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penfullofwordsaheadfullofstories · 4 years ago

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No Matter How Many Skies Have Fallen

A/N: I really have nothing to say for myself at this point.

Sequel chapter to this fic here, if you’d like to catch up.

Thank you to @caffeine-in-an-iv for being my incredible beta and to @maybege for letting me rant to you and giving me so many wonderful ideas when I hit my walls. Also to the Obi-Wan fandom in general: Y’all are some of the kindest, most supportive people I’ve ever encountered on this hell site. Thank you for your support and your content!

Pairing: Obi-Wan Kenobi x Force Sensitive! Fem! Reader (no Y/N)

Word Count: 11.9K (I lost all control)

Warnings: SMUT!!! Soft Dom! Obi rights, Also, Sub! Obi vibes, Foodplay (but not how you’d think), Inappropriate use of the Force, Voice Kink, Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Hands Appreciation Society, As Usual: Too Many Feelings For Porn, Emotional Competence Kink, Trust Kink, TW: Pregnancy, TW: A character draws blood on themself unknowingly

Title from one of my favorite quotes:

“Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.”

-D.H. Lawrence

What infinite irreverence the galaxy has for Obi-Wan Kenobi.

As if his master and only semblance of a parent wasn’t taken from him when he needed him most.

As if a boy who needed a father wasn’t entrusted to Obi-Wan quickly following, far too young and full of his own loss.

As if he wasn’t thrust onto the pedestal of parenthood when he really only wanted to be a brother.

As if that isn’t what they became anyway, and as if that wasn’t the exact cloud that hung over the atmosphere of your lives ever since you’d arrived on Tatooine.

As if the being whose life signature resided in your abdomen didn’t throw a punch into each of those blooming bruises by its very existence.

Which is why, you knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that you couldn’t tell him yet.

Normally, it’d be no small feat to keep something of this scale from him. But these days, he’s so focused on having his shields up around you, keeping you from both being hurt by or helping with his torments.

You have to take great care to control your body language, because even when he’s shut off from you in the Force, his keen perceptiveness will pick up on something being off anyway.

The art of a convincing lie is having layers. If he senses your feelings and decides to dig, then only give up one layer, and he’ll stop looking.

In this case, it’s your worry over him. It is true you’re trying to shield him from feeling that, not wanting him to carry the burden of it on top of having to work through his own pain.

But it’s not everything you’re trying to hide from him. So you let a small projection of your fear over his well-being escape, like you’re losing control of your feelings. It’s enough to convince him, and something critical inside you dies at the victory every time.

He deserves your honesty, and you’ve never given him anything less until now.

You hate how well your strategic deceit takes root. Because only part is due to your talent as a liar. The rest comes from how much he trusts you.

You’re not stupid, though. You know it’s only a matter of time before the biological changes in your body betray you.

Obi-Wan said he needed time, and you’re going to give him as long as you possibly can before dropping this anvil on him, hoping the further he gets from it all, the better off he’ll be.

You could kick yourself for not being more careful. You hadn’t missed any dose of your herbal Ho’Din contraceptive. It was one of the few things you shoved in your bag with the mere minutes you had to leave Coruscant for good. It was from a reliable medicinal shop, and there’s no good reason it should have failed in any way.

But here you were anyway.

Of course, there are options that free you from the obligation of carrying the child to term. All are expensive, and Tatooine is sorely lacking in any trustworthy medical facilities. The alternative methods could put your own life in danger as well.

Even if it wasn’t, you’d feel so strange making that kind of decision without Obi-Wan. Not that he wouldn’t support whatever decision you needed to make for yourself if you did, but going behind his back is something you’re not sure his trust could recover from.

And really, far too much has been decided for him in his life.

The worst reason why you can’t bring yourself to move towards any solution that ends the pregnancy now, the reason you abhor, is because somewhere within you, despite the awfulness of the time and place, you want this baby.

You couldn’t give a definitive explanation for yourself, but you did. Undoubtedly

Obi-Wan doesn’t press when you ask to cease your combat training for a time, asking to start learning the new offerings of the Jedi texts instead.

