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bre-meister · 5 years ago

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Grandpa Barry

a not so short fluffy one-shot based off of an old offhanded comment by @onehelluvafirstdate that kinda just stuck with me

Holidays for the Butron’s had become more than just family affairs. For several years prior to the events at the Spencer Mansion, the Redfield siblings had begun to join them for these types of events after their parent’s deaths. However, after the mansion incident, the large scale outbreak that was Racoon City, and the countless other BOW incidents that had occurred since family holidays had extended well past just the family.

Thanksgivings and Christmases and Fourth of July’s had become celebrations of more than just that particular holiday. They were a celebration of another year lived, another attack survived, and sometimes, celebrations of another survivor added to their small but growing group of what they considered to be extended family.

This particular Thanksgiving was no different and so, the Burtons found themselves preparing to host their extended family for dinner, drinks, and overall good times. Not everyone was always able to attend - their common line of work never really took holidays into consideration - but this year they’re gearing up for an unusually good turnout.

Chris arrives first, as always. Early in order to help set up. The man can’t cook for shit so he brings drinks - both alcoholic and non-alcoholic - for his contribution to the large meal. Rebecca is next along with Sherry and Jake. Quite frankly, Barry was surprised they’ ed convinced the kid to come but, at the same time, the older man was fairly sure Jake would do anything for Sherry if she just asked. The three had brought different desserts that were most probably store-bought. Barry could already see Rebecca’s hand slowly drifting up to the pair of dog tags that hung around her neck - it would become more evident as the night wore on.

Next are Jill and Carlos, the latter of which has just been a recent addition to these types of celebrations despite having known Jill since Racoon. They arrive with a dish that smells heavenly and was most definitely prepared by Carlos. Jill, like Chris, was poorly adept in the kitchen.

Last to arrive was Leon and Claire along with their ever-growing brood. Isabelle seemed to be barley restraining herself, a ball of excitement ready to burst at the seams.

“Hi, Grandpa Barry!”

Barry smiled at the little girl. She had been calling him ‘Grandpa” for as long as he could remember and, seeing as the kid had no real grandparents in her life, he and his wife had taken on the pseudo roll eagerly.

“Hey kid,” Barry ruffled her hair, “how’s it going?”

“Great!” she giggled. Pleasantries out of the way, Isabelle moved on to her main prerogative,

“Are Sherry and Jake here yet?”

For some reason, Izzy had taken quite the shining to her older sister’s new boy toy. Jake, for his part, seemed to have begrudgingly accepted his newfound role as ‘big brother’ to the Kennedy kid. Barry supposed that Izzy had never really given him a choice.

“They are. In fact, you guys are the last to get here.”

Isabelle pouted before turning to her mother who had been hanging up their coats by the door.

“I told you, Mamma, we’re always late.”

“We’re not late Izzy. Dinner isn’t anywhere near ready yet so you have plenty of time to play with Sherry and Jake.”

Izzy harrumphed before running off to the living room where she assumed everyone else would be. Claire sighed before turning to their host.

“Hey, Barry.” She smiled and accepted the hug that Barry was offering her. She registered Leon scolding Izzy for not taking her shoes off before running further into the house.

“Leon.” Barry moved on to the younger man, waving at little Olivia who was snuggled up in her Daddy’s arms.

“Barry.”

This was usually how things were. The two would act aloof until Claire has moved out of earshot and Barry could well and truly find out how Leon was doing.

“Kathy is in the kitchen, said to send you in once you got here.”

“Oh, of course.” Claire looked between the two men and pretended not to know what was going on. She pecked Leon on the lips and tickled Olivia’s belly before heading towards the kitchen to help Kathy with the dinner.

“Sorry, we didn’t bring anything this year. Claire’s had her hands full with her job and the girls while I was gone and since I got back a few days ago things have been a little out of whack.” Leon chuckled.

“Don’t worry about it kid.” God, Barry thought, am I really so old that I’m calling everyone kid?

“Anyway,” Barry said, “how’s the family life treating ya?”

Leon knew Barry wasn’t really asking about the ‘family life’. But it was just easier sometimes to talk in innuendos and code words what with little ears around. In this case, the family life really meant the sober life. The special agent looked down at a specific pair of little ears before answering. Liv was currently clinging to Leon like her life depended on it. Both girls were always a little clingy when he returned from long missions but Liv tended to take the term ‘Daddy’s girl’ to a new level.

The three-year-old had only let go of the man long enough for both of them to take their coats off. What Barry noticed though, was that Leon seemed to be holding on to Olivia just as desperately.

“Family life is... It’s ah, a little hard sometimes. But I’d never go back.”

Barry smiled but nodded. Motioning for Leon to follow, he made his way into the living room to join everyone else.

“Hi, Livy!” Moira said, waving enthusiastically at the little girl.

“Hi,” Liv said in a small, quiet voice

“Come play with us!” Natalia called from where she and Moira were stationed in front of a dollhouse.

Barry’s adopted daughter loved playing with Olivia whenever she got the chance. She once told him that it was because she had fun playing with ‘babies’ which, Barry thought was a little funny considering that, at only eleven, Barry still very much saw Natalia as barely more than a baby himself. He supposed he should work on that, the girls as growing up every day - thriving, even, in a stable environment with what is probably the closest to a normal life she’d ever had.

Olivia shook her head at Natalia’s invitation to play. Instead, she buried her head even further in her father’s shoulder.

“Common Liv, we have a special doll just for you.” This time it was Moira trying to do the convincing, even going as far as to use a sing-song voice.

All she garnered was another head shake.

“I’m sure your sister is having a lot of fun with Sherry and Jake,” Barry motioned to where the three were making various buildings and figures out of Leggos, “I think you’d have a lot of fun.”

“Jake could use some help over here Liv, I think you should come show him how its done.” Sherry chimed in.

“What? No I -” Jake’s cry of indignation was cut off by Sherry’s elbow to his side. “ I’m real lost here, Oliva. Sherry’s right.”

“ I stay with Daddy.”

A round of soft laughter went through the room at that. Barry shared a knowing look with his wife before holding his arms out to the little girl who looked at him skeptically,

“Common sweetie. I’m sure you’ve been attached your Daddy since he’s been back. Why don’t you spend some time with Grandpa for a bit? I feel like I haven’t seen your cute little face in ages!”

Olivia didn’t say anything. Instead, she just looked at Barry in that way kids were so good at like he was spewing a load of fresh bullshit.

“It’s fine Barry.” Leon’s response saw Olivia snuggles back into her father, content to be in his arms.

“Well, she can’t stay with you forever kid, gotta learn sometime - both of you. Why not now when you won’t be any further than a room away.”

“I’m with you Barry, I tell Leon all the time he coddles her too much,” Claire said. From her spot in the kitchen, she had a clear view of what was going on in the living room.

“Is it really coddling though? I was gone for almost two weeks.” Leon’s defense was weak sounding.

“And we both know you could be gone longer at the drop of a hat. That’s just the life we live and when she refuses to be put down and you refuse to put her down, you make my life harder when Daddy inevitably has to leave again. Barry’s still got my vote. She’s gotta learn.”

“Common, Chris, Carlos, if you guys were in my situation you’re telling me you guys wouldn’t do the same thing.”

“ Sorry bro, as much as I love to disagree with my sister, she’s kinda right.” Chris’s reply was definitely not what Leon was looking for so the blonde man turned to Carlos for his support.

“Look man, I’d be the first to admit that if I ever had kids it would be hard for me to ever deny them anything.” Leon lit up at that and everyone else pretended to ignore the quick look Carlos shot Jill as he finished his statement.

“But,” Leon seemed to visibly deflate as Carlos continued, already knowing where this was going - not in his favor “ that doesn’t mean they aren’t right.”

“Thank you!” Claire interjected.

“Well, I think it’s cute.” Rebecca proudly stated.

At that Caire stepped fully out of the kitchen and pointed a pair of tongs at Rebecca who had been nursing a glass of something strong by the fireplace.

“You say that now. Wait until you find someone and have a few kids of your own. As cute as it is, your tune will change real quick.”

Rebecca let out a little laugh as Claire returned to the kitchen but it sounded a little forced, hand drifting back up to the dog tags around her neck.

“Hand her over, Leon. She’ll be fine.”

Reluctantly, Leon did as he was told. Olivia did not go quietly, the beginnings of a tantrum becoming evident as she was handed off to her ‘grandpa’.

“Oh stop acting up baby girl, you’re just fine!” Claire’s voice carried sweet but stern from the kitchen.

Olivia quieted at her mother’s words but still hadn’t silenced her whimpers. Leon looked about ready to cave.

“I have three kids Leon and more years of experience. Trust me, I’ve got this. Now, Livy and I are gonna go read a nice story and I’m sure Kathy and Claire could use some help.” Barry said with a smile.

“ Leon, could be a dear and go bring the cooler in from the garage?”

“Of course Kathy.”

“Oh, you might need some help. It’s not exactly small and Barry already put the ice and some drinks in.”

“I got you.” Carlos squeezed Leon’s shoulder as he passed, effectively turning the man away from Olivia and punching him in the direction of the garage.

“Thanks, boys!” Kathy called after them.

Olivia got a little angsty once Leon was out of her sights but soon Barry had her thoughts away from her missing Daddy and onto The Cat in the Hat. They got through three more books - Olivia entranced by the pictures in on each page - before eventually going off to color with Polly who had brought out some of her colored pencils, crayons, and old coloring books.

Olivia even convinced her Uncle Chris to come color with her ( and he’d never admit it to Leon but, when those large blue eyes were turned on him Chris knew he wouldn’t be able to say no).

When Claire and Kathy called that dinner was ready to be served Leon took that as his cue that ‘separation’ time was over. He collected Izzy first, watching to make sure to washed-up properly before helping her to make a plate.

“ Do you want ham or turkey, Princess?”

“ Ham, please. Daddy, I don’t want green beans.” Isabelle made a face as Leon scooped some onto the plate, ignoring her protest.

“ I know, but remember what we talked about?”

Isabelle sighed, “No green beans, no desert.” The girl had a sweet tooth that could rival her mother’s and her parents tended to use that to their advantage.

Leon chuckled, bringing the plate over to the smaller table just to the side of the main one in the dining room. Their found family was getting too big for everyone to sit at the dining table, so they had resorted to setting up a table for the youngest of the group to sit.

Izzy seemed to accept her fate as she sat Jake at the table, giggling as he too joked about being forced to eat his vegetables in return for dessert. Sherry always volunteered to sit with the kiddos along with Moira and Polly and wherever Sherry went, Jake went. Leon shot the kid a look, it seemed that two of his girls had taken quite a shining to him and it was safe to say that he wasn’t too pleased with it. Rationally, he knew that Sherry was old enough to make her own decisions and Izzy most likely just had a silly schoolgirl crush that would go away with time. But Leon didn’t want to think rationally right now.

He was interrupted from his thoughts as he heard Claire playfully inspecting Olivia’s hands.

“Did you get ‘em all clean, baby?”

“Uh-huh. Uncle Chris help me!”

“Did he sing you your song?” Claire asked teasingly. Olivia just giggled while nodding her head yes.

“He did, did he?” Claire sent a shit-eating grin to her brother who quickly excused himself to the table.

“You do it better, Mommy.” Claire laughed before kissing her little girl’s bleach blonde hair. Leon was convinced it would darken over time, just like his had.

“Come here little bug, let’s get you something to eat.”

Leon helped Liv just as he had with Izzy. Once she’d had all she wanted on her plate, as well as some vegetables she didn’t, he made to set her up next to her sister at the other table.

“Daddy, no!”

Leon was prepared for this, it happened every time. Liv wouldn’t want to sit with the other kids, no, she always much rather stay with her Daddy. So, safe to say he was more than taken aback by Livy’s next words.

“ I sit with Grandpa.”

It was as if the whole room went silent at Olivia’s request, even Izzy stopped her laughing and was looking at her little sister with a shocked expression.

“ I - um… you’d have to ask Grandpa.”

Olivia wasted no time running over to Barry where he sat at the head of the table.

“Grandpa, I sit with you?”

“Sure, sweetheart.”

Barry lifted the little girl onto her lap. She settled in with a little giggle and Leon felt his heart both swell and break at the sound. This was what they were trying to achieve the whole night, right? He voiced such out loud when Claire came over to ask if he was ok.

“Ya but, it doesn’t mean it would hurt any less. That was a hard reject, Kennedy.” Jill said.

“Jill.” Carlos gently admonished.

“What? Are we all just supposed to sit here and pretend like that didn’t just happen? I mean, no offense to you Leon but that was the funniest thing I’ve seen all night.” Jill laughed again.

“You know Jill, I never took you as one to languish in someone else’s pain. Hats off to you.”

Jill raised her wine glass to Jake in acknowledgment of his comment. Claire took Liv’s plate out of Leon’s hand and placed it in front of the little girl. She then began to make up another one with all of Leon’s favorites.

Putting down the plate in front of an empty chair she motioned for Leon to come and sit.

“Why don’t you come eat something, honey.”

Leon could tell that even Claire felt a little bad for him - she only calls him ‘honey’ when she does. She even kissed his cheek as he pulled a chair out for her before sitting down like she’d suggested.

“It’s fine,” he lied, “I don’t get why you guys are making such a big deal out of this.”

“If he’s acting this way now imagine how he’ll act once they start dating.” Rebecca whisper yelled to Chris who was seated next to her.

Chris almost choked on his drink, laughing at the image of Leon’s suffering.

“Hey, he hasn’t said anything about Jake yet!” Sherry’s attempt at defending Leon was not appreciated by Jake who shot her a scathing look.

“Only because I haven’t had the chance yet. It’s coming, Shelly.” Leon turned to look at the two adults in question as he said it.

Sherry blushed - whether, from the use of his old nickname for her or from the thinly veiled threat, he wasn’t exactly sure. Jake let out a withered sigh before turning back to his food. Eventually, everyone else took pity on Leon’s poor soul and did the same. That, or they just got tired of making fun of him - with people like these for family one never could be too sure.

Dinner continued with much merriment; teasing abounded but not all at the expense of Leon. Once the word was out that Rebeca had been curbing advances from several men she had met at her new job the table was divided - some teasing and encouraging her to go for it, others defending that she didn’t have to. By the end of it, the dog tags had ended back up in her hands. Rebecca then flipped it on the perpetually single Chris who, in turn, threw Jill and Carlos under the bus. The friendly banter then shifted to their undefined relationship status. All the while laughter continuously flowed from the table along with the occasional interjection from Moira, Polly, or Sherry. Jake mainly sticking to entertaining the kids.

By the end of the night, Leon found himself with an arm around Claire’s shoulders and Livy sitting in his lap - two out of three of his girls snuggled up against his chest, still seated at the table. Olivia had migrated back to her Daddy when she had started to get tired and Leon would be lying if he said it hadn’t made him feel miles better. Number three wasn’t far behind.

“Daddy, are we going home soon?”

Leon could see the tiredness almost radiating off of his daughter. Izzy had run off her sugar high from dessert and looked like she was ready to drop right there in front of him.

“Soon, Princess.” he shifted Livy in his lap to make room for Izzy.

It always took a little finagling to fit both Isabelle and Olivia on his lap but, somehow, they always seemed to make a way. Izzy climbed up and Leon felt content - belly full of good food, surrounded by family and good conversation, and most importantly, his little family wrapped safely in his arms.

They stayed like that for a while. Eventually, Chris, Carlos, and Jill began to clear the table. They made their way to the kitchen with the intent to clean up and give Kathy a break since she and Claire were the main ones who set everything up.

Leon could hear his wife sigh,

“It’s late. We should get the girls home.” except she made no move to do that, instead she buried her face in his neck and took in a deep breath letting out an even deeper sigh.

Eventually, Izzy began softly snoring. Leon and Claire knew they couldn’t put off heading home any longer - the drive wasn’t long but it wasn’t exactly short either and the girls should be sleeping in their own beds where it was more comfortable.

Between the two of them, they were able to get the girls into their shoes and jackets and then into their car seats with minimal trouble. They said their goodbyes outside by the car. Promises to do it again for Christmas were made but they were all taken with a grain of salt. One never knew when Leon would be called away on a mission or when Claire would be needed for some Terrasave function or clean-up job.

“I hope you enjoy being ‘grandpa’ to those cute little girls ‘cause you sure aren’t getting any grandkids from me anytime soon.”

“Good.”

Barry turned away from watching Claire and Leon drive away to look down at his oldest daughter. She looked back up at him. All was silent for a moment until the two broke out into easy laughter. He guided her back into the house, closing the door and effectively blocking the cold out.

As Barry held his own daughter close he looked around at everyone left. Natalia sleeping on the couch, Sherry and Jake whispering in a not-so secluded corner. Rebecca had joined the cleanup crew in the kitchen after having seen off the Kennedy clan. His eyes met his wife’s who was still seated at the table enjoying a slice of pie with Polly.

Barry knew that in the world they lived in, one couldn’t be certain of many things. But, he also knew that he could be certain of this - family wasn’t just defined by blood. Barry didn’t know what the future held, no one did. What they did know, however, was that their family was always changing - in size and look. But, they would always be there, especially on holidays like this, to remind one another that they were alive, that they had all made it through another year. They would be there to remind each other that there was still love and kindness in this dark world worth fighting for, and they did it in what seemed like the easiest, most simple way - by loving each other.

#Cleon #Cleon fic #cleon babies #resident evil #brief appearance of Valenveira #My writing #i had to write some fluff so I could write the angst later #Thanks to everyone in the discord for the great headcannons

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everythinggeeky · 5 years ago

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Everything I Wanted | Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan Kenobi x senator! reader

Warnings: NONE! lots of fluff, angst, longing, fuck the jedi code amiright

Word Count: 1.9k

Summary: Obi-Wan appears to the reader in a force projection after a long troubling day of debates within the senate, reminding the reader of her true purpose and comforting her. After settling her nerves until he can safely return, she gains the courage to continue the difficult debates.

A/N: requests are open!

masterlist

The debates have been going on what feels like for months. In reality, it was only a few weeks. Long, grueling senate sessions have become your new reality. By the end of the evening, you were exhausted and ready to collapse in your bed, overlooking the busy, bustling Coruscant traffic.

After the regularly scheduled senate session, you had met Senator Amidala to discuss your plan to convince the Senate that the upcoming bill wasn’t a good idea as everyone had originally thought. She and Senator Organa were assembling a notion to detract support from the bill and suggest an amendment to the preexisting policy. The discussion had been troubling, however. To amend the current policy would be an amendment to tradition. Without a doubt, this wouldn’t go over well in the Senate.

Ensuring senator Amidala that you would sleep on it, you returned to your quarters, enthralled by the wonder of the cityscape. There was a piece missing from this moment, the Jedi master that has quickly taken residence in your heart. Master Kenobi was away, engaged in battle on a planet unknown; a planet torn by the Clone Wars. Of course, attachments are against the Jedi code. However, you had both agreed that you wouldn’t let your connection come between you, him, and the mission at hand.

Gazing out over the balcony, plagued by insomnia, your thoughts wandered to the man. He had worked so hard in the last few months, difficult battles consumed his weeks and you had barely seen him. Obi-wan was to return in just over a week, the scheduled victory was critical to the war. Without a word from him, his current status was unknown. You were left wondering where he was and if he was okay, trusting in his word that he would return to you.

You swept your sleeping robes behind you, pacing slowly, with a shallow attempt to occupy your mind with something other than the lonesome thoughts of the handsome man. From somewhere distant in the back of her mind, a voice crept its way into her mind.

“Darling…”

“Obi…?” she asked into the void, the voice familiar.

“Yes, it’s me, turn around…”

You turn towards him, his figure a clear but distant shadow.

“What is this…? Where are you…?”

“The force, sweetheart, unfortunately, due to both of our positions on Coruscant, my location is disclosed, but I promise you, I am alright.”

“You better be..”

“And I will return to you soon, as scheduled, but I wanted to check in with you...I could sense that something was severely troubling your mind...what is it..?”

“Well… it’s the debates in the senate...Senator Amidala, Organa, and I are hoping to present an alternative, although, it’s not going so well. And of course, I miss you terribly..”

“I know, and I as well...but it won’t be much longer until we’re together again. And for the debates, I know that you and the senators are wise. Follow your instincts if you believe you are right. I’m sure the Senate will come around eventually”

“Thank you, Obi-wan.”

“Of course. Now, I cannot stay for much longer. Just know that in about a week’s time, I will be with you right there on your balcony; looking over the night’s sky as you do so often when your mind is troubled like this.”

You chuckled to yourself, knowing that what he said was true. It was a habit; a method of distraction meant to busy your mind with something else other than stress or loneliness. You scanned his form one last time, not wanting to forget him and how his robes decorate his stature and asserted his position on the Jedi council. The various shades of beige and brown complimented his hair and beard so nicely.

You remembered lying on your backs, facing the ceiling of your quarters. Limbs intertwined, robes covering your body as well as his as some sort of pseudo-blanket. The soft material was comforting and smelled like him, a peaceful reminder of the time you shared together. You tried your best to remember these moments when you miss him as you do now, treasuring the valuable moments spent together in between missions and council briefings.

“y/n…?” he sensed your mind drifting once again.

“Sorry...I’m alright...just thinking of you…” you said with a smile.

“Keep thinking those more pleasant thoughts, darling...I will be home soon.”

You nodded, bidding him goodnight with a sweet smile. Before you had the chance to speak up again, he was gone. You took a deep breath and centered yourself, nerves much more relaxed than they were before Obi-Wan had appeared to you. Returning inside, pulling the pale blue robe tighter around yourself, you slink into bed and pull the covers tight around your lonely body.

The next week seemed to drag on forever. The promise of seeing Obi-Wan at the end of the week provided a source of energy that did not go unnoticed. In the middle of the week, after a grueling day of negotiations, Padme pulled you aside.

“Have you been alright…? I noticed you’ve been acting a bit off in the last week or so..”

“Yeah..I’ve been alright. A close friend of mine has been away for some time, and I really miss them. But, they should be home soon.”

“I could tell that good news is coming, y/n. You’ve been enthusiastic in the last few days. Keep focused. We will get through this. The Senate will begin to understand why this is so important.”

You scoffed, “you’re starting to sound like him.”

“Who?”

“Obi-Wan.”

She gave you a look. Was this the friend you were referring to? Shamefully, you nodded slowly, looking softly into her eyes to ask for her secrecy. Of course, she knew the dangers of disobeying the Jedi code and sneaking around. She wrapped you into a warm hug to seal her promise to you.

“Just be careful, y/n. This is dangerous, but it can be worth it. If this is what you believe is right, follow it.” she spoke softly.

You nodded, breaking away from the embrace to pick up a piece of your dress, following the threads with the pad of your thumb.

“Thank you..”

“Of course,” She smiled softly, continuing “now...would you like to go and take a break..?”

“I would love to, but I really must go and assemble my claims for tonight’s session. I need to refresh my argument.”

She nodded to dismiss you, and you returned to your quarters. You evaluated the holograms of the past recordings of your claims for the Senate session. This was your big moment, the driving evidence for the new policy. This would change Coruscant, but it was a change that was for the benefit of everyone.

Out of the corner of your vision, the door to your quarters slid open. Before you could process the intruder, Obi-Wan greeted you with a sweet smile.

“Y/n”

“Obi? You’re early.”

“I just landed. I came right here, hoping you would be here.”

You whisked away the hologram, walking up to him.

“I’ve missed you.”

“I have missed you as well…”

Hesitantly, you pulled him into a hug, tucking your arms under the sheets of fabric that enveloped him.

“How did your mission go…?” you tilted your chin to face him.

“Well, there was a bit of a hiccup with Anakin and the inhabitants, but overall…”

“When is there not a hiccup with Anakin…?”

He chuckled, “very true.”

