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sanghyukstattoos · 4 years

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The adventures of you, Huru and Zuho

Characters: Baek Zuho x Reader

Genre: Fluff

Words: 2079

Summary: Working on your thesis was incredibly stressful but having your boyfriend and his cat around helped ease your anxiousness- especially the escapades Zuho and his cat went on.

A / N: Heyy @jsnyoung, here is the fic you requested. This is so cute, my heart is ready to burst out of my chest! I know this isn't Huru in the gif but Zu’s actions made me select this one, such a cutie! Look at him just babying the cat (what's its name?) ~~ I want him to baby me in the same way lmaooo. Also, thank you for the request ^.^

The first time you ever searched up, '' Is it scary to write a thesis '' was in your first year and you were met with results like '' intimidating '', '' daunting '' and '' a scary process '' . It gave you deep- seated anxiety however, the world was kind and there were also results such as, '' Habits to break when writing your thesis '' and '' quick tips ''. Even though culminating years of research, notes and structural organization was mean- looking, it was a challenge that the internet said would be fun. Your advisers asked you to keep an open mind since many students would eventually end up pursuing a thesis topic that was different to that piqued their curiosity when they first joined the program.

Today, you were way past that stage and looking back, you reflected on your program and why exactly you selected it. You strived to seek knowledge, in the classroom and attempting to apply it in real-life as well. At times, you found it difficult to motivate yourself to write but felt better upon realising your passion for your subject. Sometimes, thinking about your thesis made you recall the long nights you would spend editing the same phrases resulting in sore fingers the next morning. However, it was that same productivity that made you even more dedicated to your research. It allowed you to carry on knowing that you were working harder than ever by filling up the spaces as fast your fingers could carry your thoughts.

As far as you knew, the research on your subject was beautiful but you couldn't find the information you needed. No matter how many 50-page publications you read, very few contained what you needed which frustrated you. It was this same frustration that contributed to your start of conducting interviews and research. Once you thought about it, the idea sounded fabulous making you content that you would be producing research that would contribute to your field. Today, you were going to interview the second participant in your research for your thesis. The pandemic had inhibited face-to-face meetings so sitting at your table at home in front of your laptop, you hurriedly bounced your leg. There was a good couple of minutes before your interview but you couldn't help but repeatedly glance at the time at the bottom left of your screen.

Shifting your window to dual-screen, one held the interview format including questions but you also held a hard copy which rested on table. Looking up, the movement of kids outside caught your eyes and momentarily, your focus. They looked quite carefree and you could hear their high- pitched laughs and giggles which brought a smile to your face as you watched the birds swiftly breeze across the sky while life carried on animatedly. A sudden yawn caused you to cover your face and running your hands through your hair, you acknowledged how tired you were. Rubbing your eyes, you continued to ponder over the oncoming interview, shaking your leg in the process. '' Nervous babe? '' questioned Zuho who was leaning against the door that was now slightly ajar.

Surprised, you wheeled around to face him and nodded replying, '' Yea, I don't know how it's going to play out and I think I'm just nervous about doing it online. In real-life it’s terrifying as it is but on a call, things can get awkward real quick ''. Walking towards you, you both laughed recalling the very interesting video calls in each of your lives. You snuggled into his embrace when he bent down to wrap his arms around you. Pressing a kiss to your forehead, he smiled asking once again, '' By the way, did your teacher reply to that editing you did of your previous questions? ''. A lightbulb went off in your head, frowning at the thought of not getting a reply back from your professor especially since you knew that they were free. "Nope, he aired me again’’, I'll send it to him again, you thought, determined to get a response.

Chuckling, you held his arms as you breathed a sigh from the stress you were currently facing. Hearing the heaviness in your sigh, Zuho said, '' I think you'll be fine because of the amount of hard work I've seen you put into this thesis. Since the first day I met you, I saw how unwavering you were to aim for the best so trust me when I say that you'll be okay ''. Hearing his words immediately made you feel grateful for his presence in your life. He had a tendency to be quite optimistic at times which helped you lift your mood and enjoy the smaller things. Your eyes shining, you met his eyes replying, '' Thank you, thank you a lot. Sometimes, I'm able to pull through because of you so I will trust your words. '' with a smile to your tone.

'' You have around, 10 minutes from now. Are you prepared? '' He asked despite knowing that you had memorised everything on the page, even the empty spaces. Shaking your head, you replied, '' Yup, definitely, everything '' extending your arms at the last word. His hands left you and as you moved to stand up, stretching your limbs. Folding in half, your arm met the tip of your toes and you quickly moved to face Zuho. Asking, '' Zu? He hummed in inquiry as a response, feeling surprised when you went to wrap your arms around him. Mirroring your actions, the two of you rested in each other's embrace until you decided to dance. He had no choice but to move along with you and you both cracked up at your silliness.

Midway move, you felt something tickling your feet causing you to jump in his arms. Eyes wide, you looked at Zu who was looking around for what caused you to get scared. '' Ahh '' he said, picking up Huru and holding her against his chest. Relief flooded your features as you went to pet Huru saying, '' Such a pretty baby, you scared me '' holding a hand against your chest. Wiggling your toes, you felt disgusted at the thought of something other than Huru, furry and touching your feet. You admired the two of them as Zuho cuddled Huru in his arms and peppered kisses to her face. Gently patting her head, he handed her to you in turn watching how she snuggled into your chest. Initially, she had turned a cold shoulder to you but over time you were able to get her to like you.

That struggle was something Zuho would never let you live down, like the true romantic he was. Breaking out of your thoughts as you remembered the interview, you quickly turned back to check the time. Your eyes widened as you noticed that you only had a couple of minutes before the interview could start. Peeking from behind you, Zuho spoke as he noticed the time, ‘’You should probably get started you know’’ with a matter- of fact tone and a smile tugging at his lips. ‘’Yea, I should plus I’ll probably finish right around lunch time so I’ll tell you so we can eat together’’ you said, playfully hitting his arm. Clutching the spot where you hit him, he looked at you with sad, shiny eyes to which you lightly laughed at. Bringing him closer by his arm, you pecked him on the lips, the taste lingering on your own.

‘’All the best baby’’ he said, sharing a kiss with you. It was gentle and slow as his fingers threaded through your hair, easing whatever nervousness you had previously felt. Reassuring you, you broke the kiss whispering a soft ‘’thank you’’. Letting Huru down, his fingers found yours and walking towards the door, they slowly left your grasp as you smiled at one another. You watched as the door was left a little bit open, not minding it since you could quickly exit the room once your interview was over. Sitting back down, you ran your fingers through your hair thinking, I got this, what’s the worst that could happen?. Looking around, you found your hard copy of the questions, keeping it as close to you as possible for safe keeping. Once, the interview had begun, all your thoughts flew out of the window because you had expected the worst but you could tell that the worst wouldn’t come.

