#Project-based Staffing

[trufynd01]

Discover how contract staffing can enhance your business efficiency by offering a flexible workforce. Learn about the advantages of this model and how Trufynd ensures seamless recruitment for short-term needs.

[nperspective]

In today fast-paced business world, having the right financial talent is crucial for success. Financial staffing solutions, like temporary staffing services, on-demand staffing solutions and fractional CFO firms offer the flexibility and expertise business need to thrive in 2025.

[realtruefirms]

Read this helpful blog to learn the essential components of creating a strategic budget for staff augmentation services. Discover how to handle market prices, talent requirements, and Truefirms transparency to allocate costs effectively. Examine the subtleties of preserving adaptability, encouraging candid communication, and negotiating fees in order to optimize your budget. Learn the art of optimizing investments for good outcomes in staff augmentation strategies with professional advice on assessment and adaption.

[ohnoitstbskyen]

I deleted the ask, but someone wrote one basically saying "why do you post reaction videos to Helluva Boss? Don't you know the show exploits its workers and they're overworked and get burned out?"

And, I mean, I love your energy, person who asked, definitely hold on to those values and speak up about this. But also, I am afraid I might have some bad news for you about literally the whole entire animation industry.

As near as I can make out from the sparse journalistic reporting that's been done on SpindleHorse -- and as a sidebar, please for the love of god read actual reporting about these things and not just callout posts and fandom discourse -- as near as I can make out, SpindleHorse as a studio is neither all that much better nor all that much worse than basically anywhere else in the industry on their level. It seems like it is (or was? Hazbin Hotel seems to be run differently) a studio mostly run by contracting people on a project-by-project basis, which leads to a crapton of turnover, and a huge need for organizing and onboarding, which according to the reporting I have read, the producers and freelancers have struggled to balance and manage properly, which has negatively impacted a number of the workers.

Top that with the usual catty, clique-based backbiting, sniping and poorly managed conflict resolution that's just kinda endemic in creative environments mostly staffed by twentysomethings and stressed out freelancers, and you have the recipe for a workplace where a lot of people are going to have a great time and feel creatively fulfilled, and a lot of people are going to come away feeling justifiably burnt the fuck out and exploited.

All of this is... not especially unusual for the animation industry, or indeed for any creative industry. Which is not to say that it is good, or that it should be allowed to be normal, or that it shouldn't be reported on and criticized (and please for the love of god support unionization efforts because that's the only thing that will actually address these kinds of systemic problems). It's just to say that if those kinds of issues are the line in the sand you draw where you refuse to engage with a studio's output...

Then, for starters, say goodbye to basically all of anime, because the Japanese animation industry is actively in a state of crisis trying to recruit new talent because its working conditions and pay are so astonishingly abysmal. And the horror stories that escape from that industry make the issues at SpindleHorse look like summer camp at times.

But you also have to say goodbye to a lot of American and European animation. Please do not imagine that Disney and its subcontractors, or that Nickelodeon or Warner Bros, are benevolent employers. They exploit their staff brutally and are currently trying to crush the labor value of animation with threats of generative AI being used to replace jobs. But those corporations also have extremely well-funded PR departments and the ability to silence employees with NDAs and threats of blackballing, so you don't get to hear as many of the horror stories as you might from a smaller independent studio that's less able to silence criticism by holding people's careers hostage.

All of this is to say that 1) it's valid and important to have criticism of both large and small-scale animation studios, and to keep the well-being and happiness of the workers higher in your priorities than the output of Products™.

And 2) if you're going to have a principle for what kinds of problems make a studio's output morally untouchable for you, and what kinds of problems you think should make a studio's output untouchable to other people, you do need to apply that principle consistently to the entire industry, and not just to the independent animation studio that happens to be surrounded by the internet's most inflammatory fandom discourse.

If you don't apply that principle consistently, maybe don't send reproachful messages to strangers scolding them for not living up to your standards, and even if you do apply that principle consistently, maybe still don't do that, because it's mostly quite annoying, and doesn't really do anything to support animation workers struggling for better working conditions.

The Animation Guild in the US is currently in the middle of a bargaining process with their industry, and they have a social media press kit as well as relevant talking points on their website which you can use to post in solidarity with the workers. If it comes to a full industry strike, consider donating to their strike funds to help them maintain pressure. Outside of the US, try and find out what (if any) local unions exist for animation workers, and maybe sign up to their mailing lists. They will let you know what kind of support they need from you.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

John Knefel at MMFA:

President Donald Trump is following through on a policy put forward by Project 2025 that calls for federal law enforcement to investigate, and potentially criminally prosecute, local authorities who refuse to cooperate with his administration’s mass deportation plans. On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order — and his Department of Justice released a subsequent memo — that put the Project 2025 proposal into practice. Project 2025 is a sprawling transition plan to provide policy and staffing recommendations for the new Trump administration. The effort, organized by The Heritage Foundation in collaboration with more than 100 conservative organizations, drew significant scrutiny during the 2024 election, prompting Trump and longtime adviser Stephen Miller to attempt to distance themselves from it. Since Trump’s win, however, he has stocked his administration with at least 16 contributors to Project 2025’s policybook, Mandate for Leadership, including Miller, who will serve as his deputy chief of staff for policy.

Mandate’s chapter on the Department of Justice is written by Gene Hamilton, who served as the vice president and general counsel of Miller’s America First Legal Foundation. In it, Hamilton — now White House senior counsel — argues that the DOJ should “initiate legal action against local officials—including District Attorneys—who deny American citizens the ‘equal protection of the laws’ by refusing to prosecute criminal offenses in their jurisdictions.” He elaborated that his proposal is “particularly” appropriate for “jurisdictions that refuse to enforce the law against criminals” due to “political considerations” like “immigration status.”  According to The Washington Post, America First Legal sent “nearly 250 letters” to local officials in late December similarly threatening that the upcoming Trump administration would “investigate and potentially prosecute state and local officials who don’t cooperate with mass deportation efforts.”

Two of the Trump administration’s new policy announcements largely mirror Hamilton’s language in Mandate. An executive order Trump issued on the first day of his second term targeted so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions” — cities or states that refuse to cooperate with at least some aspects of federal immigration enforcement — to ensure that they do not receive federal funding. The order then commanded the attorney general and secretary of homeland security to “evaluate and undertake any other lawful actions, criminal or civil, that they deem warranted based on any such jurisdiction’s practices that interfere with the enforcement of Federal law.” Trump’s EO is one of ten executive actions he took on his first day in office intended to radically limit both legal and unauthorized immigration.

Two days after Trump’s day one blitz, media outlets reported on a memo issued to the DOJ by acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove that referenced Trump’s executive order and expanded on it. “Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests,” the memo stated. It added that the DOJ “shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution,” threatening that the investigations could result in charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Project 2025, the radical right-wing policy book by The Heritage Foundation, proposed targeting local officials who didn’t bow down to 47’s mass deportations lunacy. As expected, Tyrant-In-Chief Trump is following through on that satanic promise.

[sgiandubh]

A word on Wardpark/Cumbernauld Studios

@docsama left a comment, on S's birthday, under one of my posts and I promised her an answer with more information, as soon as I got the time. Anyway, here goes - and @docsama, sorry for the delay:

Question is: who owns the Wardpark Film and Television Studios?