You released yourself from him, meeting his gaze with a kind smile.

“I was just rehearsing for the Senate session tonight. I think they’re finally going to come around.”

“I told you they would, darling. I know you can persuade them of what is best.”

“I hope so...will you be here when I get back..?”

“I must meet with the Jedi council within the hour, but after that, I am all yours.”

“The council…” you said, spitefully remembering the very thing that kept you from Obi-Wan.

“I know, sweetheart…”

“Just promise you’ll come back.”

“Always.”

He slipped through the door with a kind smile, heading off to meet with the council. You missed him terribly and just got him back, and now he was gone once again.

Hours later, the Senate session had gone terribly. Violent disagreement erupted in the middle of your address, eventually dissolving all control you once had. Frustrated, you left the session early and returned to your quarters. Changing into a more comfortable dress, you hid under the covers of your bed, blocking out any source of life or light. So, when Obi-Wan had returned to your quarters after the Jedi council meeting, as promised, he scanned the room for any sign of you. His eyes met the shape of your body from under the blankets.

“y/n…” he spoke softly, sitting on the edge of your mattress.

“No”

“Sweetheart”

“No, Obi, you don’t get it.”

“Well then, explain it to me. Help me understand.”

Throwing the covers away quickly and sitting up, avoiding his gaze.

“The Senate will never understand me or take me seriously. When I was up there… it’s like they were laughing at me. They never had any intention of believing what I was saying. I presented all the facts...I gave them the right arguments, just like you said…”

Reaching to pat your back soothingly, “first of all, I am proud of you. What you do is incredibly important to the function of this planet, the system, and the galaxy. And second, perhaps just give them some time, they’ll come around and understand why this is necessary.”

Standing, you scoff, walking away from him to the balcony.

You quickly turn to him to quip, “We don’t have time, Obi-Wan! If we don’t pass this bill now, more armies will be deployed and war will tear every sector of this galaxy! Who cares about tradition? What is old and outdated is not always right!”

He sighed, he knew you were right. His rationale drew him in to defend the positive.

“I’m sure the council never has these disagreements,” you said crossing your arms in defense.

“We have our fair share.”

Beginning to pace again, he stands to follow you outside. He catches you gently to stop you in your tracks.

“I’m sorry...it’s the stress...”

“It’s alright, I understand. Will you let me help…?”

Nodding softly, you looked up to his soft face. It was always surprising to see him after a battle, with the occasional scratch to his face, robes which smelled of dirt, and a singe from a lightsaber here and there. He pulled you into a comforting hug, drawing you close to his chest. Resting his chin on the top of your head, and leaving behind a soft kiss to your hair.

“Come rest, sweetheart.”

He broke away from the hug only to pick up your hand and lead you back inside. Climbing into bed, outstretching his arms to you. You tucked yourself into his arms, holding him close, not wanting to let go because he might leave again too soon.

“Obi...I had this dream the other night while you were gone...we were together...and happy.”

“I’m sorry sweetheart...I’m sorry I can’t promise you that future...you know it’s not possible.”

“But isn’t it…? What about Padme and Anakin…?”

“We can’t sneak around forever, darling…it’s not sustainable…”

“I don’t care about sustainable...I just want you..”

“I know...but you have me for now… let’s just enjoy this while it lasts.”

tagged: @hxldmxdxwn @takenbymyfandoms @amethystmoonprincess @whitegirlinstarwars @smokahuntis @kybercrystals @venusbarnes

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texastheband · 4 years ago

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Texas V Wu-Tang Clan

Interview by Steven Daly Photography by Peter Robathan Taken from The Face - December 1997

It’s the pop story of ’97, the most unlikely end to a weird year: TEXAS collaborating with the WU-TANG CLAN. First, a Scottish rock band on the verge of slip-sliding away into a tasteful obscurity was reborn via a slew of hit singles and a glut of stylish imagery. Now, in New York, their Brit-cool meets hip hop in a mutually beneficial deal. For everyone concerned, it’s all they need to get on…

Sharleen Spiteri took the call in her front hall. "Yo, Peach," growled a strange voice over transatlantic wires. The gentleman caller was none other than Ol’ Dirty Bastard, court jester of New York hip hop dynasty the Wu-Tang Clan. Apparently Mr Bastard fancied working with Spiteri and her band, Texas. It all started in August, with one of Texas’ managers discussing Land Rovers with someone called Power in New York, who turned out to be the manager of the Clan. A video of Texas’ "Say What You Want" was dispatched, and prodigiously gifted Wu-Tang chieftain RZA signed on to do a re-recording of the single for a prospective single project. Original rapper OI’ Dirty Bastard was replaced by Method Man, the next Clan member with a solo album scheduled.

The hook-up with the Wu-Tang Clan is the perfect climax to a year that’s seen Texas rise from a tumbleweed-strewn grave to grab the pole position in British Pop. A year in which Glasgow’s Sharleen Spiteri has stared out, defiantly remade and remodelled, from every magazine cover and TV show. From a media point-of-view, Texas’ – Spiteri’s – reconfiguring of music and fashion has been the year’s dream ticket. Ever since Bryan Ferry took the innovative step of getting Anthony Proce in to design Roxy Music’s wardrobe in the early seventies, successive phases of pop’s history have thrown up performers who use the fashion photographers, stylists and designers du jour to present The Package. It is these performers who most often capture the youthful mood of their time: that’s why you can see the vulgar glamour of the Seventies in the cut of Ferry’s sleazy lounge-lizard jib; the naive aspiration of the early Eighties in the box-suited and pixie-booted "style" of Spandau Ballet; and the onset of the late-Eighties mixing and matching of different cultures in Neneh Cherry’s Buffalo Stance. When we look back at 1997 we will see in Texas’ sound and vision a new mix, all to do with living the high life but keeping it real. Catwalk and street, the designer and the understated, Prada and Nike; the slick and the cred. Ten years’ gone Scottish guitar outfit and this season’s bright young labels (in both senses). The setting too, has helped. Fashion, again, is big cultural business. Clever pop stars (Goldie! Liam!) want to be seen by the runway and hanging out at fashion parties; young designers yearn to be visible on the stage or the podium (viz. Antonio Berardi’s autumn London show at Brixton Academy). Factor in a paucity of self-motivating, button-pressing, songwriting, photogenic women in British music, and you have a ready-made media phenomenon.

Sharleen Spiteri is holding court at a New York restaurant with a gang of Calvin Klein employees who’ve just accompanied her to the VH-1 Fashion Awards. The annual ceremony is a mutually convenient arrangement, a TV cluster-fuck where the music and fashion industries exchange credibility and cachet. Texas are contemplating just such an exchange themselves, having recently been given the OK by CK. (Tommy Hilfiger has also made overtures.) Spiteri is to have an audience with Klein himself; she’s already been bribed with a trunkful of CK merch, including the streaked black dress – "inspired by [the artist] Brice Marden" – she’s wearing tonight.

Someone suggests that Texas would be perfect for Fashionably Loud, an MTV special where models strut on stage as the hot bands of the moment rock out. "Forget it," quips Spiteri. "there’s only room for one star up where we play." If Spiteri were to join Kate Moss and Christy Turlington on the Calvin Klein payroll it would not, as she sees it, detract from Texas’ music. "Fashion and music have always been connected, and now more than ever," says the singer. "You couldn’t have one without the other. If there’s shit music at a runway show it just doesn’t work."

Meanwhile, there’s the songs. With "White On Blonde", Texas’ fourth album, the music takes care of itself. Radio-friendly unit-shifters abound, helped on their way by producers Mike hedges (manic Street Preachers) and Manchester’s Grand Central. The singles have been, in sequence, nu-soul fresh ("Say What You Want"), springy pop ("Halo"), Motown-sunny ("Black Eyed Boy") and winter warming ("Put Your Arms Around Me"). The B-side remixers have covered all bases in these dance-savvy late Nineties, ranging from of-the-moment talents like the Ballistic Brothers and Trailerman to old stand-bys like Andy Weatherall and 808 State. Texas, patently, lost their dancefloor cherry by cherry-picking the brightest and the best.

Of course, while the singles have all enjoyed heavy airplay and gone top ten, and while "White on Blonde" has sold two million copies (more than its two predecessors put together), the remixes haven’t necessarily helped those sales. As the go-faster stripes of credibility on the solid saloon car, though, they’ve still been essential to The Package; all part of the thoroughly modern mix.

So now, the Wu-Tang Clan. To many, though, this latest development could smack of opportunism. One group are renegade roughnecks who mythologise themselves in epic hip hop anthems; the others are fastidiously tasteful Scots with an eye for perfectly modern consensus-pop. The Wu-Tang Clan are certainly among the aesthetically correct names that Texas always drop in interviews, but can there possibly be a legitimate connection between the two? "A lot of the Wu-Tang backing tracks have the feel of soundtracks, and we’ve always gone for a cinematic sound," says Johnny McElhone, Spiteri’s genial songwriting partner and bass player. "And I’ve always liked Al Green, and they use a lot of Willie Mitchell, Al Green, that whole Hi Records sound, and make it modern. And Marvin Gaye: Method Man, in that duet with Mary J. Blige, used ‘You’re All I Need To Get By."

Having dominated the charts in Europe this year, Texas are now, logically, turning their attention to America: the country that has always inspired them, whether it’s the dusty, pseudo-roots sound of their first three albums, or the iconic-soul and post-soul sounds of Memphis and Staten Island that they give props to now; the place where success has always eluded them. Yet given the commercial momentum of "White on Blonde", their approach to the Wu-Tang Clan is surely not driven by desperation. They are, then, viewing the collaboration with a combination of fan-like wonder and disbelief.

"Method Man is just a wicked, wicked rapper," enthuses Spiteri. "I can’t wait to hear the combination of my vocals and his – I‘m really excited about it. I have a kind of sweet, virginal thing going on, and he’s got this dirty sex vibe. It could be the perfect marriage."

It’s a Saturday night in Manhattan, and ten storeys above Times Square, Sharleen Spiteri sits on the floor of a recording studio, tinkering with her latest high-tech gadget, a Philips computer about the size of a TV remote. Across the street, three ten-foot high electronic ticker-tapes provide testimony to Monday’s stockmarket crash. No matter how much Spiteri plays with her new toy, there’s still that nagging worry: what if the Wu-Tang Clan won’t show? They’re supposed to be on a tour bus returning from a gig in Washington, DC today, but these, after all, are the original masters of disaster. The crew whose normal modus operandi seems to be chaos. The band that recently quit a national tour because only five of the nine members could be relied upon to turn up.

The studio has been booked since six, so Spiteri and McElhone breathe signs of relief when RZA and his posse finally roll in around ten. Among the dozen-strong throng, they’re surprised to see Wu-Tang member Reakwon, a stout fellow with a Mercedes cap and a Fort Knox of gold dental work. Several cigars are hollowed out, their contents replaced with weed; bottles of Cristal champagne and Hennessy are passed around as the air grows thick with smoke.

Half an hour later, method Man makes his entrance. Stooped over, he looks deceptively short – maybe only six-four in his Hilfiger fleece hoodie. "I’m John-John," he tells Sharleen, referring to his alias, Johnny Blaze. Pulling out the big blunt from behind his ear, Method Man considers the job at hand. "She got a nice voice," drawls the laconic giant. "This band not exactly my type of listening material, but they going in the right direction, if you ask me, by fucking with us. I’m waiting for RZA to put down a beat, hear how the vocals sound melded with the track before I come with ideas. I’m one of those guys."

As his friends get on with the serious business of partying, RZA goes to work, feeding a succession of sample-laden discs into a sampler. He has a diffident, genius-at-work charisma about him as he sits with his back to the room, keyboard at side. With a flick of his prodigiously ringed hand he reaches out and conjures up a brutal bassline. The speakers pulse violently. RZA takes a sip of Hennessy. "Record this, right here!" he tells the bewildered-looking engineer.

RZA has decided to dispense with the original master tapes, shipped over from Britain. He wants a completely new version, recorded rough-and-ready without the standard safety net of a time-code. This convention-trashing, wildstyle approach to recording elicits some consternation from the studio’s engineer, a central-casting white guy who warns RZA: "You won’t be able to synch to this, you know." RZA waves him away and turns to Johnny McElhone. "This riff is in E," McElhone tells RZA. "Maybe we should try it in the original key, D." "What are you saying? I understand no keys," says RZA. "You want me to sing the whole song straight through?" asks Spiteri, trying to divine RZA’s intentions. He orders the lights turned down, and offers Sharleen some herbal inspiration. She politely declines and walks to the vocal booth. "What’s her name? Sheree?" asks RZA as Spiteri warms up. The engineer wants to know if he should maybe start recording. "Always record everything!" exclaims RZA. "Ready, get set, go! Play and record, play and record!" Spiteri rattles of a perfect new version of ‘Say What You Want’, grooving along by herself and passionately acting out every word, even the ones borrowed from Marvin Gaye’s ‘Sexual Healing". Now it’s time for Method Man, who at this point is so herbally inspired that he can hardly open his eyes. He jumps up and lopes around the main room, running off his newly written rhymes and clutching a bottle of Crystal. Method walks up to the mic and opens his mouth, and that treacly baritone sets a typically morbid scene: "Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest…" The Texas duo just look at each other, shaking their heads in awe.

The hours and the rhymes pass. Around 6am, things are starting to get a little weird. As Method Man snoozes on the sofa, RZA bounces off the walls, dancing like a dervish. "These are the new rhythms," he yells. "These are the new dances from Africa. I learned them when I was there last week!" McElhone and Spiteri crack up. The engineer probably wishes he were in Africa right now; he further draws RZA’s ire by making a mistake as he runs off some rough cassettes. As everyone says goodbye, RZA decides that he’s taking the studio’s sampler – he already has two of the $3,500 items, but at this point it’s all about the wind-up. The engineer, though, having last seen the end of his tether a good few hours ago, has had enough. By the commencement of office hours that morning, the rest of the session will have been cancelled and the band and Clan banned from this studio.

After a few frantic phone calls later that morning, a studio is found that is prepared to let the Wu-Tang Clan through the door. With one precondition: only two of them are allowed in the studio. Now it’s midnight, and four-fifths of Texas watch a trio of RZA-hired session men go through their paces. They shift effortlessly through a handful of soul and funk styles, and the Scots mutter approval. These are the kind of players that are so good they can get away with wearing questionable knitwear.

Soon, another couple of Wus pop in. Then another couple. In the control room RZA orders up a bottle of Hennessy and talks about hearing "Say What You Want" for the first time. "I didn’t fully understand the sound of it," admits the soft-spoken maestro. "It was obviously a popular song, a radio song, and my sound is the total opposite. But I thought that the artist had something, so I thought: "Let’s take her and rock her to my beat."

"Sweet soul, that’s what her stuff sounded like to me. Smooth. It reminded me of the Seventies: in those days, they did songs that would fit anywhere. If you went to a club getting high it would fit; if you was cleaning up your house it would fit. That’s when you’ve got a real great song right there." Whether or not "Say What You Want" is a great song, it’s not quite coming together tonight. Despite the best offers of the studio management, a full complement of Wu posse members ended up in the house. As the night drags on the trio of musicians don’t get with the track, and by eight the following morning there is little in the way of usable material. But everyone stays upbeat. Texas will work on the track in Glasgow, and send it back to RZA to finish, along with a new song based around one of his samples. After vowing to stay in touch, everyone stumbles out into the Manhattan morning light together, the Scots with an American name, and the Clan without a tartan.

From a distance the collaboration will continue. But it’s only a different kind of distance. Culturally, creatively, the gap between the Wu-Tang Clan and the old twang clan is considerable. Yet so it goes, this cross-cultural exchange programme. Whether it’s The Stones copping blues movies, Bowie digging the Philadelphia Sound, Lisa Stansfield getting soulful with Barry White, Sting getting doleful with Puff Daddy… Whether it’s Todd Terry reviving Everything But The Girl or Armand Van Helden making Sneaker Pimps the unwitting jumpstarters of speed garage, naked opportunism and risk-taking innovation have always been confused. Now, with genres blurred and tricknology proceeding apace, anything is possible and everything is permitted. Perhaps it is this, the sheer unlikeliness, that makes the Texas-Wu experiment the most illuminating collaboration of the year. Whether it works or not.

"If you play her stuff in a club, everybody be dancing, but it’s a clear room and you can see everybody’s face," RZA reflects on the departing Sharleen Spiteri. "But if you play mine, the room is smoky." And perhaps it is here, among the clouds and the clarity, between the smoke and the mirrors, where a new sound and vision lies.

Text originally posted on texasindemand.com

#article #whiteonblonde #wob #the face #the faculty #wutangclan #wu-tang clan #saywhatyouwant #texas #texasband #texas band #texastheband #texas the band #sharleenspiteri #sharleen spiteri

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commandervisor · 5 years ago

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Thoughts on Dark Fate:

For the context, I've seen T1 like once, T2 a bajillion times, T3 a bajillion times minus one, maybe part of Salvation, Genisys a couple of times, nothing from TSCC... they only ever show reruns of T2 and T3.

I do have mixed feelings about John and Skynet getting replaced by Dani and Legion... I think it's mainly because it doesn't seem like there's a connection between John/Skynet and Dani/Legion, or at least it's not explained beyond the U.S. military happening to construct another AI that goes rogue, decides to nuke humanity, and send killer robots (that are also called Terminators and Hunter-Killers, and also happen to look very similar to Skynet's iterations of them) after its last vestiges. You could assume that Legion is based on the same code as Skynet or was made by the same group of scientists or whatever, but nothing is stated (maybe they're saving this for a possible sequel? IIRC Cyberdyne wasn't a thing in the story until T2) and that's what bothers me the most.

This is the same problem TFA (as the first entry into the ST era) had for SW with the whole schtick about the next generation being a legacy to the original heroes and it's sort of this pseudo-reboot where it's a continuation but mainly focuses on things that are "the same, but different". Like... you have a couple of returning characters, but the scenario/plot is almost the same to what happened in the original story except the characters are mixed up versions of the original characters and there's otherwise no other "legacy" in the "reboot". Sarah and the T-800 are there just as the OT characters were in TFA/the ST, but without them, you might think Dark Fate or TFA/the ST are knockoffs of Terminator/SW? ("Knockoff" seems like a strong negative word for Dark Fate IMO, but that's the best word I could come up for the comparison with SW/the ST... :P.)

Minor note: Would have been a nice touch for the Ramos' family dog to go crazy in the background while the dad answers the door to Rev-9 as a reference to when that happened in T2 with the T-1000 visiting John's foster parents and the dog was going crazy, which was foreshadowing the dog going crazy while T-1000 was on the phone with John and the T-800 later. There's a scene later where Carl's pet dog is sitting contentedly with him, which I almost didn't notice and realize meant something.

Outside of the plot, we don't really know Dani that well beyond like the first ten minutes she has before the Rev-9 goes after her? My next point touches on this some more:

I feel like the movie's a lot more cynical (sorta more along the lines of T1), because all the characters are mature/serious/experienced/badly traumatized/etc. adults and honestly, I think a little genuine lightheartedness could have worked to help lighten the atmosphere (outside of the T-800/Carl and Sarah dropping a couple of quips). I guess as someone who liked T2/3/Genisys, these movies have some light moments because their MCs are younger, less experienced, a bit innocent and naive, and so on, and it's charming because compared to what the franchise is about, it's sort of like this light in the dark?

I think Diego should have lived longer and then died later to help develop Dani, like some sibling bickering, Dani being protective of him, etc.

I don't know how or why they found present!Grace in the epilogue but I guess this might be a nitpick

I will say that I do think it's interesting to see different takes on the franchise, like T1 was a horror story with some sprinkles of sci-fi, T2 was more actionized (and maybe thriller-y if you must), T3 was the same thing but arguably less horror, Salvation is postapocalyptic military sci-fi, and Genisys and Dark Fate are blockbuster sci-fi action with the former being more optimistic while the latter is more depressing...

Dark Fate did feel kind of superhero genre-y with the fight scenes, Genisys might have had the same thing but I'll have to rewatch it. Again, not necessarily bad but it's noticeable since Grace and the Rev units are a lot more combat-capable/powerful than past Terminators.

It also did feel really fast-paced, I think the main action kicked off like 15-25 minutes into the movie?

All in all, warts and all, I liked Dark Fate. Although I can see why people would be upset with replacing John/Skynet, I think that and the movie definitely weren't as bad as the outrage made it seem.

#terminator #terminator dark fate #shitposting #because this is a terminator stan account now I guess...#:^|#long post

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unproduciblesmackdown · 6 years ago

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Primez!

hell yeah thankyou!!! [2, 5, 17 been answered]

(3) maple - is there a hobby / skill that you’ve always wanted to try but never did?

i’m that theatre gay who’s never Really been in any theatre production. and there was an archery place like 10 min from where i grew up and i was like “ooh archery how cool” b/c i’m a gay but never tried it

(7) amber - share an unpopular opinion that you may have.

hardly unheard of but i Don’t Like the approach to astrology that ppl have been getting in the past few yrs like. the Joke someone on twitter had that we’re like, on the verge of some astrological discrimination lawsuit……..and idk ppl get like pseudo-christian-style Smug about it like, don’t apply this to everyone??? and it’s just strange to like. tell people what they’re like. or explain their characteristics via this really strange westernized vague concept of astrology rather than like, tell me about the life experiences that affect the way that you are. like it’s almost condescending and ppl are being way too serious about it sometimes in (see: the on the verge of the lawsuit thing lol)…..anyways and i guess some of my Killjoy tendencies make me like, haha i’m the Hater b/c idk i’m real opinionated. but a lot of the times it’s not Really b/c i hate other’s joy or some shit, it’s just crap along the lines of like, “these ideas abt love which are meant to be Very Romantic actually strike me as being the Less ideal interpretation of love between people and the potential therein? and colder? and unhealthier / more unpleasant / not as nice / etc etc etc as my ideas on romance which i guess seem like i’m wanting to just shoot down some Lovely Concepts but i’m like. that doesn’t seem lovely. i’m on the very of launching into another essay abt Isolation Isn’t Romantic and Romance As Very Human And Ordinary And Even Mundane Seems A Lot Better Than The More ~Magical~ Approach and did i mention romance should be the Opposite of isolating and yet it’s so taken for granted sometimes that you’ll know it’s True Love when you [bass boosted DIE FOR EACH OTHER] and stop giving a shit about anyone but this one other person and etccccccccc [me screaming for hours]”

and a lot of times things that i guess are would-be Cute / Charming / Wholesome / Positive / Etc start to grate on me if i have to see it too much and i’ll probably end up hating or resenting it but like, not because i hate happy stuff, but b/c it just like. is like, i like things to be Genuine, and it will just feel like this is Performing genuine…ness………..which i don’t like. b/c it’s being Not genuine to try to appeal on the grounds that it’s genuine? yknow. which also extends into the realm of “i hate this Cute music over this cute animal video. don’t tell me how to feel about it” and when something tries to be Surprising in the realm of like, pseudo-dissonant like. oh this is a cute harmless white girl on the ukulele but she just said “fuck” and “std’s” or some crap!!! whaaaaaat!!!!! like, i hate this actually? can i die

i could give a ted talk just showing vines that make it into plenty of people’s compilations and being like “this is why this vine is Not Funny (Enough)”

(also i do sometimes hate Having Fun. doge speak was so awful. of Course gop congress adopted it briefly in its original heyday. even now i hate the derivatives. i’m not about to rb something that contains the word birb. can i die)

also i think star wars is boring. i think cargo pants are fun and fine.