He’s concerned when you tell him, but if he’s suspicious as for your reasoning, he doesn’t show it outwardly, at least.

The way he doesn’t even ask about why, though: It makes you wonder if he had a reason all of his own why he’d rather not fight, even in imitation.

The Jedi writings given to Obi-Wan by Master Yoda are often more cryptic and mystifying than logically applicable without deciphering, which you are at first annoyed by, but then strangely thankful for, as Obi-Wan verbally processes his understandings of it, knowing what he does of the Jedi way, and you adding your thoughts from the stance of fresh eyes.

The conversations distract wonderfully, and you savor any way you still get to connect with him.

You don’t push for the ways he doesn’t allow you to connect with him anymore. The way he won’t let you in his mind. Because now, you too have a reason to not let him in yours.

*******

When it’s time to go into town for supplies again, you make up some feeble excuse which you know Obi-Wan sees through as a lie, and this time, he does pry, eyes soft and concerned. He knows you love going to the markets. You simply explain that you’re tired, which is true enough to satisfy him, leaving you behind with a kiss on your forehead before you watch him saddle up your eopie and ride off.

You sigh, sagging against the closed door once he’s disappeared into the horizon. You do love the markets. They’re the most colorful thing the planet has to offer, textiles and rugs and shiny, hanging things.

But the spices. Fragrant and potent, usually so appetizing and intoxicating, you know would turn your stomach alone. And that doesn’t even account for the strange meats being cooked at different vendors, and Maker help you if anyone was selling raw meat of any sort today. You’ve done your best to keep your nausea at bay, at times even tapping into the Force for centering when the world felt like it was rocking. But you know the market would be too much, too many variables.

It’s not a fast journey, even on the eopie, and you don’t expect Obi-Wan to be back for hours. Which is why when you hear a knock on your door, the tool in your hand clatters to the floor, as does the remnants of your project.

You quickly grab one of the long staffs you and Obi-Wan had only begun to use in your defense training, trying to recall the lessons as adrenaline begins to rush through your veins. Tatooine isn’t known for its pleasant company, and if anyone was going to try to rob your home, now would be as good a time as any.

The knock sounds again, and you shout from the inside, “What do you want?!”

“A peace treaty in the form of baked goods,” comes the feminine voice, one you recognize.

Opening the door, you lower the weapon in your hand as Beru Lars blinks at you.

“I’m sorry, I thought you were…” You step aside, gesturing for her to come in.

She waves a hand, dismissive. “I understand.”

You lead her over to the small living area as you fix two glasses of water from the kitchen.

When you set them down on the table, Beru speaks. “I apologize for the intrusion, if there was another way of contacting you before coming here…”

“It’s absolutely fine, I’m glad to have you.” You smile in what you hope is an assuring way. “Although, I’m surprised at it just being you. Where’s Owen?”

Her eyes flick to the stone floor. “He um… doesn’t exactly know I’m here. He’s out on a business deal today.”

You feel your eyebrows go up at that, waiting for her to continue. But instead, she changes the subject. “Where’s Ben?”

“In town. We needed some things from the market.”

Awkwardness settles in as a conversation topic evades you.

She breaks the beat of quiet. “Here, I brought these for you.”

You take the basket in her hands from her, peeling back the thick woven cloth to reveal a simple form of bread. It looks so appetizing your stomach clenches, and you instantly realize you haven’t had anything since breakfast.

But then the smell hits you, hard and powerful, and stars, it’s just bread, there’s nothing that should do that about bread, but you’re on your feet in a minute, forsaking the basket on the ground as you bolt to the fresher, barely making it in time to the sonic sink before you start heaving.

In a moment, you feel soft hands at the nape of your neck, gently holding back the fabric of your shirt and blowing cool air as you continue to wretch.

By the time everything has settled again, you’ve dealt with the aftertaste in your mouth, and splashed on your face with a precious cup of cool water, hot shame rises in your cheeks at how this must seem to Beru.