The answer was quick to find, in the not-so-old specialized media:

The story begins in 2013, with an ambitious Scottish entrepreneur, Terry Thomson - this guy (courtesy of The Herald, https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15984820.analysis-three-projects-pipeline-help-productions-make-big-picture/):

He is the owner of the Thomson Pettie Group, based in Carluke (https://www.thomsonpettie.com/about-us), which has nothing to do with cinema:

You've read that right: they are 'manufacturers of fabricated metal parts and assemblies', primarily for the national automotive industry. Yet, in 2013, Mr. Thomson agreed to rent what he described as 'a dormant industrial property' - a warehouse, to be exact - to Sony, in order to host the filming and production of OL. Thus, he became the CEO of a newly created entity, The Wardpark Film and Television Studios (https://www.hackmancapital.com/scotlands-largest-most-iconic-film-studio-acquired-by-hackman-capital-partners-and-square-mile-capital/).

By 2017, Wardpark was doing so well, that a big expansion plan was announced, with the direct support of the Scottish Government, which invested £4 million via Scottish Enterprise, its business support, advice and funding agency:

And then, in November 2021, the little engine that could was sold to those two big US investors, Hackman Capital Partners (HCP) and Square Mile Capital Management LLC (now globally rebranded as Affinius Capital). In this montage, Hackman Capital Partners brought its own confirmed film studios and media management expertise...

... while Square Mile most probably funded a sizeable portion of the acquisition, simply because this is what they do best:

Perhaps an interesting detail: HCP owns and manages both the Culver City based Sony Pictures Animation Studios' Campus and the legendary Culver Studios, now rebranded by Amazon:

Back to Scotland, Wardpark Studio's sale made just about everyone happy. Mr. Thomson kept his CEO job and look who was more than thrilled about the juicy transaction:

Currently, the studio is operated by HCP's subsidiary, The MBS Group:

That means that MBS probably manages just about everything, as far as daily management is concerned, from business operations, staffing and/or property management, to lighting and grip, trucks and generators' fleet, expendables and props. Unless I could see a contract and have a precise idea, I can just enumerate all the services they offer.

At no point in time did S and C own anything of those studios. As for the Executive Producer part, that is another discussion entirely. I could be coaxed to write something about it, if you really want to know why Those Two are EPs and what does that really, really mean - because once again, I have seen and read a LOT of bullshit in here, especially in the Desperate Housewives Disgruntled Tumblrettes' corner.

Thank you for asking. It was fun to research and write and I hope it brought more clarity to you.

[charlottesbookclub]

time after time – chapter seven (part one) (armitage hux x reader)

time after time masterlist

Summary: Hux's expectations are altered, but he takes the opportunity to spend more time with you

Warnings/Tags: gn!reader; set pre-TFA; descriptions of eating; as always, let me know if I've missed anything!

Words: 5364

Author’s Note: as I mentioned in my notes on chapter six, that was the chapter that convinced me I needed to take the story in a little bit of a new direction. chapter seven is where I start doing that! this was a really fun one to write, and I hope it will be equally as fun to read! 🥰

Hux awoke slowly this time, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. The sight that met him was not the dark, clinical ceiling of medical, but rather the cheery surroundings of your quarters. He must have woken up before the cycle switched. He scrambled for his datapad. A thick, cold feeling slid down his throat and settled in his stomach. The digital display dispassionately informed him that it was already the next cycle. He should have felt relieved – he had finally broken through whatever strange curse had held him trapped for the past week. But those feelings were overshadowed by the idea that he didn’t get to try this again. All the thoughts of practicing and perfecting himself slid through his hands. You would remember, you would know. Every awkward question and ungainly phrase, every foolish thing he had done and said. His hands were shaking as he turned off the datapad and returned to the couch feeling dazed.

He needed some kind of warning, some sort of preparation. What he needed was a new plan. Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all – you had asked him to stay, hadn’t you? You wouldn’t have done that if he had made himself completely abhorrent to you. He scrubbed his hands across his face as though in an effort to jumpstart his thoughts. They came to him in rush. Kriff – he had responsibilities again! He couldn’t just write off his work knowing it would all be reset. In a flurry he reached for his datapad once more. He couldn’t even remember what he was supposed to be doing today. He pulled up his packed schedule and breathed a small sigh of relief upon seeing one large block of color filling up most of the cycle. It was labeled ‘Project Starkiller Planetary Inspection.’ He relaxed against the couch, closing his eyes and counting out a few breaths to calm his racing pulse. 

The project on Ilum was just in its beginning stages – Hux simply needed to visit the planet and see what progress was being made on updating the old Imperial infrastructure. Compared to many of his other responsibilities, it was relatively easy. It was quiet. His eyes snapped open. The thought echoed again: it was quiet – almost private. He could take you. Excitement bubbled up in his chest. He felt like a silly child, but even that thought couldn’t dampen his sudden good spirits. Maneuvering easily through a series of highly confidential access portals, he cleared your schedule and granted you the required permissions to visit the base. Only a select few knew of the actual plans for the planet, but he reasoned you didn’t need to know that restricted information to simply tour the base with him. Plenty of personnel staffed the limited facilities there without knowing the true purpose of the planet.

Nearly bursting with newfound energy, Hux found he could no longer sit still, even though it was still quite early in the cycle. As quietly as he could, he collected his fresh uniform, thanking the stars that he had thought to request one, and slipped into the refresher. Not even chancing a glance in the mirror while still in his sleep clothes, he pulled on his uniform, adjusting it to perfection. Then there was the considerable problem of his hair. He felt wrong using any of your products, but he had to do something with the orange mess that had grown even more unruly with sleep. He cast about the small room, looking for anything he might use. A tidy stack of little black boxes in the corner caught his eye: your unused First Order-issued products. Knowing instinctively which one contained the necessary gel, he carefully took just as much as he needed before meticulously replacing everything as he had found it. After a couple passes of his gelled hands through his hair, he finally looked in the mirror. Given the stark contrast from the night before, he was reasonably pleased with how he had turned himself out. He hoped you would be too.

Sitting back on your couch, your blankets now neatly folded beside him, Hux waited for you to awaken. He responded to messages, filed reports, and signed documents, trying to get ahead on as much as possible. He had never thought to try and give himself free time before, but if it meant he could spend it with you, then he was willing to at least make an attempt.

Faintly, he heard the chime of an alarm followed by shuffling footsteps. He tried to keep himself focused on his work and not think about how you might look right now, completely unguarded and disheveled from sleep. If he woke up next to you, he would know. That sudden thought, a blaster shot from the darkness, sent him reeling. He tried to swallow the idea, but it lingered as he listened to you move quietly about your quarters, just out of his view. 

Eventually, you emerged into the main space, dressed in your uniform, appearance meeting and exceeding regulation. The only thing out of place on the perfect model of a First Order officer was the warm smile that you offered him. But he wouldn’t have changed that for all the core worlds. It didn’t seem fair that just looking at you would rob him of his breath, yet he found himself returning your smile despite his difficulties with moving air through his lungs.

“Good morning, General,” you snapped him a little salute, but the lilt in your voice and the teasing smile that you seemed unable – or unwilling – to chase from your lips made the whole greeting seem much less martial and much more congenial. Was Hux smiling again? The corners of his mouth felt a little odd, like they weren’t used to making that shape as often as you seemed to be able to bring it out of him.

“Good morning, Captain,” he returned your salute happily. You beamed. 

“I’m afraid all I have to offer you this morning are nutrition bars,” you revealed your other hand, which held two of the wrapped bars, and handed one to him.

