#and not when he stepped back from po. however. i do still interpret that as. yes he had real interest

[blatantprinterpropaganda]

so far in the world of thamepo we've seen over and over that silently sacrificing your own happiness for the good of someone you love is ultimately never the way to go (thame tried it for the sake of the other mars members, jun for thame, and inevitably all the sacrifices po made for his ex who then promptly dumped him also feature in there), so my god, i hope that this well-intentioned lie of gam's comes to light at some point asap and she and pepper still get their happy end

[luckydragon10]

KinnPorsche Ep12 Lines of Power

I'm here to call out lines of power, staging, and framing in KinnPorsche episode 12. Whew, Tumblr's 10-image limit is killing me. Had to do a lot of image combining this time to skirt it.

Bonus: It doesn't quiiiite fit in lines of power, but yesterday I called out a particular Comedy & Tragedy VP screencap for Reasons.

More LoP posts: [Trailer] … [Ep08] [Ep09 Part 1] [Ep09 Part 2] [Ep10] [Ep11] [Ep13]

Porsche is pissed and drawing some boundaries, and this scene uses a line of power (the window pane) to help him with that.

These two shots establish that the line is firmly in place from multiple camera angles.

It's not quiiiite perfectly in place throughout the whole scene, but it's damn close, as close as it's going to get without actually gluing the actors' feet to the floor.

Usually with dividing lines, I've been seeing people staying on their respective sides. Here, Kinn says "nope, do not like" and crosses over. He's not the same as he used to be. Remember back in the "all our people are the same to me" scene in Episode 4 with all those dividers between them? Yeah, Kinn has grown a lot since then.

Kinn: Line of power who? I don't know 'em.

Then there's this wide shot of Kinn trying to reach out physically, and Porsche snaps backwards, keeping the boundary firmly in place.

Fortunately, Kinn respects that boundary and realizes "I'm sorry" won't cut it, and he offers to help find actual answers (WHAT?) to tear down that line of power keeping him from his Porsche.

That gets Kinn through to Porsche, and he holds onto his man, who is still reluctant to give in entirely. The hug scene is framed with soft, blurred beige lines in the foreground. I'm not sure I want to read too much into the foreground frame except that it softens the hard edges, as Kinn is trying to do with Porsche's anger.

I feel this scene was a huge step forward for them, and I'm delighted with the way the line of power helped tell the story.

WOW. Wow, okay. Most often when Papa Korn shows up, he seems small and inconspicuous, often sitting, sometimes even stooped over with very sluggish, lazy posture.

Here he's standing straight and tall, looking very powerful. As with Tankhun in the previous episode, the shot here is designed to make him look LARGE and IMPOSING. The camera angle is looking up at him from below, but more importantly, the two pillars behind him are framing him and increasing his width, effectively doubling his size.

Papa Korn is on the move, playing his war.

This shot has a premium horizontal line: the division between grass and darkness. There aren't a lot of strong horizontals to be had, so I nabbed it.

Vegas looks like a marionette with his strings cut. His head and heart are above in the dark space, while his lost hedgehog is down in the lighter space with lush greenery. There's a strong sense of dissociation going on between the darkness above and light below, at least for me, but I think there's a lot of room for alternative interpretation.

The trees become a lovely frame around Vegas and Pete. I also love that the white flower is so clearly visible at Vegas's feet.

Both of the two scenes above use natural setting, clear light, and green plants, creating a noteworthy contrast to the bondage bedroom with its chains, colorful neon lights, and general clutter.

Speaking of which...

There's a lot going on with the chains in the room, so much that it becomes a bit difficult to read too much into them. However, the first shot above has a veeerrry clear divider between Vegas and Pete. It's problematic as a a line of power in the actual scene, though, because it comes and goes with the different camera angles as they talk in that moment.

A short time later, there are a few moments where the chains disappear completely, as captured in the second shot. The chains are still there, but they're currently hidden behind the characters, almost like the chains have been asorbed.

For most of the scene where Tay and Porsche chat, Tay is firmly positioned in the left half of the screen. He gets an almost entirely clear and white/beige background (highly uncommon) except for one black vertical line.

After Porsche brings up Time and Tay says "it's not like that," his problems come firmly to mind. That's when he sits back, smiles his small and painful smile, and the black line of power goes right through his head.

Tay is a very bright, kind, supporter-type character, hence the pale background. But he has his own troubles, too.

(I will now be adopting Tay.)

Mirrors. Always mirrors.

In the first shot, Porsche is blurred and very distorted. His emotions are all out of whack. He's full of rage and conflict, ready to lash out at the person he thinks has caused the biggest loss of his life.

Kinn's face is clear and focused. He has one goal in this scene, and that's to support Porsche through whatever happens.

In the second shot, after Porsche has let go of the rage and killing instinct, he comes into focus as he holds tight to his biggest simp supporter.

Kinn...you had ONE goal. (And you succeeded!)

There are Lines of Power, and then there's Chay and his LINE OF MOTHERFUCKING CHAOS POWER. This practically needs a post all to itself. Buckle up.

Chay's a mess, and for good reason. His erratic pink line of power reflects that mess. So much more than simple heartbreak has brought on his overdue rebellious phase. He's gone through numerous abandonments and was left essentially on his own without support, he's been kidnapped from his own home and injured, and he's had to face lies from numerous people he thought he could trust. Then throw in teenage heartbreak on top for flavor.

Plot has been happening TO Chay for a long time. But he's fighting back at last.

In this episode, he takes a firm hold of his agency. He decides to explore who he is outside of being "little brother" and "having a crush."

Chay is righteously (and rightly) pissed that Kim has taken away that agency by interrupting the party, and he promptly reclaims that agency by telling Kim off. His anger (all those spikey lines) is justified, in my opinion.

This fight was so fantastic, exactly what this pair needed... Chay standing up for himself and Kim revealing the real face of his Mafia Heir side (ref: @laughsalot3412's post talks about Kim's 3 sides). Kim's dark side is clearly demonstrated in this shot where he just about melts into the dark background.

Yet I'm obsessed with the way Chay's pink line still ends up pointing at Kim, hinting at lingering feelings.

(Need more Kim meta to flesh this out? I hiiiiiighly, so highly, recommend @shortpplfedup's post on Kim.)

///

More LoP posts: [Trailer] … [Ep08] [Ep09 Part 1] [Ep09 Part 2] [Ep10] [Ep11] [Ep13]

For more great meta from folks across the KP Tumblr fandom, please visit the Damn Good KinnPorsche Meta doc.

[yourlocalenglishmajor]

Commonplace Book

Hello everyone! This is my first post on this blog, and it is going to be a project for my college English course! Feel free to read through it if you’re interested; if not, that’s okay, this is really just for my professor ^^

.

Piece 1: “Big Guns, Small Dicks”

Unfortunately, this piece does not have a specific author or creator; I found it on State Street in Madison last summer. It is an anonymous piece of graffiti that speaks to the movement it was created during. For those who may be less familiar with Madison, Wisconsin, it is considered a very liberal and even leftist city, especially with how frequent and powerful the Black Lives Matter protests were. This was created during those protests, as well as hundreds of other works all along historic State Street. As ACAB - All Cops Are Bastards - protests went hand in hand (usually) with BLM protests, the phrase “Big guns, small dicks” is a jibe at the police and its racist foundations and use of excessive force.

It best relates to class through the conversations about race and equity we’ve had. Our readings have been centered around a diverse cast of authors instead of the one viewpoint of the cisgender, heterosexual white man, which is something the BLM movement also aimed to achieve. In addition, although it has not been a focal topic yet, we have talked about police brutality and how it impacts POC most; another key point of the BLM movement. Lastly, we talked about what mythic America, or the American Dream, really is, and why it is never realized for so many people. The Black Lives Matter movement is all about how the American Dream is something almost no one can truly achieve, and how it leads to othering and a sense of disillusionment with the effectiveness of our society.

Piece 2: Vonnegut’s Slapstick

For my second piece, I chose to utilize a work of a famous satire writer to draw comparisons to our coursework. As for the image, I took a picture of the copy I own and edited it. Kurt Vonnegut’s Slapstick centers around two twins who are geniuses together, but entirely stupid on their own; they are neglected by their parents, who are a family of renown and ashamed of having deformed children. Their parents look at them as if they are to be pitied for the very nature of their existence. They use this to sneak around and live lives of luxury, continuing this ruse of being entirely stupid so that they may live as freely as possible in their circumstances. 

In this work, the children are quite literally tossed in a house and locked away to prevent others from seeing them; this is something I personally connect to the concept of silencing, which happened frequently during the BLM movement. Protesters, peaceful or not, were arrested; protests were escalated by cops far more often than by protesters, but that was generally ignored and used as a way to disregard the protests as nothing more than “riots”; large platforms such as Twitter and Instagram incorrectly labelled some posts as “misinformation”. Voices were silenced all over the internet. In addition, some white allies were not using their platforms to actually help/spread information, but were using them to spew white guilt and accomplish very little. As L. Ayu Saraswati says in her textbook Introduction to Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Interdisciplinary and Intersectional Approaches, “Guilt as a response to...racism...does very little to contribute to efforts toward social change as it recenters whiteness” (page 15), basically saying yes, these folks are speaking their mind and are at least partially aware of their privilege, but their feelings of guilt without taking action are not actually doing anything to help what they feel guilty for.

Piece 3: The Hymn to Demeter

My last selection will be an ancient work known as the Hymn to Demeter, and the version I am using is translated by Gregory Nagy. I am using this statue of Demeter and Persephone as the visual accompaniment to this analysis. This piece was originally written to be performed orally by a poet/performer as praise to Demeter. It details the kidnapping of Persephone, Demeter’s daughter, and the subsequent founding of the Cult of Demeter in the city Eleusis. 

When Persephone is first kidnapped, it is said that “she cried with a piercing voice, / Calling upon her father, the son of Kronos, the highest and the best. / But not one of the immortal ones, or of human mortals, / heard her voice” (lines 20-23). To me, this draws clear parallels with the silencing of victims of police brutality and their families. Public outrage did nothing to bring accountability to Breonna Taylor’s killers or the flawed justice system that let them get away with it. The victim’s family was silenced and the movement to convict her killers has died down since it happened almost a year ago. 

Additionally, it is later revealed to Demeter through Rhea that this kidnapping was not only endorsed by but planned by Zeus himself. As Greek households were patriarchal, it was not uncommon for a father to arrange a relationship/marriage without informing the daughter or allowing the daughter to meet her betrothed first. This endorsed act of violence can also be paralleled to the actions of the police; their brutality is actively supported by a flawed, racist justice system, just as the actions of Hades were actively supported by the all-powerful Zeus. What’s more, nobody stood up to Zeus or questioned his actions because of all the power he has, which is another perfect example of how this parallel functions.

Lastly, Demeter’s pure rage and grief is reminiscent of the rage and grief of the black mothers who lost their children to police brutality. Last semester, I attended a Theater of War performance known as “Antigone in Ferguson”, and after the performance was over, there was a discussion led by a panel of educators and victims of police brutality. Several of them were mothers who told painful stories of how their children, usually sons, were murdered and how they are still trying to find a way to keep living. Their powerful grief is parallel to Demeter’s; the only difference is that Demeter gets her child back.

A Meta-Commentary

My process in finding these works and deciding which would draw the best parallels was to find a bunch of subjects I thought would work well and then cut down on them. I knew the “big guns, small dicks” would be included for sure, as it was an image I took myself and had good parallels to draw right off the bat. It’s a good way to catch someone’s attention! And the message is powerful. Seeing all the graffiti on State Street last summer was impactful, but this simple phrase stood out to me and was (I believe) the only picture I took out of all the graffiti down there. The Kurt Vonnegut work I included because I like the comparison between how the twins are treated in the book and how folks who were active and open about their opinions were silenced; also, I’d be lying if I failed to mention that part of the reason is because I adore Kurt Vonnegut and wanted to find a way to bring a work of his into this. My third choice, the Hymn to Demeter, was chosen because it’s a cool way to connect one of my other classes to this one. In addition, it’s a good piece to reinterpret as an allegory for how the justice system enables the wrong people and fails the right ones.

Also, although I did not choose many direct quotes, I think the parallels I drew between the content of these works is substantial! I put a lot of thought into how I worded things and what content actually related best to the works of this class, specifically the themes we’ve discovered so far in Claudia Rankine’s Citizen. The heaviness of the book relates well to the power behind each of these pieces, especially the first one, as the message is plain and simple but impactful. The prose and structure of Rankine’s work is incredibly unique and not directly paralleled in any of the pieces I chose; however, the Hymn to Demeter is written in a very specific structure that is almost poetry? It’s a very confusing structure, because it does not seem to have any meter or consistency, but is still patterned in a specific way. This may be a result of translation, it may have been intentionally created this way by the original writer (who is not known; the transcript of this hymn was found in a stable in Moscow in 1777), or it could be a byproduct of the format itself as a hymn. The repetition Rankine takes advantage of in Citizen is actually something Vonnegut is known for as well. Several of his works have anaphoric phrases; Slaughterhouse V has both “po-tee-weet” and “and so it goes”, and Slapstick has the comedic “hi-ho”, used as a way to break the tension of the work, as it is supposed to be satire. This repetition and the more casual grammar these authors both share give their works a heavy feeling (cut far more frequently in Vonnegut’s than in Rankine’s) that also works as a conversational element, making both of the works feel like the audience is also in the narrative itself.