(11) orchard - share one thing that you’d like to happen this autumn.

we get confirmation that any Winston Footage is filmed for billions s5. soph i know that like, fitting in almost 3 hrs of subway travel / going into nj and back / probably having to do all this on a weekend / having like a 5 second window maybe makes it difficult but we all agree it’d make another epic gamer moment if you got to see lihn

(13) bonfire - describe your dream house.

lol being in my teenz in 2008 i haven’t thought about it much tbh. i think i’d like a pretty cozy (smallish) bedroom and just a lot of physical Niches yknow. i like to frequent very specific spots which are not too out in the open. and really everything would be kinda Cozy Smallish but not the kitchen. get some space there, and like, raised counters like for julia child being 6′2″ b/c Standard Height is not comfortable for me either at my tender 5′11″ or 6″ness. and i always think that those sitty spaces that are like, Depressed into the floor are fun. i know there’s a word for that, but whatever. there’s a bunch of very disparate color schemes i’d think i’d like, so like, idk if i’d just go for totally different Aesthetic Approaches from room to room to try to cover all of them lol

(19) pumpkin - do you think that humans are inherently good or bad?

i mean i think it’s more important to recognize that anyone is entirely capable of Doing good or bad, and arguing about what they Truly Are In Their Hearts is beside the point. but i also think the idea that like oooh if Polite Society crumbles enough we’ll all just be roving in bloodthirsty packs, looking to kill each other and loot / probably eat the corpses, etc etc ~dark gritty bold~ apocalyptic material that’s like wow yeah that’s really confronting the Uncomfortable True Nature of society. like, capitalism is already a brutal and inhumane situation to exist in, but it’s not some emergent expression of Human Nature like, oh, life is just like this, empty and alienating and unfulfilling unless you [physical violence b/c it is Genuine], or that people would turn on each other if we were in survival mode, like…..no. survival mode always entails helping others to survive like. yeah not for necessarily Every individual? but that’s just more of anyone’s capacity to Do good or bad. but humans as a species are not solitary, we’re social b/c that’s how we all exist in relation to each other, society is innate to us and not some Luxury that distances us from our True Natures. we communicate with each other and want to work together even beyond helping each other survive and want to connect to each other and total / imposed isolation is Bad for anyone. and i think that love and altruism are Human Nature too. like, it’s weird when it’s treated like some evolutionary mystery why humans (or individuals of other species) would exercise altruism and/or self-destruction (or the risk of it) for the sake of others? like “but it doesn’t make sense b/c for us survival means Passing On Genes, we protect ourselves and our ability to exist and procreate, and we protect those most genetically similar to us, down the line to favoring your most distant cousin over a random stranger,” etc etc What A Mystery Why We Are Altruistic!!! but it’s not?? like? we don’t just see ourselves as individuals and we recognize the self in the other, and that we are all just Arbitrarily the self that we happen to be, and are all The Other to everyone else’s Myself…..and why would humanity not Preserve itself beyond just individuals looking out for just their individual existence? we just like. don’t only prioritize the preservation of our own genetic code. why should it be a less Survivally Successful approach for any individual to look out for any other individual? of Course we give a shit about other randos who don’t have any familial or even any other personal connection to us at all b/c we just care about the survival of other humans.

anyways! no yeah so i think that Love and Altruism are intrinsic human nature. like creativity and communication. we aren’t like, always doomed to destroy each other b/c That’s Humans For You. denying the humanity in others inherently requires actually just reducing one’s own humanity, yknow??? re: human nature anyways. i know we’re all still technically human regardless of how we act. and that the self-destructive destruction of others is a feature of humanity, but i don’t think it’s one which is Inherent or Inevitable. i.e. the Self-Destruction thing. capitalism is out here threatening everyone’s existence and just so happens to require placing the Wealthy Few above the worth of the lives of all the rest, who are the cheap labor force rather than Just As Human as the richest. anyways. mostly Good! but the point is still that anyone can do Bad regardless so like, who cares if you have some good in your heart, bitch we all do.

(23) ghost - is there someone that you miss having in your life?

still a bit effed up on missing the theoretical concept of an in-person group of people who are consistent in genuinely enjoying / being enthusiastic about time spent with you. one reason it’s theoretical is that i’ve never Really had a whole in-person friend group exaactly. and it’s theoretical b/c idk, it’s not easy for me to feel comfortable Being Myself around others and like, i like being in groups as a rando amongst strangers really easily, but if it’s like, we’re all in a group and talking and stuff, i can just go into [stifled mode] real easily, idk, it’s hard to say whether the times i’ve been Uncomfortable in groups like that is just like, it not being the right people, or that i just will always like smaller groups or just one-on-one or smthing i dunnooooo. either way i get depressed about Wouldn’t It Be Nice though so idk? i guess i would still ideally seek it out. but i also can’t feel like i can actually expect this to happen. on a related note i forgot to mention Briony Atkins as this minor character who is very like me in being someone who is outwardly v withdrawn and quiet and comes across as not speaking b/c she has nothing to say but in reality she’s a passionate and boisterous person who just rarely shows / expresses it around others. i’m out here never talking (and getting the chance to talk aloud and it’s like a mile a minute all at once trying to compensate) and being pretty quiet and people get surprised when i have An Opinion even though i’m super opinionated lol and i just find it really hard to be myself around others unless i’m operating completely on my own and beholden to no one, but even then. anxious

#i'm Not being very cryptidly with all these............#Anonymous

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farmhandler · 7 years ago

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Furrocious

Pairing: Keith/Lance (Klance)

Chapters: 1/1 | 5k~

Read it on Ao3

Summary: When word makes it to the paladins that the savage cycle is on its way, they don't understand its significance until Keith starts exhibiting strange symptoms.

A/N: Just a teeny bit late but here is my other piece for the klancereversebang! The art that accompanies it can be found here!! It’s SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!

KEITH

The one thing that Keith couldn’t stand about the Blade was the whispering.

He was a member, but only just. It felt like no matter what he did to prove that he was loyal to the cause, there was always another secret.

He’d been out with the Blade for months, working on a top-secret mission that, if executed correctly, would eliminate one of the Empire’s most valuable quintessence mining devices.

Keith felt eyes on his back and heard the hushed sounds of whispers behind him.

It wouldn’t be so unbearable to be left out of the loop if they would just stop whispering.

“Hey!” he snapped, whipping around to point at the Blade members now staring at him. “Would you cut it out?”

They glanced at each other, then looked at Keith.

“What do you mean?” one asked, feigning ignorance. Keith wasn’t an idiot.

“Whatever you guys keep talking about behind my back. I get that I’m human, but that doesn’t mean I’m deaf and blind.” Keith crossed his arms, eyeing them both. “Do you have a problem with me?”

He received another surreptitious glance in reply to what he viewed as a completely valid question. The Blade members took a few seconds to formulate their response, only further incensing Keith’s irritation.

“We were only curious,” said the one on the right. They were wearing masks—the ones with the voice changers—so it was impossible for Keith to draw on names.

“About what?” Keith pressed.

“The cycle is coming soon,” the other said, his tone implying he expected Keith to understand what the hell he was talking about and run with it.

“Okay?” Keith raised an eyebrow. “And?”

But before the Blade could continue, alarms sounded. They had work to do.

Keith didn’t remember the conversation until much later when he was back on Allura’s ship.

The mission to take down the Galra mining drone was stilled for the moment as they waited for their chance to strike, which gave Keith the perfect opportunity to visit the paladins. He’d arrived within a few day’s time, greeted joyfully by all.

“Keith!” Hunk exclaimed excitedly upon seeing him displayed on their monitor. “You’re here?!”

“Yeah.” Keith smiled, waving his fingers in greeting. “Just for a while until we get this mission moving. Can I come in?”

“Of course,” Allura said, her tone warm. “You are welcome back at any time.”

When he stepped off his ship, he was quickly drawn into a group hug.

The paladins had been equally hard at work, focusing their efforts on cultivating relationships with various races and helping people escape servitude under Zarkon. Neither team was having a good time of it, so the small respites where they could enjoy each other’s company was welcome.

“Hey. Haven’t seen you in a while.”

Keith turned to face the source of the voice and found Lance standing off to the side, shuffling his feet in muted excitement.

“Hi,” Keith said, hating the way his voice cracked.

Keith and Lance’s relationship had always been complicated. They had started off in opposition to each other, but their friendship had grown, going from pseudo-enemies to good friends. Now they were somewhere in no man’s land, hovering on the edge of something more without actually taking that final step.

Keith smiled, and Lance returned it, slowly coming to relax.

“You hungry?” he asked. He jerked his thumb at the ship Keith had brought with him. “Must have been a long ride to get here.”

“Yeah, actually, I am.” Keith licked his lips, the mention of food reminding him that he hadn’t gotten to enjoy any of Hunk’s freshly cooked meals in a long time. His stomach growled as if to corroborate this thought.

“Nice.” Lance grinned, relaxing even further, which made Keith relax in turn. He’d felt strangely on edge since leaving the Blade headquarters and was more than ready to get started on taking a break.

“Have I got the food for you!” Hunk exclaimed, grabbing hold of Keith’s shoulder. “We stopped at a planet that was basically full of spices. Most of them are completely inedible but I found a few that work pretty well with what we like to eat. I was going to make alien steak tonight.”

“Steak?” Keith felt his mouth start to water. “Thank god I got here in time. Your cooking sounds so good right now, Hunk.”

Hunk laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “You’re too kind. I should probably get started, actually. The meat I got from the space mall takes awhile to cook before it’s tender. Like, a long while.”

Keith blinked, realizing he had no idea what time it was. Living in a dark container in the middle of space had really messed with his internal clock. “What time is it?”

“It’s pretty early,” Lance said, shrugging. “Maybe around nine?”

“Perhaps we should let Keith settle down now,” Allura interjected, inserting herself into the conversation smoothly. She laid a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “I can’t wait to hear more about your adventures, but you look like you could use a nap.”

“Maybe a little,” Keith admitted. “It’s been a long week.”

“More like a lifetime,” Lance mumbled. “We’ve been in space forever. This is just adding onto it.”

“Regardless,” Allura started, sounding like she was trying to resist the urge to roll her eyes. “We’ll leave you be. Once you’re settled in, join us in the recreation room and we can catch up.”

The recreation room is what they had dubbed the area of the couches that was, well, recreational. It had couches, viewing screens, and it wasn’t far from the kitchens which made it a convenient spot for having meetings.

“All right.” Keith nodded, and they separated with the intention of meeting there soon.

As Keith set his things down in front of his door, he observed his room with some unease. It seemed...different, somehow. He smoothed his hands along the wall and for some reason felt compelled to give it a sniff. It smelled clean.

Whatever cleaning mechanisms Allura employed—whether it was real labor or something to do with robots—his room was clean, and that bothered him.

“Thanks, I guess,” he mumbled to no one in particular. Turning towards the doorway, Keith reached for his bag and started unloading the clothes he needed to wash. Normally Keith didn’t bring anything; part of being a Blade was leaving behind anything that could be traced or otherwise used against them. Keith had long gotten used to carrying around his trusted knife and nothing else, but even the Blade needed clean clothing. The washing machines (if you could call them that) located at the headquarters were less than stellar, so Keith resorted to bringing his dirty laundry back home.

“Knock knock!” came a voice from the doorway.

“Coran. Hi.” Keith felt his shoulders rise, tension forming a tight, uneasy ball in his gut. “What are you doing here?”

There was a slight accusation in his tone, but Coran didn’t seem to notice. He marched into Keith’s room, seemingly oblivious to way that Keith was staring at him.

He wanted Coran to leave.

“Just wanted you to know that your Galra friends had a message for you,” he said, stopping in front of Keith. He was grinning. Keith tried to relax his stance, but his fingers kept itching for his weapon.

“Can it wait?” he asked hopefully.

“Oh, it’ll just be a tick! They said, and I quote, beware the savage cycle.” Coran hummed, twirling his mustache thoughtfully. “Is that a secret code for something?”

“No.” Keith frowned. They’d mentioned something about a cycle before, but he didn’t understand what it entailed. “I’m not sure what that is. Thanks for the heads up, Coran. Just—” he waved his hand at the door, “give me a minute here and I’ll meet you guys at the rec room. I’ve still gotta do my laundry.”

“Right away. Glad to have you back.” Coran gave his room a quick look-see, and. deciding he had nothing else to say, left Keith to his devices.

Thank quiznak, Keith thought. He took a deep breath, lips curling at the scent that lingered in the room. Man, Coran needs to wear less cologne.

Keith didn’t feel any less on edge as he entered the rec room. If anything, he felt even more so. The paladins, including Allura and Coran, were gathered around the center table, trading in laughs and conversation. As Keith entered the room their faces lit up and they ushered him over.

“Keith! So glad you could join us. Although I thought you might take this chance to get some rest.” Allura shifted over to give him space. She clasped her hands joyfully. “Tell us, what have you been up to?”

Keith sat down carefully, keeping as much distance as possible between himself and Allura. “Most of it I can’t say. It’s not exactly exciting.”

“Beating Galra butt? Sounds pretty exciting to me.” Lance, who was leaning back casually on Keith’s other side reached over and gave him a healthy poke. “Come on, you gotta give us something. We’ve been helping evacuated prisoners which, while it’s nice and all, it’s so boring. No action necessary.”

“It’s not exciting, but it has convinced the people of Volterra to come to our aid, should we need it. Their beasts are...interesting.”

“You mean terrifying,” Hunk said.

He was still adorned in his chef’s outfit, having only just finished prepping the meat to slow cook. Keith could already smell it from here even though the kitchen was a few doors down.

“I almost peed myself when that giant thing landed on top of me.” Hunk shuddered, evidently haunted by the memory.

“It was basically a dog,” Pidge drawled. “It wasn’t gonna hurt you.”

“Maybe not you! You’re small and unappetizing. I looked in its eyes. I saw the bloodlust.”

“You were literally holding a dog bone!” Lance exclaimed.

“That they gave me! It could have any kind of bone. Maybe it was a bone of sacrifice. The kind of sacrifice where they lure their dog into attacking me!”

“So you admit it was a ‘dog’,” Allura ventured, sounding like she wasn’t sure what a dog was supposed to be referring to but found the entire situation hilarious.

”You know, this reminds me of one time…” Coran began, trailing off as he considered the likely long-winded story he was about to tell.

As the conversation continued the tension that Keith had been holding slowly bled out. He’d felt so bothered as he came in, but being surrounded by his friends reminded him how much he missed them. Before he knew it, he was dozing off. His head dropped a few times, and each time he jerked awake he’d readjust, only to fall back forward. Eventually his head found its way onto a soft surface, which happened to be Lance’s shoulder.

“Um.”

“I knew he looked tired,” Allura whispered, smiling.

“Hey.” Lance gave Keith’s shoulder a shake. “Keith. Buddy, maybe you should sleep.”

“Hm?” Keith blinked awake, seemingly unaware of his positioning. “What?”

Lance was staring at him, and when he met Keith’s eyes his expression transformed from awkward amusement to concern.

“Whoa, dude, you look...purple.”

At the mention of looking sick, Keith sat up. The movement brought him further from Lance, and the ease that he’d been basking in seemed to fall away, leaving him bereft and irritable all of a sudden.

“Well, I feel fine. Maybe it’s just your imagination.”

“No, you really do look unwell,” Allura said.

She reached out to Keith—to do what he wasn’t sure—but he didn’t give her the chance to touch him. An anger that Keith hadn’t anticipated took hold of him; he recoiled violently from Allura’s touch, something like a growl slipping from his lips.

Allura drew back, eyeing him with concern. “Are you all right? Does something hurt?”

“No, I just—” Keith’s licked his lips, silence following his statement. He just what? He wasn’t sure what had come over him, just that he really, really didn’t like the idea of being touched at the moment. “I think I need some sleep.”

“Yeah, you do.” Lance nudged Keith in the shoulder, encouraging him to stand. “You look like you’re about to fall over. Get some rest. We’ll wake you up for dinner.”

“That sounds good.” Keith nodded, rubbing his palm over his forehead experimentally. While he felt fine, their comments about his complexion was a little worrying. After saying his goodbyes, Keith walked to his room and made a beeline for his bed, falling into the sheets gracelessly.

The last thing he remembered before falling asleep was that he forgot to look at himself in the mirror.

Whatever had been plaguing Keith that made him so tired was completely gone when he woke up. In fact, he felt better than ever. More than.

He felt energetic and purposeful; the urge to do something was poking at him, encouraging him to hop out of bed and get dressed with haste.

Only, when he put his clothes on he felt that same, strange sense of unease that had been bothering him ever since he’d come back. Something about wearing clothes annoyed the hell out of him and he was extremely tempted to abandon his attire entirely, if not for the fact that that would be insane.

Keith yanked his shirt over his head, wincing when his fingernails bit into his skin on the way up. Damn. He must have lost part of a nail during his nap, because he didn’t remember his nails being that sharp.

When he glanced down to check the damage, he froze.

LANCE

“Think we should wake him up?” Lance asked, fiddling with the spoon that Hunk had set within reach.

Hunk glanced at him, barely sparing the thought to reprimand him before he stole the spoon back from Lance.

“Dinner’s still not ready, so it’s not necessary. Why?” Hunk looked at Lance, a smirk slowly growing on his face. “You wanna see him again?”

“Well—yeah.” Lance leaned his head on his palm, propping his elbow on the edge of the table. “You telling me you don’t want to see him?”

Hunk didn’t even pause in his cooking. “Of course not,” he said. He stirred whatever was in his pot, sending steam billowing up towards the ceiling.

“How did you even find a pot like that?” Lance pointed at the one in Hunk’s hand. It looked just like the ones on Earth. “That looks just like the ones on Earth.”

“I think it’s from Earth,” Hunk clarified. “Space mall, the dude who sells Earth merch. I’ve been buying a lot from him since it’s pretty cheap and, well, it reminds me of home.”

Hunk shrugged as if it meant little, but Lance could hear the longing in his tone.

“I didn’t know that.” Lance stood and walked over to stand next to Hunk. “Think they have any snacks?”

Hunk wrinkled his nose. “Only ones that are expired.”

“Probably right.” Lance sighed, leaning his head on Keith’s shoulder. “I sure do miss home. Hey,” he looked at Hunk, “what else do you think you can whip up with that thing?”

Before Hunk could answer, a terrified shout sounded from down the hallway. They exchanged looks; Lance was the first to nod and break away, running towards the source of the sound. Hunk followed behind, but not before hurrying to turn off the stove.

Lance found Keith hunched by his doorway, shaking. Not just shaking; trembling. He was bent awkwardly, staring down at the floor like he didn’t know what to do with himself. It was far from the Keith that they’d seen earlier, who seemed tired but happy to be back. Lance didn’t know what could have gone wrong between now and then. He stood there, unsure, until an agonized, confused sound came from Keith and he snapped into action.

“Keith!” he reached out towards him, ushering Hunk to do the same with a jerk of his head. “Are you okay, buddy?”

“Don’t come any closer!” Keith whipped around to face them, an arm thrown over his face subconsciously.

Cautious, but even more concerned with the behavior, Lance made as if to move, and that was when Keith lowered his arm and growled at them, baring claws and fangs. Claws that Lance somehow hadn’t noticed until now, along with the purple fur on his arm.

Hunk and Lance looked at each other, mouths agape from what they were seeing.

It wasn’t just Keith’s arm that was purple. His entire body was covered in purple fur. Not only that, but between tufts of his hair ears had sprouted straight out of his head and the irises of his eyes had disappeared. They reflected features that were indisputably Galra, overlapping what were once very human ears and eyes

“What the quiznak,” Lance whispered.

“You’re tellin’ me,” Hunk replied. “Uh, Keith? Friend? Do you need help?”

He growled again. “Don’t. Just—don’t come any closer.”

Whatever it was about proximity that bothered him, it was made abundantly clear he was serious. His nostrils were flaring, an anxious energy radiating from him every time he thought they were going to try and get close.

“Does this have something to do with you being Galra?” Hunk asked, keeping his voice calm as he could.

“I don’t know,” Keith said, attempting calm but managing mild panic. There was a familiar crack in his voice that betrayed how terrifying he found the situation, but behind it there was something primal in his voice. Feral. When he looked at Hunk, he didn’t look at him like he was his friend; he looked like he thought Hunk was a threat.

“We should probably find Allura. See what she knows about this,” Lance said. “Come on. Keith, you just...stay put.”

KEITH

It didn’t feel like anger. Keith wasn’t angry.

But there was something inside him that he didn’t understand that was making him feel on edge, like there was something wrong with his surroundings. His room didn’t feel like his own; it didn’t smell like his own. And when Hunk had tried to get close he’d felt something terrifying take over him, urging him to lash out. It was like what he’d felt with Coran, but ten times worse.

He looked at his surroundings, peering at the walls and floor suspiciously.

This entire ship felt wrong. He felt wrong. Keith wanted to go—somewhere. He wasn’t sure where, but anywhere that would make this feeling go away. He started pacing, moving in tight circles until he realized he was prowling, surveying the scene for anyone coming to encroach upon his territory.

Keith shook his head to dispel the strange feeling. He scraped his claws down his arms, trying to distract himself from the turmoil inside himself.

Suddenly, he froze. His ears twitched. He could hear voices coming towards him. He stayed like that, frozen in place, ready to run, when Allura, Shiro, Lance, and Hunk turned the corner towards his room.

As soon as it was obvious they intended to get closer than that, his instincts kicked into overdrive and he took a few steps back, lips curling into a snarl.

It wasn’t who they were, but they smell—they smelled wrong. Being around them felt wrong.

Keith scrambled back against the wall when Shiro took a step forward.

“Keith—” Shiro’s face fell, a frown forming. His brow was knit with concern and he reached out with his hand. “It’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you.”

“Don’t come any closer,” Keith said, voicing the mantra that was repeating inside his head over and over. Shiro looked like he was about to argue and took another unconscious step. Keith sucked in a sharp breath, the mingling scents in the room filling his lungs with dread. “I need—I need to get out of here.”

He took off, running in the opposite direction. He’d keep going until he would feel safe again and then—maybe then he could think and figure out what was going on.

Keith wandered the castle, avoiding the scents and smells that discomforted him until he reached a point where he felt relatively safe. He stopped where instead of suffocating, the scent in the area made him feel welcomed. Only then did he slow, barely having the presence to take in where he’d stopped.

He was in front of Lance’s room.

Keith stared at his door, breathing hard and taking in lungfuls of Lance’s scent that was practically radiating from the space.

He laid his hand on the bio-reader, having some hope that it would open for him. When it did, he frowned. Lance had left his door unlocked again. Typical. Keith nearly crossed the threshold, ready to chase the delectable scent when he came to his senses and took a few hasty steps back.

What am I doing? he thought, feeling a little delirious with panic. What the hell am I doing?

He felt a little better here. A lot better. Maybe it had to do with Lance riding the red lion, or maybe it was nothing. Either way, he shouldn’t walk into anyone’s room without their permission, no matter how much it made him feel at home.

Keith decided he’d head back. He could handle the paladins now that he’d had a chance to calm down. That, he was sure of.

Keith was wrong.

Well, not entirely. He’d been able to handle himself for a few minutes—enough to gather them together—but as soon as they were crowded around him in the rec room he was aggressive and standoffish, pacing around the room like a panther ready to pounce.

“I suppose this is what the Blade meant with their message,” Coran offered blithely, watching Keith warily.

“Yes, well.” Allura ran her fingers through her hair. “I wish we had had more warning. Is this temporary?”

She was looking at Keith when she asked her question, even though he didn’t have the answer.

“I don’t know,” he grit out, fists curled tight. His nails formed deep crescents in his palm, helping take off the edge somewhat. “I just want this to go away. Can’t we do anything?!”

He hadn’t realized how angry he sounded until he felt Shiro’s disapproving gaze settle on him. He huffed and marched over to the other side of the room, wishing the distracting scents would dissipate so he could think.

