feel yourself grow hot that had more than a blush, your fingers suddenly flying up till you've touched the weird symbol that was inscribed in between the valley of your breasts.

The symbol was totally strange although familiar because it held no meaning for you. It was like a colorless tattoo or a scar that was meant to be there; an image that you have already seen or encountered because it was with Geralt.

It consisted of the witcher's medallion.

You've only seen it when you began undressing, wondering why it was even there in the first place.

"Hmm." he gravelly hummed, seeing his shoulders slump as he thought about it too long. How would he even place the towel without looking like an idiot pacing backwards? "I'm warning you!"

Geralt gave a scoff, turning his booted heel halfway that you could only see his gorgeous side-profile. He never looked at your way again, though it was thoroughly tempting for the witcher but he respected your wishes and just stared straight at the wooden chair that was a meter away from him.

Your naked presence didn't cease his jests, "It doesn't sound too threatening now, does it? Especially that it comes from you,"

An adorable growl erupted from you, igniting a chuckle from the witcher as it was the first time he heard it for all his life and it was certainly the cutest, "What are you implying then?!"

"That you're a tiny midget trying to scare off a big, bad witcher," his grin grew bigger as he went on with his teasing.

You've eyed the large towel in his hands, actually thanking the witcher for sending them off to you because of Jaskier's foolishness; grateful that you wouldn't run off the hallways completely naked because you only had face towels, "Is that even a decent towel? Not a face towel like how Jaskier tried to give?"

Despite of only seeing his side profile, you were sure his grin fell from the moment you've mentioned the bard, "He'd went in?" he grumbled with a spiteful tone, making you question him in silence, "---with you bathing?"

"What's wrong with that, Geralt?"

There was a murmur, and you couldn't quite comprehend what he said but you knew it doesn't sound like he enjoyed the idea of Jaskier walking in on you while you were unclad like it was nothing unlike him who'd been given warnings and death stares like you wanted to throw knives at him.

"That bard,"

Was he feeling the way you're actually thinking how he felt? you couldn't help but try not to scoff this time, never wanting to get caught that you were finding his irked reaction rather funny, "I was clothed when he did. Unlike you,"

He'd ignored your response as you watched him saunter towards where the chair is, gently dropping them on top of the clean set of face towels that Jaskier has managed to give, "These are your towels, midget." Geralt mindlessly muttered, heedless of his next words that came out of his mouth, "---all new, soft and perky...Ugh, fuck."

The witcher rigidly stood straight, his shoulders falling as he exhaled a long breath; waiting for the tumult of your loud protests, "You're describing my boobs!"

Did he seriously just tell you that your breasts were perky? Small? Or you just thought perky meant small for you?

Geralt had his brows in a twist, crossing his arms as he glared at the wooden chair, probably already dying from how he was giving daggers to the poor seat in front of him, "Your what?"

"My watermelons! My tatas! I know what you're thinking and how dare you tell me they're small?!"

The latter didn't meant it that way. He meant that it was upright and firm. Definitely firm as he'd already seen it with his own amber eyes, "I wasn't saying it was miniscule," he explained with a very relaxed pitch of his voice. The topic not shaking him off.

"---It's the right size for you,"

You were now red-faced, finding the whole ordeal of talking about your breasts with the man you fantasized about was giving your features a reaction of being too flustered by the words he say, "Geralt!" it was a sheepish loud hush and scold for the witcher to cease his talking, "Stop talking about it! This is embarassing!"

Geralt amusedly clicked his tongue, amber eyes downcast as you saw a slip of his smile before fully turning his broad back as he ignored you on the side, eyes focused at the door which will give him a way out.

Maybe after you bathed, he needed to also have his based on how your irresistable presence began to take its camp inside his leather pants.

"I'll...alright," he roughly cleared his throat, a hand on the wooden door before you suddenly beckoned him to stop.

"Wait!"

The witcher could help you with whatever symbol was on your chest. He was the only person who could explain what was happening to your body right?

Those constant withering you feel on your chest whenever he was around, a desire that wanted you having him up close and maybe ever closer than you wish for? The scorching want to touch his face, feel his body caressing you in a way that nobody else could?

The type of scorching thirst that made your soul corrupted from all the lewd thoughts inside your head. You've had it last night, when Geralt was up close and raking his fingers through your locks; by the time you were sweating and having the potent urge to just devour the man who was thoughtful enough to put you to sleep, all you wanted was to be raunchy with all the obscene whisperings inside your head.

It was like somebody wanted you to do it; to have your body corrupted by the witcher and you didn't know if he felt the same way.

Your thoughts was heading to a path that you didn't know about; since the moment that the witcher came into your life.

Geralt heard the splashes of the water, meaning to say you stood up; utterly naked and wet from your bath that it made the witcher's body turn stiff. "You're making this difficult for me, midget..." it was a serious warning that got your chest feeling all sorts of things again.

You swallowed the filthy want away and covered your body with the towel that reached beneath your knees as you paced towards where he was, "Don't worry, I'm all clothed now. I just need to show you something,"

"I've seen more than enough of your breasts that can get me---" he started with a dangerous tone of his timbre, but you immediately backpaddled and tied the towel in between the valley of your breasts, the symbol showing above the towel as you awkwardly fidgeted your toes on the ground, "No! Not that! This!"

He'd felt your nervous pats on his shoulder, urging him to turn around and when he did; Geralt was aware of that shining symbol carved on your chest like a necklace that he also had.

The witcher stared at it with utmost peculiarity, his forehead creased too deeply that made you ponder if he was mad at what he was seeing but you knew he was just trying to understand whatever it is that was outlined on your chest.

Thus, he'd inspected each and every curvature, ending at an image that he also had on as he worn it as a necklace for whenever he was in battles since it was sensitive to magic.

"It's...weird," you curiously mumbled, glancing down at the glyph on your chest before tilting your head till you could see the real one gleaming before you, rested upon his wooly chest that you so wanted to touch since last night.

The way it crawled in the deepest parts of you was antagonizing as you couldn't find any relief other than whenever Geralt was touching you, it somehow lessen the uncomfortable, scathing feeling.

A very odd feeling that couldn't be helped.

Hence, in the twinkling of an eye; Geralt already has his calloused, rough fingers merely brushing that mark you had on the valley of your chest, sparking a hitch of your breath as it got stuck in your throat; the witcher, touching a part of you that nobody else did yet.

"Did I say you could touch?" you bashfully whispered, all flustered when you've felt him gently tracing the emblem.

"Hmm."

"But, your touch somehow helps the ache and the bath did too as well," an earnest answer was sent to the witcher, his amber eyes snapping away from the symbol to give you a glance; seeing a satisfied flicker of your eyes as you found it soothing, "Very weird,"

From the moment his fingertips came in contact with the image stuck in your chest, you've held out a satisfying sigh; feeling the slight sting slowly pass by like a wind when Geralt has his fingertips on your flustered skin. His amber eyes were heavy, focused and entirely warm as his gaze darkened in question.

"How weird must it be?"

Was it also the same feeling he had before you both went to sleep? the moment you both had when you've first arrived after going home from the swamps? That temptatious feeling that got him all frustrated for desiring you?

Thence, you continued to dance on fire, whispering your next words like a secret you never wanted to reveal. A surprising urge that got you all bashful but somehow gaining self-assurance for even saying these things out loud, especially to the man whom you were smitten with, "I...feel things that shouldn't been thought about, corrupted feelings that would describe me as sinful..."

Were you really saying all these out loud? How? Why? yes, you were and you didn't know what force has taken you to even say these out loud like a minx.

The witcher leaned down for your sake, never getting to entirely tilt your head till you were giving yourself a stiff neck. He'd had those amber eyes of him, dancing in curiousness; his eyes sharp, cimmerian and held scampishness that you never saw until today.

"---about you..." the sound was utterly guileless. His thoughts wanting nothing but to taint the purity away if he was given a chance. The silence he has been giving, blinding you into saying more; hoping he would take the chance before it even ended without you knowing, "---It's like I've wished for something that will make me suffer...makes me more curious about you than I've ever been before,"

You've held your breath, seeming to be enraptured by the witcher who wanted nothing but to melt you in his gaze. His glowing Aurum eyes enticed by the perilous spell you've cast as he cocked his head to the side, a look of mischief mixing with the curiosity drowning in his peepers.

"You are having desires," he murmured as a matter of fact, enticed by the close proximity that you both shared. His breath fanning your face in a way that got you smiling as you've genuinely thought out loud, "Scorching...desires that makes me pant like a dog in heat, Geralt."

You could feel Geralt slightly move closer, inclining his head a bit more to have a better look upon your face, the brilliance of his enchanting eyes definitely more bewitching as he was giving you the mischief that pooled around his eyes, "Which explains...last night?"

Your heart was pounding so fast as you've held onto the ends of your towel, tightly than you could ever do because playing with fire was technically not a great idea especially when it was his; feeling the apprehension starting to take over by his intimidating but fascinating presence.

"Yes. You--You didn't need to state the obvious---"

A soft yelp was released as the witcher abruptly hauled an arm around your waist, grabbing you like a basket of groceries as he pulled you closer; overlapping that personal space you needed as he peered down before you, amber eyes burning with the desire you both wanted to release. You've ogled back at the man, blinking with that vindicated look of yours as it made him crazier and unstable.

Hence, his reply made you crazier as well because the least you expected was his virtue on filling that forbidding feeling that was needed to satiate.

"I could revel those desires you have that is needed to sate," he hoarsely taunted, emphasizing his words while he somehow stared between your lips and those batting doe-eyes as he seemed to be ensorcelled by you, "---I'll indulge your curiosity all night long or even days thereafter," his next words turned breathlessly low, stirring a primal warmth that got you suddenly excited for what he could offer.

 "---If you'll let me,"

You were totally swept off your feet, maybe literally as you felt the tip of his nose tickle yours in a way that got you captivated, saying words that surely got the better of yourself as you fluttered your eyes closed, feeling his warm breath hitting your mouth enticingly palpable and peril to even experience, "God, That...was hot,"

Was that the response you only managed to create? Yes. You've honestly told the witcher he was hot when he was basically trying to woo you over and fill in those desires you wanted.

You've felt his breathing turn slow and erratic, the pillowy texture of his vermillion slightly tickling your mouth as it made your heart thump so fast that you were worried you were having a heart attack. Your eyes tightly shut just waiting to be kissed by the witcher himself as this moment was undeniably flattering.

You knew you were looking constipated while you awaited for those soft lips to land on yours. But, what you got was just a low, hushed growl and a puff of air that roughly slapped your lips as the witcher groaned out loud, his mouth momentarily whisking away that made your heart itch in a way that got you softly whining to yourself when he'd slightly leaned back.

Your nose was scrunched up to the extent of telling him that you were dismayed from the lack of lip touching like it was an intentional tease of his sly self. But, you never said it out loud to lessen the embarrassment that you wanted to kiss him that badly.

He was truly the living thirst to your randy teenage life before and a person who made you insane.

"The bard just doesn't know when to stop," his fiery, golden eyes looked through you, but it seemed to be distant as he had his eyebrows in a frustrated twist, nose also scrunched in a way that he was completely irked to the bones.

The witcher had a nasty scowl on his face. Did your breath stink?

"JASKIER." Out of nowhere, Geralt loudly exclaimed through gritted teeth, his arm around you never leaving as you stared into his eyes that also never left yours since he had you in his burly arms.

Due to your frantic state that keeps you antsy and fidgety, it decides to strike while the iron is hot. Meaning to say that you're taking the perfect opportunity to do something embarrassing. You've arduously stood on your tippy toes, struggling to reach Geralt's height before puckering those chapped lips of yours and doing the inevitable.

A quick, soft, honeyed peck on the side of Geralt's lips got him rooted on the ground, expecting it to land on those mouth of his that you've been dying to kiss but decided to taunt the big, bad witcher by pressing a peck that was dangerously close to where he wanted.

The latter was used to women who were straightforward, sexual and knew what they wanted. Thence, having a woman who's timid for wanting what she wanted was giving him a headache because of how your taunts were poking that rage of desire he had with you.

It was utmost frustrating and irksome because he wanted more.

You've dropped your feet to the ground before you heard the door creak where Jaskier emerged from and had a huge grin on his youthful pretty face, "Why, does anyone want me to rub chamomile onto their lovely bottoms?"

Geralt's hold on you slightly loosened as he looked at you with that questioning and frustrated look on his face, giving a grimace for whatever child-like kiss you have given him. It was completely unsatisfying. He didn't expect that and you couldn't help but want to snort and giggle at the same time from how stunned he appeared to be.

The witcher snapped his head to where the bard is, giving him a sharp lour that tells Jaskier that he ruined something important and he better get ready for some beating.

Jaskier gave a nonchalant shrug, "Don't give me that look, I was about to give the small rat her chamomile but it appears to be like she's having her own kind of chamomile being given by you, witcher." he roguishly muttered, wiggling his eyebrows.

You were sleek enough to slide away from Geralt's sturdy arms, swerving from his delightful presence with those butterflies flying wildly inside your stomach. A deep groan of disapproval was heard in the room when you've both given the men looks of query and saw Geralt glaring at the bard for his interruption.

Your fingers began to fidget over the hem of your towel, hair all drenched as it dripped to the ground. The citrusy scent that has been your brand lingered in the air as Jaskier gave you a once over, his pretty blue eyes scanning your indecent outfit before you've seen his adam's apple bob up and down; the bard's eyes twinkling in some sort of way that made you even more flustered.

"Ughm, I need to dress up? Bye!" you nervously exclaimed, shifting on your footing before grabbing onto the door and escaping from the eyes of both men that lingered on you.

When the door slammed shut, Geralt continued giving the bard a stinky scowl. Jaskier eyed him skeptically, muttering a defensive 'what?!' before hearing a dangerous grumble of the witcher's protests.

"Bard." Geralt gravelly warned, his mouth releasing an intense blasphemy for the defensive troubadour who tried appearing innocent like he wasn't admiring your newly bathe look, "I hope a fucking Nightwraith gelds you at night,"

YES. IT’S FOOKIN’ LONG AND Y’ALL GOTTA HANG ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER BECAUSE IT’LL BE LIT! (Sorry if there are typos in this chapter!) FEEDBACKS ARE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!