Commonplacing is a valuable step in making powerful literature more accessible to people! Providing unique and interesting analysis of a work makes it much easier for people to casually consume! Additionally, using platforms like Tumblr for this analysis makes things even more accessible, as anyone can see it and Tumblr allows posts to be any length! Opening thoughtful literature and analysis to the public like this also allows for good, guided conversation on a variety of subjects, and creates interest for the works in their entirety. This can easily inspire people to pick up a copy of their own of any of these works if someone is interested enough in how these can be interpreted! (If any of you are interested in the Hymn to Demeter, I used the one found at this website , it’s free ^-^)

.

A big thank you to any of you who read this all the way through (including you, professor)! I’ll be doing more fun and less serious literary analysis on this account as well, so if that’s something you’re interested in, stay tuned!

[tata-is-the-name]

Chapter 6 (Winter’s Gem) (Bucky Barnes AU)

CHAPTER 5

Characters: Bucky Barnes x You (AU)

Summary: Bucky Barnes has been scouted by your boss in Felicity Night, you were just a mere young, cleaner in Felicity night and have been living in the basement of the club for all your life. He's the most wanted Gigolo in the city, and taking him away from eager, thirsty women seemed to be impossible especially if he chose to be a Gigolo as his way of living.

Warning: Profanities. Detailed making out. Inappropriate words. ONE THIRSTY PROTAGONIST IN THE HOUSE. You'll thank me later! *wink wink nudge nudge* 

Words: 3,500 words.

A/N: This chapter is long again! Hehehehe! REBLOG, LIKE AND COMMENT AS YOU READ! GO CRAZY!

Disclaimer: PNG's and pictures aren't mine. However, the whole series, one shots and edits are from moi.

Taglists: @damnbuckyishot @yn-the-reader @iwillmakeyoucraveme @willpoch12 @anxiousamandapanda​ 

As you began to walk away from your friend, and his patriotic best friend Steve Rogers. Bucky was patient enough to walk you towards the hall. His metal hand grasping tight on your waist with your heart fluttering every once in a while as you stared up at his breathtaking, side profile.

"You're undeniably beautifuuuuuul," You muttered prolonging the 'u' with a tiny pout included. Your eyes glimmering from the beauty who stood beside you. Bucky had no difficulty in carrying your drunk self up in his room, and you were entirely thanking your drunk self that you were intoxicated because this was the first time that you'll be sneaking in a peep to see Bucky's room.

That is if you're only having a peep.

Your compliment caught his attention, making him glance down at you who kept looking at him like how you stare down at your food, completely hypnotized. He smiled a precious one, staring at your lips. "Not as beautiful as you, Y/N."

"I plan to disappoint, Booki."

He scoffed, shaking his head. "Hop, hop baby." Bucky muttered, his fingers clasping tighter when your foot got caught on one of the stairs leading the way towards his private room. You could only giggle, arm tightening around Bucky's neck in which he didn't mind at all. He was already basically carrying you way up, and you've wanted nothing more than to roll your eyes at him and tell that he should've carried you bridal style instead.

He just made himself suffer.

You blew air on his ear, making him go. "What the hell? Y/N.." Sounding irritated by how you blew on his ear, though the stunned irritation instantly faded from the moment he saw you pouting, eyes seeming to be a little watery from the intoxication, and cheeks slightly blushing. "Please don't hurt me," He stopped his steps, dragging you from his halt. Immediately staring down at you, his breathtaking, Steele blue eyes memorizing each and every part of your face that he didn't want to forget.

He repeatedly prayed to the heavens for that. Every damn day.

"I was just trying to be sweet," You quickly responded, scared that he would hate you too just like how your mother does and basically how other people sees you. A complete utter eyesore. Pain began seering your heart once the memories came crushing down on you like a brick. Your mother. The only woman and family in your life who happens to do nothing but inject pain and frustration in your fucked up life. She was one of a kind. A horrible kind.

Bucky licked his lips that seemed to turn dry when he realized how you took his response, interpretting it very differently. Totally a miscommunication especially when you're drunk and emotional. "Everything's new to me, everything's brand new. I know I'm starting to not make sense but," You paused, swallowing the saliva choking up your throat. "I know I'm one crazy, hopeless, lonely bitch. I'm giving you a heads up and one final chance for you to run the hills because you're in a relationship with an ugly janitress,"

Bucky looked at you incredulously, your words coming at him like a missile. He couldn't believe how low your self-esteem were. Totally opposite to what he sees from his perspective. You were basically the medicine to his sickness. No pun intended. He licked his lips, his mind completely elsewhere, finding the right words on how to respond to your rant.

His powdery steel blue eyes was set on you, adoring that certain glint in your eyes that made him want to keep you on his side at all costs, and dang was he whipped without him knowing. "Doll, you're not a bitch," Bucky muttered, lifting a hand to brush his thumb on your cheekbone like a person touching roses, "and I definitely won't run the hills because I'm dating a one of a kind janitress," He emphasized, his thumb tenderly caressing your face that made you feel electricity coursing through your face.

You instinctively took his hand that was affectionately holding your cheek, and your heart skipped a beat when he leaned in to press a kiss on your slightly pimpled forehead. One of your insecurities besides the fact that you had a high hairline. "Now, let's erase those horrid thoughts of yours, alright Sugar?" Your amazing boyfriend whispered in your ear before tugging you with him as you padded through the stairs, continuing your journey.

"Buckyyyyy," you slurred, drowsily blinking as you were watching your own foot step up the last stair. The world was spinning around you, just like a kaleidoscope world but with Bucky in it and it wasn't entirely horrible. Your gorgeously insane boyfriend hummed a reply, waiting for your response as his hands tightened around your waist, dragging you off and turning another hallway to get to your destination.

"Ppo-Ppo?" your words entertained him. He heard that as 'po-po' and thought you were planning on calling security for practically kidnapping you and planning to let you sleep in his headquarters. Simply to say, his room. "What?" he snickered, lowly cackling from your drunken slurs.  "You seriously want to call the police on me, Doll?"

You shook your head hard in disagreement.

Bucky's brows were left in a curious twist that made him pucker his lips in thought, suddenly stopping in your tracks. "Then what, Doll? What do you want?" he cooed, the ends of his tone sounding so tender, so sweet that it could make ants bite you for being so lucky in having him. Despite of his occupation inside the club you were working on, Felicity night.

He had your chin in between his index finger and thumb, gently lifting your head till your droopy eyes met his pale-blue ones that could make your toes curl in enthusiasm. Bucky hummed another soft reply, patiently waiting for your next words. "Kiss me?" you boldly puckered your lips out, tightly closing your eyes as you waited for him to just give you the peck you wanted.

Barnes was left gobsmacked. Staring at your pouted lips angled before him. The more longer he gets to be with you, the more so you surprise him with your characteristics and personality. He couldn't help himself but giggle and chuckle, never hesitating to lean down and give you a loud peck as he puckered his lips back, brushing his dewy, Crimson lips with yours. A satisfying smooch sound leaving his lips once he broke the peck.

"Is that good now?" the latter bluntly asked with a smirk.

You nodded repeatedly, satisfied with the reserved kiss he had just given, giggling in the process of your drunken slurs. "For now, my prince. This frog hasn't turned into a princess yet. Your kiss sucked," emphasis ended on your words.

James couldn't help but raise a brow at that, his smile never ceasing to drop whenever you were in his arms. "You'll get more kisses back in my room," he rasped, the pitch in his voice dropping an octave lower. Sounding utterly sexy for your panties to take.

The loud music faltered and faded as you took the last turn towards his room. Illuminated hallway. Red carpeted floor and dove white painted walls. The floor seemed too familiar for you, thus having a glimpse of a huge double door sat beside Bucky's room distracted your drunken stupor.

It was the boss' room.

Hence, why does your Bucky get to have the same floor as hers? Unlike the others who had their rooms on the second and yours which was unluckily down on the basement, living with the rats and mythical ghosts.

She scrambled onto her feet, giving the big boss' room a double take to verify the images appearing before her if it was true. The gentle, constant pull of her hips from the bewitching metal-armed man who kept on tugging your annoying self towards the the room he unfortunately owned and was given by the person whom must not be named in Winter's point of view.

Straight-grained, reddish brown timber of three tropical hardwood species came into view, your eyes were dreary, pie-eyed prior to your inebriation and also maybe because of a certain gorgeous, handsome motherfucker who managed to keep your mind in a daze despite of how he was doing such simple actions that could get you beguiled.

Bucky inserted the key he had been fumbling around his grey sweatpants; an accustomed measure in which he has been used to back when he was in Maximum Risk. Keeping his sanctuary safe from people whom you cannot trust is just around the corner, especially when he had that particular kind of job where people had the feeling of revenge in the palm of their hands.

He was still aware of people, ever had been since he was a child.

Basically, his mother selling him to different kinds of people when he was an obedient juvenile couldn't tape the trust back together like it was nothing.

To James Buchanan Barnes, trusting people is the least of his worries because he never does. Until you and Steve came along.

He never trusted the hearts of his customers, now that people around him were actually Judas in disguise. His whole life was pure complications and utter betrayals, and when you came along, he could finally see a light deep down the ground he was deeply submerged in. Even just a tiny light that could give him a hope that his life will become better despite of his contingencies.

"How did I ever swayed you, Booki?" you slurred like drunkard, slowly fluttering your eyes close and hearing his bedroom door open. The undeniably well built man swiftly caught you in his arms again, carrying you off your feet as you entered a room which seemed to be too dark for your liking.

Or maybe the lights weren't just still on?

"Mr. Barnes, is this your new way of showing me your red room?" a low, raspy chuckle emerged from the latter's chest which got you whistling like a weak wolf. You felt the cold vinyl tiles brush the bottom of your feet, lately realizing that he had you trapped inside his bathroom when you decided that having your eyes opened was better than keeping them closed.

In which you should have chose to kept them closed as you were faced with a clean, half body mirror.

Expletive profanities came running out of your mouth as you've seen your intoxicated self on the mirror. The homely warmth that your man could give was nowhere to be found, and it was then and there you heard the running water coming from the faucet signaled you that he was doing something you couldn't decipher.

"Is this your new way of inviting me over with a shower session?" you've curiously queried with a naughty smile. It immediately fell because the reflection you were seeing was starting to disappoint you and it was disheartening you big time. Bucky had a fresh damp towel in his flesh hand, he gave you a once over and saw how your smile smell. His initial reaction was to quickly rise from how he squatted inside his shower, swatting his dark shower curtains away before shuffling to his feet.

He didn't want you dancing in your own nightmares. You needed to step away from it, you needed to avoid it so you wouldn't have to become like him.

"Hey doll," The latter softly whispered against your ear, hinting a small accent that could make your toes curl beneath you and so you did. He appeared behind you with a small touch of his fingers on the small of your back, suddenly making you shiver in your own mistake. "Didn't I tell you not to curse when I'm around?"

His dominating stance, and the way his raspy, velvet voice which exerts authority had your heart skipping a thirsty beat and especially down there too.

"But, sir...." An embarrassing purr rolled off the tips of your tongue. You were too intoxicated for your own good, and you'll probably curse the heavens as to why Stan makes the best Martinis in town. You couldn't deny his wonderful offer, especially when it was free and all. Plus, the old goober was smiling in front of you like a Cheshire cat, a plan set on the back of his head which was also sipping its own glass of Margarita.

The old geezer had wicked plans if you've managed to squint your eyes back at him a little longer.

"Jesus Christ," he sternly uttered with a sharp in take of his breath and before you know it, your man had you in his brawny arms, derriere pinned down on his bathroom sink with your legs hastily parting for the latter to slip in between them. The crisp, icy temperature of his metal fingers grasping your jaw, keeping your slanted lips where he wanted as he continued his libidinous ministrations with you. Bucky's flesh hand on your waist, feeling a cool, moist-like cloth perched on your side and it was the towel he was ought to clean your face with.

His voluptuous Crimson red lips that had been in a constant fight of being bitten attacked your unpleasant, chapped lips. A bolt from the blue kept your mind stupefied because as much as you remembered, you were just loathing your very own reflection, yet now you were locking lips with your unofficial boyfriend.

Not that you were complaining because you've had this planned out inside your innocent mind already.

"You need," Bite. "to stop," Nibble. "swearing and," Kiss. "calling me sir," a secretive low moan which caught your ear as you nibbled his bottom lip back, "at the same time,"

Your drunken self couldn't help but feel the day-to-day itch forming in between your legs. It has been a-run-of-the-mill because of your restricted relationship with the highly requested Gigolo in east coast, the sudden impulse when he was around had been bugging you since day 1.

She had Bucky's face in between the palms of her hands, the growing five o-clock shadow tickling the sensitive tips of her fingers as she deepen her kisses. He was giving her the same intensity and probably a lot more than he intended to. There was a soft, involuntary moan which erupted out of you as you felt his probing tongue touch the tips of yours, igniting out a hitch of your breath when you sensed your fingers having its own mind of proceeding towards a place in which you've opted to fondle with.

"Yes," the latter breathlessly huffed in between kisses, feeling your soothing digits tenderly skim beneath his prominent, newly-clean shaven navel in a way that could get his crotch celebrating inside his pantaloons. You continued kissing him with the same ferocity, fondling over the waistband of his sweatpants before you felt cold, metal like fingers tightly grip your wrist to an unsatisfying halt. "N-No, no, not yet," he exasperated with a grump.