Less than halfway through the interview, you saw Huru push through the small gap of the door in the reflection of your screen and enter the room, causing the door to be left half open as Huru nonchalantly strolled through the room, making her way to you. Momentarily losing your focus, you returned to the video call as you thought about how you were going to prevent Huru from taking over the interview. You kept an eye out for the adorable feline as she jumped on the drawers and scratched her paws against the curtains. You came to do this? you thought and it was almost as if she heard you, she replied with the prettiest meow you had ever heard which you could only assume meant yes. Your interviewee paused at the sound of a cat but was forced to resume when you continued your questions.

With Huru rolling on the table, Zuho peeked into the room a couple of moments later. Having a nice conversation with your interviewee, he saw Huru just rolling on your table. Slightly panicked that Huru would ruin your interview, he tiptoed into the room with arms outstretched towards Huru. Seeing a moving figure in the reflection of your screen, you held back a laugh hoping the interviewee wasn’t seeing this. Even Huru noticed his presence but the closer he got, the farther she stepped away. Mouthing ‘’Huru’’, he tried to grab her but she jumped from the drawers, running across the floor like a maniac. Hearing him sigh, you internally combusted in laughter keeping a straight face knowing that the more he tried, the faster Huru would run. Letting out a minor puff of air, you laughed at the thought of what the interviewee would think if they saw your boyfriend chasing your cat across the room.

This went on for a few moments before Zuho finally captured her, holding her tight in his embrace. He rubbed her belly, soothing her and meeting your eyes in the reflection of the screen, he mouthed a ‘’sorry’ before exiting the room and closing the door completely. Towards the end of the interview, it looked as if the interviewee wanted to bring up the topic of your cat but decided not too. Ending the call, you leaned back into your seat, taking a deep breath relishing in the fact that your interview was over. Culminating the generous amount of information that you were provided with, your eyes skimmed over the sheet, debating whether to complete your work now or come back to it later. Appreciating the generous amount of time you had to confer with your professor, you got up and stretched. Groaning, you felt your limbs ache as the stress of writing your thesis found its way back to you.

You walked out of the room and found Zuho and Huru sitting on the sofa, curled up against one another. Smiling, their heads turned as they noticed your presence. As you walked towards them, Zuho returned your smile extending his arm for you to sit on the sofa. You took a seat next to Zu, leaning your head on his shoulder. ‘’I hope Huru didn’t mess up your interview’’ Zuho said with concern in his tone. With his arm wrapped around you, your head laid on his chest as you spoke, ‘’It’s okay. Surprisingly, they didn’t notice Huru’’ laughing at the last part. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, ‘’They didn’t? Maybe they did but they didn’t say anything’’. ‘’That’s true, I struggled to hold in my laughter when you were trying to catch Huru’’ you said, causing the both of you to crack up in laughter.

‘‘She wouldn’t come at all you know plus I didn’t want to enter the frame. at that moment I had no idea what to do’‘ he animatedly replied. Giggling, you felt your hunger growing in your stomach and looking up at him you said, ‘It’s over now. Let’s go get something to eat’’. ‘’Yay, let's go, I’m hungry’’ he replied and letting Huru go, the two of you stood up and walked to the kitchen, chatting about the coming days.

#sf9 #sf9 au #sf9 imagines #sf9 scenarios #sf9 zuho #sf9 zuho x reader #zuho x reader #baek zuho #sf9 fluff #zuho fluff #sensational feeling 9 #sf9 huru #sf9 x reader #sf9 writings

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blockwarden · 5 years

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Checking In - March 13

Hi guys, Warden Elizabeth here.

I just wanted to update y'all on the current state of things re: the COVID-19 pandemic.

As some of you might now, I'm a native Ohioan--born in Cleveland and currently residing in Kent. And the situation on the ground here has been...surreal.

On Tuesday, after three cases were confirmed in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland area, for y'all not from here), my university (Kent State) cancelled all face-to-face classes until April 13th. This is a week after we closed our Florence, Italy campus and brought our Italy and South Korea students back to Kent.

By the end of today, Friday, Kent State has cancelled face-to-face classes for the rest of the semester, there are now 13 cases and over 150 under surveillance, all K-12 schools are closed for three weeks, our athletic seasons are cancelled, events with 100+ people are cancelled, and I'm pretty sure every store in the state is facing a shortage of everything.

Ohio has only 1,000 test kits available for 11.69 million people. It's been predicted that 100,000 Ohioans alone will be infected. It's also been predicted, at the rate the country is testing, that 1 million Americans will die if we don't make drastic changes to our national response.

I found out the news of Kent State's first closing while I was at a doctor's appointment. While at this appointment, I was diagnosed with (mild, thankfully) scoliosis and was told that I show a lot of the symptoms of a particular auto-immune disorder. When I found out about the K-12 closings, I was at pelvic therapy where I was told my prescription muscle relaxers I rely on may be hard to get in the coming weeks, and again, that I show a lot of symptoms for this auto-immune disorder. I was told to seek a geneticist for testing.

This week has been so incredibly eventful. Every day there has been another major change in my life and the situation in Ohio. It feels fake. It feels like I'm dreaming or having a nightmare. I haven't been eating, I haven't been sleeping. I had a sore throat today (from allergies) and almost started crying because I was so worried.

I'll be honest though, I'm not scared. I'm nervous, but not scared. I'm cautious, but not panicking. With all of my classes moved to distance learning, and my workplace preparing for 2 weeks of remote work, I am very lucky that I can isolate myself so well. Not many can afford to hide away at home for weeks right now. But I'm definitely not coping well with all the news.

Despite working in emergency management, being former military, and running this blog, I am still not processing everything very well. I am despondent. I feel numb. I feel overwhelmed.

This situation is going to get worse. It is not going to start getting better for upwards of a few weeks. If we are looking at Italy, we are where they were about 7-14 days ago. We have a long way to go through this thing.

Our lack of preparedness, our federal government calling it a hoax, and our panic reactions are not helping. Our slowness to act is not helping. It is, genuinely, too little, too late. We have been out of time to properly control this virus for weeks.

The federal government is finally starting to take things seriously, but these are actions that should have been taken long before. To reiterate, it is going to get worse before it gets better.

Through this though, I want y'all to remember some important things. One, it is our job to do what we can to protect at-risk populations. This is includes the elderly, immuno-compromised, diabetics, persons with respiratory and cardiovascular issues, pregnant persons, people with high blood pressure, a history of smoking, people recovering from surgery, the poor, the disabled, the illiterate, the non-English speaking. If you don't have any pre-existing conditions, like asthma, then please don't hoard supplies. I have no clue what the hell people are doing with all this toilet paper, but I do know that the at-risk populations are going to need Lysol wipes, bleach, and etc. more than the healthy. Shop considerately.