“Not to worry – these are my usual fare after all,” Hux received the bar and began to unwrap it. You moved as though to sit. Expecting you to take up the same place on the floor that you had occupied last night, Hux nearly dropped his bar as you rounded the table and perched on the corner of it. The toes of your polished boots were almost touching his. He swallowed his bite of the bar thickly and attempted to divert his attention from the fractional space that separated you from him. You planted your elbows on your knees casually as you unwrapped your own bar. This was such a different version of you than what he had seen in his first glimpses in the dining hall with your back straight and shoulders upright. It was so different from everything he had ever known, but he found he preferred this version by far. You made things feel easy, light.

“I see there’s been a change to my schedule,” you mused as you ate, watching his reaction from the corner of your eye.

“Yes, I’m realizing now that I should have asked you first…” In his haste to spend more time with you, Hux had failed to plan for a scenario where you didn’t want to go with him. Or perhaps he didn’t even want to consider that such a scenario was possible. You waved away his concerns and he breathed a private sigh of relief.

“Not at all – anything that gets me off bridge duty is more than welcome.” Your tone was joking, but he could tell there was a heft of sincerity behind your words. He recalled your interactions with Ernstead, momentarily allowing the memory to make him clench his fist. He’d need to address that. But not now.

“I thought I could use your expertise from the field,” he measured his words as he monitored your reaction, one of your brows raising in interest, “seeing as I’ll be going planetside to make an inspection of a new base.” Your whole face lit up. Hux felt his chest fill with warmth.

“I’m far from an expert,” you responded, excitement inflecting each of your words, “but I’ll do the best I can.” You pushed yourself up from the table, a motion that Hux echoed.

“I fear I won’t be able to tell you much – the project is classified,” he apologized as he collected his greatcoat and swung it onto his shoulders.

“Not a problem,” you confirmed happily as the two of you made your way to the door. During the short walk, Hux watched as you subtly adjusted your posture – straightening your back, squaring your shoulders, stiffening your limbs, dimming your smile. By the time you were walking side by side in the hallways, you were perfectly at attention. The posture was so natural to him, but watching the process on you, lamenting what it had taken from you, he began to wonder: had he ever not been at attention?

You both slipped into a vacant turbolift. Hux selected the level for the proper flight bay and switched on private mode; it was a considerable trip to the ship you would be using, and he would rather not have anyone interrupt. Your lips quirked up in a little smile as he did so.

“You know, General, I have it on good authority that many officers aboard this ship abuse the privilege of private lifts,” you informed him, a glimmer of a laugh in your voice.

“Unfortunately I am aware of this,” he responded ruefully, wondering what had caused the amusement in your voice, “I have heard a number of reports of officers using private mode simply to go on caf runs during their off shifts.”

“Oh!” You let out the exclamation as though you were expecting him to say something else entirely. “That’s quite tame compared to the stories I’ve heard.” You both stood professionally facing the doors of the lift, but Hux was watching you intently from his periphery. The small smile did not leave your lips. What had you heard?

“And these stories involved…” he prompted as he watched your mouth work slightly as though you were debating how best to phrase your response.

“Usually a pair of officers engaged in… shall we say… highly unprofessional interpersonal contact.”

Hux’s entire body stiffened as he froze in place at your words. Heat seeped up the back of his neck.

“Primarily kissing, I’m told,” you continued, the bemused lilt in your voice never fading, “I doubt the average length of a lift ride leaves time for anything… further.”

Despite the fact that he was still standing as still as if he were carved from stone, he was utterly flustered. He swallowed and tried to remind himself to breathe. He had fixed his eyes completely on the polished black doors in front of him, but he still thought he saw you chance a glance at him. Kriff, he hoped you didn’t notice the incriminating blush that was blossoming onto his face. Certain images were taking shape in his mind. He thought of your cheek under his hand, the warmth of your body as he pulled you close to him, the press of your lips— He cleared his throat and tried to banish these thoughts, but was less successful than he had hoped.

“Right, well…” he cleared his throat a second time when his words came out thickly and slightly strangled on the first go. “I shall have someone look into these reports.” Kriff, he needed to change the subject before he abused the privilege of a private lift in just the manner that you had described. 

“Captain, I assume you are able to pilot a vessel?” He tried to keep his words as professional as possible while still fighting with the images his mind had conjured for him. If you were surprised at the abrupt change of subject, you didn’t show it.

“Absolutely, General. I graduated the academy with top marks in all my flight classes.” Hux could still hear the smile in your voice. 

“Excellent, since I have opted to forgo an assigned pilot for this trip. I thought it would allow us more…” his words faded as he noticed that you had turned slightly to face him. Your expression was frustratingly unreadable, though he thought you might be puzzling through something internally.

“Is that… alright?” He asked, suddenly nervous that he had presumed too much. “If you are uncomfortable with that arrangement, I’m happy to make the necessary adjustments—”

“No, no – that’s completely fine,” your smile had returned as you reassured him, “in fact, I’m looking forward to it.”

Hux was about to respond when the lift pinged to indicate that the selected floor had been reached. As though on cue, your smile flattened into a neutral mask, and the doors slid open to reveal a flight bay bustling with well-ordered activity. Hux strode out of the lift with you just a pace behind him. After conferring with the flight coordinators, you both made your way to your assigned ship. Hux was hyperconscious of your presence beside him, watching the faces of the passing personnel for any indication that they could sense his desire to be near you, but most of them barely looked up. Of course it was completely natural that a captain might accompany him on an off-ship mission, but what they didn’t know was that it wasn’t just any captain, it was you. 

“I’ll make sure everything in the cockpit is in order, General,” you stated as a flight coordinator accosted him to confirm the last-minute details of the trip. Hux had difficulty paying attention to the coordinator as he watched you confidently board the ship and disappear from his view. What he gleaned from the conversation was that a small squad of stormtroopers would accompany the two of you on the trip – Hux knew it would be too much of a risk to go completely alone – but they would travel in the transport section of the ship, near the back. You and Hux would be alone in the cockpit. He reaffirmed the planned departure and arrival times, ensuring that the ship would be expected on both ends. When everything had been satisfactorily arranged, he dismissed the coordinator with a salute and tried not to hurry too obviously to join you in the ship.

He found you sitting in the chief pilot’s chair of the two-seated cockpit, adjusting some of the settings and checking the pre-flight read-outs that were being displayed on the screens. Not wanting to disrupt your work, Hux tried to slip into the neighboring seat quietly, but you still threw him a small smile as he entered. Travel through the Unknown Regions was hardly safe or predictable, and as he watched you make the necessary adjustments, your concentration totally focused on the task in front of you, Hux was captivated. Your movements were sure and precise, despite the relaxed casualness he knew you were capable of. You were fast and responsive, reacting to the read-outs, the ship’s internal systems, and the chatter on the coms channels all at once. Buckling himself into the seat, he didn’t dare to interrupt, but he couldn’t help but notice the way the red and blue lights played over your features, setting your profile off against the banks of buttons and blinking lights. Finally, you flipped one last switch and addressed him.

“Thank you for your patience, General. I think we’re ready for takeoff if you are.” Your words were professional, but you didn’t bother to hide the excitement on your face when it was just the two of you in the small cockpit.