"Fuck," The thwarting gigolo muttered a few vulgar swearwords beneath his heaving breaths. You bit your lip with knotted eyebrows, a tight feeling in your chest which you so wanted to scream out loud because of your frustration as well. Didn't he want to continue because you were..you? Or--?

"You seriously leaving me frustrated like this, Booki?"

"Yes--," he automatically responded as he groaned to himself, his metal fingers brushing his tight locks in a disheveling manner. "I mean no! No, Yes?" he asked more so to himself, pulling a step back away from you like you were a fire to his destructive bomb.

The latter had been moving nonstop and it even got to the point of exerting his own push-ups in the middle of his bathroom; white shirt off as he threw it towards you in which you successfully caught in your hands. Bucky's body was built by Michaelangelo himself, he was sculpted to ruin you and probably also the hearts of his customers. Winter was sculpted by the heavens because of the beefy-ness he aspire to feed all the hungry lasses to which could include you in it. You admired the way his body works, how his bionic arm met his flesh body. In fact, it was amazing, though quite depressing because of what backstory it holds.

A backstory that you promise to yourself that you'll know.

He stopped mid-air while executing another set of push-ups, "I can help you--??" you gestured back at him as his Steele blue eyes stared at you with peculiarity before gazing down at your gesticulating hands that formed an 'O'; located in the middle part of you as you shifted it in a up and down manner. James Buchanan Barnes had no words to say at all, especially when you started to motion that certain hand of yours in the fore part of your opened mouth in a push and pull motion, "Or this could suffice? Will a blowjob suffice?" you garbled and continued to show him what you wanted to help him with.

It was as if his body weakened before him once he saw and understood what you meant. Winter didn't know what to do because he so wanted it to happen, he wanted it. Well, every man would. If you were just one of his clients, he would let that happen but it was you right now. You were the one asking for it, and those words coming from your lips seem to sound all too different.

Because James Buchanan Barnes had his heart involved in this one.

You weren't just one of his clients, you were more than that and he was sure of it. Steven Grant Rogers was even sure of it either.

Y/N was a person who was important him, she was as pure as a driven snow just by showing her his doting eyes whenever she sees him holding a bag full of food or those times whether she was being needy and just wanted to share her break time with him.

Though, today was an exception because he didn't expected her to become this much of a wild cat when drunk and Bucky Barnes damn knew well he wasn't complaining.

He so wanted that blowjob from his girl, and waiting for the right time was hurting his crotch and gentlemanly self.

"Or I could just help Steve instead?" you pondered more to yourself when you realized he wouldn't much take up the offer, he fell to the ground, mid air and face planked on the Vinyl tiles of his bathroom. You swayed your feet from above the sink, thoroughly guiltless with doe-like eyes when you saw him cursing the heavens for such a severe punishment for his sins.

"Well, It's not like Steve and I haven't actually done it?"

Hence, it was then and there that James Buchanan Barnes whom goes by the code name 'winter' and is also the highly requested gigolo of Felicity Night, in addition; a best friend of a very patriotic gigolo who could harm nobody started cursing Steven Grant Rogers for lying in front of his face.

What a best friend indeed, he was.

FEEDBACKS ARE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED, TATER TOTS! Please leave feedbacks if you’re loving this fanfic of mine! Follow my blog to see more of my works and we shall fangirl/fanboy about SEBASTIAN STAN! 

[dailyaudiobible]

07/21/2020 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 4:1-6:11, Romans 7:1-13, Psalms 17:1-15, Proverbs 19:22-23

Today is the 21st day of July welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian. Like every day, I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today…well…and every day as we do what we do. We gather together and we call this the Global Campfire and we just kinda visualize and come in out of the cold, out of the dark, and just rest and let God's word do what God's word is so good at doing, touching us where we need to be touched, whether that’s comfortable or uncomfortable it’s what we need and it moves us forward. And, so, let's take that next step forward. We’re reading from the New English Translation this week, the NET Bible, and we’re in the book of second Chronicles. Today we’ll read chapters 4, verse 1 through 6, verse 11.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we continue our journey through the book or letter to the Romans we should be getting glimpses of why Paul was and is a controversial figure, because the way that he's explaining things maybe 2000 years in the future to Gentile years, you know, this makes sense to us, but man for the people that were hearing what Paul was saying, on the one hand it was so good. Like, the news was so good and hopeful, but on the other hand, it is really, really hard to like reverse course from what you've been told to believe all along and embrace a new interpretation. And that is absolutely…like that is still in the world and we still wrestle with that today. But Paul is continuing as a Pharisee to unpack the law and its purpose and Abraham's faith that preceded the law. And in today's reading his argument is, “a person whose dead isn't bound by a law anymore, any law.” And then he uses marriage. And like Paul's analogy holds absolutely as true now as it did then. So, if a husband and wife are married - and in Paul's example it’s the woman - like if she's joined to another man…so like if she has an affair, she commits adultery then she has broken that covenant of marriage and so she's an adulterous. But if she's faithful to her husband and her husband dies, then the bond, the covenant, the law of their marriage, like she's not bound to that anymore. He is no longer alive. So, we could, and they could shake their heads affirmatively, “yes, I understand. And yes, that is true.” But what his point is is that when you accept Christ, who you were without Christ dies and is no longer bound to the law. You are raised up a new creation in Christ who has fulfilled it all.” So, if you are a Hebrew listener to Paul, this is hopeful news because the weight of the law was a crushing thing. Like trying…like it was a societal thing and it was a cultural thing and it still is, but like truly trying to…by the law…by obedience, like radical obedience to the law, trying to make an attempt to be righteous before God, you could only come up short. You’re gonna mess up at some point. So, to be told that this resurrected Jesus Christ is the antidote to that, is the answer to that. Like baptism, like you go into the water and you die, and you are resurrected anew, and you come up clean and a new creation. And that that law has no claim to you anymore. Like that is really hopeful good news, but it's also like right at the bedrock of their understanding of God and their covenantal relationship with God. And this is why Paul is arguing for Abraham, “like, look at our founder. Look at the first person in the story. Abraham didn't have a law and yet he was righteous before God because he believed, because he put his trust completely in God and obeyed God.” So, Paul’s trying to say, “like, you don’t have to…you don’t have to rewire everything. This isn't something new. This is something old. The faith of Abraham is the thing that ignited all of this not the law.” So, understanding how controversial this is gonna be taken as, he's like, “so am I telling you that the…the…the law of God is a sinful thing? Absolutely not!” And Paul goes on to say that, “the law is the thing that exposed my sin. It is the thing that made me aware of…of my inability to be righteous.” And he uses covetousness as an example. Like, “if there…if there was no law to tell me that wanting what somebody else has is wrong, I wouldn't have known that. But the law told me that. And, so, I know that. And, so, when I do that I do it in sin because I know better.” Right? So, for Paul, the law then exposes sin, and sin leads to destruction. Sin leads to death. However, because of this Jesus, who God raised from the dead, who fulfilled the law, then our faith as with Abraham, our faith in God through Jesus then obliterates the sin issue. It's…it's not supposed to be the thing that we focus on anymore. And the thing is, like this…this idea, like what Paul said, this is not a radical idea…it was a radical idea. But for us, this is like basic Christianity. And yet, don’t we live most of our lives under some sort of cloud of accusation and condemnation. Like don't we know our failures every single day and walk around dragging them like chains around our ankles and some kind of weight upon our shoulders and some kind of cloud just hovering above us? We like know our failures and focus upon them, and then…and then focus on everybody else's cloud of condemnation too and we just add to the noise. And, so, we just all live in this sin mess that is, according to Paul, not really there. Like…like it's not there. That's…only God can judge us at that level, and He doesn't. It's not there. It's been removed as far as the east is from the west. So, what would it be like to just try an experiment and live into that today? Like, what is there to lose? We can go back to condemnation tomorrow if it was better for us. Like, we can go back to the chains and the weights and the cloud at any point, like, if that's how we want to live. But what if what Paul is saying is the truth and this really isn't the way God is looking at us? What if we try to live into that today? Because that would actually be embracing the good news of the gospel. That's the good story we’re trying to tell. And that's the way we’re supposed to be living as light in the darkness revealing to the rest of the world that there is a better way to be here than how we are being here. There is a way that pulls us forward as new creatures, as new creations upon this earth and we’re supposed to be showing that way because that way is good news for all of humanity. We don't have to walk around weighted down and judging one another and judging ourselves. Christ carried it all so that we might live free.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit come into this, this reality. Come into the deepest places of our soul of our lives of our identities of our consciousness of all that we think and see and do. Come, permeate the atmosphere with this new reality that we are enveloped in love and we don't have to live the way we've been living. That's why it's good news. We can repent, we can change our minds about ourselves. We can change our minds about everyone that we’re judging. We can die to ourselves and see this world through Your eyes. Come Jesus, awaken us. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear we pray in Your victorious name. Amen.

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dailyaudiobible.com is the website and that is home, that is home base, that's where you find out what’s going on around here. Of course, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can find out what's going on around here as well. But this is home base for…for who we are around the Global Campfire as we take this journey together through the Scriptures. So, check that out.

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And that is…that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello, Bob from Arizona listening to the 12 July podcast and heard Nelly’s cry for prayer. Poor Nelly was just distraught. She wanted to be used so badly by the Lord that she didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to do it, didn’t have the words for it and discouraged. And her plea for help was…certainly justified that we don’t have a fear for speaking of the Lord and letting Him know…letting others know what He’s done for us but it’s so…my…my encouragement is that we can make it simple. The Lord never made it hard for us to do this. He just wants everyone to know and including you Nelly that He wants people to know how much He loves them. I would certainly first start off with your own testimony, how much He…He loved you and has cared for you and to not be timid in that, but as Paul says it’s __ we don’t have a spirit of timidity we are…we are strong in the Lord, we are given the Holy Spirit. So in that, I just ask you Nelly to rely on your own faith and your own testimony which is very known to you and that ended with how much God really does love you and how He’s shown how much He loves you and how much He wants to show His love to all who come to know Him. I pray for Nelly. We’ll be praying for you as others in this ministry. Thank you, Brian and the Hardin family. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Lord we worship You is the creator of heaven and earth. All things were made by You and everything You created is good. We praise You for all Your beautiful creation. You place the earth on its foundation so that it can never be moved. Your right hand stretched out the heavens. Thank You that You have blessed us with light and dark and sun and rain and food and water and land and sea and trees and flowers and days and seasons. The heavens are Yours. The earth also is Yours. The world in all its fullness, You have founded them and how many are Your works O Lord? In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your creatures. Be exalted O God above the heavens. Let Your glory be over all the earth. Lord I just pray You will touch all the unbelievers today. I pray that they would look up to the sky and see Your beauty and that You would take away the…the…the blinders that are in front of them God, that they would know the amazing love of Jesus. Lord I pray for my brother, my brother-in-law and all unbelievers that are part of this international prayer chain, that our families, our families and friends and neighbors, Lord help them to know the truth, help them to be set free. They are desperately needing You, especially lift up to You the two people that…that this…this Young girl that lost her Father on July 1st. Help her with Your studies God. And help her to have such peace. And Lord I pray for the granddad who lost his daughter and the child survived. Help him God. Give them peace. Only You can help these people. In Jesus’ name. Alta Lee Maxwell.

Lord Jesus Father Son and Holy Spirit we bring to You our precious, precious sister Gigi from Gainesville Florida or Gainesville and…I think it’s Florida…and we just surround her Lord and ask Your love to surround her at this time with her dad having passed into…into eternity with You Lord on July 1st. Lord we pray that You will be with GG and all of her siblings and her mother that each of them will be able to support one another and that Your Holy Spirit will surround and protect them and enfold them into a deep fellowship with You Lord. Help them with all the details that have to be addressed. And for Gigi Lord, I pray she will be able to communicate with all of her professors and get her classwork done, not perfectly but adequately and that…that she’ll get some assistance on that and that she will succeed and continue to move forward. Bless her Lord and thank You so much. We thank You with her for her dad’s time now in eternity with You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Candace from Oregon.

Good morning my name is David Benedick I want to say good morning to the DAB family. I send my love and prayers to you all. I’m calling for specific prayer from you all for my family, my in-laws because we lost my…my wife’s father this morning about 1:30. He passed away. And I just thank God for him getting to know me before he passed. He knew me…of me but he didn’t know me. But God gave us the opportunity to bring us together as a family whereas he got to know me and that I will take care of his daughter as I promised him I would. For my in-laws, I love you guys very much and I thank God for allowing you all to get to know me and I will take care your sisters. I will go to my grave to make sure that she’s happy. I love you Loree, I love my family, my in-laws. Thank you very much. You all have a blessed and safe day.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this Alfia calling from not anymore from Delaware but from California, Central Valley California. Today I just want to call to say thank you so much for being such a faithful family for always uplifting one another and loving one another and just carrying on the commandment of God about loving your neighbor. We love one another brothers and sisters and this is such a wonderful platform. Today in a special way I am calling to say thank you to Wide Eyed with Wonder. I love your beautiful mane. Thank you so much for praying for me and I just want to say your prayer was amazing and thank you just for taking the time to pray for me. God has placed me in a new position. I had to move from the East Coast to the West Coast and it’s a little bit of an adjustment, but I pray for God’s will to be done in my life as He uses me as His vessel. So, once again Daily Audio Bible family this is Alfia calling from Central Valley California. Make it a great day. Love you guys. Bye-bye.