Even if you are healthy, wash your hands. Disinfect surfaces. Practice social distancing. You are part of the herd that protects those at-risk for serious complications from COVID-19.

Two, is that being informed is vital. Don't obsess over it (you'll go crazy), but pay attention to the news. And pay attention to your news sources. There is a lot of misinformation out there. Start with the CDC and WHO websites if you don't know where to begin. The worst thing you can to is completely ignore this.

Three, is that simple compassion and neighborliness goes a long way. There's no reason to be stealing surgical masks, no reason to fist fight over cans of soup, no reason to think this is a "you versus me" situation. Combating this is going to take the entire community dedicating themselves to prevention and mitigation.

I am here to be a part of your community. If you have questions, I don't claim to know everything, but I will do my best to help you. If you want me to fact-check a news source, or give you emergency supply kit lists, I am here. I can't do much if I really have this disorder and am at-risk myself, but I can do this.

Lastly, reach out. This is a mentally strenuous time. This is, for a lot of us, an unprecedented event. Check in with your mental health, and know when to seek help.

I hope you all stay safe. When I started this blog, and my job, I could never imagine an event like this. It's something we plan for but hope we never see.

But we will get through this.

Be safe, and remember I am here if you need it.

-- Warden Elizabeth

#warden posting #COVID-19

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kaiju-z · 5 years

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Today’s summary is of a One-Shot DM’d by the lovely @langstymclangstface. Go visit their page and give them some love, for they are a talented writer and we had a hellaciously fun time playing this one shot together!

Seon Adventures Episode 20.5: “Crumbling Wax”, a Seon Adventures Halloween One-Shot

(Aka Nelatha’s Coochie Quest. The sequel title no one asked for :eyesemoji:)

It has been. A short while since our heroes have been in the city of Crystalgate, Capitol of the country of Aetorumia.

A costume festival is being held, bright and shining lights illuminating the night time sky above the wandering citizens as they pass by booths and tables of contents, finding entertainment for themselves and their loved ones.

Each and every one has made it their goal to wear a costume as ostentatious as the next, a sort of challenge between each other to see who can be the most in the spirit of the event.

High spirits are in the air, in spite of a problem that has arisen for everyone. Or most of everyone. A sickness has hit a substantial part of the populace and thus, people are using this evening as a gateaway from the bad vibes of their relatives being down for the count.

Some call it the end of the world, but they’re honestly being overdramatic dramatic.

Amongst the walkers of this town, there are four of the five members of the party “The Cultbusters”. Sadly, Belli is at home (I headcanon that Mournimar left Morgan with her, as we didn’t get a description of Morgan’s costume. So the good direwolf is there to be her comfort animal, along with familiar, Orion.) and she is siiiiiick. And thus, she is locked off at home, as are all that have been hit by this flu.

The rest of the party are lucky.

And the rest of the party are dressed up to their heart’s content!

Amelia wears the proud costume of a sea corsair. A daring, romanticized fersion of a pirate, with Archie as her fat little shoulder griffin, a pair of wings strapped to the chunky, hunky kitty’s back, a little beak on his face. He’s living his best life and loves his catmom.

Walking beside her, Nelatha Shadowspire’s joined the group yet again. Accompanying her lady friend Genasi, she is wearing a sexed up version of a Cleric’s uniform. Particularly, that of a Honos cleric. (She is basically a fantasy sexy nurse) And she is confident as hell in that outfit. She makes it work and she knows it.

Flanking them is Mournimar, who, while initially planning some other attire, has opted for the costume of a favored character of his from a classical play. He wears the rags of the infamous drug dealer, tomb raider, bard and poet, the Graverobber. And he is blue screening real bad on account of not being used to such festivities. With Belli on the sick bed, he is but inchest away from touching shoulders with his fellow tiefling.

He, of double disguises. Who, along with the elf baby have dressed up as the characters of Fangface and Fangpuss respectively. They are goofy outfits, but Luctan is having a ball with it, enjoying the cartoonishness of it all and the hilarity that he, someone already in disguise, is wearing a third skin now. And the baby is baby. He don’t care none.

Last, but far, far from least, Malak walks with his new traveling companions, wearing a skeleton costume. A onesie, his face painted up to appear skullish.

Together the five, plus the baby and cat, walk amongst the people as streamers fly overhead. People dance and play and drink to their heart’s content. In a various level of dress.

What catches their attention is that amongst the chaos there’s a man selling candles. A sign upon his booth states the title “The Candle Man”, as their noses are attracted by multitude of scents from these particular ones.

The closer they walk, the musical tunes of The Living Tombstone’s “Spooky Scary Skeletons” hail in repetition, much to the frustration and disguist of Nel, who’s bardic pride feels poked at with the ridicilousness of that tune.

Along the way to the Candle Man’s booth, Malak’s eye stops at a nice old fashioned game of bobbing for apples. His curiosity overtaking him, the human man gives it a go and dunks his head in the water, trying to be as dexterous as he can with his chompers.

He tries his best. Swinging his head left, right, center. Up and down, trying his damnedest to nab one of the apples. But alas, he fails at the task. From the outside perspective, someone has to walk on over to him and pull him out and back, as the Death Cleric looked like he was drowning.

Trying to give it a go himself, Mournimar enters the “battlefield” of fruit and preps to dive headfirst (as you do). Malak is the ever helpful man he is and places a hand on Mournimar’s shoulder for encouragement, casting Guidance on him.

Through a combination of the ranger’s skill in handling items and the Cleric’s holy magic, the tiefling nabs an apple. But not just your regular Granny Smith’s apple! This one is of a golden color.

“Congratulations, you won the grand prise!”

He is the victor of the game and earns himself a bag of candies from the vendor, a kind lady speaking in her best Applecore accent.

“Excellent!” exclaims Mournimar and offers the bag around. But be it because of a distate in sweets or a lack of hunger, he is left to feast on the candies himself. All the more for himself!

As they continue on, they pass by a number of establishments. From new age bars, to meat houses. Bakeries and the like, all theming their foods after the holiday that has been bestowed upon the masses, with skulls and pumpkins and bats and all sorts of crawlies.

Luctan asks around about the sickness. Most people suggest it’s a cold time of year, so it’s normal. There are a couple of people out of town, panicking a bit regarding a pandemic. Performers say they’ve lost a hood half of their act, because of this. Lost their voices and shit.

Mourni’s type of Orc walking around, basically looks him up and down, shakes his head and says they tried, but shit didn’t work

A fire genasi performs a juggling act with flaming knives nearby. Luctan, being the boy, who loves his pointy things that he is, goes for a closer watch of the show. The Genasi man waves at Luctan, between throws and tosses and twirls and spins of the burning blades.