Taglist: @alyxkbrl​ @himarisolace​ @barkingbullfrog​ @ayamenimthiriel​ @hellodevilslittlesister​ @vania-marie​ @spookypeachx​ @grungelovebug @fangirl-inthe-us​ @nympeth​ @amirahiddleston​ @gabethelobster​ @dreaming-about-starfleet​ @uncoolcloudyhead​ @melaninstylezz​ @psychosupernatural​ @missjenniferb @dance-dreamer​ @marvelousell​ @kingniazx​ @angelias134​ @tapismyforte​ @chook007​ @covid-donotenter​ @winter-moons @cheesecakeisapie @silverkitten547​ @angelofthor​ 

[inkslingerharry]

Yellow Days

Harry needs to touch up his tiger thigh tattoo, and he’s recommended to Y/N, a tattoo artist who just started up her own tattoo shop. Harry is nearly unable to hold himself together during consultation and while Y/N touches up his tattoo. After all, Y/N is an attractive, witty, and fiery woman who also happens to own a Britney Spears shirt.

thank you to @for-fucks-sake-h @yes-daddy-i-willl and @tandy-mikaelson for being beta readers, y’all are the best and mean so so much to me, thank you for doing this.

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**warning: there are mentions of mature content, blood, and tattoos/needles

here’s nearly 9k of sexual tension!

“Just a touch up?” She asks, slipping her glasses from her face to her hair, pushing back a few stray strands, looking across her desk that’s currently littered with papers, sketches, folders, the sort.

Harry nods, lightly tapping his knuckles against his knee, trying to maintain eye contact as best he could.

A friend had recommended Harry visit Y/N’s shop after he mentioned how faded his tiger tattoo had gotten. He played back the memory, nervous as he remembered how his friend had disclosed that the artist was fairly new, just opened up her own shop. He was surprised when he walked through the doors, taking off his sunglasses and looking around the establishment; it wasn’t like Harry to check out such a new artist. But he wanted the tattoo done. Plus, he figured, it would be cheaper.

He didn’t really have an idea of who Y/N was, other than looking through her work on Instagram and her portfolio on her website. She was a damn good artist for being so new to the game. After making a consulting appointment with a woman behind a tiny desk near the front, Harry was ready to see Y/N for himself. He had heard amazing remarks from his friend and this new woman, who had only been working for Y/N for five months.

“Do you mind if I ask why the original artist can’t do it?” Y/N questions, leaning forward and resting her arms on her desk over a red folder.

Despite being a tattoo artist, her arms were bare. Harry could spot a tiny line of ink on the inside of her arm, just above the crook of her elbow. The rest was hidden by the sleeve of her maroon button up. He wondered what else she was hiding under her clothes, where the rest of her tattoos were. Every other person he’s been with was covered in ink, yet the woman in front of him looked like an empty canvas.

As Harry glanced back up to meet her eyes, he’s taken aback. She never broke eye contact with him unless necessary, and when she was looking at him, she seemed… bored, unconcerned, restless. It was like she had better things to do.

“He’s been really busy lately. His schedule has been so full of appointments that he doesn’t time time for me,” Harry responded, bringing his hand up and scratching at the end of his nose twice, a habit he developed when he was nervous.

Y/N nodded, reaching forward, her eyes finally leaving Harry’s as she moved a few papers haphazardly. One paper fell to the floor in front of Harry, landing at his feet after fluttering back and forth a few times.

He quickly picked it up without thinking, leaning and bending forward to grasp the edge of it. When he emerged above the desk again, Y/N was looking at him, but not his eyes this time. When she saw him scan her face briefly, her eyes slightly widened and she took the paper that was being offered to her. She busied herself right away.

“Did you draw that?” Harry motioned towards the sketch he had just picked up, which was already thrown onto the desk in a disorganized manner.

“Yeah,” she answered, scattering a few more papers before finding what she was looking for: a label maker.

“It’s beautiful. What kind of flower is it?” Harry asked, hoping he wasn’t stepping over an imaginary boundary.

“A peony,” Y/N said, inclining herself forward so Harry could take the label maker from her hand. “Just type out your name.”

It was hard to read her. He wanted to find out more about her, see more of her art, know why she was a bit harsh on the outside. Harry could never really read her face which was different for him. Everyone seemed to be an open book except her.

“What if I misspell it?”

“Then I guess I’ll refer to you as Hatty Styles then,” she quipped, not wasting a breath.

He gave a quick laugh, looking down to read the letters on the tiny keyboard. He liked how quick she was, how it seemed like her humor left no survivors. She had wit, and Harry admired that.

“Alright,” he whispered loudly, handing the label maker back over the desk to her. She examined it in seconds before pressing a button and setting it to the side. The little machine started whirring.

“Have a preference in color?” She asked, scooting her chair back and opening a drawer in her filing cabinet.

“What?”

“Folder color,” she answered simply, thumbing over a few colors. “Purple, red, green, blue, black, or yellow?”

Harry shook his head, finding the entire scenario a little disorienting. “Yellow, I guess.”

“Last yellow one,” she commented, bringing herself forward again.

“I’m honored,” Harry joked, placing his hand over his chest dramatically. He was rewarded with the tiniest ghost of a smile from Y/N. His heart and pride soared.

Y/N picked up the label maker and ripped off the product, tearing apart the two pieces of paper so one was a sticker with Harry’s name on it. She carefully stuck it to the yellow folder in front of her, making sure it was fairly centered and even.

“So, I have to ask you about your medical history, just to be sure. Do you have diabetes, any allergies, on any blood thinners?”

Harry shook his head to all of them. “Great. Have you tested positive for HIV or hepatitis?”

Again, Harry shook his head.

“Okay, now I’d like to take pictures of your current tattoo so I can figure out what needs to be touched up and what still looks good. You did sign the papers in the front, right? With Fumiko, the lady at the front desk?”

Harry nodded, watching how Y/N reached for one of several cameras resting on a shelf. She gave a hum of approval before standing and strolling around her desk, stopping right in front of Harry.

“Oh, right,” Harry coughed, pulling up his shorts to showcase his faded tattoo. It looked rough.

Y/N snapped a few pictures, some with flash and some without. Some zoomed in, some zoomed out. After about four more pictures were taken, Y/N set her camera on her desk, still looking intently at Harry’s tattoo.

She reached forward, her fingers a few inches away before she glanced up at him. “Is this okay?”

Harry only nodded, not trusting his voice at the moment. Y/N slipped on her glasses before placing her hand on Harry’s thigh. She moved the skin around a bit, looking at it from different angles. She was careful with Harry’s thigh, making sure she was professional and pulling the skin just enough so she could take her notes.

“Not really my style, but it’s not bad,” she muttered, giving just enough praise to make Harry happy.

Her hands were warmer than he had thought they would be. Her nails were neat, not manicured, but she took care of them. Harry thought he could see the faintest stain of nail polish, but he wasn’t sure.

Y/N stopped, allowing her fingertip to lightly trace around the tattoo. The motion was different than before; it was soft and tender, almost as if she didn’t need to do what she was doing, but she wanted to. She glanced up at Harry, meeting his eyes with her hand still on him. After a few seconds of silence, Y/N nodded and stepped away, back to her chair around her desk. She huffed as she tried to sort a few papers.

Harry swallowed loudly, trying to hide the blush rising on his cheeks.

“You didn’t want anything added to it? No colors, no new shapes, just a touch up?”

“Yes,” Harry confirmed.

“I think I have everything,” she said, picking up a notepad and jotting down a few notes, the cap of her pen in her mouth. “We have your contact information, right?”

“Yes,” Harry repeated, pulling his shorts back down his leg, covering his thigh. Just as he was about to stand, the girl from the front desk entered Y/N’s office. Harry watched as Y/N’s shoulders deflated.

“Y/N! You wouldn’t believe it. Some guy came in and asked for a drop in and when I said-“

“Fumi, I’m consulting right now,” Y/N grated, her eyes already losing a bit of color.

Fumiko shrugged, walking in further. “Your desk is so messy,” she commented, picking up a few papers.

“I’m busy.”

Fumiko laughed, her black hair bouncing with her shoulders. She made a few more remarks, gaining a few laughs from Harry and a couple glares from Y/N.

“So, Harry Styles,” Fumiko read off of the new folder, “why come into Y/N’s shop?”

Harry was a little taken back by the forward question, but he saw Y/N’s grumpy face turn to one of curiosity.

“I need a touch up done,” he simply answered. Y/N’s face didn’t change except for her lips puckering a bit as she looked away.

“You could’ve gone anywhere for a touch up, so why here? Aren’t you a little nervous about being Y/N’s client?”

Harry shrugged, becoming a little uncomfortable under the investigation. “I mean, sure, I was a little hesitant because she, Y/N, is young and a bit new to the game, but she was recommended.”

Fumiko nodded, leaning her body against Y/N’s desk. “That’s what I’ve been saying!” She turned to Y/N. “You need to find people who support you. Be sure to find at least one person who understands and supports you… a spouse!”

Y/N shot up from her chair, her eyebrows now furrowed and her lips in a straight line. “I’ll escort you out,” she snapped, not bothering to reach for a few slips of paper that fell to the ground.

Harry quickly stood, shaking Fumiko’s hand and following Y/N to the front of the shop. He noticed how briskly she walked, her shoulders a bit tight and her legs not taking full strides. She was also at least half a foot shorter than he was, but he had a feeling she could fuck a person up if she wanted to.

“Sorry about Fumi’s unprofessionalism. I’ll call you, probably tomorrow, being as it’s just a touch up, to schedule your appointment. Make sure to have your calendar ready,” Y/N said over her shoulder as she walked. Once she arrived at the front door, she turned to face Harry.

“Yeah, of course. ‘m looking forward to it. And thank you for meeting me today,��� Harry smiled and extended his hand towards her.

Y/N begrudgingly removed her own hand from the front pocket of her trousers, firmly shaking Harry’s hand. She glanced outside, surprised to see that the sun had nearly gone down, covering the parking lot in an orange glow.

“I hope you get home safe,” Harry said, pulling his keys out of his pocket.

Y/N’s eyes widened before she smirked. “That’s quite ominous of you to say. Is that a threat?”

Harry stopped with his hand on the door handle. Confusion riddled his face before he gave a small chuckle. She had already started turning away from him, throwing up a peace sign.

“Goodnight, Harry,” she finished, twisting away so she was walking down the hallway to her office.

“Goodnight, Y/N,” Harry shouted with a smile, finally feeling like he was reaching her. The last thing he heard was the door to her office shutting.

*********

“Shit,” Harry mumbled to himself, seeing a missed call from Y/N’s shop from over an hour ago. How he had missed it was a mystery, but he was kicking himself. It was already late, so he wondered if calling back would be a good idea. Before he could think too much about it, he tapped on the contact, bringing his phone up to his ear and listening to the ringing.

“Yeah?” Someone answered quickly. Harry could hear tattoo guns in the background.

“Hey, is this Y/N’s shop? I missed a call earlier so-“

“Oh, right, yeah, give me a few seconds,” the person interrupted, placing Harry on hold.

“Hi, this is Y/N,” her voice comes over the phone, expecting an answer. It’s quieter, so Harry assumes she’s in her office.

“Hey, it’s Harry. Sorry I missed your call, I was a bit busy.”

“Ah, Mr. Styles, how are you?”

Harry isn’t sure why his dick twitched in his pants when ‘Mr. Styles’ rolled off of her tongue, but he coughs quickly before answering. “I’ve been good, you?”

“Same old, same old,” she answered as if they haven’t just met for the first time the day before. “So, listen, I’m all booked this week and the next few weeks. I don’t have an opening for quite some time. If that’s a problem, I might be able to move someone back, but it’s unlikely.”

Harry grabs his laptop and flips it open, clicking on the calendar app. “I’m also quite busy. I’m not sure of a time that really works…”

He hears Y/N sigh on the other end. “I am able to keep my shop open for another hour tomorrow night if you can come in late. It would be around ten if you’re on board?”

Harry looked over his calendar, seeing nothing that could run that late. “I feel bad for making you stay open just for me, though.”

“Don’t worry about it. Fumiko gets overtime, and I’ll be here anyway.”

“Well then, if it’s good with you, I’d love to do that.”

“Cool, just want to remind you to eat beforehand, take a painkiller if you need to, but don’t come into my shop drugged up. Sound good?”

Harry nodded before remembering he was on the phone. “Yes, it sounds perfect.”

“Great, come in about fifteen minutes before ten.”

“I can’t wait to see you,” Harry replied giddily before realizing what he said. “Well, I mean-“

“Goodnight, Harry.”

*********

Harry walked into the shop once again, five minutes earlier than Y/N told him. Fumiko was behind the front desk, scrolling on the computer in front of her.

“Hey, Harry! Y/N should be finishing up with a client right now, but she said you can go to her office to wait for her,” Fumiko waved.

“Thank you, Fumiko,” he grinned, walking past her.

“Ah, just call me Fumi,” she shrugged.

Harry nodded before making his way down the short hallway, entering Y/N’s office slowly. She had clearly cleaned, for her desk was rid of most papers. Her certifications were framed on the wall behind her desk, and pictures of friends and family were taped on the wall. He noticed a table had been put up and a record player was on it. Harry slowly walked over to it, trying to read what record was currently sitting in the player.

“I think you should organize your emails, though,” Harry recognized Fumi’s voice.

“I’m busy.”

Harry quickly turned to see Y/N walk through her office doorway, rubbing her hands together. She glanced up, a bit surprised to see Harry in her office.

“You didn’t tell me Mr. Styles was here already,” she remarked, not breaking eye contact with Harry. He hoped she didn’t see him swallow hard.

“Oh, sorry about that. Also I’m leaving,” Fumi said.

Y/N finally turned to the girl next to her, a shocked expression on her face. “What? You always take overtime.”

“I have a date tonight. Maybe you should take note and-“

“Bah, leave me be,” Y/N shook her head, waving goodbye to Fumi before making her way to her desk.

Harry couldn’t help but notice how attractive Y/N was. Well, he noticed right away when he met her, but now, he was hoping he could calm down by the time she got to touching up his tattoo.

She was wearing a grey tank top tucked into olive green trousers that fit her nicely. Her pants were rolled up so her ankles and shoes were on full display. A patterned scrunchie was around her wrist and she had three earrings in her right ear and two in her left.

“Okay, I want to make this part quick because it’s boring, but also important so pay attention,” she started. “Go ahead and take a seat,” she motioned to the chair in front of her desk.

Harry sat, watching her pull her hair up into a ponytail. He quickly cleared the thoughts wreaking havoc in his brain as he sat down.

“It’s just safety procedure and aftercare and all that jazz. Here is a folder for some aftercare tips, and I know this is just a touch up and you’ve probably done this before, but it’s procedure. I even printed out an article on how to stop a tattoo from fading, so… you’re welcome.”

“Fuck off,” Harry chuckled, watching her face crack a smile. A few seconds pass before she shakes her head, completely ridding of the smile that was on her face.

