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onwardintolight · 4 years

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Han x Leia, ESB, Trip to Bespin, angst, hurt/comfort, fluff

Summary: ESB from Leia's POV. A journey from despair to hope, a blossoming, an opening to vulnerability and love.

Warnings: Deals with some heavy themes, incl. working through trauma, depression, self-harm, attempted sexual assault. Each chapter will be individually warned.

Note: I’m currently in the process of reposting the first nine chapters here in full, since when I first wrote this fic, I only shared links to the chapters on AO3 and FFN. I will try to post at least weekly. In the meantime, if you’d prefer to binge-read it, the entire fic is posted in full on AO3 and FFN.

Part: Masterlist | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Epilogue

~~~

Warnings for Chapter 24: Brief reference to the torture and attempted sexual assault that occurred in Chapter 19

Author’s note from 1/2020: An important disclaimer: As I wrote this fic, I strove to make it canon-compliant—at least compliant with the canon that existed at the time. Now that I'm posting this, however, a few things have changed; notably, we've seen the release of the first issue of the new line of Star Wars comics set after ESB. While I haven't had a chance to read it yet, I'm pretty sure it diverges from what I've written in my final two chapters, and I have no desire to change any of what I've written to fit it. I know most of you don't even care about canon—this IS fanfiction after all—but I just wanted to give you and all future readers a heads up anyway!

One last thing: Several of you have asked me if I'm planning on writing a Leia-focused fic like this one about ROTJ. First of all, I'm super flattered that you'd like more! Tbh though I don't really see myself writing it as another big multichapter; however, I would really like to do a few shorter fics about it. So keep an eye out for those! That being said, things can always change. If I discover that there's an arc I really want to tell through the whole story, I may find myself in over my head again ;)

~~~

The Kaliida Nebula was about six hours away, not counting the brief stops they’d have to make every few hours to switch hyperlanes. Lando had once again joined Chewbacca at the Falcon’s helm; they had both insisted in no uncertain terms that Luke and Leia get some rest, promising they’d comm if they needed anything. She was tired enough not to argue.

Immediately after the jump to hyperspace, Luke had sat frozen, staring out the viewport into the whirling star tunnels. He’d glanced at her when she offered him a hand, looking for all the universe as if she were his only tether away from the maw. Silently, he’d let her help him back to the crew quarters, and once more she shakily attached the fluids line and pulled a blanket over him.

He was gazing up at her again, now, eyes wide and hollow. “Leia,” he whispered.

Tenderly, she brushed the hair from his forehead and reached down to clasp his remaining hand, squeezing it. She perched on the edge of his bunk. “I’m here,” she said softly. “You’re safe now.” Slowly, his eyelids began to flutter, and he drifted off into a fitful sleep.

She sat there for a long time, weariness bleeding into her bones, listening as his breathing grew deeper. Finally, when she was fairly certain her movement would not wake him, she slipped her hand carefully out of his, turned out the light, and walked over to her bunk, curling up on top of it without bothering to remove the blanket.

The pillow smelled like Han.

She thought of him laying there next to her, his fingers tangled in her hair. She thought of the hungry kisses she had never wanted to end. She thought of easy laughter and healing tears, of potent words and new openings.

She thought of the bed on Cloud City, and how they’d never have the chance now to find out if she’d regret it. She thought of his rending screams, of coils and needles and agonizing pain. Of Captain Orffa’s leers, her ripped shirt, his broken neck as he lay on the other side of the room. Of Vader’s hated mask, cold and merciless. Of throbbing rage. Of helpless grief.

Of finally saying “I love you.” Of the one she loved, turned to stone and torn away.

All the emotions she’d been trying to hold at bay rushed in. Her defenses crumpled, and the first tears came in like a flood, violent and inevitable. Burying her face in the pillow to muffle the sound, she wept, her body shaking with sobs. She wept until every breath came as a gasp; until she could no longer imagine what it was to not be weeping. She wept for Han, and for Alderaan, and for every loss in between. For a galaxy full of loss, cracked all the way through with the cruelty of it.

Long after her tears ran dry, she lay there, face still buried in the pillow—Han’s pillow—breathing in the scent of him. She wasn’t ready to let him go.

She wouldn’t let him go.

She would find him, somehow.

Slowly, exhaustion crept up on her, disarming her resistance just as her tears had done earlier. She gave into it with a mild sense of relief, letting her eyes close.

I don’t regret it, she thought as she began to drift off. Sleepy astonishment at the realization gave way to the certainty that she had always known this, somehow, despite her fears. I don’t regret loving him. Not one bit. As much as this hurt—and oh, how it hurt—she would gladly love him and lose him again.

Then sleep took her, carrying her far away into blessed nothingness.

~~~

She was woken up what felt like minutes later by the chime of her comm.

Lando’s voice was on the other end. “We’ve stopped at Terminus,” he said. “We need you up here to watch for Imperials while we search the ship for homing beacons. We’ve got her pretty well hidden behind a moon, but it’s a race against time until they find us.”

Trying to keep any bitterness out of her voice, she gave her consent and stumbled groggily toward the cockpit. Lando gave her a look when she arrived—she must have looked like hell, with red-rimmed eyes and smeared makeup—but to his credit he didn’t say anything, only giving her a nod on the way out. Chewie was already gone. She moved to sit in the co-pilot’s seat, but changed her mind halfway there, instead opting for the captain’s. Curling her legs beneath her, she leaned back into it, smelling its faded leather and a hint of old cologne. She scanned the starfield carefully, glancing at the sensor displays afterward for any signs she might have missed. There was nothing; only stars. On the other side of the moon, she knew, the sky would be filled with ships of all kinds. Terminus was a busy world; she hoped that, as such, it would distract the Empire long enough that they wouldn’t find the Falcon.

She shifted in her seat, anxious. Finding the homing beacon would likely take Chewie and Lando awhile—they had to suit up to examine the hull, after all—but she wished they would hurry and be done with it. Normally, this would have been made a much easier exercise by simply scanning the hull via the ship’s sensors, but the Empire had certainly disabled that function. Or rather, they probably just hadn’t bothered to fix it—it was, after all, one of the sensor systems that had been damaged during their escape from Hoth.

The minutes ticked by. Fifteen minutes passed, then half an hour. A light freighter moved into view. She stiffened, then relaxed again as it jumped to hyperspace moments later.

Forty-five minutes. Her eyelids drooped; she pinched her arm to stay awake.

Finally, she heard the door open behind her, and Chewie came in with a roar. «We found it,» he said. He was triumphant, but his voice was laced with sorrow. She knew enough of him now to hear it. She caught his gaze, and he sat down next to her. For a minute, they looked out on the emptiness together. «You should go back to bed, Little Princess,» he finally said, his voice gentle.

“You sure you don’t need sleep?” she whispered.

«I will,» he said, «but I have strength left to spare, and I was not hurt as badly as you. Go sleep.» She nodded and got up just as Lando came through the door. She didn’t look at him as they exchanged places. Hazily, she walked back to the crew quarters, fell in her bunk, and was once more lost in unconsciousness.

~~~

Leia’s eyes flickered open. How long had her comm been beeping? Yawning, she sat up, flipping on the light over her bunk, and froze as all the memories of the previous day flooded back in. The deep ache in her chest nearly knocked her over, and she fought off the urge to lay back down and forget everything again.

Luke. She had to make sure he was okay. She glanced over towards the other side of the room; there he lay, as still as a stone. Alarmed, she leapt out of bed and lurched over to check on him. His chest rose and fell, and she sighed in relief. He was in a deep sleep. That was good.

Feeling her heartbeat calm again, she sat back down on her bunk and answered her comlink. “Yes?” she croaked, her voice hoarse.

“Just wanted to let you know we’ve arrived at the Kaliida Nebula,” said Lando. “Whenever you’re able, I’ll let you take over and see if you can reach that contact of yours. Could use a little shut-eye myself.”

“Of course,” she said curtly. “I’ll be right there.”

When she arrived, Chewie was once again nowhere in sight. She felt a pang in her chest, thinking of his grief. At least, she thought, he was getting some sleep, too.

Lando nodded awkwardly to her as they switched places again and left without a word. For a minute, she stared at the glowing pink clouds outside the viewport. She knew he’d be just a comm away, but still, she was nervous. The nebula could be perilous. From time to time, it was home to migrating neebray mantas, which could do some serious damage to ships. Moreover, if the Empire had somehow found out about this checkpoint—

She felt her throat constricting and her heart pounding, and she stopped the thought short. Yes, the Empire had caught up with them a few too many times recently—she had good reason to be fearful of that. But she should be wary, not paranoid. This was the best chance they had to make contact with the Alliance. Straightening, she set a Rebel-coded message to broadcast at intervals to the surrounding parts of the nebula, then she took the Falcon on a leisurely tour through the cloud tunnels.

An hour later, she had a reply. It was also in Alliance code, and it gave her coordinates to meet nearby. She tensed. The Empire could have cracked that code since she was gone, they could have found out about this location, they could have—

She forced herself to breathe slowly. “Chewie,” she said into the comlink, “I’m making contact. I may need backup if it’s not who I think it is.”

The Wookiee yawned, but he didn’t hesitate. «I’m coming,» he said.

Soon both he and Lando joined her again in the cockpit. She felt bad that they’d only had an hour of sleep, but she supposed there was nothing to be done.

Well, mostly bad. She didn’t feel all that bad about Lando. As far as she was concerned, he could suffer. He sat behind her, keeping watch as she and Chewie maneuvered the ship to the meeting point.

Finally, the clouds in front of them parted, revealing an X-wing.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” the pilot whooped upon seeing their ship. “I was starting to think I’d never see that hunk of junk again! Is the princess there?”

Leia breathed a sigh of relief. “Hi, Wedge,” she said, transmitting the codes to confirm it was her.

“Good to hear your voice, Princess,” he said. “High command’s been going out of their minds. They figured if you survived, you’d make your way here. Lucky you found me now; they were beginning to think it was a lost cause. We probably wouldn’t have been patrolling out here much longer.”

“Thanks for waiting,” she said.

“Where’s ol’ Han?”

All the words seemed to dry up in her mouth, and she sat silent for a moment. “He’s gone,” she said finally, her voice quiet. Chewie let out a mournful wail.

She heard Wedge exhale. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice full of genuine grief. “Sending you the jump coordinates now.”

Within a few minutes, they’d left the bright clouds of the Kaliida Nebula behind and were headed home. It wasn’t truly home, of course—Home was Alderaan, and that was gone forever. These days, though, the Alliance had become the only home she could claim to have. But whatever familiarity it offered, it would be empty without Han.

“Hey,” Lando said from behind her, startling her. She didn’t turn around. “Chewie ’n I have been talking and…” he faltered for a moment, then he went on. “…We’re gonna find Han and bring him back. We’ll leave for Tatooine as soon as we can get fueled and ready.”

She leaned back in her seat. “You got a plan?”

Chewie responded. «We have some ideas, yes, but we wanted to talk with you and Luke and hear yours, too.»

Leia nodded slowly. “We’ll discuss it when we get there, after the briefings. I don’t want to put too much strain on Luke before then. He doesn’t even know what happened yet.”

“Sure thing,” said Lando.

She clenched her teeth to avoid telling him to shut up. Instead, she shifted her focus outside, watching the whirlwind starlight.

Somewhere out there, Han was trapped, but alive. And somehow, they would find him and bring him home.

A warmth grew inside her chest; the fire of hope.

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jq37 · 5 years

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The Report Card – Fantasy High Sophomore Year Ep 4

Skipper Thistlespring and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

We pick back up at The Swan’s Little Parade where rich people shenanigans are taking place. Gorgug breaks from the group to try and call Zelda. When she doesn’t answer, he leaves the saddest, sweetest apology voicemail ever. Lou breaks. Siobhan breaks. I break.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group gameplans. Adaine pushes back against the idea that they have to talk to Aelwyn. Her parents are also an option and Aelwyn is not a good person, no matter how hot Fabian is for her. They also check out the guest book from the hotel and see that Bill Seacaster has stayed there several times, always right after a Garthy O’Brien (they see that it happened a bunch while they were in jail and it was probably in conjunction with when Bill was supplying palimpsests). Fabian recognizes the name as a pirate and Cathilda knows they run the Gold Gardens which is a floating pirate casino/brothel.

Kristen tries to release Gorthalax but just confirms that, because of the curse, doing it without messing up Gorthalax is gonna be tough.

Sandra-Lynn goes to get Gorgug while Fig decides to careen the campaign into Crazytown and make herself Empress for Life of the same. She disguises herself as an old lady and tries to drop off a note giving her phone number as the new number of the cop she impersonated last episode (Detective Decker) so she can send a fully grown cop texts that would def get him Chris Hansen’d irl. Brennan decides that if she’s gonna keep making beds, she should probably lie in one of them for once and comes for her entire life in the funniest scene of the episode. No recap I could give can do it justice(links to clips here: x, x). Just know it ends with Fig running away and ditching her phone in a lake, which could very possibly have plot consequences if she forgets to replace her phone before she’s in a tight spot where it would be helpful and the absolute dumbest/funniest reason for a character death (I want to note that she did replace her phone technically, but with a huge, old, brick phone from Adaine’s jacket that can’t be as useful as an actual cell).

ANYWAY

Tracker creates a Moon Haven in the van which is basically like a dope pillow fort with the Sanctuary spell cast on it and TARDIS bigger-on-the-inside spatial mechanics. Once they’re inside the Moon Haven, Ragh finally feels safe to tell them what he knows--which he does telepathically via Adaine and the message spell to make everything extra safe. Here’s a rundown of what he tells them:

He saw Kalina on the night of prom after the big fight. She was talking to Jace (the sorcery “teacher”) and an elven woman who looked like Adaine in black robes--Adaine confirmed with a picture that it was her mother.

After being healed by Porter, Ragh started walking home and was stopped by Kalina who said she would kill his mom if he told anyone what he saw.

Ragh’s mom Lydia is also a half-orc barbarian. She was on a mission in the Red Waste (where the 7 Maidens have their Sophomore Year quest) and they found a soul gem that was leaking something bad. She put it in her chest to contain the evil but at the cost of her health. She’s now extremely sick and in a permanent, medically-induced rage to keep her alive. She refuses medical treatment because no one can ensure the evil won’t be released if they remove the gem.

His mom fucking slaps.

So that’s all deeply worrying. Adaine invites Ragh and his mom to live with them in the Haunted House and Fig offers to give them Dr. Asha’s number. Gorgug discovers the Van can become a boat which is convenient for the pirate-y things they have to do (the Golden Gardens is on the way to Falinel so they decide to stop there first). Fig has a heart to heart with Gilear while Adaine and Sandra-Lynn take first watch outside since the Moon Haven can only hold nine people. Adaine has to roll a wisdom save because she’s outside of the Haven’s protection and, even on a 16, the music goes all scary and she feels that something is in the tent with her outside. Something humanoid and her size with its knees to its chest. She senses that if she sees its face, something will happen to her and, instead of looking at it, she calls for Sandra-Lynn. By the time she shows up, the thing is gone. Fig assures Adaine that she’s not crazy or seeing things and, based on Adaine’s description, they’re able to deduce that it wasn’t Baron or Kalina.

In the morning, Gorgug is pretty bummed and asks everyone to call him Skipper. Kristen is very down and Fabian is very not. They discuss whether they should tell all of the information from Ragh to the 7 Maidens (no) and whether Gorgug should call Zelda (yes). They drive into the sea. Gorgug finally talks to Zelda who is not happy with him for the ghosting and unintentional thoughtlessness. She’s even less happy with him when she realizes he forgot to get the generator they needed to stay in touch long distance. They’re breaking up. Do I mean relationship-wise or phone-wise? You don’t know? Well that makes two of us (Thanks, I Hate It).

They’re at sea for two days and then make it to the floating pirate shipwreck city of Leviathan. Pirate adventures next week, y’all!

Detention

Fig for Trying to Seduce ANOTHER Middle-Aged Man

Listen, I’ll stop putting her here for this when she stops doing this. Not to mention, she invented a whole ass person (HILDA HILDA?????) when she’s just been told that nightmare monsters are being generated from lies. Fig, my girl. Ms. Faeth. Please. I’m begging you. Please.

Honor Roll

All of the Adults for Stepping Up

Every single adult in this episode was on fire. Fig confided in Gilear and he stepped up to the plate with a This-Is-So-Serious-I’m-Going-To-Use-Your-Actual-Full-Name, speech. Sandra-Lynn showed Adaine how to do some ranger stuff and jumped in to save her when she cried out. Cathilda was ready with warm milk and cookies she somehow was able to make in the van as soon as Adaine needed them. Sandra-Lynn also had a heart to heart with Fig and even Gorthalax, who’s still trapped in the ruby, gave Fig a spell slot back. And, of course, Ragh’s mom slaps.

Random Thoughts

Adaine and Fabian both being uber rich but being on the opposite ends of the rich people spectrum is hilarious. Adaine is a “Sleeping in a van? I’ve heard of that but I’ve never gotten to do it. This will be fun!” Rich Kid and Fabian is a “No turn down service? Hard pass,” Rich Kid.