My name is Alviano of Chicago and I just wanted to lift up all the educators and administrators that are trying to figure out how the next school year is to look and it is to function for all of the parents who are trying to decide whether or not they are going to follow suit and for all of the children who are in the middle of all of this.

[guacameowle]

Hi, I really like your headcanons for SLBP! Do you mind if I ask for SLBP lords angst? For some reason, the SLBP lord and MC decided to break up but unbeknownst to the lord, MC was having his child. Years after, MC passed away and the child blamed the lord for MC's death. One day, the child managed to get a position as a page serving said lord. What would happen between the child and the lord? (The lord may/may not realize that the new page was his child)

These may not have come out as you were expecting them to. I’m sorry to say only some of these HCs managed to go along the lines of “the child blamed the lord for MC’s death” but not all of them. Some are left open to interpretation as to if you think the samurai figured out if it’s their child or not, but majority do figure out that it’s MC’s child at least.

The child has the pronouns “they/them.”

Also, if any of you enjoy this & somehow managed to make it through them all (Wow! Amazing!), could you please perhaps comment & let me know which one was your favorite? I’m quite curious. Thank you! xx

Meowle Masterpost

Meowle SLBP Headcanons

Nobunaga – He laughed at their attitude. For so young a person they were quick to anger, leaving trails of fury in their wake, voicing their opinion against him often and in front of others. It amused him where it shouldn’t, having his page so obstinately against him did nothing for progress, but somehow he saw himself in them. He’d considered that perhaps the real reason he put up with their ire for so long was because for once in years he was finally sated with the sweets they created. There was a limit to his generosity however, treats or no. At every council they voiced themselves against him, speaking in favor of Date, Uesugi, and even Takeda. The shutters of his fan snapped as did his patience, he had had enough. He raised his voice above theirs, “If you find yourself inclined for the favors of others, leave. See how far you’ll fair.” A blade, not meant for throwing, came towards him before those around could react, catching his sleeve and holding it onto the floorboards. He knew this blade, the handle intricate and delicate, a custom creation he had commissioned but hadn’t seen in years. But how did they? Oh. He looked up then, seeing the page now restrained and glowering. Now he saw. Beneath the glare that matched his own, past the hatred that dripped from them, he could see her �� fierce, determined, proud. His features mixed with hers. With a brief exhale he spoke, “You have her fire.” He wasn’t shocked by their reply, as sharp as the knife they had thrown at him, “And I would see you burn in it.”

Mitsuhide – He noticed they were a hard worker. He was glad to have them as his page even if they seemed to hold an undercurrent of resentment toward him somehow. He was sure he had never done anything to this person, but as an appendage of the Devil’s Hand he couldn’t always be certain. Still, he admired their work ethic. Soon it felt civility would be impossible between them and he questioned what his page held against him, he had a right to defend himself. “My mother was killed because of a samurai.” So no ill intent against him specifically, surely in his past he hadn’t killed a woman. A general hatred of samurai then. His advice, do something about it. Rise up and go for those who did them wrong. He hadn’t expected his lecture to be met with “You said that once to me before.” Had he? He didn’t recall. “When I was younger… and you passed through Kyoto. In front of a restaurant that no longer housed a woman you were in search of. Instead you saw me.” How did they know about her? “I’m doing what you told me so many years ago. Rising up to find those who did my mother wrong.” The gaze that fell on him was icy, prickling along his skin and freezing his heart for a moment. “I left my family’s restaurant to find him.” Family’s? He couldn’t mean… Smoothly his page rose up and left without a dismissal, leaving him to ponder what had transpired between them. There was no mistaking it, their words were clear, their stare hitting their target dead-on, intent. He resolved himself; when the day finally came, he would be waiting for them.

Yukimura – He staggered on his feet as his head was struck. “You said you’d be responsible for her!” The words thrown at him with each swing of his page’s spear were soaked in venom, weighing him and dragging him under a current of dread and shame, beaten into the meat beneath his skin. He- he didn’t understand. What had happened!? Somebody tell him! H-how did you know her? Why do you have my mother’s eyes? Questions running through his head yet none he spoke aloud; none he could get past the blood bubbling up his throat. He felt his spear knocked from his hand in his moment of distraction, a heavy blow to his chest knocking him onto his back until he only saw the grey of the sky above him but he couldn’t bring himself to move, struggling to find the strength to even breathe. He felt the trickle of thick liquid seep from his mouth and slide across his cheek. Months ago he had been delighted when his new page had requested to be physically trained by him and in the art of the spear no less. Had taken pride in watching their timidity fade as weeks passed when they practiced. Appreciated when they countered his attacks and came at him with their own coated with determination. Had begun to question why one day it suddenly felt like they were no longer simply training anymore. He’d seen enough war to know there was true hatred behind their strikes. He hadn’t known why until now. “My mother said my father fought valiantly with a spear,” he watched as they adjusted their weapon until the cool tip pressed against the base of his throat, “how poetic would it be should he die by one?”

Saizo – He felt the eyes heavy on him, digging in his spine and pushing him forward. Always forward, toward something he wasn’t certain of. For years he’d felt it, content at first to ignore it for passing irritation, until it fell heavier, weighing him down at every opportunity until he felt chained and imprisoned, had grown exhausted under its strain. He felt it heaviest now as the pressure guided him through the wooded terrain. Forward forward forward. The brush opened to a small clearing of a cliffside, where he felt the warm breeze caress his face as his eyes adjusted to the light. A moment later he saw something there in the trees billowing against the wind- fabric torn in shreds, the colors now muted from age, blood stains brightened as if recently freshened. It was a fabric pattern he recognized, a woman’s kimono he hadn’t seen in years yet saw nightly in his nightmares. He felt anger diffuse in his veins despite acceptance having long settled in his bones. “What do you want?” He heard them move now, no longer aiming for stealth, as they stepped into the clearing beside him. He saw them remove their hood and failed to hide his shocked expression as he came face to face with his younger self. Their voice carried a taunting warmth that sent a shiver through him when they spoke, “If you refuse to look back, then I will make you go forward.” He trained his eyes back onto the shredded kimono still swaying on the branch, the sharpened edges pointing him forward as they fluttered. “If I refuse?” When no answer came he turned to find no one beside him, left to question if anyone had even been there or if it was merely his tormented brain playing at deception. The heavy weight of eyes on him returned, suffocating. With one last glance at the garment snapping in the breeze, he turned his eyes towards the cliff edge and went forward.

Masamune – He was never one for many words. He let Kojuro, Shigezane, or his own actions speak for him. So there was silence in the small private kitchen as his page went through movements Masamune’s memory had long ago seen daily but not forgotten. Every action the same, each stir calculated, every dice measured. It was nostalgic yet unfamiliar. Unfeeling and cold where there once was fondness and warmth. As he watched he questioned internally, why it felt the same but not, how were they familiar to him. To her? He had suspicions, saw the patch over their right eye akin to his own that led to more questions never asked aloud. He wondered if propriety or fear that held him back. They caught him staring and he turned away sheepish, chastised. “Milord.” A small grant for him to continue. When he looked up again they were looking at him serenely, solitary eye glassy and viridescent. He brushed his fingertips across the lower ridge of his own eyepatch, a silent question. He jerked as if he had been slapped as they clenched their teeth and swiftly looked away from him. Their hand shook as they set the knife down onto the cutting wood slab, head bent low as they spoke, “I cut it out so my mother would not weep when she looked upon me.” He could feel his heart sliced out anew with each word. He was never one for many words. He regretted each one he never said.

Kojuro – He had grown attached. It had been many years since he’d been so fond of someone and readily taken them under his wing. He felt fulfilled when he watched them grow into their position within the castle, offered his guidance where he could, and scolded where needed. His lord Masamune had given him leave to return home for a few days. Kojuro had insisted to his page that they take a few days off as well, visit family after such a long leave of absence. The invitation to attend him to his own home and family was second nature when they stated they had no relations expecting their company. Though they had readily accepted the invitation they continued to look anything but pleased along the journey and even more displeased still upon arrival. They remained civil but curt to anyone who spoke to them, always scowling as they took in their surroundings, closed off in a way he had never seen of them. It left him feeling unsettled and… hurt. It was possible he’d misjudged their developing bond. A day passed before he noticed them gazing across the garden, tense and unwavering. How they spent their days off was their own prerogative though a niggling crept down his spine when he paused to consider why they appeared so discontent. While he was in the comfort of his quarters, Kogiku ran up to him, eyes fearful as she clutched her ball in her hands. She hadn’t managed to get a word out before his door slid open to a second unannounced guest, his page standing in the doorway, gaze sharp and pointed to Kojuro’s side where Kogiku stood. “Kojuro, they can see me…” His heart lodged in his throat. He could not disguise the shock on his face when they struck him immobile with one look and sneered, “I see only a coward.”

Hideyoshi – He could negotiate. It was what he was best at, what had gotten him this far. He would sooth agitators, settle differences, strike any bargain… so why couldn’t he convince them to not do this? Perhaps he deserved a death this way, not that of a samurai, but of a broken and tattered man. He’d long ago been unarmed, unable to raise his weapon against them once he knew who they were, who they were a part of. He was struck now with words and the edge of a sword over and over until he fell to his knees. Somehow, the words stung worse. “Your fault.” “Left her alone.” “She deserved better.” No rebuttal, no concessions. He had none. Had not the strength to tell his side of events. They were right and this is what had always been coming to him in the end. But if he could not argue for the sake of his own life, he could argue for theirs. “I do not want this life for you,” his voice was slow, weaker than he expected. He tried to smile. Everyone always swayed to his easy smiles. The flash of pain that seared across his belly told him his tactic had failed. “You do not get a say in my life when you were not there to save hers.” That was… fair. Who was he to tell them any different? It was fitting, that he would lose his life to them when she had lost her life because of him. It seemed an even trade. He was a master negotiator and he had convinced himself that this was what he deserved.

Inuchiyo – He had heard she was gone. He came to pay his respects to her family. His second family. Despite her absence, the restaurant still seemed the same. Perhaps it looked a little duller, sounded a little less cheerful. Ok, it wasn’t the same. He sat himself and waited, tried to not focus on the other patrons glaring at him. He hadn’t done anything. What was their problem? Her mother came out and upon seeing him her smile fell. Maybe this was a bad idea. He hadn’t wanted to cause more pain. Mother shuffled over to him, slower than she used to be but he felt a stern warmth when her hand cupped his cheek. “My grandchild will bring you something out in a moment.” Grandchild? Since when? He hadn’t time to ask before she was scuttling off to another patron and back to the kitchen, retreating from his questions. He hadn’t heard of their being an addition to the family. Had Yahiko gotten married in his time away? The glares turned sharper the longer he sat. He wished they would all mind their own damn business. Lost to his own musings he jumped when a bowl clattered in front of him. A dog bowl. An Absolute Victory Dog Bowl. “A meal for the dog then,” someone barked at him. What the hell?! He was ready to throw a punch when he looked up only to find himself winded at the scowl of the person before him. He wasn’t stupid. It only took one look for him to know. He always could recognize her anywhere. He suddenly felt like a mongrel. He picked up the chopsticks and ate in silence.

Ieyasu – He did not trust them. But keep your enemies close and all that nonsense. He had plans for them. Plans that would eradicate them immediately should they prove to be an issue. That’s what he told himself. He certainly spent more time contemplating their existence more than he cared to admit to himself. Disgusting. Something about their appearance, the way they spoke, their mannerisms, rubbed him the wrong way. Left a bitter taste on the back of his tongue, choked him. Reminded him of things he did not want to remember, of times when he had been foolish in thinking he could have had something he was not meant for. So he would laugh at them and play their little game. Yes, that would do. Would turn a blind eye to their plotting and scheming while he devised his own. They wouldn’t notice. It was simply a matter of waiting for the first to strike. When they came into his room he didn’t cower, didn’t flinch when they set food in front of him, didn’t feel a chill down his spine when they smiled. He wasn’t afraid of them. He wasn’t. Why would they just leave already? “Paranoid today, milord?” What? They were doing that smile again. He felt sick. They’d done something to him. “Porridge. Porridge today.” Oh. He didn’t eat, he never did. He wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing him dead. He’d strike tomorrow. That’s what he always told himself.

Mitsunari – He never held eye contact. He felt like he was looking at himself wrapped in her softened edges. It made him angry yet he couldn’t find it in himself to dismiss the newest page from service. They hardly spoke aloud to him, offering a “Yes, milord” only when necessary before scuttling off. Even their voice reminded him of his past, of a time when he could have indulged in happiness had he allowed himself. He had suspected, began creating a personal scroll listing logistics behind his hypothesis that perhaps this page was somehow connected to her… and even himself. He could have asked outright but found himself afraid of the answer, not knowing which answer he even truly wanted. It wasn’t until he’d off-handedly asked that an evening snack be brought to him that his suspicions were confirmed. A plate of manju, freshly made, set before him. When the flavor fell onto his tongue, perfect. The last bullet point of his scroll completed. He forced himself to swallow past the lump in this throat and inquired where the food had come. “My mother taught me how to make them, milord, before she passed. They were our favorite.” In an instant, the manju tasted no better than ash. “They were once my favorite too.” He didn’t know why he shared that information, near involuntary, his body betraying him - a subconscious attempt at connecting, an olive branch extended. When he saw their eyes, his own eyes, gazing back at him, he resisted the urge to look away as they spoke. With three words Mitsunari felt what was left of his broken heart slightly mended. “She said so.”