“Of course, Captain. You have my approval to launch the flight.” You answered his words with one flash of a smile before switching on your headset and requesting permission for takeoff. You exchanged words with the controllers, making some more adjustments on the ship’s flight array. Your attention was once again completely absorbed with piloting the craft as you gained permission to leave the hanger and maneuvered expertly out of the busy flight bay. Hux didn’t mind at all; he was fascinated with watching you work. There was an impressive professionalism about you, but not the self-conscious kind that he noticed when you were walking the halls or on the bridge. Here, you seemed to be in your element, engaged and confident. You made a few more communications to the Finalizer’s controllers as the ship zoomed from the hangar and into the vast field of space beyond. Eventually, you were able to set the auto-pilot feature and replace your headset on its stand, easily within arm’s reach in case of an emergency. Shifting to a more comfortable position in your seat, you looked over at him.

“What?” you half-laughed, almost embarrassed. Kriff, you had caught him staring. Hux quickly fixed his gaze out into the net of stars outside the ship.

“Nothing – it’s just…”

“What?” You repeated your question again, almost nervously, like you weren’t sure if you had done something wrong. Hux spoke as quickly as he could to disabuse you of that notion; you had done everything perfectly.

“You seem more… comfortable here. Than you do on the Finalizer, that is.” You shrugged lightly. Hux wanted to know more. “Did you do a lot of flying when you were in the field?”

“Some,” you responded, looking over at him. He took this as permission to return his gaze to you as well. “Why are you asking?” You seemed guarded suddenly, and the thought that he had said something wrong made Hux’s stomach churn. You seemed to value honesty – you had proven that to him last cycle. Maybe it would be better to just ask? Something about being there alone with you was making him feel brave. He sighed, changing his tone slightly, lowering his voice.

“I know – well, I’ve heard – that you’ve been struggling with transitioning to the Finalizer from field work.” You reaction was instant. You returned your gaze out of the large viewport, your posture stiffened, and your grip tightened on the controls, even though you weren’t actively flying the ship. You swallowed, possibly trying to keep down tears.

“It’s that obvious?” Your voice carried none of its usual brightness. Hux’s chest seized.

“No – it’s not – not to me. I just—” 

“But it is to others.” Somehow it felt like the statement was meant to be a question, but instead you uttered it as a dismal fact. Your eyes were still fixed far beyond the ship. How had he made such a mess of this? He couldn’t even help you when he truly wanted to. He longed to place a comforting hand on your arm, but his many calculations came back confused, and he couldn’t determine how you would receive the gesture. His arms remained stiffly situated on the armrests. 

“I promise you, I don’t mean this as any kind of judgement of you or your performance. I want…” Hux wanted a lot of things, a lot more things than he felt he should want when it came to you. He voiced just one of those desires: “I want to help you.” You let out a deep sigh and slumped back slightly in your chair. After a beat of silence, you turned to him, a half-smile on your face.

“Thank you, Armitage.” Your use of his first name in this professional space caught him off-guard, momentarily stealing his breath. Despite the shock, he found he liked it. It seemed… intimate. There was that word again. A welcoming warmth buzzed in his chest.

“Actually, it’s sort of funny that you should offer,” you continued, “since you’re actually the first person who has helped me.” You took one look at his suddenly blank face, and he knew that you knew that he had no idea what you meant. You let out a small laugh, as though it was obvious how he had helped you. It wasn’t obvious to him. It wasn’t obvious at all. You had caught him when he nearly passed out, opened your quarters to him, cooked him food, let him stay with you, and never thought less of him despite his many failures. Clearly, you had been doing all the helping.

“You were nice to me – you are nice to me,” you said at last when it must have become clear that Hux truly didn’t know what you were talking about. “Nobody else has really done that. Well, except Lieutenant Mitaka I guess, but I already knew him, so that’s different. But like I said last cycle, you didn’t judge me for all my weird shit— sorry, stuff,” you quickly corrected yourself with a little laugh, and Hux couldn’t help but find himself smiling along at the small slip, “and you listened to me.” You fixed him in the weight of your gaze then, serious once more. Hux found himself entirely entranced by your eyes, probably lingering a moment too long before speaking.

“I’d like to do some more listening – if you’d let me.” Your lips lifted up at the corners at his words; not a full smile yet, but he was getting there.

“Sure – what would you like to know?” You made a sweeping gesture with your hand to indicate the expansive nature of the questions you were allowing him to ask. Hux wanted to know everything, but he desperately did not want to abuse the privilege. He started simple.

“You worked recruitment in the field, right?”

“Did you look me up, General?” A small, teasing smile fluttered its way onto your face.

“Lieutenant Mitaka told me,” he responded, knowing full well that he had looked you up. But Mitaka truly was the first to tell him about your previous assignment, so it wasn’t a complete lie.

“Right – that makes sense.” You hummed thoughtfully a cast your eyes back outside the cockpit, this time though, it felt less like you were avoiding him and more like you were thinking. Hux didn’t press as he watched the faint starlight flicker over your features. He half wished the ship never had to land. After a long moment, you turned to him again, your answer ready.

“Technically, yes, I fell under field recruitment for the navy, but I feel that what I did was more like ‘building community trust’ – not that that would ever pass as a First Order department name,” you snorted and Hux found himself unable to keep from chuckling a little himself. You seemed to notice this, pausing momentarily before continuing, your expression brightening a little at his evident amusement. “I didn’t directly conscript any personnel – I worked primarily with local leaders who held sway in the areas where I was stationed. I found that I made a lot more headway by explaining what we’re trying to do rather than just… I don’t know, shoving recruitment papers down people’s throats like some of my colleagues seemed content to do.” You rolled your eyes at some past memory, and Hux had to keep from laughing again at the endearing expression of annoyance. He wanted you to keep talking forever. Kriff, he was ready to promote you to the top of recruitment immediately. “There are just so many planets and systems and people who are disadvantaged by the New Republic’s policies, and when you’re able to walk them through why they’re experiencing resource deficits or economic downturn or whatever else, they tend to listen.”

You concluded your remarks with a little gesture that seemed to indicate that everything you just said should be obvious. It was obvious to Hux. He was a hair’s breadth of his self-control away from unbuckling himself from his seat and kissing you until he couldn’t breathe. You were kind and capable and you could see his vision perfectly. It took every ounce of energy in his body to remain sitting where he was, fingers nearly making dents in the armrests from the force it took to contain himself. He hoped that his enthusiastic nods of agreement would assure you of his complete support of your ideas. He didn’t stop thinking about kissing you though. 

Just when he thought he could finally speak relatively calmly, your headset buzzed. You snapped it up instantly, confirming with the controller on the other end that you understood the message. After switching a few more toggles and adjusting the flight path slightly, you signed off with the controller and clicked the headset back into place.

“Potential for asteroids in the area,” you said by way of explanation, “we have our early warning systems on though, so if any get close, we’ll know.” You paused for a moment, thinking. “I’m so sorry, General – what were we discussing?”

“Your work in the field,” Hux considered leaving it there, but he was still wrestling with his self-control and let his unusual impulsivity go further: “your excellent understanding of the First Order’s mission and your admirable trust-building efforts.”

“Ah yes, thank you!” Hux was hyperaware of the way you bit your lip a little in embarrassment, eyes angled back toward the control panel and away from his admiring gaze. “You’re very kind to say that.” Hux merely hummed in response, another question floating through his mind.

“May I ask you something else, Captain? Something unrelated?”

“Of course,” you returned your focus to him, watching him with expectation to see what he would ask. Hux himself was wondering how best to frame his inquiry so it came off as casual.