“Alright, listen, no swimming. That means lakes, oceans, pools, rivers, hot tubs, bath tubs, whatever. When you shower, make sure it’s more lukewarm and preferably under ten minutes. Only use unscented lotion, and please do not pick at your tattoo. Do not use hand towels or anything harsh to clean your tattoo. Do not rub it, only pat dry.  No sun on your tattoo. If you get a sunburn on your tattoo, it’ll dry out and cause a nasty scab to form which can result in scarring and fading. Got all that?”

Harry nodded his head every few seconds, trying to remember the details of what Y/N said.

“Aye, you didn’t, so I’ve written it all down and more in your folder. Now then, could you please sign this paper here? It’s just so you can’t sue us in case anything goes wrong with your tattoo as I just described how to care for it,” she explained, handing over a contract.

Harry glanced over it briefly before signing. He noticed how small, yet bold, her own signature was on the artist line below his own line. He was just about to hand it back to her before she shook her head.

“Next page,” she pulled a towel from under her desk and dabbed at her forehead, which had a thin layer of sweat forming on it. “There are a few more minor details that you have to sign off on.”

Harry obeyed, flipping the page over and seeing another line for him to fill. Once again, he tried handing it over to Y/N. This time she took it and ripped off the carbon copy for herself, placing his copy in his yellow folder and her own copy in a separate folder.

“Shall we get to it, then?” She sighed and stood. “And sorry for it being so warm in here, the building is so old that we don’t have air conditioning.”

Harry had barely noticed how much sweat he himself had formed. He was sure that the back of his shirt had a mark, but he was hoping it wouldn’t be too noticeable.

“You don’t have air conditioning in a tattoo parlor?” Harry questions, meeting Y/N’s glare.

“I plan on fixing that within the year, not that it matters to you, Mr. Styles."

Harry couldn’t help but snicker at her comment as Y/N lead them down the hallway and into another larger room where the actual work happened. Chairs and trays were a bit scattered, but it was clean and more organized than Y/N’s office for sure.

“Feel free to sit in this chair here,” Y/N patted a chair in front of her, walking away, presumably to gather the ink and other supplies.

Harry just now noticed the faint music drifting throughout the parlor, melancholy and echoing, but still adding character to his surroundings. Just as the song changes, Harry was startled as Y/N walked in, rolling a tray that was hip height next to her. Tiny capsules of ink roll around and he could see a few pairs of latex gloves.

By the time she reached Harry, she was dabbing her towel against her forehead again. “What the fuck is up with this humidity tonight? It’s never like this.”

Harry simply shrugged, not sure how to respond.

“I guess we can get started. Do you need anything, a pillow or something to distract yourself with?” Y/N asked, taking a seat in her chair to his left. Harry shook his head.

Just as Y/N started organizing her tray, she glanced at Harry’s thigh and stopped suddenly. “Your shorts are covering part of your tattoo.”

“Oh, sorry. Should I just take them off…?” Harry suggested, his neck already warm from the heat.

Y/N thought for a second before shrugging. “Whatever you’re comfortable with. I personally suggest you do, otherwise you’re going to have to hold them up the entire time I’m tattooing, and I’m not sure how pleasant that’ll be for you.”

“O-okay,” Harry responded, removing himself from his chair and unbuttoning his jean shorts.

“Why you would wear jean shorts to get a tattoo on your thigh is beyond me,” Y/N shrugs, turning away. Harry would’ve been offended had he not seen the smirk on her face.

Y/N gave him the courtesy of looking away, pretending she was arranging her tray, but all she was doing was putting a few ink containers in order. After she saw Harry sit down again, she swiped at her forehead one last time and made sure her glasses were on how she wanted them. Y/N snapped on a pair of latex gloves, still not looking at Harry until he coughed lightly.

“If you need to take a breather, say something. If you need to grab my shoulder or arm, say something beforehand. Do you remember the pain level you had on this one?”

“I remember it being a bit rough, but I should be good now,” Harry boasted. “Is it alright to talk to you as you do this? I know some artists aren’t fond of that but…”

Y/N raised her eyebrows, shrugging. “If you want to.”

After shaving the small part of his leg, she grabbed a tattoo gun, giving Harry one more nod before leaning over and placing one gloved hand flat against his thigh. He instantly stiffened. Y/N looks up.

“You have to relax,” Y/N said softly.

“Sorry, sorry,” Harry responds, embarrassed with himself. Trying to take some of the attention away from him, he turns to look at her. “Why don’t you have a lot of tattoos?”

Y/N starts up her gun, placing the needle against his thigh. “I prefer to give them. It’s fun tattooing people, not when I’m in the chair.”

“What does your tattoo say?” Harry asks, slowly motioning towards the spot above her elbow. Now that she was in a tank top, it was easier to see.

“It’s the outline of the earth and says ‘I miss the earth so much’,” Y/N responds, leaning back and stretching out her arm for Harry to see. “Elton John,” she shrugs.

“So I take it you like Elton John?”

Y/N doesn’t respond at first, wiping away some blood that rose to the surface. “Nope, never heard of him before I got it.” She looked up to Harry’s incredulous face and gave a full smile. “I’m kidding. My parents played his stuff all the time. I grew up listening to classics and oldies, but Elton John was always a staple in our house.”

“You’re going to make me lose my mind,” Harry breathed, giving a small laugh.

There was a short silence as Y/N looked up at him. Her face was so close to his thigh, merely a few inches away. Both of her hands were resting on it, remaining still. Her big, bright eyes gazed up at him, her lashes full. Harry noticed how her lips were parted, and he couldn’t help his mind as it let him know that this would be the exact way she would look if she were on her knees in front of him, her mouth wrapped around him, bobbing her head back and forth.

Y/N instantly went back to work, choosing to position herself so the back of her shoulder faced him instead. He brought his hand up to his face, shielding his eyes in embarrassment. He gulped, feeling his heart beat in his chest. Had it not been for the tattoo gun, he was sure that she would’ve heard it.

It didn’t help that he could feel her tits against his outer thigh. She was fully pressed against him, making sure to get as close to her work as possible. Harry could practically feel her breathing.

“What does this tattoo mean to you?” She asked, surprising Harry.

“Um,” he paused, “tigers are known for being regal, powerful, and strong, you know? I’d like to think I am, too. People have to be careful around them because tigers can be unpredictable. I don’t like being so… I don’t want people to have expectations of me, and even if they do, I want them to be wrong. I guess I just want to be different, I don’t know. And they just look sick as fuck,” he finished.

Y/N smiled at his last sentence, her eyelids settling halfway over her eyes. “They do look sick as fuck.”

There’s another few minutes where nothing is said between them, and Harry is content with that. The pain really wasn’t bad. He could’ve fallen asleep with enough time, but Y/N’s hands were a bit distracting for him to do that. Eventually, he decided on watching Y/N work.

She really knew what she was doing. Harry was mesmerized at how close Y/N��s own strokes matched those of the original artist. She was really trying to make it seem like Harry wasn’t getting a touch up, as if he’s had this tattoo for years without worry of it fading.

“I’m going to move a bit further up your thigh,” she mutters, scooting herself a tiny bit closer to Harry. Her hands followed, going a bit further up.

Harry raised his right leg, bending it at the knee and mouthing ‘fuck’ as he rubs the bottom half of his face with his hand. When the needle was placed back onto his skin, he scrunched up his nose in pain.

“Thought you said you could handle the pain?” Y/N smirked over her shoulder, pausing to gauge how well Harry was doing.

Harry stares at her, a bit in disbelief. “I don’t remember it being this bad, honestly.”

Y/N laughs, shaking her head. “Relax, I’m using a different needle than what the original artist used, I assume. This one,” she holds up the still running gun, “is better for shading, which essentially is what this entire tattoo is.”

Harry felt one side of his mouth raise. “Sly minx.”

Y/N winked and gave another laugh before turning away. Harry cursed himself. He was sure Y/N could see the tenting happening in his boxers, especially since he could feel the tightness.

“Could I grab your shoulder?” He asked before realizing the words were leaving his mouth.

Y/N stopped, straightening her back which resulted in a few pops. She turned off her gun and placed it on the tray next to her. “I’ll move around to the other side of you to finish this off so you’re grabbing my left shoulder. If you move suddenly, you’ll pull on my left shoulder instead of my right, so there’s a less likely chance you’ll mess up your tattoo. But first, let’s take a break.”

Harry sat forward, instantly going to look at how fresh his tattoo was looking. “Wow, this looks great so far. I can really tell a difference.”

Y/N only hums while removing her gloves, twisting her back so it gave a few more pops. She leans forward a bit so she can inspect it, probably criticizing her own work on it. “Like I said before, not my style, but it’s not horrible.”

“Says the person with one tattoo,” Harry said, bringing his hand out and flicking her arm.

“Did you just flick me?”

“I… maybe?”

Y/N widened her eyes. “I am never opening my shop past hours again. Hooligans like you think, once ten passes, there are no rules. Besides, who said I only had one tattoo?”

Harry shrugged. “I haven’t seen anything else on you. And, I hate to be frank, but you are wearing a revealing tank top and I still don’t see anything.”

“Revealing? You’re in your underwear,” Y/N retorts, giving a flick to his knee. Harry beamed, his dimples on full display. “Wait, have you been looking at my boobs?”

Harry lost his grin then, his ears and neck darkening. “No! I haven’t, I… I just happened to notice that it’s a tank top and-“

Y/N laughed harder than any other time Harry has seen her laugh. She shook her head a few times. “I don’t give a shit.”

Harry’s heart was still racing as he leaned back, swallowing loudly. “You are seriously going to be the death of me.”

Y/N smiled and stood, pulling her tray and stool behind her and around Harry. Before too long, she was sitting on Harry’s right side and pulling on another pair of gloves.

“Um, I’m going to have to lean over you to reach the tattoo,” Y/N informed Harry, giving him a look to ask if that was alright.

“Okay,” was all he responded with. Y/N stood and leaned herself over Harry’s right thigh so she could reach his left one.

“Go ahead and grab my shoulder, or arm, or whatever,” she said, making sure she was comfortable.

Harry reached forward, deciding to wrap his fingers around her bicep. It was warm and soft, tender yet firm. She clearly had a bit of muscle there, but it wouldn’t be too obvious unless someone were like Harry, hand wrapped around her.

Y/N also noticed how soft Harry’s hands were. Despite being in pain and being offered to basically use her arm as a distraction, he didn’t squeeze too hard. It was as if the simple act of touching another person in such a way was good enough for him.

She gave no warning as she started up her tattoo gun again, picking up where she left off. That was when Harry started squeezing her arm a bit harder, even giving a grunt which Y/N had to quickly ignore or she would’ve gone outside Harry’s original tattoo tracing.

After a few moments of silence, Y/N started blowing upwards, trying to rid of her baby hairs that made themselves present and tickled her forehead. With the humidity and her position of leaning over Harry, her hair wasn’t fully cooperating with her. So, she resorted to stopping for a few seconds to push back some stray hairs only to have to repeat the action every couple of minutes.

“Here,” Harry finally interjected, removing his hand from around her and stretching out his own arm, brushing away some of the hairs behind her ear.

She hesitated to continue, instead looking at Harry in astonishment. “Um, thanks,” she finally said, looking back to her work.

It didn’t feel like too long before Y/N was finally straightening her back, groaning and examining what she had just finished.

“I think… that’s it. We’re done. Oh, wait!” She exclaimed, quickly leaning down again. Without thinking, she repositioned herself, accidentally placing her arm a little higher than she meant.

“Y/N!” Harry shot up, squeezing her arm with more strength than he had planned. Even his breathing was a bit irregular.

Y/N was shocked, unmoving. She’s never had a client yell her name before, especially when the pain level wasn’t as low as this. However, she’s also never placed her arm on her client’s semi-hard dick before either.

“Shit, I am so sorry. I, um, are you okay? Did I hurt you? God, I’m sorry, I should’ve paid more attention,” she scrambled for words, shutting off the tattoo gun and quickly removing her gloves.

Harry sat back, his body hitting the chair behind him with a loud thump. He looked up to the ceiling, not daring to look at the woman in front of him. “For the love of Christ, please, let’s just move past this.”

Y/N was still staring at him, a bit wary of her surroundings. She wasn’t trained on how to talk to a client after she touched their dick, so she was unsure of how to continue.

“Can I just… finish this little bit? It should take less than three minutes,” she mumbled, grabbing for another pair of gloves hesitantly.

Harry only nodded, still admiring the lights on the ceiling. Y/N leaned over him again, much farther down this time, and only her hands were touching his left thigh instead of her entire forearm resting against his right thigh.

“We’re done,” she quietly said, looking at Harry who finally allowed his eyes to fall on hers.

“Great,” he rasped. Y/N watched him for a few seconds before reaching to the ground to pick up Harry’s discarded shorts. She handed them to him before quickly busying herself, somewhat facing away from him.

“I’ll wrap it up in a second,” she said, throwing a few items away. “Take a look at it and make sure you like it.”

Harry did as he was told, bringing his face closer to his thigh. “It seriously does look amazing. You did a great job on it. Thanks for this.”

Y/N shrugged, “I’ll take your thanks in the form of money.”

She wrapped Harry’s fresh tattoo, explaining to him the steps to take during the aftercare. Harry nodded along, noticing how slow and gentle she was with her actions. Once she was finished wrapping him up, she walked to the front of the room, waiting for him.

“I’ll just meet you at the front desk,” she suggested, walking out of the room, leaving Harry by himself.

Once he saw she was gone, Harry sighed to himself, giving his lower half a glare before yanking on his shorts. His thigh stung a bit, which was expected. He hobbled to the front desk, already pulling out his wallet.

“Here,” Harry haphazardly grabbed a few bills and handed them to Y/N. She quickly did the math then furrowed her brows.

“There’s too much here.”

“What about tip?”

“Even with tip, this is quite a lot.”

“Just keep it.”

“Oh… okay,” she responded, surprised. She slipped her glasses off and tucked them into her hair on her head.”Would it be alright if you came in maybe a week from now just so I can check up on it?”

“I thought you were all booked up the next few weeks?”

“I figured you could come in after hours again… unless that’s a problem for you.”

Harry watched her eyes closely. She seemed back to her normal self: bored, weary, indifferent. “Yeah, that definitely works for me.”

After scheduling another smaller appointment, Y/N turned to Harry, “Well, Mr. Styles, just remember to keep those showers to less than ten minutes if you can.”

Harry wasn’t sure if he hated or loved the smirk on her face. She leaned forward, her arms crossed in front of her on the desk, leaving her cleavage out on full display. Harry glanced down, fully aware that Y/N was watching him, but he didn’t care. Based on Y/N’s actions, it’s like she wanted him to look, like she was presenting herself before him. She didn’t move as he gazed at her chest.

“I’ll try,” he quipped back, finally looking up at her and wetting his lips with his tongue. “Get home safe.”

Y/N chuckled as Harry turned away. “Goodnight, Harry.”

“Goodnight, Y/N.”