You wipe at your face with a rag, half muffling your words when you address her. “I’m so sorry, I’m sure they’re absolutely delicious, It really has nothing to do…”

“How far along are you?”

Your spine straightens instantly, and you let the cloth drop to the floor.

“I… what?”

Now she’s the one to flush. “My apologies, it’s just that it’s known for being a very gentle bread, it’s one my mother used to feed me when my stomach ached. If that smell turned you... I just assumed, and I shouldn’t have.”

Your lips purse as you consider your options. It’d be easy to say nothing, or just to nod.

“Two months,” you hear your own voice answer despite yourself. You’ve never been one for easy anyway.

A surge of emotion wells up in you at even being able to speak it aloud, aloud to another human, and next thing you know, to your absolute horror, you’re crying into your hands as your shoulders crumple in on themselves.

Why now, of all times? In front of Beru Lars? Whom you know accepted Luke with her husband without question because they couldn’t biologically have any children of their own?

“I’m… so… sorry,” You manage to choke out through the sobs, disgusted at your own lack of control.

At some point Beru must join you on the floor, patting her hand soothingly on your back. “Shhh, it’ll be alright. You’ll see. It’s not so bad having a young one around, you and Ben have so much to look forw…”

“He doesn’t know.”

Her hand pausing briefly on your back is the only indication she gives of shock.

“Would he not be happy?”

You take a steadying breath in, trying to calm yourself. “I don’t know,” you whisper, small and almost frightened to let the room hear you say it.

It falls silent again, but it echoes around in your brain, bouncing against your thoughts until you feel the onset of a headache.

After you’re to a numb enough state to enjoy yourself, you and Beru make tea and bring it back to the living area.

She lifts her glass to yours, clinking them. “To secrets kept from men and the mischievous company they bring.”

Your head now throbs with pain, but you smile anyway. “Thank you,” you say to her, and you mean it so very much.

********

The next time Obi-Wan goes into town, you’re feeling well enough to go with him.

You’re not visiting the food portion of the market, after all, so you’re not as much of a risk to set your stomach off. He’s taken to fixing small machinery for trading with the Jawas recently, the extra income helping with the projects around the house.

There’s a trap door that you found within the first day of being there. The staircase carved out of the bedrock beneath the hut leads to a small room that has now served as additional storage and a place for Obi-Wan to work. It’s also quite cool during the day, so if you can stand the smell of the various meats hung to dry, you’ll sit down there with some sort of project, or even reading material if you come upon it.

So today, he’s looking for a few specific tools that will streamline his working.

It doesn’t take long to find a promising stall among the maze of shopkeepers, selling everything from trinkets to weaponry of questionable legality. Obi-Wan finds what he needs easily enough, and it looks like the trip is going to be as efficient as it is successful as you walk through alleyways with him.

At some point, he takes your hand in his, squeezing it gently, projecting an assuring strand of affection toward you. It’s such a small gesture, but you’ll never tire of the feeling of his hand clasped in yours.

You’re almost back to where the eopie, Rooh, as he named her, is stabled when Obi-Wan abruptly slows his pace, dropping into a stall. An alarm goes off in your head when you watch him pick up a frivolous trinket on a table that you know he has no interest in.

You open your mouth to inquire at his actions, but it answers itself once you see him glance out of his peripheral vision to where the holonews plays in the stall adjacent.

Battle footage on what you recognized to be Kashyyk at the presence of the many Wookies plays with the Emperor addressing the viewers in a very two-dimensional, sugar-coated, thinly-concealed threat to any other world that would try to resist occupation.

There’s wreckage and uncensored violence, and you turn your head away.

“May it be known that Lord Vader is quite capable and willing to help those into compliance that require assistance... “

The item in his hands crushes, ceramic tile cracking into his hands, breaking the skin and drawing out drips of red.

But he doesn’t flinch, doesn’t even seem to register the glass he’s pushing into his own hand. His eyes are wide and he makes a wounded noise from the back of his throat, eyes peeled to the holonews now, not even trying to feign disinterest.