His gaze moved unwittingly towards Lance who was sitting on the edge of the couch, discussing the situation with Hunk and Pidge. They suddenly laughed, and Keith felt his gut twist. Lance wasn’t engaged in the conversation Keith had been trying to have for the last five minutes. Hell, Lance hadn’t even looked at him.

Anger and resentment igniting something inside him, Keith started to approach the group, and might have come much closer than he intended had Lance not looked up at him. Keith froze at that, his heart beating strangely in his chest.

“Are you...taller?” Lance asked, ignoring his hesitation. He stood to face him, raising his hand between their heads. “You are!” He gaped. “I can’t believe this. I was taller than you but now being Galra made you grow? That’s so unfair.”

Lance frowned, clearly put out. It was kind of cute. Keith felt himself relax a little.

“Now you’re jealous I’m half-Galra?” he said, an edge to his voice. A playful one, but an edge nonetheless.

“Pfft. Me? Never.” Lance turned around, waving Keith away as if he couldn’t be bothered by him. “Just be glad I’m not Galra. I don’t know if you could handle all that furry handsomeness in one place.”

For some reason, the thought of Lance being like him—Galra, with the fur and the ears and everything—made his heartbeat skip. He had to clench his fists hard to dispel the weirdly enticing image.

What the hell is wrong with me?

“I gotta go,” Keith said, pushing past Lance and heading for the door. He needed to clear his head. This Galra stuff was fucking with him way more than he liked.

LANCE

After Keith disappeared Lance couldn’t help but wonder what he’d done wrong.

“Do you think it was me?” he asked Pidge. She raised her eyebrow at him. “Something I said?”

“Other than you being your usual self?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he cried, indignant. She snickered.

“You’re fine, Lance. He’s just not himself today, as you can tell.”

Lance sighed. “I guess. I’m kinda worried. Maybe I should go check on him.”

“I think you should leave him alone,” Hunk offered helpfully.

Lance considered it for about a second. “I’ll be back. Keep my spot on the couch warm, thanks!”

“Lance!” Hunk called, waving at his retreating back. “Don’t blame me if he claws your eyes out!”

Lance scoffed. Keith wasn’t scary when he looked like that. Sure, it was a little weird, but he was still Keith.

It took a while for Lance to find Keith. He had disappeared and he’d learned how to be stealthy with the Blade. Contrastly, Lance found it impossible to be keep his steps quiet on a big metal ship. Keith would likely hear him coming a mile away even without those huge ears of his.

He found Keith standing outside his room, pacing. It should have been the obvious place he’d go. Between training and his room, his room was probably his safe haven. At least, that’s how it was for Lance. Having a quiet, private place to think was a godsend.

Granted, Keith wasn’t thinking quietly. He was still pacing, and doing a lot of it. His tread was smooth and unhurried, almost predatory, and he had his back to Lance, which seemed to him the perfect opportunity to get his attention without risking Keith running off.

“So, uh, what’s up?”

When Keith looked at him Lance reevaluated his plan to prevent his escape. The expression on his face was intense. His eyes were narrowed, ears pressed flat against his head and his claws, which were maybe the most terrifying part about him, were extended, pointed towards Lance in a very life-threatening manner.

Maybe Keith didn’t want to escape, Lance thought, resisting the urge to run. Maybe he’s been holding back on killing them this whole time.

Or maybe sneaking up on a potentially homicidal Galra werewolf wasn’t the best way to go about this.

Too late, he thought, the hair on his arms and neck rising when Keith stepped into his personal space. He wrapped an arm around his neck, claws dragging along his throat.

Holy shit. Lance swallowed, trying not to lean into Keith’s grip. Is he gonna kill me?

Just before his legs gave out in fear, Keith readjusted his position. His claws moved away from his neck and then he did the unexpected; he buried his face in Lance’s neck and inhaled deeply.

“Um.”

This was not the outcome Lance had expected. Keith was suddenly pliant and all but melted onto him, growling when Lance attempted to break free of his grasp.

“Keith?” Lance asked cautiously. He gave in when Keith’s grip proved too strong, relaxing his stance. “You okay?”

At Lance’s concern Keith jumped, as if just realizing what position they were in. Even then, he didn’t move, possessively bringing Lance closer.

“Sorry,” he said, in rumbling syllables. “Can we just stay like this for a second? I’ve been going crazy all day and you’re the only thing that’s been keeping me sane.”

“I am?” Lance tried to pull back and look at Keith, but his warning growl kept him in place. “You are? It’s the Galra thing, right?”

“Yeah.” Keith sighed, his breath hot on Lance’s skin. “It’s hard to control myself. When I’m around people I just feel so out of it. But for some reason your scent—I mean,” he tensed, “you calm me down.”

“My scent?” There was amusement in Lance’s tone, and an undercurrent of uncertainty. “Do I stink?”

“No, it’s like…” Keith exhaled. “It’s like everyone is around me all the time, even when they’re not. Every time I breathe it’s like I’m breathing them in.”

“Gross.”

Keith murmured his agreement, relaxing at Lance’s attempt at humor. His body was warmer than usual, probably thanks to the layer of fur all over his body. After a while it was starting to make Lance sweat; not to mention the fact that he was trying not to fall over with Keith holding onto him.

“I’m sorry about this,” Keith said, at length. He released Lance, taking quick steps away from him, looking like he expected Lance to punch him in the face for his transgressions. “This is so stupid. I can’t believe that not only am I Galra, I also have to deal with this full moon crap.”

The body heat that Keith took with him left Lance bereft. He shivered. “Don’t be sorry, dude. I don’t mind at all. Actually—” He paused, steeling himself for what he was about to say, because something about Keith’s behavior—kind of like an animal trying to get a mate—made him realize that if he didn’t do this now he might never have another chance. At least not one where Keith was all over him. “I thought it was nice. All that fur is soft.”

“Soft.” Keith’s eyes were wide, but with the absence of his irises it was difficult to tell exactly what he was feeling. He pointed at Lance. “Are you going crazy now?”

“It’s not crazy!” Lance said. A cocky smirk edged onto his lips and he planted his hands on his hips. When in doubt, false bravado it out; it was what he fell back on when he didn’t feel comfortable admitting something. “Crazy about you, maybe.”

Keith stared at him. His ears twitched.

Lance swallowed. “A little. Just a teensy bit. Not at all, if you think about it. I mean, Galra or not, you’re still my sworn enemy—”

Suddenly, Keith was there. In his face, pressing his claws against his throat again, only this time Lance anticipated the pseudo-hug. He wrapped his arms around Keith’s waste, mimicking Keith’s behavior by burying his face in Keith’s neck.

“That’s not the reaction I was expecting,” he murmured. “Though I was hoping you might not punch me.”

“Why would I punch you?” Keith laughed, but it sounded strangled. “Did I hear you wrong or did you just confess to me?”

“I don’t know, did I?” Lance aimed for sauve, and ended up sounding unsure. Keith looked down at him, which was certainly something Lance would have to get used to, now that he was apparently tall. For as long as this lasted, anyway.

“Did you?”

Keith’s question was completely honest, his gaze open and accepting. Sometimes Lance hated how easily Keith forced him to be honest or make an idiot out of himself.

“Maybe. Okay,” he sighed. “Yes. I was hitting on you. Not very well, probably.”

“I dunno.” Keith smiled, baring his fangs. “I thought it was pretty good, for you.”

“Yeah?” Lance grinned, beside himself with joy. Having Keith accept his feelings—at least that’s what he assumed was happening here—went far better than he had imagined. They’d always been dancing around the subject of their affections for each other and now it was finally going somewhere.

“Yeah.” Keith’s smile was a little more feral than Lance’s. He was still in beast-mode, and Lance had the strange thought that being with Keith when he was all furry might not be too bad. It showed a side of him that they didn’t always get to see. “I can’t wait for this to be over,” Keith added, in direct contrast to Lance’s thoughts.

“But your ears are so cute,” Lance cooed, reaching out to pinch at his right ear. It twitched, its texture velvety soft.

“Shut up.” Keith swiped at his hand, grazing him with his claws. “Sorry!” Keith yanked his hands towards his chest. “Sorry. I’m not used to this.”

“Oh, kitty’s got claws,” Lance purred, effectively ruining Keith’s genuine remorse with his usual manner. Keith didn’t seem to mind, despite the eye roll, because he grabbed Lance’s hand and started pulling him in the opposite direction of his room.

“Where are we going?” Lance asked, trying not to stare at their clasped hands. The claws made it a little weird.

“Food.”

“Food?” Lance blinked. “That’s why you’re dragging me?”

Keith being Galra-fied seemed much more single-minded. First it was Lance, then it was food. Simple needs that he wanted fulfilled.

“How do you know it’s done?” Lance asked.

“I can smell it.”

Lance frowned, sniffing at the air. Nothing. “I can’t smell it. Is this another Galra thing?”

“Don’t know.” Keith shrugged. “I’m starving and I can smell meat, so, I guess so.”

“When was the late time you ate anyway?” Lance tugged at Keith’s hand, forcing him to slow down. “Slow your roll, buddy. We’ll get there.”

The look Keith gave him was equal parts grateful and embarrassed. Keith could hardly contain himself in all forms of expression it seemed, including being hungry. It was cute.

Lance bumped shoulder’s with Keith. “Can you even handle being around the rest of them? Doesn’t it make you go crazy?”

Keith flashed him a toothy smile, squeezing onto Lance’s hand.

The pace that they were going was still quicker than Lance would’ve liked; while Keith seemed completely full of energy, Lance was starting to feel out of breath. Sometimes it was hard to remember Keith was just as strong, if not stronger than Lance despite his somewhat wiry frame. And with Galra powered thrown into the mix, he was ten times that.

“I’ll be okay,” he said, pulling Lance forward. “As long as I have you.”

#klancereversebang #klance #fluff #my fic #fic #galra!keith #5k #transformation #i am Bad at endings #okay #OKAY!!!!

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autoirishlitdiscourses · 4 years ago

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Discourse of Sunday, 21 February 2021

You're presenting together but will try to force them along a proposal from, as I can be found below if you're still able to be one good way to push back the grading scheme, and thanks again for doing so in a timely fashion in order to do so. General Thoughts and Notes 6 November, you in section 27 November section, but want to avoid large amounts of repetition of their work relates to WB's work. 53 If not, let me know if you want to cover here would have paid off here. Well done on this.

137 Reading quiz, if you're willing to do a very strong essay in a more luggage than you can find a room available at 1:30 and will have electronic copies of documents distributed in class. In some cases, the course and scratch and claw for every single point on the section eventually, though: Some of Dali's work, I'll probably wind up being the cranky ramblings of an inappropriate one. How Your Grade Is Calculated document to me if this is the instructor of record. Again, though. However, you probably know, I'm sorry to take so long to get all the time to get back to you earlier but the power company decided that I left them outside my office until 4: General Thoughts and Notes 20 November in section this quarter. None of this. Alas, my response is a new document. If you want to do an excellent sense of the novel and is entirely normal when you talk about papers, and only point of thinking even more front and center would help you to discuss whether he could make it difficult for your understanding of what's going on in grad school? There were a few people getting up on reading will probably involve providing at least a preliminary selection of the course, as documented in the class at all, you can extract contact and scheduling information from this page and copyright pages because there's a department policy saying that you want to work on time, and why does it mean to have a lot of fun. Similarly, Alan Lightman published a wonderful scholar and excellent human being. Of course. Thanks for being a coded but direct reference; perhaps his point is not because I think that this is what you're looking for a recitation and discussion of ten weeks and also do the following categories best describe it: technology breaks.

For one thing that I do not overlap with yours, and what exactly is at least six of the text itself and to speak with me for any reason, deciding that you are one of the pieces of writing too much pain. Still, an A-range. I completely forgot. Tonight at 11:59 pm on Sunday afternoon. They will give it. Think about what you're saying exactly what they're dealing with O'Casey's own sense of the establishment where he is going, including the fact that the writer engages. Reminder: if we're going to be finding a way of taking the absolute minimum standards for a ten-to-date, you did quite a good reading of the way that it naturally wants to accomplish a single set is just to think about how their related. Your discussion and were not born in and marked you present. Again, very detailed/Annotations to James Joyce's Ulysses/alas, recording is of course, I don't grade you on your final decision for the compliments. You had an excellent job here is that you have any questions that you carry in your home you poor little naughty boy? This means that an A, but I'll have to take this topic, and I'll send out a draft is the case not just a bit more about transitions between topics, but it's not unusual in the context of his own mother.

And I think that students have a good sense of having misplaced sympathies that are not by any of the things that you had a very strong evidence that you examine, and you write, and it may be ignoring the context of being helpful. I think that this is different from Joyce's, so let me know if you have to get back to you as the being taken care of yourself, but writing a paper, no matter how amusing it is that you can get the maximum number of substantial contributions in a comparison/contrast exercise X is like us in important ways. I'll put you down for 'A Star. I said, you've done a lot of mental effort into it, and your participation score a small number of difficult texts we're dealing with specific questions that surround it or them. Overall, you want to do so. No bibliography needed. One suggestion I have ever done all of you assignment. I think that you did quite a strong recitation. Hi, guys, Another student in a way that there have been nice to hear it and how you want to attend section Thanksgiving week change, but rather that I think that a decision to compare those two particular texts. Or you might start by asking questions that motivated good discussion, but think that you've been describing. See Wikipedia's article Curragh p. I do not hesitate to contact me. You also showed that you are one of the play's rhythm in the section website:. On a lot of important points, though. Great! In front of the texts. Think about what race means and how it can feel like an overview and not the only major topic that is faithful and accurate down to recite this week, in part because, really big task. If you don't already know: you had a good job of walking some rather difficult fine lines, but there are a few days to ask people for general comments people can find out. But I think that this is the only good way, and what this larger-scale discussions in relation to your discussion well to the professor, but they can also be frightening. You picked an interesting passage and have some interesting landscape-related topics, but I think, not because I think that they are, in The Butcher Boy and your paper's own overall logical and narrative structure, and we can chat after lecture, but before I pass it out sooner, because right now, you should try dropping the class after your recitation to the first chapter of it it's also acceptable to reiterate what you want to say about what you're doing this. But I think that anything will change a little hard to find something that I would avoid making a wise textual selection. One of the above are bright lines—you produce some intriguing hints, but others may surface, so no one talking but you Again, I'm sorry about that character.

This will help you with 94. 12:30 tomorrow?

José Clemente Orozco also painted female pseudo-cubist nudes during this time limit has come up with a good reason for this coming Wednesday 27 November. That is to avoid dealing with? No worries I'm not committed to any particular essay format has to be fully successful. You have some very good work here; but make sure that your surgery goes well and showed this in your current participation level, do you can get the breathless exhausted happy quality of the calculation described there may not have made some real doozies I just graded your paper sit for two or three people reciting from McCabe this week in section. That's fine just let me know, and that everything else that is very volatile during the term, and I suspect is probably most easily found on the final exam! I'm glad you had an A-territory with 1 point out, I think that balancing this just a tiny bit over 91. There are in fact, I would consider all of your paper to say that what you think is more a case of emergency, please let me know right away. Ultimately, I think it's very possible that you think, always a good lens for examining that whereas if you're trying to eat up time that you just ran out of ink, network connections go down the Irish in your final paper.

I'm trying to demonstrate that you can absolutely discuss it in contractual terms to the specific selection that shows you paid close attention to how you're going through the Disabled Students Program. Let me know if you happen to know how many minutes away you are not prepared, it's easier for me to do that if it's the best way to constructing a theory of reader it assumes that alternate options have been more students who met all three of the central elements in this paper up to your overall grade for the quarter, though this is, despite the occasional minor problems in this article in the class automatically.

Your quote from the English-language writer from Coleridge's time forward. Chris! Thanks for doing a number of productive ways that you should be on campus instead of whenever the Registrar releases grades, but I'm still trying to crash. Would like to give you a B if between zero and one might be more comfortable with silence so as to let me know if that person's ancestry also includes more material than was required by the time when it comes down to thanking the previous reciters' discussion it's perfectly acceptable to use for us than it needed to happen for this to you.

One of these require that you are. /Narrative arc that includes all of you. Will probably drag you up to you last night in fall of night; and Figure Space contains a clear argument that passes naturally through all of his life, and I'll take another look at the performance, it feels like it much more happens in section this information available on the text you plan to recite and discuss with the course would require the professor's reading of the poem and its background. On the new world order is an A-for the section that I've gestured to in my mailbox South Hall 3431. We feel in England, was supposed to be less able to demonstrate your own topic; I'm just trying to finish for any evening. 5 B 85% 127. I'm trying to crash. So what this means that if you have left, and I'll keep a copy of Ulysses is a Freudian father-son relationship, and not dealing with things that you had some very minor error, a B. Let me know if you have been pushed even further, though. To answer your questions to which your UMail addresses are forwarded are rejecting messages. I notice you. Are For Young People via HuffPostBiz Welcome to the connections between the Irish nation is portrayed as a whole tomorrow; In front of a great deal in here, I suspect from previous experience that being a good job engaging other students were engaged and engaging. Remember that the writing process, and you met them at their level of competence by any means the only pair going this week in section tonight. This is absolutely a suggestion and you do a very, very well help you to avoid large amounts of repetition of their relationship, and wanted to let me know if you discover that things are going to be changed than send a new sense of the text and provided an interpretive pathway into one of the poems you examine, and paying greater attention to the east of County Mayo. Certainly! So, for that matter to self-identify as Irish is inappropriate or wrong, but those women who are nominated are quite a good job of setting up a fair amount of time. He hasn't specifically told his TAs a fair amount of flexibility. The/discussion assignment, so I wouldn't want to accept the offer, that asking questions that go straight for it and pasting it, and I've noticed that he had taken the first person to ask me if you miss more than it could conceivably be one of the Flies, and one days late 10 _3-length penalty of 40 _3, if you're the one that they'd been thinking too much of it, because you probably still have plenty of room for additional work.

Similarly, the artistry of music, and your participation weight a number of ways here: you need to let yourself be more than three times as many people wanted to focus your analysis needs to be more specific way would help you to lift you into the final, you'll get another email about that. However, these are impressive moves. I suspect that these people who are nominated are quite perceptive and very engaging. I will be assessed during the week of Thanksgiving is optional next week in section even more successful would be to examine the histories of cultural phenomena and writing a paper to be pushed further, however, it's been so much that you understand what I would like, or after you have any questions about the topic of Irishness. Ultimately, I think that practicing a bit nervous, but some students may not be tied to your discussion notes, but should I said before, say, I realize.

A lot of these are important and impressive. I realize. Then a single set is just fine. Your arrangement was enjoyable and you'd clearly spent some time working it out; if you keep going past ten minutes if you show up on the midterm returns to Tuesday, December 10 30% of your paper, and I feel that it is, after all, you did a number of possibilities here several poems by Yeats, and will make it productive.

Your performance technique of facing obliquely to the novel, too. I felt like you dragged it on the midterm or write to you, but I'm not familiar with immediately suggests itself to me immediately. Overall, you've done a very strong job! Note that this does still count/as a bridge to basic issues if you describe what needs to to grow into something fully successful. Your Poetry or Prose Recitation Is Graded English 150 Fall 2013 Overview: Recall from my student who wants to attend section and total how many sections you missed. You've outlined a series of unsubstantiated claims would pay off more. You picked a good scholarly text for the quarter that is important, or that would be to make your paper. Hi! Race is a hard time distancing themselves from their topics and wanted to meet or exceed the bare minimum, I think that this class, and I know to the connections that support your effort to say about his deceased son.

Other suggestions. Let me know if you choose a selection from each paragraph, but I presume that this is probably that you make it up tonight but feel up to help you to reschedule, and in a close-reading exercise of your discussion and question provoked close readings by a single text, drawing out the pattern.

You've done a lot to discuss your topics themselves instead of copying it and give you one in your parenthetical citations in footnotes. Not all of which is complex and admirable performances. My overall goal is to think about homelessness in Godot, and think about might be worth winnin' for freedom that wouldn't be worth a total of ten weeks and also a dazzlingly insightful interpretation while yet being faithful to the department party today and working, so is perfectly OK to just copy me as soon as possible after the last few days, and I enjoyed it a great deal. Hi! You make some very perceptive readings of Ulysses. You dealt very well and structure are real problems that I hope you have a fair number of elements that you're examining different types of very fair and often used the British and Irish Currency Prior to 15 February 1971 Decimal Day in the course material, and you move a bit too much on this email formulated a specific idea of what you're going with the fact that the Churchill speech is also an impressive move you might want to say that he said No, I think that this is taken to be absolutely certain that you have any questions, OK? But you're quite bright and articulate prose that was fair to the rest of the antihero as you can choose to drop by the metaphor to make sure that this is quite clear and solid understanding of a set of questions, OK? I forget to bring your luggage in my 5 p. —It is absolutely impossible for you to work, and you met them at their relationship is between the two revolutions, then I will hold up various numbers of people aren't prepared, it's difficult or impossible to say at this point. Damn! You were clearly a bit flat in establishing their relevance, because this coming Wednesday 30 October discussion of a turnip-and I think, would involve breaking up your topic needs more attention to how you're using them in your introduction and conclusion bracket the body is less important than the mandatory minimum is an arena for such thinking: a smarter move is to blame conversation in lecture that day is 3:30 by the time limit will result in an American work, we can arrange another time to look at my email client to send me an email and we'll figure something out that you look at the point of analysis. Assignment Guidelines handout. I'm open to everyone because I don't think it's potentially a very low. Again, please. Tonight. It's perfectly OK if I recall my ancient reading of a warm summery evenin'; sittin' with your section participation score is calculated for section in a more rigorous analysis than it could, loved them, but is likely going to be more comfortable with silence, and it was actually necessary and if you don't want the paper and I think, are engaging in the text s involved and articulating a solid job tonight I'll get back to you with comments after the last few weeks in section on Wednesday from 6: General Thoughts and Notes 23 October in section, not met the minimum length for a job well done, both of your face was a theoretical possibility, but miss the bus, etc.

I will send you an additional viewpoint on your paper in a lot of these but not spectacular audio capabilities; if you're talking more than three times, if you absolutely can't come to a natural stopping point, if you can't adhere to it, your writing, despite what the relationship between the Irish nation is portrayed as a whole. One of the text that they found out is that I get to all your material gracefully and in terms of which I think that you are responsible for reading the Nausicaa episode of Ulysses closely, as is any selection from McCabe on Wednesday can you make your arguments in a way that they've been explicit in this practice focuses on their behalf in my cubicle, doesn't have to take smaller cognitive leaps immediately, you should take a look. I guess, but you were assigned, which is full. It's completely up to you. This includes your midterm, then go from there, is Molly in an analysis of a variety of theoretical lenses to them?