“Our scheduled meeting from last cycle – when Lieutenant and Captain Mitaka proposed that and set it up, how did they frame it to you? What did they call it?” You seemed to suddenly find the control panels in front of you very interesting, despite a lack of new alerts.

“Oh, just that: a meeting or a meet-up or something of that sort.” Your words felt intentionally nonchalant, almost too much so. “Why do you ask? Did they frame it differently for you?” You cast a furtive glance in his direction before returning your attention to the flight array. There was something in the look that Hux couldn’t quite read, but he thought it might be a flicker of hope, though he wasn’t sure. He stayed the course and kept to the safe answer.

“Oh no, something very similar: meeting, meet-up, rendezvous, something of that nature,” he lied, also trying to keep his tone light and casual. He recalled Mitaka’s increasingly complex and obscure names for the meeting after Hux had steadfastly refused the term ‘date.’ You nodded at his response, your flash of nervousness seemingly fading upon hearing his answer. You flicked your gaze to him again. Kriff, would there ever be a time when just your eyes on him wouldn’t make the skin under his collar start to heat up?

“Why did you want to know?”

“I was just hoping that after my unfortunate incident last cycle which disrupted said meeting, that you would be gracious enough to allow me to consider this an extension of that initial appointment. I fear it will be something of a working meeting – my schedule can’t be helped – but perhaps it could still serve a similar function?” Hux intentionally left the proposed ‘function’ vague, hoping you might interpret it in a more generous manner.

“Of course, General.” Hux felt you might have been about to use his first name again, but then opted against it. How he wished you had. “I’m so grateful that you’re willing to spend this time with me. I can only imagine how full you schedule is.” Kriff, if you only knew he wished he had all the time in the galaxy to spend with you. Any attempt at endeavoring to somehow compress that thought into words that he could actually utter to you was interrupted by a notification on the control panel. Your hands flitted over the array of buttons and screens, flipping switches and adjusting toggles as you responded to the blinking lights. Then you leaned back again.

“The autopilot notified me that we’re close to coming in for a landing. I’ve set the flight path accordingly. There shouldn’t be any issues, but I might have to take the controls if things get… bumpy.”

Indeed, Hux could see Ilum coming into view through the large windows of the cockpit, the greyish planet growing larger as the ship angled in preparation for landing. The two of you sat in companionable silence then, Hux watching as you continued to make minute adjustments to the controls every so often. He couldn’t help but think about how nice it would be to just be with you like this. Doing work late in his quarters or sitting on the couch with you just there, comfortably beside him. He clenched his teeth slightly as the exquisite softness of the thought slowly pressed the air from his lungs. After a while, you spoke again, your eyes still fixed outside of the ship.

“I hope this doesn’t come off as impertinent,” you seemed to take a deep breath before continuing, “but you’re very different than I thought you would be.” You flicked one nervous glance at him as the word ‘different’ fell from your lips. The sentence was barely above a whisper, as though you hadn’t decided whether you should say it aloud or not. Hux’s body stiffened instinctively, heat growing from his chest and rising toward his ears. A slight queasiness began to build in his stomach.

“What—” he cleared his throat when the word came out thin and reedy, “what do you mean by that?”

“It’s just— well, Lieutenant Mitaka praised you very highly. He lauded your commitment to the First Order. He said you were loyal and intelligent and responsible – that you were someone he looked up to.” 

Mitaka had said those things about him? Hux sat in stunned silence, puzzling through how your experience differed from the way the lieutenant had described him. Did you not find him to be those things? Did you not find him praise-worthy? The sick feeling in his stomach intensified, but you weren’t done.

“But he also told me to be careful.” You sighed deeply, almost as though you had decided something within yourself. You turned fully to look at him then, and Hux had significant difficulty breathing under the soft but weighty intensity of your gaze. “He said you could be… prickly. Hard to get to know. That you don’t… trust others easily.” Hux was completely pinned. He knew the words were true. He had a thousand reasons for this, of course – betrayals and humiliation and more uncertainty that he could stand. He was trying to stammer out some excuse to this effect when he realized you still hadn’t finished. “But I don’t find that to be true at all.”

You looked down for a minute, then back at him, your eyes so warm he thought he was going to melt right there. You didn’t find it true at all. Your words reverberated through his suddenly thoughtless mind, causing a gentle hum to rise in his chest and spread in little shivers throughout his body. He didn’t recall even deciding speak when the words stumbled their way out of his mouth:

“You make it easy.” His voice was hoarse and the phrase was inelegant, but when he saw your face light up like a sun, he didn’t care at all.

“Thank you, Armitage,” you beamed at him, the sound of his name on your lips rendering him even more nonfunctional than he already was, “I only hope I can be worthy of such high praise.” With that, you needed to turn your attention back to the ship, flipping off the autopilot as the planet’s atmosphere neared and taking the controls into your hands. Hux sat dazed, basking in the glow of you and trying to figure out how he was ever going to force himself to leave that cockpit and conduct a professional inspection of the base. 

[transmutationisms]

The momentum of Cannon’s black nationalism also translated into progress at city hall. By the early 1970s, black politicians relied on Cannon’s leadership to maintain relationships with black voters in the black community and to develop deeper relationships with voters in other neighborhoods of color, newly organized through CMHCs and CBOs and staffed with community workers trained in mental health. The political value of this new city-wide political machine accounts for the ascension of Tom Bradley to Mayor of Los Angeles as the nation’s first black mayor of a majority white city in 1973. In turn, Bradley supported all of Cannon’s major projects through Model Cities and municipal funding as well as similar race-based CBOs and CMHCs throughout the city.

Bradley’s election served as proof of the power of black respectability politics to convince both white and black voters that blackness could be associated with leadership, ability, and power. It also solidified a new political regime that was anti-police brutality, but not anti-police. As a former LAPD patrolman critical of its racist policing, Bradley tried as mayor to achieve progressive policing reform, but had limited power to control the department.72 He saw the client-focused services of CMHCs and CBOs as an alternative humanitarian approach to produce urban change that did not require racist policing tactics. That is, similar to the LAPD, Cannon’s programs accepted any racialized subject outside middle-class community norms as troublesome to society but, unlike the police, sought to achieve social order through self-help and reform programs, rather than incarceration and commitment.

In this way, Bradley’s and Cannon’s overlapping concerns over street crime, domestic violence, and family dysfunction in black communities reveal they both viewed crime and community disorder as products of poor individual choices rather than manifestations of larger structural forces. In their opinion, the greatest obstacle to racial progress was not racial capitalism, but socially constructed prejudice that required greater racial representation of people of color in positions of power to combat it. Bradley privileged support for Cannon and his brand of black culture because, as Daniel Widener argues, “African American culture became one site where elected officials [like him] could demonstrate affinity with and support for black residents of South Los Angeles” and because it celebrated race without necessarily supporting “an insurgent form of urban politics.”73

Bradley’s relationship with Cannon became increasingly important in light of the growing strength of the Black Panther Party, founded in Oakland in 1966 and started in Los Angeles in 1968. Unlike Pan-Africanists focused on representation and normalizing black culture, the Panthers argued for a complete re-organization of race and capitalism. They also demonstrated willingness to work with organizations that represented figures Cannon sought to contain and eradicate. For example, the Panthers worked with single mothers of the National Welfare Rights Organization to develop free health clinics and community survival programs.74 According to Jared Leighton, the Panthers also worked with Gay Liberation organizations that shared the Panther’s critiques of the psychiatric community and the police as both being the black and gay communities’ “biggest oppressors.”75 Although Alondra Nelson argues the Panthers’ free clinic programs demonstrate they were not anti-medicine, she suggests they were anti-psychiatry in similar to ways that AJ Lewis argues gay liberation groups embraced “mad politics” of the anti-psychiatry movement, which “repudiat[ed] ‘normalcy’ and its institutions of enforcement” and “challenged the normalization of sanity and politicized social deviance.”76