*********

A week had gone by, which meant it was time for Harry to enter Y/N’s shop again. He had been taking care of his tattoo just as she had instructed, careful to be precise and pointed with his aftercare. His tattoo had gone through some of the healing process nicely thanks to him obeying orders.

“Hi, Harry. Y/N said to wait in her office,” Fumi raised to point her thumb behind her towards Y/N’s office.

“You’re leaving?” Harry asked, noticing Fumi carrying her purse and the computer at the front desk turned off.

“Yup! Y/N said you’re just here for a check up so I can head home. Have fun!” Fumi waved.

Harry made his way to Y/N’s office, settling himself into his normal spot and facing Y/N’s desk. It seemed that being clean was not her strong point, as papers were scattered across the surface. A small recycling bin was full of crumpled and folded papers.

He knocked his knuckles against the arm rests of the chair, impatiently waiting for Y/N.

Since the last time he had seen Y/N, she’s all he had thought about. When his friend who recommended Y/N asked how his session went, Harry could only give positive feedback. Of course, he left out some details, specifically Y/N accidentally touching his dick and him going home and taking care of himself, watching his fresh tiger tattoo move with each stroke of his hand.

Harry immediately tried thinking of something else, but it was of no use. The feeling of Y/N feeling him up came back, and he was squirming in his chair. He was overwhelmed by her, but it still didn’t feel like enough.

Y/N sure wasn’t helping when she walked into her office, addressing him as Mr. Styles once again.

“How are you doing?” She asked once she shut her office door behind her and settled into the chair behind her desk.

“I’m good, how are you?”

“Same old, same old. How has your tattoo been treating you?” She leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms up and folding them behind her head.

Once again, Harry couldn’t help but notice how captivating Y/N was with her striking features. She wore an old, faded Britney Spears shirt and loose jeans that stopped well above her ankles. Another scrunchie adorned her left wrist.

“Doing what a tattoo should do, I guess. Do you think there’ll be less scabbing being as it was just a touch up?” He questioned, reaching up to scratch his nose twice.

“Should be less scabbing, but I’m not fully sure. It really depends on your body. Plus, touching up years after you originally got it comes into play. Why don’t I take a look at it?” She suggested as she stood up.

Harry nods, standing and unbuttoning his jean shorts for her a second time. Y/N raised her eyebrows with a skeptical glance.

“Jean shorts again? I think you’re doing it on purpose at this point.”

Harry smirked, choosing to say nothing and trying to hide his smug grin with no success. The truth was that he did do it on purpose, wanting to strip down for her if he could.

As he pulled down his shorts, hearing them give a small thump when they hit the ground, he stoically stood before Y/N, hands on his waist.

“I think someone is feeling cocky,” Y/N mutters, walking around the desk in front of Harry.

He grinned, giving a small shrug, “Just be happy that I followed your aftercare directions.”

“I’m not proud of you for doing something you should be doing,” she snapped back, giving Harry a look before kneeling in front of him but not breaking eye contact. Just the sight of her on her knees before him wiped the smirk off of his face. His hands fell from his waist to his sides.

Harry gave a shaky breath as Y/N looked away and at his thigh, lightly moving the skin around it with her hand. She said nothing as she examined it, carefully looking at it from different angles.

“It looks really good, actually. It’s healed pretty fast,” she praised as she stood.

Harry didn’t step back, and neither did she. He licked his lips before smiling.

“Can I kiss you?” He finally asked.

Y/N gave a short laugh. “I’ll have to charge you for that.”

“Anything I do is money for you, hm?”

“Gotta make a living somehow.”

Harry shook his head, breathing out a laugh. “You didn’t answer the question.”

Y/N brought her hands to her hips, giving a huff. “Yes, you can.”

Harry grinned from ear to ear, finally leaning forward so his lips met hers. He was soft and gentle, testing out the waters to see how comfortable she was. It wasn’t a few seconds later before his hand was on her cheek, trying to bring her as close as possible. Her hand was fisted in his shirt as her chest and stomach were flush against his.

The intensity of the kiss immediately skyrocketed as Harry pushed her back a few feet, stepping out of his shorts as he did so. The back of Y/N’s thighs hit her desk so she took it upon herself to prop herself up on it, her legs widening once she was situated so Harry could move between them.

“Wait, wait,” she rushed, pushing Harry away slightly so she could stand again. Harry watched as she gathered the papers she was just sitting on and placing them to the side.

“We had to stop for that?” Harry snickered, going back to his spot between Y/N’s legs when she hopped onto her desk again.

“People pay good money for custom sketches,” she quipped, out of breath.

“As they should,” Harry answered, cupping Y/N’s cheek. “They’re really fucking good.”

Y/N felt her heart beat faster as Harry complimented her art. She grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him towards her so she was kissing him again. Their lips moved in sync with each other, not missing a beat.

Harry grabbed the hem of her shirt, pulling it up so it was off of her body. Even though they were separated for a few seconds, they rushed back to each other, Harry’s hand on the back of her neck and Y/N’s hand reaching forward, ghosting over the waistband of his boxers.

Feeling bold, she palmed him over his underwear, feeling how hard he was already. He quietly moaned, breaking away from Y/N to look down to where she was touching him. Just seeing and feeling how turned on Harry was made Y/N aware of her own wetness between her thighs.

“I want these off of you,” Harry said, sticking his index finger into the waistband of her jeans.

Y/N leaned back slowly, taking her time as she laid her back on her desk. Her face remained calm as she deadpanned, “Then take them off.”

Harry breathed heavily as he unbuttoned her jeans. She lifted her hips to help him remove them. All that she was left in was her bra and underwear.

“Fuck,” Harry muttered to himself as he allowed his hands to roam her thighs. His eyes tried taking all of her in at once, wanting to memorize every curve, dimple, hair, and mark on her.

Y/N lifted her legs so they were bent at the knees above her desk. She widened them, causing Harry to look down at where he wanted to be most.

“Christ,” he breathed, lavishing in the view. A dark, wet spot on her underwear nearly made Harry combust right there.

“Is this for me?” He asked, rubbing his right hand on the inside of her thigh, slowly moving it down so it hovered over her heat.

“All for you,” she bit her bottom lip, watching as Harry’s mouth practically watered.

She closed her eyes and let her head fall back when she felt Harry start to rub her clit through her underwear. He took his time, wanting to see what she was comfortable with, but also wanting to tease her, wanting to see her squirm underneath him. He circled her clit, looking up as she released a heavy breath.

Harry needed more. He couldn’t keep this up for long. His hand left her as he removed his shirt then reached on either side of her hips, grasping her underwear and pulling the clothing off. Y/N gasped at the action, sitting up on her elbows as she looked at him.

“Condom?” She asked.

Harry nodded, turning away and bending to grab his shorts. He quickly found a condom in his wallet, pulling it out. By the time he turned back to Y/N, she had removed her bra and was massaging her breasts.

Harry was in awe of her. Everything she did seemed to radiate casual power, like she didn’t even have to try.

He tried opening the small package but his hands were shaking from nerves and excitement. Seeing Y/N open before him was nearly too much for him to handle.

“Here,” she said softly, sitting up and holding her hand out. Harry gently placed the condom in her hand as he pulled down his boxers.

Y/N ripped the package open, casually throwing the wrapping to the side. “You ready?” She asked, looking up to Harry.

He simply nodded, watching as she skillfully pulled the condom on him. Feeling her hand wrap around him made his knees weak and his mind blank for a few seconds.

She laughed, watching his eyes flutter open. “You alright?”

He grinned back at her, slightly embarrassed. “Yeah, yeah,” he responded, leaning forward and sloppily kissing her.

Y/N grabbed the back of his neck, making sure he followed her as she laid back down. She rested her legs on either side of his hips, feeling his hard length against the inside of her thigh. He broke the kiss and trailed his lips down her neck and chest, finally reaching his desired spot. As he wrapped his mouth around a pebbled nipple, he closed his eyes, relishing in the way she moaned and wriggled beneath him.

He moved to the other nipple, proceeding to give the same treatment. Y/N swiped the hair off of his forehead and out of his eyes, noticing his gaze already on her. She moaned loudly as he popped off of her, a line of saliva connected from his lips to her nipple.

Harry sat up, swiping his cock through her folds and tapping it against her clit a few times, making her sigh in pleasure. Just as he lined himself at her entrance, he stopped himself, looking at Y/N’s face.

“Do you want this?”

“Yes,” she responded quickly.

“Tell me.”

Harry heard her head thump against the desk lightly. “Fuck, I want it. I want you, I want you inside me right now.”

This was all Harry needed to hear.

“But go slow! You’re… a little on the bigger side,” Y/N quickly added.

Harry smugly grinned, promising that he would go slow. As he slid himself in, both of them moaned. Y/N reached her hand up and above her head, her fingers grasping the edge of her desk. Harry gave a few shaky breaths as he slowly thrusted himself in and out.

“Taking me so well,” Harry whispered as if he were talking to himself. “So tight wrapped around me.”

As he started thrusting faster and harder, Y/N used her free hand to hold her breasts down. She felt so full of him that it was overwhelming in a good way. Each thrust seemed to be harder than the last one, and Y/N definitely wasn’t complaining. She savored how good he felt sliding in and out, seeming to take his time but also in a hurry to make her feel good. Both of them were so focused on what they were doing that their orgasms came faster than anticipated.

“Shit, Harry, I’m… I’m gonna-“ she cut herself off with a moan.

“You gonna come on me? I wanna feel you come on me,” Harry grunted, tipping Y/N over the edge.

She whimpered loudly, a string of curse words leaving her mouth with Harry’s name mixed in a few times. Harry wasn’t far behind, calling out Y/N’s name and feeling himself still inside her, taking note how she pulsed around him.

It took a few seconds for the fog to leave both their brains, for them to notice how crooked Y/N’s desk was. They giggled at themselves, glancing at a few papers on the floor. Harry slowly pulled himself out of Y/N, relishing in the sound she let out.

“Um, I have a private bathroom, just go behind my desk and through that door back there,” Y/N commented, sitting up and covering herself as best as she could.

Harry nodded, picking up his clothing and heading to the bathroom. He cleaned himself off, getting dressed, ready to leave the bathroom. He looked in the mirror quickly, fixing his hair and checking his face for anything.

When he exited the bathroom, Y/N and her clothing were gone. Her desk was still crooked, the papers still on the floor. He carefully picked them up, smiling at a few of the custom drawings. Just as he was about to push the desk back into its original place, Y/N walked through the door, fully dressed and rubbing her hands together and smelling like lemongrass soap. She had also slipped on her glasses while Harry was in the bathroom.

He smiled at her, admiring the post-sex glow that radiated off of her. She didn’t notice his look, instead walking to the desk and chuckling to herself.

“A bit messy, huh?” She finally mentioned, looking up at Harry.

“Yeah, might want to clean this up by the morning,” he joked, earning a look from Y/N with her sticking out her tongue.

Comfortable silence settled over them as they quickly cleaned, throwing papers onto the desk and fixing the position of the desk. Y/N thanked him, looking around to make sure nothing else was destroyed in their lustful path.

“Well, I’m going to close the shop. You sure your tattoo is feeling good?” Y/N asked once again, grabbing her purse.

“I’d like to see you again… if that’s alright with you,” Harry softly said, reaching out and brushing his fingers against her arm. “Not just for a fuck, either. Don’t get me wrong, if it ends up being that, I’d be more than happy; but, maybe I can take you out for dinner or something.”

Y/N stared at him for a few seconds before Harry could see the blush on her cheeks. “Yeah, yeah. I’d really like that.”

Harry let out a breath of relief. “Great! Um, I have your shop’s number, but I think this would be easier if I got yours as well.”

Y/N huffed, rolling her eyes dramatically. “Won’t even go through the extra work for me.”

Harry chuckled, watching as she leaned over her desk to grab a notepad, scribbling down a few digits and ripping it off from the pad and handing it to him.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

“I’ll take your thanks in the form of a dinner.”

Harry threw his head back, letting out a brisk laugh and crinkling his eyes. “Sounds like a deal.”

They both walked to the front of the shop, Y/N stopping every so often to make sure lights were off or trays were cleaned off. She seemed content and ushered Harry outside, shutting off the remaining lights and locking the door behind her.

Harry couldn’t keep his eyes off of Y/N. She had him completely captivated and captured despite him only knowing her for a couple weeks. She caught his eyes and gave him a puzzled look.

“What are you looking at?”

Harry coughed and shook his head, trying to hide his growing smile. “Nothing. I just really want to kiss you again.”

Y/N’s face softened. She licked her lips and shrugged. “Then do it.”

Harry didn’t need to be told twice as he leaned closer to her, brushing his lips against hers. It was a feathery kiss, tender and gentle. He wanted to kiss her lips forever. Harry wanted to remember her taste for as long as possible. When he pulled away, Y/N kept her eyes closed for a few seconds, humming.

As she opened her eyes, Harry smiled. “I already can’t wait to see you again.”

Y/N laughed, patting Harry’s arm and turning away. “Goodnight, Harry.”

[darkfire1220]

So nothing changes since everyone started to protest this is what you’re saying. Basically you’re telling us that we’re sorry you don’t agree with this, but we’re not sorry and won’t adjust. Doesn’t change the fact that this move of yours @staff is censorship that doesn’t fix the original sources of the problem in the first place. If you went after the problem blogs (pornbots, pedophiles, etc.) then you’d have LESS work on your hands. The vast majority of users posting this content are just artists or writers doing their thing. You’re working harder, but not smarter. This transition would be easier if you were targeting the right problems, but you’re just tearing an entire section of your site down because you’re just being lazy. This doesn’t stop the various artists and writers you’ve already disrespected and infuriated from migrating or just dropping your site. You’ve lost their trust and probably a lot of business with this move of yours, and that’s entirely on you and whoever amongst your @staff is making such poor decisions. Well, hopefully you realize the error of your ways, but I’m not holding my breath. This was already so rude and disrespected so many of your users that I doubt you won’t suffer for it. It’s not going to improve your site’s content in any way, shape, or form.

Also, off-topic, but why go after all this nonsense and not target other more obvious issues, like, oh I don’t know, the NAZIS USING YOUR SITE??? Just a little thing, but if you were gonna burn down part of your site, we would’ve all cheered you on for that one and given you plenty of positive feedback instead of getting aggravated for slapping your artists and writers in the face, but go off I guess.

That being said, I know from older users that Tumblr is like a cockroach—it’s been through a lot of dramatic changes and is still here, but I for one hope this particular change of yours bites you in the butt. Because honestly, you deserve it for insulting your users like this. The site will survive, but you won’t hear the end of this until you get your act together. I for one wouldn’t honestly have cared if I didn’t know so many hardworking artists that will suffer because of this bonehead move.