His signature sparks, giving a flash and then a severe cry of anguish, and it hits you then. Pieces of information coming together as you feel Obi-Wan tear apart at seams.

Anakin Skywalker turned to the Dark Side, and Obi-Wan thought him dead. There’s a new Sith Lord now; the correlation and timing can’t be coincidence.

The Toydarian male behind the stall shouts something about paying for it in full, and you quickly hand over the credits with a glare.

You start to pull Obi-Wan’s other hand off the table, but you quickly realize your mistake in that.

The moment it isn’t holding his weight anymore, his knees start to give, and you’ve only a second to react, jamming your body under his arm to keep him upright. His momentum nearly pulls you forward, but you plant your feet and remember at the last second to call on the Force to assist you.

He seems to come to himself enough to walk somewhat as you steer him to the nearest alley away from the vendors.

He braces a hand on the stone wall, but even it isn’t enough as he drops to his knees. He doesn’t even seem to have the will to stand.

Crouching beside him, you place one of your hands on his chest.

“I…. I…” The tremor in his usually so crisp wording and steady voice crushes your chest, making it hard to breathe. “I failed him. I failed him.”

“Obi-Wan,” you start, trying to grasp at anything, everything to comfort him, not even thinking of how you can’t call him that here, even if there’s no one in sight.

If he registers your call, he doesn’t let on, continuing in his whispers to the wall. “He was burning. Burning, but I couldn’t do it. It would have been mercy to kill him, it was my mandate to do it, but I could not...” his voice gives out on the last word, and his shoulders fall forward in a shuddering inhale that transforms into a cut-short sob on its exhale.

“And now…” as the words pour from him, his shields fall, and so do the floodgates on his emotions, and it takes all the training you know to not be washed away in the torrential current of his grief. Does he even know he’s doing it, or has the insurmountable weight of his burden finally overridden his innate control over them?

“I’ve sentenced him to a fate worse than death.” He’s only barely choked out the end of his thought before his shoulders start to shake in earnest and he crumples in on himself as he begins to weep for his brother.

Giving no heed to the odd angle, you throw your arms around him. Trying to get your arms around his body is exactly the embodiment of the feeling of the moment, this anguish you don’t even begin to be enough to cover.

What could you say? What could you do? What would even begin to…

When you press your fingers to his temple, it’s light, a show of how unforced this is, how much he can say no if he needs. Because this isn’t for you. No, it’d be so much easier to not know the exact depth of his pain and rip your chest open with that knowledge. But you’re offering it, meaning it absolutely, desperate for him to take the hand offered to him. “Please let me in. Don’t do this alone. Let me…”

Then he’s pulling you in, not just letting you come in yourself, clinging to you like a person drowning. You remember to steady, to try to keep your own head above the water as wave after surging, overpowering wave of soul-crippling agony like you’ve never felt it engulf you in their surge.

You can’t hold out against it no matter how hard you try, so you refocus from centering yourself to pulling his signature into yours as you wrap your arms tighter around his torso.

And you begin to weep with him.

*********

The suns are drifting low by the time both of you have any intelligible thought, far too late to start the journey back to the hut.

At the inn, as Obi-Wan falls into the beginnings of a restless sleep, a thought emerges, clear and crisp in its awful truth.

You cannot tell him for a long while still.

*******

It’s different now. Because when he wakes in the night, he doesn’t give you falsehoods you see right through. He lets you into the terror and distortional dreams that all reside over one theme.

There’s silence in the first days after. Just silent tears and still embraces and the way time seems to freeze when grief is at its worst.

But then he starts talking. It comes in little pieces, then in larger ones.

The loudest thing his signature screams is guilt.

You tell him how it isn’t his fault, how Anakin is responsible for his own choices, but he just gives you a new reason every time as to why it is his fault, how he could have stopped it.

Because even in what he considers his worst failure, his verbiage is indicative of how it’s not his own image and pride hurting that he’s even considered. All of his thoughts, all of them, are on what Anakin needed that he didn’t give.

At first, it’s just impressions from his mind, unsorted, blurry thoughts and feelings, but it eventually begins to become words.

“After his mother died… I know that he blamed me. How couldn’t he? He told me of his dreams, dreams he knew were foresights, but I dismissed them, multiple times, at that. And the council… advised me against comforting him, but he… I… I did anyway.” His shoulders are forward, body sagging with unsureness that doesn’t fit him right in the slightest. “But it was far too late. I know there was something pivotal about the death of his mother, and I am...” he hesitates, seemingly not because he doesn’t know what to speak, but because he does. “Terrified. Terrified it’s all because I didn’t validate him sooner. If I had not...” His voice breaks off, as he shuts his eyes.

Fear is not something admired by the Jedi, you know. When he speaks of his own emotions, he speaks them like he’s confessing them.

And as he confesses and confesses, you comfort where you can, cry with him when you cannot.

*****

The swells of sorrow ebb and flow in their intense bursts and receding stillness, and despite the moments of not being able to breathe under the weight of it, there are miniscule, almost violating, hysterical intervals where smiles and life spring to the surface, gasping for air.

Or in this case, the inexplicable desire to dance.

You don’t even really know when you start, simply going about cleaning clothing in the sonic washer, and the next, some ridiculous, repetitive tune sweeps you to move your hips and feet, uncoordinated and graceless. The tune itself played from a datachip, scrapped with some pieces Obi-Wan was repurposing to make repairs. You’re not even familiar with the type of music, and it’s hardly the type of music you’d normally choose, but you find that today, it’s an improvement on the quiet that falls upon the house as Obi-Wan works outdoors.

The song swings into a bridge, and you slide across the stone floor, imitating something you saw in a music holo years ago, as you do, your foot catches on the rug you recently added, sending you fumbling for your footing. You eventually catch it before you fall, but as you look up, you decide to lower yourself to the ground anyway at the sight of Obi-Wan, leaning up against the door frame, watching you with an amused expression, the fingers of one hand tracing between his lips and chin.

You sit splayed as tactless and gangly as you danced and let out a short, startled laugh.

“Please, don’t stop on my account. I was quite enjoying myself.”

Maker, could you just hide under the rug you tripped over? “Please tell me you haven’t been standing there long.”

He pushes off his lean on the wall, crossing the room to you. “I won’t tell you lies, my love.”

Shame twists in your gut at his words, chasing the laughter in your throat away. But Obi-Wan extends a hand down, and you take it, letting him draw you to your feet.

He kisses the back of your hand before taking it in his, extending the clasp out to the side of your bodies as his other hand rests hot on the small of your waist.

“But I will join you, if you don’t mind a style change.”

“I don’t know how to dance like this,” you say, factually.

“Then allow me to teach you.” When you look in his eyes, they’re lined with the etches of heartache still, but there’s something else too, brimming to the surface.

“What, to this music?” You give your last, unconvincing protest.

He simply drops his forehead to yours, and the small sounds of the room fade to white as a sweet, moving melody replaces it. It’s not perfectly clear, and it takes a moment to realize that it’s because it’s coming from Obi-Wan’s memory.

The music has a distant, foggy quality, and it has potential to be eerie, but instead, it just lifts you into an ethereal feeling.

He steps, and your feet follow, not as graceful, but he makes it easy for you, the steps hinted out in his thoughts before taking them in actuality.

When you start to feel confident enough in the movements, you look up at him. “Does this mean I can teach you my dances next?”

He laughs, laughs, unabashed and with no emotion harbored under it, and some torn piece of your heart mends at the sound.

“Certainly not.”

You laugh too, even at the thought of him trying. The laugher rolls into a smooth quiet, and you let yourself bask in the feel of his body against yours, the press of his hand on your back as you rest your cheek against him.

Obi-Wan cradles you to him, forsaking the pattern of the dance as he encompasses you in his arms, lowering his lips to your cheek, then your mouth in a blazing kiss.