The Panthers’ program highlighted the contradictions of black representational politics by exposing the limits of its power to advance change among the black working class. According to Widener, Bradley’s focus on building alliances with transnational capital and upholding affirmative action in public employment created a “major economic boost” for black college-degreed Angelenos, which resulted in “an economic bifurcation of black Los Angeles, with the emergence of a new middle class standing in sharp contrast to the experiences of a black working class beset by economic restructuring, the rise of the crack cocaine epidemic, and the militarized policing of the LAPD.”77 The emergence of a strong black middle class alongside a growing “black underclass” and the normality of race campaigns launched by Cannon meant that, by 1969, the strong reliance psychiatrists had in using race as an index for class and other social factors (as Wertham and Mosse, for instance, believed) was quickly becoming muddled by these new class distinctions.78

The need for a psychiatric approach to race to navigate, on one hand, the existence of “normal” black middle class individuals and, on the other, the continuing troublesome presence of a black “underclass” mired in poverty, crime, and mental illness prompted UCLA to recruit talent able to chart new directions for race-based psychiatry. By 1969, UCLA sought to secure leadership that strengthened its historically strong commitment to race-based community mental health theory, but its medical school leaders also attempted to take advantage of underexplored psychiatric methods and theories found in psychopharmacology and neuroscience. These new pathways later reinforced new black “community norms” established in the late 1960s to police poor people of color with even more menacing rationale.

Nic John Ramos, Pathologizing the Crisis: Psychiatry, Policing, and Racial Liberalism in the Long Community Mental Health Movement. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Volume 74, Issue 1, January 2019, 57–84

[mariacallous]

A young entrepreneur who was among the earliest known recruiters for Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has a new, related gig—and he’s hiring. Anthony Jancso, cofounder of AccelerateX, a government tech startup, is looking for technologists to work on a project that aims to have artificial intelligence perform tasks that are currently the responsibility of tens of thousands of federal workers.

Jancso, a former Palantir employee, wrote in a Slack with about 2000 Palantir alumni in it that he’s hiring for a “DOGE orthogonal project to design benchmarks and deploy AI agents across live workflows in federal agencies,” according to an April 21 post reviewed by WIRED. Agents are programs that can perform work autonomously.

“We’ve identified over 300 roles with almost full-process standardization, freeing up at least 70k FTEs for higher-impact work over the next year,” he continued, essentially claiming that tens of thousands of federal employees could see many aspects of their job automated and replaced by these AI agents. Workers for the project, he wrote, would be based on site in Washington, DC, and would not require a security clearance; it isn’t clear for whom they would work. Palantir did not respond to requests for comment.

The post was not well received. Eight people reacted with clown face emojis, three reacted with a custom emoji of a man licking a boot, two reacted with custom emoji of Joaquin Phoenix giving a thumbs down in the movie Gladiator, and three reacted with a custom emoji with the word “Fascist.” Three responded with a heart emoji.

“DOGE does not seem interested in finding ‘higher impact work’ for federal employees,” one person said in a comment that received 11 heart reactions. “You’re complicit in firing 70k federal employees and replacing them with shitty autocorrect.”

“Tbf we’re all going to be replaced with shitty autocorrect (written by chatgpt),” another person commented, which received one “+1” reaction.

“How ‘DOGE orthogonal’ is it? Like, does it still require Kremlin oversight?” another person said in a comment that received five reactions with a fire emoji. “Or do they just use your credentials to log in later?”

Got a Tip?Are you a current or former government employee who wants to talk about what's happening? We'd like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact the reporter securely on Signal at carolinehaskins.61 and vittoria89.82.

AccelerateX was originally called AccelerateSF, which VentureBeat reported in 2023 had received support from OpenAI and Anthropic. In its earliest incarnation, AccelerateSF hosted a hackathon for AI developers aimed at using the technology to solve San Francisco’s social problems. According to a 2023 Mission Local story, for instance, Jancso proposed that using large language models to help businesses fill out permit forms to streamline the construction paperwork process might help drive down housing prices. (OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment. Anthropic spokesperson Danielle Ghiglieri tells WIRED that the company "never invested in AccelerateX/SF,” but did sponsor a hackathon AccelerateSF hosted in 2023 by providing free access to its API usage at a time when its Claude API “was still in beta.”)

In 2024, the mission pivoted, with the venture becoming known as AccelerateX. In a post on X announcing the change, the company posted, “Outdated tech is dragging down the US Government. Legacy vendors sell broken systems at increasingly steep prices. This hurts every American citizen.” AccelerateX did not respond to a request for comment.

According to sources with direct knowledge, Jancso disclosed that AccelerateX had signed a partnership agreement with Palantir in 2024. According to the LinkedIn of someone described as one of AccelerateX’s cofounders, Rachel Yee, the company looks to have received funding from OpenAI’s Converge 2 Accelerator. Another of AccelerateSF’s cofounders, Kay Sorin, now works for OpenAI, having joined the company several months after that hackathon. Sorin and Yee did not respond to requests for comment.

Jancso’s cofounder, Jordan Wick, a former Waymo engineer, has been an active member of DOGE, appearing at several agencies over the past few months, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, National Labor Relations Board, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Education. In 2023, Jancso attended a hackathon hosted by ScaleAI; WIRED found that another DOGE member, Ethan Shaotran, also attended the same hackathon.

Since its creation in the first days of the second Trump administration, DOGE has pushed the use of AI across agencies, even as it has sought to cut tens of thousands of federal jobs. At the Department of Veterans Affairs, a DOGE associate suggested using AI to write code for the agency’s website; at the General Services Administration, DOGE has rolled out the GSAi chatbot; the group has sought to automate the process of firing government employees with a tool called AutoRIF; and a DOGE operative at the Department of Housing and Urban Development is using AI tools to examine and propose changes to regulations. But experts say that deploying AI agents to do the work of 70,000 people would be tricky if not impossible.

A federal employee with knowledge of government contracting, who spoke to WIRED on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press, says, “A lot of agencies have procedures that can differ widely based on their own rules and regulations, and so deploying AI agents across agencies at scale would likely be very difficult.”

Oren Etzioni, cofounder of the AI startup Vercept, says that while AI agents can be good at doing some things—like using an internet browser to conduct research—their outputs can still vary widely and be highly unreliable. For instance, customer service AI agents have invented nonexistent policies when trying to address user concerns. Even research, he says, requires a human to actually make sure what the AI is spitting out is correct.

“We want our government to be something that we can rely on, as opposed to something that is on the absolute bleeding edge,” says Etzioni. “We don't need it to be bureaucratic and slow, but if corporations haven't adopted this yet, is the government really where we want to be experimenting with the cutting edge AI?”

Etzioni says that AI agents are also not great 1-1 fits for job replacements. Rather, AI is able to do certain tasks or make others more efficient, but the idea that the technology could do the jobs of 70,000 employees would not be possible. “Unless you're using funny math,” he says, “no way.”