So good luck with this whole thing, because you’ve lost a lot of great artists and writers who I hope never have to stoop to a website like this that so easily destroys the trust that was offered to them. Clean your mess up or get ready for the inevitable disaster heading your way. I’m gonna sit back and watch the fireworks.

Hey Tumblr–

A couple of weeks ago we announced an update to our Community Guidelines regarding adult content, and we’ve received a lot of questions and feedback from you. First and foremost, we are sorry that this has not been an easy transition and we know we can do a better job of explaining what we’re doing. We knew this wasn’t going to be an easy task and we appreciate your patience as we work through the challenges and limitations of correctly flagging tens of billions of GIFs, videos, and photos.

Today, December 17th, our policy begins to take effect. This means that we will start hiding – not deleting – posts that contain GIFs, videos, and photos from public view that are in violation of our policy. Again, this is a complex problem, and over the coming weeks we will gradually, and carefully, flag more adult content. (Yes, we will still make mistakes, but hopefully fewer and fewer.)

More importantly, we want to clarify the things that you, as a community, have asked about the most.

Tumblr will always be a place to explore your identity. Tumblr has always been home to marginalized communities and always will be. We fully recognize Tumblr’s special obligation to these communities and are committed to ensuring that our new policy on adult content does not silence the vital conversations that take place here every day. LGBTQ+ conversations, exploration of sexuality and gender, efforts to document the lives and challenges of those in the sex worker industry, and posts with pictures, videos, and GIFs of gender-confirmation surgery are all examples of content that is not only permitted on Tumblr but actively encouraged.

We also want to reiterate some important information from our Support post:

Your content will not be deleted. If your post(s) are flagged under the new policy, they will be hidden from public view and will only be visible to you. You can appeal these flags if you feel your content was erroneously marked as adult content. Upcoming feature changes will also make appeals more manageable for those of you with multiple flagged posts. Your blog won’t be deleted if you’ve posted adult content in the past, and there is nothing you need to do if you have interacted with adult content up until now–it will just be flagged and not publicly viewable. Don’t forget too that you can download your content. It’s yours after all, and we don’t take that lightly.

What is still permitted? We’ve heard a lot of concern about what the policy does not permit, but we want to make sure that you also know what is still permitted:

Written content such as erotica, nudity related to political or newsworthy speech, and nudity found in art, specifically sculptures and illustrations, is also stuff that can be freely posted on Tumblr. Although, photorealistic imagery or photography – images, videos, or GIFs – with real humans that include exposed genitals or female-presenting (yeah, we know you hate this term) nipples or depict sex acts is not allowed per our guidelines. 

Examples of exceptions that are still permitted but that you may need to appeal if they are misclassified are: exposed female-presenting nipples in connection with breastfeeding, birth or after-birth moments, and health-related situations, such as post-mastectomy or gender confirmation surgery.

The automated tools will improve. Having a post mistakenly flagged as adult totally sucks; we understand and agree that there have been too many wrongfully flagged posts since we announced the policy change. With tens of billions of GIFs, videos, and photos to review and millions of new posts every day, we really need your help to get it right.

The more you help by reporting content that’s not permitted and by appealing content that you believe was flagged incorrectly, the better our automated tools will get at classifying your posts correctly. The more content these tools review, the more they will learn the difference between what’s permitted and what’s not. Most importantly, your content won’t be deleted if erroneously flagged and all appeals will be sent to a real, live human who can make the appropriate call. 

We love Tumblr and the communities that call Tumblr home. You are Tumblr. This place has always been a reflection of the voices and communities that thrive here. As you’ve always done, help us continue to shape Tumblr into the community you want it to be.

<3

[unifiedsocialblog]

How to Ask for LinkedIn Recommendations

You’ve probably heard the importance of social proof but wondered how best to ask for LinkedIn recommendations from those who you have worked with.

Question: What would make you appear more credible in the eyes of your ideal clients?

Answer: LinkedIn recommendations from credible people who can honestly vouch for your services.

The more LinkedIn recommendations (social proof) you have and the more detailed each one is, the higher your ability will be to establish trust with those who read your profile and are considering what you offer.

It is important to note that a recommendation on LinkedIn is different from testimonials on a website (which all too often are fake) as it has a direct link to the person who recommended you, giving it greater legitimacy in the eyes of your viewers.

The Power of Social Proof

LinkedIn recommendations are a powerful form of social proof.

Mostly, social proof displays how others have trusted you, engaged your services, been happy working with you and received the results they were looking for. It dramatically increases your credibility and the ability to establish yourself as an authority.

It is vital that you include this kind of social proof in your LinkedIn profile and thankfully, LinkedIn has made this easy by adding a section for Recommendations.

Consider this: Would you hire a marketing consultant who has two recommendations on their LinkedIn profile or one who has over 100 recommendations?

Any good marketer will have two things going for them – they’ll have significant client results, and they’ll understand the importance and power of social proof.

Do you think the number of recommendations would have an impact on a prospect considering your services?

According to the proven theory of social proof and human nature, it absolutely will.

When people are in doubt of what decision to make, they look at the choices others have made to help them decide. Think Amazon reviews! It’s often the reviews that sell the products, not the marketing copy.

As an author of two books on LinkedIn, I know how vital those Amazon reviews are, especially for people who don’t know me.  

So, make this information easy for them to find, by aiming to have a minimum of 5 to 10 quality LinkedIn recommendations on your profile.

How to Ask For LinkedIn Recommendations and Get Them

While having many glowing recommendations should be your goal, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it.

I’m going to provide you with five ways to improve your success in gaining LinkedIn recommendations. These tips will help ensure that you aren’t spending time doing things that won’t produce results, and more importantly, which won’t damage your personal brand and credibility with your existing network.

1. Ask For Them, But Don’t Ask People You Do Not Know

If this seems like a no-brainer to you, then you’re already on the right track.

I’m often asked for recommendations by people I barely know on LinkedIn – to which I always reply NO.

Although some people might be willing to exchange a recommendation with you, even though you don’t know each other (or know each other well enough to write a recommendation), this is a HUGE risk to your credibility.

Not only should your praise be reserved for those who have earned it, but there is danger in recommending someone who turns out to be a let-down. This will only tarnish your credibility on LinkedIn (and in the real world).

Remember that quality LinkedIn recommendations are essential. To ensure you are getting quality recommendations, only ask for recommendations from credible people, who can genuinely vouch for who you are and what you do.

This can include previous or current employers, clients, colleagues, coworkers, industry peers or instructors. 

The best way to ask for LinkedIn recommendations is by sharing the reason you are requesting one, which brings me to the next step.

2. Personalize Your LinkedIn Recommendation Request

When asking someone for a LinkedIn recommendation, do NOT use the default message. Instead, customize both the subject line and the message. Better yet, hold off on doing this entirely until you have sent them a message asking them if they would be willing to provide you with a recommendation.

There are default messages for many LinkedIn functions, including requesting recommendations, but I never recommend you use them. Always customize messages, including recommendation requests.

When reaching out to ask for a connection request, it’s important to let people know why you are asking for one. When customizing your message, it could be as simple as this:

“I recently read a book on LinkedIn and have been working on improving my profile. The next step is to get some recommendations. Would you be willing to write one for me about the training I provided your company? I’d really appreciate it.”

3. Make Giving You a LinkedIn Recommendation Easy

When you ask people for a recommendation, there can be a few things that may prevent even your most satisfied clients from doing so—even for those who want to give you one.

For example, if your recommendation request comes when they’re busy, they may think to themselves, “Oh, I’ll get back to that when I have time.” Or, “I don’t know what to write right now, so I’ll take care of this later.”

And they never do, because they continue to put it off or forget.

Others might find the task difficult because they are unsure of what to write. Again, they likely will never get around to it.

To have a much higher chance of getting a recommendation, make it as easy as possible for the person you are asking. You can do this by providing them with a sample recommendation that they can either use or modify as they choose.

Do not create one LinkedIn recommendation example that you send to multiple people as you are at risk of receiving more two or more identical recommendations. Instead, provide examples that are relevant to each of your individual clients you are requesting a recommendation from. 

4. Strike While the Iron Is Hot

Let’s say you just finished a project for a client, or you just conducted a workshop or training for a group. You’ll often receive feedback from people right away. You can turn that feedback into LinkedIn recommendations very quickly.

As an example, I was asked to do a 90-minute training recently in Frankfurt, Germany as part of a two-day training seminar. One of the participants messaged me after the seminar was over thanking me for my session and he said mine was the highlight of the entire event.

What do you think I did next?

I thanked him and then I asked him if he would be willing to provide that as a LinkedIn recommendation.

Each time I receive some form of testimonial or praise via email or private message, I thank them and then ask if they would be comfortable writing that on a LinkedIn recommendation.

Another example, after reading my last book someone sent me a private message on LinkedIn and said, “Melonie, I just wanted to tell you that after I finished reading your book last week, I implemented what I learned, and it has already resulted in a $4,000 sale.”

I thanked her for sharing this (as I love implementers) and then I told her that this would make a fantastic LinkedIn recommendation, asked if she would be open to writing that in a recommendation for me.

This is a great strategy that you can use as well to get more LinkedIn recommendations.

5. Turn Testimonials into LinkedIn Recommendations

Ask your satisfied customers, who have previously provided you with a testimonial, if they’d be willing to share their testimonial in the form of a LinkedIn recommendation.

This is so easy for them as they don’t need to spend a minute on thinking about what to write. You can easily copy and paste the testimonial your client had previously given you and add it to your recommendation request after they’ve agreed to provide you with one.

PRO TIP: Turn LinkedIn Recommendations into Case Studies

When you have a client that has kept you updated on the success they’ve had as a result of the service you provided, you should turn those into case studies when possible. Case studies are more in-depth than testimonials or LinkedIn recommendations as they need to include where your client was at when they started working with you, how you specifically helped them, and the result they received from working with you.

Case studies can be very effective when potential clients are looking for more information on how you can help them and the results they can expect in working with you. Of course, no two people will have identical results, but it gives them a much clearer picture of what they may be able to expect.

How to Send a LinkedIn Recommendation Request

First, go to the profile of the person who has agreed to provide you with a LinkedIn recommendation. Click More… to the right of the Message button. Note they must be a 1st-degree connection to give you a recommendation.

From the drop-down menu select Request a Recommendation.

This box will appear, select from the drop downs the Relationship (i.e., Jennifer was a client for yours) and choose your position at the time.

Now you can add your message, include the testimonial they previously wrote for you, or if they have not ever provided you with a testimonial include either a sample or some specific suggestions on what to write. Remember you want to make this as easy as possible for them. Don’t give them a reason to put this aside for later, help them to take action immediately.

Once you have completed your message, click Send. When they have provided you with a recommendation, you will be notified in a message. All you need to do next is to accept it and add it to your profile, LinkedIn will prompt you through those steps.

The Importance of LinkedIn Recommendations

Having a complete and professional profile with recommendations that speak to your expertise or how you have helped your clients provides social proof that will significantly improve your efforts in getting more connections and generating more leads from LinkedIn.

The value of LinkedIn recommendations cannot be understated because as I mentioned earlier, people know they have come from a real person as they are connected to the recommenders profile. Too many people use fake testimonials on their website, so they are not nearly as trusted as LinkedIn recommendations.

I hope this article has inspired you with ideas on how to ask for LinkedIn Recommendations confidently and increase your social proof.

If you found this helpful, I share many more ideas on how to elevate your social proof and attract more clients in my latest book ‘LinkedIn Unlocked’. If you’d like a proven lead generation system to attract new clients consistently using LinkedIn, I’d love for you to pick up a copy.

‘LinkedIn Unlocked’ is regarded by experts and influencers across the globe as the premier LinkedIn and social selling playbook, and was awarded as Best Sales Lead Generation Books of All Time.

The post How to Ask for LinkedIn Recommendations appeared first on Top Dog Social Media.

How to Ask for LinkedIn Recommendations published first on https://getfblike.tumblr.com/

[dorishull]

How to Ask for LinkedIn Recommendations

You’ve probably heard the importance of social proof but wondered how best to ask for LinkedIn recommendations from those who you have worked with.

Question: What would make you appear more credible in the eyes of your ideal clients?

Answer: LinkedIn recommendations from credible people who can honestly vouch for your services.

The more LinkedIn recommendations (social proof) you have and the more detailed each one is, the higher your ability will be to establish trust with those who read your profile and are considering what you offer.

It is important to note that a recommendation on LinkedIn is different from testimonials on a website (which all too often are fake) as it has a direct link to the person who recommended you, giving it greater legitimacy in the eyes of your viewers.

The Power of Social Proof

LinkedIn recommendations are a powerful form of social proof.

Mostly, social proof displays how others have trusted you, engaged your services, been happy working with you and received the results they were looking for. It dramatically increases your credibility and the ability to establish yourself as an authority.

It is vital that you include this kind of social proof in your LinkedIn profile and thankfully, LinkedIn has made this easy by adding a section for Recommendations.

Consider this: Would you hire a marketing consultant who has two recommendations on their LinkedIn profile or one who has over 100 recommendations?

Any good marketer will have two things going for them – they’ll have significant client results, and they’ll understand the importance and power of social proof.

Do you think the number of recommendations would have an impact on a prospect considering your services?

According to the proven theory of social proof and human nature, it absolutely will.

When people are in doubt of what decision to make, they look at the choices others have made to help them decide. Think Amazon reviews! It’s often the reviews that sell the products, not the marketing copy.

As an author of two books on LinkedIn, I know how vital those Amazon reviews are, especially for people who don’t know me.  

So, make this information easy for them to find, by aiming to have a minimum of 5 to 10 quality LinkedIn recommendations on your profile.

How to Ask For LinkedIn Recommendations and Get Them

While having many glowing recommendations should be your goal, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it.

I’m going to provide you with five ways to improve your success in gaining LinkedIn recommendations. These tips will help ensure that you aren’t spending time doing things that won’t produce results, and more importantly, which won’t damage your personal brand and credibility with your existing network.

1. Ask For Them, But Don’t Ask People You Do Not Know

If this seems like a no-brainer to you, then you’re already on the right track.

I’m often asked for recommendations by people I barely know on LinkedIn – to which I always reply NO.

Although some people might be willing to exchange a recommendation with you, even though you don’t know each other (or know each other well enough to write a recommendation), this is a HUGE risk to your credibility.

Not only should your praise be reserved for those who have earned it, but there is danger in recommending someone who turns out to be a let-down. This will only tarnish your credibility on LinkedIn (and in the real world).

Remember that quality LinkedIn recommendations are essential. To ensure you are getting quality recommendations, only ask for recommendations from credible people, who can genuinely vouch for who you are and what you do.