I was happy that they brought Ragh along for comedy reasons but who knew he was gonna be so chock full of backstory and important story beats? Like, every good GM has a way of making whatever story path that was chosen seem like the only way the story could have gone and I’m sure that whoever was picked, Brennan would have made that seem like the obvious and essential choices but I’m very happy they picked Ragh. Him talking about how much he loves his mom was so adorable! I love that he’s a big, good, dumb boy now and I’m happy they invited him to live at the Haunted House. That’s def gonna be good for some shenanigans (also love that Adaine’s only stipulation was that he had to be nice to Zayn and he was so eager to agree).

Insane Ally Move of the Game: Deciding that Kristen genuinely doesn’t know Gilear used to be lunch lad at their school. Is Kristen even on the same plane of existence as everyone else. And then, later, “I worry about Gilear.” Do you really???

I totally forgot that Gilear was not only an elven diplomat but also a full on actual counselor. Makes it even wilder that he lost the job to Jawbone. Also, while we’re talking about him, I said we were gonna inevitably gonna get some more color on Gilear this season and we saw some of that in this ep when Adaine uses detect thoughts on him (which, btw, seems like a horribly invasive thing that people do very casually in this world) and we see that he gave up his career for Sandra-Lynn and then was wrecked when she cheated on him. Really puts a melancholy shade over his hilarious ineptness.

Another thing I figured we’d see soon and that we’re starting to see is Adaine speaking up on Aelwyn. Two times this ep she tried to steer the group away from Aelwyn and seemed more serious than her usual trash talk. As excited as I am for pirate adventures, I want to get to Falinel ASAP to see how this shakes out.

Also, on the mom front, wild that we found out that Ragh has a super dope mom in the same scene Adaine took another L and found out that her mom is also involved in this shadiness. Black robes are never a good sign. But I will say, just based on the story beats we’ve gotten, I’m not totally sold on the idea that she’s 100% bad--or at least that she doesn’t care for Adaine at all. I’m wondering if she wasn’t at school trying to find Adaine (possibly among other things).

“Every time you have sex it’s a gamble. You could lose your heart.”/”What happened to you on tour?”

Gorgug trying to let a full sized griffon land on his arm is hilarious. I love that. He’s so wholesome and dumb.

I love that when Emily was doing her Hilda-Hilda nonsense , turned into Detective Decker, and ran past the police house precinct, Lou was the only person who was on her wavelength and understood what she was trying to do while everyone else was like????

We find out in this ep that Van can control all the auxiliary functions of the van but not the actual driving, which is important to know before a sticky situation. On a more personal note, we find out that he was originally a planetar (second most powerful D&D angel) of Elysium, specializing in harmony, relaxation, and chill vibes and he got dumped and kicked out of heaven for sleeping through a call to battle.

We also get the cursed image of a van with hands which I knew was gonna be the shirt and lo and behold.

“Fuck Me.”/”When.” Y’all are the worst.

I love that Brennan mentioned Porter in Ragh’s flashback, fully knowing it was gonna trigger Emily.

Fig’s new plan is to get all of her parents in a throuple and I don’t even know where to begin with that tbh so I won’t.

@voxfantasma made a comment last week that Sandra-Lynn very well could have seen Kalina which is why she can she her in the photo--which is an offhand comment I made when I was talking about the rules of the photo last week--and Ragh’s reaction to the photo is making me move this theory back up to the top spot. I still wish they would show the photo to more people so we’d have more data for this.

I loved Fig tossing Fabian a bardic inspiration for a compliment even though he didn’t really need it. I also love that she has a rider in her rockstar contract necessitating gogurt be at all her shows for Gilear.

Adaine paranoidly casting water breathing on everyone at the slightest hint that they may have to go near water. Our girl is learning from the mistakes of the last oracle.

With the gang facing off against the Nightmare King and Brennan’s description of the thing in Adaine’s tent as being humanoid, about her side, and sitting in a sort of defensive way, I’m wondering it what it was was a manifestation of her own anxiety or something along those lines. Of course, it could just be a normal ass monster. Sometimes the scariest thing is your inner turmoil and sometimes it’s just a monster trying to bite your head off.

We also learn that Cathilda has a super wild adventurer’s life before she settled down to be a maid--so she knows what she’s missing and she’s fine with it--and also that she is paid ridiculously well, which makes me feel better about what’s going on with her. Also, her moment with Adaine and the cookies was so sweet. My notes for that scene say, “Adaine loves Cathilda and so do I.”

I loved Murph and Riz going equally Pepe Silvia trying to anagram out Garthy O’Brien (which is also what I was doing, especially since Brennan specifically spelled out the name). Cheers to Murph/Riz and Siobhan/Adaine trying to single handedly keep the story on track--both in and out of character.

There’s a part in this ep where Adaine Ray of Frosts Fig who immediately Hellish Rebukes her and that’s truly the kind of step-sister shenanigans I want to see from them as much as possible please and thank you. Also, like I said before, it was very sweet of Fig to reassure Adaine that she wasn’t just seeing things in the tent. Her catfishing middle aged men aside, she can be very empathetic when she wants to be.

Adaine cast (or tried to cast Friends) on the thing in her tent. And I think it’s very telling about her character that that’s the spell she would cast and not an offensive one. Not that messing w/ someone’s brain is a super chill thing to do or anything, but I think, “Maybe I can calm whoever this is and talk to them and we can get some information,” is a much more measured reaction than maybe, “Let’s blast this thing to kingdom come and ask questions later.”

“Man van is a boat, my boat is a van.”

Brennan lets Adaine roll w/ advantage to convince the Hangman to come with them on the Van (which he still hates) because she said, “Please” really cute which is the kind of arbitrary DM fiat that I love.

Adaine: We should tell them unless we’re being graded on a curve. (Savage.)

“Fig, she’s a maid. She’s not allowed to lie.”

All the skipper talk this ep got the Gilligan’s Island theme stuck in my head (never seen an ep but my mom watches it sometimes) so the next day I was getting dressed going “With Fabian, and the skipper too, the oracle, the PI,” to the GI theme song. Also, did not know skipper and captain were the same title until Fabian got all upset and I looked it up. Yet another piece of information I know because of some game (along with what a panacea is (Dragon Quest 9) and where the CDC is (Pandemic)).

Gorgug, being offered a virgin daiquiri: No thanks, I’m driving. (I’ve said this before: Zac low key has the best comic timing of anyone.)

When Riz is angraming, one of the things he ends up with is something about a “night yorb” which Brennan decided is a real thing that both the Hangman and the Van are very wary about. Having the Hangman constantly being like, “SPEAK NOT OF THE NIGHT YORB!” and the Van being like, “Seriously, don’t fuck with the night york,” was so funny and such nonsense. I can’t wait for the night yorb mini boss fight that has to happen now because of the rule of funny.

Gorgug comes down from his call with Zelda and everyone except for Fabian (and probably Ragh who cannon-balls off the boat w/ Fabian and they both have to be rescued by Sandra-Lynn) knows exactly what happened immediately. Aw, buddy. One of my favorite things about media where you have kids saving the world is you have relationship drama and also the world is ending and it all feels equally high stakes. I find that so funny but also it feels very representative of what high school was like, or at least what it felt like (minus the literal apocalypse, obv. Or maybe not. Idk what was going on at your high school).

Adaine continues lending out Boggy to anyone who needs him.

Also, Gorgug tries to build a cell tower with driftwood and parts from Adaine’s jacket. It’s not going super hot.

Both Adaine and Riz are podcast nerds and listen to This Solesian Life. All checks out. Their friendship is underrated.

“I’m feeling really bad and my van is a boat.”

“I was gonna be straight edge except for drugs,” gives me “Sober salad” energy.

The whole discussion about Kristen getting tracker silly putty for her birthday.

The Van was serving some serious Ned Flanders energy along with the Owen Wilson energy this episode.

Brennan does pretty good whale noises.

Only crit this episode is Fig with a nat 20 insight to know Gorgug’s conversation with Zelda did not go well. Which is something she’d crit on.

#dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #fantasy high #fantasy high spoilers #fantasy high live #report card

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thecrystalquill · 5 years

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The Pretty French Girl

Albus Potter x Beauxbatons!Reader

Request:

A/N: Hey hey!! Thanks to @foolish-dragon for requesting this! I know this is waayy overdue and I'm so sorry it's taken me so long! I was so busy with college but thankfully now it's the holidays I have some free time. So thank you so much for your patience. I hope it was worth the wait :) Also, because of the stupid 100 block rule, I've had to do this is a couple of parts, so click the link for the next part when you’re done👍🏻

Masterlist

Part 2

•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

"Albus, I told you to tidy your room! We've got guests coming." Harry called, honestly how is his room this messy?

Footsteps were heard coming up the stairs and Harry turned to see Albus stomping his way up. "Dad, stay out of my room - and it's not messy, it's set up so I know exactly we're everything is. If I tidied it up, how would I ever find anything?" He huffed, and besides, why did he need his room to be tidied for guests? Why should they care how his room looks?

"Just clean it up, will you?" Harry replied, shoving a basket into his son's arms for the mounds of dirty clothes. "And I need you to clear up the spare room too. Get all your things out and put the bedding on, your Mum and I already have enough to do."

"Wait, who's staying in the spare room?" Albus asked, Harry was already halfway down the stairs when he threw his hands up, exasperated.

"I told you last week - Fleur's daughter is staying for the rest of the summer."

"What? Why?"

"She's transferring, stop stalling and tidy your room."

"Fine."

After cleaning his room and getting the spare room ready, Albus went about the rest of the day wondering about their new guest and slowly building up his nerves.

•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

The next day, Albus came down the stairs having just thrown on sweats and a jumper. It was almost noon and he'd clearly just woken up; he still had a bed-head and was stumbling down the stairs only half-awake. Only when he was about to enter their dining room did he hear new voices.

As he walked in, he found that the seats at the table were almost full, the usually empty seats take up by new faces; and sat in his spot was a girl who looked to be about his age. She had beautiful (y/h/l) (y/h/c) hair and amazing (y/e/c) eyes, she was smiling as she made conversation with his family and she looked absolutely stunning - he hated her already.

"There you are, Albus," his Mum beckoned him over, "I hope you slept well dear." She said as he grumpily sat down in the chair next to the girl.

"Well I should think so," his Dad commented, "it's half-passed eleven!"

James Sirius slung an arm around his younger brother and smirked, "Aw go easy on him Dad, I'm just glad we had some peace down here. Maybe next time we should bolt the door closed." He jones as Albus threw his arms off and grabbed the left-over breakfast on the table and dumped it on his plate.

"Y'know what James, maybe I will." Harry replied, earning a slap up the head from his wife.

Fleur entered from the kitchen holding two glasses of fruit juice, "Good morning, Albus," she greeted as she placed a glass down in front of the girl, "I 'ave not seen you een so long, 'ow you 'ave grown!"

He smiled at her in return, not entirely sure how he's supposed to respond to that ('Thank you'? 'You too'?), he just nodded and shovelled some jams toast into his mouth.

"I do not zink you 'ave met my daughter," she continued, gesturing to the girl next to him. "Mon chéri, vhy don't you eentroduce yourself?"

The girl turned to face him fully and smiled politely. "Hello, Albus," she said, and he could instantly tell that her accent was much more practiced than her mother's, "nice to finally meet you."

Albus nodded, seeing the glare from his parents in the corner of his eye, he faked a smile back. "Yeah, nice to meet you too..."

"(Y/N)."

"(Y/N)," he cleared his throat, glancing back to his parents. "So... er, how long are you staying?" He asked as he finished his breakfast and took a sip of orange juice.

"Just until you go back to Hogwarts," Ginny answered, sending him a stern look when he was about to protest - successfully shutting him up. "She and Fleur are moving to England and there's no room at your Grandparents' right now, so we offered for her to stay here for the rest of the holidays. Hopefully, Fleur will find somewhere soon."

"Oui, zank you for letting 'ur stay, vee really appreciate eet." Fleur thanked, her daughter nodding in agreement.

Harry waved a hand, "Oh, it's no problem Fleur, really. You're welcome here anytime."

•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

The night after Fleur left, Albus was sat it their living room watching reruns of Friends on TV, when (Y/N)

Decided to join him on the sofa. "Hello Albus," she greeted calmly as she crossed her legs and placed her hands neatly on her lap.

He grunted in reply - Merlin, he couldn't believe he had to spend the next two weeks with her, a whole third of his summer holiday!

"What are you watching?" She asked, curiously staring at the screen.

"Friends." He replied shortly, "it's a TV show, from the 90's."

"Oh," she said, "I don't think I have heard of it."

They sat in silence for a while as they enjoyed the show, an occasional question from (Y/N) when she didn't understand a muggle-related thing.

Soon, they were watching one of Albus' favourite episodes; Monica came into Chandler's apartment with a turkey on her head - you know the one. As Joey came in and was almost frightened to death, (Y/N) started to giggle, which Albus decowas very annoying. 'Is she actually giggling?' He thought, 'Why can't she just laugh like a normal person instead of cute little giggles?'

As he rolled his eyes, James decided to intrude. "Sup little bro," he teased as he plonked himself between the two, "Whatcha watchin'?" Albus nodded his head in the direction of the Tv as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world - which it probably should be. "Oooh, Friends eh? Good choice - great show. Rachel's hot."

"Really James?" Albus commented, "That's why you watch it? Y'can't just completely ignore the beauty of the show! Six friends from different backgrounds sharing their lives and experiences and supporti--"

"I think you might like this show a bit too much, Al." James interrupted with a smirk; Albus only brought his hand to his chest and gasped in an overly-dramatic manner, an offended look on his face. Standing to leave, James grinned as he called back, "Get a life, little bro!" Albus hated when he called him that.

A few episodes later, (Y/N) had decided that it was a good time to ask questions. "So Albus, what is t like at Hogwarts?"

Shrugging, he only gave a short answer, "S'alright."

(Y/N) nodded - still feeling unsatisfied, she decided to ask another. "And you get sorted into houses, yes?"

"Oui," he replied in a slightly condescending tone.

Ignoring it, (Y/N) tried again, "And what house are you in?"

"Slytherin."

"And what qualities does Slytherin have?"

Albus shrugged, "Y'know, ambition and stuff." He mumbled, sneakily turning up the volume on the TV.

Seeing as she was getting nowhere, (Y/N) nodded and decided she'd rather ask James about her new school.

•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

As the days passed, Albus had decided that he definitely didn't like (Y/N) at all - one-hundred percent dislike. Nothing else. She was so annoying, with her questions and her studying and her stupid French novels; he hated how she sat with her ankles crossed, and stood straight when she walked like she was better than anyone else. He hated how she smiled at everyone she saw every morning, he hated that she was so tidy and polite, he hated her elegance and her grace and the way she spoke - but most of all, he hated how bloody perfect she was. And he found it infuriating.

Shuffling into their dining room with his hair a mess and twisted pyjamas, the boy was met with the sight of (Y/N) sat at the table, with a charms book in one hand and a slice of toast in the other. As she turned to the next page, (Y/N) looked up and met his eyes. "Good morning, Albus." She smiled cheerily, irritating him further; how can someone be so awake at nine in the morning?

"Mornin'," he replied tiredly, sitting across from her just as Lily came through and happily helped herself to the food laid out. Albus had just finished spreading marmalade on his toast when James came from behind, grabbing it from Albus' hand just and inch from his mouth l, and took a bite; messing his little brother's already un-brushed hair before swaggering to his seat with a grin.

Albus grumpily grabbed another piece of toast, glaring intensely at James, as his father grossed in - his hair sticking up in every direction and glasses lazily put on. "Mornin'," he yawned and rubbed his eyes, (Y/N) smirking at how alike he and Albus were.

Ginny entered from the kitchen, holding two mugs of tea as she made her way to her husband. Handing him a cup, Harry took a sip and wrapped an arm around her. "Is everyone ready for Hogwarts then?" Ginny asked, tired murmurs, nods, and shrugs in response. She drank some of her tea and eyed her sons. "All packed then? Got everything, have you? Clothes, robes, equipment...?" There was a pause where the boys' eyes widened almost comically. "Maybe you should check - you won't be having any time tomorrow, will you?"

The brothers made eye-contact, then seemingly came up with the same conclusion, before running upstairs at impressive speeds - beginning to pack for school.

•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

"Right, have you all got everything? Robes? Wands? Books? James, please tell me you packed your toothbrush this time..." Albus' mind drifted as his Mum continued - they still had fifteen minutes until the train set off, but he didn't see the point in her asking now; they weee already at the station.

Feeling a tap on his shoulder, Albus swivelled around to see his father slightly lean down to him. "Look, Albus," he began seriously, "I know you don't particularly like (Y/N), but would you just look out for her a bit? Be her friend, help her out; it's not easy going to a new school, in a new country, where she doesn't know anyone. Just... be nice, okay?"

He looked over to the girl, she was staring at the crowds of people around them, her arms folded around herself nervously as a few students kept glancing her way. Sighing, Albus nodded to his Dad. "Yeah, okay. I'll keep an eye out for her."