With that grade and absolutely everything yes, participation, paper, if you have a section you have very perceptive work here; but make sure you understand just how long those pauses should be something you like and are genuinely astounding, I think that there has to take such an impassioned and fluid, and section times and locations for my records, but will absolutely respond to any particular essay format has to take this into account when grading your presentation out longer, I think, and examining a set of readings here, and nearly three-quarters of the passage you'll be reciting, along with a fair grade for the week. So, for the 17 October. Paper Guidelines: Your paper effectively traces out a mutually convenient time to get to people that I disagree with it? Receiving a lower-than-required selection. I'm snowed under with grading or depressed about grad school? Yes, that's my guideline for whether or not at a different segment later in this round of paper-writing: some recent tweets about MLA format is followed in a late paper is really lagging. Sample MLA-compliant paper on time, and of reflecting his rather anguished disappointment with the rest of the female, which is one of mine and whom I will do so. Often, one way to get at least some effort looking at the last minute. Goes beyond interpretations offered in lecture 15 Oct: The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem performing The Butcher Boy particularly difficult to treat part of this, can we meet around 2? Good luck with finals, and gender are related to affection, that your readings further and develop a larger payoff. You were on track throughout your paper most needs to happen differently for this proposal; the paper could then have been implicit more often would help you to be perhaps more likely scenario is that you hadn't anticipated. You will also eliminate the earlier email, but I presume that this is a penalty of/Ulysses/character list on How to Read James Joyce's Ulysses and Godot that might pay off as abrasive, which has been assigned for Tuesday, December 10 30% of course,/your/overall course grade. Hi! A-and rhyme-based than I had two or three people together may perform a musical arrangement or dramatic performance to do Godot on 13 November discussion of The Family Guy called Saving Private Brian, which may be an indication that you're likely to be helpful in any form of desire. A paper, because they haven't read it as a whole tomorrow; In front of the first place you might focus on that section was 2. You two worked effectively as a pair. You handled your material you emphasize I think. My one suggestion at this point, if you'd like though you're certainly not hurt you, OK? Midterm review. You substituted shadow for shadows in line 657; dropped the out from under you there will be productive. I think that thinking out the eighth line of the question fully. I could tell you your grade in a more impassioned manner. So, here. There are not enough to engage in a paper of eight full pages and that often small changes in the right page on your grade. I left them in a good, long beating. You may have noticed that none of these is that if it's necessary to complete all course requirements in a number of possibilities, though, because poteen was illegal in Ireland and other works, OK? Hi, I think that there are many ways, and I quite liked it. I saw you come in. For instance, to recite, or at least twelve lines of inheritance that is helpful, but rather an opportunity for me if you have quite a good student and good choice for you on Thursday! The Clancy Brothers and the professor says about the way that Francie's home is disturbed by his disturbed parents, and let me know if you have an excellent example of a discussion requirement. These papers address the question of how we have tentatively arranged to work for you and ensure that you should develop a topic into an A-, and you structure your paper is due or a drunken buffoon to have a good weekend! Or, to get a grade on the eleventh line; dropped a keystroke without noticing. Good poem from an assigned course text is fine with me if you have any other changes that I think that your thought very specifically worded claim about exactly what they're dealing with, I think that your plans by 10 p. Grade Percentage Point total A 100% 150 A 95% 142. 5%, not a demand, because I think this aspect of your course grade. I'm glad it worked out and with all of your group before the beginning of the poem that requires a Dirty Harry, a quite high A-for the midterm he has not scheduled to be aware enough of a family member requiring that you are entirely up to your own understanding of the first episode of The Butcher Boy song on p. Love?

I'll give it back to your proposal, including you presenting tomorrow night. Thank you all on Wednesday or Friday. 8% slightly more than happy to make a more natural rhythm. It's true that you accept the offer, OK? Anyway, my suggestion at this point, having managed to do it while providing thoughtful readings of the narrative, are they terrible, and then make the selection. I say in relation to your thesis statement, and I haven't started the reading assigned on the midterm, recitation, you should give me a URL for sources that you may not fully articulate that argument in the paper as you're capable of being fair to Yeats's text, you did a very successful paper at many times a separate workbook for each paper grade. Sixteen got 6 or below on section website:. Your delivery was solid, although the multiple starts ate up time that you find that connection, and it would probably help you to what's there at the document How Your Grade Is Calculated in Excruciating Detail: Prof. One of these is that if you choose as additional sources in their introductions and/or symbolism of the Gabler course edition? But, again, and structure may be a bad thing, I think, is it worthwhile to look for cues that tell me more specific feedback in response to several questions by email by 12 November. If you are a lot that they understand and articulate why you're picking that particular idea is good for you? But students who neither turned in on time this coming week. —It was fun having you in the novel 6 p. One way but not unimportant juxtapositions that the complex connection that's being built here is what counts, regardless of the Absurd, or it might have been posted to the stage, take the paper, or turf, from Four Quartets 2. Keep an eye on your paper and would have been balanced a bit rushed and ran a bit. I'll post it yourself later, then V for Vendetta and Punishment and build them into questions that you will need to be fully effective. Lot of babies she must have helped, but you did well here, I can just post what you've sent me an email no later than the chalkboard/whiteboard in class with respect, and of Sheep Go to Heaven, too, and I'll accommodate you if you remind me to assist you. Some general notes. Hi! You also reacted gracefully to questions from the other Godot groups for several hours tonight. Doing this effectively if the group. But you really have done some excellent readings here. 277 in the text that is, despite my sometimes rather obtuse margin notes and get you a five-minute warning relative to the course's large-scale point in the sense of being paid to serve as an obvious set of comments. Although I do tomorrow, you're welcome to cut into the text of the fact that you've done some other sense? That being said, were engaged, and he got the class, or bizarre things happen during the quarter is still in the TA and see whether I can. Let me know what you'd like me to do with your own thoughts in more depth than they've been bolted on at this point, and none impacted the meaning of the deeper structures. What I would be like—I realize. Even if someone else who generally falls into that range that you'll get one of the soul, freedom, the more that you should be approx. That seems like a fair response and said so at this, since someone canceled. I'd like to see me: perhaps we can certainly talk in section tonight. Please get your proposals for text/date combinations. There are of equal or even if you're leaving town at 7 p. Grammar and mechanics are mostly solid, and to let that claim clearly. I'll put you ahead of the one he read would be exhausting for someone who is Godot? You picked a good example of places that you want to keep you at 1 p. One of these would have helped you to be for earlier rather than a very solid work here, and I understand that this would have gotten this to make a final grade at the performance of O'Casey's The Plough and the beginning of the sexual feelings and experiences are necessarily fascinating. Thank you so much that you occasionally seem to have to be specific in the emergency room, but there are visual ways that I didn't foresee at the end of your paper—you're not doing so. 1570-1582, Godot TBD, McCabe TBD, Godot TBD and, Godot TBD, McCabe TBD McCabe TBD McCabe TBD McCabe TBD Remember that registration is very generous Chu—You have a portrayal of home that resonates with you that your paper would benefit from your general commitment to a specific question and letting the class will not get a passing grade for the quarter to pull your grade: A traditional form of fishing boat.

#Irish literature #automatically generated text #Patrick Mooney #Python #Markov chains

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my-mystic-messenger · 8 years ago

Text

My thoughts on and analysis of the V route

I did play the V route and so far I got the Good End, Normal End, Bad End on day 9 and today and the Bad End on day 7, therefor effectively filling all my albums. As for analysis, there is sadly very little too analyse plot wise, in all honesty. Despite it’s overdramatic and pseudo-philosophical nature there wasn’t really a lot to pick apart and find the hidden meaning behind. As for my thoughts, if anyone really cares to read this, I was quite frankly a little disappointed with the route and especially the eventual conclusions in form of the Normal and Good End. @promiscuous-jalapeno wrote a very good piece on the V route - which you can read here - where she mentioned a lot of the things that bugged me about the route and some points I disagree on so here it comes:

In short, I can only say that while I found it quite interesting to play, I have to admit that I found the route highly underwhelming altogether, although I will wait with my final judgement until the After Story is out. But if you know me, you know I like into detail so let me tell you what I thought about specific aspects of the game:

Honestly, I was never the biggest fan of V. People who know me know that. I blame him for Mint Eye almost as much as I blame Rika for it and in my opinion Saeran was much more deserving of a route and redemption than him.

So, when the route was announced, I was already a little bit salty but figured I give him a change to prove himself. He is pretty and I did like the idea of romancing him, since I saw potential for his character.

As a writer myself, I was majorly disappointed. V was a bland character at the beginning and the story ended with him remaining a bland character. Other than his self-sacrificing he really doesn’t seem to have a personality.

Despite the fact that I’m no big fan of Saeyoung, Yoosung or Jaehee those are distinguished characters with likes, dislikes, problems, talents, flaws and many things that make them human. V has nothing going for him.

There were certain parts of the route where I actually went aww and came close to liking him as a character, but then he started with his peaceful solutions to problems he shouldn’t even try solving himself and I was done.

All in all, as someone who writes headcanons, fics and more and therefor invests a lot of time into these characters this route was in no way helpful in actually getting to know V and that’s just sad.

His Mother:

That whole thing bothered me immensely. I’ve seen people enjoy it, liking that whole backstory part but I couldn’t have cared less for a single one of those diary entry VN even if I tried.

This was V’s route and yet I learned more about his mother than I did about him. I think if I count, more VN were dedicated to her than to the actual protagonist of the story.

What kind of thinking is that? I could have gone well without all those extra VN if those we had ended up actually focusing on V or even adding to the progress of the story, but they absolutely didn’t.

Please, explain to me how his mothers very detailed past is in any way relevant to the events that transpire during the route? They don’t even explain why V is the man he is, not really.

The Plot:

While we’re already at it, let’s talk about the plot, because frankly I think they made a mistake choosing this setting and it’s obvious that they didn’t really think the whole two years in the past thing through.

There were a couple of continuity issues with the entire thing, but that can happen so I don’t really want to focus on that. I’d much rather talk about the setting and why I think it would have been better as a Saeran route.

Despite this being V’s route, you not only barely get to romance V - but we’ll get to that later - but you actually barely get to interact with him at all. And due to setting the interactions like the car phone calls are extremely cringeworthy.

Personally I would have preferred the entire thing having been set in the same time line as the original routes just a little later with Rika gone and V having to deal with what he’s caused and how to move on.

That way interactions would not only have been more natural, they also would have made more sense as well as actually giving you the opportunity to romance and help V properly.

In this route, you really don’t help him like you do in the others. It’s more about saving yourself than V and the change in his heart that does happen doesn’t seem natural at all.

One moment he is telling you how he loves and adores Rika and how he needs to sacrifice himself and the next moment he realizes it’s obsession and not love and let’s everyone else take the reigns.

That change came way too fast and therefor seemed rushed and rather unnatural to me. The general flow of the entire story did. At first is was far too slow and then it turned into a rushed clusterfuck towards the end.

The Romance:

This is honestly one of the parts I am the saltiest about and I don’t even know where to begin with this honestly. Cheritz is aware that MM is an otome game, right? Why can’t I romance the main character?!

Like I’m not even a V fan, but even I felt let down but the romance aspect of this route because there was literal none. The entire routes it’s Rika, Rika, Rika and ‘I don’t know how to love, keep away from me’

To me it felt like someone had taken the worst parts of Yoosung’s and Saeyoung’s route and smashed them together to create this. It was honestly so frustrating and the suddenly ‘romantic endings’ were unsatisfying.

Worst of all, the romance we did get wasn’t really all too nice either. It was a constant cycle of MC trying to save V and V trying to sacrifice himself for MC. They don’t even get to know one another?! How is that even love?

The RFA:

Where were they? I’m seriously confused. Zen disappeared for an entire day and it literally changed nothing. You barely get to talk to any of the RFA, actually, despite them being kind of the focus of this game.

I learned nothing new about them, I didn’t get to build any friendship with them which made them suddenly trusting me and caring so much for me really awkward and from a writing point illogical.

I mean technically as a player you get to know Jumin through the backstory VN but he doesn’t know that and neither does MC so why do they talk about her like she is some saint and she cares so much.

Also, and I want to mention this specifically because it bugged the hell out of me: I literally lost all respect or faith I had in Yoosung. He was a huge disappointment and I’ll never see his character the same way.

I really enjoyed how unapologetic everyone else in the RFA was of Rika, as they should be after everything she’s done , but Yoosung even attempting to excuse it despite not knowing of her past made me rage

Rika:

Ah yes, the grand bitch herself. Honestly, I really hope that anyone who ever posted positivity for her feels really, really bad after playing this route because there is literally nothing that could excuse her choices.

She is a horrible person and on top of that they really added a notch of completely mental in this route, making all conversations with her hard to follow and boring as hell.

In fact both V and Rika have this tendency to talk in code and comparison and I cannot hear the word sun anymore. Everything seemed so pretentious after some time, like two hipsters discussing Nietzsche at Starbucks.

Her backstory didn’t really surprise nor touch me, mainly because I too suffered bullying and abuse by my parents probably even more severe than hers and I do not go around torturing and drugging people. Not impressed.

The whole look into V’s and Rika’s past made me extremely uncomfortable as well. Their ‘love’ was really sick and unhealthy and what weirded me out was how strangely sexual everything seemed.

I mean don’t get me wrong, I love me some Wolf!Zen and Bad End Jumin, but with V and Rika it seemed so out of place and plain uncomfortable, especially the whole photo thing…

But above all, and I cannot stretch this enough, I find it utterly disgusting that you basically have the option to romance Rika. To even think that was okay to put into the route is beyond me.

That worn out idea that every villanious woman has to be over sexualized and in this case even homoerotically is a cheap writing point to begin with, but executed the way it is, it’s like a slap to the face.

How come Rika gets to cuddle it up with MC in multiple CG’s and flirt the entire time but Jaehee’s entire goddamn route has none of that? That is seriously just insulting to the players in my opinion. Moving on before I have an aneurysm.

Saeran:

Loved him! Hands down the highlight of the entire route. I’d always dreamed about his route being similar to this route, with you working with Mint Eye to take down the RFA instead of the other way around.

This was like a taste of a dream, really. He was what I’d hoped V to be; romantic, devoted, actually pursuable to some extend and beyond everything you actually get to know more about him.

His character is really well expanded in this route and for a writing who always wants to get to know the character better, this addition to the game was like a dream come true.

Beyond just getting to know more about him, however, he actually gave some room for interpretations, analysis and discussion. Is he really dead? Is Ray the real personality or Saeran?

He made me laugh. He made me cry. He actually made me go through the emotional rollercoaster the route should have been but only was due to him. He saved the whole thing for me, because he was actually human.

The Art:

I was a little disappointed by the art as well, if I’m honest. It’s not as bad and rushed as the DLC art was, but also not entirely the same style as the original. The fact that they can’t stay consistent within the same game is sad.

The colour palette was constantly changing between the CG’s as well as the CG’s in comparison to the in game play. Just look at Jumin in the picture with V’s father and the one with his own. The skin doesn’t even add up.

On top of that some of the colours were way too vivid and made some of the art seem flat for lack of shading. And don’t let me get started on those pathetic chibi pictures of Jumin and V.

I was actually looking forward to the backstory parts of those two, I even wrote a fic about that, but with the art looking like super poor chibi’s like not even the cute kind, I was extremely let down.

As for the CG’s themselves, they weren’t all too overwhelming either. A lunch box, a salad and an old ass book? Thanks for the amazing additions to my character albums.

Not to mention the amazing V album that while it actually expanded quite a lot, most of it was useless since it involved Rika or his mother. 3 CG’s. We get 3 MC x V CG’s and two of those look like MC is forcing herself on V. Great!

Also was it just me or did V look kind of blurry the entire time? Not in the CG’s but in the game he looked kind of fuzzy compared to the old design. I mean not that there is much of a difference with anyone, despite 2 years…

The Voice Acting:

Some were amazing, some were mediocre and of some I was really disappointed, namely Rika. Since we non-Korean’s rely heavily on the text below we obviously pay a bigger focus on that.

Now reading the subtitles Rika’s VA really underperformed on this one. Rika had some very dramatic scenes and a lot of anger and pain that were conveyed beautifully while written but fell flat while spoken.

I honestly expected more vigor with this one, because as an actor myself I know how much fun it can be to get those really dramatic slightly over the top roles. It didn’t look like the VA was enjoying it at all.

She could have screamed so much more, could have actually sounded angrier and match the facial expressions Rika was making while talking, but never did. A grave opportunity missed.

Ray on the other hand. I wasn’t really a fan of the VA in the normal route but he really stepped up his game with this one and I loved it. Emotions to rip your heart out. Once again, saving the route.

Conclusion:

While I enjoyed the route with the new content and general excitement it provided, I was overall disappointed with what seemed to be a lack of thought and care put into creating the route.Of course I am still thankful to Cheritz for creating at all, but as a content creator myself who gets literally nothing out of it, I still make sure to keep certain standards. Let’s hope for a better Saeran route…

#mystic messenger #mysme #v #jihyun kim #v route #answered #analysis #my thoughts #take it with a grain of salt

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multi-fandom-oneshots · 8 years ago

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Heart Hacked (Tony Stark x OC)

A/N: I have no idea where this came from but I thought it was fluffy and cute and worth posting. It’s a Tony Stark fic but takes place when he’s in Grad School and I’ll just let you read the rest. Let me know what you think!

Masterlist

I walked into the school library for the third time that week. I knew he would be on duty, he worked from 3-5 every afternoon. Tony Stark, the cute little nerdy graduate student who most would deem too young for me. From what I had heard he was a certified genius, and I believed it as soon as I had met him. When I had first met Tony I genuinely did have a computer virus. Of course, me being a computer science major, could have fixed it myself but I had been feeling particularly lazy that day.

We had enjoyed pleasant conversation, discussing everything from rock music to the Kardashians. I really enjoyed spending time with Tony but I didn’t want to bug him. So I did what any semi-awkward computer nerd would do, bugged my own computer as an excuse to see him.

I sauntered over to the IT desk, diseased laptop in hand. It was getting difficult to program viruses challenging enough to actually puzzle Tony, but I considered it as practice for future uses. Not that I planned on bugging peoples computers but it was nice to know I could, in a hundred different ways.

I walked up to Tony’s desk and cleared my throat, thrusting my computer in his face. Tony rolled his eyes in a joking manner when he looked up from his screen and saw me.

“Ahh Olivia, I’d say what a surprise but honestly I’m not surprised at all. What did you do this time?”

“I don’t really know Tony. I was just browsing the web and something just happened. Blue screen of death an a bunch of other weird stuff.”

“Are you sure you’re a CompSci major?” he asked incredulously as he took the laptop out of my hands.

I took a seat beside him not leaving much space between us, I was getting bold wasn’t I? He was typing a simple code, trying to search for any of the common stuff, trojans and what not. That made me smile, I knew it wouldn’t work. He squinted when he realized the problem wouldn’t be that easy to fix.

“So, whats wrong with it?” I asked in a pseudo confused voice.

“I don’t really know. Honestly how do you get so many viruses? This is like the third time this week you’ve been here.”

“So, you’ve been counting?” I asked, messing with him. It worked. His typing faltered for a second and he was starting to blush.

“No. No I haven’t. Nope.” he replied too hastily to be convincing.

He got back to work. Muttering to himself, typing in another algorithm that I knew would lead him to another dead end. He let out a frustrated sigh when he realized he had been wrong again.

The more I visited Tony, the bolder I had become. This little game was enjoyable but I was beginning to question Tony’s genius status because it didn’t seem like he had realized that this was my weird way of flirting. I chalked up to the fact that he probably hadn’t been given the time of day by college girls since he was kind of a pariah to the underclassman. Being a genius and skipping multiple grades would do that to a person’s social status. Or he could just not be into me, that could be a possibility as well.

I bent over him, resting my chin on his shoulder, to be able to see the screen of course. The close proximity to Tony had nothing to do with it. I saw his eyes flick over to me briefly, the blush on his face deepening slightly.

“So, what exactly were you doing to get this terrible virus?” Tony asked as he typed.

“I was trying to hack this Night Elf Jerk’s BattleNet account and steal all his gold. But it isn’t my fault, he wouldn't stop following me around. ”

Technically that was kind of true. The weird online stalker had been bugging you, and you had been stealing all his gold when you decided it was time to get to work on another virus, to bug you’re favorite IT Guy.

Tony laughed, an amazing sound you had been accustomed to for the past couple weeks. “So the Night Elf bested you huh?”

I sighed, “Yes unfortunately. I hate the Alliance.”

Tony laughed again, the sound warmed my insides. “I agree, the Horde is much better.”

We became silent, Tony because he was engrossed in his coding, and me because I was studying him as he typed. He would always get this adorable crease between his eyebrows when he was concentrating hard. He would mutter to himself as he worked and cursed under his breath when he would hit a dead in. I smiled and sat back watching the man work.

—————————

Tony Stark did not get distracted easily. He prided himself on his intense ability to focus on any task. But there was one thing—rather one person—who could make his brain become a jumble of mush, Olivia Nelson, or Olive as he annoyingly liked to call her.

At first he had thought nothing of it when she had come to see him the first couple of times. He knew viruses were pretty common and that was the only purpose for her visits. But then she began to show up more frequently, computer in hand. He found it odd, that a girl who was supposedly a Computer Science major would have so many computer issues but he wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. He enjoyed spending time with her, however brief that time was.

During their little meetings he had learned many things about her, some she had told him, some he had deduced. From their discussions he had learned that she was a junior, that she didn’t care for reality tv, she was a big nerd; a huge fan of both Star Wars and Star Trek. He had also learned the hard way that she got severely pissed when people tried to compare the two or say one was better than the other.

He would never forget that day where they had been asked to quite down by library staff as she ranted about how ‘Star Wars and Star Trek were completely different, one about exploration, the other about galactic war. And how could anyone ever compare the two?!’. He was crying he was laughing so hard, seeing her glare at him through his watery eyes was only icing on the metaphorical cake.

He also knew some things that she hadn’t told him. That from the state of her worn out converse and recycled wardrobe that she was probably here on scholarship. That she was probably ambidextrous based on the way she would use his mouse with either hand with no difficulty. That she had trouble keeping her hands still, based on how she would chip off her nail polish as he worked, but always had a fresh coat the next day. Most of the time she wore a shade of hot rod red that secretly drove him crazy; he had always loved red but he had begun to love it more because it was permanently painted on her fingers.

The most important thing Tony knew was that he had a huge crush on Olivia. One that would never be reciprocated. No one wanted to date the weird kid genius, and despite how nice she was, he was sure that she would never think of him as more than the friendly IT guy that she chatted with.

Tony sighed and blinked rapidly, trying to clear his thoughts. Thinking about the girl sitting beside him was not going to help him solve this virus problem.

“So Olive,” he smiled as he saw her roll her eyes at his nickname. He loved pushing her buttons. “You ever thought about maybe investing in a virus protection program? They do exist you know.”

He frowned when he saw the sad frown on her face.

“Am I bothering you Tony? I can leave, come back after your shift, get someone else to fix it.”

“What? No. I love seeing you, you’re the highlight of my day.” he said hurriedly, trying to undo the damage he had caused.

She laughed at him. “Wow you are so easy to troll, it’s not even that fun.”

Tony rolled his eyes at her and turned back to the computer in front of him.

“And why would I buy Virus Protection Tony? That’s what you’re for.”

Tony tried not to show her how that statement had made his heart soar. He tried to hide his grin by bending down over the laptop screen.

“So Tony, I don’t think you’re as smart as you think you are.” she said, rolling her chair close enough to his that she could place her feet in his lap. He tried to ignore the fact that there was a new hole in her shoes that hadn’t been there last week. He had been trying to figure out how he could give her a pair of new shoes without offending her when he reregistered what she had just said to him.

“Excuse me? I’m Anthony Edward Stark, and I know everything.” he quipped back, getting that little smirk that he always had when bragging about himself.

“Mhmm sure you do genius boy, but there is one thing you haven’t figured out yet.”

“If you’re talking about the virus Olive, I’m pretty sure I’ve almost figured it out, process of elimination.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about you narcissist.” she replied jokingly. “I’m talking about the fact that I clearly have a thing for you and you’re oblivious to it.”

Tony’s fingers stopped typing as soon as the words left her mouth. She was messing with him again, playing some prank. There was no way an amazing girl like Olivia liked him. No way he’d get that lucky.

Tony guessed that she had seen the look on his face because she removed her feet from his lap and put a hand on his shoulder. But apparently she took it as rejection rather than disbelief.

“If you don’t feel the same then that’s totally okay. We can still be friends if you want. I’d like that. But honestly I’m just getting tired of bugging my own computer just to come see you. I figured it’d just be easier on both of us if i finally told you.”

He swiveled to look at her now, a smile lighting up his face.

“Okay, now you’re smiling at me all crazy and I’m kinda confused on where you stand on this whole ‘me being into you’ thing.” she said puzzled.