This can include previous or current employers, clients, colleagues, coworkers, industry peers or instructors. 

The best way to ask for LinkedIn recommendations is by sharing the reason you are requesting one, which brings me to the next step.

2. Personalize Your LinkedIn Recommendation Request

When asking someone for a LinkedIn recommendation, do NOT use the default message. Instead, customize both the subject line and the message. Better yet, hold off on doing this entirely until you have sent them a message asking them if they would be willing to provide you with a recommendation.

There are default messages for many LinkedIn functions, including requesting recommendations, but I never recommend you use them. Always customize messages, including recommendation requests.

When reaching out to ask for a connection request, it’s important to let people know why you are asking for one. When customizing your message, it could be as simple as this:

“I recently read a book on LinkedIn and have been working on improving my profile. The next step is to get some recommendations. Would you be willing to write one for me about the training I provided your company? I’d really appreciate it.”

3. Make Giving You a LinkedIn Recommendation Easy

When you ask people for a recommendation, there can be a few things that may prevent even your most satisfied clients from doing so—even for those who want to give you one.

For example, if your recommendation request comes when they’re busy, they may think to themselves, “Oh, I’ll get back to that when I have time.” Or, “I don’t know what to write right now, so I’ll take care of this later.”

And they never do, because they continue to put it off or forget.

Others might find the task difficult because they are unsure of what to write. Again, they likely will never get around to it.

To have a much higher chance of getting a recommendation, make it as easy as possible for the person you are asking. You can do this by providing them with a sample recommendation that they can either use or modify as they choose.

Do not create one LinkedIn recommendation example that you send to multiple people as you are at risk of receiving more two or more identical recommendations. Instead, provide examples that are relevant to each of your individual clients you are requesting a recommendation from. 

4. Strike While the Iron Is Hot

Let’s say you just finished a project for a client, or you just conducted a workshop or training for a group. You’ll often receive feedback from people right away. You can turn that feedback into LinkedIn recommendations very quickly.

As an example, I was asked to do a 90-minute training recently in Frankfurt, Germany as part of a two-day training seminar. One of the participants messaged me after the seminar was over thanking me for my session and he said mine was the highlight of the entire event.

What do you think I did next?

I thanked him and then I asked him if he would be willing to provide that as a LinkedIn recommendation.

Each time I receive some form of testimonial or praise via email or private message, I thank them and then ask if they would be comfortable writing that on a LinkedIn recommendation.

Another example, after reading my last book someone sent me a private message on LinkedIn and said, “Melonie, I just wanted to tell you that after I finished reading your book last week, I implemented what I learned, and it has already resulted in a $4,000 sale.”

I thanked her for sharing this (as I love implementers) and then I told her that this would make a fantastic LinkedIn recommendation, asked if she would be open to writing that in a recommendation for me.

This is a great strategy that you can use as well to get more LinkedIn recommendations.

5. Turn Testimonials into LinkedIn Recommendations

Ask your satisfied customers, who have previously provided you with a testimonial, if they’d be willing to share their testimonial in the form of a LinkedIn recommendation.

This is so easy for them as they don’t need to spend a minute on thinking about what to write. You can easily copy and paste the testimonial your client had previously given you and add it to your recommendation request after they’ve agreed to provide you with one.

PRO TIP: Turn LinkedIn Recommendations into Case Studies

When you have a client that has kept you updated on the success they’ve had as a result of the service you provided, you should turn those into case studies when possible. Case studies are more in-depth than testimonials or LinkedIn recommendations as they need to include where your client was at when they started working with you, how you specifically helped them, and the result they received from working with you.

Case studies can be very effective when potential clients are looking for more information on how you can help them and the results they can expect in working with you. Of course, no two people will have identical results, but it gives them a much clearer picture of what they may be able to expect.

How to Send a LinkedIn Recommendation Request

First, go to the profile of the person who has agreed to provide you with a LinkedIn recommendation. Click More… to the right of the Message button. Note they must be a 1st-degree connection to give you a recommendation.

From the drop-down menu select Request a Recommendation.

This box will appear, select from the drop downs the Relationship (i.e., Jennifer was a client for yours) and choose your position at the time.

Now you can add your message, include the testimonial they previously wrote for you, or if they have not ever provided you with a testimonial include either a sample or some specific suggestions on what to write. Remember you want to make this as easy as possible for them. Don’t give them a reason to put this aside for later, help them to take action immediately.

Once you have completed your message, click Send. When they have provided you with a recommendation, you will be notified in a message. All you need to do next is to accept it and add it to your profile, LinkedIn will prompt you through those steps.

The Importance of LinkedIn Recommendations

Having a complete and professional profile with recommendations that speak to your expertise or how you have helped your clients provides social proof that will significantly improve your efforts in getting more connections and generating more leads from LinkedIn.

The value of LinkedIn recommendations cannot be understated because as I mentioned earlier, people know they have come from a real person as they are connected to the recommenders profile. Too many people use fake testimonials on their website, so they are not nearly as trusted as LinkedIn recommendations.

I hope this article has inspired you with ideas on how to ask for LinkedIn Recommendations confidently and increase your social proof.

If you found this helpful, I share many more ideas on how to elevate your social proof and attract more clients in my latest book ‘LinkedIn Unlocked’. If you’d like a proven lead generation system to attract new clients consistently using LinkedIn, I’d love for you to pick up a copy.

‘LinkedIn Unlocked’ is regarded by experts and influencers across the globe as the premier LinkedIn and social selling playbook, and was awarded as Best Sales Lead Generation Books of All Time.

The post How to Ask for LinkedIn Recommendations appeared first on Top Dog Social Media.

How to Ask for LinkedIn Recommendations syndicated from https://likesandfollowersclub.wordpress.com/

[connecticut-seo-adwords]

7 on-site SEO problems that hold back e-commerce websites

Today, I want to shift the focus toward problems that plague e-commerce sites specifically. I’ll also be addressing on-site problems that have a bit more to do with strategy and a bit less to do with specific technical mistakes.

Finally, I wanted to make sure we had some real-world examples to refer to, so I mined case studies from the industry to demonstrate the concrete impact these changes can have on your search traffic.

Let’s take a look at these problems and what you can do to resolve them.

1. Weak product descriptions (or none at all)

Since e-commerce sites usually have a very large number of products, it’s common for product descriptions to be short, automated and provided by the manufacturer.

Unfortunately, this creates a few problems for SEO:

Automated descriptions that swap a few words into a template can create duplicate content issues.

Descriptions provided by the manufacturer are almost certainly replicated on other sites, meaning that you are not providing anything unique for the search engines to index. This means the search engines have no reason to rank you above competitors.

It’s not always possible to manually update the product descriptions for every page on your site, but this action isn’t strictly necessary to resolve these issues. A focus on turning just a few of the highest-value product pages into full-fledged landing pages with conversion-based copy can have a dramatic effect on the rest of the site.

An Australian retailer named Toy Universe was able to increase its search engine traffic by 116 percent in just four months. That doubling in traffic also doubled sales. While many changes were involved in that boost, a large chunk of the effort went toward work on the product descriptions.

Put simply, the site did not originally feature any unique product descriptions or unique content for the category pages. Adding them in was a huge piece of the puzzle.

When Google first released the Panda update, this online automotive bookseller saw a 38.5 percent drop in organic search traffic overnight. The brand was well respected by its customers, but their product descriptions were supplied by the publishers; as a result, those descriptions were identical to the descriptions found on many other sites.

Eliminating duplicate product descriptions and replacing them with unique descriptions can help resolve this issue. Opening up your site to user-generated content like reviews can also help by introducing new content to reduce the proportion that is duplicate — a strategy that has obviously worked wonders for Amazon.

2. Not including user reviews

In addition to diluting duplicate content, user reviews seem to affect search results in other ways. It’s not entirely clear whether the presence of reviews affects search engine results directly or indirectly, but the impact is clear and unambiguous.

Yotpo conducted an analysis of over 30,000 businesses that added user reviews to their site and measured how this impacted organic search traffic. The results were stark: Over a period of nine months following review implementation, they found that Google organic page views per month grew by over 30 percent.

Including user reviews can be scary, as this allows buyers to leave negative feedback on your products. But there is a wealth of evidence that including user reviews increases conversion rates. In fact, in a bizarre twist of fate, more diverse product ratings improve conversions better than five-star-only reviews.

If you’ve been hesitating to include user reviews because of concerns about negative feedback or due to the difficulties of implementation, I highly recommend you take the plunge now. The impact is almost sure to be positive.

3. No unbranded keyword optimization

Perhaps one of the most common issues is that many e-commerce product pages are simply not developed with keywords in mind.

The typical product page is built around a brand and model name. It’s certainly true that some consumers may be searching for these names, and they should definitely be included in the title tag and the other important locations on the page.

That said, most consumers are likely not searching by brand or model name, especially when it comes to more obscure brands.

For that reason, it’s important to include more generic, popular phrases on your pages as well.

This isn’t to say that you should abandon any more niche keyword usage. What I mean is that you should be going after phrases that consumers are using when they search for products like yours, and that means going deeper than branding to focus on the actual mechanics of the consumer journey.

White Hat Holsters did just that, and the result was a 100 percent increase in sales and a 400 percent increase in search engine traffic. The traffic grew from 2,000 to 8,000 visits per week in just eight months.

To accomplish this, they:

used keyword tools and competitive research to identify phrases that consumers were actually using to find products like theirs.

analyzed the meta descriptions, image alts, URLs and headings.

chose three to five closely related keywords to target for each page and updated the above-the-fold region of the pages to semantically reflect those keywords.

created a blog to capture keywords searched for by consumers who were further up the funnel.

4. Focusing too heavily on transactional keywords and not developing informational content

It’s incredibly difficult to rank for “money” keywords, and it’s usually a failing strategy to focus too heavily on them, especially if this means you are neglecting the informational keywords that target customers who are a bit further up the funnel.

By shifting some of your attention toward less transactional keywords and toward more informational ones, you can rank for less competitive keywords and build a stronger reputation with the search engines.

Ranking for these less competitive phrases doesn’t just add traffic for those individual phrases; it can also improve your site’s overall reputation with the search engines. This may be because it influences behavioral metrics. Whatever the cause, I’ve personally witnessed this effect many times.

Darren Demates helped a medical e-commerce site skyrocket its search traffic by an incredible 1,780 percent using an interesting keyword method he calls the “double jeopardy technique.” Here was his process:

He obtained keywords by adding the page URLs into the Google keyword planner, instead of the usual method of guessing keywords and looking at the related suggestions. He also put the focus on informational keywords instead of transaction keywords.

He used SEMrush to find the keyword difficulty for the keywords recommended by the Google keyword planner, then weighed the difficulty against the potential traffic in order to make a judgment call about which keywords to focus most heavily on.

He used a “site:example.com [keyword]” search to identify which page on the site already had the most ranking potential for that keyword.

He searched forums using an “inurl:forum [keyword]” search to find the types of questions people were asking about his informational keywords.

He updated the thin blog posts on his site to answer all of the questions he could find on forums that people had about the keywords.

I’d recommend taking notes here and putting this to use. The possibility of increasing search engine traffic by an entire order of magnitude isn’t the kind of thing you want to ignore.

5. Implementing poorly planned site redesigns

I’ve had clients rush ahead with a site design without notifying me, and I’ve had new clients who approached me after a site update tanked their rankings.

This experience is incredibly painful, because a site redesign intended to modernize and beautify a site, or to implement changes expected to maximize conversions, can end up obliterating your organic search traffic. Few things hurt more than dropping a wad of cash on something and having it backfire on you.

If you implement a site redesign without taking SEO into account, this is almost bound to happen. Pages that ranked well can get lost, content that was pulling in traffic can get rearranged, and the results of past wins can get lost.

Seer Interactive assisted one retail client who had redesigned their site in order to secure the site with HTTPS. Their redesign caused their organic traffic to plummet by a staggering 75 percent. The situation was so bad that they no longer ranked for their own brand name.

The redesign deleted several key pages that had been pulling in traffic. This didn’t just cause the traffic from those pages to get lost, it also created 404 errors where other pages on the site still linked to the missing pages. This can cause PageRank to drop like a brick.

The site had a new URL structure, meaning all of the links pointing to the old pages were now pointing to nothing, and all of the authority the site had built up in the past was tossed right out the window.

The redesign introduced copies of pages, producing duplicate content that may have caused the site to be algorithmically penalized.

After fixing those issues and introducing a long-term content strategy, the site experienced a 435 percent growth in search traffic. This led to a 150 percent increase in transactions, and a 64 percent increase in revenue. This was accomplished in six months.

Do not execute a site redesign without the help of an SEO professional. The results can be absolutely horrifying.

6. Poor migration between e-commerce platforms

It’s a safe bet that most e-commerce sites are built using third-party platforms. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement that allows the e-commerce business to focus more on its core business and less on web development.

It’s not uncommon for a site to outgrow one platform and switch to another as their market share increases, or to switch platforms in order to gain access to previously unavailable features. Unfortunately, switching e-commerce platforms can sometimes hurt rankings.

In one case, TotalHomeSupply.com found itself losing 37 percent of its traffic after switching from Volusion to Mozu. Despite Mozu being owned by the same company and serving as the enterprise-level version of the same platform, the transfer led to technical SEO issues. (This isn’t a knock against Volusion — this can happen with any e-commerce platform if you aren’t careful.)

The drop in traffic led to a 21 percent drop in transactions, despite a 24 percent boost in the conversion rate that Mozu may have contributed to.

The issue with Mozu was that the pagination was handled by JavaScript instead of HTML. Inflow worked together with Mozu to eliminate the JavaScript issues, allowing Google to properly crawl the pagination, which was invisible to the search engines when JavaScript was involved.

In addition, they trimmed thin content that had led to a demotion from Google’s Panda update and introduced new, high-quality content.

The result was a doubling in year-over-year organic revenue and a restoration of organic traffic to levels higher than before the site migration.

As with site redesigns, make sure an SEO professional is involved any time you update your e-commerce platform.

7. Not optimizing for your most promising keywords

In the section on informational keywords, we mentioned Darren Demates’“double jeopardy” technique. In addition to focusing on information keywords, part of the reason for the strategy’s success also lies in the fact that it leverages the keywords that already show promise.

We mentioned that his technique involves performing a site: search to identify which page on the site already ranks best for any given keyword.

A related method of identifying keywords is to analyze your existing rankings to see which keywords are already performing well, and to make changes in order to better optimize for those keywords.

They identified “low-hanging fruit” pages which were already ranking fairly well for keywords, then updated those pages by tweaking the titles, headers and content in order to better reflect the keywords. They were careful to focus on keywords which would be “in season” shortly after the changes were made.

In addition, they performed some link building and improved the quality of the on-site content.