Impressed with the performance, Luctan gives a gold piece and a bunch more Fire Genasi come out, juggling. Despite that they are very excited to perform for him and stuff, they haven’t said a single thing. To Luctan, it appears that they are just very dedicated to their craft. And he appreciates that.

(He loves a man, who can handle a blade. Somewhere Ficus has himbs a sneeze, probably.)

Nel is not amused. Why? Aside from the juggling, her resting witch face is earned from seeing Amelia approach a pet store, where they have cats dressed in little costumes.

And you can pet said cats.

Set up as advertisements and stuff. You can buy treats themed for each cat.

She picks up the quiet mewing of kittens from the back of the room, where people pay to have kittens crawl and paw over them.

While Malak enjoys a variety of Pumpkin Spice Lattés (And there are so MANY Pumpkin Spice Lattés) Amelia goes to the cats. There’s a nice lady holding two fat cats. And she gets to pet some cats. Lennard and Harry. They were married and had a ceremony last week and the kittens are in the back.

Amelia is tearing up. This is the best day of her life.

Good work is being done for these cats. She is warned about a certain cat boi who jumps on people and demands cuddles. Amelia seems to be prepared for this. Heavy is the ribcage that must contain so much love for felines.

Out of nowhere areally fat Scottish fold jumps and descends on her, which causes Nel to scream a loud screm.

In response, The cat looks at Nel and bleps.

This is the happiest day in Amelia’s life.

Cats are available for adoption.

With the cat on her head and the two in her arms, as well as Archie on her shoulders, she is virtually in cat heavan. If this is a dream, don’t let her wake up.

All the while, Malak gets free gingerbread with every latté. (Nel feels like the world’ll collapse around her over all the coffee.)

Eventually, with cats in tow, the party find themselves at the Candle Man’s store.

One very bored teenager fiddling with a candle. He looks like he can’t be bothered. As they get closer to inspect them, each one looks like a person. They seem to be made expertly, made in order of famous people, but they don’t recognize any of them.

Except for one.

Luctan vaguely recognizes one of the figures as the dancer!Zitra! But something seems off about it, like it was done in a hurry. Almost like someone wasn’t used to this, as opposed to the expert.

The young one explains that the candlemaker’s sick, so the kid had to rush ‘em. Luctan buys one of the Lady Zitra and an unknown dude. Then hands the young salesperson a pamphlet and encouraging words. He believes that they can do better!

Curious, Malak wants a candle made of him. But gets the strange explanation that a personal hairstrand is required for the wick. And backs off immediatelly.

Luctan and Mournimar have no idea what this is about. To Nel there seems to be more than he’s letting on. Sinister vibe coming off of him.

She’s noticed he hasn’t’blinked once since they met him, but a few minutes prior.

He’s very cagey about what his general job is, as opposed to the summer job.

It’s mostly, you know, ehm, bar keeping and cleaning.

At the Busty Wench. The one in town.

Nel doesn’t remember a franchise opening here.

On these revelations, the shadyness of the character, if Malak hadn’t changed his mind before, he most certainly had now.

Malak casts Zone of Truth.

The moment he casts the spell, something odd happens. No. Something horrid happens. The ground begins to melt.

All around them? Everyone starts melting as blobs of flesh and clothes and then they realize they’re surrounded by wax, which starts to pull and move towards the stand, which is slowly changing form until they start in front of a vague humanoid figure twice of Mournimar’s height.

Yeah...

The sign is very litteral.

Much to Amelia’s horror, all cats, but Archie, begin to melt. Gordon and Harry and the one on her head crumble and fuse and melt off and down to the ground below. Even the cats were fake.

The wax man has a big as smile. Whatever he is. the party had never heard of it before.

As he says that, he rises into the air and drops down and suddenly everything is melting into wax, white and overpowering scent of burning candle and the floor is disappearing beneath everyone’s feet.

BOGUS!”, to say the least.

Thinking fast, Nel uses Polymorph and changes into a giant eagle and grabs Amelia and Archie to move them to safety. Once in the air, she looks out into the horizon and in a perfect circle? She sees that the city is surrounded by a desert. And slowly-an-and- and melting?!

Malak is noticing that the fire jugglers, who but moments prior were catching and throwing burning blades, were now sleeping and drowning in wax.

He tries to save them, but isn’t strong enough to do a thng about all this.

From what the lot of the ‘busters can gather, apparently the sick people are the real ones. And they are sinking.

Wasting no further time, the rest of the party start climbing.

Arriving at the top, they see that the area they started from? There’s this vast and expanding black hole, going outwards. Up top, Luctan has a vague feeling that something isnt’real here, but there’s so much magic surrounding him, he cant’pinpoint what the illusion is.

All the while Mournimar strategizes with the polymorphed Nelatha.

Malak takes a notice that the hair sticking out of the wax candles is still there and he realizes that the figurines at the stall are left completely in tact.

Luck realizes that some of the people he tried pulling out had wax figurines.

The ones he was shown were selected so he wouldn’t recognize them. It is by mere chance that they had met the Lady herself. And thus, he acts upon a gut feeling. He removes the hairstring and the figurine cracks, before beginning a climb down to the candle booth. To repeat that on a grander level. And Mournimar follows, in spite of Luctan’s protests.

Nel is tasked with carrying the others away.

(And here we have a bit of a 2-3 minute break, because Cat’s mic was off for a good while. Because her kitten, the Little Man/Little Bastard as she calls him had turned it off. It was the funniest thing ever.)

As they part ways, Amelia casts Levitate on Luctan. Yell heah!

As Luck flies, he remembers he left Belli asleep in the Shadowspire Manor, which from his perspective, begins to melt. Cursing under his breath, he takes the figurines with a box and removes the hairs on the way to Belli’s as Mournimar sprints after him.

As they move, Mourni notices Luctan’s in tiefling form. And has a tail?!

The levitation drops eventually and Luctan falls on the ground. As he turns around, he sees he’s been chased by a fellow tiefling, but it’s not someone he recognizes.

Nel turns in her normal form forcibly as they travel and they are surrounded by strangers. Making her 3 point landing, Amelia notices a bird turning into a humanoid form and sadly doesn’t recognize Nel.

Everyone’s... surrounded by strangers.

A figure about Amelia’s height rises from the wax and says “Hello there, don’t be frightened. You’ve been saved.”

Luck see this form as well, but it’s smaller and childlike and feels an eerie sense of calm.

Mournimar, unfortunately, fails on a wisdom save and “ knows everything’ll be alright”.

As he realizes this, his features starts melting off, until Mourni is gone, replaced with a lump of wax.

Seeing all this madness happening around him, Malak casts Protection of Good and Evil and protects himself.

Luck feels Danger as he sees that someone start melting, which causes him to have... the freaks out. It’s this reason why he probably only too late notices he has his tail back?!