Jancso, first identified by WIRED in February, was one of the earliest recruiters for DOGE in the months before Donald Trump was inaugurated. In December, Jancso, who sources told WIRED said he had been recruited by Steve Davis, president of the Musk-founded Boring Company and a current member of DOGE, used the Palantir alumni group to recruit DOGE members. On December 2nd, 2024, he wrote, “I’m helping Elon’s team find tech talent for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the new admin. This is a historic opportunity to build an efficient government, and to cut the federal budget by 1/3. If you’re interested in playing a role in this mission, please reach out in the next few days.”

According to one source at SpaceX, who asked to remain anonymous as they are not authorized to speak to the press, Jancso appeared to be one of the DOGE members who worked out of the company’s DC office in the days before inauguration along with several other people who would constitute some of DOGE’s earliest members. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

Palantir was cofounded by Peter Thiel, a billionaire and longtime Trump supporter with close ties to Musk. Palantir, which provides data analytics tools to several government agencies including the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security, has received billions of dollars in government contracts. During the second Trump administration, the company has been involved in helping to build a “mega API” to connect data from the Internal Revenue Service to other government agencies, and is working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to create a massive surveillance platform to identify immigrants to target for deportation.

[trufynd01]

Explore Trufynd’s contract staffing solutions that empower businesses to hire skilled professionals for short-term roles. Learn how our services streamline recruitment while ensuring flexibility and efficiency.

[diabetickart]

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Read more:

What is Staff Augmentation? — Meaning and Use Cases 2024

[nperspective]

You were able to find optimal growth through our precision financial staffing solutions that also includes fractional CFO firms. That the pressure of finding the right expertise quickly.

[snootlestheangel]

Snootles is losing her mind so she's being horny on main please ignore

Proceeding to project like a motherfucker

Anyways I blame Tats for feeding into my brainrot (she's not really to blame but ya know, love her) @stuffireadandenjoy

18+ Minors DNI

Imagine it's finally a quiet week at the end of several very busy months for you and your partner Kyle Garrick. For at least, two months he had been in and out of contact while on assignment, and when he was at base, life was just as busy. But not that you had been doing any better. You were short staffed at work, and you were forced into picking up the slack. Normal hours felt horrible as you were drained of all your energy and then some every day.

But Kyle never seemed to lose the energy to send you sweet messages any time he had a moment. It's not like you had slacked off on checking in on your partner, but it's never been easy for you to find the right ways to approach it. His job and the mental toll it has on him was something you'd never be able to fully understand, and you knew there were things he'd take to the grave.

But there was just something about the way he expressed his concern for you and your civilian life. The way he'd send a message on a random Thursday afternoon wishing you the best of luck working overtime on the weekend. There was something so innocent and sweet in the way he'd send you a selfie, the largest, proudest grin on his face, and he'd tell you he just kicked Soap's ass in Mario Kart because they finally had some downtime. It'd make your heart flutter when he'd say he hopes that you and your friends have more fun when you get to see them again.

He was just so good at showing he cares about you over the phone, and it felt unfair. You were much better with your words, with your affections, when you had him next to you.

So when the week finally came where you were both home and not overworked, you were going to make sure he knew how much you loved him by the end of it.

The first couple of days were lazy, spent lounging on the couch in each other's arms and catching up on some shows. Although, far too often, you caught yourself drifting off to sleep to the gentle whispers of his breathing and the steady thrum of his heart. It felt good, to lay on his chest and be safe, at rest away from the pressures of the outside world.

But then you had finally caught up on sleep and were feeling refreshed. And with feeling refreshed, so had the guilt of not showing your love for Kyle during your time apart. It was a weird feeling, one because you knew Gaz would tell you not to worry about that. Your difficulty with expressing things through text or over the phone was something you two had talked about well into your relationship, and he handled it so gracefully, you truly believed him when he told you he'd always know how much you love him. And two, because you knew your relationship was more than just sweet "I love you"s over text.

But this particular day, the guilt was eating you, and you felt the need to prove your love to your partner.

You had left the living room for just a brief moment to swap the laundry over, and your heart skips a beat at the sight you returned to. Kyle had been laying on you before you left, but in your absence he had rolled onto his back, and his shirt had ridden up just enough to expose a bit of his stomach. Like magnets, your hands find their way to the sliver of skin showing, gently pushing the fabric up further to expose more. Your hands slowly trail along the bit of stomach just above his pants, slightly pinching the layer of fat that was most prominent there.

Mesmerized, your hands found their way to his hips, following the dip, letting your thumbs slip under the exposed waistband of his underwear. A hand meets one of yours, wrapping his fingers around yours. You smile sweetly at him, shifting yourself to lean over him, peppering his stomach in light kisses. Without words, without asking, as your hands push his shirt up higher, he shifts and finishes taking it off himself.

For a moment, your eyes meet, and the glint in his eyes tells you he knows exactly what you're up to. You smile as you push yourself up to cup his face in your hands, peppering kisses on his face. His hands find their way to your hips as he catches your lips with his own. You moan slightly as the kiss deepens, his tongue slipping into your mouth, your hips pushing against his hands at the sweet taste of his tea from earlier that lingered.

You break away and trail kisses across his jaw, down his neck. Open mouthed kisses follow along the line of his collarbone, down between his pecs. Your hands find their way to his sides, slipping down to rest at the waistband of his pants, pinkies slipping under the line of his boxers. Your lips find their way along his chest, tongue flicking out to see if you can taste how sweet he is.

Kyle lets out a surprised gasp as you lightly bite him before gently wrapping your lips around his nipple, fingers digging into his hips. You couldn't help yourself, but the growing ache between your legs as you had your beloved all laid out beneath you was too much.

You needed him.

A hand trails to press against the growing bugle in Kyle's pants, lips catching his moan. His nails dig into your hips as he bucks, quietly begging for more.

"I love you so much." You whisper against his neck, your kisses all tongue and teeth as he lets out another breathy moan.

"Gonna show me how much?" He breaths back, and you match his cheeky grin, just before letting both hands meet at his crotch. You don't need to respond, you let your messy kisses along his stomach speak for you. Kyle's head drops back as you begin to tug at his waistband, kissing along his faint happy trail.

You were never very good with your words anyways.

[camellia-office]

An Introduction to our Office

We here at Camellia Office are dedicated to tying up loose ends at the behest of our clients, in order to secure foundation to grow a better future for residents of the city. We are based out of District 13 (M-Corp Territory), and are currently OPEN to requests. We typically investigation and "wrapping up" of a client's past affairs, though as Fixers, we do handle a wide variety of jobs. While we may be a small fixer office, we were founded and staffed by three talented fixers, including the Violet Mercy herself! We look forward to working with you! Below are introductions to our staff.

[This is a Project Moon RP/brainrot blog, below are the characters available for interaction, and if additional characters are introduced, they will be added to this pinned post.]

Feel free to contact us with any questions, concerns, or requests regarding our office and its fixers!