The changes resulted in a 31 percent year-over-year increase in organic search traffic and a 25 percent year-over-year increase in organic search revenue. This was a tripling on the ROI they had paid for the SEO work.

There are two primary methods you can use in order to optimize for promising keywords. The first is to run your URLs through the Google Keyword Planner as in the “double jeopardy” technique.

The second is to look at your keyword rankings in the Google Search Console or a tool like SEMrush to identify keywords that are already ranking on the second page or so. If these keywords are ranking without having already been optimized, they are a golden opportunity, and you should capitalize on them by updating your titles, headings and content.

This second approach is sometimes called the “low-hanging fruit” technique.

In the process, it’s important to make sure you aren’t cannibalizing your rankings for more important keywords, and, of course, to verify that the changes in the content will be useful for users and will not detract from the primary message of the existing page.

Time to put this information to use!

Don’t close that browser tab just yet. Leave it open and start taking a look at your site. Take a look at the problems I’ve listed here, and ask yourself if you’re facing any of them right now. You’ll thank me when your search traffic starts climbing.

Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

Source

http://searchengineland.com/7-site-seo-problems-hold-back-e-commerce-sites-283299

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Turning data into numbers

 Jeff Leek  2017/01/31

Editor’s note: This is the third chapter of a book I’m working on called Demystifying Artificial Intelligence. The goal of the book is to demystify what modern AI is and does for a general audience. So something to smooth the transition between AI fiction and highly mathematical descriptions of deep learning. I’m developing the book over time - so if you buy the book on Leanpub know that there are only three chapters in there so far, but I’ll be adding more over the next few weeks and you get free updates. The cover of the book was inspired by this amazing tweet by Twitter user @notajf. Feedback is welcome and encouraged!

“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.” Arthur Conan Doyle

Data, data everywhere

I already have some data about you. You are reading this book. Does that seem like data? It’s just something you did, that’s not data is it? But if I collect that piece of information about you, it actually tells me a surprising amount. It tells me you have access to an internet connection, since the only place to get the book is online. That in turn tells me something about your socioeconomic status and what part of the world you live in. It also tells me that you like to read, which suggests a certain level of education.

Whether you know it or not, everything you do produces data - from the websites you read to the rate at which your heart beats. Until pretty recently, most of the data you produced wasn’t collected, it floated off unmeasured. Data were painstakingly gathered by scientists one number at a time in small experiments with a few people. This laborious process meant that data were expensive and time-consuming to collect. Yet many of the most amazing scientific discoveries over the last two centuries were squeezed from just a few data points. But over the last two decades, the unit price of data has dramatically dropped. New technologies touching every aspect of our lives from our money, to our health, to our social interactions have made data collection cheap and easy.

To give you an idea of how steep the drop in the price of data has been, in 1967 Stanley Milgram did an experiment to determine the number of degrees of separation between two people in the U.S. (Travers and Milgram 1969). In his experiment he sent 296 letters to people in Omaha, Nebraska and Wichita, Kansas. The goal was to get the letters to a specific person in Boston, Massachusetts. The trick was people had to send the letters to someone they knew, and they then sent it to someone they knew and so on. At the end of the experiment, only 64 letters made it to the individual in Boston. On average, the letters had gone through 6 people to get there.

This is an idea that is so powerful it even became part of the popular consciousness. For example it is the foundation of the internet meme “the 6-degrees of Kevin Bacon” (Wikipedia contributors 2016a) - the idea that if you take any actor and look at the people they have been in movies with, then the people those people have been in movies with, it will take you at most six steps to end up at the actor Kevin Bacon. This idea, despite its popularity was originally studied by Milgram using only 64 data points. A 2007 study updated that number to “7 degrees of Kevin Bacon”. The study was based on 30 billion instant messaging conversations collected over the course of a month or two with the same amount of effort (Leskovec and Horvitz 2008).

Once data started getting cheaper to collect, it got cheaper fast. Take another example, the human genome. The genome is the unique DNA code in every one of your cells. It consists of a set of 3 billion letters that is unique to you. By many measures, the race to be the first group to collect all 3 billion letters from a single person kicked off the data revolution in biology. The project was completed in 2000 after a decade of work and 3billiontocollectthe3billionlettersinthefirsthumangenome(Venteretal.2001).Thisprojectwasactuallyastunningsuccess,mostpeoplethoughtitwouldbemuchmoreexpensive.Butjustoveradecadelater,newtechnologymeansthatwecannowcollectall3billionlettersfromaperson′sgenomeforabout" id="MathJax-Element-1-Frame" role="presentation" style="border: 0px; direction: ltr; display: inline-block; float: none; font-size: 18.72px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; max-height: none; max-width: none; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 1px 0px; position: relative; white-space: nowrap; word-spacing: normal; word-wrap: normal;" tabindex="0">3billiontocollectthe3billionlettersinthefirsthumangenome(Venteretal.2001).Thisprojectwasactuallyastunningsuccess,mostpeoplethoughtitwouldbemuchmoreexpensive.Butjustoveradecadelater,newtechnologymeansthatwecannowcollectall3billionlettersfromaperson′sgenomeforabout3billiontocollectthe3billionlettersinthefirsthumangenome(Venteretal.2001).Thisprojectwasactuallyastunningsuccess,mostpeoplethoughtitwouldbemuchmoreexpensive.Butjustoveradecadelater,newtechnologymeansthatwecannowcollectall3billionlettersfromaperson′sgenomeforabout1,000 in about a week (“The Cost of Sequencing a Human Genome,” n.d.), soon it may be less than $100 (Buhr 2017).

You may have heard that this is the era of “big data” from The Economist or The New York Times. It is really the era of cheap data collection and storage. Measurements we never bothered to collect before are now so easy to obtain that there is no reason not to collect them. Advances in computer technology also make it easier to store huge amounts of data digitally. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is much easier to calculate the average of a bunch of numbers stored electronically than it is to calculate that same average by hand on a piece of paper. Couple these advances with the free and open distribution of data over the internet and it is no surprise that we are awash in data. But tons of data on their own are meaningless. It is understanding and interpreting the data where the real advances start to happen.

This explosive growth in data collection is one of the key driving influences behind interest in artificial intelligence. When teaching computers to do something that only humans could do previously, it helps to have lots of examples. You can then use statistical and machine learning models to summarize that set of examples and help a computer make decisions what to do. The more examples you have, the more flexible your computer model can be in making decisions, and the more “intelligent” the resulting application.

What is data?

Tidy data

“What is data”? Seems like a relatively simple question. In some ways this question is easy to answer. According to Wikipedia:

Data (/ˈdeɪtə/ day-tə, /ˈdætə/ da-tə, or /ˈdɑːtə/ dah-tə)[1] is a set of values of qualitative or quantitative variables. An example of qualitative data would be an anthropologist’s handwritten notes about her interviews with people of an Indigenous tribe. Pieces of data are individual pieces of information. While the concept of data is commonly associated with scientific research, data is collected by a huge range of organizations and institutions, ranging from businesses (e.g., sales data, revenue, profits, stock price), governments (e.g., crime rates, unemployment rates, literacy rates) and non-governmental organizations (e.g., censuses of the number of homeless people by non-profit organizations).

When you think about data, you probably think of orderly sets of numbers arranged in something like an Excel spreadsheet. In the world of data science and machine learning this type of data has a name - “tidy data” (Wickham and others 2014). Tidy data has the properties that all measured quantities are represented by numbers or character strings (think words). The data are organized such that.

Each variable you measured is in one column

Each different measurement of that variable is in a different row

There is one data table for each “type” of variable.

If there are multiple tables then they are linked by a common ID.

This idea is borrowed from data management schemas that have long been used for storing data in databases. Here is an example of a tidy data set of swimming world records.

yeartimesex190565.8M190865.6M191062.8M191261.6M191861.4M192060.4M192258.6M192457.4M193456.8M193556.6M

This type of data, neat, organized and nicely numeric is not the kind of data people are talking about when they say the “era of big data”. Data almost never start their lives in such a neat and organized format.

Raw data

The explosion of interest in AI has been powered by a variety of types of data that you might not even think of when you think of “data”. The data might be pictures you take and upload to social media, the text of the posts on that same platform, or the sound captured from your voice when you speak to your phone.

Social media and cell phones aren’t the only area where data is being collected more frequently. Speed cameras on roads collect data on the movement of cars, electronic medical records store information about people’s health, wearable devices like Fitbit collect information on the activity of people. GPS information stores the location of people, cars, boats, airplanes, and an increasingly wide array of other objects.

Images, voice recordings, text files, and GPS coordinates are what experts call “raw data”. To create an artificial intelligence application you need to begin with a lot of raw data. But as we discussed in the simple AI example from the previous chapter - a computer doesn’t understand raw data in its natural form. It is not always immediately obvious how the raw data can be turned into numbers that a computer can understand. For example, when an artificial intelligence works with a picture the computer doesn’t “see” the picture file itself. It sees a set of numbers that represent that picture and operates on those numbers. The first step in almost every artificial intelligence application is to “pre-process” the data - to take the image files or the movie files or the text of a document and turn it into numbers that a computer can understand. Then those numbers can be fed into algorithms that can make predictions and ultimately be used to make an interface look intelligent.

Turning raw data into numbers

So how do we convert raw data into a form we can work with? It depends on what type of measurement or data you have collected. Here I will use two examples to explain how you can convert images and the text of a document into numbers that an algorithm can be applied to.

Images

Suppose that we were developing an AI to identify pictures of the author of this book. We would need to collect a picture of the author - maybe an embarrassing one.

This picture is made of pixels. You can see that if you zoom in very close on the image and look more closely. You can see that the image consists of many hundreds of little squares, each square just one color. Those squares are called pixels and they are one step closer to turning the image into numbers.

You can think of each pixel like a dot of color. Let’s zoom in a little bit more and instead of showing each pixel as a square show each one as a colored dot.

Imagine we are going to build an AI application on the basis of lots of images. Then we would like to turn a set of images into “tidy data”. As described above a tidy data set is defined as the following.

Each variable you measured is in one column

Each different measurement of that variable is in a different row

There is one data table for each “type” of variable.

If there are multiple tables then they are linked by a common ID.

A translation of tidy data for a collection of images would be the following.

Variables: Are the pixels measured in the images. So the top left pixel is a variable, the bottom left pixel is a variable, and so on. So each pixel should be in a separate column.

Measurements: The measurements are the values for each pixel in each image. So each row corresponds to the values of the pixels for each row.

Tables: There would be two tables - one with the data from the pixels and one with the labels of each image (if we know them).

To start to turn the image into a row of the data set we need to stretch the dots into a single row. One way to do this is to snake along the image going from top left corner to bottom right corner and creating a single line of dots.

This still isn’t quite data a computer can understand - a computer doesn’t know about dots. But we could take each dot and label it with a color name.

We could take each color name and give it a number, something like rosybrown = 1, mistyrose = 2, and so on. This approach runs into some trouble because we don’t have names for every possible color and because it is pretty inefficient to have a different number for every hue we could imagine.

But that would be both inefficient and not very understandable by a computer. An alternative strategy that is often used is to encode the intensity of the red, green, and blue colors for each pixel. This is sometimes called the rgb color model (Wikipedia contributors 2016b). So for example we can take these dots and show how much red, green, and blue they have in them.

Looking at it this way we now have three measurements for each pixel. So we need to update our tidy data definition to be:

Variables: Are the three colors for each pixel measured in the images. So the top left pixel red value is a variable, the top left pixel green value is a variable and so on. So each pixel/color combination should be in a separate column.

Measurements: The measurements are the values for each pixel in each image. So each row corresponds to the values of the pixels for each row.

Tables: There would be two tables - one with the data from the pixels and one with the labels of each image (if we know them).

So a tidy data set might look something like this for just the image of Jeff.

idlabelp1redp1greenp1bluep2red…1“jeff”238180180205…

Each additional image would then be another row in the data set. As we will see in the chapters that follow we can then feed this data into an algorithm for performing an artificial intelligence task.

Notes

Parts of this chapter from appeared in the Simply Statistics blog post “The vast majority of statistical analysis is not performed by statisticians” written by the author of this book.

References

Buhr, Sarah. 2017. “Illumina Wants to Sequence Your Whole Genome for $100.” https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/10/illumina-wants-to-sequence-your-whole-genome-for-100/.

Leskovec, Jure, and Eric Horvitz. 2008. “Planetary-Scale Views on an Instant-Messaging Network,” 6~mar.

“The Cost of Sequencing a Human Genome.” n.d. https://www.genome.gov/sequencingcosts/.

Travers, Jeffrey, and Stanley Milgram. 1969. “An Experimental Study of the Small World Problem.” Sociometry32 (4). [American Sociological Association, Sage Publications, Inc.]: 425–43.

Venter, J Craig, Mark D Adams, Eugene W Myers, Peter W Li, Richard J Mural, Granger G Sutton, Hamilton O Smith, et al. 2001. “The Sequence of the Human Genome.” Science 291 (5507). American Association for the Advancement of Science: 1304–51.

Wickham, Hadley, and others. 2014. “Tidy Data.” Under Review.

Wikipedia contributors. 2016a. “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Six_Degrees_of_Kevin_Bacon&oldid=748831516.

———. 2016b. “RGB Color Model.” https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RGB_color_model&oldid=756764504.

Resource: https://simplystatistics.org/2017/01/31/data-into-numbers/

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New Post has been published on Cloudlight

New Post has been published on https://cloudlight.biz/tips-and-techniques-to-keep-your-internet-browsing/

Tips and Techniques to Keep Your Internet Browsing

Retaining your anonymity in today’s contemporary age is becoming more and more tough with hackers, phishing tries, malware and unsolicited mail emails designed to scouse borrow your pertinent records. Despite the fact that staying safe at the same time as browsing and buying on-line has emerge as difficult, it is not impossible. Located below are ideas and gear that a consumer can implement to keep their touchy statistics, and their computing systems, secure throughout their online sessions.

Proxy Servers

One of the main approaches to guard yourself from malicious attacks and outdoor resources is through the use of an effective proxy server while browsing. A proxy server, in easy terms, re-routes your initial request for a webpage, record or different piece of information through a corporation’s server gadget. Most of the those servers are Positioned round the sector and for this reason creates a degree of privacy whilst you pass approximately your browsing.

Those services additionally protect the purchaser’s

Internet Protocol address (IP) from being viewed from out of doors assets. Each computing device is given a particular IP deal with that acts similar to the address of your home. In truth, a few speculate that there are so many linked devices that have been given an address that we may additionally default to a exceptional device inside the close to destiny.