Feeling threatened by this wax fhild, Luctan casts Sacred Flame, which burns a hole through the child’s chest. Not falling for whatever niceties the child propheces, the red tiefling burst into a dash towards Belli’s location.

Mournimar is ordered to attack Luctan. And he does so, chasing after him, unsheathing the swords from his hips and attacking. All the while this big lump of wax follows along as the floor seems to start to swallow him.

Luctan gets attacked and the seering pain feels like fire. Looking at the wound inflicted by the possessed Mournimar, he realizes he’s made of wax. Out of anxiety and rage and frustration and pain, he goes on to react with a Hellish Punishment at his attacker and melts Mournimar?!

(BEGONE, TIEF!)

Malak makes an attack, casting Litch Slap on the monstrous child. He hadn’t prepared any combat spells, but at the very least he had this.

Chunks fly and hit Amelia and Nel and reveal wax underneath.

Nel bounces. Not recognizing anyone, she has no reason to be here.

The thing goes after Malak.

Amelia bounces as well.

She takes two steps, before a hand reaches out from the ground and grabs her, squeezing and burning.

With a strength, unmatched and one powerful crushing motion, Amelia’s head pops off. And she poofs out of existence.

Malak attacks with his axe and that has no effect. As Nel runs, tendrils are grabbing at her feet. “Nope-nope-nope-nope-nope.”

One successful tendril grabs and pulls her down.

Nel feels herself being pulled down into the wax and it pours down into the ground. She suffocates and no longer is within this realm of existence.

The tendrils go after Luctan, shifting into vicious spikes, but melt behind him, due to him perpetually casting Prestidigitation, applying sparks in the viscinity aorund him.

.He carries on like this, until the sensation of emptyness under him catches his attention.

And he starts falling.

And falling.

And. While still dressed in the Fangface costume, he tries to concentrate on hsi wings. Figuring he could create them at this point, he does so. Wax versions of his wings shape from his shoulderblades. And for a short moment, he manages to fly up.

Until the wings break apart.

And he starts falling yet again.

As spikes portrude from around him and impale him, taking him out as well.

And then there’s Malak.

“ I’m the last survivor, you guys.”

The kid begins to clap with a wicked smile and congratulates him.

Then we all open our eyes. Peppery Pete stands over us as we wake up.

Basically. What it comes down to, as we catch our bearings and get up, is that Pete explains Belli hired Pete to drug us with some strange drug.

It was whack.

The party are not amused. Nel is confused.

They just stand there. Being menacing.

Malak takes a knee and rests a hand on Pete’s shoulder.

“Look, mistakes happen.”

“ But if you ever do this to us or anyone again, I will personally sever your soul from your body.”

Pete is. To say the least. Terrified from the death glare.

And Amelia basically realizes that Pete is bullshitting them and Belli had nothing to do with this. It was meant to be a team building exercise.

“Yeah, but why am I here, though?!” - Nel’s still confused.

FIN!

Previous episode / Next episode

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disorderedinorder · 2 years

Text

My name is G. I am 23. And I have had disordered eating since middle school. My eating disorder stems from elementary school bullying. And a mother who also had insecurities, exposing me to her own body criticisms.

I have always been the "big girl" in all my friend groups. Hell, I've always been the "big girl" in all my classes. I would look around, see people who were bigger, but never someone close to my size. I always noticed that. And it hurt every time because since I focused on it, everyone else must be, right?

And then come my teen years, although I had a healthy perception of love from my parents (or so I thought), I searched for love in all the wrong places. It was mostly online, because no one in my area was interested in me, and anyone who was had motives other than love in mind.

The internet greatly impacted my sense of self, my confidence, and my place in the world. And it wasn't long before I began self harming and used food as a coping mechanism to a bigger degree than in the past.

Throughout my life I've watched my parents try different diets, exercises to get their weight off. And it was never successful for long due to lifelong habits that are so hard to break. And although I don't think they meant any harm, they did put me on the diets as well from a young age. Atkins, Whole 30, etc. It made me think too much about what I was eating, often are me want the bad foods even more.

This cycle happened for years. And I started calorie counting at 14. Never successfully long term. As I got older, my weight just got higher and higher. Never seeming like it was going to get better.

And then I met S. And during our first summer of living together, we successfully lost roughly 50 pounds each. But, then we moved into an environment that wasn't so healthy. And we gained all that weight back and much more.

It didn't help that I also started working at a candy store and he at a pizza joint, giving us access to too much processed and sugary foods.

We left those jobs, which helped. But, we just happened to leave them because of the pandemic. And we gained more weight because the only thing there was to do it seemed was eat. Eating kept us busy, it got us outside the house, and helped make us feel better.

One day I got on the scale. And it read 385. Too close to 400. Far too close. I panicked. I hated myself. That day S and I decided to make changes. We began to exercise a bit, started to religiously calorie count, and we both lost 60 pounds in a year. And we've kept those 60 pounds off for a few months.

Although I reached this great milestone, and am still losing weight slowly, I've noticed my eating is becoming disordered again. Too many calories. Too many processed and fast foods. And as I struggled to keep the calories under control, I felt my mind becoming engrossed with it at all times of the day. I had a goal of losing 60 more pounds in a year. And yet I couldn't stop eating and focusing on food.

I felt like I was breaking. Like it would never get better. My life would always be calories and struggling and focusing on food.

But S sat me down and told me to stop counting. Stop worrying. And focus on my mental health. If my brain wasn't okay, how could I ensure my body was? So, the calorie apps are gone. Instead, I am focusing on habit changes. Eating more fruits and vegetables, eating more meals at home than out, exercise more. Focus on my cravings and triggers. Learn to control my brain. Because that's the only way I'll be able to control my body.

And so today, April 22nd, 2022 is the first day of this new chapter in my life. And this blog is dedicated to chronicling it. The good, the bad. The struggles, the achievements.

Wish me luck.

#eating disoder recovery #eating disorder #healthy eating #ED #self harm #mental health #my writing #journal #self growth #self healing #self worth #self esteem #be kind to yourself

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misskarizzaapril · 4 years

Text

Integrality

Today is 02/02/2021 and I just got back in the office after a half month of isolation.