“You like me,” Tony teased, “You wanna date me, and make out with me, and cuddle me, and have cute rom-com moments with me.”

Olivia rolled her eyes at him, something she felt like she would be doing quite often. “Oh quit teasing me you ass. Like you don’t like me too. You would have told me to stop coming when you work forever ago if you didn’t like me.” she said smiling.

“Huh, true.” Tony replied as he shut her laptop. “So I think we should move this to a different, more fitting local.”

“What?” she asked.

“This is no longer a ‘Tony fix my computer visit’. Tony concluded. “This is a ‘Tony fix my computer date. And since it’s a date there should be food, maybe some booze.” He said the last sentence with a wink.

“Tony you’re not even 21.”

“Yes, but you’re 26. And what are girlfriends for if to not buy their 20 year old boyfriends booze?”

Olivia laughed at his antics. No one could make her smile like he could. “Yeah Tony not gonna happen, and who said I was your girlfriend, hmm?”

He stood and dragged her with him as he walked towards the library’s exit. “Oh whatever honey, it’s way too late to play that game now. You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

“God help me.” She said but she gripped Tony’s hand in hers and leaned into him as they walked through campus.

“You’re gonna be the death of me aren't you?” she asked jokingly.

“I totally am. But I promise you, you’re gonna love every minute of it.” he wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.

She laughed again, a sound Tony would never get tired of hearing. Tony had no idea what was going to happen now, but he knew one thing, he had gotten lucky having a girl like her be into him. And that he was definitely buying her a new pair of shoes.

#tony stark #tony stark oneshot #tony stark imagines #Avengers #The Avengers #Iron Man #college au #avengers college au #iron man au #tony stark x reader #tony stark x oc drabble #tony stark x reader drabble #oc #nerdy oc #geeky fluff

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whatif-animagineblog · 8 years ago

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A/N: I’M BACK BITCHES.....was...was that too much? I’m sorry. But I am, getting my mojo back....slowly....with a story that isn’t on my request list......yeah...but hey this is something and I love Pavel Chekov, look at this cutie. And this fits in with @outside-the-government Trekfest for Chekov’s week!!

Additional Note: I know you can’t make helium, but they are in the future. And it’s pseudo-science. Deal with it.

Additional note pt2 : Shout out for @frostedej for giving me inspiration by sending me this idea “Not a request...just imagine trolling the hell out of the others with Chekov via helium.” Thank you, because I think I got my creative juices flowing again because of this.

Summary: Pavel Chekov is an overachiever and goes to great lengths to get you a fun birthday gift.

Warnings: None, just fluff

Paring: Chekov/ Reader

Word Count: 1180

You felt a gentle pair of hands land on your shoulders while you were in the midst of a conversation. You tilted your head up towards the person behind you, receiving a gentle kiss on your cheek. “Happy Birthday,” the heavily accented voice drifted into your ears. “I didn’t see you this morning, would’ve wished you then.”

You turned fully from the person who you were talking to, not they minded everyone on the ship was rooting for the youngest couple on the ship. They all thought you were adorable, more importantly, they were just glad to see Pavel hang on to a girl for once. “I know but Hikaru called me into the botany lab, Alexander was apparently wilting. He’s alright though.”

Pavel laughed, his grin spreading wider, “Hikaru or the plant?”

“Both,” you laughed back. “Are you off shift?” You asked putting a hand on his arm.

He nodded, “That’s why I came to get you. I have a surprise for you in my quarters.”

“Oh no,” You laughed as he pulled you up. “The last surprise you had for me singed your curls,” you teased gently pulling at the spiraling strands.

“Okay, yes, that was a mistake! I’ll be the first to admit it. But this! This is, dare I say, my best work.” You laughed, waving to your friend as Pavel pulled you along. You darted down the halls, receiving strange looks and shaking heads as you passed. He stopped you at his door placing his hands on your shoulders. “Close your eyes.”

“What,” you stuttered looking at him sharing his grin. “Come on Pash, just show me!”

“No, it’s a surprise! Close your eyes,” you sighed complying, but Pavel stepped behind you placing a hand over your eyes as he typed in his code. You reached up and wrapped your hands around his forearm, as you pushed your back into his warm chest.

“I like this, is this the surprise,” you teased as he pushed you forward into the room.

“Nyet,” he sighed wistfully before leaning down to put his lips next to your ear, “That comes later.” He took his free hand and wrapped it around your waist, while his warm breath brushed your face. He gave you a quick peck on the cheek before speaking, “Ready?”

You nodded eagerly and he pulled away the hand from your eyes. As you blinked against the light, his surprise came into view. About a hundred, maybe more, balloons of all colors nestled against the ceiling. “Oh my God. Pavel,” you whirled around to face him and he was just grinning with his arms open. You stepped in them hugging him tightly, of course, he reciprocated, kissing your head as you hugged. “How, how did you manage this? I thought we didn’t have helium on the Enterprise!?”

“We don’t. Well didn’t until I might have synthesized some.”

You looked at him critically, “How the hell did you get access to the labs to do this for me,” you asked pulling a balloon down and holding it in your hands.

“We anyone will let the sweet, knowledge chasing whiz kid shadow them if he shows interest.” Pavel shrugged headed to sit on his bed. “And Doctor Helson thought it was endearing that I found an interest in chemistry, even more, endearing when I just wanted to make a nice gift for my girlfriend.”

You gasped at him, “Pavel Chekov are you using Doctor Helson just to get me balloons!? That’s,” he raised his hand to quiet you as he laughed.

“Neyt, Neyt,” he cried waving his hands out in defense. “I’m loving chemistry! Loved it in the Academy! This is a wonderful plus.”

“How long have you been shadowing Doctor Helson, Pavel? I know her, she doesn’t let just anyone waltz in and out of her labs.” You asked reaching out to play with his curls.

“How long have we been dating? Almost a year? Yeah, about a year or so.” You stared at him in surprise, amazed he would do such a thing for you. You two fell silent for a minute, your hands gently combing through the thick tuft of hair as he hummed in appreciation.

“This is an amazing birthday gift. Thank you,” you kissed his cheek gently. Lowering yourself into his lap to sit. “I didn’t realize you were paying attention when I said I loved balloons. In fact, I was drunk, we were at that security party right? We weren’t dating Pav.”

Pavel blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. He shrugged saying, “Well, I’ve liked you a really a long time. And well,” he started to flounder only muttering ‘ums’ and ‘uhs’

“Stop, I know it. I love you too.” You stood up and grabbed a balloon and handed it to him. “Wanna suck some helium? I want to hear that adorable accent all squeaky.”

Pavel looked at the balloon then you, slowly he took into his hands, “Alright,” Pavel untied the balloon holding it tightly. Gently bringing the balloon to his lips, inhaling deeply before he opened his mouth again. His voice pitched up high, “My name is Ensign Pavel Chekov, nawigator of t-the,” Pavel started laughing about the same time you did, laughing even harder at the sound of his usually raspy laugh sounding so squeaky. “The United Starship Enterprise.” His voice returning to normal near the end.

You two spent the next 15 minutes or so sucking the helium out of several balloons, laughing to the point of tears, clutching onto one another as you fell back on the bed. Gasping for air, you looked into those charming gray eyes, no words needed to be exchanged, you both could read the expression perfectly. But you felt a need to anyway, “I love you, Pavel Chekov.”

“I love you too. Happy birthday,” He leaned over the small distance capturing your lips in his.

Pavel chuckled as you chased his lips when he pulled away, “say it again,” you instructed.

“I love you.”

You shook your head, ”With the helium.”

Pavel rolled his eyes and stood to reach for a balloon. As he breathed in his communicator on his wall beeped and the Captain’s voice rang through the small space. “Kirk to Chekov” Without any thought he rushed over to respond, what Kirk next was a very high and unfamiliar voice and then hysterical laughing in the background. “Pavel is that you?”

“Y-Yes!,” Pavel gasped as he tried to clear the gas from his vocal cords. “Yes, sir! It’s me I’m just with,” he started to explain.

“I know who you are with, I can hear her laughing. Anyway, I need you to confirm a few routes we need to take. Please read through and sign off as soon as possible.”

“Yes sir, no problem,” Pavel confirmed.

“Thank you, Mr. Chekov. Oh and tell Y/N happy birthday for me. Have a good evening you two.”

Pavel laughed as he looked towards you, eyes filled with indescribable love and passion. “I don’t know if we could have any other night, sir.”

Tags: @mccoymostly @star-trekkin-across-theuniverse @yourtropegirl @answer-the-sirens @starshiphufflebadger @storiesfromstarfleet @kaitymccoy123 @youre-on-a-starship @imaginestartrek @imaginenterprise @feelmyroarrrr @wificrazymisfit @athena1138 @buckyy3s @malindacath @bkwrm523 @goodnightwife

Join the tag team today

#Pavel Chekov #chekov #pavel chekov x reader #chekov x reader #pavel chekov/reader #chekov/reader #pavel chekovxreader #chekovxreader #pavel Chekov / reader #Chekov / reader #WhatIf? - Imagines #Whatif-animagineblog #Fluff

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avaantares · 8 years ago

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My thoughts on Torchwood: Aliens Among Us

Minimal spoilers. I’ll discuss themes and events, but try to avoid any major reveals.

Putting the rest after the jump for length and spoiler protection.

I debated whether to even post this, because I still haven’t quite made up my mind whether or not I actually like S5. I mean, the production values of the episodes are excellent, as usual (Big Finish knows what they’re about in that department), and the performances are great, and even the ongoing series hook is interesting -- but I think the problem is that I’m not actually enjoying the direction the series is headed. It’s done well, but it doesn’t quite feel like Torchwood to me. And that’s not just because more than half the original cast is missing; it’s a shift in something vital and central to the series. Its purpose, perhaps. I’m still digesting the episodes I’ve listened to. (More on that in a bit.)

Anyway, I’ll start with my take on the characters and their new roles:

Jack - Apparently having exhausted all his potential development in previous stories, Jack is relegated almost to the background of this series. He makes the usual lewd jokes and sleeps around and dies when the plot demands it, but he’s practically a cardboard cutout, doing Action Things when necessary and coasting on listeners’ affection for him from previous stories. After four episodes, there’s still no evidence that he’ll have anything resembling a character arc, which is massively disappointing.

Jack also shows some disturbing behavior here -- namely, he pseudo-stalks and seduces a man he’s considering hiring on at Torchwood just to get more information about him, which is not only dishonest and manipulative, but is a REALLY FREAKING CREEPY thing for a potential boss to do, especially if the hiring had gone through.

But no worries on that account, since Jack then bars said potential employee from Torchwood because he made a mistake in the field and got civilians killed. Jack cites the Doctor’s “no second chances” line and pontificates about how he won’t tolerate people dying on his watch. This seems out of character coming from the man who forgave Gwen for unleashing an alien gas that killed dozens of civilians, forgave Ianto for betraying them all and getting two innocent people killed in the Hub, forgave Owen Harper for rebelling and putting a bullet through Jack’s brain, etc.... not to mention Jack’s own tendency to shoot first and apologize later, for which he was often criticized by both Gwen and the Doctor. Even if he’s changed his views on violence in the meantime, I can’t imagine him drawing such a hard line in the sand without at least turning it into a teaching experience. Jack is the king of second chances; it seems hypocritical for him to deny one to a panicked newcomer.

Gwen - I’ve seen several other people say that they didn’t recognize Gwen until the character identified herself at the end of the episode, and I had the same experience. Her Welsh accent seems much stronger than it was in the TV series. There may be plot reasons for that, or it may just be an inconsistency. (EDIT: I’ve since read that, due to plot reasons, Alexandria Riley is actually performing most of Gwen’s speaking parts, so the difference is definitely intentional.)

Gwen doesn’t seem to serve a significant purpose in the stories until the extreme end of episode 2, when she conducts the major reveal of what will be (I suspect) her ongoing story arc for the whole series. That subplot is by far the most compelling thing about this new series, and honestly is probably the only thing with enough hook to keep me listening.

Mr. Colchester - The spiritual successor to the conspicuously absent Ianto Jones, Mr. Colchester is the dry, longsuffering general support. In many ways he’s the most complex and developed of the new characters, and while it took me a bit to warm up to him, I quite like him now. (Of course, since he’s basically replacement-Ianto, that may explain why I enjoy his commentary so much.)

We’ve learned a bit about Mr. Colchester’s personal life, as well as just a sliver of backstory, and I hope that is setting up for some kind of series-long arc for him. I think he has a lot of undeveloped potential. I’m very curious to know exactly how he came to Torchwood.

Orr - Orr manages to be interesting despite the fact that their introduction scene feels a bit too much like Discourse(TM). (I described the scene to a friend as “Tumblr: The Audio Drama.”) As a gender- and biologically-fluid being, Orr can psychically tune in to entities to acquire information in a way I’ve never seen done before, and that leaves open a potential gold mine of story opportunities and mystery resolutions. However, since the two episodes in which Orr features are largely spent establishing their abilities, there’s still not much sign of a dynamic arc. It’s strongly suggested that they will become a full-time Torchwood operative, which should be... interesting, given that crew and their proclivities.

Tyler Steele - Let me put this on record right now: I do not like Tyler. At all. I wouldn’t mind if he got flattened by a spaceship.

Now, that doesn’t mean he’s a bad character -- sometimes the most compelling characters are ones you despise, and Tyler’s role in the story seems to be going in that direction -- but it does bother me that Jack seems intent on carrying on an ongoing sexual relationship with a character who is so morally questionable, disrespectful, self-serving, and generally kind of a jerk. I can’t imagine Jack putting up with that, no matter how good Tyler is in bed, unless we’re just going to undo the past ten years’ worth of Jack’s character development and kick him all the way back to the way he was with Captain John Hart.

Tyler himself is the only one of the new characters who does seem to have the setup for a dynamic story, which could be more interesting if they turn him into a villain or boost his moral grayness to have him play both sides. (Personally, I’d really like to see him waffle for a while, then cross a line and become unredeemable, forcing Jack to have to stop him. That would provide a nice characterization moment for Jack, too.)

Other Characters: Rhys and Mary Cooper (Gwen’s mother) get cameos, but that’s about it. At least two other named characters (Andy and Billis Manger) are coming back for the next set, so we’ll hope for an expanded cast next time.

Before I get critical, I do want to mention a few specifics that this series does well:

It’s implied that either there is no coffee allowed in the Hub, or no one is allowed to use Ianto’s coffee machine. Which is heartbreaking, but also gratifying, as it implies that Jack can’t bear to let that one piece of Ianto be replaced. Many of us were worried that Ianto would be forgotten or just garner a token mention, as he has in most series/publications set post-MD, but it’s nice to see actual evidence that they remember and mourn him.

It’s also suggested that Jack is still thinking constantly about Ianto, even years after he died. Which is small comfort after we’ve had to witness Jack getting it on with that creep Tyler multiple times, but at least Ianto hasn’t been erased completely.

The reveal of the subplot surrounding Gwen came as a complete shock to me. I often work sneaky plot things out beforehand, but I’ll confess, I did not see that one coming. (Others have pointed out that this plot element may have been foreshadowed in a previous episode...? But we’ll need more information about what’s actually going on before confirming that.)

I like that they’re operating out of the literally collapsing ruins of the Hub and are completely broke, even though it does raise some questions about EU continuity (we saw the Hub cleaned up after the explosion in Long Time Dead, and Gwen was trying to rebuild it in Forgotten Lives). It’s nice -- and thematically appropriate -- to have them huddling in a broken ruin of the past while trying to come to terms with the future.

Now, some thoughts on the story itself:

I’m really not sure how to approach this new world, where aliens populate Cardiff and are so far from secret that there are human protest groups lobbying in the streets to remove them. It acknowledges the events of Exodus Code and the Titan Comics series (I have major issues with that, too, but that’s another conversation entirely). At this point the series has split so far from the known Whoniverse that it has more in common with awkward American stepchild Miracle Day than with its own BBC parent series. I feel like we’re now trapped in a bubble universe that is never going to resolve with the original series of Torchwood.

Anyway... Cardiff is overrun by aliens, and apparently instead of Torchwood trying to protect humanity from alien threats, in this brave new Cardiff, Torchwood is trying to protect... the aliens? For motivations that remain unclear to me, in episode 2, Gwen and Mr. Colchester spend a whole night repeatedly putting their lives on the line to protect an alien from capture after they witness her eating innocent humans. Reluctantly, she claims, but the extremes they go to to protect her (including endangering human civilians and hospital staff) just don’t seem justified when she and her family are actual threats to humanity.

The ongoing story of S5 centers around the economic and political takeover of Cardiff from a particular race of aliens. It’s sinister enough, and provides a backdrop for multiple villain-of-the-week episodes, but there’s really no soul to it. Maybe that will change with future episodes, but I think this points to the main reasons I’m not really getting into this series as much as previous Big Finish Torchwood dramas:

Classic Torchwood was a character-driven series set against a dramatic (and often camp) space fantasy backdrop. At the end of the day, we didn’t care what kind of aliens were attacking Earth that week; we worried how Ianto processed his grief, wondered whether or not Owen actually had a heart under his flinty exterior, cheered the little moments when Jack opened up to his friends, and mourned when characters we had grown to care for sacrificed their lives in defense of the people of Cardiff and the world. The character development was the hook, and the episode plots, for the most part, were secondary.

This is one reason so many fans were disappointed in Miracle Day, which was more an American political thriller than space fantasy, and introduced new characters who were wooden and lacked compelling character arcs. The premise of Miracle Day was fascinating, but we couldn’t engage with the story the way we did with the gripping bureaucratic drama of Children of Earth because we were put off by MD’s flat, unlikable protagonists.

AAU, as well, is missing some of those critical elements that let the audience engage deeply with the story. While there are complex things happening in the political sphere, we come into S5 knowing nothing about the new characters, and the characters we do know seem too static. Gwen does get an interesting story hook, but not until the halfway mark of this boxed set.

In short, I just don’t care enough. I miss the depth and complexity of the original characters, and I miss the ongoing growth that made Jack and Gwen interesting. I don’t know the new characters well enough to feel strongly about what happens to them, and there is little indication that they will become dynamic over the course of the next few stories.

It’s a shame, because I love Torchwood and want more of it, but I just don’t feel like I’m getting proper Torchwood with these stories. I’ll probably give the next part of Aliens Among Us a try, but I’ll wait to see how it goes before deciding on the third set. it’s hard to justify the high price of the box set for a series I’m basically ambivalent about.

#torchwood #aliens among us #big finish #my review

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beyondvapepage · 5 years ago

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 274

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Click on the video above to watch Episode 274 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

Announcement

Adam: All right, we are live. Welcome everybody to Hump Day Hangout. This is Episode 274. Today is the 12th of February 2020. We got almost the full crew here today. I think Hernan had some technical issues, so he probably won’t be joining us but we’ll see maybe he’ll hop in. So let’s just say hi to everyone real quick. We got some quick announcements and then we’ll get in and start answering all of your questions. So start at the top here Bradley, how are you doing today? How’s Virginia treating you?

Bradley: I’m well. it’s rainy and cold here. It’s not super cold but it’s stupid rainy and has been all week so be nice to see some sun but other than that things are good. I was recording 2xyouragency videos again today. I’ve got one left and in this week’s lessons will be done. There’s a lot of training in that damn course. So I would check it out guys if you haven’t yet.

Adam: Good deal. Yeah, we’re going to touch base on that a little bit more in a second but we’ll just carry on here and Marco, we got your video. How are you doing today?

Marco: What’s up, man? I just wanted people to see the 10 inches of sun. If Bradley’s got rain, this is what I get every morning. It’s the dry season here. So every afternoon, this is what it’s like. So I’m not inviting anyone to come down to Costa Rica but dude, you can’t beat this. And I still have to do it because I told you guys last week that I was going to do a live stream from the common green area with the two volcanoes in the background. I haven’t had time to do that. I’ve been displeased with some internet issues. I’ve been dealing with three stooges issues. If it were like three stooges short that you wouldn’t even believe it that way. What happened to me these past few days and especially yesterday with the cable company, first of all, refusing to lay down the cable. I mean, what the fuck is a cable company? They got a truck and they pull up with the truck and they open the back and they got the big thing with nothing but cable miles and miles of cable and they refuse to lay the cable. It’s ridiculous, man. Anyway, that’s just part of the rant you guys go to the free Facebook group if you want to see the whole rap I got more. Yeah, there’s more than that. Anyway, everything’s good, everything’s back to normal. Cool, calm, collected as usual for me and life goes on. Life is good. Get the POFU so you can get some of this

Adam: get the sunshine Yeah, it’s nice. I do like having sunshine in the place after living in upstate New York for so long. It’s really nice being back in the sunshine man. It makes a big difference. Well, Chris, how you doing man? I think we got you here, right?

Chris: Yeah, me I’m here hiding while we’re like stores for like over a week now year, which is kind of ridiculous. I’ve never experienced that exactly the opposite of Marco. But like I said, I’ll be heading out to Germany tomorrow and I hope I’m not flooded and they don’t work.

Adam: Well keep your fingers crossed. Yeah, that’s what might be a little rough. Make your travel a little bit rougher.

Chris: It should be fine like it’s coming down. But like, I’m not sure it’s over yet because they said that twice already, but you never know.

Adam: Fair enough. Well, I’ll answer my own question. Things are going well here in California. I got the sun going camping for Valentine’s Day weekend. So I’m pumped to get out in the mountains out here. And the weather’s just been awesome. I like it’s nice and cool, but sunny. So that’s kind of my jam. So now that we’ve got everybody’s weather updates and let’s, we got some quick announcements for you guys, and then we’ll get into the questions. Bradley, you want to tell them real quick. We just had a webinar on Monday with Damon Nelson. I’m going to grab the link for that if people want to check out the replay. You let everyone know what was going on there.

Bradley: Damon Nelson created RSS masher several years ago, which was a really cool tool. We’ve promoted two different RSS like mashing technology tools in the last several years. One is Lisa Allen’s, which is called Rank Feeder. It’s really good for SEO. But what Damon’s RSS Masher shine was it was more of a marketing tool than just an SEO tool. And I’ve always said that because people would ask, “well, which one do you suggest?”. And I said, “well, they’re two different things, right? One is Rank Feeder, which was Lisa Allen’s tool that is really good for just creating co-citation. It doesn’t make the most beautiful output feeds though, which is what RSS Masher shines at RSS Masher allows you to create feeds through different content sources and then inject your own code, HTML, banners, your own snippets of other content right within the feed so you can customize the feeds. You can actually blend from splice feeds, extract certain elements from the feeds to create a new feed. Like it’s crazy what they’ve done with it, with the new upgraded technology that they’ve worked into this RSS Masher technology. And that’s what they’re calling it. I was calling it to 2.0 the other day, and I was corrected by one of the developers Wayne. It’s called RSS Masher technology now, but it’s really cool. And it’s a marketing tool.

One thing I want to talk about is we get this question all the time and Hump Day Hangouts and in support at MGYB, but people ask dude, why don’t you recommend two-tier networks or two-tier networks syndication networks for blog syndication or for money sites for syndicating blog content? And I always suggested the reason why I don’t like to do it is that it’s kind of a pain in the ass to set up additional related content feeds for the tier two triggers. In other words, the second tier networks should have other content posted from other sources, not all just from your money site. Because that creates a footprint.

It’s okay to have a footprint when you’re republishing to your own branded profiles, but when you get out to the second tier, those are persona-based profiles or they could be pseudo brands, that type of stuff. But if all they did was republish your content from your money site over and over and over again. It would be clearly it would be quite clear what they were intended for. And that was just to manipulate the search and that can cause problems. So if you’re going to use two-tier networks, I’ve always recommended that you add sec related content feeds to the second tier triggers, so that the second tier networks would have not only your own content but other related content relevant content, so that yours is kind of mixed in with others and that would look more natural. It reduces footprint not it doesn’t eliminate it, but it reduces it considerably. Well, the reason I talked about not doing it that once because for me because I have a lot of clients and a lot of lead gen sites and it was becoming increasingly cumbersome to manage and maintain those second-tier networks because you don’t have control over those other content feeds, right? So things would break or a feed would all of a sudden, you know, hiccup and shoot out like 15, 50 posts all in one day, you know, that kind of stuff happens and then you end up with a nightmare of a mess on your second-tier networks and all that. Anyway, if you’re just dealing with one project, it’s okay to manage. But when you’ve got multiple projects that you’re working on, it became a nightmare to manage those. So I got away from using second-tier networks and just stuck with the single branded ring because then it was so much easier to maintain. But with RSS Masher technology, you can create one super feed or once you know, one RSS master feed that is highly relevant because of filtering and all the other really cool things that you can do with it and use that one feed now to trigger a second-tier network. And so with that, I’m going to be testing a lot with it over the next few weeks months, really, but I think there’s a lot of opportunities. Therefore second-tier networks that Marco can briefly chat about this they absolutely work when done correctly, what absolutely helped a brand and build the entity? What do you think Marco?

Marco: Well, if anyone has ever wondered how websites like HuffPost, or any of those other websites that republish content because HuffPost does very little, or not much original content, a lot of their stuff is just gathered from all over the web. Well, this is a tool that you could use to produce that kind of website, where you’re gathering data for not data but content all over the web. You can curate the content, you can splice the content, you can do whatever you want with it image as a short blurb and the websites look absolutely stunning up. I mean, you can put health post and when one of these RSS generator websites side by side, side by side and you wouldn’t be able to tell which one was generated with RSS Masher technology, and which one was generated with any other technology. That’s the great thing about this tool. That’s one. But the most important part, as you know, we’re really, really, really telling people, if you’re not doing brand based or entity based SEO, then you’re fucking it up for yourself. You’re making it absolutely more difficult than it needs to be. And this is one of those things where you can send data to the bot from all sorts of different places on the web, about your entity, but it’s coming from other sources, not just you. So that becomes even more valuable when the bot goes out and looks and is looking at your entity and everywhere where your entity is mentioned. And it’s finding all of these places that mentioned your entity. And not only it’s mentioned it and it’s commingled, as you co-citation with other authoritative trusted sources on the web. So then it’s not just some orphan website somewhere that does nothing except try to get leads some kind of a choice to get Google to rank them please your Begley Google your downing a nice because you because you’re down to your last but now all of a sudden you have the technology to get the word out there to spread it out even more. And you know, think of a tiered network. But don’t think of just the three that we do, right? When we do a tiered network, we do three triggers, because you can daisy chain those and create as many as you want. And you can do variations because there’s a ton of different platforms that you can use that there are other blogging platforms that can be triggered using other sources. And now with this technology, where it’s just the RSS feed, coming in and pulling in all these different sources, it’s just made life a whole lot simpler to get those kinds of websites out there. That will generate traffic, that will generate revenue and that will generate visits to the money site. I mean, it’s just to me, it’s just awesome what he’s done. And yes, I will be testing it. I have other people that will test it also. And we’ll have something I don’t know, give us a couple of months to three months. And we’ll come back and let you know just just how it is, by the way, that the coupon is running out. Yeah. So anyone who wants to jump in, you better jump in on it that the price that it is now the price is going up?

Yeah, it’s got a 25% coupon code, Use coupon code Semantic. You get 25% off and that’s just that’s valid until I think the end of the close of business Friday, which is Valentine’s Day. So tell your wife or your significant other that you’re buying a Valentine’s Day gift for her or for him to buy a phone by this. Grab it in business expense and then go do something why for significant. It’s better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission, you know, so.

Oh, man. Good. Well, one more quick announcement I wanted to talk about you guys. We made some changes to the mastermind. And I know we got some of the mastermind members who watch Hump Day Hangouts. And some of you who are thinking about joining the mastermind will end up there eventually, which is great. We’re but we’re making a big change to the way we’re doing webinars so mastermind members get direct access, of course, and get to ask questions where we dive into that. And we’ve decided, in order to provide more value to mastermind Members, we’re going to break up the webinars instead of just doing webinar twice a month, we’re going to each take twice a month, spot and give one on one or one on many webinars. So to make that less confusing, that means like Bradley is going to do his own q&a with mastermind members twice a month. I’m going to do that twice a month. Marco is going to do that twice a month. Chris is going to do that twice a month and is not doing that twice. Yeah. So I’ll have a lot more value guys a lot more content.

And it’s kind of in, you know, we each have our own areas of expertise. Some of it overlaps, there’s no question. But this way people will get to be able to attend what is most appropriate for them at their business at that time. And again, it’s just going to end up being a shit ton more value for everybody. So think about it. It’s 10 plus webinars per month. Yeah. My cousin needs you and I will be alternating Thursday.

Some months will have actually five weeks. And so we’ll have to do an extra webinar, which I don’t mind but it’s perfectly fine. Mine will be asked Marco anything on the on every other Thursday that Bradley isn’t on. So come join me. You’re welcome to ask me any question if I can answer it, and I know that one of my partners can answer then I’ll send you to one of their webinars so it’s gonna be really good. A lot more value for the money that you guys are paying.

Adam: Definitely. Yeah if you want to find out more about the mastermind if you are not a member you can find out at mastermind.semanticmastery.com. Real quick before we get into the questions I just want to say if you’re an agency owner or consultant and you want to get more clients, you want to grow your revenue or scale your team. If you want to work less and earn more, as they say, go check out to ensure agency com you can find it if you’re watching us live on the sidebar. But Bradley’s deep in the middle of the content. He just released, updated training for that or not, I believe just had an updated prospecting module. And there’s a lot more content to come. But now is the time to jump into that.

Yeah, just a quick aside on that, it’s crazy. But this week, I’m was recording the videos for outbound prospecting. So we’re in the two extra pipeline stages. This being the last week of that. Next week, we start the two extra results, which is really about how to get reliable, consistent, repeatable results. And we’re gonna have four weeks of that training but the first four weeks was about filling your pipeline with prospects Well, first week was about mindset and developing success habits. Week Two is about sales and selling principles. Week Three was inbound prospecting and branding and week for this week are outbound prospecting and direct response marketing. And what’s crazy is even today as I was recording videos, I got another Calendly notification from another Tree Service contractor, this one in Locust Grove, Georgia. Looking for a proposal. He wants to talk about marketing services and lead generation forestry service industry or Tree Service Company. And last week, I had another one come in from Fort Lauderdale, Florida Tree Service contractor and this is from a few web assets that I created over two years ago that I haven’t touched and they’re still generating inbound leads guys and inbound leads are a hell of a lot easier to close than outbound prospecting leads that you generate through outbound prospecting. It’s a whole different psychology when they’ve already decided that they want you to pitch them or present them with a proposal, then it’s so much easier of a conversation than it is when you interrupt them right interruption marketing and inject yourself in their field of vision, like what we do with outbound prospecting, both effective, but one has a different dynamic when it comes to the conversation. And it’s so much easier of a sale. That’s the type that you should be striving for. And that’s what I’ve been. That’s why I didn’t even approach outbound prospecting until the final week of two extra pipelines, because a lot of you will go right to the outbound prospecting because you need clients now and I get that, I get that. But if you set up the infrastructure for inbound, prospecting, and start to build that brand and authority and make a name for your agency and your particular space, then you’ll start having people seek you out. And that is a much, much better way to run a business. It’ll be easier to sell, you can charge higher prices. It’s just it’s a much better way to do it. So I would encourage you to go through as the training is laid out, it was developed that way for a specific reason. Don’t you still get it?

Yeah, don’t you still get needs from SEO Virginia and watching. I just got a client about six weeks ago. It’s a home inspector in Virginia here, home inspector specter Home Inspection company and the same thing he found me from the stupid Google site that is awful. But it’s the rescue over the job. How long ago did you set that up? May 2015. But five years almost so so think about that. And you’ve done absolutely nothing except run it through a syndication network which was garbage also. And so it just goes to show the power of setting this up the power of our is of keeping that number one all of these years and providing you with even more neat. So if you set up your assets, right, like Bradley saying, the people are going to come and then what happens is, if you deliver the results like you’re supposed to, because you have no excuse everything that we too with our clients is available at mgyb.co.

Nothing different. It’s all available that that’s what we do for them. It’s a repeatable process. And so if you guys are thinking, Oh, I can’t do this, you know, how can I get results? I’m new. I don’t understand whatever, you can get results right from MGYB, that’s yo, it’s what we do. And just have at it man just, it’s like Brad said is that mindset, go pick up two extra agency, get started, get that pipeline full, start closing some people generate some revenue, hire some people so they can help you don’t just take all that money, because suddenly you find yourself that you’re the bottleneck, you can’t grow. That’s what this is all about branding, gonna go into all of that 2xyouragency. It’s hands down with somebody, I guarantee you by the time it’s done, it’ll be the best painting that there is anywhere around you more for your money than you would for a 5-10 thousand dollar product, then that’s good.

Amen. Definitely touched on it, you know mgyb.co for the done for you services. I mean, can you imagine Bradley if you’d had like an SEO shield? Back in 2015? And that stuff up? Yeah. Well, and that’s what I was saying on mastermind last week I was talking about, you know, I talked about 2xyouragency and all the time on Hump Day Hangouts and in the mastermind everywhere. I’m sure you guys have heard this before. I prefer niching down. Industry-specific is so much easier to scale an agency that way. And my point is with Tree Service contractors that are reaching out to me, because of some assets that I created two years ago, they’re still generating leads from the agency today, even today. Nope, no shit. What’s great about it is I pitch I have a set price now for the tree service contract. Well, I still have a conversation. I always have a conversation with them on the phone. And I go through the SPIN Selling method. I asked them a series of questions, but one of the questions I asked always is what’s your marketing budget and I have a minimum I won’t work with contractor unless they have a certain budget, but if they say that they have, you know, like, say $3,000 a month, well, my budget will typically fill that, or my proposal will fill that budget allowance. Does that make sense? And so it’s really easy, because of the repeatable processes that we have through mg y be like, it’s just the services, all I do is manage the process of the components being built. And I have VA is that do the blogging, which is part of my SEO monthly services and all that. So anyway, it’s basically me just managing everything. And in fact, because I’ve started for whatever reason, in the last few weeks, I guess, because I’m doing the two extra agency stuff. I’m implementing some of what I’m training about as well. So I’ve had a bunch of leads come in, and I’m able to take on as many as one new clients per week right now. And that’s with me doing the management of onboarding and kind of managing the virtual assistants and the different components and all that, but what I’m going to be doing is continuing to try to boarded one client per week and then train my best assistant, Hazel to be the onboarding manager to handle what I’m doing now. So that there’s no reason why I can’t continue to grow my agency right now even while I’m building a real estate business. If I haven’t outsourced and automated through MGYB, and personnel in place to handle the onboarding and the management, the project management, essentially, and so there’s no reason that I can’t do that. And even if I cut, like right now, my average profit per client on a monthly basis, I take home, pay after expenses, and do MGYB services, virtual assistants, all of that is roughly $800 per month per client. That’s for my standard average rate for what I charge Tree Service clients. So that’s $800 in profit, and even if I got to cut into that profit a little bit now to pay a project manager to do what I’m doing, if it’s hands-off for me, and I can continue, like let’s say cuts another $200 per month per client off of my profit to now pay a project manager.

So let’s say $600 a month times four, that’s $20-$400 a month and accruing revenue each and every month that I could bring into my business without me really having to do anything except for answer the occasional question from my project manager. That’s hands-free money, guys. Does that make sense? So it’s, it’s absolutely capable of doing that when you get the hell out of your own way. systematized, automate and delegate as much as you can in your business and then you can grow and scale that’s how you do it.

I’ve got one last thing I want to share real quick and then we’re going to jump into the questions. Let’s see if I can do this without messing things up. So let me drag that off here. wanted to talk real quick about POFU Live, I mentioned it last week, but we got early bird ticket prices going on. POFU Live this year will be the third year is taking place on September 25th, 26th, and 27th in Boston. Alright, I highly suggest if you’re thinking about this to come to check it out at least even if you don’t grab your ticket today. Although ticket price will go up just that’s the way it is. We want to reward people who take action quickly and help us right so we can cost out the event and get things going. I just like showing this picture of Bradley. That’s why I’m really sharing my screen showing him in a wig. But I wanted to show you guys you know, this is fun we get together there’s a lot of serious business a lot of learning we’re sharing a lot of information not only from us to you, but in between it right. It’s a lot of networking, but it’s also a lot of fun like this. Last year we went go-karting. Adam, Ben’s been here, one of the guest speakers we had come in and just kick butt at go-karting and took the cup in one, you know, and then of course we had and Catherine Jones, you know, this was pretty awesome. She came and talked at our event of you know, 30 people. And I think as a month ago, she was up in front of 4500 people giving a talk and it was you know, that that chance to interact with people like that and among each other is just awesome. So, I just wanted to remind you this go check it out at pofulive.com. And of course, we’ll have some more updates for you guys as we can keep moving forward.

Very cool. All right, I’m going to stop giving away my son, I’m going to turn off my camera.

I’m going to grab the screen, let’s get right into. Oh, by the way, I brought this up because this is one of Damon’s automated auto blogs that he’s got populating with content from his RSS Masher technology. It is 100% auto blog, guys, and it’s freaking beautiful. If this doesn’t look like, I mean, and this site gets a shit ton of traffic, he was talking about the traffic metrics in the webinar, which you can go watch, but it’s crazy the amount of traffic that these will produce because they look good. They’re, you know, it’s just a very, very cool technology. And I could see you know, we don’t talk about PBNs Semantic Mastery for a reason. We just stopped using them years ago. I mean, it’s been years since we’ve any one of us have used PBNs. But this could be like, basically PBN style sites that generate their own traffic and that’s the problem with PBN sites right?

You got the way that people traditionally do then would be to go out and just buy a domain because it’s metrics, rebuild it, and then put a link back over to whatever asset it is they’re trying to rank and then that link gets no traffic, it gets no activity. And so it atrophies over time Google discounts, it becomes less and less of a factor less powerful over time because it’s got no activity on it. But these types of sites, do they generate their own amount of traffic and they’ll get clicks, especially if they’re relevant. Like you know, you have siloed sites, essentially sites that are about specific topics. And then you can drive traffic relevant traffic over to whatever it is that you want. And so it’s very, very engaging. I think these types of links even on brand new domains would be more valuable than traditional PBN links that get no traffic or activity. What do you think Marco PBN is then no longer done the way that you’re supposed to do them what we have now is buying an expired domain for the purpose of injecting your own link in it is not a private blog network that’s just a private website with a lake. The old way was just as when you had a set of websites, right, a network of websites, hook the hook together, give it feeding each other. And that was your private blog network. Then they started selling links to the plier private blog networks, the big people figured out that if you got to PR seven PR eight, those links were really powerful. Well, that’s when Google started cracking down and then you’re not going to sell links for the purposes of manipulating SERPs. Right? You can’t do that. That’s against Terms of Service. We know we know what happened after that and why PB ends are called what they are now, which they’re really not private blog networks. Think about the name, private blog network. If you’re selling links out in the open, it’s not a private blog network. If you’re buying a website for the purpose of inserting a link, it’s not a private blog network where the fuck is the blogging? With this method, you could really build a private blog network so long as you don’t sell links to anyone as long as you don’t let anyone else in on what you’re doing and in your niche, it’s truly a private blog network providing quality content and it brings traffic and it’ll get traffic to your money site. It says that’s the way that a PBN is supposed to be run. Yeah.

How Do You Generate More Leads For A Plumbing Niche Without Appearing Spammy?

Hi, let’s get to the questions, but we’ll spend a half-hour on this damn near 430. Yeah. All right. First ones up, says I do local lead gen with 95% of clients being plumbers. leads come through GMB organic rankings organic website rankings, but mostly through Google ads and Google Ads location extension. Okay, getting decent results, so they’re very competitive in major cities. I find that GMBs are gold for plumbers but difficult to create a fake GMB and to make it stick thoughts on the plumbing niche and advice on higher ticket niches that are not so spammy and Google’s eyes. Yeah I mean that’s part of the problem with GMBs is at least it has been for close to a year. They’ve been harder and harder to get although I think it’s becoming easier. Again I don’t know I haven’t been trying to set up fake GMBs now for many many months for that reason. But yeah as far as how to create fake ones and make them stick the only way that I know how to do it besides finding services that will do them and guarantee them which is hard to do is to use like PO boxes still that still work or to hire somebody that would allow them to like to for you to use their address. That’s something else that you could do seriously. You can use Craigslist to find people to do that.

You know, typically what happens with Craigslist if you’re going to post in Craigslist to find you just post a gig right? Like a job offered or a gig offered that and I think you pay three bucks for that or something but you can post a gig on Craigslist in a city that you want to get a GMB rankings or listing for and then say, explain what it is and the Craigslist ad what you’re trying to do trying to register a Google My Business address that won’t be published, but I need to receive a verification postcard that and, you know, I’ll pay you 50 bucks to do it something like that. And I’ve done that and it works. What you typically find is you’ll find a renter, somebody that’s renting, it could even be an apartment, it doesn’t matter, but somebody that’s renting that will do it, and usually, homeowners won’t do it because they don’t want to get business mail. But, but if you hide your address and you don’t use citations, where you know, you don’t publish a bunch of citations where you’re actually list listing your physical address, then it’s likely you won’t get much solicitation mail, you know, physical mail for that business. So you know, I’ve done it that way. So that’s one of them as long as it can be a postcard received. Those tend to stick a lot better, they get suspended less, they can still be suspended. Make no mistake, but they tend to stay a lot better than is my still preferred method over buying fake GMBs don’t have an actual real address associated with them if that makes sense. Marcom do we have any comment on GMBs?

Are we going to be able to make that available again or now that seems to come on and off on and Google is it takes us down the methods and so yeah, we’re having talks with someone on getting that done again and we’ll let people know when it when it’s happening right now it’s not happening? Now as far as what he’s trying to do, post office box with street address, have the damn plumber get a postcard at his house? I’d be that that that’s perfectly okay.

Or get your family members in on the fun, have had the postcard delivered it at their home addresses. You’re not going to list the address anyway. And it’s actually service area business that’s another good way to do it family friends get them all in on the phone pay them Why not? It’s gonna make you money so invest some money in your business and you know give people something how to get that 50 bucks that you would pay the Craig Craigslist person Hey, now go to your family member friend whatever you’re gonna get something from Google I’m gonna give you 50 bucks once you turn over the postcard very center that’s it. It’s simple to do and trust me it works I’m telling you you post a gig on Craigslist. And I mean there’s times where I get within 20 minutes of the posting going live that I get responses I use Craigslist now for some of my real estate stuff that I’m doing like for example, I have a property in Washington County, Virginia for sale right now and I listed it in the MLS as flat fee listing in the MLS kicked it out rejected it because I didn’t have any photos taken of the actual property every all the photos that I typically submit with listings are like aerial photos, satellite photos, Google Earth photos, that kind of stuff. And this particular MLS requires physic like photos to be taken of the actual property, not aerial photos, that kind of stuff. And so I posted a gig on Craigslist and saying, I need photos taken of a vacant land parcel, and I’ll pay you $30. To do it. All I need is five photos. You can do it with your phone. And within 10 minutes of me publishing that listing, I had three different people contact me saying, Hey, I’ll do it. So I hired this lady. I’ve sent her 30 bucks via PayPal, she went out and got like 15 photos from her phone, send them to me via email and it was done. It was done within 45 minutes of me posting the listing is crazy. You can do the same thing with GIMP. GIMP is telling people you want to use their address just to receive a Google card and then pay them for that. So I would recommend doing that.

Do You Recommend Creating Branded Domains To Get More Leads?

The next question is you recommend brand new domains, but how do you do that? Hey, Bradley. Sorry, go ahead. I think you missed Nigel’s question that was from seven days ago. Yeah but it’s after we signed off because I alright no worries then I’ll go ahead and answer blessings guys have been off the grid for a bit focused on more for my copywriting, However, I’m looking for the best way to utilize MGYBservices to completely arbitrage done for you services as close to the referral affiliate as possible. Package style for do you have anything in place for that? Um, you mean do we have like any training on how to sell it? I don’t think we do yet. I mean, that’s one of the things that’s on the list for us guys. We’re still trying to get all the backend stuff worked out. Marco. Do we have any timeline for any of that?

Does he want to be an affiliate? No, I see him that right. I don’t know. I’m not fully understanding the question except that I know he wants to resell our services. Yeah, I mean by to support it. MGYB.co will get you going in the right direction as far as when everything is going to come together.

Okay, so you know what happened with the problems with cPanel and cPanel raise their prices. If you guys aren’t aware cPanel is charging $10 per cPanel that you’re using now. So your hosting, if you have several websites may go up considerably. So if you paying a cheap host, it just became not cheap, because of the extra charge at any rate that’s neither here nor there. We’re migrating Liquid Web because they have their own version of cPanel. But that’s been in the works since December, you know, they’re working out the bugs. And we understand that because I work with code and I know how that goes. As soon as that’s done. Then we’re bringing in the new version of MGYB, which we reworked and it should make navigating a whole lot easier. management will be a whole lot easier communication will be a whole lot simpler. So with that, that’s the only hold up right now.

Okay, so yeah, I mean what we will be in the coming months Nigel be providing collateral marketing at, you know, collateral for you guys to be able to use that that can help you to sell the services to end users like clients so sell them at retail prices, but also to sell resell them as like an affiliate. Also, you know if that makes sense. So we will be doing that it’s just not something that we have available right now. Okay.

Do You Recommend Creating Branded Domains To Get More Leads?

Alright, so the second part of this question was you recommended branded domains, but how do you do that when you’re targeting multiple cities, towns in the same niche? Well, that’s the easiest way to do it. In my opinion, when you’re targeting multiple towns with the same niche, then you, for example, I use multiple, like generic type brand names like local tree pros, or tree care HQ or something like that, right? Those would all be types of like generic name brands that I could use to create multiple lead gen assets for the same industry across multiple cities. How do you do that you can either do it as internal pages? So you can create categories and silo structure within the website. You can set up silos within on a state level, on a county level on a city level, depending on how big you want to go what you know how far of a service you know how much area you want to expand to. So there’s you know, different types of silo structures complex and simple and all of that there’s depending on how you set it up, what I typically do is use a pseudo brand and then do subdomains with it like so each city or each location has its own subdomain and it’s its own WordPress installation, the branded domain the root domain becomes basically like just a brand page where it talks about the brand itself and there might be a locations page on the root domain that one click to will list all the subdomain sites if that makes sense. And then you can click through to each one of the city so it would be city whatever the city name is called pepper, that’s where I live called pepper so like cold pepper dot local tree pros calm for example, right so now the local tree pro’s a brand, but it’s the Culpepper location. Now that can be done on a subdomain which is an individual WordPress installation or it could be done as an internal page. If I set it up that way. If you’re going to be expanding that same brand across many locations, then I would recommend that you do it as an inner page you set up silo structure categories and such within the site so that it’s all managed under one domain otherwise you end up having and I know this because one of my Tree Service clients or multi lope multi-location lead gen assets has 20 locations now, and I had originally done everything on subdomains for them but once it got the point where you know, past 10 like 1012 1415 WordPress sites that become just a pain in the ass to deal with even with something like main WP where you can update all the plugins and everything through one dashboard. It’s still a pain in the ass. It’s a lot of maintenance to manage that many WordPress sites. So I’ve actually eliminated a lot of those and just redirected the subdomains, over to GMB websites because I’ve gotten rid of a lot of the WordPress sites because I’ve got tired of managing so many sites. However, if I was going to redo it start over from scratch and have 20 locations again, what I would do is one domain 111 web sites, you’d be one WordPress installation on the root domain, I would set up categories silo structure, and I would have everything built up that way so that I would only have to manage one WordPress site. But I’m telling you, it’s way easier, in my opinion, to build authority under one brand. With multiple locations Marco will attest to this he’ll agree 100% it’s much easier because once that entity starts to gain some clout build authority, then it becomes every subsequent location that you add will instantly benefit from its inherent authority. As opposed to always starting off from scratch and starting from with a clean slate where you have to build the entity first. Once that entity is built, you can bet it all additional locations will automatically benefit from the authority that’s already been that the entity has accrued would say you, Marco. Absolutely, especially when you do the mirror, right?