Kenshin – He was seeing a ghost. It was a ghost far more beautiful than he imagined they could ever be. He continued to see it, weaving through the halls of his castle, turning a corner before he had a chance to call out to them, glancing over its shoulder to look at him before shifting away with a look of sadness. Are you real? Why have you come to haunt me? It took little more than a few words to a retainer to determine he wasn’t seeing a ghost, others saw them too, the newest recruit to the Uesugi clan – the ethereal creature that floated through air and hypnotized any who glanced upon them. It took fewer words for the enchanting being to become his page. Desperate was he to gaze upon their otherworldly comeliness every day. How selfish of him to use someone else in hopes of seeing her in his mind’s eye. Nobody questioned when he became fascinated with new beauty. Once, in a time long passed when he had more smiles to share, he might have considered having them for himself, but with them he felt the need to protect, nourish, and provide for in a way he never had – a paternal ember catching flame and roaring to life with an intensity that snuffed out all other thoughts. Somehow, a deep part of him, woven through his marrow, knew it was what she would have wanted. She had somehow sent this resplendent phantom to him. This he would keep. He would keep them with him where he couldn’t keep her and he would give up everything to do so.

Shingen – He recognized the hair. He had never seen anyone else carry the same shade. He saw it in the way they moved, stalking around and eyeing everything and everyone with a keen curiosity. They had the blood of a tiger. What he didn’t know was what they had come for. They sat and listened to him lecture advice, had soaked in his words of offered insight on life, relations, and war. They had risen through the ranks until they were nearly at his side in all matters. They never asked for anything in return, merely doing as was befitting of their duties before prowling once again. They were sharp and in his old age he was in need of new claws, so was it wrong for him to groom them for his place? “I will adopt you as my own.” It wasn’t a question so much as an offer, one that was brushed over with ease. “I will adopt you as my own.” A formality really as they were already of his flesh. “I will adopt you as my own.” Another attempt, another refusal. He wasn’t used to his generosity falling upon deaf ears. “Are you afraid of your tiger being shackled?” he had called out to them one evening, saw the recognition in their eyes as they realized that yes, he knew. Though he saw no malice he did not see relief nor any sign of a tiger relaxing to stretch along a threshold and accept a home. He tried again, “I will adopt you as my own,” and waited. He was left waiting.

[wjwilliams29]

45 Quick Traffic Hacks That Will Boost Your Website

I always advocate the idea of taking a step back to see the larger picture. When it comes to digital marketing, this is a crucial step – as it can easily point out what is currently missing from the approach you’re implementing for your website.  

    Always make sure you’ve got the big picture in mind, however complicated this may seem sometimes. While keeping this in mind, today’s post is going to offer you a series of tips that can boost your traffic, and don’t interfere with your current strategies. This article will present you an extensive list of hacks that you can implement on your website to drive more traffic to your website – with minimal work and immediate results.    

  Drop the Retargeting Pixel on Users Who Engage with Your Content

Use a Content Delivery Network to Promote Posts Based on Users’ Locations

Focus Your Efforts Only on Social Media Platforms that Work for Your Business

Offer Deals to Universities to Get Listed on .edu Sites

Use Schema Microdata to Facilitate Website Indexing

Check out Unexploited Social Media for a Reinvigorating Marketing Approach

Debunk a Common Perspective in Your Niche and Prove It’s a Myth

Post Evergreen Content from Your Blog to LinkedIn Regularly

Join Niched Twitter Lists to Spread Your Message to a Targeted Audience

Repurpose Long Form Content into SlideShare Presentations

Tag & Quote the People that Comment on Your site on Social Media

Make a Creative Unboxing Youtube Video of Your Product

Transcribe Your Video Content to Target a Broader Audience

Use Alltop (or Other Blog Aggregators) to Get Listed as an Authoritative Source

Reschedule Popular Tweets in Your Industry on Buffer

Suggest Your Content on a Popular Scoop It Page to Get Colossal Targeted Exposure

Self-Publish Kindle Books and Link to Your Site

Upload a Screencast Product Demo on Your Website to Hook First-Time Visitors

Use Tooltipster to Make Every Fragment of Text Easily Shareable

Write Testimonials for Popular Products in Your Niche for Authority Links & Exposure

Turn Your Infographics into In-depth Articles & Rank on More Keywords

Use a PR Prank as a Link Building Tactic

Optimize Your TTFB to Improve User Experience

Create an Instagram Photo Contest to Exploit a 200 Million Users Network

Pin Tweets that Address Your Reader’s Needs, Not Your Marketing Strategy

Address a Complementary Niche with Similar Interests to Your Read#ers

Get Yourself Featured on Product Hunt for Expert Feedback

Send Personal Webinar Registration Emails to Unengaged Prospects

Use List Posts as Much as Possible – They’re Easy to Read & Tweet

Use LinkedIn Groups to Announce Improvements to Targeted Audiences

Involve Readers in Your Content Marketing with a Crowd Sourced Post

Rank for Video Content Posting Optimized Youtube Videos Regularly

Make People Curious About You & Boost Your Traffic with a Funny Product or Landing Page

Feature Influencers in Your SlideShare Content to Get It Shared

Tag Influencers on Twitter to Let Them Know You Mentioned Them

Find a Unique Personal Tone that Nobody in the Niche Has Adopted Yet

Marry Evergreen Content with Trending Posts to Boost Visibility

Get a Column on an Industry Publication

Find Partners in Your Industry

Tell Your Brand Story Through an Honest Appeal to Emotion

Pitch Your Business to Influencers on Hacker News

Post Questions that Make People Use Their Pride/Creativity/Ego

Have Social Media Buttons in Your Email Newsletter

Grow your Email List on a Daily Basis

Write a Response Post to Something/Someone Popular in the Niche

  1. Drop the Retargeting Pixel on Users Who Engage with Your Content

  Retargeting can be used both very rightly and very wrongly, and the difference makes all the money (also literally). Whenever you drop pixels on users, try to make sure that you take the bounce rate into consideration. This way, your custom audience will be more targeted and your overall results will be better, after just one little change, as Claire Pelletreau did. It is as simple as adding code to your website.

    Otherwise, you’ll be spending a lot of energy on people who had no interest in your content in the first place. So maybe you should wait for a few seconds before dropping the pixel to generate the retargeting process.  

  2. Use a Content Delivery Network to Promote Posts Based on Users’ Locations

  There are numerous benefits to be technical. In this context, they’re mostly blocking SQL injections and malicious bots. However, there’s a marketing advantage to this as well. Brian Jackson offers more than these two reasons. Its main marketing purpose is being able to live to the expectations of your never-settling customers. He said that when delivered quality content based on location, he experienced increased website traffic thanks to the improvement in responsiveness, which is an evergreen technique. 

    Your website will be more optimized and it will work faster, contributing significantly to the overall user experience which, as we can all agree, is something to aim for.  

  3. Focus Your Efforts Only on Social Media Platforms that Work for Your Business

  There’s a place and a time for everything. So the question remains: what do you do if you’ve done everything possible by the book to promote your page and it still doesn’t work? You kill it. Copyblogger did it with their Facebook page. After all, it’s not strategically appropriate to invest a huge amount of time and resources into something that refuses to comply with the rules of ROI.

    In her article, Erika Napoletano said something I can only agree with: fan numbers don’t mean anything if they’re not accompanied by engagement. So focus on what works, instead.  

  4. Offer Deals to Universities to Get Listed on .edu Sites

  Authority links and brand mentions contribute a great deal to a business’ reputation and visibility. It’s a lot easier to get notoriety when you’re featured on reputable websites. And universities are a great networking source at the same time, the links from an educational website have a very powerful authority. From young, creative minds who deserve an internship to associate lecturers full of academic insight, universities are the place to be.

    Here, the possibilities are endless. How you choose to materialize this tip depends both on your business model and financial possibilities. The easiest way is asking the university you graduated from to mention you as a successful alumnus, now active in the entrepreneurial field.

  Not everyone is going to be able to give away scholarships (we’re not all Google), but most of us could easily create a course for students who would like to learn about case studies in your niche. The academic mediation between the theoretical field and your practical experience works best together when it comes to the educational experience.  

  5. Use Schema Microdata to Facilitate Website Indexing

  Schema is a type of microdata that helps search engines parse and interpret the info on your website in a more effective and contextual manner, helping both you and the potential customers/readers who perform search queries. Using schema microdata can help you appear in the knowledge graph, gain beta releases and having advantages in AMP, Google News, etc. and help Google to show contextual results from your website. And as a result to all that, it increases the traffic to your site.

    The practice helps the search engines crawl more efficiently and your visibility can register a boost after introducing it. One very honest white-hat strategy, this hack works best for the long term of your business, just like in the example below from Dan Shewan. This way, the information on your website is better parsed and interpreted by the search engines, and you are most likely to see a boost in the overall visibility of your website.  

  6. Check out Unexploited Social Media for a Reinvigorating Marketing Approach

  StumbleUpon, Taboola, Launchbit, and Outbrain, Pinterest – they’re all great ideas for content promotion. These social media websites may not be as popular as Twitter and Facebook, and maybe this is why they work so great when it comes to marketing objectives – because you can address more specific niches, with a higher informational intent and which are more prone to be convinced that your business is worth giving a try.

    Take the example above of an article published on StumbleUpon. If you’ve got catchy articles and high-quality pictures, Taboola and Outbrain are the ones you should use. They are not like any other social media website, they offer behavioral targeting to help publishers make their content noticed. They can be used very easily to syndicate your content. If you decide to use this technique, the platforms will share the organic content on other websites and it might appear in different sections such as sponsored content or recommended content. 

    7. Debunk a Common Perspective in Your Niche and Prove It’s a Myth

  Some things we take for granted. We’re so used to hearing them that not only won’t we try to contradict people who state them, but we’re starting to slowly accept them as truths. And the reader does the same. That’s a great start for a traffic idea, right? When everyone’s started to accept something as being true, the voice of those that don’t believe it will soon stand out. Some time ago, we documented on the topic regarding the SEO industry being dead. Everybody has been talking along the years about it, and even some authoritative sources were starting to drift away.

    We wrote an article to publicly state the opposite. Of course, you should keep a neutral voice in order to be reliable as a source, and moderation is the key to any long-term feasible approach. But, the article wasn’t just shared across social media, it also had almost 40 comments. This proves once more, that conflicting opinions bring visibility and creates viral content.

  8. Post Evergreen Content from Your Blog to LinkedIn Regularly

  Dorie Clark admitted being a big fan of this tip in a roundup post. If you think of it, LinkedIn is a pretty natural environment for evergreen content, such as in the example below.

    It’s the place where people will always look for specific information. And evergreen content can be a constant source of traffic. That happens because the articles have a better value than your generic blog post you find on the web, being directly related to the professionals who documented them. Making yourself visible on a website where everybody has the same goal and getting in touch with relevant people in the industry, means a lot when it comes to your future targeted traffic. So start small, and make changes that will echo in terms of visibility even years from now.

  Posting evergreen articles on LinkedIn increases your website traffic because it connects organically the content you published with the professionals behind the ideas.  

  9. Join Niched Twitter Lists to Spread Your Message to a Targeted Audience

  There are few things that can motivate us more than being in the right place at the right time. However, most of the times, for us marketers, this is not something that luck is responsible for. We have to make it happen. And one of the places where things happen with a vicarious rhythm are Twitter lists. Being a part of them allows you to see what happens in your niche and to share (relevant!) content with a highly niched audience, who will probably take interest in your cause.

    Kevan Lee told the story of Twitter listing and all the amazing results you can achieve when you take all the variables into account. For instance, there’s this Social Media list from Adweek, with millions of members and fans. Imagine you have the possibility to share content with 2, 3 or 5 million people interested in your niche, just because you’ve created one powerful connection with the person who put you on that list. How great of an opportunity is that?  

  10. Repurpose Long Form Content into SlideShare Presentations

Another great example of traffic generators is repurposing long-form content into presentations. According to Lena Prickett, an idea turned in 15 ways around the interests of the readers is as valuable as 15 ideas, assuming you’re doing the promotion responsibly. SlideShare has a huge audience and less than 1 percent of marketers manage to address their audience, which makes it all the more available as a source when it comes to spreading your content.  

  Take the Coschedule example above.

    The original article had 170 social shares. However, the SlideShare presentation brought another 100.

    It’s almost always appropriate to repurpose website content, and it makes working on an in-depth piece more profitable, as it gives you the chance to actually get substantial and relevant traffic for the time you’ve spent documenting your posts.

  The time difference of repurposing content is small enough to make it worth every minute, as it doesn’t even come close to the amount of time it takes to create new content that appeals. Of course, this means that maybe it’s time you started thinking of your topics as ideas that have to fit into more than just one universal presentation form.  

  11. Tag & Quote the People that Comment on Your Site on Social Media

  Tagging people that commented on your site on social media brings you easy traffic. Think of it. People who’ve commented have spent enough time on your blog as to have a few unanswered questions. It means they’re already engaged. They know about your brand, are interested in the content you’re providing, and they’re always striving to be documented on what’s happening in the niche.  

    Kevin Duncan calls this the ‘howdy, neighbor’ technique, and it basically means that you should be friendly with you acquaintances online. Just like people from the small towns that welcomed a new neighbor. It doesn’t involve more than saying thanks once in a while and welcoming people properly.  

      The results from his experiment were astonishing in terms of engagement.

    Try it out and see the results for yourself!  

