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bbdaydreams · 3 years

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Courage My Love// Semi Eita

Pairing: Semi Eita x Reader

Summary: You like Semi and come up with a plan to confess to him, unfortunately it takes a turn. You meet again a couple years later by chance.

Chapter Seven: Take What You Want

Series Masterlist•<Previous•Next>

“Are you done with the eyeliner? I need it,” Izumi asked Haruka as everyone was getting ready on the bus.

“Stupid. Fucking. Boot. ZIP UP!” Yui yelled in frustration as she yanked on her zipper that had gotten stuck on itself.

“Yui, be careful-“ you started only to witness them accidentally hit their forehead.

“Goddamnit!”

“Yui got a boo boo already,” Haruka sighed before handing the eyeliner to Izumi.

“Poor Yui,” you said rubbing her forehead to which Yui attempted to bite as a joke. “Ooooo feisty, let’s save that for the set, alright babe?” Yui got up and took hold of your ears gently and you did the same. Giving each other a toothy grin you started shaking each other’s heads and making a random sound but you decided to mess with her and let your forehead tap hers. Yui let out a yelp as you let go and ran off the bus to get away from her wrath.

“Y/n!”

“Not here right now! Please leave a message!” Yui was probably the person you were closest to in your band which meant she was the one that had to put up with your bullshit while you put up with hers.

“I’m gonna getcha! And then I’m gonna hitcha!”

“No you’re not!” Running into the venue you were trying to find a place to lose her until you saw Won’t Regret and decided to talk to them instead after realizing the time. “Hey, boys,” you greeted.

“Hey,” they all greeted back.

“You look really good tonight,” Ranmaru said to spite Semi.

“Boo! She does, doesn’t she?” Yui asked as she wrapped her arms around your torso only to move your body side to side with her like a penguin.

“Thanks! You guys look good too,” you said taking note of their ensemble.

“Thank you,” Ranmaru said, looking over at Subaru.

“Gotta impress the crowd, ya know?” Subaru said before stretching his arms upwards to show off the muscles he’s gained from drumming over the years.

Your eyes grew in size taking in Subaru’s form only to grow wider when taking in Ranmaru’s, who was bigger than Subaru due to him working out, when he started rolling his shoulders. Semi took notice of your reaction and knew what his band mates were doing the moment they first complimented you but they didn’t have to go this far. “Hey! You guys should probably start prepping your stuff on stage to make sure it sounds good. The guy is signaling for you.”

“Yeah! Let’s go!” Jiro said wanting to help his leader out. He walked behind Ranmaru and Subaru’s backs and gave them a slight push so they could start walking. The two were about to complain before the took in Semi’s glare. When they got to the edge of the stage they fist bumped knowing they accomplished their goal only to hear the crowd scream because they thought the show was gonna start.

“That’s literally the funniest part about performing live,” you stated causing Semi to ask you ‘what was’ while looking confused.

“Them being so excited that they’ll literally scream just by seeing someone get on the stage, even if it’s just a tech guy,” Yui answered.

“Or when the lighting changes! The room just gets a little darker for a second and all of a sudden someone shrieks which just cases a chain of other people doing the same while others laugh,” you added on.

“It’s cool seeing them get so excited. Gets me excited,” Semi said, looking longingly to the crowd.

“I gotta go piss. I’ll be back!” You told them, excusing yourself to go find the restroom. After walking around with no luck you eventually decided to ask a staff member to point you in direction of the bathroom.

Sometime during your search you could hear Won’t Regret start playing their set and when you finally made it to the comfort of the stalls, Semi was already at the second verse of the first song. When you felt it time you were ready to get up you heard a voice belting out the bridge.

“Rage!

I'm the bad guy, I'm the nice try

I'm the typical bitch with the rage

On my face

I'm the goddamn beast of the goddamn pride”

Your face grew warm from the raw emotion you could feel from the sound. After washing your hands you sprinted back to where you left Yui at side stage. She turned around as you were approaching and looked at you with wide eyes.

“Was that him?” You asked while pointing at Semi. The song had ended and he started introducing the band to the crowd.

Yui with the same stunned expression nodded her head before speaking. “Dude, this mother fucker got lungs.”

“It wasn’t Jiro or Ranmaru? Even Subaru?” You continued still not believing it was your old friend that could do that.

“It was him. Has he always been able to do that?”

“No! Where’s his guitar?”

“I don’t know. He performed the song without it. He’s something else. It’s crazy.”

“Maybe he took over the vocal role and left the guitar to just Jiro...” you wondered.

“Alright let’s keep the night going. This next song is called Girlfriend,” Semi spoke into the mic. Ranmaru started leading them into the song with his bass and Jiro and Subaru followed.

As they were playing the intro, Semi licked his upper lip before taking a deep breath and started singing. With every word he sung he nodded his head along with the music either up and down, back and fourth, or side to side; whichever way he felt was best for the moment. He would bring his mic stand closer to himself and then pull it away so he could take quick breaths. When he got to the pre chorus he started bouncing his right leg to match the instruments as he head banged along.

You were feeling as if this was a completely different person from sound check. He wasn’t as stiff as he was before, he was actually getting really into it.

At the chorus he grabbed the mic off its stand and started walking closer towards the crowd which made them start pushing against the barricade. Backing away to get ready for the second verse, he made his way over to Jiro who was on his on his left and rubbed the back of his hand on his cheek before proceeding to go over towards Ranmaru on the other side of the stage to boop his nose. Both gestures made some people in the crowd scream which you and Yui found funny.

Hopping to the beat of the repeating pre chorus into strutting along with the chorus, Semi made his way back to his mic stand and put the microphone back into its holder. At the bridge his voice got softer and he was swaying lightly side to side but as it progressed he leaned forward with the mic stand until it was almost on the ground only to gradually come back up while rolling his shoulders backwards.

Using both hands to hold the bottom of the mic that was still on the stand, Semi belted out the final verse that led into the ending of the song. He used both his hands to run his hands down his face into raising his hands to show his index and thumb fingers were connected while his other fingers were pointed upwards. He then pointed at the crowd only to then use his hands to make an hourglass shape. Ending the song by putting one hand on his chest and the other on the mic, he pulled the stand to the left side of his head so he could catch his breath. The crowd immediately started cheering and screamed even more when he used the bottom of his shirt to wipe his forehead.

“Girly,” Yui started, “I ain’t gonna lie to you, but that’ll make your pussy throb.”

“Yui!” You laughed not expecting those words to come out of your best friend after what you both had just witnessed. “Girl, I was literally about to say that made my pussy throb,” you responded to finish the meme.

“Is he single?” She asked in a joking matter.

“Yui!”

“Y’all better not be referring to Jiro,” Izumi said which made Haruka hit her on the arm. She looked at you two with a panic in her eyes which you guys responded with a smirk.

“Oh? Does our baby of the band have a crush?” You started.

“Does our little drummer girl like their little guitar hero?”

“I hate you guys” Haruka said as she crossed her arms and pouted.

You all put your arms around her instead of continuing to tease her and continued watching Won’t Regret perform. Some of the songs really blew you guys away. Each song had something different to say and even if you couldn’t relate to the songs personally, you could emphasize with them. At one point you had tears in your eyes because one song had hit Yui too close to home. Taking note of the time, you realized their set was almost done and you needed to do your warm ups so you led the girls to your green room.

“They’ve grown so much,” you started, crossing your arms over one another to stretch.

“I mean, they’ve been playing for years so it makes sense but Jesus didn’t they just recently get signed?” Yui asked, holding the back of foot behind her to her butt one at a time.

Izumi sat on the ground with her legs spread out and placed her hands in the middle to stretch before speaking. “Yeah, with that talent they should’ve been signed years ago.”

“I guess luck wasn’t on their side up until now,” Haruka responded while doing lunges.

On stage, Semi could feel the rush of adrenaline within him. He was on a high performing live with his band mates and he couldn’t be happier. He loved showing off and seeing you and your band mates watch him for a while only fueled him more, not to mention his band mates and the crowd did as well. He put out so much energy and was lucky that the crowd gave it back because many crowds don’t. Most people just stand and watch with a bored expression on their face during the opening band because they’re only here for the headliner.

“Thank you so much again! We’re Won’t Regret and we’ll be at our merch table once we get off stage. The night is still young so I hope you’re not tired yet and are excited for Courage My Love!” Semi spoke, resulting in the crowd hollering at the mention of your band. “Wow, you guys really like them. But what about One Ok-“ More screaming started before he could even finish speaking. “-Rock. I didn’t even finish saying their name!” Semi laughed. “You guys were a beautiful crowd. Thank you for your time and being the first people to ever hear us live in the US. We’ll meet you at the merch table!” Getting off stage the boys received so much applause they couldn’t help but look back and wave goodbye.

“That was amazing!” Jiro started once they were off stage.

“That was the best show I think we’ve ever played,” Subaru added, pinching his shirt and moving it so he could get some cool air.

“Good job, guys,” Ranmaru spoke, putting his bass down in its case.

“I’m excited to meet some of them,” Semi said.

Meeting some people after the show was a new experience for them this time. Back home when they met people, the majority of them were people they could recognize because of the amount of times they’d seen each other where here they’re in a completely different country. Everyone was new.

Not many people were lined up at the table, probably a good fifteen people were, which they assumed was because not everyone wanted to risk giving up their spot in the crowd.

“H-hi,” a girl with dyed blue hair stuttered as she approached the table. “Could you sign my book?” she asked, opening her composition note book to a blank page.

“Of course!” Jiro responded with a smile. Semi and Jiro had the best English so they did the majority of the talking while Ranmaru and Subaru would responded whenever they felt comfortable.

“Could I also get a picture?” she asked nervously.

“Yes,” Ranmaru, answered enthusiastically.

The guys posed behind the merch table while the girl stood in front of it and one of her friends took the picture.

“Thank you for hanging out with us,” Semi told them.

“Have a good day,” Subaru added, smiling and giving them a nod to which the new fan gave back.

The boys continued talking to the people that were in line for them and ended up staying there to watch your set from a distance. When your set was done they got up and ran to the bus so they could take a quick shower, Semi going first since he had to go back on stage.

Your band met with your fans after your set as well and left once On Ok Rock started to perform so you could shower as well.

When you were done you found Semi standing side stage watching Taka and his band perform. “Hey,” you started, surprising your old friend when he heard your voice.

“Hey,” he responded.

“Proud of you. You guys were incredible to watch.”

“I could say the same to you. I didn’t know you had that much energy in you.”

“Don’t worry, I’m still lazy. The stage is where I really let myself bloom. I love it,” you told him honestly.

“Well, I’m glad you found your safe Heaven.”

When Taka announced that they were playing the final song, you and Semi stopped talking to pay attention to your cue to start getting on stage after one of the staff members handed you wireless mics. Semi took the lead and walked to the center of the stage when his part started only for you to follow when it was time for the duet. You continued your singing since the second chorus was assigned to you. Semi and Taka backed up to give you some space to have center stage but when it was over you and Semi crossed each other to switch positions. He sang the part that led into the bridge only to switch places with you again and then walk over to the left side of the stage. Taka stayed in the middle and you made your way over to the right side. As Taka sang the last chorus of the song you and Semi did your best to interact with the crowd before standing up to walk towards the middle of the stage while alternating lines. Taka sang the second to last line by himself and then you and Semi joined him to sing the last one together to end the night.

You both stood with an arm around Taka’s shoulders as he had his over yours and Semi. When the song was over, you and Semi moved to get off stage but Taka kept a hold on you both and spoke into the mic, thanking the crowd, your bands, and everyone else that helped make the show possible. He had you all bow together before turning and waiting for his band mates to come over so they could take a group photo with the crowd behind them.

Getting off the stage Taka thanked you for your performances tonight before letting you both go to your respective buses to relax and get ready for the next day.

“Welcome back,” Haruka yawned when you appeared.

“Hey. Is Izumi making curry?” you asked.

“You know it!” Izumi responded, following your tradition of her cooking her favorite curry on the first day of tour.

“I can’t wait,” Yui spoke, tired from jumping around. Taking a seat next to her on your small lounge couch, you rest your head on her shoulders and let your eyes close as you waited for Izumi to finish dinner.

Laying in his bunk after a long night, Semi couldn’t sleep. His mind was clouded with how the first night went. He was proud of himself and his band mates for doing really well their first night. They performed just like they usually did and didn’t hold anything back which made them surprise themselves. He honestly thought at least one of them, mostly himself, would’ve messed up. Eventually letting his mind wander a little, he thought of you.

He’s seen you perform on stage through his phone screen but never live in person. You were all smiles on stage moving your body along with the music while also never missing a beat. You were literally a pro. He also enjoyed watching you interact with the crowd and seeing you change your attitude when talking about certain topics regarding your music, most of them being about feminism, but other topics as well. He felt like he could watch you perform for hours and never get sick of it. He just wanted to listen to you.

Another thing he realized is that he would love to sing a song with you. The duet you both shared was probably his favorite part of the night because of the harmony he could hear through his headpiece was crystal clear since the majority of the crowd was blocked out. It was pure bliss to him.

He could still feel an attraction to you but he knew better than to jump on it because who knows if you still felt the same. On top of that you both decided to start anew instead of jumping into where you left off. He had to take things slow and see.

a/n: I wrote 90% of this all this morning all because I couldn’t get the songs out of my head. The first song Won’t Regret sings is another song by Badflower and it’s called Wide Eyes. I’ve been obsessed with Badflower since December like I basically listen to them daily they’re sooooo good. Also the song that made the girls emotional was Daddy by the same band.