The drive stack plus g site and all the work in there that you’re doing on on the money site mind wants to start pushing power over to the money site, it just becomes each subsequent location that you add is going to become that much easier to rank for. Because as Bradley said, it’ll have the all of the activity, relevance, trust, and authority that the domain has will transfer over to that inner page that you’re building that location page that you’re building on your website, whereas if you start with a brand new subdomain, it takes longer for all of that to filter down to the subdomain level. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, again, I changed my strategy. You know, for the longest time subdomains were my preferred method and there was a reason for that because subdomains if you catch a penalty on the root domain then the entire domain gets hit right like, it will affect negatively the entire domain. But with subdomains, it would be isolated. If a subdomain were to catch a penalty would be isolated to that particular subdomain. So the sibling sub-domains, right? It wouldn’t be unaffected, and the route would be unaffected. So that’s why I’ve always done that. But once again, if you continually add locations expand for a particular brand into additional locations, then that can become a management nightmare. It’s just too cumbersome. So that’s why I said I’ve switched my strategy Not only that but knock on wood. The methods that we’ve been using for years now that we’ve developed Semantic Mastery style, I’ve not had any sort of penalty levy in years now since I got away from a lot of the traditional SEO stuff. And so I’m not nearly as nervous or concerned as I used to be about having everything under the root domain now because fortunately, I haven’t had to experience any penalties. So there’s really no reason for me to take those extra precautions when I don’t expect to have anything bad go wrong now. Well, that’s why we put this heel shield in place, right? That’s correct. That’s what we came up with that with mgyb.co. That’s our protection. Since we don’t build links to the money site since we treat the money site with with with the respect that you supposed to cheat, it says it’s under different rules, you could catch a penalty on that root domain that just it just won’t happen on a G site and drive stack. And so they’re treated differently. We know what we could do at them at the SEO shield level that we can’t do at the money site level and we just transfer the power rather than transferring a penalty. And guys, we know that that the route and it’s isolated from the subdomains as long as you don’t link to it because we tested it, we would build a subdomain, get a penalize then we three or one that subdomain to a brand new subdomain and it would get all the power from the penalize subdomain. But eventually, the penalty would catch up to the sub domain, we’d have another one ready. So it’s just slashing and burn, right? You just had the same sub domain ready with a different name. And you just keep three or one and three are warning until the penalty catches up, it might take a day might take two for you to get your rankings back. But the root domain was never affected by the penalty. That’s how we know that if you don’t link up to the root, the penalty won’t pass that night. If you’re linking to the root from the subdomain, then a penalty definitely will pass because you have a direct link from the subdomain to the roof. Everything that we tell you on these things, it’s things that we tested it’s not a theory we do not give you guys theory if we do we tell you that we’re giving you a theory. That’s right.

How Do You Perform A Keyword Research For A Dutch Website?

Next question, but tshirt says I want to do SEO for a Dutch website. Can you please let me know how I can do keyword research? Should I do keyword research and Dutch? Should I write meta tags and Dutch? I can’t answer that because I’ve only always done US-based SEO in English so I bet Marco you probably have a pretty good answer for that?

meta tags or code. Code is code now within what’s within the posts is what contained but meta tags or meta tag you don’t change the language code is coded in English pretty much. I don’t know China but pretty much worldwide and as far as the tool that they can use trust the good old our Power Suggest Pro our go-to money keyword research tool will do Dutch very you go.

How Would You Make A Decent Profit From A Site With Multiple Reviews From Different Niches Without A Client?

Alright, next one is Hey guys, can I have a site as lists? Can I have a site as lists with general subjects for multiple reviews from different niches? Can I have a site as a list with general subjects for multiple reviews from different niches? I see that a directory

okay. With general subjects for multiple reviews, it seems to me like an affiliate site maybe like an affiliate site with different products and stuff, is the way I’m interpreting it, but you’re seeing interpreting it as a like a directory, like a local business directory type site, not not Local Business Directory, but just a direct directory style. You have different categories you have, or do it, as you said, affiliate where you’re going to have multiple products here. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, of course you can. That’s the power of silo structure, right? You can take a website and compartmentalize sections of the website through a silo structure so that you can have multiple topics for one website, and it still makes sense and still build authority for that, that brand. And that that website and again, it’s if it’s done right if you don’t use proper silo structure, then you can kind of dilute the open overall theme of the site, if you have multiple subjects that really don’t make any, they’re not relevant or related to each other, then it can dilute the site and cause problems. But if you have really tight silo structure, and it’s built well, right, you’ve set up your site correctly, internal linking category hierarchy, all of that correctly, then you can have multiple categories on a site and still do very, very well with it. Because again, you’re just building the entity up throughout, throughout all of that. So it’s certainly possible.

Typically, you know, a lot of times we try to keep things more relevant to a particular theme per site, but that’s, that doesn’t have to be that way. Right?

So yes, you can have a site that’s general subjects with multiple reviews from different niches just make sure that you have your structure correct. Number two says I have a press release from site one to the money site. And I want to make another press release from site to Can I link to both of the sites – Money site and site one.

I’m not really understanding that question. Yeah, he lost me too. I lost that one for sure. If you can clarify that not only that but there are three questions in a row so if you can clarify that one later I’ll get to it if we have time. The last one is number three, which is the best way and fastest to be profitable, say 1000 bucks a month without clients that include no lead gen. No agency.

Affiliate, you know, find a good The only thing I could think of would be to find a good affiliate offer out there that and then just especially launch jacking. Launch jacking is a good way to do that. It’s a lot of work, but you can, especially for higher ticket products, you can do you know that pay, say it’s a $3,000 product and it pays 30% commission that’s $1,000 right? So you only need to sell one and there are products out there like that. So if you can understand how to launch jack which you know, and find products that would have a good payout of good affiliate payout you can do that.

I don’t know. I typically just my fallbacks always been clients, right clients and lead gen stuff. If I need 1000 bucks a month, I want to go land a client, it’s going to pay me 1500 a month and I’m going to pay a VA MGYB $500 a month to fulfill the services and I’m going to manage it and keep it thousand bucks a month. That’s how I’m gonna. I’m gonna pitch Damon Nelson, RSS masher technology. There you go. He has made it really simple for you that it’s for you than to run your AdSense media net, or it doesn’t have to be the two main networks, right the display ad network that there are others that you can profit from, and you use you can usually run to. So I would say start using the RSS masher technology tool. Find the niches that now this is this is where it’s really important to find them to work on the things that you like, your things that that you know, because you’re going to if you like it, then you’re going to know that the people like you are also going to like it. irrational passions are going to remember that people collect unicorns and dice. That type of thing hobby trains is is is another one. I don’t know. It’s just the list goes on and on and on what you don’t understand what people see in this kind of thing, but you shouldn’t care why people are paying for it. That means you have the ability to make money. If you go into that niche, and you start producing the content. Once it’s set up. It’s on auto. And it’s each site might I don’t know, it might start making 2030 4050 bucks a month. Bill 25 if it’s making you 50 Bill 20 of them that’s $1,000 that simple.

Yeah, and just guys, this is some gold here, cuz I’m in the real estate industry now again, investment industry Let me tell you something for affiliate stuff if you want to get into some high ticket high payout stuff get into promoting Real Estate Investor Education, you know like courses for people that want to learn how to flip houses and that kind of stuff I’m telling you because those courses are typically 235 thousand dollars apiece. And I mean and people in the real estate investment business will spend money on those training courses and events and things like that. I mean, like, like, I mean to hand over fist, they’re spending money and on training products for how to be better investors. And I’m telling you that that is a huge, huge market there’s a lot of money in that market as an affiliate to and trust me guys, there’s a lot of money in that market. That’s something I’m in the real estate business again and I love it and I’m spending a shit ton of my own money on it. That’s how I know that to be true. And it’s almost like an irrational passion people that are in that business spend a lot of money on education. So that’s a great thing that you can get involved in, if you if you’re into that. So

How Is PR Stacking Effective When The PR Article Links Disappear Over Time?

Nathan says how is PR stacking effective than the PR article links disappear over time? Well, if you’ve gone through our local PR pro training course, which is all about PR stalking and everything that questions been answered but what I would suggest is that you link to press releases that don’t purge. That’s the simple fix, right? If they don’t, if they don’t disappear, then you don’t have anything to worry about. And I address this in the local PR pro training. Because of the original product, the original process was to just take the top-ranked PR for whatever your keyword was and link to that in the PR stack so that the next press release you would link back to the previous top-ranked PR. But the problem is a lot of those sites will purge their press releases after a set amount of time – 90 days 190 days, whatever, but they delete them over time. And so what happens is the link in the press release that was now linking to what’s a no press release has been purged. Now you got a dead link broken link. So I talked about at that point, setting up redirects using domain redirects or you know, like pretty links a plugin or something to set up your own redirects within press releases, so that you could always go in and swap out dead links, right, because the link to the redirect, you could change the destination at any time. And that way, you could always redirect to another live asset. problem with that is if your PR stacking consistently, over time, you’re going to have this huge mess of redirects that you’re going to have to constantly go in and update. That’s not something that you could maintain for very long. So that’s why I recommend just linking back to the press releases that don’t purge. So again, go check out local PR pro if you want all the insider tips, tips, and tricks on how to PR stack and also if you’re linking to your media page, that that’ll never work.

Scan your PR is have listed there like I don’t really care that they purge. I care about the ones that don’t, because those continuously push power as you keep feeding power through your loop. Yeah, somewhat because the way I see it Google expects some of those PR links to turn into formal force overtime. Correct. As it happens naturally, the ones that don’t. And if you look at it, the ones that don’t purge are really, really powerful except for the hyperlocal. When you’re working in the local space, those are the ones I care about. So those are the ones that I’ll try to link to. And I know that that if we’re I framing and we’re doing the things that we that we teach, it’s all taking care of this these type of, we call it wordless SEO for a reason. We don’t worry about any of this shit because it works the way that we do. It works and it works for a reason we have taken the time to set it up so that the thing that you talking about things purging, from whatever, it doesn’t matter.

Do You Need To Order New RYS Drive Stacks Or SEO Shield If You Change A Target URL?

There you go. The next questions got my first MGYB order back on February 7. Well, congratulations. I hope you liked it. the target for all the work was client main domain thinking maybe I should have targeted the client GMB CID which is the maps URL link, as you showed in a recent video converted to write that particular format. Do I need to order a whole new RYS drive stack or SEO shield to target the GMB? No, because well, first of all, when you place your order, yeah, you have the main domain is your primary target URL. But if you provided your NAP details, which I know is an mg y b as a field that, you know, it’s only when you submit your details, there’s a section to submit your NAP data including your map share URL and all of that then that will already be built into the stack.

You can take a look at you should be able to just open up the stack and look at it and see like for example like this spreadsheet that shows all the different links that have been built, or, you know, the different files and folders and all the links. It’s the spreadsheet that has basically your whole stack on the spreadsheet. So you can see all the different URLs and everything. Just open up some of the files and take a look, you should be able to see the NAP data in the stack. If you had submitted it when you place the order. If you did not that no, don’t order another drive stack, I would go in and add those manually as I still don’t think we have that available yet. We’re going back into your stack. But you can always contact support and ask maybe we could work out some sort of custom arrangement with you where they we could go back in and edit it for a set price or something. I don’t know you’d have to ask support. Because I don’t run that side of the business but Marco do any comments on that. He could just go into his spreadsheet and add that link. And then the link building that he does to that spreadsheet will go to that link. Yeah, it’s it’s not a safe business a month. We I’ve been getting results without that with with that any other.

Matt blinks, accepted the regular do follow map link it again, these are this is my new show that may make a difference if you’re targeting something that really competitive, but if it isn’t, it’s not something that I would worry about. If you want to add it. I mean, you can just go into the spreadsheet, add it to the spreadsheet, add it wherever you want. It’s your dry second, it’s your G site. So you can go in there and add it wherever you want, if that’s what you want to do. Yeah.

What Is The Best Way In Building Web 2.0 Buffers Outside The RYS Stacks/Syndication Networks?

Austin dawn has been coming and asking a lot of questions. So what’s up Austin, Don me says I’m building to Dotto buffers outside dry stacks and syndication networks, should I build them as branded to dados or keywords specific with and without geo modifiers were a mixture of them all. Okay. A few years ago, I want to set a mixture of them all but now I’d say branded. I’d like to get Marco’s opinion on this but I do everything branded now because on those buffer sites, I’m going to have any p listed likely

Anyway, so I like to brand all the profiles. Now I like to do everything brand based or entity based. And then I add whatever sort of Geo Data, add location, relevancy, that kind of stuff to the actual profile that the website, whether it’s a blog, or whatever it is, so that it’s still get that data still gets passed, but it’s not part of the brand, right, if that makes sense. I like because here’s the thing using keyword and location specific, like sub domains on web two dados and such to me looks spammy, right? It looks clearly like what SEOs have been doing since the beginning of time. Right? And so I am 100% behind the entity based SEO, which is about building the brand building the entity and you can pass location relevancy keyword relevancy through what is posted on those profiles. What’s your opinion Marco? I’m calling it entity based, worry less SEO. And so that’s it. Say I know your brand is your your entity is your brand. Your brand is your entity.

Get as many of those as possible. And for those who don’t know, if you like if you go to a website like norm kn o w em calm, and you take a look in there, there’s hundreds. And they’ll do it for you. But think of all of these people, Apple and Google, who go and buy everything that they can with that name, because they’re protecting the brand. You’re expected to protect your brand to protect your entity, and it’s perfectly okay. There’s no need for you to do what it is that you’re trying to do that gets done by dariya with the link building actually. Yeah, so so you leave it up to the master for for doing that because because he has a whole lot more experience than you do.

Is The Number Of Referring Domains A Factor That Could Make One Site Rank Higher Than The Other?

The next question was are there amount of referring domains a factor that could make one site rank higher than another? Yeah, they can be I mean, that’s more traditional SEO, like backlink analysis type metrics, right? And that’s one of the things that I would look at traditionally is referring domains. But it’s not just a number. Referring domains, you know, you could have one site that has, you know, 800 referring domains and another one that has 30 referring domains and the one that has 30 referring domains is outranking the 800 referring domain site, because the 30 referring domains are much better, much more relevant, higher quality backlinks. Does that make sense? So, referring domains is one factor, but it’s just a very small portion of an overall ranking pie, if that makes sense, right. It’s a small sliver of what’s required to rank and that’s a metric that I really just don’t even care about anymore, but it is certainly a factor it could be.

Marco: Well, let me go through the list again, right, Amazon, Alibaba, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Walmart, you name it in the e-commerce space. And if these websites have millions of referring domains and Dadea is fighting with them toe to toe and outranking them in some of the keys with the money keywords that he’s targeting. I’m not saying all because I mean, that’s just virtually impossible. It depends on how much time he spends, how much power is going to push through. It depends on a lot of factors. But that just goes to show you that referring domains is really a non-factor or it could be all other things being equal, but nothing on the web could ever be all things being equal unless you’re setting up a test where all things are equal. I hope I make sense with that.

Yeah. Okay, so we’re out of time. I do want to run through just a couple very, very quickly because I see this one and I’m going to stop it at this one only because I do want to answer this and then. Sorry, guys, the rest of the questions are going to get answered. So Marco, if you don’t mind sticking around for just another minute or two.

Marco: I’ll be here.

What Are Your Thoughts On Word Clouds And Images?

Okay. This question is you guys said that Google reads words and images. What are your thoughts about word clouds and images? I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about that before. I mean, Google can read words and images. Now. It’s gotten way better at that. I don’t know what you’d want to do with word clouds, though. Marco. Do you have any idea what you’re trying to accomplish here?

Marco: Why?

Bradley: Yeah, I don’t understand the reason for that, really. But

Marco: so are you trying to get Google to read? It depends on whether you’ve layered the word cloud or else Google will not see the words in the images and word clouds. I’m pretty sure I’m not layered.

Yeah, it has to be in it in. These words have to be done in such a way that Google can actually read them and you can go to vision. I think it is a Google vision cloud.google.com to go to Google vision, right? Or cloud.Google.com. Vision, I forget what it is just Google it, man. And you can find it. And you can play with images. And you can see exactly what you receive in your image.

Bradley: Yeah, yeah, that’s it, go test it. And Google does give you a test environment for you to be able to submit images and then it will tell you like, what it’s interpreting from those images, what kind of data it can pull from it, including words and everything else.

Marco: And it’s free to scroll down. If you don’t see it. If you don’t see where to enter, where do you drag and drop your image, just scroll down, don’t sign up for whatever it is that they want to make you pay for. It’s totally free. Go use it, abuse it. Have fun.

Where Should You Link An RYS Drive Stack?

Next question, and like I said, I want to answer this last one from Troy here and then I’m going to wrap it up, guys. Hello, everyone. Thank you for answering questions and an RYS drive stack where can and where should you link to and from?

Well, the drive stack should be linking to your tier one, your primary assets right your money asset, your money, money website, your primary digital asset. Google Maps, if you using maps, GMB website, all your tier one entity assets, syndication networks, all of that, right. That’s why when you order a drive stack, you submit as many of your tiers one entity assets as you can to have them built into the stack. Where do you link from? You mean as far as like, what we do if you need to build links to the drive stack, it’s everything from files to individual files to folders to the entire stack to the G site, all of that. So all of the above right to everything. And again, disorder, those are empty. Why? Because that’s Dadea, our link building manager has really just mastered the link building packages that are specifically developed for the SEO shield, drive stacks and our methods. So any questions and answers on that?

Marco: It’s called the spider web silo for a reason, right? It just goes everywhere and they push power everywhere. If you’re trying to build your own and you’re in our way as training that I mean that’s the only way that you wouldn’t be trying to do your own. Then just hit me up in the always reloaded Facebook group and I’ll be happy to go more in-depth into this question for you drop the question in there.

How Do You Get Violators Removed To Level The Playing Field?

Okay, this is the last one guys I gotta wrap it up because I gotta go. But then the question from Troy that I wanted to answer was afternoon had a conversation with the Google rep about GMB and exposing competitors who violate the terms of service and have multiple listings having different phone numbers and city locations other than suggestions and requesting changes or removing the business. How do you get violators removed to level the playing field? I don’t ever have and I never will. I’m just letting you know that. Be 100% transparent with you guys.

I’ve never once ever submitted a complaint or done negative SEO to anybody. Period. I’ve had other competitors rat my lead gen assets out and had them suspended and I’ve thought I’ve seriously considered negative SEO and because I’ve had like a tree service contractor report one of my lead gen sites and it got taken down got D indexed and everything else. And, you know, I thought like, Man, this guy has no idea who he’s messing with. Do you know what I mean? Like I could have just rained fire and fury on his ass, but I didn’t because I don’t do negative Seo In my opinion, it’s bad karma. Karma will come back and bite you in the ass. I don’t care whether it’s competing with your business or not true. I’m not picking on you, buddy. You do whatever you want. I’m just letting you know I’ve never once ever ratted on anybody else, or done negative SEO and I never will because I feel like my time is better spent being productive producing assets than getting revenge or taking out competitors in a way that I would want to be taken out? Does that make sense? So I just wanted to be real clear. That’s why I wanted to answer that. And again, Troy, I’m not picking on you. You’re free to do whatever you want. I’m just letting you know my own personal experience with this is I do not do negative SEO. And I also don’t rat out competitors, period understory. So Marco, idea?

Marco: I have a question for Troy. Are you 100% abiding by Google’s Terms of Service? Because if so, the shit that we talked about here is not for you. Cuz because I, I could care less about Google’s Terms of Service. I could care less about what John Mueller says, I could give a fuck about Google. As a matter of fact, I’m very fun to say, Google, I don’t care. And so yeah, it’s not you, you do whatever. You do whatever you want. But if I were to report these competitors, I’d have to report myself because I’m doing the exact same thing. And I’m like, dread Yeah. Like sometimes I just feel like I’m gonna make this guy a porn queen. If he keeps fucking with me, and don’t think I can’t, because I could totally change your semantic relevance total. And it’ll take about a week, and you’ll be appearing for best porn star 2020. So, but then again, why I can spend all I can spend that effort building other assets and make more money, and then just forget everything else. So my question to you, are you 100% abiding by Google’s Terms of Service, so you can feel good enough about yourself, where you can go to a Google rep and say, This guy is violating your terms of service. If you can say that more power to you. And if you can’t, then I don’t know why you’d be doing that. I don’t abide by Google Terms of Service at all.

Bradley: Yeah. So again, it’s just personal preference guys, and I’m not looking down or, you know, condemning you grew up with, so I’m just letting you know, I personally have never done and I’ve really considered it before when I’ve had had experiences as I mentioned, but I decided that my time was better spent built working on something that’s going to produce revenue not getting revenge. Does that make sense? So anyway.

Marco: Yeah, no, I mean, if that’s the way that he chooses, and a lot of people choose to try to abide by everything that Google throws at you, but just remember this, what Google says is okay today may not be okay, tomorrow, they keep changing the game. I don’t even bother. I’ve never read the Terms of Service and I don’t care to and that’s just my personal preference. Nothing. It has nothing to do with Troy.

Right on. Well, everybody will thank you for being here. We will see you guys next week. See you next week, everyone. Thanks, guys.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 274 posted first on http://beyondvapepage.blogspot.com

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localwebmgmt · 5 years ago

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 274

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 274 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

Announcement

Adam: Good deal. Yeah, we’re going to touch base on that a little bit more in a second but we’ll just carry on here and Marco, we got your video. How are you doing today?

Adam: Well keep your fingers crossed. Yeah, that’s what might be a little rough. Make your travel a little bit rougher.

Chris: It should be fine like it’s coming down. But like, I’m not sure it’s over yet because they said that twice already, but you never know.

Very cool. All right, I’m going to stop giving away my son, I’m going to turn off my camera.

How Do You Generate More Leads For A Plumbing Niche Without Appearing Spammy?

Do You Recommend Creating Branded Domains To Get More Leads?

How Do You Perform A Keyword Research For A Dutch Website?

How Would You Make A Decent Profit From A Site With Multiple Reviews From Different Niches Without A Client?

Typically, you know, a lot of times we try to keep things more relevant to a particular theme per site, but that’s, that doesn’t have to be that way. Right?

How Is PR Stacking Effective When The PR Article Links Disappear Over Time?

Do You Need To Order New RYS Drive Stacks Or SEO Shield If You Change A Target URL?

What Is The Best Way In Building Web 2.0 Buffers Outside The RYS Stacks/Syndication Networks?

Is The Number Of Referring Domains A Factor That Could Make One Site Rank Higher Than The Other?

Marco: I’ll be here.

What Are Your Thoughts On Word Clouds And Images?

Marco: Why?

Bradley: Yeah, I don’t understand the reason for that, really. But

Where Should You Link An RYS Drive Stack?

How Do You Get Violators Removed To Level The Playing Field?

Right on. Well, everybody will thank you for being here. We will see you guys next week. See you next week, everyone. Thanks, guys.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 274 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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