Harry pulled his son into a hug as Ginny hit their attention. "Come on the , the train leaves any minute now! Off you go, and for Merlin's sake be good!"

•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

The group made their way on the train and split up to find their friends; but, remembering his father's words, Albus turned back to (Y/N). He awkwardly cleared his threat and beckoned her along with his head, "You coming?"

She smiled gratefully and nodded before trailing behind him to the first empty compartment they could find. They say across from each other, sitting rather awkwardly as the train set off. The silence prolonged as the Potter thought of something to say. 'What the hell am I supposed to say to her?' Albus thought to himself, 'Its not like we have anything in common.'

Just as he was about to say something, he was interrupted by the compartment door bursting open to reveal a head of platinum blond hair. "Hey Albus," he greeted as he sat next to the brunet boy, "and who might this be?" He asked about the girl.

"(Y/N) Delacour." She revealed, accepting the hand he offered.

"Scorpius Malfoy, pleasure to meet you (Y/N)." He smiled as he shook her hand.

Albus cleared his throat suddenly, drawing both pairs of eyes to him. "(Y/N) was staying with us over the summer. She's coming from Beauxbatons."

"Beauxbatons, eh?" Scorpius repeated in a somewhat impressed time. "I heard it's nice there."

"It is." The girl confirmed with a nod if their head. "My mother tells me of her visits to Hogwarts in her school years, she says it is very unique."

"Who's your mother?" Scorpius asked, a little confused at why she'd have visited Hogwarts in her school years.

"Fleur Delacour," (Y/N) responded with subtle pride, "she was a Triwizard Champion when Hogwarts was the host."

Scorpius' mouth formed an 'O' shape as he realised who she was talking about. "Oh yeah. She's part veela, isn't she?"

The girl nodded shyly and he smirked. "Well, that would explain why you're so beautiful." He responded smoothly, prompting (Y/N) to giggle at his compliment.

Albus frowned at his friend's behaviour; but perhaps the veela gene just makes people react differently to her.

•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

As the older students were waiting for the firsts years to arrive, (Y/N) was brought into another room in the hall for a private sorting with Headmistress McGonnagal. Albus and Scorpius were waiting at the Slytherin table, betting on which house (Y/N) would be sorted into - which seemed to be taking a while.

She finally exited the room and made her way to the tables, however, she started to get further from the Slytherin table and neared the Gryffindors. Both boys sighed in disappointment as James Sirius stood up to greet her and moved aside so she could sit with him as Lily waved cheerily.

"Well... at least we'll have some classes with her, right?" Scorpius said, trying to hide his disappointment; it would have been nice to have a girl in their little group.

"What? I-I don't know, why should I care anyway?" Albus responded defensively.

Scorpius frowned at his friend, as if he knew something that the other boy didn't. "Well, you like her, don't you?" He asked (it would explain his behaviour towards Scorpius' mild flirting on the train, after all), Albus' almost horrified face only confirmed his suspicions.

"No I don't!" He barked.

The young Malfoy only smirked. "Yeah you do," he answered casually, as if it were so obvious.

"No! I don't!" But the more angry he got, the more Scorpius knew he was right.

•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

Part 2

Tags:

@foolish-dragon

@strawberries-should-be-sweeter

25 notes · View notes

artificialqueens · 5 years

Text

Undone, Chapter 13 (Bitney/Courtney x Fame) - Stephanie/Veronica

A/N: Welcome to Chapter 13 of UNDONE, our slow burn Bitney lesbian AU. Here’s a link to the previous chapters.

Summary: Bianca makes Courtney an epic gown for Halloween, then finally joins her for Sunday Funday at The Abbey, where things get a little too real…(And Miss Fame has a bonus cameo.)

Thank you so much to our lovely beta readers: @kitschypixel , @sheofthethrone , @jillybean2314 <3

TW: This story deals with themes of emotional abuse, and since that can be subtle, we’re going to keep a general TW on all of the chapters, even when it seems like it doesn’t apply.

***

It’s probably not the best idea for Bianca to make Courtney’s Halloween costume - not with the mountains of work she has on her plate for the show. Because of course, she can’t bring herself to slap together something cheap and passable. She has to obsess over the design, worry about every detail, agonize over the fit, torture herself to make sure the finishing touches are all perfect.

The direction had been both very vague and very detailed, in typical Courtney fashion. ‘Sasha came up with the theme this year, and all she said was “inspired by your hometown.” And like, Brisbane is not inspiring so I was thinking something Sydney-ish? Maybe use the Opera House design? It doesn’t have to be literal though. Have fun with it! My other plan was just gonna be to dress as a koala so honestly, whatever you do...’

And when she pulls the gown out of the garment bag, seeing the delighted look on Courtney’s face makes it all worth it. She helps her try it on, relieved to see that it fits like a glove. She’d used the Opera House architecture as a structural element on the black corset top and headpiece.

“Well? What do you think?” Bianca steps back, turning Courtney towards the mirror so that she can see the full costume.

Courtney looks in the mirror, mouth agape, and Bianca feels a surge of pride.

“This is like...I can’t believe I’m gonna waste it on Halloween. I want to wear it to the Met Ball.”

“Are you going to the Met Ball?!” Bianca gasps, and Courtney giggles, shaking her head.

“No, of course not.”

Bianca lets out a disappointed sigh.

“In what world am I famous enough to attend the Met Ball?” Courtney laughs.

“I dunno...you know people.”

“Yeah, maybe in another life,” Courtney says. “But a Halloween party at Rasputin will have to do for now.”

Bianca places the headpiece carefully into a box and then walks over to help her out of the gown.

“You sure you don’t wanna come?” Courtney asks.

“It’s not that I don’t want to. I just can’t do a party in the middle of the week right now,” Bianca says.

“Alright, well, everyone will be bummed. They keep asking when you’re gonna hang out again.”

“Next time,” Bianca says.

“You always say that,” Courtney replies with a slight chuckle.

Bianca zips the dress into the garment bag as Courtney pulls on her shirt. She takes a deep breath, her to do list weighing heavily on her mind.

“And I always mean it...cunt,” she deadpans.

Her snarkiness is met with a gleeful giggle, Courtney lunging forward and capturing her into a hug. She smiles, gazing up at Bianca with an expression that makes her want to claw the curtains down. Bianca clears her throat and steps away.

“So...yeah, I hope the dress is what you wanted.”

“Are you kidding? I’m gonna blow everyone away. Adore is going as a pregnant chola and Shea’s planning to wear a hot dog on her head or something. I think Pearl’s just planning to wear her sluttiest bathing suit? There’s no prize, but I’m gonna win anyway.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Courtney stands for a moment, wanting to linger but knowing better.

“I guess I should get out of your hair now, huh?” Courtney asks, cradling the garment bag like a baby

“Yeah, I have a ton of sewing to do. For like, my actual job.” A guilty look flashes across Courtney’s face, and Bianca quickly adds. “Not that I minded taking a break from all that. It was, uh, fun to have creative license.” She follows Courtney to the door, trying to stop the dogs from jumping all over her.

“Okay, well...thank you, again. It’s so beautiful. You’re the best.”

“Yeah, I fucking know that,” Bianca retorts with a smirk, leaning against the door frame. “Now get outta here.”

Courtney giggles and tosses an air kiss over her shoulder, and Bianca’s cheeks hurt from smiling as she closes the door, when a moment of mild panic flashes through her. “A ton of sewing” had perhaps been an understatement. She heads back inside, realizing that she’s about to have a hell-ride of a weekend playing catch-up.

She works for the rest of the day, only getting up from her work table to brew more coffee, ignoring the ache in her back, the way her vision occasionally starts to blur. She barely even notices the sun going down as she hunches over the sewing machine, having finished almost a full rack of alterations for next week’s shoot. She glances longingly at a bolt of velvet meant for one of the finale costumes she’s designing, promising herself for a break to start draping as soon as she’s done with Linda’s pants.

Jared pushes open the door, saying, “Hey stranger…”

“Hi, when did you get home?” Bianca barely looks up, not wanting to fuck up the seam.

Jared rolls his eyes. “Like three hours ago?”

“Sorry, I’ve been busy.”

“Yeah, I see that. It’s almost nine, aren’t you hungry?” Jared asks.

“God, yes,” Bianca sighs.

“So, then maybe you should take a break…”

Bianca takes her foot off the pedal and looks up gratefully.

“...and make us some dinner?” Jared smirks.

Bianca scoffs and goes back to her seam, muttering, “Ha ha, fuck you.”

Jared’s smug expression goes sour as he spits out, “That was a joke!” and slams the door behind him.

Bianca sighs, looking up at the ceiling for a moment before getting up to chase after him.

“Jared, wait…”

She finds him in the kitchen, opening drawers and then slamming them shut, looking for something he can’t seem to find.

“I’m sorry.”

“Where the fuck is the corkscrew?” he demands.

Bianca walks forward to retrieve it and hands it to him, trying to get him to look at her.

“I’m sorry, please. I know you were kidding but I’m just...I’m just stressed.”

“Whatever.” He opens a bottle of wine and starts to pour a glass, now looking more wounded than angry.

Bianca leans against the counter, asking softly, “You gonna pour some for me, too?”

He takes out a second glass and pours, looking at her with those hurt puppy eyes. When she reaches for the glass, he grabs her wrist and pulls her forward, burying his face in her hair.

“I just...I don’t understand,” he says. “You took all that time to make the costume for your friend, and now you’re mad at me because you’re stressed, and it’s not fucking fair.”

“You’re right.”

“I fucking miss you when it gets like this, and you know that, and so-”

“I know, I know,” Bianca wraps her arms around him. “I’m sorry. Let’s order some dinner.” She feels his body start to relax against hers and closes her eyes in relief.

***

With less than a week left in the season, Bianca has never felt more exhausted in her life. She’s been working over 18 hours a day to finish the costumes for the finale episode, and keep up with her normal workload. More, if she counts all the hours she’s put in at home.

She thought that today, at least, would bring a tiny bit of relief, and end to this seemingly endless election, one less thing to stress about. Instead, she’s in some kind of surreal dystopia - how the fuck could that man be president? It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so fucking awful. She goes through her usual morning tasks, trying to gain some tiny semblance of normalcy. Hoping that the mundane, familiar checklist will soothe her frayed nerves.

The door bangs open, startling her out of her thoughts. Courtney stands at the top of the stairs, hair in a messy bun, eyes red. She looks like she’s been crying all night.

“Hey,” Bianca says, wishing there was something she could say to make it better.

Courtney nods, dropping her bag on the ground and walking towards Bianca, looking so small and lost that Bianca can’t help but wrap her into a hug. Courtney holds on tight and begins to cry, face buried in Bianca’s neck.

“I know,” Bianca whispers, her own eyes feeling misty.

“How did this happen?” Courtney sobs.

“I don’t know…” Bianca rocks her, trying not to think about how soft her hair feels against her cheek. How warm her breath is. Using a national tragedy as an excuse for affection...that’s a new low for her. She feels gross, and begins to loosen her grip.

Courtney pulls away, sniffling.

“Fuck.”

“Yep.”

She rubs her eyes, taking a shaky breath.

“I have to go to hair.”

“Right.” Bianca touches her cheek softly, brushing away a tear, unable to stop from letting her fingers linger just a split second too long. “See you in a bit.”

“Yeah. Okay...Alright, I’m going.”

***

The wrap party was a welcome, much needed night for everyone to blow off some steam. But it’s possible that the combination of exhaustion and alcohol was not the best idea, because Bianca awakens on Saturday to one of the worst hangovers of her life, head pounding, stomach in turmoil.

She rolls over, wondering if she has the strength to get up and walk to the bathroom or if she should just vomit into the trash can by her bed. She notices that Jared’s left her some water and Alka-seltzer and feels a wave of gratitude along with her nausea.

It’s two hours later when she manages to sit up all the way, checking her phone, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth when she sees the messages from Courtney.

COURTNEY: Happyyyyy Hiaaaaatus…

COURTNEY: (You’re alive, right?)

COURTNEY: (Please be alive)

BIANCA: Ughhhhhhh

BIANCA: What the fuck happened last night?

COURTNEY: Um, I think you were like, a TINY little bit blackout :)

BIANCA: You don’t say

BIANCA: Omg I’m never drinking again.

COURTNEY: Bummer. Cause I was gonna invite you to Sunday Funday at the Abbey tomorrow.

BIANCA: Sure

COURTNEY: REALLY??????

BIANCA: I promised you I’d come next time!

COURTNEY: I thought you were lying!!!

BIANCA: No, I was just slammed during the season. We’re on hiatus. Bring on the mimosas

COURTNEY: <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

***

“B!” Courtney jumps up from her seat, racing over to the entrance to greet Bianca. Her eyes sweep over Bianca’s body, clad in a form-fitting sweater dress and tall boots, and she bites her lip, pulling her in for a tight hug.

“Hey,” Bianca says, a shiver running through her as Courtney takes her hand, leading her to their table.

“I honestly can’t believe you’re here,” she says, squeezing her fingers.

“I keep my promises,” Bianca replies, stomach doing a little somersault when Courtney tosses her a little smile.

When they’re almost at the table, Courtney leans in and murmurs, “I invited this cute couple I know so that you wouldn’t be the only straight person.”

“I’ve been to a gay bar before, Court,” says Bianca, rolling her eyes slightly.

“Ben! Jinkx! This is Bianca!”

“So now that your friend is here, are you gonna stop trying to steal my girlfriend?” Ben asks.

“Maybe,” Courtney says coyly, with a flutter of lashes.

“Hi, Bianca, nice to see you again.” Shea leans over to give her a hug.

“Yeah, you too. So what are we drinking?”

“Rum and fruit!” Sasha offers a sip of her mango mojito.

As they settle into their seats, Courtney fills Bianca in on their previous conversation, which was a dramatic retelling of the night that Ben and Jinkx met for the first time.

Courtney claims that she orchestrated the whole thing, “Giving Ben the benefit of my stellar game.”

Jinkx scoffs, chuckling. “Uh, sorry to break it to you, hon, but your game is as bad as his.”

“What?!” Courtney gasps.

“I could see them plotting from 3 tables away,” Jinkx explains.

“So, wait, why did you take me home?” Ben asks.

Jinkx casts a sideways look at him, head tilted, and shrugs. “You have a cute butt.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know that I have major game, okay? I was totally just fucking around,” Courtney insists.

“You have no game,” says Jinkx.

“I do so!”

“No. You don’t. You just have...all that.” Jinkx waves her hand around Courtney’s general vicinity.

“Charisma?” Courtney guesses with a flutter of lashes.

“No, sweetie. You’re hot. That’s your game. Being hot.”

“I am somehow...both deeply offend and totally flattered...” Courtney says, then looks over at Bianca, laughing into her drink. “Excuse me, what are you laughing at, ma’am?”

“I mean...she’s not wrong,” Bianca giggles.

“Oh, what do you know. I have game, alright? Maybe it just only works on lesbians.”

“Uh huh. That must be it,” Bianca deadpans.

“Hey losers,” pipes up a low voice, and Shea laughs.

“Hey Pearlie! Come sit. Thanks for joining...over an hour late.”

“It’s fucking Sunday, calm down,” Pearl says, settling into the booth. She nods hello to Jinkx and Ben, then does a double-take at Bianca. “Heyyy.”

“Back off, Pearl. She’s married,” Courtney says.

“When’s that ever stopped me?” Pearl asks, still leering at Bianca.

“And straight!”

“I repeat, when has that ever...Hiii, I’m Pearl, by the way.”

“Bianca.” Bianca lets Pearl take her hand, pretending not to notice Courtney’s clear irritation beside her. A tiny thrill ripples through her and she tosses her hair, flashing her dimples at the sleepy-eyed blonde. She doesn’t actually care about Pearl, but after months of seething silently while Courtney flirts with everyone around them, it’s a little fun to give her a taste of her own medicine.

The server appears just then with a tray of drinks, and Courtney sighs, immediately ordering another round before taking a sip.

“I thought you were a lightweight,” Bianca says.

“Yeah, well...Sunday Funday,” Courtney answers, toasting her with a flutter of lashes.

The drinks take effect quickly. By the time they finish their food, Courtney’s flirting even more impetuously than usual. Bianca can’t help but encourage her, dimples deepening at every teasing comment, biting her lip at every light touch.

Eventually, they all head to the dance floor, and though dancing is not high on Bianca’s list of preferred activities, she’s not prepared to turn down more opportunities to brush against Courtney in the crowd. Courtney barely breaks eye contact with her, even while being constantly interrupted by people who seem to know her - a bombshell redhead with gorgeous tattoos, a beautiful girl with legs for days that Bianca thinks she recognizes from the Rockwell, a go-go dancer on a pole trying valiantly to get her attention.

As they head up the steps for their next round, Courtney waves back to a woman on the opposite side of the bar, and Bianca shakes her head.

“How do you know everyone here?” Bianca wonders.

“‘Cause she’s a slut,” Shea offers, earning a light punch on the shoulder from her girlfriend.