If your deal with is observed via a person that wants to cause harm or scouse borrow data, this will allow them to do so with little attempt worried. In addition, if a purchaser does now not desire to buy a proxy server function, there are various techniques to pass this paywall. services inclusive of Digital Non-public Community (VPN) serps are designed to maintain your browsing Personal. these structures appreciate consumer integrity and privateness and permit people, particularly in conflict-plagued countries, to look certain websites blocked by way of their united states of america’s officials.

Eight Basic Badminton Techniques

In case you need to improve your game, you have to practice those 8 primary strategies. Even In case you just play badminton for a laugh, you could constantly examine some thing new to better your overall performance.

1. Badminton Grip

The right grip is your primary foundation for badminton. For more energy and accuracy, make certain you are preserving the racket effectively. There are 2 foremost styles of grips: forehand and backhand.

Use the forehand grip when your shots are within the the front of your frame, and also you hold your hand on the handle as If you in which shaking hands. Hold the racket face perpendicular to the floor.

whilst the shot is in the back of your body, you should use the backhand racket grip. keep the take care of similar to you probably did for the forehand, but then turn the racket counter-clockwise so your thumb is to the left.

2. Badminton Footwork

Your opponent will attempt to Hold the go back and forth faraway from you, so be organized to move across the court quickly and accurate with accurate footwork. You may need moves like skipping, shuffling, gliding, lunging and even bouncing. It’s as much as you the way to use them throughout your game. always Hold your knees slightly bent and ready to transport always. Generally stay inside the mid-courtroom location so you can reach all corners of the courtroom fast.

3. Serving

you may even gain factors with the right serve. There are four basic types of badminton serve: high serve, low serve, flick serve, and the drive serve. you can select the right serve after looking your opponent. Serving to the returned of the court docket with a high serve is a superb concept If you are playing towards a person who likes to live near the net, for instance.

4. Clears

The badminton clean is the most commonplace stroke, and it is able to be played from both forehand or backhand, as well as overhead or underarm. Regardless of exactly how you use the clean, the objective is to send the commute to the returned of the court, forcing your opponent returned far from the internet to open up the forecourt.

5. Drop pictures

The drop shot is the opposite of the above referred to clean shot, as it is intended to drop right in the back of the net and pressure your opponent closer into the forecourt. This will open up space within the backcourt on your subsequent play. This pass may be played both forehand or backhand, and generally has a whole lot of wrist movement to it.

How Online Reputation Management Is A Solid Internet Marketing Strategy

We recognise how a great deal groups need internet advertising to attain to a much wider marketplace and a larger audience. We also realize that this kind of advertising and marketing can be carried out the use of some of tools or techniques suiting to a business needs. One of the gear is recognition management wherein a brand’s on-line photo is boosted by means of countering negativity with positivity. recognition control is now vital because the surge of negativity on the net has grown in depth and no businesses are proof against it. Negative consumer opinions can impact a enterprise and dilute its logo fee within the eyes of clients.

Greater so, it is not unusual to see competitors indulge in the sport of photo

Tarnishing and that they inn to posting horrific and Terrible issue throughout channels at the internet. If such posts and comments are not managed well, it may then create a awful impression for a business in query. reputation management is likewise a manner to engage with customers who have some sort of issues with the enterprise. This way, you may understand their problems, provide you with solutions and affect their shopping for choice to a splendid quantity. You should hence lease experts right away in order that the popularity of your business is saved intact.

Extra so, you should remember the fact that nowadays some 85% customers read critiques on-line earlier than shopping for a product or availing a service. therefore, no business can have the funds for exposing those prospects to terrible opinions and Terrible comments as this can have negative impact on the income and revenues. With reputation control, your commercial enterprise can expect to construct agree with inside the marketplace and benefit self assurance of on the returned of credibility. Similarly, by giving consumers superb opinions and scores approximately your products, offerings or some other element of the commercial enterprise, you inspire them and allow them to pose believe in you.

Similarly, recognition management is a fantastic tool to understand

Customer feedbacks and proceedings and paintings upon them in a speedy manner. You rent specialists who now not handiest construct popularity however also interact with customers and remedy their troubles. You open a channel of communication with your audience in order that their remarks can be heard and relevant answers are provided. it’s usually a terrific approach to reach out to the target audience, concentrate to them and their issues after which deal with any problems they have got with the brand you’re associated with. That is the way you give the influence that clients are cared a lot.

The Internet and Web Browsing Just Got Faster: What You Need to Know to Improve Your Web Experience

If you are the use of the ultra-modern model of your favorite internet browser you then are probably already cashing in on the new web protocol known as “HTTP/2”. This means your web browsing enjoy has just were given an entire lot faster.

If you are thinking what all this HTTP/2 mumbo-jumbo method – then this requires a brief history lesson on the internet evolution:

Browsing on line and viewing a internet site became made feasible via communicating through a unique language referred to as HTTP which became invented by means of a British laptop scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. Pretty, the HTTP has remained enormously unchanged for the ultimate 20+ years notwithstanding the net dramatically evolving over this period of time. There is way to Google who played a chief element in spearheading the aim to hurry up the net with the brand new HTTP/2 protocol due to the fact as history suggests: it finally became authorised by way of Mr Nottingham who chairs the Net Engineering Task Force’s (IETF) HTTP.

The internet speedup inside the HTTP/2 protocol is due to a few full-

Size upgrades made to the older HTTP protocol. Those can be indexed as:

Compression of Headers: web communication requires the usage of “Headers” which provides to the general overhead with data transmissions. the brand new HTTP/2 protocol allows Headers to be compressed which ends up in removing lots redundancies whilst replacing records.

Multiplexing of records: Formerly net verbal exchange that generally entails a “Request” and “Response” facts alternate turned into accomplished over a unmarried connection that become sequential in order (i.E. Request 1, Response 1, Request 2, Response 2 and so on). The trouble is that maximum websites are sophisticated and needs more than one internet conversation exchanges. However, establishing more than one simultaneous connections results in performance deteriorations. the new HTTP/2 solves this via imparting the mechanism to allow multiple web verbal exchange exchanges to occur over a unmarried connection which can occur simultaneously. The development takes place from disposing of the “sequential” kingdom and from growing more than one connections, that is a fee.

  Originally posted 2016-08-28 04:51:21.

[netmaddy-blog]

Internet Cowboys Use Social Networking and Web 2.0 As an Effective Marketing Tool

New Post has been published on https://netmaddy.com/internet-cowboys-use-social-networking-and-web-2-0-as-an-effective-marketing-tool/

Internet Cowboys Use Social Networking and Web 2.0 As an Effective Marketing Tool

The Internet world of Social Networking, YouTube, MySpace, and Web 2.0 are the “New Frontier” in PR marketing for orthodontic and professional practices. Marketing savvy professionals that are willing to venture outside their comfort zone and embrace the new age of online marketing for small businesses, will lead the way, guaranteeing their future positioning in online marketing.

Knowing how to correctly combine online and offline marketing strategies to effectively market your practice to the current tech-savvy generations requires a synergy of marketing modalities. Capturing the attention of the most entrepreneurial, overstressed and skeptical generations to date, requires a new way of thinking on the part of professionals practices.

GenX, GenY, and Global Tweens are flocking to Web 2.0 locations where they:

* Blog and leave comments; voice their opinions good and bad

* Listen to audios and watch videos on specific content of interest to them

* Research on business/special interest websites to gain information

* Are entertained

* Communicate with each other in social communities such as MySpace, Facebook etc.

There isn’t a subject or idea that doesn’t have an online community where people share information, ideas, news, and thoughts. The goal of web 2.0 marketing is to embrace this type of information gathering and proactively join in to increase patient awareness of your practice and services.

Your Digital Fingerprint

Internet marketing is “evergreen”, leaving a digital fingerprint of who you are and what your practice is all about. Taking marketing responsibility of your business with the latest in Web 2.0 marketing tactics is the preferred communication tool of tech-savvy generations when gathering information. Failing to understand this new phenomenon may prove disastrous for those unwilling to update their marketing strategies.

Once on the web, your message is broadcast to the world. Attracting and maintaining attention once visitors click on your site is what Web 2.0 is all about. Companies of all shapes, sizes, product/service categories will drop an estimated $1.4 billion on social media advertising this year alone. By 2012 the investment should double. Online marketing is the most direct means of reaching patients interested in your treatment services. Old traditional marketing methods no longer cut it. Melding successful marketing tactics that include word of mouth marketing with online digital technology is a winning combination. It is also the most direct and cost-effective means of educating potential patients.

The challenge for marketers is understanding what social media is, how it works/interacts, which avenue(s) do you use, how do you measure social media results…and what are the obstacles.

Social media:

is all about people and building relationships, sharing opinions, insights, experiences and perspectives with others

can generate effective viral word of mouth for your treatment services

is an arena dominated by early adopters (revolutionaries) willing to lead the way for others through the new Internet frontier

will become increasingly significant in influencing how other practices follow the “Internet Cowboys” who lead online marketing tactics in orthodontics

provides a unique opportunity to connect with referring professionals and patients to gain feedback and provide content rich information.

The demand, the interest, and the need for social networking are growing in leaps and bounds. The Internet is no longer the future of marketing… it is NOW. However, the window of opportunity to take advantage of positioning is limited. Savvy online marketers implementing successful marketing strategies to stake their claim in online marketing real-estate today will be tough to unseat with the current rules of online social networking, tomorrow. It is forecast that Internet traffic will quadruple by 2010. The ability to understand and engage your target market with the rules of online marketing is critical to the future growth of your practice.

If you think email is overpowering you, it is inconsequential compared to the volume of content that is being streamed, pushed and pulled across the Internet.

Business, As Usual, Has Changed

The dynamics of business, as usual, have changed dramatically – internally and externally. Practices no longer have control over what is being said online. It is an open forum for consumers on Google maps, online yellow pages, and other information and social network sites. Once added, only the author can delete their personal comment, both good and bad. Positive comments are always an asset. However, disgruntled patients now have a new venue to blow off steam, justified or not, that can deter future referrals and adversely affect your practice. Monitoring online comments, good customer service, and positive treatment experiences are more important than ever before.

Perspective patients move in/out of professional websites day in and day out when researching treatment providers. Without a website, you are off the radar with today’s tech-savvy generations. You may as well be invisible. Social networking and Web 2.0 is forcing business to rethink and update their marketing information methods.

The proponents of online marketing claim unbridled marketing success. However, it is difficult to precisely pinpoint the value and ROI in traditional metrics. It is impossible to find the beginning and end points of an online program, especially when you have no control over consumer feedback.

For most businesses, it is the online video opportunities that track the most interest and the most attention. The ability to attract and identify click through rate is…HUGE!!! Online viewing is changing how the entertainment/marketing communities reach their target “market.”

The Internet is turning the movie and entertainment industry upside down as viewers increasingly expect immediate access to content 24/7. Their key concern today for marketers is how to monetize the video experience.

Some visionaries boast that online video viewing will quickly eliminate conventional TV broadcasts as rapidly as information gathering on the Internet killed print media as the number one source of information. This has already proven true with the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Polls report teenagers, as a group, are not watching the Olympics on television. Their preference is online video streaming of winning highlights that cut through the real-time clutter. This information is crucial for future marketing campaigns targeting this current attention deficient generation who is unwilling to wait for information.

Despite these reports, the “ancient” forms of communications, news, and entertainment are still important in building brand awareness. Firms that choose one form of marketing strategies over the other don’t understand or acknowledge the dynamics of traditional media and how it integrates with new media marketing.

Media synergy is important when creating an effective marketing plan.

Three media formats are better than two, and two media formats are better than one.

The combination of printed marketing materials and an information website has more clout than each standing alone. Adding a third venue, such as video to your website and social networks attract, even more, attention and intensify marketing efforts.

Offline media often performs better than online media. Including an URL address in printed marketing materials significantly increases web visits.

Each medium influences online behavior differently and plays a distinctive role. “Qualified” niche (orthodontics) visitor search results are quite different than “total” generalized (dentistry) search results.

Understanding the differences and applying the correct online tactics will make the difference between and effective or ineffective online marketing campaign.

You Only Have Seconds To Make A good Impression

Ads and printed marketing materials may get consumers to your website to learn more about your services, but once there.. you must sustain their attention. Why? Their next stop in the research process is to surf the web learning more about other treatment providers in the area. Use any search engine to research your keyword and numerous online social media references appear …instantly! Visitors need a reason to remember your name and continue further on your website before moving on to the next option. Since few professional practices are adding video to their website, it is a great opportunity to set yourself apart from the competition.

More and more, when consumers are considering the purchase of a product or service they will ask not only friends and family, they will research online for support issues and problem resolution. Consumers are aware there will be issues and problems. The deciding factor is how the company addresses and resolves the issue for the customer.

Statistics report:

74% choose companies/brands based on others’ customer care experiences shared online (testimonials)

72% research companies’ customer care online prior to purchasing products and services at least sometimes (testimonials)

84% consider the quality of customer care at least sometimes in their decision to do business with a company (testimonials)

81% say blogs, online rating systems, and discussion forums can give consumers a greater voice regarding customer care, but less than 33% say they believe that businesses take customers’ opinions seriously (surveys)

Listen..Respond..ImproveThe greatest hurdle for most businesses is listening, responding (appropriately) and improving products and services once feedback is given. Visitors may like your marketing information but they make their purchasing decisions based on peers.

Videos and information content may attract consumers. However, when push comes to shove, today’s skeptical society has a tendency to rely on the experiences of others they trust before making a purchasing decision.

To paraphrase advertising guru David Ogilvy, “Advertising lights the fire, public relations fans the flame and website/video/social media whip it into a firestorm!”

Ignoring the influences of social media you can’t control is unwise. The key to survival today is listen…respond…improve. Web 2.0 marketing is very effective at reaching a specific target market you can’t reach as effectively with traditional marketing strategies. Unfortunately, consumers also have the ability to reach out to the competition also. Online marketing levels the playing field for practices large or small, unseasoned or experienced. Riding the fence or procrastinating is no longer an option if you want to compete in today’s competitive market and build the foundation for future growth.

Mary Kay Miller is an owner of Orthopreneur Marketing Solutions and the author of the first multi-media marketing eGuide for orthodontic and dental professionals, “Marketing Your Practice Through Different Eyes”. You can download her FREE ebook at http://www.orthopreneur.com

In today’s tech-savvy society, the “Rules of Marketing” have changed forever with the advent of the Internet and Social Networking. Unfortunately, most professional practices have not yet recognized the importance of updating their marketing plans to meet the preferences of their current target audience; GenX, GenY, and Global Tweens. Succeeding in any business environment today requires grabbing the attention of the most entrepreneurial and tech-friendly generations in history. They are also the most overstressed and distracted demographics to date. Failing to understand and develop marketing strategies and tactics that appeal to these generations in their personal style, both in learning and information gathering, may prove disastrous to many practices down the road.