Olivie - the Vestigial Hour Hand (She/they)

Position: Camellia Office Fixer

Grade: 1

Previous Employment: L-Corp Employee [Aziluth - Records], Private Investigative Fixer

EGO?: [Vestigal Hour Hand - HE] [Oberon - WAW]

Kinsley (He/him)

Position: Camellia Office Fixer

Grade: 2

Previous Employment: L-Corp Employee [Briah - Disciplinary] , Crewman and Galleyman of Welchs Inc. Shrimp Fishers, HamhamPangpang line cook

EGO: [Cyningesleah - ZAYIN] [Soda - TETH] [Cobalt Scar - WAW]

Daie (Any Pronouns)

Position: Camellia Office Fixer

Grade: 5

Previous Employment: District 18 Workshop Prosthetics Tester, Musicians of Bremen; Singer

EGO: [Danse Macabre - ZAYIN] [Trypophobia - TETH]

Camille (She/her)

Position: Camellia Office Representative Fixer

Grade: The Violet Mercy

Previous Employment: L-Corp Employee [Aziluth - Extraction], Zwei Affiliate Fixer, M-Corp Affiliate Fixer

EGO: [La Dame aux Camélia - WAW] [Titania - WAW] [Dark Days' Judas - ALEPH]

[rasby]

Heeeey I loved your tattos HCs!

Do you have anything about what kind of HS/uni professor they'd be?

Hii! Omgg thank you 😭😭😭 this is really nice

I tried to write this with my limited knowlage of how American schools work (that i picked up from tv shows and cartoons). I'm from the Balkans and our schools are a bit different, so if there's anything inaccurate i apologise!! (Also this is based on highschool bc I'm in highschool)

Asra

• They would teach art

• One of the favourite teachers in the entire school

• None of the assignments they give are what the school board tehnically require, but they encourage creativity

• Also he has no care when it comes to grading so you can come to class with a roll of toilet paper and still get an A

• There is no learning in his class, it's more like an extended break

• I imagine they don't even show up half of the time

• It's a miracle they haven't been fired

• (The miracle is called Nadia)

Nadia

• As a teacher, i think she'd do history or geography

• But overall, she's definetly the principle

• If the school is short staffed, she can definitely multi-task

• As a teacher, she'd be very strict

• No talking, no whispering, no phones...really follows every rule

• And she's a little harsh on the grading too

• But it isn't hard to get a good grade if you listen to her lectures and take notes

• She's also very willing to help and really aims to teach

• If you ask, she'll find the time in her day to go over everything with you

Julian

• The obvious answer is chemistry and/or biology

• But i feel like his classes would be so much more

• He gets really immersed in teaching and he knows how to hold the students attention

• Half the time doesn't even notice the bell

• He's not a strict teacher by any means, but he does want everyone to learn

• When it comes to grading he's very flexible

• If he thinks you understand the subject, he'll give you a good grade even if it's not EXACTLY by the book

• Of course, he's open to helping students with his own subject but if you need help with other subjects, he's willing to help in that department too

• If you wanna get out of a class, just ask him about his day before he starts the lecture. He'll start rambling about random things until the class ends

Portia

• She would teach language and literature

• She's also very liked by the entire school

• Puts her whole soul into teaching

• Like there's no way you're coming out of her class uneducated

• She decorates her classroom and has a LOT of plants

• In fact, she probably takes care of most school plants

• And shows the janitors how to properly take care of them if she can't

• Teams up with Asra for most school projects and decorations

• Her classes are very calming but if she's really passionate about a certain subject, be prepared

• Will also ramble before class and talk to the students, but she's more focused then her brother

• Spends her breaks in the library or with the lunch ladies

• Also the type of teacher to bring snacks every day into the teachers lounge

• Honestly, everyone likes her

Muriel

• I'll be honest, I've been wracking my brain about this for so long but i cannot for the life of me see him as a teacher

• In pre school, maybe

• But with high-schoolers? No...

• I do see him as a janitor, however

• He'd be perfect for the job

• The kids wouldn't want to mess with him because he seems mean and scary

• (And because Asra can also be mean and scary)

• He's very fast and only focuses on doing his work as fast as he can

• He's tall, he's strong...you get my point

• He would definitely bring Asra lunch every break and they would sit and chat in his classroom or the Janitors closet (they don't mind the small space)

• Eventually, Asra introduces him to other teachers and they all become friends and welcome him into the teachers lounge

Lucio

• He's a PE teacher

• If you're in his class all i have to say is....good luck

• Most students skip his class

• EVERY class

• He will work you TO THE BONE

• He doesn't understand that high-schoolers can't compare to his professionally trained self and expects everyone to meet him at his level

• For a PASSING grade

• If you want a GOOD grade you'll have to impress him

• And before you think he should've been fired, that isn't possible

• HE'S FUNDING THE SCHOOL

• Nadia is aware of his..."teachings" but she can't do much about it

• With him gone, half the school goes too!

• Eventually everyone tells him to calm down and he does

• (But he's really passive agressive about it)

• The students forgive him cause he's hot

As always, if anyone wants to add on, please feel free!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dan Pfeiffer at The Message Box:

The generally accepted — and oft-repeated — narrative about Trump is that he is a cult-leader who can bend the Republican base to his will. On issues like free trade and foreign policy, he broke with long-standing Republican orthodoxy and faced no repercussions. He attacked Republican stalwarts like the Bush family and John McCain. Not only was there no blowback, Trump also made these folks' personas non-grata in the Republican Party. Whether it’s indictments, his sexual assaults, or his dalliances and dinner dates with Nazis, Trump could force the Republican Party to go along. The GOP is Trump’s party and what he says goes. Trump is a man accountable to no one. This has benefited him politically and brought in folks who hate politics and distrust institutions. But that image became fuzzy last week when Donald Trump bent to the will of anti-abortion extremists in a stunning flip-flop on abortion that tells us everything we need to know about Donald Trump. He poses an existential threat to reproductive freedom for tens of millions of Americans.

The Flip-Flop to End All Flip-Flops

I have written about Trump’s abortion flip-flop a couple of times in the last week, so if you are a regular reader of Message Box, please feel free to skip ahead. If not… In an interview with Dasha Burns of NBC News, Trump implied that he would vote for the amendment on the Florida ballot guaranteeing access to abortion and effectively overturning the state’s six-week ban. Trump is now a Florida resident and many are unsure how he plans to vote on the amendment. Trump’s stated position on abortion is that it's up to the states. For crass political reasons he has been critical of Florida’s extreme ban. A day ago, Trump flip-flopped, telling Fox News that he would vote NO on the amendment. So what happened in the subsequent twenty-four hours?

Well, the evangelical community and anti-abortion activists went ballistic. They blew up the phone lines to Mar-a-Lago or wherever Trump  was laying his head last week. They argued that Trump’s new stance would depress turnout from his base. Ever since Dobbs, Trump cannot get it right. He watched his slate of hand-picked candidates get mowed down in 2022 and he sees the polls showing large majorities oppose the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the sorts of state and national abortion bans of which Republicans have long dreamed. Trump thought his “leave it to the states” policy would help. It didn’t. Floating the idea of voting for the abortion amendment was another desperate effort to get on the right side of the issue that has cost Republicans nearly every election. This time, Trump crossed a line. The anti-abortion faction of the party told him to reverse course and he did so immediately. One of the core tenets of Trump’s political philosophy is to never, under any circumstances admit to wrongdoing. Heck, Trump doubled, tripled, and quadrupled down on defending and dining with Nazis. So the fact that Trump changed course so quickly and with so little resistance on abortion is quite notable.

[...] These folks will be calling the shots in a Trump Administration. They will influence policy and staffing decisions and that should scare the shit out of anyone who cares about reproductive freedom. Dobbs was the beginning — not the end — of the Far Right’s efforts.

Donald Trump being made to cry “uncle” and say that he is voting no on Florida Amendment 4 after being heavily criticized by anti-abortion commentators when he stated that he would initially consider voting in favor of Amendment 4 is proof that the anti-abortion extremists still call the shots in the GOP.