Last January 12, around 8 pm my mom was brought to the hospital in Cabanatuan City due to continuous vomiting and a terrible headache. I just got home around that time when my sister messaged me about what happened. My sister, who is a doctor, told me that we need to go to Cabanatuan City to take care of my mom because it was an emergency, and no one must take care of her in the hospital. She is already a senior citizen. So around 9 pm, we went there together with my fiancé. We got there around 1 am and my sister took care of her all night in the hospital. On the other hand, me and my fiancé went straight to the apartment in Cabanatuan City where my brother is currently staying with my mom. My brother has a seizure disorder, and he is considered a PWD, that is why he also needs to be monitored from time to time. We slept together with my brother in an air-conditioned room that night. The morning after, we still do not know what the diagnosis of my mom was, so we waited for the CT Scan results. When we saw the CT Scan, my sister and the doctor in the hospital advised us to transfer my mom to St. Luke’s Quezon City, which has an acute stroke unit, because they saw something in my mom’s head, a small hemorrhage, so we panicked because it might indicate an aneurysm. On that same day, my mom was brought by an ambulance to St. Luke’s, Quezon City. She was in the ambulance together with my sister. Since no one will take care of my brother, I decided to bring him with me to Paranaque where I was staying together with my uncle. My uncle is also a senior citizen with heart illness. My uncle is so kind for letting my brother stay in the house until my mother recovers from the hospital. During the night of January 13, around 10 pm, while we were waiting for my mother to be admitted in the hospital, my mom got tested for COVID-19, since it is the protocol of the hospital to get tested first before admitting, the news came that my mother got positive for COVID 19. Everyone was shocked, even the ambulance driver and the nurse from Cabanatuan City, because in the province she was never symptomatic, like she does not have fever, colds even cough. Everyone that she contacted for the last 48 hours needs to be quarantined for 14 days and to be monitored within that period if ever they will be symptomatic. We do not know what to do during those times, it all happened so fast, like everyone from our family got emotional. Until I realized that my brother who is living with my mom in the province, who I brought to my uncle’s house can also be positive. In the morning of January 14, my brother and I went to Makati Medical Center to take the swab test and we isolated ourselves in one room because we have no choice for the whole day. During the night of January 14, around 8 pm, we got the results. I got a negative result, and my brother got a positive result from COVID-19. I discussed the plans to my uncle on how we are going to do the isolation in his house however unfortunately he wants us out of the house immediately. Well, it is what it is. All I did was, to cry all night because I am tired of what was happening, and I do not know what to do since we have nowhere to go. I don’t want my mom to be stressed about the situation, so I sucked it all in at that point in time. I asked my friends if they knew an Airbnb where we can stay but as they said, it is hard to find an Airbnb now since my brother has COVID-19. It was 1 am already and I decided to message my mom because I really don’t know what to do next. Good thing my mom was very strong, and she decided that we can go back in Cabanatuan City and do the quarantine there. She said that many people will help us there in case of food supply, thus 6 am of January 15, I drove and head back to Cabanatuan City with my brother. When we came in the apartment, my brother started the isolation in one room. Me, on the other hand, listed all the plans and all the things we need, such as groceries, to be able to survive the quarantine. My mom is a Department Head in a Local Government Unit in Cabanatuan City, thus all her staffs helped us about the things that we need. They provided me PPE, food, and medicines. It was so touching. I appreciated them a lot since they were not scared of us, and even dedicated their time to helped us during those times. During the 14- day quarantine period, all I had to do is to feed my brother, do the laundry and clean the house. I was also doing work from home arrangement during that time and honestly, it was hard for me to do everything. I learned how to cook, how to clean my brother’s arinola so we could limit his actions when going out of the room (ex. taking a bath). From time to time, we do video call so that we’ll know what is happening to him inside the room. And good thing he was doing okay except that he has cough and colds. Those were the only symptoms he had. My mom on the other hand was released from the St Luke’s last January 17 and continued her isolation in a hotel in Cabanatuan City. God is good since my mom recovered fast. After the quarantine period, all of us three got tested thru rapid test. Apparently, my mom and I got negative result however my brother was still positive. Since my mom got the negative result, she decided to go back in the house to help me take care of my brother. However, I am hesitant because she still might carry the virus since the test was not a swab test. The house has only two rooms, so my mom decided just to sleep in the sofa until I leave for work in Manila. Moving forward, I got swabbed last January 29 and got a negative result, so I came back to Manila, February 1. We are still waiting for the next rapid test of my brother and hopefully he will be alright then and we are fully recovered with this COVID situation.

So why did I tell the whole story? Based on my readings, Integral Human Development promotes the good of every person and the whole person. And with my experience, I have seen the goodness of each person who helped us with open arms during those times. And I think that is integrality, in order to be complete you need to do something for other people especially loved ones. I took the risk to take care of them without thinking that I might infected too, but due to God’s will, He did not let me have it. Also, due to the circumstances, we became an integral person. For those persons who shut down on us, we did not take it against them because we believe they are just protecting their selves and have deeper reasons behind it. I just leave it to God.

Also, as Pope Francis, 2017 said, IHD means “integrating individuality and community dimensions. The self and the community are not in competition with each other, but the self can mature only in the presence of authentic relationships, and the community is generative when its members are, together and individually. This is even more applicable to the family, which is the first cell of society and where we learn to live together”. I really agree on that and I believe through my experience, we together with my brother and mother, have been integrated to the community and without them we will not succeed in this COVID journey.

This pandemic has been very hard especially for those who got infected as well as for those who are not. By praying hard and trusting God, we should not lose hope. Keep the faith strong and everything will be ok in God’s time. Just wait and see God’s magic. We can survive this!

Reference:

Pope Francis. (2017, April 4), Pope Francis: What is Integral Human Development? Catholicecology.

https://catholicecology.net/blog/pope-francis-what-integral-human-development

#ihd

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sociologistthoughts · 4 years

Text

On crazy things I dreamt today.

I was home with my real family and the world was unknown. There were rumors going around about an apocalypse coming. There was no evidence of this. No news. No infections of any kind. Put people were panicking and preparing.

However, they weren't panic buying toilet paper, bread, flour, or even milk. They were panic building. Reinforcing their homes, building tall fences. In one case a stadium (ill get to it.) So one day my family collectively decides to pack, just in case we need to make a run for it. As I'm doing so, everything feels too real but fake enough that I start to realize I must be dreaming.

The next scene is, people I have meet at some point in my life and my family are in a metal container with an opening that is semi blocked off by cinder blocks and out side of this is a chain fence. The semi opening is tall enough to conceal whats inside and tall enough to easily climb over, to get out, or to get in. (No other exit or entry points, huge red flag) This metal container is close to the stadium that was just built. There were some people outside watching it, and I remember climbing out of the metal container and looking at the stadium. People starting reciting the American national anthem. I said this is ridiculous, this is not an American issue this is a world issue, we don't know what's going on and there's a panic. As I walk back to the container some people outside heard me and start to complain that it is a national crises and should respect the anthem. I then suddenly start to hear screaming. And let me clarify not screaming in terror, more like a battle cry that everyone in that stadium was doing. You know like in movies when one kingdom's army stands on one side then another kingdom'sarmy stands on the other then they start to raise their swords or bows and arrows and one guy screens attack or something and they do this battle cry. Yeah like that ... and then there's thumping. As if a stack of flour was repeatedly being thrown on the ground.. These people were jumping off the stadium.