  12. Make a Creative Unboxing Youtube Video of Your Product

  It’s not necessary to have a material product when you’re considering creative unboxing. IKEA had a great idea of the book, where they presented their catalog – a hardcover book – as a gadget.

    The entire purpose of the unboxing video is to have as many views as possible and increase your brand memorability, even if it’s a little complimentary to your product instead of an unboxing of the product itself. But make it easy to understand. Needless to say, if you do have a material product as part of your business, the unboxing video is going to be even easier to make and will serve informational needs.  

  13. Transcribe Your Video Content to Target a Broader Audience

  It’s only appropriate to make sure that all kinds of prospects with very different schedules will be able to follow your content. The form in which your content is presented is only an instrument that’s meant to facilitate interaction, not to block it.

    Transcribing your video content may come in handy, especially for that type of audience that doesn’t have enough mobile data to access your video on the spot (and can forget until they get home) or is in a very boring meeting and cannot play it out loud, but would be able to read it. Be prepared for these kinds of situations. Not to mention the ranking. You can get higher rankings, as you help the search engine contextualize the content of the video and the complexity of your endeavor.  

  14. Use Alltop (or Other Blog Aggregators) to Get Listed as an Authoritative Source

  Alltop is an authoritative source where people browse information, sorting it in a manner that’s dedicated to displaying the most recent news. The reason why people use it is that it’s practical and it filters the authoritative sources that would usually come up in a search engine, providing its users with fresh articles. It is a great source for driving traffic. 

      As a publisher or a site owner, as Donna Maria Coles Johnson puts it, you’d like to be listed on a blog aggregator because it helps promoting your content and it will bring a lot of traffic, in time. The advantage is being part of a network where people come to look for information, which is why it’s advised to maintain relevance.  

  15. Reschedule Popular Tweets in Your Industry on Buffer

  Nobody likes to follow a leader who keeps yapping about himself. Keep this in mind when you’re posting on social media. Curating information that you find essential, funny or provoking is equally important as creating new content. Sometimes, it’s even more important.

    Start a blogger outreach campaign. Associating yourself with influential people creates a slippery slope from which you may be getting out with hundreds of new followers, who noticed you on the influencer’s page with the retweets, and have decided to see what you’re up to. Never underestimate the potential of networking done right, and be patient when starting it.  

  16. Suggest Your Content on a Popular Scoop It Page to Get Colossal Targeted Exposure

  We all get attached to the content we’re writing. It’s part of the job description. It is mostly because we’re passionate about our work. But not all of it is always relevant for some people’s informational needs. However, there are situations where parts of our content could be cured into something that addresses a slightly different audience than ours.

    The great news about this tip is that it only takes a few minutes. Some of the Scoop It pages have hundreds of active followers, who represent niched audiences, as Gabriella Sannino also suggested in her post. She suggests content that it is appropriate and related to the subject of the community because that type of content will be generating traffic for your website, not to mention networking opportunities. 

  17. Self-Publish Kindle Books and Link to Your Site

  It’s not uncommon to have a lot of old (but still reliable) content that doesn’t generate too much traffic anymore. Along with actively promoting it on social media from time to time, you can also turn it into a book – maybe add a few updates to the case studies you were writing two or three years ago, and then publish it.

      And I’m not just suggesting this because of the link to your website, or the profile description that is going to position you better on the web, although they’re pretty good points, as David Kudler advocates. Most of the people who are actively interested in reading on a niched topic are also more and more devoted to materials that lack the hyper-connectivity that makes the web so popular. that happens because it helps them focus.

  In other words, you may not be a Kindle bestseller, but you’ll know two things about the audience you’ll attract: you share the same passion and they have the patience to read, all of these while re-engaging old content in the marketing scheme.  

  18. Upload a Screencast Product Demo on Your Website to Hook First-Time Visitors

  Visuals draw our attention and everybody agrees with that. Instead of letting your prospects roam around your website aimlessly, you can just upload a screencast on your website and let them have the information delivered in an eye-candy manner, that will also increase the memorability rate.

    As Epipheo did, and they had over 50,000 Youtube views, which is a great number for a company with an average of 7,000 Twitter followers.  

  19. Use Tooltipster to Make Every Fragment of Text Easily Shareable

  Tooltipster is a handy tool you can use whenever you wish to make HTML improvements in your blog’s functionality. Many times, the reason why people don’t share useful content is because they’re discouraged by the layout of the website. After you took care of this, you can install the Highlight and Share plugin extension to encourage sharing with your readers as well.

    This is why your blog should be a sharing-friendly environment, where you display the numbers of shares on different social media platforms and you encourage even more sharing through a tool that will allow sharing easily. If you’ve just published a piece of content that you’ve been working on for a week, maybe you wouldn’t like to see it lose any kind of traffic and engagement after a few days, maybe fewer than it took you to create it.

  20. Write Testimonials for Popular Products in Your Niche for Authority Links & Exposure

  Endorsement is powerful. It will always be because it works on a principle that’s guiding us all through life, credibility transfer. Of course, the more authoritative and competent the source is in the industry that it endorses, the more credibility it transfers. However, this works wonders in reverse as well. The endorser becomes endorsed by the product, in our case.

    This is, again, a psychological positioning trick. Whenever you access the website of a product or service and you reach the testimonials page, you’ll think that the clients are not only the most representative the service owner has in mind, but the most authoritative as well. If you’re doing the outreach rightly and contact companies that are similar to your interests and areas of expertise, then you’ve got yourself some good, steady traffic going on, even if you’re not the most popular in the niche.  

  21. Turn Your Infographics into In-depth Articles & Rank on More Keywords

  Infographics are the end-medium when it comes to promoting content visually to increase engagement. Still, they will have better ranking if you boost them with content, to help the search engines associate the images with the content.

    So the question becomes: what do you do when the social media hype you’ve created with your infographic starts to fade away? Clearly, you cannot just leave it at that. After all, you’ve spent a large amount of time in putting the infographic together. To not to waste the energy, you can repurpose the content of the infographic into a blog post, just like Killer Infographics suggests.  

  22. Use a PR Prank as a Link Building Tactic

  Duolingo is a website that’s destined to helping people learn foreign languages. On the 1st of April, they created a prank product, the pillow that helps you learn a language overnight.  

      The prank was very well received on the web and it got a lot of quality links for the page.  

      Not to mention that it boosted the entire backlink performance of the domain, getting the website to an entirely new high number of links/referring domains in their history.

    PR pranks are useful in terms of notoriety as well, not just traffic and backlinks as they allow you to build relationships with influencers and position you as a creative agent on your market.  

  23. Optimize Your TTFB to Improve User Experience

  Website speed is one important factor when it comes to user experience and to visitors re-returning to your website. And organic traffic, now more than ever, is not something we can afford to take for granted.

    This is when we have to get a little technical in order to make sure that we’re ranking properly. Assuming you’re reading this, probably ranking is one of your priorities. And the Time to First Bite has a contribution in ranking. Mark Scott stresses that the exact definition of website speed is quite ambiguous online, and he couldn’t be more right. Yet, even if there’s some debate going on about it, TTFB still matters and you can use instruments to measure the extent to which you’ve done a great job until now.  

  24. Create an Instagram Photo Contest to Exploit a 200 Million Users Network

  Someone I particularly like when it comes to Instagram engagement is the Cluse shop for women’s watches and jewelry. They’re pretty popular and always dedicated to building more search traffic and create engagement on social media.

    They are collaborating with lots of ambassadors and have various giveaways on their social platforms. One of their contest created on Instagram increased the brand’s engagement, and it’s not even that hard to host it, especially when it’s crucial to have engaged followers on every social media platform that can speak for your brand. They are sharing lots of posts, engage with bloggers and fashion icons on Instagram and publish high-quality pictures with vivid colors. 

  25. Pin Tweets that Address Your Reader’s Needs, Not Your Marketing Strategy

  There’s something great about web, and that’s people’s availability when it comes to sharing information. You can find how-to articles and tutorials about pretty much everything. And, more importantly, you can use them in shaping your marketing strategy. For instance, the pinned tweet. Pauline Cabrera writes about this possibility in a mini-how-to article, letting you know about everything you need to know if you want to get your tweets pinned.

    Don’t just use this option to promote yourself better, but give something to the community instead. Try writing about something that would instantly hook the reader instead of something you’d really like them to know about, and watch your engagement rate increase.  

  26. Address a Complementary Niche with Similar Interests to Your Readers

  Content expansion can be a useful tool when you’re trying to address more potential readers. The advantages of it range from a better and more dynamic audience to a dramatic increase in leads and brand recognition. Powell’s Books is a bookstore in Oregon. And people are mad about it. Aside from having an offline business that addresses a certain type of audience, they’ve been active online for a while.

    Their tweets often engage the entire artistic community and everything that creates hype on the web, addressing a target who wouldn’t necessarily spend their free time reading for leisure. Plus, many of the followers don’t even live somewhere close, so they’re clearly part of a different niche, enjoying something distinctive as much as the next reader.

  Being sociable and friendly can get you far, as long as you know how to adapt your strategy as to address people who wouldn’t normally consider entering a bookstore and, more importantly, speaking like a person, not like a brand representative.  

  27. Get Yourself Featured on Product Hunt for Expert Feedback

  Danny Postma tells the story of how he was featured on Product Hunt. It’s not easy to start your own business, and it’s harder to promote it among other people who have the same goal as you.  

    New projects have the advantage of being full of possibilities and, if promoted properly, they can propel the entire startup that created them. And, of course, they’re flexible, and Product Hunt is a great place with professionals always willing to take 5 minutes of their time and give you actionable tips.

    And sometimes increase traffic website, if you’re lucky.

  28. Send Personal Webinar Registration Emails to Unengaged Prospects

  Whenever a trend catches some popularity and everybody starts doing it, it becomes harder and harder for the people actually using the strategy properly to stand out from the crowd, as ironic as it sounds. So happened with webinars. It’s almost impossible to get through a day (even Sunday) without getting at least one webinar invite.

    It gets even harder when the prospects you’re trying to engage are slipping away. But it’s more challenging, at the same time. Joanna Wiebe went through the webinar-invite strategies in terms of what works and what doesn’t. Being personal is the first thing, along with writing from an individual point of view. Just mentioning names isn’t enough (although it’s a good start). But writing from your standpoint to the prospects’ helps them realize the benefits of engaging with your brand.  

  29. Use List Posts as Much as Possible – They’re Easy to Read & Tweet

  People like visually organized content because it helps them focus on the relevant aspects of an article, even when we skim through content. And admitting we’re doing it means admitting our readers are doing it as well.  

    Lists are a quick fix to this. They are increasing website traffic, as their main purpose is to guide the reader through the content, to get to the parts he’s really interested in, the ones he’ll carefully read. You just throw in a serious writer, and a topic with a lot of potential and buzz around it. Then organize it in the form of a list, and you’ve got yourself a traffic winner.  

  30. Use LinkedIn Groups to Announce Improvements to Targeted Audiences

  Joshua Rodriguez explained the proper way of using LinkedIn groups. It’s not something you do in a minute, it’s true (it doesn’t take you more than half an hour to get started either). It implies checking the interests of the groups you’re part of to make sure you’re not spammy or redundant.

      Depending on their informational needs and the extent to which they need to be notified (it’s enough for some to hear twice a month about your brand, while others would miss you if you didn’t post 3 times a day). Keeping appropriateness cannot be done empirically (or it can, but it’s not strategically constructive). So use spreadsheets. Write everything down and keep track of your improvements: it helps both morale and revenue!  

  31. Involve Readers in Your Content Marketing with a Crowd Sourced Post

  And mix them up a little. Combine powerful influencers with regular readers, to create an idea of a reliable source who is capable of seeing the message behind the popularity – and, ultimately, to gather as many people as possible with pertinent solutions to the issues you’re proposing for debate.

    Sometimes it’s not all social media (I can’t believe I’m saying this myself), as there are more types of going through information. I may just find it highly useful and informative, but maybe my friends are not as thrilled about the topic as I am. However, some crowd-sourced infographics don’t necessarily bring a spike in social media, but they do increase on-page engagement and the traffic itself has a boom. Matthew Woodward tried this strategy in the example above, and the results were encouraging.  

  32. Rank for Video Content Posting Optimized Youtube Videos Regularly

  But in order to achieve success, you’ll have to aim high. The best solution in video ranking, just like in life, is persistence. Uploading content regularly with the only purpose of satisfying a need of your viewers. Moreover, the more descriptive and elaborate the video title and descriptions are, the better you’re going to rank (and convince), the more views you’ll have.

  Take the example of Fitness Blender, a Youtube channel with fitness tutorials. Their video titles are explanatory and exhaustive using long tail keywords, while also building a sense of expectation in the viewer that they are going to satisfy, delivering precisely what they promised to. In a world where everybody went crazy about workout, this channel manages to have over 3 million subscribers organically through correct positioning that generates word of mouth.

    It’s true that one hour worth of videos is uploaded every minute on Youtube, but at the same time, more than 3 billion hours are watched each month, which is about 350 thousand years. Yes, that’s how much we like video content, because it’s easy to go through and it allows us to focus on another complementary activity, making it times more efficient than reading.

  There are many things that you can do to grow your reputation as an online source. Building brand awareness can face you with a number of opportunities that you just cannot miss. Ranking for video content is one of them.      

    33. Make People Curious About You & Boost Your Traffic with a Funny Product or Landing Page

  An interesting example of making people curious about you and getting traffic for your website was made popular by James Norquay. It’s about Virgin Mobile Australia, who launched a campaign called ‘drunk dialing’, which was for an app they made.