“That is not how I would put it,” Sasha says, but Courtney shrugs.

“Eh, it’s fine. If the shoe fits…”

“Attagirl!” Shea laughs, sliding shots over to both of them.

Courtney raises her glass and Bianca follows.

“What are we toasting?”

“Ummm…” Courtney holds her gaze, head tilted, lips parted. “To keeping our promises.”

“Cheers,” Bianca answers simply, allowing Courtney to pull her back down the steps.

The dance floor slowly becomes more crowded, space between them shrinking to make room for more bodies. Temperature creeping up. Bianca’s cheeks burn as someone passes behind her, pressing her against Courtney, who gives her a slow, sexy grin.

Bianca swallows, the fluttery feeling in her belly being overtaken by a burning ache as Courtney’s hands brush against her hips. For a moment, it’s like she’s having an out of body experience, watching herself, alcohol buzzing through her veins, balance slightly off, leaning forward. She imagines what it would be like to close the short distance between them, to feel Courtney’s lips on hers, to press her against the DJ booth and tangle her hands in that soft blonde hair.

Courtney’s teasing smile fades for a second, looking at Bianca with so much intensity, so much expectation, that it causes Bianca’s heart to pound. Bianca inches closer still, feeling compelled by forces beyond her control.

And then it’s all over. Bianca’s eyes widen in alarm, realizing what she was about to do, booze-addled mind getting crystal clear for a second as she takes a step backwards.

“B…” Courtney begins, guilt rushing in, engulfing her like a tsunami.

Bianca merely shakes her head, stammering out a rushed apology, and bolts from the dance floor, swallowed up by the crowd so quickly that Courtney can’t possibly follow. Once outside, she leans against a concrete pillar, breathing heavily in the chilly evening air, self-loathing pushing all other thoughts out of the way - including the awful nagging feeling that makes her wish that she’d acted upon her desires.

Back on the dance floor, Courtney gulps, that hollow ache in her chest making her wince. Why does she always push things too far? Why can’t she just accept reality as it is, instead of trying to bend it to her selfish will?

She slinks onto the patio, spotting Fame at a cocktail table. Courtney grabs two half-empty glasses from a table beside her and sucks them down quickly.

“Classy,” Fame comments, chuckling.

“Don’t judge me,” Courtney snaps, finding anger easier to express than the turmoil and guilt swirling in her chest.

“I’m not.” Fame holds up her hands.

“I’m sorry,” Courtney sighs, deflating as fast as a popped balloon, head on her arms. “It’s been...a weird day.”

“Hmm. Where’s your friend?”

“What friend?” Courtney tries to feign innocence, eyes wide.

Smirking now, Fame takes a sip of her own cocktail and signals to the waiter.

“Hi,” she coos. “Two more double tequilas, please.”

“I don’t know if that’s-” Courtney begins to protest, but stops talking as Fame slides her own drink across the table.

“Come on, baby. Let’s turn the night around.”

Forty minutes later, Courtney finds herself so drunk that she can barely stand, cheeks stained with tears from weepy self-pity, crammed into a stall in the ladies’ room as Fame’s fingers slide into her panties.

All she wants is to feel something, something other than this endless cycle of hope and rejection and guilt. She wants, she needs, to feel something good, even if it’s bullshit - even just for a second.

“Ugh, I can’t believe we’re doing this in here. It’s so trashy,” she moans, arching into Fame’s fingers, digging her nails into her shoulder.

“I know, we’re the worst,” Fame says, biting her neck. One hand braces her hip against the wall as she fucks her, sucking a row of angry marks along her collarbone.

Courtney comes hard and quick, so much tension leaving her body that she nearly slides to the floor. Fame catches her, laughing.

“Feel better?”

“Um...” Courtney pants, leaning on her shoulder for support, ignoring the ‘no’ echoing in her head, the self-loathing that never left, that may actually be worse now that it was before, and says, “Yeah. Thanks.”

***

Avoiding Courtney has been easier than Bianca thought it would be.

First of all, there were the holidays. Thanksgiving with her family in New Orleans, where things got fairly dicey when she got hammered on red wine and spent hours stalking Courtney on social media. Jared was clueless as usual, but her sisters? Not so much. Vanessa goaded her into spilling way too much, and in the morning, that sick, sick feeling was back. So she did what she always did. Pushed her feelings down and denied everything.

And then in December, Courtney was in Toronto shooting a Lifetime movie, and by the time she got back to town, Bianca was already in St. Barts, coping as best she could with Jared’s family. Every time his mother interrogated her about her fertility (or lack thereof), she dealt with it by posting another generic Caribbean beach photo or close-up of a flower. To the point where Courtney posted a teasing comment, asking her if she was working for a stock footage company. Bianca hadn’t been able to help herself, replying quickly. No chill whatsoever.

Bianca Del Rio: Shady

Courtney Hamilton: I miss your face. Post your FACE!

Her next photo was a selfie, face catching the orange glow of the setting sun. With the caption, ‘There. Happy?’

Courtney’s reply, a row of heart eyes, was nearly immediate. Bianca still remembers the mild elation of getting into a public exchange with her. It felt dangerously good, but reinforced the reason Bianca was trying so hard to hard to limit their interactions.

Once she was back in town, she spent a few weeks coming up with excuses to turn down every invite, and by the end of January, her resolve was gone.

The Women’s March seemed like a benign occasion for catching up. In broad daylight, with a big group of Courtney’s friends and hundreds of thousands of other people...that would be safe, right? So Bianca had agreed to come, making it clear that she would not be wearing one of those hideous pink hats.

She paces around in front of the coffee shop where they’re going to meet, taking a moment to gather her thoughts.

She is, of course, excited to see Courtney again. That ever-pervading fluttery feeling she gets whenever they‘re together. The joy she feels making her laugh, the way her smile seems to shine just a little bit brighter for Bianca than for anyone else. But then, on the other hand, there’s also the unresolved tension from the last time - Bianca fleeing in the middle of a song, knowing that if she stayed, it would have turned into something she was altogether unprepared for.

Maybe it’s selfish. Trying to hold onto the parts of their relationship that make her feel good while ignoring the parts that fill her with guilt. She knows, deep down, that the smart thing to do would be to stop socializing, keep things light and professional and force herself to move on from this perverted little fantasy.

And it’s been so long. She optimistically wonders if maybe, perhaps, her confusing feelings will have dissipated. Maybe this time, she’ll see her and feel only friendship. Camaraderie. After all, today is supposed to be about empowerment, right? She takes a deep breath and goes inside.

But the second Courtney looks up at her, Bianca’s chest fills with both excitement and dread. Courtney races toward her, wrapping her into a hug that’s too tight, too long, too deliciously warm, but Bianca doesn’t resist.

All things considered, it’s an inspiring day, and Bianca loves seeing Courtney so enthusiastic. She finds herself glancing over at her more and more frequently during the speeches, enamored by her passion, her exuberance, her cheeks flushed pink in the chilly air.

Later that night, when Bianca is back home, when the excitement has faded, she leans against her kitchen counter and drains glass after glass of pinot noir. As the TV drones in the next room, she clutches her glass, wishing that she could be satisfied with what she has, instead of aching for something impossibly out of reach. The memory of Courtney’s dazzling smile, which filled her with joy mere hours earlier, now feels like a knife in her gut.

“B! Get in here! You’re missing the best part!”

“Coming!” Bianca calls to Jared, downing the last gulp of wine in her glass. She finds Jared sprawled on the couch, oblivious, and sits down beside him.

“There you are.” Jared pulls her closer, kissing her neck, and Bianca squirms away. Her thoughts right now are too confusing, too overwhelming, to let him touch her. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing, I just…” Bianca trails off, unable to explain.

“Come on, B, you’ve been gone all day. Didn’t you miss me?”

Bianca swallows, guilt blooming in her chest, making it hard to breathe.

“Yeah, of course.” Bianca leans against him, no longer resisting.

“It’s almost Game Day, isn’t it?”

Bianca rubs her eyes, letting out a dry chuckle.

“Um, maybe, I’m not…”

Jared laughs, pushing her onto her back.

“You’re wasted,” he says, a glint in his eye.

“No, I’m just, uh...it was a long day. I had a little wine.” Bianca sighs, eyes falling closed.

“Well, don’t worry, baby, I’ll do all the work...”

She considers resisting for a moment, shoulders tense as he pulls off her PJ bottoms, but then imagines the fight that would inevitably follow, the explanations she doesn’t have, the words she can’t say out loud. She sighs slightly, trying to relax.

“You like it when I take charge, huh?” Jared murmurs against her neck, sinking his teeth into her skin, laughing a little at her whimper in response. “See? Sometimes you can let me be the boss.”

“Jared-”

“What?” His voice is sharp, challenging. His eyes bore into hers, making her heart pound with fear.

She forces a laugh, shaking her head.

“Nothing. Keep...keep going.”

A smile spreads slowly across his face as he grips her hips tightly.

“Thought so.”

***

Courtney takes Bianca’s face in her hands, a thumb brushing softly over her lips. She’s in no rush, wants simply to savor the moment, the feel of her skin, the weight of her body pressing down.

She moves closer, feeling warm breath on her face, lips millimeters apart. She can tell when Bianca smiles just from the feeling of dimples against her fingers, and opens her eyes, pulling back a little to look into her eyes.

Seeing her smile, she feels lit up from within. She gazes at her beautiful face for as long as possible, as long as she can stand being this close without kissing her properly.

When their lips meet, it’s gentle at first, teasing. She relishes the taste of Bianca’s lips, arching up against her as the kiss deepens, hands tightening in her hair. It isn’t long before they are both breathless, panting. As Bianca grinds down against Courtney on the bed, she layers kisses down her jaw, nibbling at her neck. Courtney lets out a sound halfway between a whimper and a moan, making Bianca suck harder on her tender skin.

Courtney inhales sharply as Bianca’s hand drifts down, stroking her slowly, toying with her until she’s dripping wet and begging for mercy.

And then Bianca lifts her head for a second, gazing down at Courtney, blue eyes dreamy with lust. Her fingers are moving faster now, firm and insistent. Courtney continues to arch up against her, moaning softly as she comes.

She pulls Bianca’s face down again, lips grazing her ear as she whispers, “I love you...”

Courtney’s eyes flutter open, and she groans slightly to herself, shutting off the vibrator and placing it on the edge of the bathtub. Detailed sexual fantasies are not new for her, but gooey romantic feelings certainly are.

She sinks down deeper into the water, filled with shame.

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melissatreglia · 5 years

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⭐️

Oooh, author’s choice, huh? I guess I’ll do a commentary on “Living on Fire”.

Check the link if you want to read it first.

Spoilers for the “Living on Fire” fic are ahead under the cut, and there will be sensitive subjects discussed. So, if you’re triggered by talk of depression and the treatment of such (and by that, I mean in the legitimate psychological pain sense), then you might want to skip past this post on your dash.

Okay, so as I stated in the warning of the fic, the setting is a psychiatric ward. Now, what some of you currently reading this might not know is that I’d undergone treatment in a psych ward back in August 2012, following a bout of suicidal ideation and years of untreated trauma. I had checked myself in, and stayed for just 8 days. I was completely committed to making progress on my own healing, and I got past the worst of it in record time through a combination of willpower, learning new coping strategies and good medication.

This does not mean those who need more time in a mental health clinic are in any way “weak”. You’re fighting a very hard battle the best way you possibly can, and you deserve all the hugs and good things in the world for doing your best.

That being said… the basic concept of this story was actually the brainchild of @weepingredwillow‘s daughter. Willow, as you may or may not know, is a pint-sized bundle of sunshine with a deep, abiding love for her “dad” Mr. Darkiplier.

Willow had pointed out that Darkiplier abandoning her would make her feel like her head is on fire… and her mother took that comment and gave me a prompt inspired by it.

And I promptly took it and ran with it.

Again, because of my prior experience in a psych ward, it wasn’t too difficult to stay true to what being in a modern psych ward is actually like. Although, keeping in mind, it is nonetheless a dramatisation.

When Dark visits the POV character, she’s at her absolute lowest and feels like no one understands what’s going on inside her head. Her symptoms, at first, seem consistent with schizophrenia (hearing voices), but she is not.

Our POV character is actually a psychic. A telepath, to be specific. And constantly hearing the noise going on inside other people’s heads is driving her bonkers.

“You’d leave every session with Him feeling emptied. As if your insides had been scrubbed clean of all the pain, the hurt leaving something astringent that stung but reminded you you’re still alive. The voices were gone. The only voice you heard now was His.”

Dark’s sessions with her have Him essentially draining her mind of other people’s psionic refuse, so that she can be alone inside her head again.

“In the group art therapy sessions held by the hospital staff, you reclaimed your old passion for drawing and painting. Your works were an abstract mix of dark and light – the light being presented as harsh and unforgiving, and the dark as cool and welcoming shadows.”

They say “write what you know.” Well… this line is a portrait of myself, the artist/author, in a nutshell. I’m drawn to dark things because I find comfort in them. I’m a night owl, because I have the most energy (creative and physical) at night. Some of what I consider my best work focuses on the dark side of the human mind.

It’s the net result of dancing with my demons. The music is sinister, but beautiful, in it’s own way.

“It had been weeks since you’d taken your medication – any medication at all. Weeks since a psychotic episode had flared up. You were not sorry not to be a walking chemistry experiment anymore.”

A lot of people undergoing psychiatric treatment have to take a lot of medications to deal with the wide variety of symptoms they undergo. Many people who suffer from mental illness (including myself) would love to have an alternative to pharmaceuticals. But, at this point in the evolution of psychiatric care, the drugs are a necessary evil. And, if you feel good, it’s because you’re taking the right balance of medications.

“Around nine p.m. your chest started to hurt, as if there were a roaring fire in it, blazing out of control. You huddled in your bed in a tight ball, arms thrown around your legs, weeping uncontrollably. You instinctively rocked back and forth in a vain attempt to soothe yourself.“

This was the mental image that had initially come to mind upon seeing the prompt. Our protagonist in agonising pain, trying to comfort herself because her living crutch – Darkiplier – was gone.

Of course, the payoff is that Dark returns… as Himself. His aura fully present, rather than being held in check. So our POV character sees Him as He is, without pretense or concealment. He’d shown her what He could do for her, and now all that was left was to offer her a choice.

(Because my Dark is big on choice, both the having and the lack thereof.)

“A choice must be made. Either you embrace this gift, and all the pain and responsibility that comes with it, and I will aid you in honing and controlling it. Or I can take it from you, leaving you content… but empty, and never reaching your full potential.”He gave a shrug of His broad shoulders, as He gazed at you unblinkingly. “The decision is yours alone.”

And here it is: the choice. Pain and the freedom of humanity, or bliss in the enclave of a demon lord. Our protagonist feels her choice is clear; like any victim of psychological torment, she simply wants the pain to stop.

So did I.

So did one of the girls I met when I was inside (let’s call my fellow patient Samantha, to protect her privacy). We clicked, and I found that Samantha was a drug addict trying to get clean, after completely ruining her life up to that point with her pill-popping addiction. It hadn’t been Samantha’s first time in a psych ward, but it was the first time she’d entered herself into one voluntarily. And, I’m happy to report, she’s been clean ever since, and now is happily married and a mom to a beautiful little boy.

It does get better. It got better for me, it got better for Samantha. And if you’re struggling? Just know it will get better for you too.

Our POV character is in a happier place now, and I’m working on a future plot for our psychic friend, the girl who was living on fire.

#ask me anything #director's commentary #markiplier fandom #darkiplier #fic: living on fire #tw: depression #tw: mental health

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penniesforthestorm · 3 years

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“No, I’m an idiot; you can ask anybody”: Justified Season Three, Episodes 8-10

Well. Howdy, folks. (The great thing about this is, thanks to tungle.hell’s lack of visible timestamps, most of you probably have no idea how long it’s been since I did the last one of these. At this point I don’t even know. But, on the off-chance that there is someone out there who’s been wondering when I’m going to make another one, here you go.) This trio of episodes is one of my favorites of the show’s entire run, so I might dive in with some extra insight here and there; if you want read back, click on through for the premiere, Episodes 2-4, and Episodes 5-7. Join me under the cut, and stop by my inbox any time:

Episode Eight: “Watching the Detectives”

-OK, off-topic, but first of all, this episode’s title happens to be one of my favorite Elvis Costello songs, and also, I know he didn’t write it about Twin Peaks’ Laura Palmer, but it’s about her nonetheless...

-We open with Sammy Tonin in a restaurant; Sammy takes a phone call with the Feds listening, and, following Quarles’ orders, links Raylan Givens to Boyd Crowder.

-Raylan, meanwhile, is sitting in his home-base bar in Lexington, listening to a sultry rockabilly singer. (Jack-and-Coke was my ‘starter’ drink when I was younger; it served a purpose but if I never have one again, I don’t think I’ll regret it...)

-Robert Quarles, in a car with Wynn Duffy and Mike the bodyguard, gets a call from a contrite Tanner Dodd. Duffy stops the car in front of the former home of Winona and Gary Hawkins, and lets Gary out of the trunk. Quarles tells Gary, “I want you to give a message to Raylan”, and then shoots him in the chest. Back at Quarles’ house/clinic, he’s approached by Ellstin Limehouse, who informs him of Boyd’s plans to run Shelby Parlow for Harlan County sheriff. Limehouse tells Quarles that he likes to back “the winning side”.

-Next morning, Raylan’s barman pal tells him there was someone tampering with his car; Raylan discovers scratch marks around the keyhole of his trunk. On the drive to work, he gets a call from the Lexington Police Department, and arrives at the scene of Gary Hawkins’ murder. He identifies the body for an already-suspicious LPD detective.

-At the Marshals’ Office, Deputy Tim reveals he knew that Gary was living under an alias in Tulsa, and he’s just been hassling Raylan about Gary’s fate for fun. Elsewhere in the building, persnickety US Attorney David Vasquez is approached by FBI Agent Barkley, the mole for the Detroit mob. Barkley asks to see Vasquez’s file on Raylan.

-Quarles meets with Tanner Dodd, who takes full responsibility for the hit on Boyd Crowder’s Oxy clinic. Quarles tells him he has one last chance, and sends him back to Harlan.

-Winona arrives at the Marshals’ Office, and Raylan informs her of Gary’s death. The LPD detectives question Raylan-- turns out his fingerprints were on the fatal bullet casing. He tells the story of tossing that bullet onto Duffy and reveals it was something he heard on the Johnny Carson show. The older and more skeptical of the detectives goes to Quarles’ house, and finds him insouciantly eating leftover spaghetti with Wynn Duffy at his side.

-Down in Harlan, Sheriff Tillman Napier starts his car, then gets out. The car explodes, tossing him to the ground. In short order, he goes to arrest Boyd.

-At the Marshals’ Office, Quarles and Duffy befuddle the LPD, and Winona gets pulled aside for questioning. Raylan realizes he’s being framed. Just as he’s trying to plead his case to Winona, Barkley and Vasquez show up, and Barkley hauls Raylan into Art’s office, accusing him of corruption.

-As Boyd is being perp-walked into the Harlan County courthouse, Raylan storms out of the meeting with Art, Vasquez, and Barkley. Tim offers to “take him downstairs” where the LPD is waiting, and after a chat in the elevator, he lets Raylan go check on his car. Winona calls; she’s found the gun inside her house. She brings it to Raylan, and tells him firmly, “Don’t come find me.” Back at the office, Barkley asks Tim, “Where is he?” and Tim cheerfully responds, “Where’s who?”, while snacking on some dried fruit.

-Sheriff Napier meets with Tanner Dodd (who planted the car-bomb), berating him for setting off the explosives too soon. Dodd tells Napier to pony up the money he owes, or the next batch of fireworks might ignite even sooner.

-Raylan’s in the clear; Agent Barkley didn’t want to divulge the source of his “tip”. Said source, Sammy Tonin, informs Robert Quarles that their association has come to an end. On a hunch, Raylan visits Quarles’ Lexington house, finding Wynn Duffy. Raylan warns Duffy that Quarles is on borrowed time, and Duffy doesn’t exactly disagree. Quarles, meanwhile, listens to a fire-and-brimstone radio sermon as he drives through the night, and pops a pill, ignoring his ringing cell phone as he pulls up to where Limehouse is waiting.

Episode Nine: “Loose Ends”

-Raylan hides the gun Quarles used in his bedroom. Next morning, Art pulls him in and asks him why he’s looking for Brady Hughes, a missing hustler who was last seen with Quarles. Art asks what Raylan has on Quarles that he can prove, and then tells him to back off.

-Delroy Baker, the Harlan bordello owner, takes three of his ‘girls’-- Ellen May, J.J., and Crystal--to rob a payday-loan office. Crystal gets shot, and Delroy tries to calm the now-hysterical J.J. and Ellen May with some blather about ‘soldiering on’. (We all agree that Delroy grew up in a cult, right?) They dump Crystal’s body in a slurry pond, and Delroy shoots J.J. Ellen May manages to escape into the woods.

-Ava visits Raylan at the Lexington bar, and after some banter, tells him that Boyd has some information he should hear. Raylan goes to Boyd’s jail cell, and Boyd connects Tanner Dodd to the clinic shooting and to Quarles. Raylan calls up Trooper Tom Bergen to help him find Dodd.

-Quarles visits Limehouse to discuss the campaign for sheriff, and Limehouse introduces him to Harvey, the county clerk. Over at Johnny Crowder’s bar, as Ava is preparing to open, a bruised and terrified Ellen May shows up, and Ava takes her inside.

-Raylan visits Tanner’s mother Imogene, a seemingly dotty woman who asks him to help her with her TV. Raylan gently explains that ‘some very dangerous people’ are after Tanner, and she drops the act. “The first time some no-dick lawman ran that game on me, Tanner was ten years old!” she snaps.

-Tanner, who has been hiding at Limehouse’s place with Errol, gets the call that Raylan’s looking for him, and Errol relays that to Limehouse. Limehouse admonishes him to see that Tanner’s “loose ends” are taken care of. Raylan goes to see Sheriff Napier, bringing along a friend he addresses as “Masters from the ATF”. He informs Napier that they’ve traced the car-bomb to Dodd, and not Boyd Crowder.

-Johnny Crowder chastises Ava for not unlocking the bar’s front door. She tells him about Ellen May, and Johnny makes what’s clearly intended to be a grand romantic play. He alludes to Ava’s soft heart-- “You’re always bringing in broken things and trying to make them well” (i.e. It’s me, I’m the broken thing)--and when Ava suggests that he take in Ellen May, he hauls himself up out of his wheelchair onto a barstool, and softly tells her, “You know I always wanted a blonde.” David Meunier’s performance in this scene kills me every time (fwiw he’s a very attractive man); on the one hand, who would have guessed that Johnny was a dreamer? On the other hand... buddy. Ever hear of “reading the room?” Ava, thoroughly annoyed, says that she’ll turn Ellen May over to Delroy; after all, “It’s what Boyd would do.”

-Napier tries to lure in Dodd, telling him he’ll pay up; Dodd and Errol visit Lemuel Briggs, the eccentric tinkerer last seen in S1E11: “Veterans”. Dodd demands that Briggs ‘refund’ him for the car-bomb, and Briggs directs him to a bag of money on top of a cabinet inside his shop. As Dodd steps up to retrieve it, Briggs informs him that he’s standing over a ‘Bouncing Betty’ landmine. Errol shoots Briggs and takes the cash, promising to care for Imogene. Some time later, Trooper Tom calls Raylan, saying that Dodd’s ready to talk.

-Ava, toting a shotgun, hauls a bewildered Ellen May out of the bar’s back room. Delroy’s waiting out front. As soon as he sets down the money Ava asked for, Ava shoots him, and instructs Ellen May to help her clean up.

-Raylan and an actual ATF agent converge on Briggs’ shop; Dodd reluctantly agrees to talk but insists the landmine be defused first. Just as Raylan makes the connection between Napier, Dodd, and Quarles, Dodd drops the pistol he’s holding, and the change in weight makes the device arm itself. Raylan and the ATF agent manage to get clear, but Tanner isn’t so lucky.

-At a VFW debate moderated by Harvey the county clerk, Napier and Shelby Parlow face off. Napier jibes at Shelby’s current job as a big-box store greeter, but Shelby gets an assist from the newly-sprung Boyd Crowder, who electrifies the room by painting Napier as a “company man”. At Johnny’s bar, they’re toasting success when Ava asks Boyd for a word. Johnny, suspicious, watches them go. Boyd, for his part, seems a little less than thrilled that Ava actually killed Delroy, and is clearly surprised when she asks to take over the bordello.

-Errol brings the money to Imogene Dodd, telling her to call if she needs anything. Raylan, concealed in her parlor, thanks her and hands her the remote for the new TV, which he’s helped set up (whatever else, he’s not entirely without grace). He then goes to see Limehouse, who tries to bait him by mentioning not only Arlo, but Frances, Raylan’s mother. Raylan passes along another warning about Quarles, but Limehouse appears unconcerned.

Episode Ten: “Guy Walks Into a Bar”

-Deputy Mooney and another Harlan cop attempt to plant a bottle of pills in Shelby Parlow’s truck, but he wards them off with a rifle, telling them he has terminal cancer, and he’s prepared for his own fate. At Johnny’s bar, Shelby reassures Boyd and Johnny that he was lying about his health. (I know that Shelby’s story in S4 essentially amounts to a retcon, but Jim Beaver’s understated cool is a big factor in why it works.)

-Johnny and Boyd strategize how to go after Napier; Johnny mentions that Napier has a sister. Limehouse and Errol agree track her down, but Limehouse voices some misgivings to Boyd. Boyd does his best to smooth things over, and Limehouse gives him Harvey, the county clerk.

-In Lexington, rascally Judge Reardon gives Raylan some bad news: Dickie Bennett is about to be pardoned, so that the state can avoid a lawsuit for wrongful imprisonment.

-Boyd visits Napier’s sister Hannah, who insists that she’s estranged from her brother, clearly terrified that Boyd’s going to harm her. Instead, he says he’s come to offer her a job.

-Speaking of leverage, Raylan tries to get Attorney Vasquez’s help to keep Dickie behind bars; he offers to have Wade Messer testify. Vasquez reminds him that if the charges are dropped against Dickie, Messer will be released by default, since he was only charged as an accessory.

-At Johnny’s bar, transformed for the day into Shelby Parlow’s campaign headquarters, Boyd receives the word that Dickie might go free. Johnny asks, somewhat unnecessarily, if Boyd thinks Dickie’s stupid enough to come back to Harlan.

-Raylan calls in Dickie’s buddy Jed, who took the fall for Helen’s murder. Jed reveals that his grandmother had a pact with Mags, and Mags called in a favor. Raylan goes to see Granny, finding her in a nursing home with severe aphasia following a recent stroke. She’s able to get Raylan to bring her two milkshakes, and when he hands her one and sits beside her, she dumps it in his lap, then takes the second one and sips with a triumphant gleam in her eye. Back at the office, Art raises the idea that Raylan should give a statement in court against Dickie’s pardon.

-The votes are in: somehow, Sheriff Napier won. In Napier’s office, Robert Quarles lays out their further business relationship, including a desk job for himself. County clerk Harvey arrives with some bad news-- turns out, sister Hannah is on the county payroll, which makes Napier ineligible for office due to a nepotism statute. Shelby Parlow will step in until a recall election can be held. Quarles departs, fuming, only to be confronted by Boyd and Johnny. “Don’t forget who packed your bags,” Boyd sneers.

-In Wynn Duffy’s trailer, Quarles pops a few more pills. A young man with a pistol storms inside, demanding to know what happened to Brady Hughes. Quarles describes his own lurid history: forced to turn tricks as a child to finance his father’s drug habit, then initiated into the Detroit mob by killing his father at the age of 14. Duffy looks on in horror as Quarles assures young Donovan that he “tried to help” Brady (the naked hostage Quarles was keeping in the Lexington house).

-At Raylan’s Lexington digs, bartender Lindsay tries to give him a pep-talk about his statement, advising him not to bullshit. Duffy and Quarles arrive; Quarles is pissed about the election, and he still thinks Raylan is cooperating with Boyd. He threatens to kill Raylan, and Raylan clears the room and invites him to go ahead. Lindsay intervenes, pulling a sidearm from under the bar, and once Quarles and a distinctly fed-up Duffy have departed, Raylan and Lindsay get frisky upstairs.

-In court the next morning, Dickie Bennett babbles to Judge Reardon that he’s found a new purpose in life, and Reardon looks about ready to walk over and physically shut him up. Raylan gives a revised statement: let Dickie walk, and when he inevitably stumbles into another misdeed, the Marshal Service will be there to catch him. Outside, Raylan clues in a skeptical Art: there’s the unresolved question of Mags Bennett’s missing fortune.

-Errol brings news of Dickie’s pardon to Limehouse, who embarks on a parable about “hog-killing weather”-- essentially, it’s all a question of timing.

-In a motel room, Robert Quarles gets undressed, muttering all the while about refusing to give up and fighting one’s enemies to the bitter end. He walks into the bathroom, where Donovan has been gagged and bound against the toilet.

#tv #recap #justified season 3 #long post #did you miss my heart on purpose

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daynamartinez22 · 3 years

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Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 335

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 335 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

Welcome everybody Hump Day hangouts Episode 335, also known as 335. Today is the 14th of April 2021. Get the whole game here. So we are going to give our greeting Say hello to everybody. Got a couple of announcements to go over and then we are going to jump into your questions. If you’re watching live. Go ahead, you can add your questions on there and just say What’s up? Say hi. Let us know you’re alive and still kicking. If you’re checking out the replay, come join us live sometime it’s every week at 4 pm Eastern at semantic mastery comm slash HD questions. Let’s see her nine you are first on the list here today. How are you doing man?

Cool, why don’t they What did they do? I’m good, man. I’m good. Good, happy to be here. Whether it’s still nice. Here, when Osiris we’re heading into the cooler season, but it’s good. Everything’s good.

Cool. What’s going on in Facebook ads lands these days, what’s the biggest Oh, it’s crazy, man. It’s crazy. It’s insane. Like, there’s a bunch of changes coming up. But you know, we’re still looking good. There’s a bunch of changes when it comes to privacy. When it comes to specifically, apple, iOS, you know, anything that has to do with with with that environment, there’s going to be higher privacy and force, which I think it’s cool. But it’s also, you know, a challenge for us marketers that are trying to, you know, develop or deliver relevant ads to people. So other than that, you know, it’s looking good on we are we’re finding our way through it. So it’s challenging as you show, you know, that’s the name of digital marketing.

So, fair enough. Bradley, how you doing today?

Good, man. super busy. Lots of lots of good things going on. Just a lot of things on the horizon that are starting to pop and it’s just been good. So glad.

I think you were talking yesterday, don’t let me spoil a beat or spill the beans here from not solely talking about this, but I think you were working or you’re working with some members in the mastermind for some sales type of stuff.

Yeah, we started the last Thursday was kind of like the orientation meeting. But you know, we have many mastermind groups. In the mastermind. I’ve had one that I’ve been hosting for probably close to three months now with anybody that’s new, that does marketing and real estate either for their own real estate business for investment purposes or for flipping or for if they doing marketing services for realtors or real estate agents. And we do that once every two weeks. But then I just started another small mini mastermind it’s meeting every week on Thursdays now for anybody that is doing a lot of heavy prospecting in sales for their own agency. Because I want to, you know, get better at sales myself. And so we’re, we were going on a 40 starting tomorrow is our 40 to 42 weeks of consecutive mini accountability groups meetings every Thursday, where we’re going to be talking exclusively about prospecting and sales methods and you know, just in trying to get better at that so I’m really looking forward to it at the end, you know, 42 weeks is going to take us all the way until January of 2022. And you know, we should all the members of the group which I think there’s six of it plus six plus me right now, we should all be better at sales by the end of that for damn sure.

So, let’s say if you’re not you guys all got a problem. But yeah, that’s awesome. Yeah, more Bradley’s talking about if you’re not in the mastermind, we regularly form we tried to do it about quarterly form small groups and kind of the mini masterminds if you will racing to get more one on one time. And we’re going to be starting that back up again pretty soon. So if you’re not in the mastermind, you’re thinking about joining now’s a really good time to get in before we start forming those up because once we do that we wait for another you know, quarter, and then we’ll do it again.

So Alright, Chris, how are you doing today?

Good. So happy that spring is here. Like temperature is up and down like it is in April but things are pretty good.

Good deal, man. All right, Marco. What’s the weather report?

It’s the rainy season in Costa Rica. Catch it? Oh, looks awful.

It’s horrible. It’s horrible. It’s overcast. And it’s a little bit cooler than usual. So I have my air conditioning turn up to 72 I think it is. And I don’t I don’t want to get too cold. Right. Is it comfortable? But yeah, you know, we have to suffer through these. Through these horrible seasons in Costa Rica. It’s either dry, or it’s raining everywhere. So life is what it is. Can anybody say? GMB posting service? Oh, was I supposed to say that?

Somebody today I know. The VA that I trained to write for me according to Jordan training, which I’m not going to mention live Of course, nothing of that is ever going to get out but we write for both the bot and the person we write for the entity and to try to get the person’s click. So the VAT is trained for that is actually writing templates. And they’re tuned that as far as you can tune 1500 characters, you can domain entity and some supporting. But it is being they’re being set up that way. And that’s so they’re going to be well written, everything is going to be checked and double-checked. But of course, if you should happen to be getting that service, you should always edit your content according to what your message is, right? If so, if you see something that shouldn’t be, you can send it back to us. However, it is we’ll work it out. But it’s going to be up to me. The best way to do it has always been getting people in the GMB as managers and get them to post from the GMB. I’ve never been a fan of auto posters. And we recently had some issues with some auto posters where the API was tagged as dirty by Google. I don’t like mentioning names. I don’t like saying what who or what, let’s just say that when you get people like Rob, our partner in crime and MGYB, and then the heavy hitter club involved in anything, an IP is gonna get muddied up, it’s gonna get dirty. All right. So if you know that, you have things that you care about, why would you put that through a risk of that nature, where it could be tagged as dirt. Now, we didn’t know this until now, but my whole system has always been getting them added as managers in the GMB and they post from the GMB. They add images. In the GMB videos. Everything gets done inside the GMB. Fortunately, I’ve only had a couple of suspensions during this whole time. So something must be right about adding the person as the manager in the GMB. Of course, it’s mostly the GMB the one or one of the times that I did get suspended, it was a, it was added as a post office box with the street address. Those are usually are generally known as legit, right. But they do carry a risk. And one of those risks is if it gets suspended, it’s kind of difficult to get it verified again or to get the suspension lifted. And anyway, there you go. It’s coming. It’s another thing to be really excited about. We just continue to add what people need in MGYB to write their ship, which is what we’re all about, right? You should read your ship, make money, change someone to help you make more money, lather, rinse, repeat, making the system making money should be a system.

Oh, yeah. Well, if you’re new to us, if you’re new to Semantic Mastery, you’re new to MGYB and you want to find out more about what Mark was referring to there, find out how to shield your site, don’t worry about algorithm updates, and you can find out what the hell the SEO shield is because I guarantee you’re gonna hear it like 10 times today. So head over to SEOshield.com it’s a free training, it’ll explain a lot of this stuff. Plus, it’s actually got training in there about how you can apply this stuff. If you’re looking to take things a step further beyond that, grab the battle plan, alright, that’s step-by-step processes for SEO, all the stuff we do in check out that battle plan dot semantic mastery calm. And for those of you who are like us, if you’re an agency owner, or you’re just a consultant, running a small team, and you want to get more clients, you want to grow your business, write more revenue, and you want to steal your team, then to x your agency is what we recommend you to check out and that’s at 2xyouragency.com and we’ve already mentioned the mastermind on top of the mini masterminds on top of the webinars from everyone here on top of the community, that that’s just where you’re going to get the best and quickest turnaround on information and a peer group is second to none. So if you’re looking for that, whether you have a digital marketing business, again, whether you’re a consultant or maybe even have a brick and mortar like some of our members do, you can find out more about that a mastermind dot semantic mastery.com Let’s see. Last but not least, I wanted to mention POFU Live. So this is year four. Are that right guys? Yeah. I think so.

No, it is four because yeah, last year, we didn’t do it. We did a virtual event. So that’s why I didn’t register. But yeah, this is

Yeah, I was like wait a second. So POFU Live we settled, we were able to schedule this in. So it’s gonna be the last weekend in September 2021. So that’s going to be the VIP day on the 24th. And then we’re going to have to go hard on 25th 26th. With ourselves with some amazing guest speakers, it’s gonna be a ton of fun. I was really happy this last year, the feedback was probably the best out of the last three years, which we were really happy about going virtual, of course, you know, we weren’t sure. But we did that feedback was great. Everyone got a ton of value out of that. We’re gonna be opening up tickets for that pretty soon, as usual for those of you who are taking action and grab them faster will definitely be a kind of a pre-launch or early bird offer. So make sure you take advantage of that and we’ll be sharing more information about that over the coming weeks and then over the summer too. So Stay tuned for that. Anything else you guys before we drop into the questions.

I just wanted to mention real quick that, you know, it’s crazy because you said the peer group is second to none in the mastermind. And I agree. And it’s funny because one of our longest members had kind of gone dark for quite some time, but he remained a member. And just recently, the last few weeks or month and a half or something like that he’s resurfaced. And he’s been participating a lot in the group and joined the mini mastermind with me. And he’s also joined a small accountability group that I hold with a couple of other members on a weekly basis. And it’s, it’s just great to see, he’s been with us since like day one. And so for, you know, somebody to be all these years and in this still participate with the group, it just goes to show you that, you know, it is a good peer group to be in guys. So I would recommend you do it. definitely get access to the small groups and all that. So, alright, well, I’m gonna grab the screen, and let’s get into it. We’ve got several questions already.

We can see your screen.

Should We Avoid Using Billing/Credit Card/Address Info Between Projects To Avoid Footprints In Google Suite?

Okay, good. Thank you. It looks like Justin is the one that we’re starting with cases, I just listened to a video where Bradley was talking about adding a G Suite account for all new projects with their own billing information. Okay, are we supposed to avoid using the same billing credit card address info between projects to avoid different footprints? Excuse me? And if so, what’s the most practical way to do that? I don’t, I don’t, I don’t use different billing information for G Suite stuff. You know, for client stuff, they do it right. But for my own stuff, I use my same information, because it’s me that’s required to pay for the billing. I’ve never had an issue with it. I know I’ve heard other people say that they have. But I’ve never had an issue with having multiple Google workspace accounts. It’s never caused me any problem whatsoever. So I’ve got like, literally, well, well over a dozen, I can say that I don’t know if I got two dozen yet. But well over a dozen workspace accounts that I pay for $6 a month, every single damn month for every one of them. But there’s a benefit for it. And most of those accounts make me quite a good amount of money. So there, it’s totally worth it. And I’ve never had any trouble with having the same billing information. So I’m not sure which video you were watching Justin but I don’t have any problem with it. That doesn’t mean that it can’t potentially create a problem. Maybe somebody else here has had a problem with it.

Marco I’ve you know, I’ve never had problems, but I use multiple credit cards I get like I get people to give me something like a $500 credit limit. So that you can use it in ads and all these different things. And the only pain with that one is having to update it. Like every time the card expires, you do have to update the information, but you just hire a VA to do to make all those changes. Okay, that’s how I do it. I know, I know, you do it your way, you’ve never had trouble, I do it my way. I’ve never had problems.

We’re good. Next, Gordon says. And by the way, guys, if you are worried about it, a lot of credit card companies will allow you to create virtual credit card numbers where you can like, they’ll give you a unique credit card number for one specific account so that you’re not using the same account number across all the different things that you sign up for several credits, you know, a lot of credit card companies will offer that as an option now. So they’ll give you it’s all tied to the same card, the same account, but they give you virtual credit card numbers. So that might be an option you can look into if you’re worried about that.

The only problem with that one is if you’re using it with Google ads, and for some reason, the virtual card gets declined. everything related to that card will then get declined, including the main card really well that yeah, that’s an issue and I know someone that it happened to, which is why I’m mentioning it.

What Is The Reason Why You Have Different Link Building Approach For Yelp And GMB Listing?

Okay. So Gordon’s up longtime Gordon and he says, Hey, guys, I believe you mentioned previously that we can blast a ton of backlinks directly to a Yelp listing and get it to page first page of Google search results. Yeah, it’s been a few years since I’ve done that, but that used to work incredibly well. He says if it’s not in a super high competitive niche or area without getting any Google penalty, wow, for GMB listings, we should, of course, use our way as Google Drive stack from MGYB or web 2.0 sites as tier one buffers so as not to incur any Google penalty. So I was wondering if you could explain what is the reason that Yelp and GMB are different in that respect? They’re not. You can I mean, you know unless Marco has something to say differently. You can just hammer away to Google the GMB profile with you know, just like you can a Yelp listing. So I’ve not had any trouble with that either. Is there anything that I’m misquoting here Marco or no, that’s a misinterpretation of what we said? We said, Oh, all bets are off. And when it’s Google when it’s a Google property, you Yeah, I mean, in GMB, a GMB listing is a Google property. It’s on Google subdomains on the maps, subdomain. All of the business domains are on a Google-owned domain, that business site has a lot of power, man, you’re shaking, a lot of power, those posts will push a lot of power. So no, all bets are off, though they get hammered. They get hammered. We’ve never made a distinction, the only place where I’ve made a distinction is just leaving the money site pristine, never hitting it directly. Because you want that to get links, naturally. However, whatever that means, but in a natural manner, so people are going to link to it, people are going to share it, people are going to do whatever the whatever it is, naturally, you want that to happen to the money site, where off-page and through Google, as I’ve said, or through something that that really powerful, you know, to be a really powerful domain like Amazon, MSN, Yahoo, just whatever YouTube or YouTube is, is a Google property anyway, but you understand what I’m saying? Yeah, it has that high trust and authority. According to Google, not according to vanity metrics are third-party metrics. But according to Google, they’re not then hammering it citations hammer those yellow Yeah. Yellow Pages all hammer them S3 @ID, all of your tier one assets, hammer them. That’s what we say. Leave your money site, pristine. I know Bradley likes to go with press releases to the money site. I don’t recommend that unless you know what you’re doing. Because it’s going to mean hundreds of links to whatever that page it is that you’re linking to. So you better know what you’re doing. Other than that, I don’t see any problems. How’s he any issues?

There you go. And yeah, so I was gonna disagree with what Marco said it Yeah. When we talk about using our drive stack and you know, syndication networks and all that as buffers, it’s for any money site or money page that you’re trying to push. You know, you don’t want to but when you’re hitting the GMB website, the Google Maps URL, GMB, or Google Site know those kinds of things, you just hammer away. So okay. By the way, this is good. This is good because this is a question about press releases. And I wanted to kind of touch on what Marco just said, You know, I do use press releases to link sometimes to the money site. When I do though, you know, it’s always a naked URL or a brand anchor. That’s it. Like, it’s either a naked URL, or it’s a brand anchor if I’m going to use an anchor text, which is okay, for the money site, but that’s it like I don’t do any keyword rank links using, you know, so keyword anchors from press releases directly to the money site. However, you can use keyword anchors in press releases when you’re linking to an SEO shield property, for example, or GMB. You know, an asset for example. So, you know, again, it’s, it’s about very strategically using press releases, but um, I do like using press releases as an actual link-building tool for my money, you know, money site stuff, so.

What Are The Best 3 Links URL And Anchor Text To Submit When Filling Out The MGYB Press Release?

Alright, so the next question was from Ron, he says, when filling out the MG y b press release form, for best results to boost Google rankings for a service-oriented keyword page, like domain comm slash general contractors fail Fairfield, California, and help boost my Google My Business Page, general contractors, Fairfield CA is the keyword I’m wanting to rank for number one, what are the best three links, URLs or three links to submit? And the anchor text? Okay, well, as I just mentioned, if you’re going to link directly to your money site, to that to that particular page is like in that example, then I would leave that as either just a make a URL, so the URL is the anchor, right, or a brand name. And that’s it like nothing else. If you’re going to link directly to the money site, okay. One of the best three links, well, it’s not necessary to always put three links in there, you also have to consider what you’re doing. If you go to Semantic Mastery, excuse me, youtube.com/semanticmastery, you can search for in search our channel, use the channel search feature and search for press release SEO or PR silo stalking, any one of those terms, and you can go through and watch and maybe we can even drop the link in here on in the chatbox. But there’s a webinar that Marco and I did ship probably close to two years ago now about how to silo press releases together. And that’s a very, very powerful way that’s kind of what I’ve been doing now for many, many months, is just doing PR silos. And we talk about exactly how to do that. So it’s not necessary to you know, you can still use three links, but you got to think about what you know how you’re splitting up the PageRank or the link equity that you from those from the press release. And it’s better to try to limit your URLs like I try not to do more than two Links now and press releases, I was doing three for a long time, but I really just stick to two now. And that’s always because it’s one to my target property and one to the previous press release in the silo. That makes sense. And we talked about that in the press release silo webinar. So if you just go check that out, it’s really it’s on our channel. And it’ll help you to get better at understanding how to use press releases in it, as you know, just to stack them in a silo order or fashion, if that makes sense.

All right, I’m on record, I’ve always recommended links.

Yeah, and that’s what I’ve been doing now for months. So, and I agree. And usually at the top of the silo, I only have one link in the press release. And that’s to whatever the target is, and I’m trying to push the power to you know, and contextual doesn’t make it an I’m gonna drop you some more knowledge. mega contextual doesn’t make it a naked URL. Contextual works much better for creating the semantic relationships that we’re looking to create at the top of the silo, Papa silo. Yeah,

yeah. But remember, don’t do that. If you’re linking to your money page, right? Do that linking to one of your SEO shield properties don’t. So again, if you’re linking to your money site page as the top of the silo and the press release silo, then you want to use a naked URL or brand anchor in that case, I would probably go with a brand new anchor Well, except that your naked URL has your keyword in it here. So that could be a way to do it too. So but just like I said, Be careful what you’re doing with the press releases, if you’re going to be linking to your money page, just stick with either naked or brand anchors, naked URLs, or brand new anchors. As far as the best three, like I said, that I select. Typically, it’s going to be an SEO shield asset, you know, the G site mirror page. So the page that has been mirrored after the page that I want to promote on the money site, except it’s on the G site if that makes sense, or GMB or, you know, whatever it is that I’m trying to link to. But if you’re going to do two links, then it would be whatever your target is that you’re trying to push the most power to. And then usually to one of your other tier-one entity assets, one of your other branded entity assets within the SEO shield, syndication network, GMB website, g site, Google Map URL, any one of those, if you’re trying to push maps, like in the local three-pack, then I would recommend linking to your whatever your target URL is, again, if it’s going to be your money site page, then so be it. But as the second link, I would always link to either the GMB website or the GMB map URL. And I’m gonna I know that was one of your questions, what’s the best URL to link to there? I’m going to show you how to find that in just a moment. Okay. As far as anchor text, as I said, if you remember, if you’re linking to SEO showed assets or any tier one branded entity asset, you can use keywords. And that’s what Marco just said is actually better. That’s more powerful than naked URLs. So your anchor text is going to be whatever you want it to be. So for example, general contractors, Fairfield VA, I would probably word it slightly to where it reads naturally, like, you know, General Contractors in Fairfield, California, or in Fairfield Kat ca and use that as an anchor text to link back to, you know, again, your GMB website, or your GMB map URL or something like that. Okay. Marco, do you want to comment on that while I show him how to find that URL?

No, no, that’s fine.

So if we go to like, if I just do a quick search for big bamboo marketing, there, it comes up. And when if you do a brand search, you get a knowledge panel to pick up here. Then there’s a Chrome extension. It’s called gather up. So gather up Chrome extension, and you just click that, and right there is that that’s the maps URL that you want to use. It’s the dub dub dub dub google.com, slash maps, question mark, CID equals URL. Does that make sense? And again, it’s called a gather up Chrome extension, just go to Google and search, gather up Chrome extension, go add it to Chrome, and then go do a brand search for the brand that you want to grab that URL from. And when the knowledge panel appears, you can also do it inside of Google Maps. It won’t give you the Google writer review URL if you do it inside of Google Maps. But if you just do it for standard Google search, and the knowledge panel appears, you’ll get both of these URLs. And that’s the URL you want to use. Okay. It’s a good question.

How Do You Find The Right Google My Business Link To Submit?

All right, number three. Oh, how do you find them? So how do you find the right okay, and should it be one of the three-link URLs? Well, it can be but also remember, if you’re buying press releases from us press advantage allows you to add a Google My Business map to the organization page when for that brand right for that company. And one of the options is to embed the GMB map into the press release. So, you know, you can link to that map URL if you’d like but you can also just opt to have the map embedded, which is typically what I do okay.

What Is The Best Practice To Optimize The Image For SEO Purposes?

Okay, moving on the number, what is the best practice for the image filename. The image with the keyword with the best practice for the image, again, if you’re doing maps is to use the use, or trying to rank locally, or whatever is to use the URL of an image that’s already been published on your money site. So like, if you’ve got a page, in this case, your general contractors, Fairfield ca page, whatever image you have on that page, that’s already been optimized. Hopefully, you’ve already optimized that image, the file name, the metadata, all of that stuff’s been optimized geotagged and everything and it’s been added to the page on your money site, then add the image through the URL, because then what press advantage does is it publishes the press release, using the source URL for the image source from your money site page. So now you’ve got your website, your photo, that is a media file on your website, which has now been syndicated out to hundreds of press releases, you know, published on a bunch of different news and media sites. So it’s pushing credit back to your money site, image URL if that makes sense. So that’s what I do. And then likewise, if you don’t want to, if you’re not linking back to, you know, you can also use an image from a from Google My Business, for example, from your Google My Business profile, you can embed an image from there using the image URL there. So just think about where it is that you’re trying to push the power to. If it’s all trying to push the power from the money site landing page to the location landing page, then use the image URL from that page. If it’s that you’re trying to push maps, grab an image from maps, make sure it’s been geotagged before you upload it, but then grab the URL from maps and use that as your embedded image URL. Does that make sense? And then for keywords, I just usually put whatever keyword I’m trying to optimize for. And then I put by like, the letter B y, and then the brand name so that I’m creating that association between the brand and the keyword.

Any comments on that? Yeah, one of my press releases will have my logo. Another one of my press releases will have the logo from the GMB. So it’ll be it’ll create that relationship between my GMB logo and the logo on my website. And then I’ll just keep adding images that are part of my entity from around the web. So, however, many press releases are in my stack, that’s the number of images that are going to go out, they’re all going to be related because I’m going to be claiming all of those in my same as the information in the schema. The idea here is to reinforce all of these entity relationships that we’re creating all of these brand relationships that we’re creating. So I’m going to use my logo, I’m going to use the GMB logo, I’m going to use images from the GMB and images from my website and related images. So I’m going to have between three and seven press releases before I start my next stack, and so on until I read it. And then if it one of the ways that you can also do it is you can do like an image and bedroom to continue creating those relationships to continue powering up your images. And you’ll pop an image carousel with joy. So when someone does a brand search, you’ll get that nice image carousel, you get a nice video carousel if you have videos. And then that adds. So the reason for this and why I like doing this is because people will often when they look at if they’re going to hire your service, they’ll do a brand search, what is this company about? And when they go in, I only want them to see my stuff. So I want to pop all that up for them. When they come to that you’ll see people doing the brand search when they come they do the brand search and they see everything that’s related to wherever they click, they’re gonna land on one of your properties. And if they click on it, hopefully, they’ll go to a CTA. So you’re always trying to create a way for that person to convert. It’s not just the idea of creating the relationship or whatever. There has to be, like, a purpose behind all of this. And the purpose behind it all is to try to convert as many people as possible trying to get them to click trying to follow that call to action. Yeah.

Yeah, and it’s interesting if you notice, if you do a lot of GMB stuff, you’ll notice there’s a lot of brand searches that come in GMB insights, you’ll see that a lot. And what I’ve kind of discovered is that you know, and I guess this has been known, but it’s, it’s interesting to see it more and more and more recently, but um, I think a lot of people will when they do like a generic search for, you know, a keyword search for a service or whatever, and they find the company that they’re going to contact. Again, in my case, it’s pretty much all Tree Service stuff now. So if they can’t find a Tree Service contractor through a generic keyword search that they’re going to call to request an estimate from, they oftentimes will go do a brand search before making the call. And so the and so it’s really interesting, but in GMB insights I see all the time now, that brand searches are one of the top keywords that are used to trigger the maps listings. And it just makes you wonder who’s doing all these Brand searches. And it must just be that people were kind of being conditioned to go look at what else is being said about the company before calling them, especially for contractors. So, so you remark up. Yep, yeah. And so here’s the other thing, this is what I was talking about. So here was an image just from big bamboo marketing example, that was the URL. So you can see it’s in the actual, you know, domain, but this could be the embedded image in the press release. And then there was one that I just took from a this is a GMB post from Semantic Mastery. And if you just click on a GMB post image and click copy image address, that’s what it looks like. And so you can also look at that’s a Google user content domain that’s already been associated with your brand. It’s tied to it because it knows where it’s been placed. And so that’s a very powerful thing to do as well. So, those were really good questions, by the way.

What Is The Best Practice To Optimize A YouTube Video?

So we’re gonna keep moving. What is the best practice for the YouTube video? title name with the video with the keyword? Yeah, I mean, it depends on what you’re trying to do. I don’t do a lot of video SEO stuff anymore, but I still optimize them the same way that I did years ago, in which I always do the primary keyword, then a separator, and then the brand name. That’s how I did it. It works to give them the link to YouTube silo Academy, and it’s only seven bucks. And I think it’s why T dot silo dot Academy,

I’ll grab the link and put it on there.

Yeah, go grab that, man. , this is one of the best investments, you can make only seven bucks.

A tip right there. Beautiful. Now you don’t see my fat face on there anymore, either. Now, I had to replace that I saw it like six months ago, and I was like, holy shit. I was almost 300 pounds at the time I recorded that sales video. Anyway, Alright, moving on. Those were really, really good questions. Um, okay, and you can embed a video into press releases, they don’t get embedded on all of them. But you can add a video URL to a press release.

Why You Teach Your SEO Methods To Others Instead of Keeping Them To Yourselves?

Okay, Bb’s up with a list of questions. What’s up, baby says, Hey, guys, why won’t you rather keep all of your methods to yourself and telling it to others? Why do you teach this? Why do you want this kind of income stream? Then rather hammering your methods for you only? That’s a good question. I mean, originally, when we got started, it was just the well, it was all of us that you see here today. But we had got together through a forum that another like mastermind that we had joined, which was basically a forum, it was supposed to have a webinar once per month, which didn’t end up panning out. But we were all paying $200 a month to be a member of this particular, like mastermind community type thing. And it was mainly just access to a forum. And we would all chat often in, you know, in the forum. And I ended up deciding that I wanted to create a weekly accountability group so that we could just meet on a weekly basis unit at the time as Google Hangouts and, and just kind of share what was working, what wasn’t working, and just learn from each other. And so all of us connected and as well as many others, and we would just start meeting every single week. And what happened was, it was funny, but we at you know what, before we decided to monetize it and turn it into a business, I think we had on any given week, roughly 25 to 30 people show up every week, but it was really like just a handful of us it was us and a few others, there’s probably about seven, or probably about eight of us that would constantly be sharing every single week, and talking and sharing and talking and sharing, everybody else would just show up and listen, which was fine. But uh, you know, after the original group that we had all joined in, we’re paying $200 a month for wasn’t providing what it had promised us. You know, we decided at some point, we realized, like, hey, we’ve got we’re putting out better information than what we’re paying $200 a month to be a part of. So why the hell don’t we monetize this and turn this into a business? And so that’s what we did, we formed Semantic Mastery. Before we actually became a corporation, we went out and kind of just, we just started trying to develop an idea of how we were going to monetize stuff. And then you know, took a few months before we actually incorporated and we had to work out you know, we lost a few that were originally going to be partners with us, but it ended up being just the five of us. And part of it was because you know, it was there’s so much that we can’t do at all like in other words, even if everybody that comes and watches these webinars on Hump Day hangouts wanted to get into specifically Tree Service marketing, there are enough damn Tree Service contractors in the United States alone, that there’s enough for all of us. There’s a big ocean of money sloshing around out there and there’s not really any one of us can do at all. Do you know what I mean? There’s enough room in the space for all of us is my point. And so there was really no reason for us not to share some of our methods and techniques, especially because you know, in this industry, you guys know there’s a lot of garbage, there’s a lot of shit that gets pushed out there. And our methodology was always such that and this was what we literally developed a semantic mastery on was that we would only teach stuff that has been proven that we’ve proven and because each one of us has our own digital marketing businesses and various forms, we have a vast amount of experience. And we only share what we know, to work with our own projects on our own clients and such so that it makes it not risky for our members and our students. And that was part of the reason that we wanted to do it was to kind of help to, you know, provide some good stuff out there among all the bullshit if that makes sense. And so, and it’s just stuck, you know, this is not my primary source of income. But it is been good to us to me, you know, and so that’s part of the reason we do these free on every single week is so that we can give back to this industry, which has been having treated me well over the years. So that’s my take on it. Let’s say you. Yeah,

I’m thinking about this. And from the numbers that I know. I think it’s at least $4 trillion that was spent online. only online shopping last year, fortunately, how much of that? Do you need to be happy? Or how much of that deep? I know to want? Want? This is like a really heavy word? How much do you need? Yeah, I want to I want the entire trillion. Well, I’m sorry, I’m not greedy like that. I’m happy with a piece of the pie. I’d love to compete. So I don’t mind people coming on with it. As Bradley said, there’s plenty of room in the Tree Service market if you want to get in it. But not only that, if you want to compete with me, you’re more than welcome. Let’s see, let’s see, we have an even playing field because I’m giving you the same information that I use to get results. Now, let’s see who wins because at that point, now we’re at war, or how what I see as war, and I’m at war with you if you’re my competitor, and I’m going to do all I can to knock you off, man. Because of the date, there’s only room for one, number one, and I’m going to try to get as many of that to three of those other positions in the top 10. to knock you out. I mean, and it’s just, it’s but that’s my competitive nature. But I’m also saying I’m not a person who comes, from scarcity. I don’t like that I don’t like people who look, there’s only $4 trillion. I’m like, holy crap, 4 trillion, only in online shopping. That doesn’t include how much money is traded online, how much money there is, for example, for example, in the service sector, and all these other things that take place online, you can do so many other things online, other than having an e-commerce site or an affiliate, you can provide services, you can provide services for service providers, so many different things that you can do. If a person comes into my neck of the woods and they want to compete, then you’re more than welcome. So BBD and the answer is like I don’t give a shit. I want people making as much money as they can off Google and of the other search engines ones that once they dominate Google, go ahead, go after going after whoever else you want to go after because it doesn’t make a difference. You’re not taking money or you’re not taking food off my table, by me sharing my, my methods, my systems with you by making them available by this being an income stream. And I laugh when I see that because this is free. We don’t make any money off of this. This is free stuff. So if we had any kind of scarcity mentality, we wouldn’t even be doing this. So you wouldn’t even have this available for you to come and ask this question. And then not only that, like my main source of income isn’t Semantic Mastery. It’s not MGYB it’s not the heavy hitter club. And in fact, I do Hump Day hangouts because it’s fun because I enjoy I’d like to talk shit. I’d like to share information. I like for people to know the bullshit that they’re being fed in other SEO groups. And I like to give back to the SEO community that has given me so much. During the time that I’ve been online, which is 18 years 18 and counting right now. So that’s my acid is that scarcity. It’s fun. And there’s plenty of money to go around, man. Plenty. Yeah, I agree. I mean, as I said,

I think it’s fun and also, this might sound cliche, but over the years we’ve had many students or members, because like I said in the mastermind, I don’t consider those guys students or those folks, students there. They’re members, right? Because they’re colleagues essentially. And we’ve had many of our members or whatever that have over the years become very, very successful. And, you know, they’ve given us some credit for that, obviously, it’s them that does the hustle, we’ve just provided them information, but they had to apply it, and put in the work and everything else. So it’s them that did it, but we had some part and we’ve been given credit for that at some level and helping them to succeed. And that’s, that’s very rewarding. It really is, that’s part of the reason I got into doing this just to help encourage other people to make a change in their life, you know, to get over the rat race, you know, working just over broke, right jlb having a job being just over broke and doing something to secure their own financial future, or at least give them more control over their own financial future. And that’s what, that’s part of the reason I got into doing it. Because, you know, I spent many years literally behind a computer screen studying in in testing for, you know, 14 1516 hours a day, before I started making any money. And then once I started making money, I wanted to be able to help other people to do that, as well. And on all of us, my partners, and I all have that, you know that that desire to help others where else we wouldn’t behave done this all this time. And that’s what I was pointing out up here 335 episodes, this is the free webinar that we do every single week. So that’s well over six years, we’re going on close to seven years now. Which is insane. So anybody else wants to comment on that? Adam, Hernan. We got time.

I think you guys kind of, you know, a combination of all of that. Yeah, you know, it’s fun. And, you know, sharing this is definitely a part of it. And I think over the years I have moved more into that non-scarcity mindset. You know, there’s so much out there and you know, there’s so many ideas I pray even gone even further was just like, yeah, we could share all day because so few people are going to take the time to implement things done. And it is work right. You know, when it comes down to it, you got to steal from Marco do they do, right? You can listen all day, but if you don’t implement it doesn’t mean shit. So yeah, it was it is fun. I like getting on here and talking. And you know, I’ve just thought it’s funny if you guys go back a few years in the archives on YouTube and check us out and are you know, I especially would be like, Hey, guys, like, Hey, I’m Adam. Now it’s like, man, screw it. I want to talk to people. Let’s do this stuff. Good.

Yeah, SCR our new since we got time guys up, we don’t really have any other questions coming through. But SCR new, you know, the member who’s an instructor for syndication Academy. She, when we were launching that a couple a few weeks ago, she and I got on a zoom call to record basically the sales video sales letter. And, and she was super nervous. And it was funny, because she was like, you know, I don’t know if I can do this, blah, blah, blah. And I was telling her, I was like, Yeah, you’re gonna get better, don’t worry about it. Like, honestly, you’ll get better. It’s just, it’s just like anything else, you get better at it with time you get more comfortable doing it.

And I remember, that’s what I was talking about the YouTube silo Academy. That was one of the very first few products that we launched. And, you know, I was close to 300 pounds at that time, it was a real close-up headshot, and it was just my fat face talking into the camera.

And it’s so funny because as Adam says, you know, you look back and it’s like, wow, we’ve come a long way I’m so much more comfortable talking to you on a webinar and such now. So yeah, it’s been interesting to watch kind of the progression of all of us. And we still we’re still here, we’re still doing this every single fucking Wednesday.

I mean, again, 335. We’re going on seven years now. So you know, I’m proud of us for doing that.

Are Your Methods Invulnerable To Google’s May Core Web Vitals Update?

Alright, last question. And we’re gonna wrap it up a little bit early unless somebody else posted another question. Maybe says, Does your method when I take a hit from the May update about core web vitals? I don’t know. Most likely not big. I mean, we’ve been fortunate with the methods that Marco mainly has developed, you know, with this semantic, semantic SEO, essentially entity based SEO, that we’ve been able to just slide right past all the major updates for the last several years, which is why we just keep sticking with what’s working instead of trying all these new things. That, you know, because we were we’ve enabled very fortunately to our methods have escaped any problems with all the major updates that have occurred over the last couple of years, for sure. So I don’t expect to see any difference, but we don’t know until the rollout is until an update is rolled out whether it’s going to affect we can again, BB that’s a purely speculative question. And we’re not going to speculate on that. But my assumption is that we will do just fine. But we will find out for sure when it happens. Let’s say you Mark II, I’d like to give him my answer because it’s my standard answer. BB. If I could answer that question, what I would do today is jump on a plane to the US and get on that Mega Millions and hit it and never look back. I forget what is it some ridiculous 300 million 500 million? And I’m out? See? That’s if I could answer what Google is going to do tomorrow. Because we don’t know, like day to date, much less what Google is going to do in May. What I can tell you is that up until now, our method has always been worry less SEO, it’s entity-based, we focus on the entity, everything goes towards that part of the algorithm. And what I have seen from what Google is testing for my Google is rolling out my Google has rolled out is that art, activity, relevance, trust, and authority, will trump anything. And I can almost guarantee that art, if you do this, right, if you have the entity set up properly, if you have all the bases covered, and if you have all of the pillars as we’ve always had it up, that’s going to overcome any negatives that you can get from PageSpeed, or from the core web vital. That doesn’t mean that you ignore the core web vital, because why ignore them if they can give you an additional boost? Yeah, but as far as negative, out, the way that we do it since we’re focusing on the entities has always avoided any of the negative aspects of the algorithm. And I think that as long as you’re sending good signals, you’re always going to overcome any negatives that could happen. Now, is this going to hold true into the future? I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m gonna wake up tomorrow. How can I answer what do am going to do in May? I can’t say whether I’m gonna be here in the next five minutes, 10 minutes, whatever. I hope I am. That’s all I can say. And that’s all I can work towards. I can all I’m gonna do is continue doing it do I do into the future? And should google changes should web core vitals, make a difference? That will just adjust it so that we incorporate core web vitals into everything that we do? And that’s how we that’s how we’ve always done everything. We’re just we didn’t start out with the SEO shield. We said we started out with Syndication Academy. Everything that you see today has been building off everything else that we do. It was IFTTT SEO Yeah. Then that wasn’t as strong as it should be. We unquote we went and see okay, how can we make it better? Okay, RYS Academy, RYS Academy reloaded @ID we incorporate more into syndication Academy Coco genius. Yoshi, what’s a local? Yeah, local GMB Pro. But with the SEO shield, PR Pro, local PR Pro with local GMB Pro with the SEO I mean, this everything has been building one, one or the other. This didn’t happen overnight. So should anything happen overnight? When this rolls out, we’ll go take a look and see what happened. And we know what it is. So we just adjust for it. It’s very simple. Yeah.

All right. So I guess we’re gonna wrap it up. But a shout out also that should have said this earlier to Adam. He posted in the Slack channel with SCR instructor from syndication Academy, a really, really good find, which I’m not going to reveal here because it will be revealed in one of the upcoming syndication Academy update webinars, but I played with it. Adam, just because you mentioned it. And um, I’ve got some tests, I want to run with that. But I could see the value of it immediately when you said that. And even on the free account. They are publishable, by the way.

So how standing? Yeah, so I’m a partner with them. And they gave me some training. And I was like, Huh, this could apply outside of productivity. Let me absolutely again. So I’m looking forward to that. So yeah, I guess SEO be given an update to the syndication Academy members. And yeah, that’s a good one. So I just want to give a shout-out for that, because I even took time out of my day, which I really didn’t have time to play with it today. But I was just like, oh my god, that sounds amazing. So I went in and played with it, and I could see how we can do some pretty nasty stuff with that. I’m gonna test with it a little bit.

What Is Digital Marketing In A Nutshell?

So the last question just came in. an unknown person says, Can you tell me what digital marketing is? In a nutshell? Yeah, it’s marketing. Online. That’s what digital marketing is. is marketing online.

Advertising delivered through digital channels if you want to get taken, yeah, but who wants to get you know, the way that I’ve thought about or I had heard a definition of, you know, marketing is one too many. Sales are one to one. That makes sense. So marketing is sales to many and sales. Sales are one to one. I’m sorry, marketing is one too many and sales is one to one. And so Mark Mark digital marketing is just marketing, in any of its forms, but online, right. That’s the way that I look at it. So Okay, thanks to everybody for being here, a mastermind with me tomorrow, as well as the real estate, excuse me, the sales mini mastermind starting tomorrow is the first of 42 weeks. So if anybody wants to join that join the mastermind and we can talk about

Source: Semantic Mastery Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 335 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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onwardintolight · 4 years

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Han x Leia, ESB, Trip to Bespin, angst, hurt/comfort, fluff

Summary: ESB from Leia's POV. A journey from despair to hope, a blossoming, an opening to vulnerability and love.

Warnings: Deals with some heavy themes, incl. working through trauma, depression, self-harm, attempted sexual assault. Each chapter will be individually warned.

Part: Masterlist | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Epilogue

~~~

Author’s note from 1/2020:

Wow. Where to begin? I can hardly believe that after almost three and a half years, The Opening is finally coming to end. A HUGE thank you to all of you who have supported me, whether in those early days of writing or recently as I've been posting. Your encouragement and responses have kept me going when I felt like giving up and have given me more joy than I can possibly express.

This fic has meant so very much to me, more than words can say. It is Leia's story, but it is also my story. I've poured out my entire heart and soul into it, and in turn it's helped me heal. I hope that even a tiny bit of that encouragement spills over to you, even if it's just the knowledge that it's okay to not be okay. Struggling doesn't make you weak—just the opposite. Healing is a long journey, but it is possible. Hope always wins.

If you finish this and would like more, my one-shot Found is a companion piece of sorts—a happy, final epilogue after what's lost has been found again.

You can also check out the soundtrack I made to go with this fic here!

Again, thank you so much for going on this journey with me. May we all open ourselves more and more.

~~~

Epilogue

She talked to Luke before they reached the Alliance; she waited until he was awake again and starting to ask questions. The look of shock, horror, and grief on his face when she told him about Han nearly made her weep all over again. Soon, though, he was all determination, somehow her sun once more despite the pain that still haunted the hollows of his face. “We’ll get him back, Leia,” he said, grasping her hand in his remaining one. His eyes flickered to the side, staring unseeing at a spot on the wall. “We’ve got to trust the Force,” he murmured.

The Force. She closed her eyes, prepared to swallow down a wave of bitterness that never came. Instead, she was left with a vague sense of emptiness, sadness, and confusion. Perhaps it was their nothing-short-of-miraculous escape from Bespin that had softened her resentment. The Force had certainly seemed to… intervene, somehow, what with that vision she’d had of Luke. She let out a breath.

Was he right? Could the Force be trusted? Was the Force truly, as her parents had told her—as she herself had once believed—at work in the galaxy, ensuring hope and light would never be fully lost? Luke seemed determined to think so, despite whatever he had suffered; despite whatever heaviness he wore on his heart that made her fear he might crumple.

Relating what had happened to Alliance Intelligence and the few present members of High Command after their arrival on the Remembrance was just as difficult as her conversation with Luke and far less rewarding. She was quizzed about every aspect of their escape from Hoth and their subsequent ordeal on Bespin. She found she couldn’t look anyone in the eyes as she told them about the particular torture methods the Empire had used this time, both sanctioned and unsanctioned. And it took every ounce of her resolve to keep from breaking down as she relayed what had happened to Han.

For a moment, her eyes darted across the table to Rieekan. He was looking at her with such sorrow, understanding, and compassion that she somehow wanted to both shrink away from him and fall crying into his arms like she’d once done with her parents as a little girl. He caught up with her in the hallway afterwards as she walked back to the Falcon to grab her things. “Leia,” he said, “If you need anything—if there’s anything I can do—”

“Thank you, Carlist,” she replied, echoing his informality.

He paused. “I know Intelligence wasn’t too happy about Chewbacca and Calrissian’s plans to leave for Tatooine, but I want you to know I’m behind them all the way.” He lowered his voice. “Han Solo was a good man,” he said, his eyes piercing Leia with a meaningful stare. “Don’t give up hope. We’ll do what we can.”

Nodding, she swallowed down the lump in her throat. She doubted the Alliance would ever be able to spare the resources to mount a rescue operation for one person, but she appreciated Rieekan’s support anyway.

“For so long I thought… I thought…” He stopped, shaking his head, and smiled at her wistfully. “I’m just glad you’re back.”

She smiled back at him. It felt foreign—had she smiled at all since Bespin?—but somehow her heart felt a little warmer.

After she had located her packing crates from Hoth and moved into her new quarters, she headed for the conference room she had reserved for her meeting with Luke, Chewie, and Lando. Their plan didn’t take long to formulate—by necessity, it wasn’t much of one; not yet. Chewie and Lando would scout ahead on Tatooine, locate Han, and figure out what they were up against. When the time was right, Luke and Leia would join them for the extraction. If High Command will let me, Leia thought cynically. If I let me. She was already feeling the pull of her duty to the Alliance and, along with it, the familiar impulse to sacrifice all personal desires.

She frowned, remembering where that impulse had gotten her in the past. She’d had no hope, then—for the Alliance, yes, but not for herself. It had not gotten her far. While she would still gladly lay down her life for the Rebellion, she could no longer neglect the things that made life worth living in the first place.

Somehow, she’d have to fight for both. She’d just have to figure out how.

~~~

The next day, after giving Chewie a goodbye hug—«Take good care of yourself, Little Princess,» he had said—she headed to Luke’s room in the medbay.

It was still too soon, she knew, for them to talk much about what had happened. Aside from the knowledge that he had fought Vader on Cloud City, she still didn’t know the details about what haunted him, and she didn’t ask. Likewise, she didn’t yet feel able to tell him about what had blossomed between her and Han on the trip to Bespin. Somehow, though, she felt that he already knew, and that comforted her.

Mostly, they were silent, taking solace in each other’s nearness. Now, in their suffering, they seemed to understand each other more than they ever had before.

The medical droid returned to activate the brand new prosthetic hand Luke had received the night before. Leia watched, mildly intrigued, as it ran a series of tests to ensure the hand had been calibrated correctly.

Artoo and Threepio, now whole, gleaming, and happily reunited, had come to visit, too. They stood uncharacteristically silent in front of the large window, looking out on the newborn solar system nearby. The protostar at the center burst with brilliant light, illuminating the vast clouds of dust and matter that ringed it. It was a spectacular sight.

Once again, Leia wondered at the depth of the droids’ sentience. Emotion and appreciation for beauty were not things one normally expected in a droid… but then again, homesickness and a longing for companionship weren’t, either, and she had learned that lesson well to the contrary.

“Luke,” Lando’s voice broke through the comm, “we’re ready for takeoff.”

“Good luck, Lando,” he replied.

“When we find Jabba the Hutt and that bounty hunter, we’ll contact you.”

“I’ll meet you at the rendezvous point on Tatooine.”

“Princess,” Lando said, his voice growing somber, “we’ll find Han. I promise.”

Another rush of emotion filled her at Han’s name. There’d been so many of those lately, threatening her with sudden tears, and she hated it. Better this than being numb and hopeless, she thought. Better this than never having loved him.

“Chewie, I’ll be waiting for your signal,” Luke was saying. “Take care you two. May the Force be with you.”

«Until our branches entwine again, cubs,» said Chewie. «I won’t be around to rip the arms off your enemies for awhile, so don’t get into too much trouble!”

Leia almost laughed, and Luke grinned back at her.

She missed Han’s laugh.

Her smile fading, she walked over to the window. He was out there, somewhere. The distance between them seemed impossibly far, the search impossibly long. There was a chance he was already gone forever. There was an aching hole in her heart that she wasn’t sure could ever be healed.

Luke came up beside her, and she glanced at him.

He knew. He understood.

He wrapped his arm around her, his new hand gently squeezing her shoulder. She leaned into him, taking a deep breath.

Whatever happened, she would be brave. She would love. She would live.

She would open herself up to a galaxy of hope.

And someday, she told herself, it would all be worth it.

It was worth it already.

The Millennium Falcon rose in front of them, soaring away into the stars.

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localwebmgmt · 3 years

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Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 335

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 335 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

So, fair enough. Bradley, how you doing today?

Good, man. super busy. Lots of lots of good things going on. Just a lot of things on the horizon that are starting to pop and it’s just been good. So glad.

So Alright, Chris, how are you doing today?

Good. So happy that spring is here. Like temperature is up and down like it is in April but things are pretty good.

Good deal, man. All right, Marco. What’s the weather report?

It’s the rainy season in Costa Rica. Catch it? Oh, looks awful.

No, it is four because yeah, last year, we didn’t do it. We did a virtual event. So that’s why I didn’t register. But yeah, this is

We can see your screen.

Should We Avoid Using Billing/Credit Card/Address Info Between Projects To Avoid Footprints In Google Suite?

What Is The Reason Why You Have Different Link Building Approach For Yelp And GMB Listing?

What Are The Best 3 Links URL And Anchor Text To Submit When Filling Out The MGYB Press Release?

All right, I’m on record, I’ve always recommended links.

No, no, that’s fine.

How Do You Find The Right Google My Business Link To Submit?

What Is The Best Practice To Optimize The Image For SEO Purposes?

What Is The Best Practice To Optimize A YouTube Video?

I’ll grab the link and put it on there.

Yeah, go grab that, man. , this is one of the best investments, you can make only seven bucks.

Why You Teach Your SEO Methods To Others Instead of Keeping Them To Yourselves?

I mean, again, 335. We’re going on seven years now. So you know, I’m proud of us for doing that.

Are Your Methods Invulnerable To Google’s May Core Web Vitals Update?

What Is Digital Marketing In A Nutshell?

Source: Semantic Mastery Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 335 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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pushbuttontraffic · 3 years

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BEST FREE TRAFFIC SOURCES 2021 for Affiliate Marketing Links

In this video i will talk about the best free traffic sources for my affiliate links and also, i will explain the strategy that i use to receive a regular flow of free traffic to my website and affiliate links, . What's up? Marketers amar here and before i start explaining my strategy that i've, been using since eight or nine months to generate a regular flow of free traffic to my affiliate links and websites. Let me kindly ask you to subscribe to the channel like the video and or drop a comment. It will be a great support for me and it will be highly appreciated. So, as you can see here on my google analytics for uh from january 4th to january 10th, this year i'm, receiving around 800 visits each and every day to all my websites, my blogs, all of them are represented here, but this is a Good number, like 927 on the 6th of january uh, visits that's, a very good thing, at least for like eight months of work now, and it's going up week after week, so i will be sharing with you the strategy. I've, been applying lately to get this kind of results, so there are many methods to drive free traffic to your affiliate links, but it has to be done in an ethical and effective way, and this is why my affiliate links are always published On my own websites - and let me tell you now that i am not really a fan of the method - affiliate marketing without a website. I think that the people doing that are wasting lots of traffic and leaving lots of money on the table, so the traffic i drive. I drive it to my own websites, where i have a full control and then i can do whatever i want with that traffic, and here is an example of what i am saying so this website here i'm using the front page or the Home page, to build an email list, because this button here will help me build an email list. I'm, offering something for free in exchange of an email address of a lead. So i am building my email address on the first page here. But if i go down, i am also offering a 100 commission affiliate program, so people can be interested of promoting one of these products here that will make them 100 commission and drive traffic to my website. I am also promoting affiliate links in other pages of the website like, for example, this tools page has a ton of affiliate links, while i am offering and delivering good content to my visitors, so this page also has affiliate links on it and the the good thing Is that you have full control, you can do whatever you want with your pages, because you are on your website. This uh page also has affiliate links. The footer has affiliate links. If i take, for example, a blog post that i published here, it has affiliate links number one number, two number three etc. So this is the reason why i like to build my own website and then drop my affiliate, my affiliate links in my web site. Now let's, go back to the slides and one of the best free traffic sources that you can. I mean the best free traffic that you can get is those people who are actively searching for specific information that you can provide on your website. They are ready because they are already searching for that thing. Using the right keywords on your website and having good rankings on search engines can drive highly targeted visitors to your website. Then it will be easier for you to work on converting those visitors into subscribers and or buyers, and this is the reason why learning the basics of seo is very important. And if you want more details about exactly what i'm doing on my blogs, i'm, managing like three or four blogs in the same time. So if you want to know exactly how i'm doing you can download this report here called drive seo traffic. So all you have to do. Go to the website, click on downloads and then go to this report here you can download it and you will learn exactly how i'm, doing to rank a lot of pages of my websites. The second way to drive targeted free traffic to your websites and your affiliate links is quality content. So you need to write good articles, design, good graphics and or make good quality videos you need to take the time. This is an effective way to promote your website. In your brand, because good content is appreciated by readers and it will lead them to stay longer on your websites, recommend it to others or just take action on on one of your recommendations and make you commissions. So it's, really important to take the time and put together an article of 500 or plus words you can go to canva.com and make some beautiful graphics well explained and then publish the content on your website. Whenever someone comes to your website, it stays longer and that's very good for seo and also it might take action on your website, and this is exactly what we want. So here's, one of my other websites, where i am publishing valuable articles with good information on it, easy to read some graphics, and these articles here will rank on the search engines and send you traffic to your affiliate links because affiliate links are Here i mean on the sidebar, for example, these are affiliate links inside the articles. Also, there might be affiliate links, so you prepare your website with good content and some calls to action, and then you optimize it to the search engines. If i go to, this is another website where i publish articles as well, and there are affiliate links on it. This is the one that i showed you earlier on the other website, etc, and if you go to the videos tab on this channel - and you check these two videos here - free traffic and free traffic episode number two - you will see a specific strategy of how to Leverage plr content, it's, absolutely free 100 free. You leverage plr articles that are already written, and then you add to that some graphics and you will end up with great blog posts, to submit to the search engines so feel free to go to the videos, tab and find this video here and this one here. They have a great content on them. The next strategy is having an affiliate program. We are going to use the leverage we are going to leverage efforts of other people who are affiliates. They are, they want to make money with an affiliate product and we want to get the traffic. So what you can do you can create your own info product then offer a 100 commission to affiliates. You can set up your info product on jvzoo, warrior plus or any other affiliate network. The affiliates will do the job and bring traffic to your website or sales page, and if they make sales, of course, they will take 100 of the sale and, as a result, even if you are not making money on the sales, you are still getting targeted traffic To a thank you page where you can promote something else, and this is a very good method, because i tried it myself and, as i showed you before, i am offering here 100 commission for affiliates who will of course accept to promote these info products. Here. They will have all the the sale price they will take it all, but i will have the traffic to the thank you pages of these different products. As you can see here, an affiliate can come here to check the sales page. You can click on the product to see the sales page and then, if he wants to make a hundred percent commission on this product, what he will need to do is click on here. Get your affiliate tools - and there is a page specifically made to give the tools and explain how it works to the affiliate. So he will be ready to do the promotion right away, so he can use banners. He can use an email ad or solo ad to send and drive traffic and every time he makes a sale. He will make 100 commission, but i'm still getting the traffic on the back end. So having an affiliate program that offers 100 commission to affiliates is one of the best ways to drive free traffic to your affiliate links. And if you have any other questions about this strategy, please feel free to drop a comment below and i'll. Be back as soon as possible to answer your questions, another way of driving targeted traffic to your website and that your affiliate links is to do some networking and partnerships, so you need to contact other bloggers and website owners for a possible link exchange partnership. Uh. You need to find websites related to yours, content, wise and people that are doing the same thing as you and publishing same content as you, you can reach out to the owner of the website, make a proposition of guest posting or any other form of backlink exchange. It can be banner exchange, for example, or you can exchange your mailing lists. He sends a solo mail for you to his list and you send the same thing uh for him to your list. You can also discuss with them any other form of cooperation. Another huge source for free traffic is social media and forums. Millions of people are hanging out on social media and forums and discussing various topics and subjects, and the people you are targeting are already there. So here are a few tips. You need to set up professional profile, so if you are on facebook, create a professional profile like the banner of your profile, their picture, the headlines, the calls to action, everything needs to be well done and well explained, and then the attitude you will be adopting is Looking for relationships, not only followers also building your reputation first focus on helping others over selling. You need to seek engagement. Also, you need you can ask people what to do. You can tell them to like the post or, like the video comment on the video you can also include calls to action. You need to stay active, so this work needs to be like on regular basis. You need to stay, active and publish a lot. You can publish about what's trending right now. You can create content that people want to see and also make and publish high quality graphics. Now, before i get to the last free traffic source and free traffic strategy, let me just ask you one more time to like the video subscribe to the channel and or drop a comment, and thank you very much. So the last free traffic strategy is building an email list because having a list of subscribers is like having traffic on demand and building a good reaction relationship with subscribers by always offering them the best. You can also set up and send automated messages. What we call autoresponders and personalized newsletters to keep in touch with them, so this was my strategy that i've, been using for the last eight or nine months. It's, given good results. Let me say good results and it's growing. That's. The best thing it's growing. So if you have any questions p, please feel free to put a comment down below and i will be back as soon as possible to answer your questions. 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