He takes your hand in his, lifting it above your head. Then you’re guided into a spin, and the room spins double with it as you abandon all endeavors of trying to get the dance correct. Your hand drops protectively to your belly before you can even think better of it, and by the time you know you’re not going to throw up, it’s too late. You already feel Obi-Wan’s unmistakable concern right before he asks, “What’s wrong?” extending an arm out toward you.

His complexion is ashen with worry, and when you don’t respond, you feel him start to reach out to your mind; a spike of panic zaps down your spine, and you’re suddenly not sure you’re not going to throw up after all.

Your shields crash down, not enough time for subtlety, and he retracts both his hand and inquiring tendril of energy as hurt and confusion shape his features.

You can’t do this. You can’t keep up this facade or cover this moment with a lie you know he’ll see through. But you can’t tell him either. After all the weight he’s carrying, the weight of the being that grows in you should be yours alone. You can’t thrust that upon him.

But it’s a delusion that you can keep this from him forever. You’re going to hurt him one way or another, and the weight of your silence and lies multiply every day you insulate him from the truth.

You take in a shuddering breath as dread settles into your bones. You know what you have to do.

Even as you slowly lower your shields, opening your signature, your mind screams at you in opposite directions, ripping you in half, and your hand shoots out to the nearest wall to stabilize yourself. How could you be so sadistic to tell him this? How could you not tell him? After all the trust you have in each other?

But he doesn’t take the invitation. “I will not touch your mind if you are still unsure you want me to,” he says softly but resolutely as he approaches you, but stays an unthreatening distance away, as if approaching a frightened animal.

No, no, no. You won’t have him being the one to sturdy you through this. You need to be strong, be ready, don’t force him to coddle you through the blast to his own chest.

So you dial down your own emotions and switch your absorption to amplifying the still tiny, barely recognizable life you’ve been carefully censoring ever since you heard it yourself.

You want to close your eyes, blockade the pain of both how it impacts him and how it will impact you, but that’s not how you two do things.

Summoning every iota of bravery and resolve running in your veins, you force yourself to look up at him as you watch understanding coat him.

His eyes go wide, and his hands clench and flex at his sides in an erratic, nervous pattern.

You can’t keep your signature open to his mind’s reaction, you just can’t. He’s seen enough, and you can put your shields up again. His face is enough to confront all on its own.

Obi-Wan steps toward you, slowly, dazed in a completely uncharacteristic way. With the way he seems to ever be prepared for the blows life throws at him, you hate how you have to be the harbinger for the second one that’s knocked him off his feet.

When he stops in front of you, he places his hands on either of your shoulders and looks into your eyes, searching for confirmation, and you nod, trying to not let fear seep into your expression.

One of his hands covers his mouth as he takes it in.

And then he’s sinking in front of you, off of his feet indeed, and onto his knees. You want to follow, ready to hold him through the heartache sure to follow, at the second child he didn’t ask for while he still grieves the loss of the first.

But his hands instead take purchase on your stomach, tightening the fabric of your tunic around the barely-visible bump before bunching it up and lifting, just enough so he can tilt his forehead against the skin there.

You can feel him reaching out, not taking him long at all to find what he’s searching for, and curiosity beats self-preservation at the last moment, prompting you to open your mind again, just for you to be able to catch elation coursing through Obi-Wan.

You don’t even bother trying to stifle your confusion as he looks up at you with glassy eyes.

Sinking to your knees to meet him, you take his face in your hands, trying to make sense of it all as he takes your hand in his. “I never... “ when his voice comes out unsteady, he clears his throat and tries again. “I never thought I’d have... That we could… didn’t occur to me that now...stars above, how long have you known?”

You don’t recall when you start crying, but tears are falling freely down your cheeks as you shake your head. “I’m so sorry. I… I would never want to keep something like this from you, Obi-Wan, but I couldn’t tell you, not with everything, not with all you already have…and i’m so sorry.”