They were so afraid of the unknown they didn't want to see it through.

AND then in true post 2020 fashion I thought, well if a pandemic didn't kill as many people as scientists thought (debatable), this panic certainly will.

Then I woke up.

I should probably start a Tumblr dedicated to my horrific dreams. They're freaking me out.

#sociologist thought #sociologist thoughts #sociologist has crazy dreams #crazy dreams #wtf dreams #dreams #dream #on today I dreamt #anybody else having crazy dreams lately #apocalypse #apocalyptic dream

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riichardwilson · 4 years

Text

How would an SEO agency be built today? Part 1: Consumers and trends

The pandemic put everything to a halt. Then, it forced people and businesses alike in the beginner’s mind. The Zen concept hints at a seeming paradox: as you know more and more about a subject, you tend to dismiss other possibilities.

What follows is a quest of shaping choices for the near future in a three-part piece that highlights a core question — How would you build an SEO Company agency in 2020?

We’ll explore the complexity of the topic, mapping key touchpoints that create the agency landscape, from assessing current trends on consumer behaviour, to how key partners of an SEO Company agency have changed:

Consumer and business trends that are emerging and transforming the way people interact. (part one)

The current SEO Company agency business model and its in-depth analysis. (part two)

The possibilities ingrained in thinking about what a reshaped SEO Company agency of 2020 and beyond looks like. (part three)

We’ve designed this series as a business exercise for SEO Company agency leaders and their current struggles because we’re committed to supporting agencies push through uncertainty.

You can use the learnings, tools, and insights that follow, together with your team, and optimize your strategy in the actual context. From Gartner’s Hype Cycle and Business Model Canvas, to an interactive section that lets you build a new type of SEO Company agency from the ground up, you’ll go through various frameworks, some more familiar than others.

Let’s begin!

How customers look in the current context

Since March 2020, we continued to see consumer behaviour changes, new online practices, and a global outlook that is still concerning. With anxiety factors about health and finances fueling uncertainty and high unemployment rates sweeping the world, we need to keep a close eye on the way people shop, live and consume now.

Tracking demand and looking at year over year search trends, with Google Ads data as source, remains an accurate way to understand what changed for good, and what is just a fleeting trend depending on the short-term pandemic impact.

After all, if we put the consumer psychology lens in place, we mustn’t forget that people are more prone to evaluate essential and non-essential goods and services for daily use right now, showing more risk-aversion than usual.

Worry drives demand, as financial issues are far from being resolved. Look at top searches in the US as of July 2020:

Following this thread, pragmatism is the driving force, as many consumers will not get back to “normal” anytime soon — a study by the Cambridge Group even coins new profiles whose core is based on immediate COVID-19 response such as Panicked Millennials (focused on household finances) or Pragmatists (focused on reducing non-essential spending).

Yet, a look at search data shows the insights in-between: more discretionary or non-essential goods are starting to bounce back in segments such as “athleisure” clothing or home entertainment, although the industries remain affected.

Even the way people look at entertainment keeps shifting, choosing to spend leisure time close to home or in a safe manner:

On the other hand, because some people still work or spend most of their time in their houses, together with family and close friends, the home improvement segment continues to grow:

While commute and travel budgets have been put on halt for most information workers, remote work seems to be here to stay. It’s what constant demand for building a home office points towards, anyway:

And a constant, rising demand for car rentals and safe, private mobility in general:

Consumer intent reveals an acceleration of shifting channel preferences with a focus on online operations, although macro studies show anxiety levels regarding brick and mortar easing a bit. For instance, the Deloitte State of the Consumer Tracker confirms an increasing tendency in trust levels to shop in stores (49%), go to restaurants (32%) or stay in a hotel (34%) at a global level. Of course, the numbers remain low.

That’s why a prolific avenue is to challenge the macro-level studies with search data — it’s where the relevant insights dwell, helping you discern between lasting trends, spurs of the moment, and important shifts in consumer interest that influence business operations as well.

What trends are emerging that might impact SEO agencies?

Having looked at the state of consumers today, which can prove a certain degree of familiarity for your SEO Company team, it’s important to take this next step — look at the state of businesses and how consumer shifts generate new trends that impact the whole chain.

To pick the most relevant ones for an SEO Company agency, we’ll employ a different lens: Gartner’s Hype Cycle. In short, the framework proposed by Gartner enables you to critically assess the promise of emerging technology through these phases:

Innovation trigger: although there’s no commercial viability yet, there’s a lot of interest in the potential of a new technology. Take AI for example, everybody’s talking about it.

Peak of inflated expectations: More publicity and a few success stories, but mostly struggles and failure. The promise of AI to change the world as we know it, right?

Trough of Disillusionment: Interest decreases and investors drop, as the technology fails to deliver the initial promise. Only a few developers insist.

Slope of Enlightenment: Second- and third-generation products appear as the technology begins to stabilize and show other use cases that prove to be viable. Machine learning and deep learning have strong usability segments, far from the initial scifi scenarios.

Plateau of Productivity: The technology is applied across sectors and markets, and assessment criteria for viability are clearer now. Machine learning adoption rates continue to steadily grow.

What emerging trends can impact the current agency landscape, beyond the trough of disillusionment?

Remote working as a viable company set-up

Even before the pandemic hit, the rise of remote working was visible. If the trend seemed to be somewhere between experimenting and a productive framework, with its acceleration due to COVID-19, remote work is becoming a big part of the new normal.

Recently, we’ve seen geographical constraints move to timezone ones, especially for synchronous companies that do most of the work together. The challenge remains to innovate both at the level of technology and business processes to transform workflows, while also maintaining a strong organizational culture. In addition, that means a different way of doing recruitment, supporting career growth, or enabling social connections in a team. That’s what Remote: office not required explores, presenting how Basecamp designed a remote-first company with all the advantages and struggles.

It’s clear that the trend is here to stay, reshaping such things as telecommuting, client relationships or individual and team productivity.

No-code is filling the gaps of “Software as a process”

Software companies, in their bid to acquire more users, have started developing highly personalized solutions, influencing a business process from start to finish. That’s why, we’re seeing a shift in thinking about software — not just a tool, but a string of actions that dictate a certain business framework and a specific market segment. For instance, tools like Zapier or Integromat allow for a high level of business flow customization, while Jupiter is a CRM dedicated to the beauty industry.

If we consider this business need for fast implementation and high customization, one particular trend stands out. No-code, a movement where people without programming expertise build websites and flows, like connecting two systems, using drag and drop interfaces, is growing past the early days of inflated expectations.

Transforming the traditional software development flow from “business specifications” to “software implementation”, no-code essentially implies less time and money spent on coding, and more resources for optimizing business processes (marketing agency, sales etc.) and discovery.