I basically headcanon Won’t Regret as Badflower like I legitimately believe songs like theirs are what Semi’s band are like. Also if I remember correctly I’m pretty sure this hc is what led me to write this story. This is a long ass authors note oops sorry I just adore Badflower

Taglist: @pluviophilefangirl @yourstarvic @sunaswife @mynscorner @syaziahvg @discountkiyoko @blondemitski

#haikyu #haikyuu!!#semi eita #semi eita x reader #semi haikyuu #semi x reader #haikyu x y/n

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volkswagonblues · 4 years

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prologue to my zukka biopunk role-reversal AU

note: It’s technically a sequel to Through the Ice Darkly, but you don’t need to read it for this snippet. All that’s required to know is that it’s set in a world where the Northern Water Tribe attacked instead of the Fire Nation. Instead of ATLA’s steampunk world, the NWT and SWT developed biopunk technologies instead. Zuko, growing up in a conquered nation, is still obsessed with the Avatar. Sokka is still the son of Hakoda, chief of the SWT, though because his society isn’t ravaged by war, he has more time for his scientific interests.

Though of course, in ATLA-verse, science and spirituality are two sides of the same coin...

They were great adapters, Sokka’s people. Clever and resourceful, they were hunters and dreamers and storytellers. Like ice, they knew how to move and reform with the seasons.

They called themselves the Southern Water Tribe, not because some among them had the power to bend water, but because they thought of themselves as water. They understood and respected the great flexibility of the world.

prologue - when Sokka meets Koh the Face Stealer - snippet under cut

The summer that Sokka was ten, Bato brought him to a hunting camp situated at the mouth of a wide bay, about two days’ journey away from Sokka’s normal home in the capital city. Sokka’s grandmother was there, along with a dozen or so families. They were there to hunt the enormous shoveller deer whose herds migrated to find food in the warmer months. Where the deer went, humans followed. And that summer, Sokka was one of them.

He didn’t want to leave home, but that was what the adults had decided. It seemed a strange and mysterious decision to Sokka, but at ten, most things seemed strange and mysterious to him. Especially Sokka’s own dad. Sokka would have protested, but in the end he loved his dad too much to say anything that could make him sad. There was enough sadness going around already that summer.So when Bato came to take him away to join Gran-Gran and the rest of the people in the Old Village, Sokka went quietly, like the good son he wanted to be.

They called it the Old Village, but in truth the Old Village wasn’t old or a village at all. The people of the Old Village didn’t stay in one place but moved around with the seasons. In winter they built houses out of snow and ice. In spring they traveled on long sleds made of wood boards that were lashed together, and when the temperature warmed they got off their sleds and moved into sod houses instead, or pitched skin-tents to follow animals for hunting.

Once upon a time they would have built or sewed everything by hand or with waterbending. For instance, waterbenders would make the runners for their sleds out of ice, but if there were no waterbenders that generation, people put frozen moss or even frozen fish on the bottom instead, to make sure the sleds skimmed lightly over the terrain nonetheless. This was how it used to be done, but since then even people of the Old Village accepted a few modern conveniences, like sugar and steel Earth Kingdom knives and warm underclothes spun out of air bison wool, which kept out the cold antarctic air like nothing else.

They were great adapters, Sokka’s people. Clever and resourceful, they were hunters and dreamers and storytellers. Like ice, they knew how to move and reform with the seasons.

Part of that flexibility meant that, a century or more ago, when some of them started building a great city out of snow and ice closer to the Pole, some of their friends and clansmen adapted. They moved within its great walls and started new lives there, trading and studying and putting their cleverness and resourcefulness to use inventing new contraptions and new ideas – new animals as well. Some of their friends and family did not do this, and they chose to live the way their people had always lived, adapting themselves to only the great machinery of nature. What was good for their ancestors was good enough for them. They shunned a city life for something bigger and wilder and free.

Neither side lived a better life than the other. They were just different, that’s all.

Sokka’s grandmother liked her life outside the cities; her son-in-law – Sokka’s dad – was content inside one. He was a very important man, and he was responsible for a lot of people, so he and his wife brought up their children inside the capital, where he was busy trying to carve out a future for all of his people. He was very concerned about their future, and because all things were connected that meant he was also concerned about his past. He often sent his children to visit his mother-in-law. He wanted them to sleep in sod houses and learn to cut deer hides and listen to old stories, so they wouldn’t forget the old ways. Where they came from.

When Sokka becomes a young man, the past will become an interesting topic for him too. But the summer that he was ten, he wasn’t thinking about any of this. He was too busy doing two things: the first was avoiding the other boys, and the second was watching the otter-penguins.

There was a colony of them a mile away from the hunting camp. They were all the company Sokka required that summer.

A mile’s walk there and a mile back wasn’t much distance for a ten-year-old boy with a lot of energy, and a few weeks after he and Bato arrived there, Sokka began sneaking away every morning to visit the rocky beach where the rookery gathered. No one accompanied him, and he found that he liked it that away. The otter-penguins were amazingly social creatures with one another, and they accepted their strange featherless visitor with a cool indifference. Sokka had arrived just before their eggs were ready to hatch, and the penguins were more concerned about diving for food than about him.

So he spent those weeks observing them, sometimes mimicking their waddling walk for his own amusement, sometimes working on projects that he designed for himself. He built a little roofless house right by the rookery, and he built it by piling up driftwood and pebbles he found on the beach. Some days he sat there for hours, just watching the flock. He learned a lot about them very quickly. For instance, the male otter-penguins had excellent balance. Even an injured male could hold a round egg against his stomach, gracefully tumble over small precipices and trip across rocky slopes – and never drop it. And after the eggs hatched, the female otter-penguins took care of the pups in the water and held them close by wrapping them with strands of seaweed. And they each had their own names, just like humans did. The mothers and father made distinct noises to call their own pups back to them when it was time for feeding.

They did all of this, and Sokka watched. He listened. He observed.

At ten, Sokka should be doing chores around the camp: fetching and carrying, sharpening knives and harpoons, scraping the hair off hides, helping to repair and maintain the skin-canoes – that sort of thing. But he was no good at doing any of that. He was ten and going through that unfortunate phase where none of his limbs were the right length, and everything he did that summer he seemed to do wrong. He kept dropping knives and ripping up fishing nets by accident. The worse part was that the other boys didn’t even laugh at him; they gave him looks of pity instead.

Before long, he gave up on the chores and the camp altogether. He avoided the other boys, and after a while they avoided him right back, which suited Sokka fine. He’d found something more interesting to think about anyways.

That summer he was ten was a time of sunlight, rocks, penguin calls, and the rushing tides. It was the first and last time he ever applied himself to anything with such purity of purpose. He was acquiring knowledge the same way that the otter-penguins dived for fish or hatched their eggs: instinctively, without questioning why.

The little otter-penguins were cute, with their soft fuzzy heads and their wobbling walk. Sokka liked them, and though he winced when some of them were eaten by the leopard seals who prowled the dark, frigid sea, he never interfered. The fish were food to the otter-penguins, just as they were food to the seals, just as the seals might one day be food for Sokka himself. His father called it the miraculous interchange that made the universe work, and Sokka believed him. But still, he felt sad. The poor parents that had worked so hard through the winter were left with nothing to show for it. It seemed unfair..

It was sad, but Sokka could bear it. He did bear it, until one day, when Sokka himself was busy repairing one wall of his driftwood house – the colony started yipping and fussing like nothing he’d ever heard before.

Sokka ran to see what was the matter, expecting a seal or maybe even a particularly bold black whale. But when he got to the source of the commotion he nearly stumbled from the shock.

One of the penguins was missing a face.

There were no smears of blood, no telltale signs of shredded feathers. This was no ordinary injury from a preying seal. Somehow, the dark eyes and the nubby beak was gone. There was nothing but a smooth patch of feather, like someone had wiped their sleeve across a patch of snow. It was a female penguin, and she was waddling sightlessly, trying to find its way back to its hungry pups.

Sokka looked around him wildly; the mother had left her two pups a bit farther up, on a great flat rock shelf. The pups whined, but the rest of the otter-penguins were calming down now, returning to their placid business, diving and feeding and caring for their own young. He looked back at the faceless penguin, still waddling around in circles, unable to sense the hungry cries of her own children.

What happened? Sokka had never seen anything like this before, but one thing was clear: the mother was ill, and she would not get better. He examined the pups: without a mother to teach them how to swim and feed, they would both die before the season was over.

The world was very cruel to children without mothers.

“No!” Sokka screamed out loud. “No, no, no!”

All his grief and loneliness surged up at once from a small dark space inside his heart. All the sadness he’d been carrying exploded through him, and it was such an enormous feeling that, had Sokka been a waterbender, the tides next to him would have crested and crashed with powerful roars of foam.

But he wasn’t a bender, and something else that was stranger and wilder happened instead. The world shimmered; the air itself cracked down the middle, and everything that Sokka had been so calmly and so happily observing a moment ago became strange.

Mist rolled by, even though it was a sunny day. Flying, glowing creatures zoomed around Sokka, and everything became brighter and richer in colour, even through the mist. Sokka stopped screaming, fascinated by the changes in the landscape. He wanted to chase one the flying creatures, but then something scuttled by him and left a chill running down his spine.

It was a massive being, many-legged like an insect, coal-black and plated with hard shells. It looked like a bug but it had the head of a human woman – a disconcertingly pretty one with sad grey eyes.

“Hello there,” said the bug-thing in a rasp. Its face flickered, changed in rapid succession from the young woman to an old man to some sort of animal Sokka had never seen before.

Sokka stumbled backwards, fell, and cried out again when his palms scraped against the rocks. The thing changed its faces like a dancer putting on masks for a ceremony, except it when a dancer took off their mask at the end of the ceremony, the whale or seabird went away and the dancer became human again.

Whatever this creature was, it wasn’t human.

It’s been a long time since I came this south, said the creature. But the Avatar has a powerful pull on all of us.

Sokka screamed. He tried to get up and he tried to run, but he couldn’t. One sharp pincer edged towards him. It came closer, closer–

And then a distant mountain peak, one that Sokka had seen a million times before, leaned down. It crossed the hundreds of miles between them like it was a single step, and the mountain bent its great heft over the creature, all its crag and weight bearing down with unbearable pressure, and then the mountain too spoke:

Not yet, Koh. We still need him.

The creature hissed, about to object, but then the ocean, all salt and tumbling motion, also rose up and added its presence to the mountain’s.

Leave him, said the ocean, and this command was echoed by the unseen moon and the distant aurora and the ancient rock under their feet.

“First it was the moon girl, now it’s this boy,” Koh said. “Mark my words: we’re intervening too much in human affairs, and you all know it.”

Koh gave one last look at Sokka, and then disappeared, scuttling back into the mists. Sokka was too terrified to speak, too terrified to move. All the spirits were focusing their attention on him now. He knew this instinctively, the same way that he knew up from down, light from dark, the smell of burning deer fat from seal.

The mountain shifted; the enormous and distant rock became a heavy weight hovering over Sokka's chest. It prodded him there, like a finger.

Hello, Sokka, said the mountain, and the greeting was echoed a hundred times. A million.

Hello Sokka. Hello. Hello. Hello.

Sokka didn’t remember running the distance back to the camp, but he must have, because the next lucid thing he remembered was throwing his arms around Bato, not caring that he was leaving blood and dirt over Bato’s clothes.

“What’s wrong?” asked Bato, his brows creased with concern. “Sokka, what happened?”

Sokka shook his head. He was born and raised a city kid; he would always be one at heart. He could not describe how terrifying it was to discover that, the whole time he was looking at the world, the world was looking back.

“Bato, please,” he sobbed. “Please. I want my mother. Where is she? Where’s Mom?”

Bato patted his head and held him close. “Oh, Sokka,” he said – and nothing else.

Sokka’s grandmother was nearby too, running over from some task with her grisly knife still in hand. She clucked her tongue; wiped the blade off with a brisk motion. “Tell the boy to stop wailing and get him inside somewhere, I’ll bring him something to eat. Something warm will snap him out of it.”

Sokka raised his head from where it was buried in the material of Bato’s sealskin parka; he shook it. He wanted to stop too, but his body had other ideas. Water was running down his face: a mix of tears and snot, blood from where he had bitten his own tongue. The taste of it all was frightful, all coppery and salty, slick from the mucus building up in the back of his throat, which was too wet and too dry all at once.

“Dad?” It was someone else who came to see what was going on: Ayaliq, Bato’s own daughter. She trotted over and cuddled Sokka from his side, wrapping her little arms around him and Bato at the same time. “Don’t be upset,” she said. “It’s okay, Sokka.”

One of Bato’s hands cupped the back of Sokka’s head, a warm protective weight. “Leave him be,” he said to Sokka’s grandmother. “This is the first time he’s cried since the day itself. It’s only been three months.”

“You think I don’t remember how long ago my only child died?”

Sokka let out another howl. His vision was swimming; the force of his gasps made him light-headed. Gran-Gran gave him a sharp tap on the back of his head. The sudden jolt of pain stunned him, but it also grounded him back in reality.

“You shouldn’t have brought him here alone,” Gran-Gran said in the silence. “He needs his sister and his father with him.”

“What could I do, Kanna? The Northern Water Tribe is here making threats again; Hakoda wouldn’t leave the capital. Katara wouldn’t leave her father, not even for her brother. And I had to take him here, Kanna – at least out here Sokka’s taking an interest in something. You didn’t see him in those first few days. We could barely get him to get out of bed. He grieves hard for someone so young.”

Gran-Gran sighed. “I grieve for my daughter too,” she said. “Every day. Every minute. But death is a part of life. My grandson will learn this in time.”

Sokka wanted to say that he had already learned plenty, but instead he spat weakly on the ground and watched the string of drool stretch, then snap in mid-air. It was disgusting. He felt disgusting. He had also wet his pants, he realized, and he was so embarrassed to be like a little kid again in front of Ayaliq, that he shoved his face back into Bato’s parka. Ayaliq was a year younger than him, but she had probably never wetted her pants.

“Be kind to your cousin, Ayaliq,” Bato was saying. “And give him some time, Kanna. Let him cry for now. Just let him cry. He needs it.”

--------

Later, as a young man, when Sokka’s sister would breathlessly tell him about meeting the Avatar, the bridge between their world and the Spirit World, Sokka would scowl. He would turn away with his heart pounding.

“I prefer things that exist in the real world,” he would say, and it would come out much harsher than he’d meant it to. Katara would take it as a sign that he was judging her somehow, that he thought she was a silly girl for believing in the extraordinary. She would react badly to Sokka’s disapproval of the Avatar.

And Sokka did disapprove, though not for those reasons. He disapproved because he was afraid.

He wasn’t good at explaining it, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that the world of spirits was not necessarily friendly towards the human one. That his brief glimpse – hallucination? – of the Spirit World told him that it was brisk and insensate, that it was filled with impossible angles and geometric paradoxes. That its inhabitants were ancient and careless beings whose intelligence was beyond human, and obeyed rules set not by morality but by order and chaos. Those beings were sometimes benign, sometimes malicious, always incomprehensible. Sokka wasn’t sure he wanted to meet a person who bridged that world to theirs.

He wasn’t like Katara, always with her eye fixed on some higher purpose. The everyday world with its speechless mountains and rolling seas, its everyday interchange of energies and motion: this was enough for him. Sokka didn’t need to meet Tui and La to appreciate the wonder of the tides and the moon. What spirits that existed in this world already were vast and incomprehensible enough.

Sokka would prefer to keep the two worlds un-bridged.

He couldn’t explain this to Katara, and they would grow even further apart because of this. Piercing through to the Spirit World would be easier than crossing the chasm between them. It was as if Kya’s death had split some fundamental building block of the world as Sokka had known it: On one side, Sokka went with Bato; on the other, Katara stayed with their father.

On one side, the radiance of discovery. On the other, the terror of what he might find. And then, much later, the horror of what Sokka’s discoveries would be used for.

By the Avatar.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #zukka #zukka fic #my fic #through the ice darkly

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wonwoosthetic · 5 years

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The Start Of A Comic Con Love Story || Jake Gyllenhaal

MASTERLIST is in my bio :)

This request has been in my ask box for quite a while, sorry it took me a while. I hope you enjoy it! :) <3

Request: Hey. Can you write one with Jake Gyllenhaal? Where the reader is a young novelist in her late twenties and they meet at comic con where she's there to promote her fantasy novel and he's there as part of the spiderman panel. Can you make it like Tom Holland sees her first and tries to flirt but fails to catch her attention and goes to seek Jake's help but when Jake sees her instead of helping out Tom he snags her for himself? If not to cheesy something like love at first sight...

Characters: Jake Gyllenhaal, Reader, Tom Holland, Jacob Batalon

Warnings: none

The Start Of A Comic Con Love Story

"Thank you, bye", you said goodbye kindly, with a big smile on your face, to one of the many fans that had been waiting in line to get a picture with you and an autograph. There you were, sitting behind a table excitedly and nervous as heck as you saw the mass of people that were still waiting patiently. You had been signing books and taking pictures for over an hour and the line didn't seem to get any shorter - this wasn't something you ever thought would happen.

--- Throwback ---

"I'm sorry but no." "No one will read something like this." "This is... no, sorry." "Not with me." "I don't think anyone will give you a contract." "You won't find any publishing company that'll publish this." Those were comments and statements you had heard ever since you started looking for a company to publish your recently finished book. It had taken you almost a year and although you couldn't be any prouder, hope was starting to leave you. No one wanted to publish your book, calling it a foolish story, ridiculous and even unreadable or painful to read. Putting all of that work into it seemed to had been useless and a waste of time.

Sitting in your tiny New York Apartment which you were paying for way too much, tears started forming in your eyes and threatened to leave them. You were going to have to leave your beloved home if you wouldn't be able to find any publishing company willing to help you out. Your tiny TV was showing a documentary about J.K. Rowling, one of your heroes and role models. She was talking about how no one wanted to publish Harry Potter and her entire life seemed to have fallen apart. You wanted to stay positive, you really did, but reality hit you - you were never going to have the luck this amazingly talented woman had had. You weren't talented, enough people had told you that.

A 'ding' noise from your phone brought you back into the present time. Turning your head to the left, your phone was on the floor next to you, the screen lit up - an email. You took it into your hand and looked at the sender - Joanne Rowling. You choked on your spit. Immediately, you unlocked your phone and pressed the Mail button. The internet letter read as followed:

Dear (Y/F/N) (Y/L/N), I heard about your story. Two days ago a publicist from Penguin got into contact with me and told me about your book, sadly they weren't able to sign you but I read about your book idea and I LOVE IT! I know exactly what you're currently going through and it's daunting, I understand but I don't want you to give up. Back when I was a struggling, but most importantly, an aspiring writer, no one was there to help me. After a lot of ups and downs, I finally got the help I needed - I want to be that person for you. Here I am writing you this email, offering to help you. I'm inviting you to London next weekend, I hope you're free, from the 8th of March till the 11th. The plane ticket is attached as well as your hotel information. I hope you accept my offer! I'm looking forward to an answer and am excited to meet you!

With lots of love, Joanne

-----------------

Person after person. Two hours went by. Three hours. It slowly came to the fourth when the security man behind you leaned down and to tell you, "We're gonna close the penal for twenty minutes, you can go behind the curtain, cool down and then come back again, alright?"

You looked up with a thankful look and a smile on your face, nodded and stood up after seeing the barrier being put up to prevent the fans from going any further. Quickly making your way "backstage", you got hand over a bottle of water which you gulped down faster than you probably should have. After taking a seat on the couch placed on the side, you realized that twenty minutes was a long enough time to walk around and explore the magic that is Comic-Con since you had been a fan of too many fandoms that got represented there. You looked around the room, finally catching the eye of your manager. You stood up and started walking up to her. Before even reaching her, you already started talking, "Melissa, can I walk around for a bit. I won't be gone for too long, I just want to have a quick look around." "No, you can't just walk away-", "But I'll be back on time", you argued back, which won her over. With a grunt, she grabbed your arm and, pretty much, pushed you out of the room which had curtains as walls. "I'm so gonna regret this but you're not going anywhere alone here, you'll get lost or attacked or-", you cut her off, "Woah, woah, woah, calm down", chuckling, "attacked? I'll be alright, don't worry." "No, you wouldn't be, trust me." And you believed her.

You saw what happened to the Marvel stars that entered the building only seconds after you, obviously, they were a lot more famous than you but to your surprise, the reaction of the people waiting wasn't a lot different than the reaction you received. The two of you were walking at a very quick pace to god knows where, so you stopped in your tracks, taking her surprise, "Alright, stop for a second. I want to go to the Spiderman panel, where's that?" "No", Melissa shook her head. "Yes", you talked back. "No", "Yes", "I said, no", "Why not?", you whined like a little kid would to their mother. "BECAUSE I know what those panels are like. Their fans are crazy and we don't have enough time." You rolled your eyes at her comment and started dragging her into a different direction where you knew the panel would be since you... well... yes, you looked it up. Your heart felt like it was starting to beat in your throat, you completely ignored the comments coming from the woman who you had been linking arms with. The nervousness raised rapidly as you thought of the fact that you were about to see the actors of one of your favourite movies of all time. Together, with a lot of nagging, you reached the doors of the hall, which, to your surprise, were open and people were leaving the room. "Wait, what? Nooo", you whined once more that day, realizing you had just missed the one panel you were most excited about. Melissa noticed your frustration, rolled her eyes, and dragged you to a side door which got protected by a rather large man in a security outfit. She showed him her badge that was hanging from the key chain around her neck and he let you in immediately.

All of a sudden, you were in a big, way bigger than yours, backstage area where people were running around in a rush, trying to get through as quickly as possible. Melissa placed the two of you on the side of the room, "Stay here, I'm gonna go and ask something real quick, alright? Be right back!", she shouted as he already made her way to whoever she wanted to talk to. You rolled your eyes at her motherly behaviour since you were old enough to take care of yourself. After standing and looking around for a bit, you noticed a presence next to you. Turning to your right, you came to sight with the one and only Spiderman himself, Tom Holland. "Hey, you're (Y/N) (Y/L/N), right?", he asked with his hands in his jeans pockets. "Yeah, oh my god, you actually know who I am", you were shocked. "Of course, I love your book series!" "Oh wow, thank you. Thank you so much." He quickly got his right hand out of his pocket and went to shake yours, "I'm Tom", to which you chuckled, "I know, I'm a big fan", you shook his hand. You could tell he was nervous which you found incredibly cute. He, in general, was extremely cute, not your type, but very cute. You started having a chat but he quickly came to the realization that you seemed to always drift away.

"Alright, well, it was great to meet you, I just... I have to get going, I'm sorry", he excused himself from the chat, to which you answered, "Oh no, that's totally fine, don't worry", you shook hands once more, "it was great to meet you too and good luck with the new Spiderman!", you knew he didn't need the luck, still, it was a nice thing to say.

--- 3rd Person ---

Well, that chat didn't go as planned, Tom thought as he made his way back to his co-star Jacob who got then accompanied by Jake Gyllenhaal. As soon as he reached the two men, the Philippian turned towards his friend excitedly, "AND? How did it go?" Tom shrugged, "She's just a lovely as I thought she'd be but the conversation didn't go where I wanted it to." "Aw, sorry man", he patted the Spiderman actor on the shoulder - Jake right next to the two had absolutely no clue what was going on whatsoever. "What happened?", he wondered. "There's that authour Tom really likes and he wanted to talk to her and...", Jacob started gesturing around with his hands, "you know... maybe ask her out... or something. Hey, maybe you could help him." The older actor raised his eyebrows "Oooh, and who is that author?" Trying to be as subtle as possible, Tom pointed to her direction. Jake's eyes immediately found the silhouette leaning on the wall, looking like she was waiting for something or probably someone. All he could see was her hair just sitting perfectly, how she somewhat looked slightly nervous making her appear even more adorable. Even from that distance, he could see her eyes shimmering and shining as she was looking around the room, taking in everything that came to her sight - and suddenly the two of them locked eyes. It was quick... but powerful.

"Oh, I think someone has found her", Jacob joked, trying the cheer Tom up which didn't really help but still made him crack a grin. "Sorry boys, but I gotta go", and with that, he left, and started making his way towards the woman by the wall, earing a, "Hey! I thought you'd help me!", from Tom, which got slightly overheard by his co-star due to all of the other people talking rather loudly.

--- 2nd Person ---

You were still waiting for your manager to come back and maybe show you around - although you had earned yourself quite a status, the anxiety of walking around somewhere on your own in a space that you don't know, hadn't gone away yet. Somebody clearing their throat next to you made you turn your head to the spot where Tom stood not even three minutes ago. Looking up, you found out that it actually was Jake Gyllenhaal, whom you had actually locked eyes with before but quickly turned away, trying to avoid the awkwardness. But there you suddenly were, next to each other.

"Hey, sorry for just jumping at you... I'm Jake", he, too, reached out his right hand, seemed a lot more confident though. You chuckled, "Oh, hi, I'm (Y/N). Not to sound creepy... but I know who you are." The two of you shook hands and yours went right back behind your back. "Right", he laughed, "you don't sound creepy, don't worry." "Good, good", you joined in with laughing. "Right, ehm... I just", he took a deep breath, "I just saw you from across the room and... this is going to sound very cheesy", his expression made you raise your eyebrows, "but I saw you and I just have to take you out to dinner, I thought", a loud laughter escaped your mouth, making him smile as well, "I know, I know, but honestly, I don't think I could have forgiven myself if I hadn't even tried asking you."

You could start your cheeks starting to turn a reddish colour and suddenly you were feeling a lot hotter than before, "Well... I-I feel very honoured to be asked that, thank you." A boyish grin started spreading on his lips, "No need to thank me, I'll be the one to say that if your answer happens to be yes." You noticed his cheekiness and decided to play along, not knowing where the confidence came from, "To what question?", you asked with a wide grin. "(Y/N), would you be so lovely and go out for dinner with me?" "Absolutely, yes." Two wide smiling people were now looking at each other, neither knowing how not even talking to the other person for five minutes could already make them feel like this.

"Alright", he swiped off the imaginary sweat from his forehead with a sigh, "now that that's covered, would it be rude to ask for your number?" "No, it wouldn't", with a smile you took the extended phone in front of you and started tipping in your number when you felt another presence on the other side of you. As soon as you looked up, Melissa was standing there waiting for you to be done with a knowing look a cheeky grin. You handed the phone back, "Well, it was very nice to meet you, Jake. I have to go but thank you and... text me", with a smile you left him. Your manager immediately linked arms with you, "Tell me, EVERYTHING", making you giggle. As she started rambling about you and the male actor, the two of you walked through the open door, she first then you, you turned around once more and found the blue eyes man looking at you leaving. He turned around to his fellow actors with his arms wide open, "Guess who's got a date?"

-----------------------------------------

I’m not too sure if this turned out as great as I would have wanted it, but I hope you like it! :)

I could definitely imagine a second part for this, please let me know what you think!

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day/night :) <3

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boatspeak · 4 years

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Some of my favourite dramas from the past half a year, ranked:

1. Because This is my First Life

k-drama, 16 episodes, each 1 hour long

So sensitively and personally written. I was sucked into the storytelling and felt as though I was seeing these scenes through the eyes of the characters. Bravo to the scriptwriter; as I was watching it I felt, ah, she must have drawn from some intensely personal and important place. It was not a story anyone could have written. Because This is My First Life follows the stories of three BFFs as they experience, and grapple with, love and marriage. It does not shy away from the complicated sides of these issues - the societal, monetary and financial pressures that love and marriage cannot be separated from, the difficulties of communicating with others honestly yet sensitively. There are some frustratingly incorrigible people in the drama (like sexually harassing superiors), but most of the time the conflicts play out between good people who care for and support each other, yet inevitably butt heads because they have different - and equally valid - views of life. Is it wrong to want to marry and start a family? Is it wrong not to? It was painful at times, I think I cried for some of the characters. Not because they were pitiable, but because sometimes in life there is no right or wrong; you have to make tough choices and it hurts but you have to keep your eyes open and keep watching; keep walking. For the literature lovers out there, especially those who might be sick of gratuitous (often cheesy) quotes inserted randomly into dramas, well, good for you! Characters in Because This is My First Life read and are impacted by (real life) books, and you can see how the books they’ve read influence the way they think, act, and communicate with each other. It’s very realistic and mirrors the way you might consume and digest books in your own life outside of the drama. Oh, the PPL is also wonderfully done and actually contributes to character building. 8-9/10.

2. Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu (I’ll be serious in my next life)

j-drama, 12 episodes, each 1/2 an hour long

One woman, five sex friends. I know. I know it sounds messy and melodramatic and angsty. I hesitated for the same reasons as well. But when I finally got over it and watched the damn thing (very bingeable, totalling at only 6 hours), I regretted not watching it sooner. Raise wa Chanto Shimasu is a breath of fresh air. Most of the characters, whether hypersexual or asexual, are pretty unabashed about it, and I love their self-love. Want to have sex? Go for it, gurl. Don’t want to have sex? Also no problem. The title is an apt one and showcases this message of acceptance. We might have bones to pick with our current lifestyles, but welp, we’ll just be serious in our next lives. As one of the characters said at the end, “we all became independent, working adults, I think we should be proud of ourselves”. Much needed affirmation in a world of moralising, slut-shaming, virgin-mocking, and expectations to get married and settle down.

Warning: one of the characters in a bi/gay relationship is pretty vocal in denying his sexuality even in front of his partner, and a trans woman was harrassed at one point. These were discomfiting for me.

3. The Fiery Priest

k-drama, 40 episodes, each 1/2 an hour long (or 20 hour-long episodes)

Action. Comedy. Kim Nam Gil, who won the Baeksang for this role. Honey Lee. Badass babe. Ahn Chang Hwan, who was so realistic at playing a Thai immigrant my friend who studied Korean for three years didn’t even realise he was Korean. Father Han. One reviewer said he was a literal angel, and I concur. Most dramas leave you with at most three or four characters you really like; this drama makes you fall in love with the whole gang. Everyone has a backstory, or some hidden side that you didn’t expect that just adds so much more dimension when revealed. Where some might find it hard to balance the weight of action and the levity of comedy, dipping too deeply into angst or farce at times, The Fiery Priest manages the tone really well even as the plot deepens and our characters have to deal with deep-seated traumas. I have nothing more to say to promote this drama except, how could you pass on Kim Nam Gil doing action plus comedy MINUS tragedy and the moustache?

A final note: Technically, The Fiery Priest is a stronger drama than Raise and should deserve the no. 2 spot. The former deals with bigger issues like corruption, morality and forgiveness, while the latter is more light-hearted and deals almost entirely with personal choices. However, some issues Raise touched on were really important to me and came at a time when I really needed affirmation to believe in my beliefs, so it edged out The Fiery Priest in my heart.

4. 传闻中的陈芊芊 (The Romance of Tiger and Rose)

c-drama, 22 episodes, each about 45 minutes long

甜。This drama is just Sweet with a capital S. What a refreshing watch, especially for women. I loved not having tugging battles between two men. I loved the respect given to consent. I loved having so many smart and capable women who have conversations with each other that do not revolve around men. I love how the male lead wasn’t hung up on Male Ego and gave his wife space to be herself and make her own decisions and mistakes. A rare gem. I’m sure I will revisit this when I’m tired of the usual ドキドキ tactics involving possession and pulling around

(If you can read Chinese, I suggest watching it on the 腾讯视频 app with 弹�� on. I found it pretty hilarious, meaning I laugh-cried so hard in the middle of the night my neighbour knocked on my door to ask if I was ok.)

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A quick rundown of the dramas and films I’ve watched so far in 2020 so you know the pool I picked these four from:

Penguin Highway

good watch. super cute. I cannot over-emphasise how cute the penguins were. It got me into a penguin phase and I’m not out of it even after 7 months...

ぼくは明日、昨日のきみとデートする (My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday)

good watch. bittersweet.

わたしに××しなさい！(Watashi ni XX Shinasai/Missions of Love) movie and drama special

would pass on the movie (which cherry-picked from the manga but unfortunately left out a lot of important character developing scenes so the relationship didn’t make as much sense as it did in the manga)

but the drama special. Whew. I watched the drama special twice. It’s trashy good. Because it’s basically a spin-off to build hype for the movie, it doesn’t have to follow the plot of the manga, instead taking on the format of a (very cheesy) otome game. So you have all these ikemen saying clichéd toe-curling lines like “I am also a man you know” and getting stuck half-naked bReAthInG HeAviLy in cabinets together but instead of playing it seriously (as the movie would do because it’s supposed to make you feel like they are falling in love), the main character goes huh??? wtf are you saying?? at her otome game screen, which is so realistic and just cracks me up. definitely would rec.

ごめんね青春！(Gomen ne Seishun/ Saving my Stupid Youth)

hmmm. so-so? Leading lady Hikari Mitsushima is pretty, cool, and fits the bill of gap moe. Ryo Nishikido is also pretty believable (once you suspend your disbelief that somehow all his students think he looks dorky and are not gushing over his ikemen-ness). Unfortunately, relationship development between the otp happened too late and too suddenly.

Он – драко́н (On Drakon/ He’s a Dragon/ I Am Dragon)

a pleasure to (re-)watch as always. Lovely visuals.

Tokyo Ghoul: S

decent! Great performance from Shota Matsuda as the Gourmet. He’s definitely a draw-point for this movie - you can see him being featured heavily in the trailers.

Strong Girl Do Bong Soon

great drama, would rec! 7-8/10. Points docked for all the digressing they did with monks and gangsters. I loved the otp’s dynamic, how healthy their relationship was. One line that struck me was, “Do you know how you’ve found the right person? When you see yourself in their eyes, you look happy”. It was a reminder that while these are obviously fictional characters, we can and should form relationships where our partners are as supportive of us (and us of them) as our dear otp, and not to settle for less. Also loved the fact that smol Bong Soon is so strong and no one can manhandle her >:-) 10/10 also to rookie actor Jang Mi Kwan, who was absolutely terrifying as the villain. How is he only a rookie??

Because This is my First Life

see above

The Fiery Priest

see above

선덕여왕 (Great Queen Seon Deok)

hehe I watched it (again). As great as ever. Somehow cried more than I did the previous two times I watched it? Took me a week to get over one of the characters (even though I already went through all that heartbreak the first two times I watched this..) Sayang... Definitely has a special place in my heart. Available in full on youtube with subs.

传闻中的陈芊芊 (Romance of Tiger and Rose)

see above

来世はちゃんとします (Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu)

see above

覆面系ノイズ (Fukumenkei Noise/Anonymous Noise)

pretty good! Adapted from a manga but very film-like with its color-corrected shots, many cut-scenes to birds and crashing waves. Shison Jun was great in his intense scene, Ayami Nakajo has the most manga-looking face I’ve seen and Koseki Yuta is my bb as always hahaha he’s appeared in, like, four dramas on this list.

博多弁の女の子はかわいいと思いませんか？(Don’t You Think Girls Who Talk in Hakata Dialect Are Cute?)

YES!! I DO!! Wholesome drama packed to the brim with hometown (Hakata) pride). I also loved Okada Kenshi going around looking for Ramen shops hahaha. Now I want to see him host a food discovery show. 8/10. Would rec!

帝一の國 (Teiichi no Kuni/Teiichi’s Country)

面白い。Interesting watch! In which a bunch of high school boys in an elite school take their student council elections very seriously and attempts at political hijinks ensue. Suda Masaki and his pals somehow make over-the-top super seem natural. I don’t know how they do it, but it’s pretty good. Peppered with interesting reveals and counter-reveals along the way.

男子高校生の日常 (Daily Lives of High School Boys)

I liked this! It delivers on what it’s supposed to. As a film, it is very film-like. The background is given a lot of weight in this film, and the director “shows, not tells”. The conversations of our characters are situated in the chatter of their schoolmates, you hear random snippets of conversations drift around, you see the school situated in the mountains, piles of decorations around the hall. This helps in conveying the “daily” nature of what happens in the film - not some life-changing adventure, but a warm high-school memory that is pretty like a paper star in a glass bottle. The boys are also very lovable and dorky in their high-school roles.

ピーチガール (Peach Girl)

not bad. Typical shoujo manga adaptation storyline, even if the leading quartet do well in their roles. Nagano Mei was especially memorable for me out of the typical shoujo heroine roles I had previously seen her in. Inoo Kei also really looks like a boy from a manga. He has a lot of exaggerated actions, but he pulls them off really well.

突然ですが明日結婚します (Totsuzen desu ga ashita kekkon shimasu/ It’s Sudden But Tomorrow We’re Getting Married/ Everyone’s Getting Married)

pretty decent. It’s not mind-blowing, but it’s definitely not bad. (Or you could flip it around and say it’s definitely not bad, but it’s not mind-blowing).

ヲタクに恋は難しい (Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku)

disappointing. I really wanted to like this film for Takahata Mitsuki and Yamazaki Kento, but there were too many useless musical scenes.

同期の桜 (Doki no Sakura / Our Dearest Sakura)

Hmmmmmm. About colleagues who become inspired in their work and lives because of their colleague Sakura. I wanted more love but that’s not the main point of the drama so it’s not their fault. It got a bit repetitive towards the end, and I felt there wasn’t enough character development. Another drama I really wanted to like more than I did, because I was looking forward to seeing Takahata Mitsuki, Ryusei Ryo and Mackenyu work together.

Tokyo Coin Laundry

A mishmash of lost souls meet at a coin laundry. A short drama about running away, making choices, and moving on. Katayose Ryota might have been cool in My Brother Loves Me Too Much, but this was where I first saw him and I prefer him in this. I enjoyed this a lot and even drew a postcard based on this. 7/10.

兄に愛されすぎて困ってます (My Brother Loves Me Too Much) drama and movie

ok don’t judge; I watched this because my friend said it was pretty good. Katayose Ryota IS pretty cool in this, and Tsuchiya Tao brings to life the quintessential image of the Japanese girl, but if you’re watching this for “so cheesy it’s actually good” I would point you to the Watashi ni XX Shinasai drama special instead. If you do want to watch this though, you should watch the drama before the movie, because they are not standalone.

Nodame Cantabile

What can I say? Classics are classics. 8/10, would rec. This is my first time seeing Ueno Juri acting, and she’s so believable as quirky Nodame I wondered if this was her actual personality. Straight out of a manga. There was potential for messy love-drama, but this drama took the high road and focused on proper character development instead. Thumbs up! They also did really well in “showing not telling” us the OTP’s relationship development. Rather than declarations of love, you can see it in the little caring gestures and almost subconscious smiles. I liked that too. Though maybe I’ll dock a point for how they treated gay expressions of love - “he’s a man you know” and icky faces - and how much casual manhandling there was against Nodame (exaggerated flying punches... maybe that’s how the manga wrote it?)

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thong-in-the-twist · 7 years

Text

Cutting The Deck 1/3

Summary: in which Jisoo tricks his way into your heart (pants), theatre!au

How amazing is that that I managed to actually write something that I finished before even posting? I am so proud of myself. And Jisoo needs our love!

2/3 3/3

It’s out.

It’s out and you can’t do anything about it. You can feel horror dawning on you, as your limbs grow cold.

It feels like the whole room is still shaking, damned word still resonating between four walls. You can nearly feel the overbearing presence of witches and horrified screams of those, who perished before you, fill your ears.

You don’t need to look around to know that everybody is staring at you not even trying to conceal their horror. Your legs are wobbly, when you raise from your chair, breaking the perfect circle, your silhouette casting shadow on the old wooden parquet. Your shadow is longer than those of your peers, it sticks out, it’s renounced by others for being concocted by a person that has just transgressed the bound of decency.

And you can’t even blame them. Whether it was a brief lapse in your judgment or heavens wrath channeled through your mouth – you don’t know, it doesn’t matter. You’ve committed grave sin against your community – the gravest one of them all.

“You know what to do?” It’s half question, half order. You nod, not having enough courage to look the speaker in the eyes. You don’t want to face their the disappointment.

Especially since it’s been only a week since you joined this particular club. Which means you saw this gathering, this room only twice.

And you allowed yourself to utter blasphemy.

“Wait, what?” You can hear confused exclamation to your far right, but you don’t bother turning around, and you just walk down the stage, to reach stairs. “Why are you kicking her out? She only said that Macbeth is…”

It’s an immediate pandemonium. Chairs are screeching, everybody turning to the speaker to shush him. The director drops her notes, and they scatter all over the circle, few of the sheets reaching your shoes. You stopped walking when you heard him utter The Scottish Play’s name, as you mistakenly did barely a minute ago, and you turned around in disbelief.

You can see lack of understanding in his eyes, you can see his eyebrows furrowing, and you can see how he looks around the room, not realizing what has he done. He shrugs, his jacket shimming, and he moves down to pick up one of the pages.

Once again you can feel yourself growing cold, and you just shout don’t thinking about it:

“Stop!” His hand stops a breath away from the page, and he looks up at you. You keep talking, as if you were talking to a wild animal.” Don’t touch it. Just. Leave. It.” He seems surprised, but as nobody is saying anything, opting for staring at him in bewilderment, he slowly straightens in his chair. He didn’t touch the page. You motion for him to come. “Come here. We have. To go. We have to go out. Now.”

Once again his eyes slide around the circle, but again nobody is speaking so he shrugs once again and stands up. He stuffs his hands in his pockets and looking indifferent walks to you, taking special care not to step on the pages.

“Step on the pages.” You snap. You didn’t think about it, it has just escaped you. He looks at you as if you were completely mad, but he says nothing and walks over the last few pages, his sneakers leaving dusty prints.

You exhale and turn around, searching for the stairs in dim light. You lead him out of the hall, into the hallway. You don’t say anything until you reach the sidewalk in front of the building. There you turn around, putting your hands on your hips in your fiercest pose and you wait for the other offender.

He looks reserved and cautious, stopping in front of you, but way out of your personal space, hands still stuffed defiantly in his pockets. He is taller than you, his oversized bomber jacket making him appear bigger and more threatening. His face is just scornful.

“Spin around.” You order with all the authority you can muster. He looks at you deftly, longer than it’s needed, and you school yourself for the fight, but he finally spins around – in a manner that reminds you of an adolescent that was made to do something he doesn’t want to do, his feet hitting pavement quickly, making him look like a penguin impersonator.

“Brush yourself off.” You say, and he brushes off his arms. He is still annoyed, but you can feel his curiosity raising.

“Say the name of The Scottish Play three times.”

“What?”

“Say the name of that play, you said inside, three times!” It’s a burst of annoyance, but it gets job done. He quickly repeats the name three times, and you focus on your own cleansing ritual. You turn around, brush your arms, and mutter the name three times under your nose.

Only then you can feel the pressure lifting.

You exhale and stretch, completely forgetting about the other offender.

“Now what?” He asks and you look at him, his hands back in his pockets.

You smile at him, for the first time and shrug.

“Now we wait.” You say looking around to find some place to sit on, there is no bench close enough, so you settle on the stairs. He moves to stand in front of you, but doesn’t sit down.

“Wait for what?” He presses.

“For the troupe to invite us back.” It’s such an obvious thing to you that you have problem understanding how he could not know that.

“Troupe? Ah, you mean to members of the club.” He states and you nod with indulgent smile like a teacher does when their pupil finally get something right. He shifts to put the weight on his other leg and speaks again. “So… What was it all about?”

You squint your eyes, but that’s only because now that he moved you are no longer protected from sun.

“You really know nothing about theater, do you?” You ask rhetorically, and mover forward to find shelter in his shadow. “Theater folk is the most superstitious bunch you could get. So if you want to live a peaceful life with them, remember few basic rules: never, under no circumstances say the name of The Scottish Play. Never whistle on the stage. Never wish luck before performance, say “break the leg” instead. Never turn off all the lights when leaving theatre. If script falls to the ground, step on the pages before picking them up.”

You count on your fingers, and when you finish you look up at him. He has his eyebrows raised, and you can see the perspiration just under his hairline.

“Woah… Ok, that is a lot.” You shrug. It’s not really. It’s basic if you’ve been in the industry long enough.

“Anyway, why did you join the club?” The fact that he wasn’t in the acting before is quite obvious. Everybody involved knows at least the “The Scottish Play” thing.

“I just wanted to try, I guess? It’s probably my last opportunity to do so anyway.” Right. University. Last opportunity for many things.

“Good enough.” You comment and extend your hand.” Nice to meet you.”

He takes your hand, and his fingers are surprisingly cool considering the sweat appearing on his neck.

“Jisoo. Kim Jisoo.”

“Aren’t you hot, Kim Jisoo?” You ask matter-of-factly.

“Well, I am hot, thanks for noticing.” You have to admit you are confused for a second. It takes you a moment, but when you see his playful smile you understand that you just got played. But you don’t get to clarify your line of thought, because they are calling for you.

“And now imagine the animal. Any animal.” Lights are dimmed yet again, director sitting on the audience, quietly talking to troupe. You are laying on the stage, ragdoll-like having shed your usual quirks and moves. You are ready to transform into another being. An animal. “Can you see it in your mind?”

You can. You can see small, but nimble animal. Standing back on its rear legs. You can see its pointy face, you can see black dots of eyes, and little whiskers.

“Can you see how it moves? Can you see whether it’s a predator or prey? Can you see whether it owns the place or slides into shadows not to be seen?”

Yes, you can see it. You can see how it runs, to stand abruptly, to sit up and scan its surroundings.

“Now that you can clearly see the animal, the power of your mind allows you to slowly mold your body. Can you feel it? Can you feel that your toes are no longer human? Move them, just like your animal would. Can you feel it? Then turn your feet, are they covered in scales or maybe fur?”

In your mind you are slowly shifting into animal, acquiring it’s moves, acquiring it quirks. Slowly, so slowly, your troupe starts moving, sitting up, every single one of you starts to acquaint themselves with the environment as an animal.

You are a fully shifted meerkat, and you are trying to get around elephant, when your director calls.

“Ok, guys, stop!” All the animals look at her, startled by a sudden sound. “Good job, but… Jisoo? Can you explain what are you doing?”

Jisoo.

You can all agree that he is quite good. If he gets a role to play he is believable. He has also quite good improv – so overall he should be doing good. But he is not. Because of his misplaced… You don’t even know what, but you can all say, that he is not giving it his all, and he finds half of the exercises stupid, and he just fools around, when the rest of the group is serious.

All the animals turn to Jisoo, and you see him still laying on the ground, on his stomach legs and arms splayed.

He doesn’t react.

“Jisoo?” Calls your director again, now clearly irritated.

There is a silence, and then really slow:

“Sloth.”

You are embarrassed to say, but during that accident meerkat sounded very like laughing human. That was the problem, the troupe was walking around irritated at Jisoo, and yet no one could really get mad at him. He was just… Jisoo. The funny guy. He is usually the last one to arrive (late more often than not), the first one to leave (usually skipping cleaning up), but when improv comes he is simply the best. Even though no one wants to admit that.

He has the best ideas, and he can pull the off.

And be so fucking annoying while he does that. One time he was supposed to play a shop owner, who was being asked for donations to support far right candidate for government in one of the etudes, and he ended playing gay florist. Other time he was supposed to use any song’s lyrics to tell the story that was not connected to the lyrics in reality and he played pregnant women going into labor with Justin Bieber’s Baby. He could randomly decide to just start speaking in verse, and he would do it impeccably. Pissing the shit out of everybody, but he was brilliant.

Perfect smart, but naughty boy, and that was a charm no one could refuse.

“Today we are choosing our play.” You find him sitting in the back row, shuffling a deck of cards. He looks up at you, cutting the deck with only one hand and you are impressed.

“Which means?” He asks tossing cards from one hand to the other one. You stare at his hands, until he finishes.

“Show off.” You say not really answering his question, but he doesn’t seem to mind. He flashes you a big smile and fixes the deck. Once again your eyes fall to his hands, because they look really nice on those cards. Jisoo answers to not pronounced plea, and spins the first card on the deck in such a beautiful manner you can help but send him stinky eye. But even after that you can’t stop yourself from asking. “Do you know any tricks?”

“Not really.” He answers simply bending the deck with one hand. He slides down in his chair, spreading his legs slightly, in this clearly macho way and you immediately know he is full of shit. “But I know some magic.”

I bet you do.

“Wanna see?” You look at the stage to check whether you still have time. It’s also quite unusual – Jisoo being here before it starts? But you are still in the clear, so you go further into the row, resting against armchair in the lower row to face him.

There is a triumphant air about him.

He shows you the deck.

“As you can see I have normal deck. Want to check if every card is different?” He asks quickly, spreading cards in his hands into nice fan, showing you different colors. Instant change that you see is amazing.

“I will believe you.” You say jokingly.

“Maybe you shouldn’t.” He says and spreads the cards once again, this time with their backs up. “Choose one – and, I am sure you know the rules, don’t show it to me but remember what it is.”

You smile and choose one, making sure not to flash him with the card. He does a whole show of not looking at you, and you got nine of spades.

“What now?”

He cuts a deck and makes you place your card on top of lower half. He then puts the other half on top, and your card is concealed in the deck.

He looks up at you, with this utterly playful expression on his face.

“So… let’s get to shuffle!” He starts shuffling cards around. Once, twice, you follow his fingers, not wanting to miss any part of the show. But you are also not the one to go easy.

“Can I shuffle?” You ask, and he stops, fixing the deck. He scrunches his face, but reluctantly hands you the deck.

“Well that could actually disturb my sorcery, but I think you are a quite good witch. Are you a witch?”

“Of course I am.” You answer and shuffle the deck. You are not nearly as skillful, but you do your job, while he stares at your hands. When you are done, you give it back to him.

“Ok, m’lady.” He says, and grabs your hand turning it up. “Let’s search for your card.”

“But you shouldn’t be searching for it…?” You tease, but he is already putting cards from the deck on your hand, one by one, face up.

“Oh, I know where it is, but I should make it worthwhile, right?” He says, and suddenly you see nine of spades on your hand. You are an actress, you’ve been practicing for a moment like that for years, so you don’t show it. Four of clubs lands on your card, and as of clubs as well. That’s when he stops. You look up, already feeling bad for him, but also quite happy with yourself.

“How about we really make it worthwhile?” He asks.

“You mean?” He smiles brightly, as if you’ve fallen into his trap.

“I am sure that next card I pick will be yours. If I am right, you’ll have to kiss me.” You wet your lips with your tongue, more to conceal your smile then anything. You can agree, but you can’t be too ready to do it – you don’t want him to realize that he won’t get your card.

“That is harassment…” You muse, but he shakes his head.

“No, it’s not. It just a way for you to show appreciation for my magic.”

“You are quite confident.”

“Oh, I am hundred percent sure.” He says with a killer smile, and, boy, does he have a prefect smile.

“Ok. I will.” You say, and ready yourself for what is about to come. You fully expect him to grab the card from the deck in his hand – but no. His fingers touch the nine of spades, still visible from under two other cards, and he fishes it out from your deck, and shows it to you.

“Is that… Your card?” His left eyebrow is perched high, and you are dumbfounded. But not dumbfounded enough not to realize that you’ve been played. You’ve fallen into his trap, without any, slightest even, suspicion.

You shake your head, but you laugh.

“Does it always work?” You ask, quite sure that you are not the first girl that has fallen for that.

“Every single time.” He answers bashfully, and gathers the deck and taps his lower lip with a finger. You give him a stinky eye, but deal is a deal, and you are not the one to back out. So you lean forward, pecking his lips. When you straighten he is sitting with this blissful expression and eye closed.

“Nice.” He says. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

“Because that’s the thing you should tell girl after being kissed.”

“I know right?”

“Everybody! Let’s start, we have so much to do today!” Director’s call brings you back to reality.

And to think that Jisoo was the one that managed to get you away from it.

If you were a synesthete, you’d say that you could hear Jisoo smile behind you, as you were walking down to join the rest of the troupe on the stage.

#kim jisoo #kim jisoo scenario #kim jisoo scenarios #jisoo #actor jisoo #kdrama scenarios #kdrama scenario #kdrama imagine #kdrama imagines

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burning-up-ao3 · 5 years

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20 Penguins Thoughts: OK, so is Matt Cullen really retiring?

March 12, 2019 9:55 AM By Jason Mackey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It’s as resolute as Matt Cullen has sounded regarding his potential retirement.

Asked the night of his 1,500th NHL game whether he might have any interest in trying for 1,600, Cullen didn’t hesitate.

“Nope,” he said with a smile.

Saturday morning in Columbus, I brought that moment up to Cullen, explaining that I thought he sounded rather convincing.

“I feel like this is it,” Cullen said. “That this is the last run.”

Then he paused.

“I know I’ve said that before.”

The subject of retirement is going to come up when you’re 42 years old and the NHL’s eldest statesmen. Shoot, even Cullen’s own dad, Terry, has been giving him grief about all the will-he-or-won’t-he talk that’s surrounded his son for, oh, about half a decade now.

After talking to Matt Cullen a little bit about his future, I still genuinely have no idea what he’s going to do. And I don’t think he does, either.

“I’m not thinking down the road like that at all,” Cullen said. “When you’re at this point in the season, that feels 100 miles away.”

2. A couple years ago — not sure exactly when — Cullen decided to change how he looks at things.

He essentially wanted to stop thinking so much about the bigger picture and narrow his focus. It’s one of the reasons he’s been able to keep playing this long and enjoy it so much.

“I’ve always been guilty at looking too far ahead in my career,” Cullen said. “The last few years I’ve enjoyed playing a lot more by being right in the moment and enjoying it for what it’s worth.

“It’s easy to say that. It’s harder to do it, in our game especially.”

3. The Cullen retirement talk is interesting to me because of what it might mean for his teammates. They obviously adore him. The Penguins have also been incredibly inconsistent this season.

I wonder if they think about this potentially being his last run and whether that serves as any extra motivation to get it together? To maybe get Cullen a fourth Stanley Cup, pass it to him first (how could Sidney Crosby not?) and let him go out on top.

It certainly wouldn’t hurt as a source of motivation, but they’d also have to know that’s where Cullen’s head is at. But again, I just don’t think he’s anywhere close to that at this point.

And he’s not wrong for handling it that way.

4. One funny thing about Cullen’s 1,500th game: His wife, Bridget, put together a surprise party for him at Mambo Italia in Sewickley last Monday, the night before the game. A few former teammates flew in. There was a bunch of family and current teammates, there, too.

Matt fell for it hook, line and sinker. (Full disclosure: Terry Cullen told me about it during the story I did on the two of them, and I, too, had to keep my mouth shut.)

“I don’t know if I’m really gullible or what, but I had no idea it was happening,” Matt said. “I had no expectations going into the whole thing. It was really cool seeing family and friends. It was a pretty special night.

“The whole thing was crazy. It was beyond anything I would’ve ever expected.”

5. Apparently Bridget duped Matt by saying they needed to head into downtown Sewickley to load up his truck with a bunch of boxes from a local juice bar. Bridget drove and had Matt walk with their three boys.

When Matt and Co. arrived, Bridget said that everything had been canceled — no boxes — but she had to pick up something from a store.

“We walked past that store, we got to the restaurant, walked in, and a bunch of family and friends were just sitting there waiting,” Matt said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

6. Moving on …

Penguins players wear monitors strapped to their chest during practice that monitor their activity.

That data is collected by the team’s strength and conditioning staff, and it gives coach Mike Sullivan input when it comes to deciding how hard to push his club. It’s not new in pro sports.

But Zach Trotman goes above and beyond.

A self-described “exercise science nerd from college,” Trotman wears what’s called a “WHOOP” on his wrist. It’s essentially fitness tracker that looks a lot like an Apple Watch.

Using a program called Strain, it measures your heart-rate variability and sleep.

“It gives me an idea of how recovered my body is and how much work I should be doing the next day,” Trotman said.

7. This is not a team-issued thing. Trotman does it entirely on his own, but he loves it.

“I’m kinda big into all of that stuff,” Trotman said. “The team does a lot of stuff for us, but I like to have my own numbers, too.”

Trotman started wearing the WHOOP this summer, and so far he’s been very happy with the purchase.

“The more I’ve done it, the better I’ve got at predicting how I’m going to be the next day,” Trotman said. “I’ve learned whether I should take it easy and go lay on the couch or if I should go out and take a walk.

“I kinda can tell how it’s going to affect me the next day and where I need to be at. It’s really cool.”

8. To be sure, Trotman still adheres to what the team wants him to do. By no means is this a replacement for that. It’s more so he can think along with the training staff.

He said he loves learning more about preparation, rest and recovery and views it as a possible career after hockey.

“I still have a year left on my degree, so I’m by no means anywhere near where they are,” said Trotman, who attended Lake Superior State in his native Michigan. “It’s fun for me to be able to bounce ideas ideas off of them and ask why we do certain things and get their feedback, the reasoning behind everything. That helps me learn, too.”

By the way, good for Trotman. Whether it’s here or elsewhere — he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer — the guy might be earning himself a nice next contract on July 1.

9. Garrett Wilson was sporting a few stitches on the top of his forehead Saturday, the result of his fight two days earlier with Columbus captain Nick Foligno. You’ve probably seen the picture of Wilson in the penalty box, blood streaming down his face.

Turns out Wilson’s hands were caught in Foligno’s jersey. As they tumbled to the ice, Wilson couldn’t get his hands free and brace for impact.

“I just had to eat it,” he said.

Wilson was not subject to the concussion spotter’s intervention — fortunately he was fine — because his head hit the ice, not another player’s fist.

Yeah, because the human brain can tell the difference.

10. Wilson told me that he had a similar thing happen to him in junior, when he couldn’t get his hands free and “smashed my head off the ice at the end of the fight.” That sounds … not fun.

More full disclosure: I’ve watched hockey fights my whole life … been in a few scraps myself, though never on skates, and I never thought about what Wilson brought up next.

“I’ve always been taught to not to put your hands on the ice,” Wilson said. “The linesmen coming in to break up the fight can skate over your fingers. I’m always hesitant putting my hands on the ice.

“Those are the scariest ones I see. When you fall and the linesmen are coming in to break it up. They skate right over your fingers.”

That sounds … not fun.

11. Moving on … I thought Sullivan’s answer to my question Sunday night on why Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann have had so much success here was pretty telling.

“They’re two real good players. They’ve embraced the roles that we’ve put them in. When guys bring a certain level of enthusiasm and they embrace the challenge, that, for me, is where it starts, with that attitude of wanting to make a difference and wanting to help this team win games. I think both of these guys are really excited to be Penguins. They’re excited about the roles that we’ve put them in. They’ve done a great job for us.”

Derick Brassard was a “real good player” — or at least came here with that reputation — but he definitely did not embrace the role he was put in. Or, at minimum, was never fully comfortable in it.

I also don’t think Sullivan was any intentionally saying anything to bury Brassard. But I think the Penguins appreciate how much those guys appreciate being here. And they definitely do.

By the way, how about this for a trade comparison:

In the 19 games since Jared McCann & Nick Bjugstad joined the Pens: McCann: 8g-3a-11pts +9 Bjugstad: 5g-3a-8pts +/-0 In 17 games since leaving Pittsburgh, Derick Brassard: 3g-3a-6pts -10

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Update: Brassard still has three goals and six points, and he’s a minus-12 in 18 games.

12. Am I the only one who thinks the Penguins should be leading the Metropolitan Division right now? Stay with me here.

The Penguins are six points back of the Capitals.

They’re just 6-9 in overtime, which is obviously terrible. But from 2015-16, the Penguins won 34 of 59 games that required more than 60 minutes, a winning percentage of .576.

Apply that to this season and the Penguins theoretically should’ve gone 9-6 in extra time, giving them three more points.

Furthermore, there are three games that stand out for me when it comes to Sullivan’s choice in his starting goaltender: Jan. 19 at Vegas, Jan. 9 at Tampa Bay and Feb. 21 at home against San Jose.

Those are three of the best teams in the NHL, and Sullivan started his backup netminder each time; Casey DeSmith lost all three.

I don’t think it’s insane to think Matt Murray could’ve earned three of a possible six points.

13. So here we are — without delving into the Penguins’ other issues with inconsistency and underperformance this season — talking about potentially leading the division.

The Penguins and Capitals, in this scenario, would both have 89 points. If one of those wins against Golden Knights, Lightning or Sharks came in regulation, they’d be tied in what’s used as the first tiebreaker — regulation wins.

Head-to-head, the Penguins have beaten the Capitals in two of three meetings. Thus, the Penguins would be in first via tiebreaker. At worst, Tuesday’s game could be for first place.

None of this, of course, means a blessed thing. But it’s interesting to me anyway.

14. The Fan’s Andrew Fillipponi host and I got into an interesting discussion on-air last week about the Hart Trophy.

I made the point that Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov should be considered the front-runner at this point because of the incredible offensive numbers he’s produced this season; he has 111 points, 13 more than second-place Patrick Kane of Chicago.

Fillipponi’s rebuttal — it’s fair and accurate — was that, since the most recent lockout, a Hart Trophy winner has never come from the team that had the most points.

15. I do think there’s a couple things that should be considered here, though.

And no, I don’t know if I fully subscribe to this line of thinking. Just presenting it. I still think Kane (if Chicago makes it) and Crosby have extremely compelling cases for the Hart and should maybe win it. My point is that we shouldn’t immediately discount Kucherov, and here’s why.

The guy has points in 53 of the Lightning’s 70 games thus far. That, by itself, is crazy.

But Tampa is also a bad team when Kucherov doesn’t score; the Lighting are 46-4-3 when Kucherov has at least one point, 7-9-1 when he does not.

So, yeah, you can say that he’s just compiled on a top team, but Tampa has definitely benefitted from his steady-if-not-specular offense.

16. Patric Hornqvist has one goal in his past 23 games.

It doesn’t look, to me anyway, like he’s doing anything that would lessen his chances of scoring — not going to the net, giving the puck away all the time, shooting less, that sort of thing. You certainly can’t question the effort, and he does have points in six of eight.

What confuses me here is this: Did the Penguins really give Hornqvist $26.5 million on a five-year deal that runs through 2023 to play on the third line? I can’t imagine so.

Hornqvist doesn’t generate enough of his own offense. He needs the puck around the net to hack and whack and do what he does probably better than anyone else in the league.

Many of you have brought up his lack of goal-scoring, wondering if it’s concussion-related. I don’t think it is. But I do think it’s linemate- and role-related.

17. It’s tough, though, because what do you do?

McCann has looked really good with Crosby, you’re not moving Jake Guentzel, and those three create an important speed element together.

Until you get Phil Kessel going, your best option for helping Kessel find his game is probably to keep him with Evgeni Malkin, then maybe think about trying Kessel on his own line. But until that point, best-case scenario, you’d be taking a pretty big chance.

It would help the Penguins if Kessel got it together, and they could use Hornqvist next to Malkin and allow Hornqvist to do his thing.

18. Had an interesting chat with David Savard, Jack Johnson’s former defense partner with the Blue Jackets, over the weekend in Columbus.

Savard was interesting on the whole kerfuffle that started over the summer — “I think it just came out weird,” Savard said. “I think he’s glad to be with Pittsburgh, it’s a great organization, and he was glad for a new beginning.”

Savard also credited Johnson with doing a lot to change the culture in the Blue Jackets’ dressing room.

“He was really professional in all of his time here,” Savard said. “I know it didn’t end really well for him, but he gave everything he had when he was playing for our team. You can only respect what he did for this team and how he helped us get to the next level.

“From the time he showed up here, he kind of changed the culture. He’s a guy who works really hard. If you ask anybody in the room, I think they would only have good comments about him.”

I could be crazy, but I’m starting to sense a small change in the fan sentiment relative to Johnson. Or maybe people have just directed their ire at Dominik Simon. Either way …

19. Number of the week: 1

That’s the number of five-on-five goals for which Erik Gudbranson has been on the ice in six games since the Feb. 25 trade, none of them coming in the past five.

Furthermore, Gudbranson ranks No. 1 among Penguins defenseman during that time in five-on-five shot share at 57.23 percent. He’s second only to partner Marcus Pettersson in scoring-chance percentage (61.29) and high-danger percentage (76.47), both of those also coming five-on-five.

This is all a fancy way of saying Gudbranson has been solid.

Yes, the minutes are (relatively) sheltered. And no, he’s not a one-man breakout. But remember that general manager Jim Rutherford took Tanner Pearson — the missing Pearson, as Post-Gazette columnist Joe Starkey calls him — and turned him into Gudbranson, when then Penguins were in a pinch and had four of their top eight defensemen hurt.

20. Non-hockey Thought of the week: If you’ve read something better than this recently, I’d love to see it.

Sally Jenkins, No. 1, is incredible in her own right, an absolute legend and titan in our field. But I found this piece interesting for how she paints the picture of family life in a sports writer’s house.

Let’s just say that my wife and I can relate.

We’re all weird people, let’s admit. It just depends where your quirks or eccentricities manifest themselves. And kids get a unique taste of what it’s like growing up around professional sports, in this wacky field, and I’m willing to bet it’s a heck of a lot different than growing up in a traditional household.

“Don’t rob old people,” might’ve been my favorite line in the whole thing. Definitely can relate to that. Life in our world is … just a little different, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Jason Mackey: [email protected] and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

First Published March 12, 2019 8:00 AM

#jason mackey #Pittsburgh Post-Gazette #20 Penguin Thoughts #pittsburgh penguins

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bluejanuarysky · 5 years

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Why Your SEO is Missing the Mark (And How You Can Fix It)

After a person are ready having a fully created and developed website, the initial thing that comes into your own mind is "after creating the website, why do we require SEO? " Let us discover. No. In case you have a normal weblog and use a WordPress SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION plugin to optimize it regarding search and social media, a person are probably in the obvious. Mobile-first indexing is one of the particular latest SEO updates in 2018 by Google. This offered the rise of search motor optimization which known as SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION. Nowadays, we discuss 8 SEO tendencies to look out for because you build your marketing strategy for 2015. In today's publish, I'm going to discuss the particular top SEO trends in 2018, which you must follow. SEOQuake: A plugin for your internet browser, not WordPress, SEOQuake enables users to quickly and effortlessly assess SEO attributes of any kind of website without having to open up up extra programs. For improvising SEO with hyper-localization, webmasters will have to focus on hyperlocal keywords, which have to be optimized for local search results. Rather of marketing at people, you should make it easy for all of them to find you whenever they would like you, and that's where SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION comes in. The Penguin update was released to algorithmically penalize sites who deliberately attempt to enhance their search motor rankings via link building methods or Black-Hat SEO techniques in order to artificially boost the ranking of their particular websites. Blog site commenting is another SEO techniques for enhancing your SEO results. Tools like SEMrush Backlinks Band, Moz Open Site Explorer, plus MajesticSEO Bulk Backlink Checker permit you to input your site to be able to monitor the number of backlinks you have gained over a certain time period of time. Bill is a content advertising and SEO expert with more than 4 years experience working as being a full-time consultant. With Search engines continuously trying to mimic individual mind, SEO experts may have got increased focus on end customers. In purchase to master this, constant assessment of content, keywords and hyperlinks that are centered on the niche market should form section of your SEO strategy. When you begin task management with SEO PowerSuite's Rank Tracker, the Google SERP Features column will display almost all elements generated by your key phrases, with the ones you position is highlighted in green. This is typically the taking treatment of of SEO that individuals spend one of the most time and the particular most optimisation on. This is usually why it is so astonishing that this script is flipping whenever it comes to backlinks, along with more authoritative unlinked words getting the ones that fight via algorithms probably the most effectively. Therefore, having the Google My Business profile is usually essential for local SEO because it enables you to show up in these results. Hazel, SEO Consultant and founder associated with SEO+, works together with companies throughout the UK. She's fascinated in making websites work successfully and it has a popularity for increasing traffic, leads plus sales. And if they find the particular content useful, they might also bookmark it. Which is exactly what off-page SEO is all regarding beyond link-building. Moreover, Google can continue to elevate the importance of usability and technical SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION factors, such as site safety, page speed, mobile friendliness, plus navigability. This will also help you spy on the competition's content marketing and advertising efforts, determine what queries your own website ranks on in different countries and what your best SEO pages are. Parenthetically a search motor optimization company wants to position for the term "Best SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Company", the title of the particular webpage or post that is usually being optimized should start with those keywords. White Hat (and successful) SEO is not about ‘gaming' Google, or other search motors for that matter. Mobile SEO is mobile lookup engine optimization or optimizing content material for a better search motor ranking. So how should businesses make use of SEO as a marketing technique? SEO efforts may involve the site's coding, presentation, and construction, as well as difficulties that will could prevent search engine indexing programs from fully spidering the site. I am a good expert SEO and in this particular article I will highlight several important SEO tips that you need to adhere to in order to secure great search engine ranking positions. The third major SEO ranking signal is Google's artificial intelligence search ranking algorithm. In 2018, SEO strategies will be significantly influenced by voice search because the focus will be on long-tail search keywords. Content material is key but content by yourself is no longer king; content material, context, and relevance will generate performance of content and electronic marketing, and SEO is component but not full parcel. So, with this blog, you can discover the newest information that Google is usually prepared to release, such as Making use of Page Speed in Mobile Lookup Ranking” If you read SEO weblogs on other domains, they will certainly likely be linking to plus quoting from this blog anytime something new is published. For your person who have the website or blog, SEO helps get organic traffic of potential clients, clients and visitors from your free of charge, ” organic, ” editorial” or even natural” search results. This is the next major component of ethical SEO ranking. Keyword research have been listed as Amount 0” because it is a prerequisite to performing best practice on-page SEO. This offpage SEO activity became immensely popular after Google's Gary Illyes revealed that a thriving community can boost SERP rankings immensely. For example, Copyblogger focuses on the keyword SEO copywriting” upon one of their landing web pages. In 2108, you will have at minimum five SEO trends no company can afford not to consider advantage of. These trends will certainly be the cornerstone of achievement for hundreds of new plus thriving businesses, which will furthermore determine the end result associated with their future success. In our previous blog, we all discuss the fundamentals of SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and significance of on web page SEO; but it can furthermore be very true that in order to bring the website around the very first page of Google, it actually is imperative to put energy on off page as properly as on page SEO. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is really a holistic work of all pieces of the company, including social media, advertising, web design, networking and copywriting. The particular most important SEO factors are usually a mobile-friendly user experience simply because well as the page-loading velocity. So that your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION if your thinking mobile, should be either responsive or application store strategy with the correct dimensions, design, user-friendly, UX expertise. As SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is now moving towards delivering personalized experience thus, UX might play a vital role within maintaining the search traffic. Voice search will certainly definitely be an important SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION trend to know in 2018. Nevertheless, all too frequently SEO 2019 Slide, Local SEO's impact is muted, leaving profits on the desk for a lot of business owners who perform not dive set for additional understanding. Thank you regarding your awesome In-depth Guide, I possess learnt some new SEO Methods, I will start with enhancing my site's Dwell Time Next to Creating Visual Content, I can really appreciate In case a person could Write an In-depth Guideline about Creating Embeddable Images”, I must understand it better. You must end up being witty enough to select greatest SEO Company that handles cultural media marketing technique very properly. The SEO trends intended for 2018 and the years in order to come are not some unattached concepts you need to deal with separately. SEO, within general, covers all types associated with businesses, blogs, and websites. I imply, most websites outsource their SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION for an agency - is actually just not cool ripping lower someone's online presence for activities they did not take. You can build links through Digital Marketing or content advertising blogs too, because these are usually (SEO, Digital Marketing or Content material marketing) closely related topics. A successful SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION campaign always begins with key word research. SEO strategies that as soon as were along with the sport may not apply to the particular current search engines like search engines. But, the most substantial SEO announcement might have already been Google's mobile update of Apr 2015 - this update triggered non-mobile-friendly websites to get decrease rankings. Yes, I believe you Karthikeyan Maruthai, We Should Know Over Off-page SEO Techniques to Obtain Very Good Ranking. Technical SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, content, and links should carry on to be the focus associated with SEO campaigns, tailored to your own users as well as the particular type of customer you are usually targeting. Position factors could be divided directly into on-page SEO factors (including specialized SEO) and backlink or off-page SEO factors. And the goal is not really to master the trends, yet instead to build a dependable SEO process which will provide organic traffic to your specific website. SEO in 2018 is not really that different in spirit through what it was 5, ten, or 15 years ago: the way for having our personal and our clients' websites the particular most visible possible to possible customers in the search motor results. I actually see the use of tone of voice for Search being bigger plus long tail keywords like exactly where is the nearest dentist in order to me” local companies need in order to have a local SEO existence and need to appear in first position from your SERP's. While focusing on presented snippets, SEO focuses read even more about high volume keywords. Advances in both video plus image search will be essential SEO trends to know within 2018. Tools might furthermore get a boost and supply users with more information associated to search queries. Nearby SEO to help drive nearby organic traffic (if you have got a brick and mortar). So, businesses can obtain SEO trends and ranking elements will continue in this path throughout 2018 and beyond. By having a strong SEO, a website owner can get free organic traffic that otherwise she or he would have to pay for (e. g. via Google PPC Adwords). Enter your own competitor's URL into the SEMRush search bar and you'll end up being provided with a list associated with SEO keywords, along with their own rankings and traffic. I actually think in 2018 we'll observe an acceleration of SEO methods being folded into the bigger marketing strategy. In order to assist you understand the essentials of search engine optimization ( SEO ), we'll cover sites, web design and online articles. Lastly, Amazon can dominate e-commerce queries in 2018 via Alexa voice, touch, plus other innovative interfaces, leaving several e-commerce SEOs to concentrate in upon the content-side of their marketing and advertising. So, make certain to focus a bit upon these trends and search examine more about them in purchase to make your SEO video game stronger. Indeed, I agree with you Karthikeyan Maruthai, We ought to Understand Above Off-page SEO Ways to Accomplish Very Good Ranking. Additionally, it provides me a place to embed the video (giving it more views, embeds, wants, etc) which improves both our video's SEO and my cyberspace SEO as well… people are usually very likely to share, link to, plus spend more time on the particular page if it has the nice video. Allow me to operate you through the top SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION vogues and what you ought to do, to improve the position your website. In SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION NAP stands for Name, Deal with, Phone #. While it might appear innocent enough, people mess this up time and period again, and inconsistent information on the particular web will destroy any prospect you have intended for ranking in local search. We will cover technical SEO in significantly more depth in future articles, but in short, it offers things like site speed, examine errors, redirects, duplicate content, canonicalization, mobile optimization, sitemaps, markups, organized data, and various HTML labels, for example rel=nofollow, that might become needed sometimes. Traditional SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION techniques are still effective, yet a number of trends are usually in the works that can significantly alter the practice of customization for search. Whatever you do, be sure you don't fall in the trap and begin doing some black-hat SEO techniques like cloaking or spammy backlink building, it may get you seriously penalized by Google. Unless you upgrade your own SEO strategy and just stay to traditional methods, you may find hard to push your own website pages in top ten results, and even worst, obtain penalized by Google for carrying on aggressive and forceful SEO techniques to gain ranking. The blog post of interest in order to SEOs from is this one particular: 4 Search Trends That Produced Waves in 2017” This article begins using a paragraph that might resonate with those who possess searched on Google (or some other search engines like google, with regard to that matter) for many yrs: For the past 2 decades, the particular pinnacle of search sophistication had been talking to a search motor like you're Tarzan. The acronym PASO appears for Personal Assistant Search Optimisation, and it is referred in order to the use of SEO methods with the aim of setting content as the source associated with the answers provided by Individual Assistants (PAs) such as Siri and Google Assistant to their own users. SEO SERVICES There are the number of SEO services which usually can help improve the research engines engine rankings of the website. This brand-new paradigm of users relying upon voice search for many associated with their search needs will become a game changer for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION. These are the precise SEO strategies that have helped to enhance our natural search engine traffic (unique visitor) by 35. 36% in just 30 days. And well, for his or her own particular reasons from the above features, 12. 7% of the worldwide SEO professionals chose Mobile SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and 11. 3% of all of them chose Local SEO to end up being the most impactful Google modify on SEO skills. Working as a Jr. Electronic Marketing Specialist with Circa Online, she has gained experience within SEO and higher education content material marketing while cultivating her innovative skills. Whether you are usually a marketer or a company owner, or even a firm for SEO, it's always helpful to research and learning fresh SEO tactics. I'm curious - sometimes along with your chapter-based guides, you have got them all on a individual page like this one, yet sometimes they're separate pages along with an overview page as being a type of intro + table associated with contents, like the Keyword Analysis for SEO Definitive Guide. More significantly for us as SEOs, it indicates that the power of hyperlinks to rank websites is arranged to decrease, as well since the power of good user-engagement metrics on the website (and anything that improves them) will be increasing. Once we head in order to 2018, SEO is becoming more and more important as more businesses are usually aware they require it in order to get found online. If youโ€d like to know more about doing keyword research that will give a boost to your SEO activities, head over to our completeย long tail keywords research guide and find out some of the FREE tools in action. Mobile users are increasing therefore it you must aware with the mobile SEO tactics and also updated that Google making. 1- I am aware that do backlinks with robots or programs, that not great for SEO and Big Sibling Google do not love this i mention to Fiverr Gig”. Knowledge associated with SEO techniques can assist a company to promote its online existence effectively. Therefore, as a good online marketer, you should have got a clear regarding the current SEO trends. Along with SEO becoming more and even more important, search engines had in order to develop a way to utilize this with greater accuracy. Given the rankings plus search volume, SEO can generate considerable traffic and leads with regard to Grainger. Google's Featured Thoughts and quick answers can end up being another important SEO trend that will you should watch in 2018. Many business people find checking out up on the "moving target" of SEO distracts them through daily priorities more than these people ever imagined, therefore it is definitely good to look closely with why is sense for every business. Back in times, people utilized to manipulate the particular search results using some popular black hat SEO techniques. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ranking factors will continue in order to act as the bottom associated with SEO pillars in spite associated with whatever search engine updates. If a person are reading this blog right now, you'd probably know what Research Engine Optimization” is. It will be quite commonly called SEO I am just giving you a quick short on Search Engine Optimization, sorts of SEO techniques, the techniques involved in these processes plus so forth Seo is techniques that will search engines recommend as great practice and black hat SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is those techniques that lookup engines do not approve associated with. For SEO consultants who practice seo, they tend to create results that be very long lasting. Follow along and you will have done your most readily useful Local SEO audit in know time. SEO strategies that will once were on top associated with the game might not use to the current search motors. Since that action can imply losing all search engine visitors, Web Strategy Plus always suggests sticking to SEO techniques that will fall within Google's guidelines. As the matter of fact, the energy of any website lies within the DA. Domain Authority is definitely SEOmozs calculated metric for exactly how well a given domain will be likely to rank in lookup results. You should restrategize your method to local SEO to create sure you are picking upward on voice searcher intent intended for keyword groupings around your company or industry. Sometimes the best method to improve local SEO is usually to correct previous mistakes. In today's rapidly shifting globe, SEO techniques can change upon a dime—and the worst component is that you might not really even know it. Hacks that will could have won you the front-page result as recently since 2016 are not only outdated now, but they may also hurt your website's rankings. As shown above, in case a user will say some thing like Tell me something regarding Semantic SEO? ”, Sir Jerr Link might be invoked. It is definitely quite true the search rank depends on the WEB two. 0, content, Blog, keywords, higher quality links, and technical search engine optimization and UX easy to use design. With the rise of tone of voice search more than half associated with Google's searches should come from cellular devices, so you clearly are unable to afford to ignore mobile SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION anymore. Anyone can find out basics of SEO and include it into their digital product sales, advertising content strategy. This can help drive posting, links and mentions of content material that can affect SEO search positions and traffic. Since a savvy company owner, you understand how important keyword research will be and always has been regarding SEO. This ‘what is SEO‘ guide (and this entire website) is definitely not about churn and burn off type of Google SEO (called webspam to Google) as which usually is too risky to set up on the real business site in 2018. Organic SEO Competitors: Like commercial intent, evaluating the keyword's competition in Google's natural search results takes some even more digging. Enter: SEO -- a method to filter plus organise websites depending on key phrases. SEO today is producing sure a user's experience is definitely optimal in terms of the particular content they're consuming, how could possibly be consuming on various devices, plus what action they're lead in order to take next. And as over 55% of most search results on Search engines contain one or more movies — almost all of which usually are YouTube videos — submitting SEO-optimised YouTube videos will obtain you more Google search publicity and increase your online presence exponentially. In situation your website is on the particular newer side, you can prioritize your PPC campaign first since it can take a whilst for SEO rankings to turn out to be established, but don't ignore your own SEO in this process. In truth, you're going to see even more and more people investing within SEO as paid traffic stations will get expensive. Google failed to impact web pages so much right after updates, quickly but they gather data at all times so they are usually testing their algorithms then this effects all directories in search engine optimization.

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kivircikedebiyatii · 5 years

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Quick Guide to SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is definitely a technique utilized by website owners to get more traffic in order to the site. The end from the particular year 2018 is expected in order to witness a major shift within SEO marketing. With this switch happening at regular intervals, the particular search engine optimization (SEO) developments are also shifting. In the months of January and February, you would get a drop in web site traffic, but it does maybe not always mean that your Local SEO campaign is failing. Not just that, Google wants businesses in order to consider advantage of HTTPS, plus they are rewarding websites along with a small but significant increase in SEO for their initiatives. On the subject matter of speed, at the starting of 2017 there is still very much resistance to AMP within the particular SEO community overall, but once we head toward 2018 that seems to be dissipating now relatively having a reluctant acceptance that AMPLIFYING DEVICE looks as though it's not really going away any time quickly. For a long time, inbound links have been one of the particular primary parts of SEO. While it may sound uncommon, it really is simple: whenever Google sees that the firm takes care of customers day-in-and-day-out, it will probably be much easier to obtain local SEO traction. The Penguin update was released to algorithmically penalize sites who deliberately attempt to enhance their search motor rankings via link building techniques or Black-Hat SEO techniques in order to artificially raise the ranking of their particular websites. Blog page commenting is another SEO techniques for enhancing your SEO results. Tools like SEMrush Backlinks Band, Moz Open Site Explorer, plus MajesticSEO Bulk Backlink Checker enable you to input your site to be able to monitor the number of backlinks might gained over a certain time period of time. Bill is a content advertising and SEO expert with more than 4 years experience working as being a full-time consultant. With Search engines continuously trying to mimic human being mind, SEO experts may have got increased focus on end customers. In purchase to master this, constant screening of content, keywords and hyperlinks that are centered on the niche market should form a part of your SEO strategy. When you begin task management with SEO PowerSuite's Rank Tracker, the Google SERP Features column will display most elements generated by your key phrases, with the ones you position is highlighted in green. This is typically the taking treatment of of SEO that individuals spend one of the most time and the particular most optimisation on. This is definitely why it is so amazing that this script is flipping whenever it comes to backlinks, along with more authoritative unlinked words getting the ones that fight via algorithms probably the most effectively. Therefore, having the Google My Business profile will be essential for local SEO since it enables you to show up in these results. Hazel, SEO Consultant and founder associated with SEO+, works together with companies throughout the UK. She's fascinated in making websites work successfully and it has a popularity for increasing traffic, leads plus sales. And if they find the particular content useful, they might also bookmark it. Which is exactly what off-page SEO is all regarding beyond link-building. Moreover, Google will certainly continue to elevate the importance of usability and technical SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION factors, such as site safety, page speed, mobile friendliness, plus navigability. This will also help you spy on the competition's content advertising efforts, determine what queries your own website ranks on in numerous countries and what your best SEO pages are. Let's imagine a search motor optimization company wants to position for the term "Best SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Company", the title of the particular webpage or post that is usually being optimized should start with those keywords. White Hat (and successful) SEO is not about ‘gaming' Google, or other search motors for that matter. Mobile SEO is mobile research engine optimization or optimizing articles for a better search motor ranking. So how should businesses make use of SEO as a marketing technique? SEO efforts may involve the site's coding, presentation, and framework, as well as difficulties that will could prevent search engine indexing programs from fully spidering the site. I am a good expert SEO and in this particular article I will highlight several important SEO tips that you ought to adhere to in order to secure great search engine ranking positions. One region of focus for greater marketing SEO performance in 2018 could be the confluence of content, influence, plus social. The above SEO developments & tactics research from your study conducted by the team associated with GoodFirms must have given a person rich apprehension for dealing along with the Search Engine Optimization associated with the website. Algorithmic chasers, technical SEOs, and Google Design followers should hone their specialized skills to focus on rising voice search technologies and AI applications. Once you have got a variety of keyword tips, you can then use all of them for on-page SEO, improving your own content, building helpful pages plus finding relevant sites in your own niche. Search queries like Chinese language food near me” or greatest auto mechanic near me” offer the perfect opportunity for nearby SEO to capitalize on possible customers. In this free e-book, we will discuss everything a person need to learn to start a good effective Local SEO campaign with regard to your business. This offpage SEO activity became immensely popular after Google's Gary Illyes revealed that a thriving community can boost SERP rankings immensely. For example, Copyblogger focuses on the keyword SEO copywriting” upon one of their landing web pages. In 2108, you will see at minimum five SEO trends no company can afford not to consider advantage of. These trends will certainly be the cornerstone of achievement for hundreds of new plus thriving businesses, which will furthermore determine the end result associated with their future success. In our previous blog, we all discuss the fundamentals of SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and significance of on web page SEO; but it can furthermore be very true that in order to bring the website for the initial page of Google, it actually is imperative to put work on off page as properly as on page SEO. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is really a holistic hard work of all pieces of the company, including social media, marketing and advertising, web design, networking and copywriting. The particular most important SEO factors are usually a mobile-friendly user experience simply because well as the page-loading velocity. So that your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION if your thinking mobile, should be either responsive or application store strategy with the correct dimensions, design, user-friendly, UX expertise. As SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is now moving towards offering personalized experience thus, UX might play a vital role within maintaining the search traffic. Voice search will certainly definitely be an important SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION trend to know in 2018. Nevertheless, all too frequently SEO 2019 Slide, Local SEO's impact is muted, leaving profits on the desk for several business owners who perform not dive set for more understanding. Thank you with regard to your awesome In-depth Guide, There are learnt some new SEO Techniques, I will start with enhancing my site's Dwell Time Next to Creating Visual Content, I will certainly really appreciate In case a person could Write an In-depth Guideline about Creating Embeddable Images”, I must understand it better.

You must end up being witty enough to select greatest SEO Company that handles cultural media marketing technique very nicely. The SEO trends regarding 2018 and the years in order to come are not some separate concepts you need to deal with separately. SEO, within general, covers all types associated with businesses, blogs, and websites. I imply, most websites outsource their SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION for an agency - is actually just not cool ripping straight down someone's online presence for activities they did not take. You can build links through Digital Marketing or content advertising blogs too, because these are usually (SEO, Digital Marketing or Content material marketing) closely related topics. A successful SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION campaign always begins with key phrase research. SEO strategies that as soon as were along with the video game may not apply to the particular current search engines like search engines. But, the most substantial SEO announcement might have already been Google's mobile update of Apr 2015 - this update triggered non-mobile-friendly websites to get reduced rankings.

Yes, I accept you Karthikeyan Maruthai, We Should Know Over Off-page SEO Techniques to Attain Very Good Ranking. Technical SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, content, and links should carry on to be the focus associated with SEO campaigns, tailored to your own users as well as the particular type of customer you are usually targeting. Rating factors could be divided in to on-page SEO factors (including specialized SEO) and backlink or off-page SEO factors. And the goal is not really to master the trends, yet instead to build a dependable SEO process which will provide organic traffic to your specific website. SEO in 2018 is not really that different in spirit through what it was 5, ten, or 15 years ago: the way for having our personal and our clients' websites the particular most visible possible to possible customers in the search motor results. We see the use of tone of voice for Search being bigger plus long tail keywords like exactly where is the nearest dentist in order to me” local companies need in order to have a local SEO existence and need to appear with first position from your SERP's. The SEO specialist analyzes and decides effective key phrases for your website promotion, plus suggests you the expertise upon different factors of SEO. Agreed, but above compensated links, stuffing, seo, invisible textual content, additional options, you can simply buy traffic. This is an excellent illustration of a digital marketing weblog on this list that's a lot broader than just” an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION blog, however it contains a lot of valuable SEO-related information. Most SEO focuses on optimizing for Google's search engine, which dominates the overall search market with a share of over 90%. In contrast, black hat SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is about trying to consider shortcuts and game search motors. The purpose associated with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is definitely to increase web visitor matters by ranking high in the particular results of searches using the particular most suitable keywords describing the particular content of your site. Mobile phone search has entirely reshaped the particular realm of SEO in previous few years. 5. Mobile Initial Index @jambad 2018 SEO Tendencies - 5 Ways To Remain Ahead of the Curve SEOmeter 91 What exactly is this? Of course, there will end up being the normal offerings of incredible content, link building (acquisition) plus technical SEO (Auditing), but 2017 is going to be the big year for mobile. Essential I reached out in order to more than 60 SEO professionals and asked them how they will would define what seo is usually now. Yes, We agree with you Karthikeyan Maruthai, We ought to Know Over Off-page SEO Ways to Achieve Extremely Good Ranking. The particular top SEO trends 2018 consists of the maximum uses of movies and images. When Google was within its infancy, Keyword Density reigned over SEO. The Ancient greek language philosopher Heraclitus said, Change is definitely the only constant in living. ” If he were living today, one might think that will he was referring to Search engine optimization (SEO). I notice it as more of the need now for SEOs in order to make websites search engine pleasant.

SEO, today, means what constantly has: creating a website that will can be properly understood simply by a search engine. Many growing SEO trends could infuse large difference to future SEO technique of businesses. Plus that's why search engine optimization (SEO) - the earning associated with traffic through search engines -- has been this kind associated with important topic for site proprietors for more than 20 yrs. 1 of the biggest mistakes manufacturers make when it comes in order to their SEO is focusing upon metrics that misrepresent the whole success, such as keyword rating and keyword search volume. Some SEO software equipment give you the option in order to spy on your competition, in order to see where they are obtaining their links from, what key phrases they are competing for, plus so much more. I'm curious -- sometimes with your chapter-based manuals, you might have them just about all on a single page such as this one, but sometimes these kinds of are separate pages having an overview web page as a sort of introduction + table of contents, like as the Keyword Research regarding SEO Definitive Guide.

The acronym PASO appears for Personal Assistant Search Marketing, and it is referred in order to the use of SEO methods with the aim of setting content as the source associated with the answers provided by Individual Assistants (PAs) such as Siri and Google Assistant to their own users. SEO SERVICES There are the number of SEO services which usually can help improve the research engines engine rankings of the website. This fresh paradigm of users relying upon voice search for many associated with their search needs will end up being a game changer for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION. These are the actual SEO strategies that have helped to enhance our natural search engine traffic (unique visitor) by 35. 36% in just 30 days. And well, for own particular reasons from the above features, 12. 7% of the worldwide SEO professionals chose Mobile SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and 11. 3% of all of them chose Local SEO to end up being the most impactful Google modify on SEO skills. Working as a Jr. Electronic Marketing Specialist with Circa Online, she has gained experience within SEO and higher education articles marketing while cultivating her innovative skills. SEO differs from nearby search engine optimization in that will the latter is targeted upon optimizing a business' online existence so that its web web pages is going to be shown by search engines when the user enters a local research for its products or solutions. In a current survey by Hubspot only 9% of businesses using inbound advertising with SEO failed to notice an ROI. Right now, the only way to show up in the search engine web pages like this is by posting your videos on You Pipe or through video SEO. SEO requires an understanding associated with how search engines work, exactly what individuals search for, and the reason why and how people search. While Search engines makes it near impossible in order to completely crack its page rank algorithm code, constantly adjusting in order to accommodate one thousand different detailed aspects will be the challenge intended for SEOers in 2018 and numerous a long time. In order to get them, you'll have in order to read other blogs that examine between the lines of exactly what Google representatives are saying which usually publish data that illuminates the consequences, say, of a new criteria change or that tries in order to determine is new ranking elements are taking effect when Search engines isn't being clear about can be going on. The comments upon posts in this blog are usually often worth reading, even in the event that just to see what some other SEO professionals are thinking. Mobile users are increasing therefore it you must aware with all the current mobile SEO tactics and also updated that Google making. 1- I realize that do backlinks with robots or programs, that not great for SEO and Big Sibling Google do not love this i mention to Fiverr Gig”. Knowledge associated with SEO techniques can assist a company to promote its online existence effectively. Therefore, as a good online marketer, you should have got a clear regarding the latest SEO trends. Along with SEO becoming more and even more important, search engines had in order to develop a way to utilize this with greater accuracy. Given the rankings plus search volume, SEO can generate considerable traffic and leads intended for Grainger. Google's Featured Thoughts and quick answers can become another important SEO trend that will you should watch in 2018. Many business people find looking at up on the "moving target" of SEO distracts them through daily priorities more than they will ever imagined, therefore it is definitely good to look closely with why is sense for every business.

Back in times, people utilized to manipulate the particular search results using some popular black hat SEO techniques. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ranking factors will continue in order to act as the bottom associated with SEO pillars in spite associated with whatever search engine updates. If a person are reading this blog right now, you'd probably know what Research Engine Optimization” is. It will be quite commonly called SEO Now i'm giving you a quick short on Search Engine Optimization, sorts of SEO techniques, the methods involved in these processes plus so forth Seo is techniques that will search engines recommend as great practice and black hat SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is those techniques that research engines do not approve associated with. For SEO consultants who practice seo, they tend to create results that be very long lasting. Follow along and you will have done your most readily useful Local SEO audit in know time. SEO strategies that will once were on top associated with the game might not utilize to the current search motors. Since that action can imply losing all search engine visitors, Web Strategy Plus always suggests sticking to SEO techniques that will fall within Google's guidelines. As the matter of fact, the energy of any website lies within the DA. Domain Authority is definitely SEOmozs calculated metric for exactly how well a given domain is usually likely to rank in research results. You should restrategize your technique to local SEO to create sure you are picking upward on voice searcher intent regarding keyword groupings around your company or industry. Sometimes the best method to improve local SEO will be to correct previous mistakes. In today's rapidly shifting globe, SEO techniques can change upon a dime—and the worst component is that you might not really even know it. Hacks that will could have won you the front-page result as recently because 2016 are not only outdated now, but they may also hurt your website's rankings. As shown above, in case a user will say some thing like Tell me something regarding Semantic SEO? ”, Sir Jerrika Link might be invoked. It is definitely quite true how the search rank depends on the WEB two. 0, content, Blog, keywords, higher quality links, and technical search engine optimization and UX user-friendly design. With the rise of tone of voice search more than half associated with Google's searches should come from cellular devices, so you clearly can not afford to ignore mobile SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION anymore. Anyone can find out basics of SEO and include it into their digital product sales, advertising content strategy. This can help drive revealing, links and mentions of content material that can affect SEO ratings and traffic. Because a savvy company owner, you understand how important keyword research is usually and always has been regarding SEO. This ‘what is SEO‘ guide (and this entire website) will be not about churn and burn off type of Google SEO (called webspam to Google) as which usually is too risky to set up on the real business site in 2018. Organic SEO Competitors: Like commercial intent, evaluating the keyword's competition in Google's natural search results takes some even more digging. Enter: SEO : a method to filter plus organise websites depending on key phrases. SEO today is producing sure a user's experience will be optimal in terms of the particular content they're consuming, how they may consuming on various devices, plus what action they're lead in order to take next. And as over 55% of most search results on Search engines contain one or more movies — almost all of which usually are YouTube videos — posting SEO-optimised YouTube videos will obtain you more Google search publicity and increase your online presence exponentially. In situation your website is on the particular newer side, you can prioritize your PPC campaign first because it can take a whilst for SEO rankings to turn out to be established, but don't ignore your own SEO in this process. In reality, you're going to see even more and more people investing within SEO as paid traffic stations will get expensive. Google failed to influence web pages so much right after updates, quickly but they gather data constantly so they are usually testing their algorithms then this effects all directories in search engine optimization.

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