    The soft would simply allow you to block a person that you have the bad habit of texting or calling while drunk whenever you go out and drink, only to unblock the contacts the following morning. This way, you would be sure that drunk dialing is not a problem in Australia (where the campaign origins) anymore. The campaign wasn’t only efficient for people missing their exes, but from a marketing point of view as well, increasing brand loyalty and building traffic.  

  34. Feature Influencers in Your SlideShare Content to Get It Shared

  Most of the times, getting noticed cannot happen easily even if you’re relevant and hard working. But you can help your website using SlideShare’s. It is a great platform at your service, as often stated in the industry. It’s partly because it’s very authoritative, partly because it has a lot of daily views and partly because its users are interested in high-quality content and are willing to come back for more if you rise to their expectations.

      Promoting content on SlideShare’s a great way to start spinning the wheel. Of course, you’ll have to create a complete profile in order to be able to generate leads for more than 15 minutes after you’ve published the content. Include links in the presentations and provide the necessary contact information in order to be reachable.

  The platform has a huge capacity of adaptability to your needs. It allows you to do anything, including forms that readers would have to complete to access your restricted piece of content. And that’s because it is a serious source to become popular. It would be simply wrong not to address SlideShare’s gigantic audience.  

  35. Tag Influencers on Twitter to Let Them Know You Mentioned Them

  Another proven strategy to increase your blog’s traffic comes from influencers. Engagement matters a lot when it comes to creating long-term relationships on social media. And it doesn’t have to be because you’re co-interested in increasing the number of followers, it doesn’t have to be a marketing objective. Sometimes you can mention them in your blog posts, and get their attention via Twitter, or send them an appreciation email. Many people in any industry already apply this as something organic, not making a big deal out of it. Take Sujan Patel, for example.

    Follow people who you like reading updates from, and who inspire you. Don’t think of social media as a corporate way of making money out of the blue, but as an opportunity to connect with people who’ve got the same interests as you do. No more than 20 years ago this was impossible. How cool is it to have this chance? Just let people know when you’ve got a new crush on a niched social media celebrity. You can never know where engagement comes from.    

  36. Find a Unique and Personal Tone that Nobody in the Niche Has Adopted Yet

  I’m sure it’s not the first time you come across this type of advice. And it’s usually followed by a philosophy about consumers and society and what makes an article popular. Well, I’m not going to drag you to that pitfall of idealist conversations again. We’re going to be practical about this. We’re going to talk about examples.

    Mark Manson activates in an industry where it’s hard to make your voice stand out, personal development. And although he publishes frequently now, he didn’t always do this. He used to post a couple of articles a year and, to his surprise, without much investment, they produced thousands of views and shares on social media.

  I’m not saying we’re all that guy, it’s hardly the lesson here. But whenever I see someone who manages to rise above his overly crowded niche, I think it’s possible for all of us to do the same. Despite being about a motivational writer, this is not a motivational tip. It’s an actionable one: the differences between what the niche provides in terms of writing tone and how you can stand out are completely up to you and your dedication. It goes without saying that having a skillset in this direction helps a lot, but it’s mostly the competitive perspective.  

  37. Marry Evergreen Content with Trending Posts to Boost Visibility

  It’s not always possible to anticipate news, but you can work your way around the generic dynamic of your industry. Generally, the conversations around this topic make people admit there still are things they need to work on. The high number of comments on every good blog post on the matter is nothing but living proof, as Nirmala Santhakumar’s experience can confirm.

    Let’s talk lifespan. Trending content can bring you thousands of visits in the first few days, only to fade away less than a week later, while evergreen content is a constant and consistent source of traffic for years to come. These two work best in a complementary content marketing strategy, alternating the types of information you’re sharing with your audience to build both visibility and long-term engagement.

  You have to strike a balance. A huge part of this is knowing your industry’s cycle, from the times of the day when people have time to go through long reads to the most important news they’d be interested in monitoring no matter what. Start from there!  

  38. Get a Column on an Industry Publication

  It does have a great impact when you’re personal with your audience, but you have to make sure that this doesn’t stop them from seeing you as a professional. It’s crucial to maintain a balance between being perceived as a credible, reliable source and keeping your contact with prospects on a personal level. As Matthew Barby mentioned, pitching is something you have to do scaling the opportunities. You can use BrandMentions for this step. Then, there comes the pitching itself!

    Getting a column on an industry publication (or a publication with an industry topic) is something that’s multi-beneficial for your traffic. First, because it associates you with the press, which is always flattering for those who read your emails and see you engaged in personal conversations. Second, because it increases your exposure towards prospects you haven’t yet achieved and, of course, third, because it is a position that favors an increase in leads.  

  39. Find Partners in Your Industry

  The condition is basic and it implies that you have a quality audience, and you’re of a similar popularity level with the ones you’re going to close the partnership with. Otherwise, it’s really not worth it to create a blog today and write the Wall Street Journal tomorrow for an exchange of traffic sources.

    Consequently, the partnerships will have to be done taking the needs of the readers into consideration as well, not just to pump up some Analytics numbers. We all know it takes more than that to build a strong brand with increased loyalty. So proceed with care, like Entrepreneur and Unbounce did.

  Fresh sources of traffic can be a huge bummer. Fortunately, there are lots of positive examples that could inspire you to create effective strategies. One of these is finding partners in your industry and it isn’t that complicated to pitch, ince any other business would be highly interested in increasing their own traffic.  

  40. Tell Your Brand Story Through an Honest Appeal to Emotion

  Tom’s Shoes did a great job following this marketing rule of thumb, with an emotional video that presents their brand story through the eyes of their social responsibility. For every pair of shoes sold, the company gives one away to children in need, and generally people with unlucky financial situations in 60+ countries, including the United States.

    The company has 50.5k Youtube followers, 1.97M Twitter follows and the video had over 3.9M views. Something must have been done properly, right? Don’t be afraid to use emotion into making your brand more human, your potential customers will empathize. You don’t always have to be rational whenever presenting a product to an audience, and it seems as I cannot say this often enough.

  When you give people rational arguments exclusively, they will immediately think of counterarguments. This is how the human brain is wired to respond to rational stimuli, with other rational reactions. However, when you offer your audience a more complex marketing product, with both rational arguments to adhere to your brand’s values presented with an emotional pitching proposition, people will treat it as an experience, not as a theoretical dispute.  

  41. Pitch Your Business to Influencers on Hacker News

  Tung Tha told his story of a successful posting on Hacker News, by accident. He co-founded and created the TablePlus, a modern, native tool with elegant UI that helps you simultaneously manage multiple databases. They managed to receive 400% daily active users in one day and half of that number still remains until today. Not to mention, they managed to increase their revenue up over 200% compared to the previous month.

    There are some things to take into consideration when it comes to the style of writing, every platform has its secrets and this one is no different from this point of view. You’ll have to be clear and straightforward, without rushing people into information, but without any copywriting-orchestrated delay.

  When it comes to honest information and pitching, being the one to prolong things unnecessarily could even cause more harm than good. So be clear and bold, and don’t forget to be honest about the competitive advantages. In their case, it worked: relevancy and honesty had a lot to do with these numbers.  

  42. Post Questions that Make People Use Their Pride/Creativity/Ego

  Ego bait has always worked, especially when you make it stand out. People love to be appreciated for their work, since they put a lot of time and effort, all with the only purpose of being better professionals who inspire others around them. Of course, there’s also money, but mostly the ego thing.

    So it always helps when you treat someone as an authoritative source of information. And if you also ask them to be creative while at it, you’ve got yourself a winner. Jason Acidre asked influencers what were the most creative ideas for link building that they had ever implemented and the roundup had over 40 people giving advice.  

  43. Have Social Media Buttons in Your Email Newsletter

  Andrea Kinloch wrote a how-to article to help you include social sharing buttons in your signature.

    People don’t really tweet the content of emails, or they rarely do. However, sometimes newsletters are worth sharing with people, especially because they provide unique content to which only some people have access. Creating a connection between you and the reader, a social media button will direct the prospects to a personal page (not a brand profile), where people will be able to create an association between the brand and the awesome guy or chick behind it.

  Don’t be reluctant to share some things from your private life with your readers, such as your love for psychological movies or your spirit of adventure. In the end, it’s what makes them loyal, being able to associate a brand with an experience and, further, with a person they like and can empathize with.  

  44. Grow your Email List on a Daily Basis

  Email marketing has a lot to do with the signatures you’re using, as they’re a great way to propel your reputation and notoriety when performing outreach strategies. For every outreach email you’re sending, you should be able to incorporate a call to action that’s subtle. Make sure you’re attracting only people whose intent for your products or services is powerful enough to stick through time. For instance, this example from Sumo explains it well:

    You cannot access a larger audience exclusively through the prospect you connect to on social media, it takes more than this to build long-term relationships with your prospects. Email lists are a more consistent way of engaging with leads, as it serves as proof of their intent when it comes to your product or your content.  

  45. Write a Response Post to Something/Someone Popular in the Niche

  For instance, when everybody was praising Google’s new logo, there was a New Yorker article written by Sarah Larson, that had something to say about it, and it was massively popular because it treated something against the stream.  

    Google’s new visual identity was expected for a while now, and the Serifs made it look old-fashioned and too traditional for the values it stands for. However, this awesome article brought arguments for the old version of the logo and people loved it!

  Every time when something’s gaining a lot of momentum, there will be people disagreeing with it, whose voices will not be heard because of the popular chanting around them. You can always take the time to be that voice for them, but don’t do it unless it really represents your position, otherwise, it could backfire later!  

  Conclusion

There is no such thing as a recipe, and constant traffic is one of those formulas that need to be adjusted and re-adjusted in order to work best in your interest. But tips and detailed guides are always welcome. Follow our 45 proven strategies to increase the number of visitors to your website. Just make sure that they align with your marketing strategy, otherwise, they might do more harm than good, despite the occasional traffic spike. So, which of these tips do you think would help the most?  

  The post 45 Quick Traffic Hacks That Will Boost Your Website appeared first on SEO Blog | cognitiveSEO Blog on SEO Tactics & Strategies.

[readbookywooks]

Midnight

Lord Asriel said, "Marisa, wake up. We're about to land." A blustery dawn was breaking over the basalt fortress as the intention craft flew in from the south. Mrs. Coulter, sore and heartsick, opened her eyes; she had not been asleep. She could see the angel Xaphania gliding above the landing ground, and then rising and wheeling up to the tower as the craft made for the ramparts. As soon as the craft had landed, Lord Asriel leapt out and ran to join King Ogunwe on the western watchtower, ignoring Mrs. Coulter entirely. The technicians who came at once to attend to the flying machine took no notice of her, either; no one questioned her about the loss of the aircraft she'd stolen; it was as if she'd become invisible. She made her way sadly up to the room in the adamant tower, where the orderly offered to bring her some food and coffee. "Whatever you have," she said. "And thank you. Oh, by the way," she went on as the man turned to go: "Lord Asriel's alethiometrist, Mr...." "Mr. Basilides?" "Yes. Is he free to come here for a moment?" "He's working with his books at the moment, ma'am. I'll ask him to step up here when he can." She washed and changed into the one clean shirt she had left. The cold wind that shook the windows and the gray morning light made her shiver. She put some more coals on the iron stove, hoping it would stop her trembling, but the cold was in her bones, not just her flesh. Ten minutes later there was a knock on the door. The pale, dark-eyed alethiometrist, with his nightingale daemon on his shoulder, came in and bowed slightly. A moment later the orderly arrived with a tray of bread, cheese, and coffee, and Mrs. Coulter said: "Thank you for coming, Mr. Basilides. May I offer you some refreshment?" "I will take some coffee, thank you." "Please tell me," she said as soon as she'd poured the drink, "because I'm sure you've been following what's happened: is my daughter alive?" He hesitated. The golden monkey clutched her arm. "She is alive," said Basilides carefully, "but also..." "Yes? Oh, please, what do you mean?" "She is in the world of the dead. For some time I could not interpret what the instrument was telling me: it seemed impossible. But there is no doubt. She and the boy have gone into the world of the dead, and they have opened a way for the ghosts to come out. As soon as the dead reach the open, they dissolve as their daemons did, and it seems that this is the most sweet and desirable end for them. And the alethiometer tells me that the girl did this because she overheard a prophecy that there would come an end to death, and she thought that this was a task for her to accomplish. As a result, there is now a way out of the world of the dead." Mrs. Coulter couldn't speak. She had to turn away and go to the window to conceal the emotion on her face. Finally she said: "And will she come out alive? - But no, I know you can't predict. Is she - how is she - has she..." "She is suffering, she is in pain, she is afraid. But she has the companionship of the boy, and of the two Gallivespian spies, and they are still all together." "And the bomb?" "The bomb did not hurt her." Mrs. Coulter felt suddenly exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep for months, for years. Outside, the flag rope snapped and clattered in the wind, and the rooks cawed as they wheeled around the ramparts. "Thank you, sir," she said, turning back to the reader. "I'm very grateful. Please would you let me know if you discover anything more about her, or where she is, or what she's doing?" The man bowed and left. Mrs. Coulter went to lie down on the camp bed, but try as she would, she couldn't keep her eyes closed. "What do you make of that, King?" said Lord Asriel. He was looking through the watchtower telescope at something in the western sky. It had the appearance of a mountain hanging in the sky a hand's breadth above the horizon, and covered in cloud. It was a very long way off - so far, in fact, that it was no bigger than a thumbnail held out at arm's length. But it had not been there for long, and it hung there absolutely still. The telescope brought it closer, but there was no more detail: cloud still looks like cloud however much it's magnified. "The Clouded Mountain," said Ogunwe. "Or - what do they call it? The Chariot?" "With the Regent at the reins. He's concealed himself well, this Metatron. They speak of him in the apocryphal scriptures: he was a man once, a man called Enoch, the son of Jared, six generations away from Adam. And now he rules the Kingdom. And he's intending to do more than that, if that angel they found by the sulphur lake was correct - the one who entered the Clouded Mountain to spy. If he wins this battle, he intends to intervene directly in human life. Imagine that, Ogunwe - a permanent Inquisition, worse than anything the Consistorial Court of Discipline could dream up, staffed by spies and traitors in every world and directed personally by the intelligence that's keeping that mountain aloft... The old Authority at least had the grace to withdraw; the dirty work of burning heretics and hanging witches was left to his priests. This new one will be far, far worse." "Well, he's begun by invading the Republic," said Ogunwe. "Look - is that smoke?" A drift of gray was leaving the Clouded Mountain, a slowly spreading smudge against the blue sky. But it couldn't have been smoke: it was drifting against the wind that tore at the clouds. The king put his field glasses to his eyes and saw what it was. "Angels," he said. Lord Asriel came away from the telescope and stood up, hand shading his eyes. In hundreds, and then thousands, and tens of thousands, until half that part of the sky was darkened, the minute figures flew and flew and kept on coming. Lord Asriel had seen the billion-strong flocks of blue starlings that wheeled at sunset around the palace of the Emperor K'ang-Po, but he had never seen so vast a multitude in all his life. The flying beings gathered themselves and then streamed away slowly, slowly, to the north and the south. "Ah! And what's that?" said Lord Asriel, pointing. "That's not the wind." The cloud was swirling on the southern flank of the mountain, and long tattered banners of vapor streamed out in the powerful winds. But Lord Asriel was right: the movement was coming from within, not from the air outside. The cloud roiled and tumbled, and then it parted for a second. There was more than a mountain there, but they only saw it for a moment; and then the cloud swirled back, as if drawn across by an unseen hand, to conceal it again. King Ogunwe put down his field glasses. "That's not a mountain," he said. "I saw gun emplacements..." "So did I. A whole complexity of things. Can he see out through the cloud, I wonder? In some worlds, they have machines to do that. But as for his army, if those angels are all they've got - " The king gave a brief exclamation, half of astonishment, half of despair. Lord Asriel turned and gripped his arm with fingers that all but bruised him to the bone. "They haven't got this!" he said, and shook Ogunwe's arm violently. "They haven't got flesh!" He laid his hand against his friend's rough cheek. "Few as we are," he went on, "and short-lived as we are, and weak-sighted as we are - in comparison with them, we're still stronger. They envy us, Ogunwe! That's what fuels their hatred, I'm sure of it. They long to have our precious bodies, so solid and powerful, so well-adapted to the good earth! And if we drive at them with force and determination, we can sweep aside those infinite numbers as you can sweep your hand through mist. They have no more power than that!" "Asriel, they have allies from a thousand worlds, living beings like us." "We shall win." "And suppose he's sent those angels to look for your daughter?" "My daughter!" cried Lord Asriel, exulting. "Isn't it something to bring a child like that into the world? You'd think it was enough to go alone to the king of the armored bears and trick his kingdom out of his paws - but to go down into the world of the dead and calmly let them all out! And that boy; I want to meet that boy; I want to shake his hand. Did we know what we were taking on when we started this rebellion? No. But did they know - the Authority and his Regent, this Metatron - did they know what they were taking on when my daughter got involved?" "Lord Asriel," said the king, "do you understand her importance for the future?" "Frankly, no. That's why I want to see Basilides. Where did he go?" "To the Lady Coulter. But the man is worn out; he can do no more until he's rested." "He should have rested before. Send for him, would you? Oh, one more thing: please ask Madame Oxentiel to come to the tower as soon as it's convenient. I must give her my condolences." Madame Oxentiel had been the Gallivespians' second-in-command. Now she would have to take over Lord Roke's responsibilities. King Ogunwe bowed and left his commander scanning the gray horizon. All through that day the army assembled. Angels of Lord Asriel's force flew high over the Clouded Mountain, looking for an opening, but without success. Nothing changed; no more angels flew out or inward; the high winds tore at the clouds, and the clouds endlessly renewed themselves, not parting even for a second. The sun crossed the cold blue sky and then moved down to the southwest, gilding the clouds and tinting the vapor around the mountain every shade of cream and scarlet, of apricot and orange. When the sun sank, the clouds glowed faintly from within. Warriors were now in place from every world where Lord Asriel's rebellion had supporters; mechanics and artificers were fueling aircraft, loading weapons, and calibrating sights and measures. As the darkness came, some welcome reinforcements arrived. Padding silently over the cold ground from the north, separately, singly, came a number of armored bears, a large number, and among them was their king. Not long afterward, there arrived the first of several witch clans, the sound of the air through their pine branches whispering in the dark sky for a long time. Along the plain to the south of the fortress glimmered thousands of lights, marking the camps of those who had arrived from far off. Farther away, in all four corners of the compass, flights of spy-angels cruised tirelessly, keeping watch. At midnight in the adamant tower, Lord Asriel sat in discussion with King Ogunwe, the angel Xaphania, Madame Oxentiel the Gallivespian, and Teukros Basilides. The alethiometrist had just finished speaking, and Lord Asriel stood up, crossed to the window, and looked out at the distant glow of the Clouded Mountain hanging in the western sky. The others were silent; they had just heard something that had made Lord Asriel turn pale and tremble, and none of them quite knew how to respond. Finally Lord Asriel spoke. "Mr. Basilides," he said, "you must be very fatigued. I am grateful for all your efforts. Please take some wine with us." "Thank you, my lord," said the reader. His hands were shaking. King Ogunwe poured the golden Tokay and handed him the glass. "What will this mean, Lord Asriel?" said the clear voice of Madame Oxentiel. Lord Asriel came back to the table. "Well," he said, "it will mean that when we join battle, we shall have a new objective. My daughter and this boy have become separated from their daemons, somehow, and managed to survive; and their daemons are somewhere in this world - correct me if I'm summarizing wrongly, Mr. Basilides - their daemons are in this world, and Metatron is intent on capturing them. If he captures their daemons, the children will have to follow; and if he can control those two children, the future is his, forever. Our task is clear: we have to find the daemons before he does, and keep them safe till the girl and the boy rejoin them." The Gallivespian leader said, "What form do they have, these two lost daemons?" "They are not yet fixed, madame," said Teukros Basilides. "They might be any shape." "So," said Lord Asriel, "to sum it up: all of us, our Republic, the future of every conscious being - we all depend on my daughter's remaining alive, and on keeping her daemon and the boy's out of the hands of Metatron?" "That is so." Lord Asriel sighed, almost with satisfaction; it was as if he'd come to the end of a long and complex calculation, and reached an answer that made quite unexpected sense. "Very well," he said, spreading his hands wide on the table. "Then this is what we shall do when the battle begins. King Ogunwe, you will assume command of all the armies defending the fortress. Madame Oxentiel, you are to send your people out at once to search in every direction for the girl and the boy, and the two daemons. When you find them, guard them with your lives until they come together again. At that point, I understand, the boy will be able to help them escape to another world, and safety." The lady nodded. Her stiff gray hair caught the lamplight, glinting like stainless steel, and the blue hawk she had inherited from Lord Roke spread his wings briefly on the bracket by the door. "Now, Xaphania," said Lord Asriel. "What do you know of this Metatron? He was once a man: does he still have the physical strength of a human being?" "He came to prominence long after I was exiled," the angel said. "I have never seen him up close. But he would not have been able to dominate the Kingdom unless he was very strong indeed, strong in every way. Most angels would avoid fighting hand-to-hand. Metatron would relish the combat, and win." Ogunwe could tell that Lord Asriel had been struck by an idea. His attention suddenly withdrew, his eyes lost focus for an instant, and then snapped back to the moment with an extra charge of intensity. "I see," he said. "Finally, Xaphania, Mr. Basilides tells us that their bomb not only opened an abyss below the worlds, but also fractured the structure of things so profoundly that there are fissures and cracks everywhere. Somewhere nearby there must be a way down to the edge of that abyss. I want you to look for it." "What are you going to do?" said King Ogunwe harshly. "I'm going to destroy Metatron. But my part is nearly over. It's my daughter who has to live, and it's our task to keep all the forces of the Kingdom away from her so that she has a chance to find her way to a safer world - she and that boy, and their daemons." "And what about Mrs. Coulter?" said the king. Lord Asriel passed a hand over his forehead. "I would not have her troubled," he said. "Leave her alone and protect her if you can. Although... Well, maybe I'm doing her an injustice. Whatever else she's done, she's never failed to surprise me. But we all know what we must do, and why we must do it: we have to protect Lyra until she has found her daemon and escaped. Our Republic might have come into being for the sole purpose of helping her do that. Let us do it as well as we can." Mrs. Coulter lay in Lord Asriel's bed next door. Hearing voices in the other room, she stirred, for she wasn't deeply asleep. She came out of her troubled slumber uneasy and heavy with longing. Her daemon sat up beside her, but she didn't want to move closer to the door; it was simply the sound of Lord Asriel's voice she wanted to hear rather than any particular words. She thought they were both doomed. She thought they were all doomed. Finally she heard the door closing in the other room and roused herself to stand up. "Asriel," she said, going through into the warm naphtha light. His daemon growled softly; the golden monkey dropped his head low to propitiate her. Lord Asriel was rolling up a large map and did not turn. "Asriel, what will happen to us all?" she said, taking a chair. He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. His face was ravaged with fatigue. He sat down and rested an elbow on the table. Their daemons were very still - the monkey crouching on the chair back, the snow leopard sitting upright and alert at Lord Asriel's side, watching Mrs. Coulter unblinkingly. "You didn't hear?" he said. "I heard a little. I couldn't sleep, but I wasn't listening. Where is Lyra now, does anyone know?" "No." He still hadn't answered her first question, and he wasn't going to, and she knew it. "We should have married," she said, "and brought her up ourselves." It was such an unexpected remark that he blinked. His daemon uttered the softest possible growl at the back of her throat, and settled down with her paws outstretched in the manner of the Sphinx. He said nothing. "I can't bear the thought of oblivion, Asriel," she continued. "Sooner anything than that. I used to think pain would be worse - to be tortured forever - I thought that must be worse... But as long as you were conscious, it would be better, wouldn't it? Better than feeling nothing, just going into the dark, everything going out forever and ever?" His part was simply to listen. His eyes were locked on hers, and he was paying profound attention; there was no need to respond. She said: "The other day, when you spoke about her so bitterly, and about me... I thought you hated her. I could understand your hating me. I've never hated you, but I could understand... I could see why you might hate me. But I couldn't see why you hated Lyra." He turned his head away slowly, and then looked back. "I remember you said something strange, on Svalbard, on the mountaintop, just before you left our world," she went on. "You said: Come with me, and we'll destroy Dust forever. You remember saying that? But you didn't mean it. You meant the very opposite, didn't you? I see now. Why didn't you tell me what you were really doing? Why didn't you tell me you were really trying to preserve Dust? You could have told me the truth." "I wanted you to come and join me," he said, his voice hoarse and quiet, "and I thought you would prefer a lie." "Yes," she whispered, "that's what I thought." She couldn't sit still, but she didn't really have the strength to stand up. For a moment she felt faint, her head swam, sounds receded, the room darkened, but almost at once her senses came back even more pitilessly than before, and nothing in the situation had changed. "Asriel..." she murmured. The golden monkey put a tentative hand out to touch the paw of the snow leopard. The man watched without a word, and Stelmaria didn't move; her eyes were fixed on Mrs. Coulter. "Oh, Asriel, what will happen to us?" Mrs. Coulter said again. "Is this the end of everything?" He said nothing. Moving like someone in a dream, she got to her feet, picked up the rucksack that lay in the corner of the room, and reached inside it for her pistol; and what she would have done next, no one knew, because at that moment there came the sound of footsteps running up the stairs. Both man and woman, and both daemons, turned to look at the orderly who came in and said breathlessly: "Excuse me, my lord - the two daemons - they've been seen, not far from the eastern gate - in the form of cats - the sentry tried to talk to them, bring them inside, but they wouldn't come near. It was only a minute or so ago..." Lord Asriel sat up, transfigured. All the fatigue had been wiped off his face in a moment. He sprang to his feet and seized his greatcoat. Ignoring Mrs. Coulter, he flung the coat around his shoulders and said to the orderly: "Tell Madame Oxentiel at once. Put this order out: the daemons are not to be threatened, or frightened, or coerced in any way. Anyone seeing them should first..." Mrs. Coulter heard no more of what he was saying, because he was already halfway down the stairs. When his running footsteps had faded, too, the only sounds were the gentle hiss of the naphtha lamp and the moan of the wild wind outside. Her eyes found the eyes of her daemon. The golden monkey's expression was as subtle and complex as it had ever been in all their thirty-five years of life. "Very well," she said. "I can't see any other way. I think... I think we'll..." He knew at once what she meant. He leapt to her breast, and they embraced. Then she found her fur-lined coat, and they very quietly left the chamber and made their way down the dark stairs.