Think about helping, let’s say, an AC installation supplier set up a customer management system personalized with an automation solution for qualifying leads and scheduling visits, without human intervention at every step. Or building a custom feature on top of Hubspot, to satisfy your agency specialized flows. And with no focus on the technical resources, but the process design.

Businesses (SMBs and Fortune 500) are willing to experiment more in the digital environment

Talking about discovery and experimentation, the pandemic forced both small businesses and large corporate companies to look for alternatives, as digital became a primary channel for the whole funnel. If a marketing agency or sales backlog was available, the pandemic months were the time to review it.

It’s no wonder that the search for “Shopify” exploded since April-May, as more businesses needed to sell online:

Digital-first frameworks have accelerated, or as a McKinsey report puts it, “we have vaulted five years forward in consumer and business digital adoption in a matter of around eight weeks”. This creates a window of opportunity for creativity and innovation, as more and more business processes move in digital environmens: from optimizing digital infrastructure to pivoting client management and communications, rehashing customer journeys, and even identifying new segments, niches or markets that are no longer out of reach.

That also means a plethora of data needs and a way for SEO Company agencies to leverage their know-how.

Search and discovery fragmentation

In the US, more than half of the consumers start their buying journey on Amazon, instead of Google Search, statistics that you’re probably familiar with. Google is also aware of this trend, which makes them continue to develop vertical aggregators like Jobs or News. And that is only one part of the search equation that goes beyond a “box and the 10 blue links”, being now more dependent on behaviours than anything else.

With the fast digitization of businesses after COVID, the trend of search and discovery fragmentation is accelerating at a higher rate, challenging businesses to respond to these channel shifts while thinking more about touchpoints and a buyer quest than a seamless, singular journey. Can this be the birth of a new innovation trigger?

Business networking is not what it used to be

The pandemic drastically impacted business networking, as events are not possible in person, a trend that will probably last longer than expected. The first wave of responses was to move to online events, virtual summits and a variety of webinars, but there’s also the question of informal talks and sales meetings that need to be rethought in order to maintain the quality of interaction.

As with remote work, the geographical boundaries are not a concern anymore for finding vendors or connecting with peers, which leaves a lot of room for creativity in designing new networking processes. What will the pitch look like in another few months? Or the sales meeting? Or the agency community meetup? Probably another innovation trigger is shaping here.

Summary

From a critical assessment of consumer macro-trends against search data, to the way business trends have accelerated in the current context, we’re starting to paint a picture of the new agency landscape. Which are here for good and which are just a trigger in the Hype Cycle? That’s an open question for you and us both.

Here’s a summary of what we’ve seen so far in terms of Consumers and Trends:

How customers look now:

Unemployment rates and health concerns remain high, causing anxiety and making people reassess what is essential and what is non-essential for daily living.

Many consumers will not “get back to normal” as pragmatism is still the driving force for buying something new. Yet, some discretionary or non-essential goods are starting to bounce back, as caution levels waver.

New consumer profiles are emerging, as they also shift channels of consumption. Online-first pragmatists and panicked millennials are concerned with health and finances, while there is a shy recovery of “brick and mortar” consumption.

Entertainment continues to grow in the home-related areas or in the safe outdoors.

What trends are emerging that might impact SEO Company agencies?

Remote working is a viable company set-up that challenges business operations and organizational cultures.

No-code is filling the gaps of “Software as a process”, enabling businesses to explore tech solutions fast, with lower costs, while optimizing their processes.

Businesses (SMBs and Fortune 500) are willing to experiment more in the digital environment, as consumers dictate new sales and marketing agency funnels.

Search and discovery fragmentation continues to accelerate, posing the challenge for businesses to rethink buyer journeys.

Networking is not about events anymore and can be the next big innovation ground.

We’ll continue this series, based on researching our SEO Company agencies community with a thorough analysis of their business models now and what the shifts in 2020 can inspire for reshaping the next-level agency. You can sign up here and be the first to receive the following articles in the series, once they’re live.

At SEOmonitor, we’re committed to helping SEO Company agencies navigate uncertainty, so we adapt our solutions to the current context. Search Trends, the Client Health Tracker or the Reporting board are just a part of our specialized tools and resources.

We’ll get through this together!

Discover an SEO Company platform designed just for SEO Company agencies:

Learn about our solutions

About The Author

SEO Companymonitor’s mission is to help digital marketers overcome the challenges by developing innovative technologies that can make the most out of the available data and deliver insightful and reliable reports. SEO Companymonitor is committed to empowering those who want to move the SEO Company industry forward. Acquire, manage and retain more customers for your SEO Company agency with daily rank tracking, SEO Company forecasting and a unique solution for (not provided).

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/how-would-an-seo-agency-be-built-today-part-1-consumers-and-trends/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/628412705957691392

0 notes

scpie · 4 years

Text

How would an SEO agency be built today? Part 1: Consumers and trends

What follows is a quest of shaping choices for the near future in a three-part piece that highlights a core question — How would you build an SEO Company agency in 2020?

Consumer and business trends that are emerging and transforming the way people interact. (part one)

The current SEO Company agency business model and its in-depth analysis. (part two)

The possibilities ingrained in thinking about what a reshaped SEO Company agency of 2020 and beyond looks like. (part three)

We’ve designed this series as a business exercise for SEO Company agency leaders and their current struggles because we’re committed to supporting agencies push through uncertainty.

Let’s begin!

How customers look in the current context

Worry drives demand, as financial issues are far from being resolved. Look at top searches in the US as of July 2020:

Even the way people look at entertainment keeps shifting, choosing to spend leisure time close to home or in a safe manner:

On the other hand, because some people still work or spend most of their time in their houses, together with family and close friends, the home improvement segment continues to grow:

And a constant, rising demand for car rentals and safe, private mobility in general:

What trends are emerging that might impact SEO agencies?

Innovation trigger: although there’s no commercial viability yet, there’s a lot of interest in the potential of a new technology. Take AI for example, everybody’s talking about it.

Peak of inflated expectations: More publicity and a few success stories, but mostly struggles and failure. The promise of AI to change the world as we know it, right?

Trough of Disillusionment: Interest decreases and investors drop, as the technology fails to deliver the initial promise. Only a few developers insist.

Plateau of Productivity: The technology is applied across sectors and markets, and assessment criteria for viability are clearer now. Machine learning adoption rates continue to steadily grow.

What emerging trends can impact the current agency landscape, beyond the trough of disillusionment?

Remote working as a viable company set-up

It’s clear that the trend is here to stay, reshaping such things as telecommuting, client relationships or individual and team productivity.

No-code is filling the gaps of “Software as a process”

Businesses (SMBs and Fortune 500) are willing to experiment more in the digital environment

It’s no wonder that the search for “Shopify” exploded since April-May, as more businesses needed to sell online: