#instead of just making every other bot appear weaker

[spishidden]

I get that Earthspark kinda needs the Terrans to look cool and all since they're the main characters, but it kinda sucks how basically every other cybertronian gets nerfed somehow for the sake of the plot.

The best example I can find is Shockwave getting offlined. That was so stupid. If this was any other Shockwave he would not have gone down without fight. Mans didn't even move an inch and just casually let himself get killed. The reason for that? So that the Terrans get to save the day all by themselves.

I just find it very hard to believe that these five c h i l d r e n are more powerful and competent than the million year old war veterans, some of whom were literally forged for fighting.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What would happen if book!Edward and movie!Edward swapped places?

I love it, anon, so much you get answered absurdly early.

A Note on Movie Edward and Book Edward

These are two very different characters.

In order to sell tickets, movie Edward became an extremely toned down version of himself who still on occasion says mildly disturbing things (though with a bit less frequency). The films had the daunting task of making Edward a likeable romantic lead rather than reminiscent of Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

For the most part though, movie!Edward's not nearly as... bad as Edward. He takes a monumental amount of crap from Bella and Jacob in Eclipse and is the ultimate cuckold, he's weird but not threatening to chase down Bella like the Terminator if she escapes to the reservation, and only some of his more disturbing moments remain.

Now, the Swap

Book!Edward in Movie Land

Edward finds himself in a hellscape where nothing is right.

Carlisle is calling Rosalie "Kitty" and acting like Eleazar, Esme has a personality that's not Mom-Bot 3000, Alice seems like she belongs in Sex and the City, and everything's wrong. Even Bella is not as she should be, seeming now to be apathetic, dull, and believing herself too good for Forks rather than simply being too good for Forks.

Not to mention that, while a welcome surprise, none of his family look or act like vampires. Their skin is human skin, their faces human faces, they move at human speed, and act human in nearly every way. When they step into the sunlight they vaguely sparkle if you squint really hard. The only alarming thing about them is their strange wig-like hair.

Edward to them appears a demonic god. They don't even recognize him as Edward Cullen.

Edward, I imagine, tries to put up with these people if only for the pretense but sooner or later in his madness and despair, and the certainty that he is in Hell and the Volturi killed them all, will kill them. He'll start with Carlisle, then Alice, then Esme, making his way down the list of people he loves until he hits Bella. And yes, even in Hell, she's just as delicious as he imagined.

Edward then proceeds to run around, breaking the law with reckless abandon (can't kill him if he's already dead!) and the Volturi do, indeed, have a difficult time killing him as book!Edward is far faster, stronger, and more inhuman period than any movie!vampire.

Edward becomes a plague upon this earth.

Movie!Edward in Book Land

Edward finds himself in an alternate reality where vampires are even more horrifying than he thought. He thought it was bad in his universe? The Cullens are actual walking, crystal, people with rock voices who stand unnaturally still and barely appear human. He's much slower and weaker than each of them.

More, they're... not his family and almost seem caricatures of the people he knows and loves. Carlisle no longer supports him in everything and, at times, is quite dismissive of him. Rosalie always seems on edge around Edward, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop. Alice is bizarre, alarming, and not at all the fun and charming girl he knew. Esme is... their maid, Edward has no other explanation for what she's doing.

Edward can only wonder what the other Edward must be like. He assumes it's not good (he assumes correctly).

They didn't even recognize him as Edward Cullen at first.

Still, Carlisle promises to try and get Edward home and contacts the Volturi (this makes Edward uncomfortable but perhaps the Bizarro!Volturi aren't as they were in his universe, everything else seems to be turned upside down and Bizarro!Carlisle seems to trust them so... fingers crossed). In the mean time Edward meets Bella and...

She's very different. He's not sure how he feels about that. Gone is the girl with the aura of mystery who always seemed a little put out with Forks. Instead she's... very distraught over the other Edward's disappearance. At first, she latches onto Edward but, he's not the same and they both know it.

More, Bella seems to find him odd, unlikeable, and not at all charming. She tries to hide it, but Edward can tell, Bella just doesn't like him that much.

To Edward's lack of surprise, the Volturi cannot get him home, but do demand Bella turns. Despite turning, this Bella and Edward do not end up together nor do they end up friends. Edward silently longs for the Bella of his own universe who he knows loved him. Or... well... he thinks she did, maybe. Best not to think about that.

(That the other Edward devoured Bella does not occur as a possibility to this Edward either. Probably for the best.)

[my-writings-and-musings]

Could you do Drift and Ravage for the oxygen loss prompt?

I absolutely can do Ravage, our dear kitty deserves the love! Drift can be found in part six below!

Part One: Here!

Part Two: Here!

Part Three: Here!

Part Four: Here!

Part Five: Here!

Part Six: Here!

Part Seven: Here!

Part Eight: Here!

Part Nine: Here!

Part Ten: Here!

Part Eleven: Here!

Part Twelve: Here!

Part Thirteen: You're Here!

Ravage

·The tale of how you even became friends with the reclusive and understandably untrusting felicon is as long as it is convoluted, but a good synopsis is that the two of you simply get one another. It doesn't hurt that you always gave him ample personal space and respected his boundaries, and the fact you don't mind meeting up in the vents is a plus for him. Bots are absolutely baffled by your relationship, so avoiding public spaces has become his preferred activity to enjoy with you, if only to be free of the gossip. Equally eager to have peace and quiet, you'd long since found ways to make his favorite spots in the vents into ideal hangouts.

·Unfortunately, today is one of the rare days he has to be away from your side and amongst the crew. On the Bridge there's some kind of trouble, requiring all the commanding officers to be present while it's sorted out, and he refuses to leave Megatron there alone. Primus knows his old friend gets blamed for everything that goes wrong eventually... Yet he's far from focused as the diagnostic scans reveal a confounding bug in the ship's programming. As worrying as it should be, his thoughts drift repeatedly to you, and how much he'd rather be somewhere far less open and bright. Hopefully this will all end soon, and the two of you can curl up somewhere to relax, with his larger body naturally fitting around yours as if made to do so...

·A teasing look from Megatron makes him realize he had allowed his dreamy thoughts to color his face with a ridiculous expression of lovestruck bliss. Pinning back his ears and flushing hot as a star, he can only be grateful no one else seemed to notice. Just as he's debating whether or not to sneak away, there's a commotion amongst the more tech savvy bots. They claim to have found the source of the programming bug; which isn't a bug at all, but a virus. Claws fully unsheathing in preparation for combat, his sense of dread grows exponentially as he puts together what is being said, realizing that something very bad is moments away. Lights flicker in confirmation of his fear. In moments the ship is flashing out a hundred or so alarms, signaling that it is more or less helpless against whatever may happen next.

·You're the first thing he thinks about as countless terrible scenarios begin to play in his mind. Between his hypersensitive hearing and smell he's nearly choked on the panic and fear growing through the Lost Light, but all he wants to focus on is you. A human has precious little in the way of defense, and with every system keeping the ship stable, there's nothing to protect you. The solution is obvious; he has to find you before something else does. When the ground quakes and an incoming transmission threatens the crew he doesn't stick around to hear the enemy gloat. A brief explanation to Megatron is all he offers before taking off, and though he doesn't stick around to see it, his old friend gives him a nod of understanding.

·Distant sounds of metallic warping and the scent of soldering tell him the ship is being breached, but also make it incredibly difficult to pinpoint your location. He's memorized every identifiable feature of yours for moments like this, but the chaos turns the air into a smog of panic, so that it's only the uniqueness of your scent that allows him to find a trail. Faster than most vehicle modes and far more limber, he's an unstoppable blur through the hallways. A path to your shared quarters forms effortlessly in his mind as he passes down the levels.

·Far from your partner, you're still recovering from the bang that shook the entire room you'd been so comfortably set up in. Dazed on the ground, you get your feet beneath you before thoughts return, and the first one is for Ravage. Unfamiliar with space travel, you feel compelled to fear the worst; what if he was too close to whatever just went wrong? Capable as he is, the Felicon isn't immortal. Dead communication lines cement the need for worry in your dizzy head. Careless to the considerable tumble you just endured, you try to think of the best possible response for both your sakes. If he's able to so much as crawl, Ravage will be headed for you, so the best thing to do is make yourself as easy to find as possible. Shallow as that plan may be, it's at least a starting point, and you won't have to go far.

·A trail of claw marks through the hallways marks a tireless and acrobatic flight of barely disguised panic. Ravage takes every possible vent into his olfactory receptors for even the tiniest whiff of you. It's a scent he falls asleep with every night, the familiar yet so unusual mammalian musk soothing him as he curled about your tiny body... Now he's panicking over every tiny whiff, if only because he can't tell if you're really okay. Foreign smells tell of an encroaching enemy spilling into the Lost Light, and from the overpowering rush it appears their numbers are considerable. Some even appear to be moving through the lower levels just a floor or two below... Hulking footsteps that are not Cybertronian register in his sensitive ears, moving with such little grace he can feel them through the floor in his perceptive paws. Anger helps him swallow down some fear. If they want to get between him and his partner, then it's their death wish.

·Finding little to be working reliably, you open the door to your room just wide enough to let you through only after multiple attempts prove unsuccessful. A lifeless but somehow noisy hallway greets you. The sounds of combat are close, or at least, you presume what you're hearing to be combat. Perhaps you hit your head harder than you thought, because thinking through what's going on is far more difficult than it should be. Holding onto the wall for support, you try desperately to think of a plan. Ravage could be anywhere, and with no way to reach him, it's impossible to plan a meet up or even attempt to learn of his status. Yet... these dire thoughts don't invoke the panic they should. It's growing impossible to even stand on your own, and without meaning to you start to lean more of your body against the wall...

·Ravage inevitably is faced with a foe he cannot evade, and for your sake, he charges forward. There's a group of them, all gathered in the only hallway that will take him quickly to your location. He can feel the heat of energy weapons simmering in the air by the time he's upon them. With the element of surprise he's able to unleash incredible damage in his first attack, claws and fangs tearing through protective armor to kill one and severely wound another before they even realize they're being attacked. Bounding between their hulking forms, he faces the one disadvantage he's always endured through combat; his enemies far outscale him. Though his need to protect as well as survive turns him into a living blender, a well placed and simply lucky strike makes painful contact with his back, cracking the armor and bringing forth a spattering of energon.

·Recovering with the aid of his own anger to fuel the final attacks, he fights on with the wound agonizing him all the while, sinking his fangs in deep to take care of the final enemy. It isn't until the last body thunders to the floor that his legs temporarily give way. He's in need of medical attention, but he doesn't dare slow down, or even get a moment of rest. Shaking legs push defiantly to get him upright, and for once he's able to be grateful to have four. The ragged pace he resumes with is only as fast as it is because he knows he's close, as your scent is now clear despite the warring smells of blood and a million other unpleasant odors. Even if all he can do is collapse by your side and keep you company, it will be enough...

·Time seems to stand still when he sees you slumped over by the doorway to the room you two share. Though you're without injuries and the iron rich smell of human blood is undetectable, he knows something is very wrong, and though every motion hurts he bounds to your side. Crying out your name, he gently nudges you with a careful muzzle. Warmth and the rythym of your heart quell his greatest fears just before you open your eyes. Not quite awake, you can only be relieved to see him again, far too out of it to be afraid. At his insistence to move you express a desire to rest instead. No amount of encouragement can seem to make you realize the danger, and thus he's forced to make the decision to move you himself, even if he's in bad shape himself. Clearly, you need more help than he can give.

·You go along as best you can when he insists you ride on his back, and it's only your considerable experience doing so in the past that makes it possible now. He tries to think through the pain, but has little luck imagining what could possibly have done this to you, and his efforts to do so are hampered further as he begins to limp forward. Between energon loss and exhaustion and fear he knows things are looking grim. It tears at him more aggressively than any wound ever could, particularly as he feels you growing weaker against him, and all he can do is beg for you to hold on. You want to, but with his body so close and the rocking of his steps, how can you resist the urge to sleep? Surely everything will be fine when you wake... It's too much for him to endure when you slip into unconsciousness, and his legs give out beneath him. Failure burns in his spark as he tries in vain to keep going, his inability to save you haunting his exhausted body as footsteps draw near.

·It's by fortune he has rarely experienced that you're happened upon by a group of bots led by Megatron. He forces himself to stay awake for your sake, refusing to let anyone separate you so long as you need care. The blur of the medical bay brings comfort only briefly, as when he's informed of the reason behind your struggle he's nearly torn apart by guilt. Seeing you with your oxygen mask confirms his failure to protect the one he holds dearest to his spark. Withdrawing from the world, he allows himself to be patched up before curling himself around your tiny body, all but shielding you from the universe so intent on hurting you both.

·The warmth of his frame so frequently is your first sensation upon waking that you don't realize something is off at first. It isn't until you feel the mask on your face that you remember what happened, but by then Ravage is gently tapping his muzzle against you to confirm everything feels alright. Without promoting, he gives a quick rundown of what led up to this moment. You're wide eyed as he explains the ship's atmospheric shutdown, particularly when he gets to the part where he tried to carry you to safety... The apathy as he recounts it all, however, is far from fitting. Laying a gentle hand on a paw, you ask if something happened that bothered him, and receive confirmation from his silent expression of sadness.

·Initially, he can't bring himself to say what's wrong. On the surface he knows his actions were reasonable, but in his spark... he's so afraid of how his own inability to save you nearly resulted in tragedy. Just the thought of losing you is terrifying enough, but having nearly faced it has rocked him to his core, and he sits in silence under the weight of those emotions. Mercifully, you can read him well enough to not need words. Ravage has always withdrawn when upset, and few things agonize him more than failure.

·Gently as you can, you encourage him to come close, pulling his helm as near to your lap as possible. The sadness in his optics nearly breaks your heart, but you're confident as you speak, thanking him for what he did to save you and insisting you wouldn't be here without him. When he briefly tries to protest, you point out that he likely wouldn't be injured had it not been for you, and he quickly replies that you're worth any scars. When you retort that you feel the same way about him, a small amount of weight appears to leave his shoulders. He recalls that the best part of loving you has always been the freedom to exist as he is, free of pressure, and that he can't be a failure in your eyes so long as he tries. It's simply easy to forget that sometimes... Allowing himself a purr, he uses his tail to most effectively wrap you in his protective body, intent on keeping the both of you safe and warm for some much needed rest. So long as you have each other, there's nothing that can't be overcome.

[sepublic]

Nektanns

           (Not to be confused with the Skakdi Warlord of the same name, who was specificially named after these terrifying war machines.)

           Nektanns are a deceptively simple design, yet incredibly terrifying in execution. What they lack in the general eccentricities, quirks, and gimmicks of other infamous war machines and weapons of Xia’s industries, they make up for in one vital asset; Pure precision. Armed with advanced, state-of-the-art AI, each Nektann is essentially equipped with a powerful aim-bot that can deduce and calculate the movements and trajectory of its targets in a split-second, before firing a powerful and precise laser with the same level of skill as a trained sniper. Unlike a living and breathing sniper however, Nektanns are always cold, precise, and methodical. Every shot they fire is meant to count, no lasers are wasted as they frequently aim for weak points.

           Nektanns take the simplistic shape of a sphere, consisting of an upper and lower half. The lower-half has four mechanical legs protruding from the sides, stubby yet effective in transporting the machine at a reasonable speed. The upper half of a Nektann has four laser-cannons equally distributed around its perimeter. Each cannon can swivel around, enabling a Nektann to criss-cross fire with two of its lasers; Never three, and only four when a target is directly above the Nektann. Above the cannons is a ring-visor continuously built around the Nektann’s perimeter, enabling constant, 360-degree vision.

           A Nektann’s upper half can rotate and swivel in rapid yet precise movements, capable of turning a full 360 degrees. To minimize such movement (which would take up a precious split-second to re-orient a cannon to move a target within range), multiple cannons were installed instead of just one, precisely for this purpose. Upon detecting any number of hostile intruders or targets, the Nektann’s upper-half accordingly swivels and reorients its cannons as each one individually swivels around, locks onto an enemy, and fires. A Nektann can fire up to four lasers at once- But the more lasers it fires at a time, the weaker they are. As a result, a Nektann may choose to rapidly fire between each laser, fire two on one side, and then the other two, etc. Nektanns are, in essence, the ultimate turret due to their incredible accuracy.

           Immobile Nektanns function as traditional, stationary turrets. Rooted into the ground as a dome above a miniature tower, Fixed Nektanns are typically connected to a larger energy source, enabling the usage of far more powerful and destructive lasers. Additionally, they are equipped with an additional row of cannons above their primary four, consisting of three; And a final one sticking directly off the top of the Nektann. Like their Mobile brethren, the Fixed Nektann can divert power and divide it across its multiple cannons, or focus it into fewer ones; However, it better compensates with access to a more proficient energy-source.

           The earliest models of Nektann used to have only one turret, only for the numbers to increase from two, to three, and finally four. Initially, Nektanns only came in the Fixed variety; But as technology and efficient designs improved, eventually the Mobile variant was brought into the picture. Mobile Nektanns initially had longer, spindly legs that curved upwards before bending down; This led to an initial, hilarious issue of the legs occasionally getting in the way of a cannon and being shot off.

          Engineers immediately remedied this error by programming subsequent Nektanns to avoid firing whenever their legs got in the way; But just as quickly afterwards, someone suggested bypassing the issue altogether, by redesigning the legs so they wouldn’t go above the Nektann’s ‘equator’. The solution was happily and readily implemented, to the dismay of anyone who had to deal with these horrifying machines.

          Similarly, the efficiency and accuracy of Nektann AI has increased over time, resulting in faster processing power, better aim, split-second calculations of target trajectories and paths, etc. Nektanns gained the ability to fire from multiple cannons, before all four; And their original, Fixed predecessors were improved upon.

           Despite their devastating speed and accuracy, the Nektann is thankfully not invincible. The Mobile variant only has four cannons, and thus can only focus on four targets at a time; Groups of enemies above this number can cleverly outmaneuver the Nektann by hiding behind cover while constantly moving back and forth to disorient the machine’s programming. Like any AI, it is also not perfect, and liable to mistakes in programming, or choosing the most likely option only to fail due to bad luck. A Nektann may predict a target to head one way, only for them to suddenly take a different path, either by their own volition or even from accidentally tripping. Additionally, their lasers, while powerful, can’t penetrate and completely destroy all obstacles. Generally speaking, the smaller and faster the target, the more likely the Nektann is to miss.

           Fixed Nektanns bypass most of these issues thanks to their additional cannons and stronge fire-power, but unfortunately they can’t move around. Their fixed-position and reliance on underground cables connecting them to other energy-sources can make them vulnerable to subterranean sabotage as well. Some models of Fixed Nektann run on an independent power source, enabling them to bypass this weakness; But at the cost of fire-power that, while more powerful than that of its Mobile variety, is weaker than the typical Fixed Nektann.

           Due to the incredibly complex and advanced programming behind each Nektann, the prices for models are incredibly high, rivalled by those of Exo-Toa. Whenever a Nektann is spotted, be it on the Zakaz battlefield, or as a security machine in other districts of Xia, terror will often strike the hearts of its potential targets. Mobile Nektanns can support an entire squad, or else operate independently; They can be programmed to deliberately ignore allies, and in some cases, shoot through them anyway if a target is right behind. Nektanns make for incredible guard, turrets, and sentries, and have been employed by multiple organizations to safe-guard key areas across Xia.

          For example, the Archives’ above-ground entrance is guarded by a number of Super Nektanns; A more armored, efficient, and powerful variety of Nektann, custom-made. These Super Nektanns have AI that can snipe a scurrying rat from a distance, with lasers powerful enough to sear through most metal. Warden Rorze has even considered commissioning models of Super Nektann that could even incorporate Exo-Toa technology; And after the Okotan Expedition’s legendary break-in and retrieval of the Fragment of Earth, Rorze has begun to arrange deals with Vortixx Industries.

           Nektanns are feared, legendary, and reputable on the battlefields of Zakaz. For their reputation, the eventual Skakdi warlord Nektann was named after these terrifying machines. They have seen increased production in use as of Xian-Okotan War, being utilized en masse by the Barraki to overwhelm the Okotan Alliance and gain ground in their invasions, while safe-guarding important locations; Especially from Okotans, Xian rebels, and Order of Mata Nui agents as well.

          The Brotherhood of Makuta has also begun to make use of a few models, and Makuta may even have access to the safely-guarded plans and schematics behind the Nektann AI… Despite reservations by some, both the Okotan Alliance and Xian Rebellion have taken to uiziling Nektanns as well; However, the Barraki control the primary sources for these machines, as well as key manufacturing centers in Artidax and Tametru- Thereby allowing them to own the largest army of Nektanns in existence.  

-

           (Okay, I’m going to be level here; These things are basically IG-11 from The Mandalorian, but orb-shaped and more akin to their appearance in the Voya Nui Online Game. The earliest models looked nearly identical to their G1 counterparts, hence the detail of legs having once gotten in the way of lasers. As of now, I’m retconning the description for Nektanns that I had with my Xia weaponry post, and this is the official one; No more self-repairing abilities, alas!

And similarly, the Nektanns are no longer mass-swarm robots as initially envisioned in RaE, but more akin to select, specialized units that make an occasional appearance on the battlefield. They also don’t self-repair anymore; I’m thinking of isolating this feature as an entirely separate Xian invention, specifically individual swarms of nano-machines that can be assigned to various machines to ‘repair’ them everytime damage is taken.)

[builder051]

Where’s the fun in doing what you’re told

For @sickandvomiting, because we could all use a little more Bruce in our lives.  And I all the sudden had a huge urge to write science bros.

Set between Avengers and Age of Ultron.

_____

The last thing Bruce remembers is JARVIS’s voice.

“Master Stark would like to see you in the lab,” the AI had said.  Or something like that.  Bruce isn’t sure of the specifics.  Things had already been shimmering green at that point.

When he wakes up flat on his back on the gym floor, Bruce still hears the familiar accented voice talking to him.  “Dr. Banner?”

“Hm, yeah?”  Bruce groans, pushing himself onto his side.  He’s surrounded by the shredded remnants of his t-shirt and shorts, plus a lot of sand and foam and other bits and pieces of the punching bag he’d been battling.  All in all, it’s not the worst thing he’s destroyed during an…incident.

“Would you like me to call for assistance, Dr.?”

“No, no, I’m fine,” Bruce mutters.  He gets up to a seated position, but has to bend forward and put his head between his knees until the dizziness lets up.

“Your heart rate appears to be elevated,” JARVIS reports.

“Yeah, no shit.”  Bruce breathes shakily.  As the adrenaline rush begins to die down, a throb blooms behind his eyes.  It doesn’t matter that the feeling is familiar.  It’s still terrible.

“How…how much time did I lose?” Bruce asks, pausing to take a hitching breath.

“Fourteen minutes, sir,” JARVIS replies.  “And Mr. Stark would still like you to join him in the lab.”

“Yeah.”  Bruce straightens up and slowly gets to his feet.  “Got it.”

He stumbles into the locker room and finds a spare t-shirt and sweats folded on a bench.  The must be Steve’s, he thinks as he pulls them on, because they’re too tight in some places and too loose everywhere else.  He really should keep some of his own clothes stashed here just in case, but that would be a little too logical.  Plus, it would dash his hope that, save any extenuating circumstances, this is the last time something like this will ever happen.

Bruce splashes water on his face and gulps some down straight from the tap, pretending that it’s going to make a difference in how he feels.  It’s the same vicious cycle every time, and he seems to get out of it by pure luck every time.  The transformation burns six or seven thousand calories and leaves him dehydrated to the point of nausea.  What he needs is a gallon of chocolate milk, but the thought of swallowing anything with flavor makes him salivate in a way that’s less than pleasant.

Bruce’s sinuses ache.  He spits out the water in his mouth and reaches for a towel.  It’s probably his mind playing tricks, but the white fabric looks like it’s tinged chartreuse when he pulls it away from his sweaty face.  “It’s fine.  You’re fine,” he murmurs to himself.

“Sorry to continue to bother you, Dr. Banner,” JARVIS pipes up again, “But Sir is insistent.”

“Of course he is.  Don’t worry about it.”  Bruce throws the towel into the laundry bin and heads for the door.  A couple of Tony’s bots are already cleaning up the mess of the busted punching bag, and Bruce pointedly doesn’t look at them as he crosses the gym.  He bypasses the elevator and starts down the stairs instead.  He’s steadier on his feet than he was a moment ago, but he still feels sick.  He hopes he’ll be able to dispense with Tony quickly and retire to his room with a box of saltines.

Bruce takes a measured breath before pushing open the door to the lab.  “Hey, Tony,” he says with as much gusto as he can muster.  It isn’t much.  Bruce cringes at his breathlessness.

“Hey…”  Tony doesn’t look up from the arc reactor he’s fiddling with.  “I’ve got a question for you…”

“Yeah, what?  JARVIS told me to come down here…”  Bruce suddenly has too much spit in his mouth, and he struggles to swallow it down.  “Like four times.”

Tony finally sets down his screwdriver.  He makes eye contact with Bruce across the lab.  “What’s wrong with you?” he asks.

“Nothing.  Just an occupational hazard, I guess.”  Bruce grabs the back of a chair and tries to suck in a breath.  His chest feels constricted, though, and fresh sweat breaks out over his brow.  His heart rate begins to quicken again.

“Are you gonna...?”

Tony’s voice gets quieter and further away.  Bruce feels himself sway on his feet as pressure and bitterness burst into his throat.

“Ok, I’m not letting you puke in the lab.”  Tony roughly pushes him into the bathroom and lifts the lid on the toilet just in time for Bruce to jolt forward and heave violently.  It’s just water first, then breakfast comes back in a torrential splash, and then more in a series of weaker retches that leave him struggling for control over his spasming stomach.

“I thought you burned through all your food when you did your mean and green thing,” Tony says, wrinkling his nose and handing Bruce a wad of toilet paper.

Bruce spits and wipes his mouth.  “I do,” he pants.  “But it’s a stressor, you know, like fight or flight.”  He flushes the toilet, then dabs at his sweaty forehead with his sleeve.  “It stops the digestive process…”

“Yeah, I don’t really want to know,” Tony says.  “Will water help?  Or will that make you hurl again?  Cause if you’re gonna do that, I think you should probably go somewhere else.”

Bruce struggles to catch his breath.  “I…I think I’m good.”

“You sure?  I mean, I’ve got hangover supplies down here, but I’m not wasting them on you if you’re just gonna keep…you know.”

Bruce gets shakily to his feet.  “I might be off for a while,” he admits, “But I think I’m ok.”  His headache’s dialed up, but the nausea’s tapering.

“Ok then,” Tony says, leaving the bathroom and opening the mini-fridge under his desk.  “Ginger ale or Gatorade?”

“God.  Both,” Bruce says, flopping down in a swivel chair.

“Thirsty much?”  Tony shuts the fridge, then offers a bottle in one hand and a can in the other.

“Dehydrated,” Bruce corrects him.  “And starving.  Literally.”

“Right.”

Bruce unscrews the cap on the Gatorade and takes a tentative sip while Tony settles back behind his desk.  He picks up the arc reactor and gives it a tap.  “See this?  See how it’s bigger than the ones I use?”  He looks at Bruce, barely containing a grin.

Bruce swallows.  “Uh.  Yeah?”

“What would you think about your own suit?”

“Huh?”  Bruce doesn’t trust himself to process the words correctly.  “Like, for the other guy?”

“It would be adaptable, of course,” Tony says.  “For you or, uh, him.  You know, to fight him or something, if you needed it.”  He shrugs.  “Just an idea.”

“Hm,” Bruce muses.  He takes another sip of the sports drink.  “Ok.”

Tony pulls a holographic screen out of midair.  “Here’s the design I worked up.  But I need your input, for all the special features and stuff.”

“Wow.  That’s…that’s really generous.”  Bruce quells a belch behind his hand.  “Sorry.”

“Naw, this is fun,” Tony says, grinning.  “As long as you’re not gonna puke on my keyboard or anything.”

“No,” Bruce laughs.  “I promise, I’m not gonna do that.”

“Alright, then.”  Tony pulls his chair up beside Bruce’s.  “Let’s get to work.”

[projectsoleil]

IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN WINTER | ANASTASIA IMAI | CHAPTER 4 EXECUTION

Minutes pass, more words exchanged, the time for the end of the hero’s life was drawing ever nearer...till finally it happened. The Sunscape Bot in the middle came to attention and began its path to Maxwell.

[ Ms. Imai, your execution is ready. Would you please take my hand and I will escort you there. ]

Anastasia had no choice but to accept… but she didn’t have to do so kindly. She yanks her hand away from the bot and sneers - if she was going to walk to her own death, she was going to do so of her own volition. Or, well… as much of her own volition as she can have, in this situation. It’s not like she has many options outside of ‘die’, but she can at least have some agency over how she faces her encroaching end. “Don’t fuckin’ touch me, I can walk myself.”

And with that the two began their final walk to the door, it never got more comfortable to watch, it was always so...haunting. Footsteps on the metal ground, the door sliding open. 

The two stepped through and turned to face those who remain.

There’s silence for a few long moments, and Anastasia’s eyes wander over every person in the trial room. Some she didn’t care to see again, some it hurt just to look at one last time - but she addresses every last one of them when she opens her mouth to speak again. “... There’s a lotta good people here. Sorry… I tricked a few of you into thinkin’ I had a shot at bein’ anything but a bad one. I’ll be rootin’ for you guys to tear this place to shreds from the other side, ‘kay? Don’t let me down, bastards.” She gives the group one final two-fingered salute before she turns her back to them, quiet defiance snuffed out by the realization that she can do nothing but play into the game’s hands one last time.

And with that, the door slams shut in front of them. It is only a few moments before the screen comes to life again...

[ PLEASE ENJOY THE PRESENTATION WE HAVE PREPARED ]

[TW: VIVID DESCRIPTIONS OF FALLING/HEIGHTS, GORE]

“Oh, Anastasia, how we’ve been waiting for you!”

A voice reminiscent of a town crier rings out loud and clear, a short figure approaching the doomed Anastasia.

“You’re our chosen hero, you see - it’s all been written in this here book!” The figure produces a grimoire of sorts from thin air, proudly showing it off. Anastasia simply sneers - and here she’d been hoping her death would at least be a little swift. The figure continues. “You see, Anastasia, our sun is dying, and you are the only one who can save it! Please, for the innocent civilians of our humble city, gather the paper feathers guarded by all those nasty troublemakers out there and soar to the skies! For the good of all our people, I implore you to accept this quest!”

Anastasia is speechless for a short few moments. A ques?  Is her execution really as pathetic as dying in some stupid battle? Yeah, she hoped it’d be quick, but she also kind of hoped it’d be… cooler. Still, something the figure says catches her attention - soar to the skies. If she can manage to gather these feathers, if she can just push through, is there a chance she could escape this? Could she play the system and return safe and sound? Could she live another day? If there was even the slightest chance at survival, she had to take it. 

“... Fine. Whatever. I’ll take your lameass fucking quest, but don’t expect me to be some perfect savior.”

The small figure claps in delight, overjoyed at her lackluster agreement. “Lovely, just lovely! We don’t have much time, Anastasia - you need to leave. Now!” The figure snaps their fingers, and suddenly, the scenery changes.

Anastasia finds herself in an alleyway in the dead of night - a familiar place, all things considered. Perhaps even too familiar. So too are the faces she sees. Four people stand before her, four people she hasn’t seen in six years… and four people she attacks without so much as a second thought. Her sketchbook is her weapon, as it always has been - her familiars fight for her, as fierce as always, fangs gnashing and claws flailing. She is hardly injured, and the four people are left dead on the ground, just like they had been so long ago. She collects her feathers nonchalantly, but before she can continue walking forward, a staircase appears, one that doesn’t seem to have an end.

Thus does she begin her ascent. Hidden from prying eyes below are floor after floor of enemies - dangerous people, violent and thirsty for blood. Though Anastasia sustains injuries from each battle, she reigns victorious every time. Her paper feathers stack. Wings begin to sprout. She presses on, determination plain in her eyes.

Slowly but surely, the landscape shifts; a simple cityscape is no longer the background of her fights. Dark streets and alleys grow brighter, buildings grow smaller. With time, concrete ground is replaced by clouds, and the sky is the only backdrop offered. Her growing wings carry her ever upward, and her pride is bolstered with every victory. No longer is she cutting down simple criminals and classic villains - her enemies are seemingly ordinary people, yet all as thirsty for blood as the last. She’s traveled many floors, and her injuries are numerous now, but the paper feathers amassing on her back are even greater in number.

The journey is long and unforgiving, but she reaches the end all the same. Finally, bleeding and bruised and out of breath, she reaches open sky. The only thing left for her to do is fly up, and fly up she does. She’s unsteady - she’s never been a fan of heights - but she rockets upward all the same, eyes searching for some sort of out.

An escape never reveals itself, though. Instead, as she soars skyward, closer and closer to where the sun should be, she’s greeted with a throne of clouds - and it is not empty. On it sits a form ever-changing, faces and bodies shifting from one to another. The heat is nearly unbearable, but she is desperate for some form of solace. Exhausted, she carries herself closer, fragile paper wings the only thing keeping her from meeting a grizzly demise. The throned figure speaks in a voice long-forgotten, and Anastasia’s eyes widen. She stares forward, inching closer, sweat beading on her brow.

“Mari…?”

She sees Marianne - a best friend, a lost love, the first person she swore to protect and the first person she failed. A girl who had brought life to a world she didn’t much care for, a girl whose own life was cut short all too early, all too gruesomely. She sees her face, warm and gentle, for the first time in six years. Her wings begin to burn as fiercely as her heart. 

She sees Sacha - a brother, a protector, someone that had always loved her despite the rifts she’d torn in their relationship. Someone she had promised herself she’d come home to, and another whose life was violently ripped out of her own. Paper feathers scatter, fire eating away at their fragile forms.

She sees Riley - a stable presence, a reminder of the past. She saw in him too much of someone she’d wronged once before. She had wanted to do right by him, at least, as vain as her efforts might have been. In a way, she had wanted to make up for the past. The heat burns her skin. Still, she presses on.

She sees Roger - a friendship destroyed with her own hands, an inspiration, one of the first to reach out to her and one of the first she’d reached back to. She remembers destroying that stupid action figure with him on the docks, how he’d stuck his neck out for her when he never had to. Her wings grow weaker still, feather after paper feather burning down to nothing.

She sees Shougo - an unexpected ally, a confidant, another she’d dragged down with her. The mistakes she made with them differ wildly from those she’d created with her brother, and yet the result was the same. She left both of them behind of her own volition; the only difference between Shougo and Sacha is that she got to say sorry to the former. Fire begins to prick at her skin, and ash permeates the air she breathes.

She sees Papillon - an enemy turned friend, a persistent presence she couldn’t get rid of, though she didn’t want to. Once, she was at their throat near daily, prepared to throw vitriol their way at the drop of a hat. Now, she trusts them with feelings she used to wish she could forget. It was them who showed her she didn’t have to let them go in the first place. The paper wings on her back are an open flame, burning her hair. She flies forward with what strength she can muster from them.

Finally, she sees Rina - a light in a dark, dark tunnel, a warmth she never thought she’d feel again. A new sun, someone who brought the life she thought she’d lost back into a cold, lonely world. She is bright and welcoming and beautiful, and Anastasia has hurt her beyond anything she could hope to repair. In a matter of a few hours, she has taken two lives from her, and one of them is soon to be Anastasia’s own. The strength of her wings, still ablaze, is nearly non 

existent now. The fire licks at her skin, and the heat from the figure threatens to burn her just as badly. And yet, she perseveres - if not for herself, for those she’d leave behind. But her efforts are all for naught.

She was never meant to save herself.

She can hardly keep herself afloat now; the once-great wings on her back have been whittled down far too much to support Anastasia’s weight, her injuries have begun to worsen under the pressure she’s put on her body, and the searing heat slowly but surely saps her of any remaining strength. 

If she could only get closer.

If she could only reach out.

But fate is not so kind.

…

…

[♫♪♫♪♫♪]

She tries, tries so hard, to close the gap between her and the ever-shifting being in front of her. She tries to grasp the hand of every person she’s ever loved and every person she’s ever lost, and yet, like everything else she’s done, it’s too little, too late. Her fingers just barely brush theirs, their skin hot enough to make her scream in pain at a small touch alone. Despite it, desperation takes hold - if she could just have one more chance -

But there is no second chance, not for Anastasia Imai. She flails, tries one more time to grasp the being’s hand, but it’s all for naught. Her wings, too fragile to offer support any longer, finally give out.

Her flight had been graceful, one worthy of a hero. She was proud, determined, even hopeful. Battles were fought and won, and her quest was fruitful. And yet her fall is ugly - she is battered and bruised and burned, no longer the hero she wished to be. She is screaming and scared. She is dying, and she is dying all too slowly. 

Her descent is as long as it is unpleasant. There is no peace - she thrashes against the wind to no avail, body still weakened by her earlier trials. There is no quiet, and there is no acceptance. Her efforts are fruitless, and yet she fights against the inevitable to the very end.

Finally, an end comes. With a sickening crack, Anastasia’s body hits the ground, and what remains of her is hardly recognizable as human. There is blood, flesh, bone, but there is little shape. Hair, eyes, limbs - they are there, parts of a human are there, but they are no longer whole. They are smashed and bleeding, no more than viscera staining the ground she had fallen into. It is an ugly end, not one fitting for a hero - but then again, Anastasia Imai had never been a hero. She had only been vengeance and hubris, spite and fury. Like Icarus, she had flown too close to the sun, and like Icarus, it was her pride that had been her downfall.

[ ANASTASIA IMAI HAS BEEN EXECUTED ]

[ciuucalata-moved]

It’s @coralreefskim birthday today and when I asked her what she wanted me to writer for her she said she didn’t care so I just wrote about our ocs because we’ve been crying about them this past week.

This is part of the Paladin Program Voltron AU me, Kim, @bleusarcelle, @jungjae-art and @waffle-walks created. Calin is my oc and Renee is Kim’s oc. We all have more ideas for this au and I’m so excited about it!!!!

As soon as Calin wakes up, the hold that the nightmare had on his mind disappears, it’s fingertips leaving behind in his room ghosts that fade quickly as the ticks pass by. They leave him gasping for air and his shirt sticking to his sweaty skin.

He doesn’t try to remember  what horrors he dreamt about. They’re gone now and they’ll stay like that for as long as he’ll be awake. After all, the dreams are the only places in which he can remember, but they are also the only places that let him feel things.

And that terrifies him.

He’d rather stay awake and feel nothing than be overwhelmed by all the things his mind wouldn’t let him feel when he isn’t tormented by nightmares.

He sits up and takes off his wet shirt, a relieved sigh  leaving his lips when the room’s cool air hits his heated skin. But it’s not enough.

Even if he is all alone now, the room is too stuffy and his breath keeps stopping in his throat, making him feel as if he’s suffocating.

Outside in the hallways it’s better but just as quiet. And if there’s quiet it means that his mind is loud as fuck and he doesn’t want that now.

He has no specific destination in mind as he wanders around the castle. Just that it has to be as far away from his room as possible and that it has to distract him in some way.

Luckily for him, the training room meets all his expectations… and even more.

A flicker of surprise passes through him when he sees Renee fighting one of the bots. It’s gone as soon as it came though, leaving behind only an emptiness that he has no desire to fill.

Calin leans on the wall facing Renee, his eyes following all her lithe movements, the familiar annoying tingle in his mind making it hard for him to do anything else. It’s been weeks since he became a part of the team and it’s been weeks since this tingle made it’s appearance.

It only shows when she’s near.

“End training sequence,” he calls out, pushing off the wall and walking towards Renee.

She lets out a surprised yelp when her fighting partner suddenly disappears, stumbling a few steps forward before she catches herself. She blinks a few times in surprise at the empty space in front of her and then she looks up at Calin.

As soon as her eyes meet his, Calin thinks that maybe there’s a spark of something soft in them before she glares at him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she snarls, crossing her arms over her chest and shifting her weight on a leg.

Calin raises an eyebrow at her before shrugging. “You looked like you needed a partner.”

She searches his face for a couple moments as he simply looks back at her. Suddenly her eyes snap to his and instead of annoyed she looks angry. It’s something he got used to seeing everyday, the way her eyes would get darker and darker until they become almost black. Her cheeks flush and a glare appears on her face.

He sometimes wonder what he did to deserve this kind of attitude but then he thinks briefly of where he came from – where she saved him from- and lets that thought go. He still can’t remember what he did and he doesn’t care enough to try to do something about it, but this girl makes him wish that his memory wasn’t this fucked up.

And that fuels a fire deep inside him that begs to be let out.

He’s finally going to let out that fire tonight.

“Well,” she almost spits looking like she was trying very hard to calm down. “I already had a partner if you didn’t notice.”

“Oh, I did notice, don’t worry.” He lets his arms fall by his side and that makes Renee’s eyes fall down to his chest. She soon looks back up at him, clearly unimpressed despite her cheeks flushing deeper. “I just thought that maybe you wanted to fight with someone more… unpredictable and impulsive.”

Calin sees the corners of her mouth twitch a little but she’s stubborn as fuck and the frown is still on her pretty face.

Pretty, he wonders in his mind deciding that the word fits her.

“I wouldn’t use those words to describe you, though,” she scoffs, her eyes looking Calin up and down.

“Never said I was talking about me.”

Renee meets his eyes again and narrows them only a little bit.

“But if you wanna spar with me so bad, I guess I have to sacrifice myself.”

“You? Sacrifice yourself?” she laughs this time shaking her head and she shifts until she’s  ready for hand to hand combat. “Do you even know what that implies?”

Calin doesn’t answer her and he thinks she isn’t waiting for an answer anyway. Instead, he takes his position too and the training room is drowned in silence suddenly. Calin wonders if this is what Lance means when he uses the expression the calm before the storm. As if you can feel something’s going to happen, something big but you’re not sure when it’ll start and for how long it’ll last.

Knowing the two of them it’ll probably end in an explosion.

“What are you waiting for, pretty boy?” she challenges, a smirk appearing on her face but her eyes are just as hard as before.

He doesn’t look at them though because her eyes usually make the annoying tingle in his mind grow to be insupportable.

“Ladies first,” he dismisses her provocation and her eyes darken slightly once again.

“My, my! What a gentlemen the druid life made you, Cal,” she laughed mockingly and before Calin could even comprehend her words, she charges towards him. He’s quick enough to block her feet at his sides but she’s quicker when she suddenly switches feet and her other one catches him in the back. It’s not strong enough to hurt him because she didn’t have time to put strength into the hit before she switched, it was enough though to move him a bit.

He tries to catch her foot but damn it she’s as fast as a mouse and soon she’s once again away from his side.

He looks up at her smug smile.

“Thank you for your offer. It would’ve been rude for me to not take it.”

Calin feels his fingers twitch with the magic that implores to explode but he closes his fist and takes a long breath in through his nose. He wills the electricity from his fingers to go away and he doesn’t move until he’s sure that there’s nothing left behind. He doesn’t need this now. Or ever.

Renee’s eyes don’t leave him and that kind of helps him calm down for some reason. He doesn’t think too hard about what this means. He doesn’t want to know what it means.

He’s the first one to move this time but Renee is already expecting that and he blocks his hits easily. Too easily.

She fights back and it feels satisfying when Calin sees her frustration everytime he blocks her strikes. But for every blow he stops, other two get past his defense. He knows that Renee is more skilled than him but his pride right now doesn’t let him acknowledge that. He’s stubborn and keeps fighting back until he can’t anymore.

Renee looks like she barely did anything. Her blocks are quick and just while her hits are swift and hard. The fact that she can take care of herself puts him at ease somehow but he ignores those thoughts because he is too prideful to let her know that she can kick his ass.

It feels like they fight for forever and Calin is getting weaker and weaker. His lungs and throat are burning and he can feel his heartbeats in his temples while his brain feels like it’s gonna explode any second now. He gave her the best he could and he’s ready to give her more.

That is until he trips on his own feet and falls on his back with a groan. He doesn’t even try to get up, too tired to care about proving a point to Renee. So he stays there, looking at the training room’s ceiling and trying to get as much as in his lungs as he can, the only thing that fills the silence of the room is his breathing and his heartbeats in his ears.

And then Renee laughs. She laughs and laughs and Calin closes his eyes trying to listen to it over the beats of his heart. Her laugh is like a deja-vu. He’s sure he heard it somewhere but it feels almost impossible. Everytime he hears her laugh it seems like the first time and like a memory at the same time.

“Guess you really are unpredictable and impulsive,” she jokes and walks towards him. Calin expects her to help him stand up but instead she lies down beside him, hers hands over her stomach while she looks up at the ceiling with a satisfied smile. He notices now the sweat on her forehead and her quick breaths but nothing else shows that they’ve been sparring until now.

He doesn’t notice that he’s still watching her until she turns to face him and he realizes that her eyes are no longer as dark as they used to be. The are clearer now and for the first time he finds out what color her eyes really are. Teal.

“Can I tell you something, Calin?” she whispers in the short distance between their bodies. She looks tired and Calin knows that whatever she’ll say now it’s because of the sleepless nights she probably had until now.

He doesn’t move or blink, he doesn’t even dare to breathe because he knows that he’d do something (because there’s always something that makes her mad at him) and her eyes would darken again. So he waits for her to talk again.

She searched his face, probably looking for that something but Calin’s face is an impassive mask. Nothings is shown and he’s worked hard for it to be like this. It’s not gonna change just because Renee acts nice around him.

Renee frowns before she sighs, not satisfied with his reaction. She looks away from him then, facing the ceiling again and looking thoughtful at it.

“What are you afraid of?” she asks instead, sounding like she isn’t expecting an answer from him but it makes Calin think.

I’m afraid of my past.

I’m afraid of remembering.

I’m afraid of my dreams.

I’m afraid of feeling.

“You,” he answers truthfully as if his answer has always been on the tip of his tongue. She turns her head to meet his eyes. “I’m afraid of you.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE! I hope you’ll get all the happiness you deserve and all the love in the world!!!! You are such a talented person and I’m so lucky that you’re still talking to me despite me being the biggest loser you’ll ever meet. I hope you’ll have a great year and that you’ll know everyday how loved and appreciated you are.

((I love u so much but pls stop with the memes they are killing me))

[firdaussyazwani]

Link Sculpting: Does it even work?

Link sculpting, also known as PageRank sculpting, has been debated many times across many different social channels. The thing is, each side has their own valid points (and presumably data) to back up their cases.

  First of all, what is link sculpting?

Link sculpting is the act of manipulating your website’s PageRank by controlling the flow of link juice your site’s link juice. This is done through adding the “nofollow” attribute tags to links that they don’t want juice to flow to, while excluding it from the pages that they want to rank for.

The most common way to do it is through adding nofollow tags to internal links to selective distribute your link juice. Alternatively, nofollow tags are added to external links to prevent link juice for exiting your website.

Let me share with you the main points that each side brings.

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Against Link Sculpting

It doesn’t work because Google is smart enough to know that SEOs are trying to sculpt. Therefore they devalue any efforts to retain link juice within a website

Google has claimed that they might ignore nofollow links, making PageRank sculpting efforts a waste of time

Link juice does not retain on your page even if you nofollow your internal/external links. For every link, link juice will flow from one page to another. Nofollowing your links will just mean that it flows out, but you don’t pass it to the other page. Essentially, link juice “disappears” (Matt Cutts)

  For Link Sculpting

It works because you can channel the link equity from your most powerful pages to weaker posts to increase its rankings. This way, you spend less on backlinks as your posts are powered by internal links

It prevents link juice from flowing out of the website, and you can cycle it across different internal pages

It improves crawl efficiency as Google’s bots will not crawl low-value pages

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Here’s what I think about PageRank Sculpting

Well, both sides of the argument do bring valid points. Logically, if Google honours nofollow links, your link juice would not be channelled to other pages. However, it does make sense that you’re just wasting your time if Google ignores your nofollow links.

As much as I would like to choose a side, I’ve yet to see these discussions provide data and tests on whether it worked for them.

Personally, my efforts in link sculpting have seen improvements in keyword rankings. However, it wasn’t a controlled test so it could have been anything that caused the increase. Furthermore, it was only 2 sites, an insufficient sample size to come to a conclusion.

  So what should you do?

Whether it works or not, I doubt link sculpting will have any adverse effects on your site. I say, just do it. If it works, good for you. You don’t want link juice being passed to your low-value pages anyway.

If it doesn’t, well then it doesn’t matter. A small website would take less than an hour to link sculpt anyway.

Just make sure to do it the proper way.

  How to do link sculpting properly?

As Google might not honour nofollow links, there’s really no harm in link sculpting. But this doesn’t mean that you should be link sculpting to only pages that you want to rank.

What you want to do is to nofollow to pages that are of low value. Such pages are your

Category pages

Tag pages

Author pages

Date pages

Archive pages

Terms of Service/Terms and conditions pages

Privacy Policy pages

  Basically taxonomy pages, archive pages, or your TOS & privacy policy pages. The reason for this is that these pages merely extract information from your main posts. This creates duplicated and thin content across your website and devalues it.

Not to forget, search engine spiders have set limited crawl budgets for different websites. No matter how big or small your website is, it is always best to help these bots crawl your websites efficiently, making sure that your content is found and indexed.

And the way to do this is to link sculpt. Use nofollow links to nofollow the abovementioned pages.

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What happens if I selectively choose internal pages to link sculpt?

Link sculpting, if not done correctly, will actually do more harm than good for you. As Google has already mentioned that link juice “disappears” when you nofollow a link, you’re actually wasting the opportunity to disperse it around your site.

Let me give you an example.

If you’re writing an article, and that article internally links to pages A and B, both related to what you’re currently writing about.

Page B is already on the first position, while Page A is at position 11. You know that sending an internal link with link juice to page A will push it to page 1.

And in that attempt, you nofollow Page B in hopes that all the link juice will be transferred to Page A. Instead of spreading 100% of the link juice to Page A, you’re effectively transferring only 50%, while wasting the other 50%.

That transferred 50% is then spread out to other internal links in page A, which you selectively link sculpt as well. And the cycle repeats itself.

You’re removing the link juice that you could have possibly had. So instead of doing good, you’re actually harming yourself.

That’s why it’s important to know how to do PageRank sculpting properly.

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Nofollowing external links

Now while internal link sculpting is more often talked about, let’s not forget that there are also discussions about nofollowing external links.

SEOs have been nofollowing all their external links in their attempt to keep the link juice within their website. Although this method used to work, it no longer does now.

Why?

Again, because Google might not honour nofollow links. Google knows what you’re trying to do. And they’re trying to protect legitimate publishers by fairly sending link juice over to their websites.

Publishers produce content for search engines and allow Google to earn through the Google Display Network, that’s why it’s essential to keep publishers’ interest at heart.

By nofollowing links to authority websites, you’ll just be ignored. Plus, it’s bad for your on-page optimisation. To have good on-page optimisation, you will need at least 1 followed external link.

  How should you nofollow external links

Firstly, if you have a comment section, make sure to nofollow all the links there. There’s no benefit for your article by linking to your commenters’ websites apart from identifying who they are.

Doing this also helps mitigate comment spam.

Next, do not include a nofollow tag to all your external links to high authority websites. Authority sites are there for you to reference from. They are established leaders in the niche. Linking to them helps build your website’s credibility.

  What happens when you are citing from a non-authority site?

Think about why the nofollow tag was invented. It was to prevent spam from low-quality and spammy sites. Unless you’re citing from these types of websites, there’s no harm in “” dofollowing”” your links to non-authority sites.

If you’re really doubting the website, either look for an alternate source, or you can choose to add a nofollow tag.

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Conclusion

Although there are pros and cons to doing internal/external PageRank sculpting, if it’s done right, it will benefit you.

However, if not done proper, you risk doing more harm than good. Therefore, it is always important to understand what you’re doing before actually doing something.

Anytime you are unsure, Google for your answer. There is a wealth of sources available for free online. Read the opinions from different experts, and objectively decide what’s the best action you should take.

Are you planning to try out link sculpting?

The post Link Sculpting: Does it even work? appeared first on Fur.

source https://firdaussyazwani.com/seo/link-sculpting

[moversdevelopment]

A brief guide to SEO Competitive Analysis

Working in a competitive environment is just as good for individuals as it is for businesses. Competition is what pushes us to be better and to step outside of our comfort zone. It is the motivation we need to maintain our qualities while working on creating new ones. And the same applies to the world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for moving companies. Creating your own unique strategy and path is important, but analyzing your competitors to do so is fundamental. Today, Movers Development guides you through the process of SEO competitive analysis and how it can grow your business.

Learn how competitive analysis can push your business further along.

8 key steps to SEO competitive analysis and how to apply it

Before we get into applying it, we need to define what it is.

SEO competitive analysis is an approach where one researches the SEO efforts of their competitors, analyzes them in detail, and then uses them to create or boost their own strategy.

Content, links, advertising channels, keywords that moving companies use, their websites – these are all key factors to take into consideration. And it is all an essential part of the analysis process. Now that we’ve established the basics, time to go through the actual process. So, here is our 8-step process take on SEO Competitive Analysis:

1. Identify your SEO Competitors

Knowing your competition is essential for any business, but so is defining your SEO competitors. And before you ask – they might not always be the same. Just as there are competitors who don’t invest as much in moving company SEO, there are those companies outside your niche that might rank for the same keywords you do.

By definition, your SEO competitors are the ones that rank on the first pages of search results for the keywords you are targeting.

The sooner you are able to identify your competition in the SEO world, the better equipped you will be to adapt your efforts in the same manner. And learning who those companies are is as simple as typing in the keyword you want your business to rank for and looking at the results on the first couple of pages of search results.

Of course, there are more advanced ways to look into this, given the many keywords research tools that can analyze your competition for you.

2. Evaluate the difficulty of ranking for a keyword

Doing an assessment of your niche and the keywords you wish to rank for is always a good starting point before any serious SEO efforts. So, put aside the on-page SEO modifications and link-building strategies for now. Focus your efforts on evaluating the chances of ranking for certain keywords through the use of SEO competitive analysis.

In theory, every keyword out there is a potential target for any company. However, each industry has keywords that are borderline impossible to rank for. Those keywords usually require a high amount of investments and resources, not to mention the time to rank for them. And those are usually the whirlpools for small moving businesses with no prior experience in search engine optimization. Instead, you need to be realistic when choosing the moving company keywords you wish to hunt for.

How can you use SEO competitive analysis to make the selection?

It’s not as complex as you think. Basically, it once again comes down to looking closely at the competition and their targets. Consider the domain strength of your niche competitors and take each of the elements apart for further analysis:

Domain authority.

Domain country and age.

Search engine indexing.

Business listings.

Backlink profile.

Current rankings on search results

Traffic volumes.

Social media profiles.

The higher the authority of your competitors is online, the more difficult it will prove to outrank them for certain keywords.

Once you dig up all the information, you can take a closer look at the weaker and more fallible points. These are your potential advantages when it comes to coming out on top of your competitors for certain keywords. In most cases, the rule of thumb is as follows:

The higher the authority of a competitor, the stronger their SEO strategy is and the harder it will be to outrank them.

Rather than waste your resources on such companies, you would be smart to focus your efforts on competitors with lower overall scores. Start from the weaker links in the chain and work your way up slowly. After all, competitive SEO analysis is a race where patience is key.

3. Explore other potentially profitable keywords

You can use TF-IDF (term frequency-inverse document frequency) analysis to evaluate and upgrade your existing content with keywords that your competitors tend to use. That will offer you the chance to gain additional target keywords to focus your efforts on, some of which might be low-competition enough for you to find your opening among them.

By definition, TF-IDF is a measurement of how often a keyword appears on a page (term frequency) multiplied by how often a keyword is expected to appear on page (inverse document frequency).

This particular approach can be applicable to your SEO competitors and the content they have on their websites. It can often offer insight into the synonymous keywords and phrases that might appear in other content on top search engine results but is somehow lacking in your own. You can use this to improve your existing content or to create new pages/posts that will focus on those particular keywords you are missing.

For example, using TF-IDF, we discovered that high-ranking content for the keyword “cardboard moving boxes” almost always contains specific information about different types & sizes of moving boxes, packing supplies, packing techniques, etc.

4. Always include on-page optimization and content in your competitive analysis

You should never underestimate the information that competitive analysis tools such as SEMrush can offer your moving business. There is a gold mine of data hiding behind each SEO competitive analysis – all you need to do is look for it. When it comes to on-page optimization factors and the online content of your competition, you can learn a lot from it just by considering the following:

The frequency of publishing content;

Type of content they publish;

The keywords they target with their content;

Metadata (title and description)

Content structure (headlines, title length & tags, use of keywords in titles, etc.)

Internal linking strategy

Word count

Image quality and optimization

Use of bold/italic, as well as bullet lists, etc.

It is a well-established fact that all these elements are essential for search engine bots that crawl through content. And all of them influence your overall chances of ranking for a particular keyword in some part. So, you need to take a closer look at the on-page SEO efforts of your competitors and adapt your content accordingly. Make it better and more engaging to potential site visitors.

You can learn a lot simply by analyzing the metadata of your competitors’ web pages.

5. Explore the extent of the backlink profile that your competition has

The backlink profile that a company has is both a crucial ranking factor as well as a way to generate more traffic on its website. Therefore, it is only logical to examine the backlink profiles of competitive businesses in your niche. By doing so, you can determine which websites they link from and reach out to those websites and negotiate your chance of earning links leading to your website.

Additionally, the SEO competitive analysis of backlinks can help you generate a larger list of quality websites from sister industries that can serve to boost your online presence. All this can lead to new linking opportunities, which can ultimately result in higher rankings for specific keywords and web pages.

6. Take a closer look at the structure and user experience that other websites offer

User Experience (UX) has been a focus of Google’s for a while now, with each update shifting a larger portion of priorities on engaging your target audience in the best manner possible. Whether we’re talking about faster loading pages, responsive web design for mobile users, improved search results, etc. – the conclusion lies in UX. The truth is that you cannot hope to beat your competitors with a slow and unresponsive website that nobody can navigate through.

Instead, you need to take a closer look at the websites of your competitors and use SEO competitive analysis to gain insight into the web development and web design efforts that makes them stand out. Consider how their websites win out against your own and use that as a guide to upgrading your pages.

Focus your SEO competitive analysis efforts on landing pages

One of the finest ways to learn what makes other companies in your niche stand out is taking a closer look at their landing pages. Once you actually do so, consider the following:

Click-through ratio;

Traffic on those pages;

Heat map for each page;

PageRank distribution;

Parent/child pages that they might have;

Calls to Action (CTAs) and how engaging they are, etc.

7. Explore their approach to social media tactics

Professional digital marketers still discuss the role that social media plays in SEO and the level in which the two are in fact related. However, it is certain that the connection is there, and that social media strategies are healthy for any SEO tactic. By using social listening tools, you can determine just how much your competitors are investing in their campaigns. Additionally, a good social listening tool can help you increase overall traffic by tracking mentions of your website on different social media platforms and off them.

Focus your competitive research on the following social media activities of your competitors:

Type of social media networks that other companies are using.

The posting schedule of your SEO competitors when promoting content.

How they approach communicating with audiences

The type of social media content with the most engagement.

8. Tracking the paid advertising budget and tactics of your competition

You’ve optimized your website to the fullest and developed strong SEO and social media strategies, but other companies still seem to have the upper hand. That sounds like the time to shift your SEO competitive analysis in the direction of their ads and how much they invest in them. Sometimes, all it will take for your competitors to generate more conversions is for them to outspend you when it comes to online advertising.

A step in the right direction here would be to try and match their budget and bidding efforts when it comes to keywords. However, not all companies might be able to invest that amount of resources. Hence, what you miss out on in terms of budget, you will want to make up for by working on the quality of your paid ads. Look at the ads of other companies and try to outmatch them in terms of quality of content, choice of banner ads, scheduling, etc.

Save time on SEO Competitive Analysis with the help of professionals

Movers Development understands how competitive the moving industry can be. Additionally, we have a rich and diverse combined knowledge and experience when it comes to digital marketing for moving companies. With us to help you, you won’t need to waste time or energy on mastering the efforts of your competitors and outmatch them. Because our team will be here to do this for you.

Contact us today to schedule a free marketing analysis of your website and learn all about how you can!

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