“Oh, heavens, no. You should not have to do this alone. Please don’t keep things from me, even if you think it to be for my sake. We can…”

You fix him with a pointed, unamused stare. He exhales as he must notice his hypocrisy.

“Your point is well-put and taken, but the sentiment still stands. We’ll not keep secrets from each other anymore. Do we have an accord?”

Despite it all, you smile at his overly-formal phrasing, something you’d normally have a quip about if it weren’t for the concern still nagging at you.

“Are you not angry then? Or disappointed?” you watch him carefully, praying to any deity listening that he doesn’t concoct some half truth to placate you. His first instinct is always to protect, but you’d never want it at expense of his authenticity.

Bafflement marks his brow at first, then he takes your face in his hands. “Darling, no.” He says your name, gathering every bit of your attention. “I dreamt of you. During the war, when I was away. I did not sleep well, even then, but when I did, I’d sometimes dream of you, holding a child that I knew to be ours. When I woke, I would remember it so vividly, so painfully, because I never thought that was an attainable future for us.”

But that doesn’t need to matter if you… do you want this child?” His eyes are so full of hope, and it was the last thing you expected, but here he is laying it down on the altar of your preference, and maker, are you glad those two things aren’t opposing each other.

Because his hope and yours are one in the same, and once he knows it too, at your whispering, choked, “yes,” he’s clutching you in his arms.

And for the second time in a month, you’re both huddled on the ground in tears. The first, bowing under the mass of catastrophe. Now, at the glowing relief of the sprouting of a dream sown in tears, too tender before to even say aloud.

But now? You’re saying it, back and forth, from him to you as your walls fall, permitting him into your mind as he welcomes you into his, and finally you take true comfort once again in the home you’ve built in each other.

*******

The night after, you lie side by side, hand in hand, on a blanket splayed not far from the hut. The suns have sunken, but the pinks and oranges of their palette still paint the sky where it hasn’t yet turned to midnight cobalt. The light of the lantern gives off a similar hue, dousing everything in your reach in soft, warm hues.

It has taken Obi-Wan some convincing, being so out in the open with everything he had to worry about wasn’t his first choice, but you compromised for a small alcove in the rock formations which surrounded you on two sides. More easily defensible. Not that he needed it, but if he was cautious before, it was borderline unbearable now. With the added danger of the Empire knowing without doubt that he lived. With more than ever to lose.

So, he was in charge of safety, you were in charge of snacks. And if they so happened to be almost entirely comprised of those melons you couldn’t quite get enough of lately? That was no one’s business except yours. You brought a few things you knew Obi-Wan liked too, of course.

What little remains of the miscellaneous spread you push to the edge of the blanket so you can both lie down.

“I dare say it’s almost pleasant out tonight.”

You turn your head to him, a snort ready at him discussing the weather of all things, but it instead forms a cloud in your throat at the sight of him.

His eyes are closed, hair rustling in the slight evening breeze, a tranquil ease over his profile.

The small patches of grey in the part of his beard next to his ears catch the first glints of moonlight in a way the rest of his hair doesn’t, giving them away.

The mellisonant lowness of his voice brings you back to yourself, cheeks heating.

“I can feel you staring, little one.” He opens his eyes, leisurely rolling to his side. “Some say it’s quite impolite.” Slanting over you, he lifts a brow, daring your response.

“And is that a problem?” You look up at him through your eyelashes, feigning innocence.

Obi-Wan’s gaze follows back up to the stars, as he plays right along, pretending to have to think on it. “I suppose it depends.”

“On?”

“On whether or not you allow me to return the impropriety,” he responds with a coy smile, moving back to you, so close now you can feel his exhales on your cheek.

Warmth blooms through you as you answer back, “You can always look, Obi-Wan.” You lift yourself to close the short distance between your face and his, pressing your lips together, which he deepens right away. Using the hand not supporting half his body off of you still, he fans out his fingers across your belly, towing the line between caressing gently and clutching protectively.

You pull your lips back from his as an uninvited slither of insecurity slips into your chest.

He senses it, of course, so you speak before he even needs to ask. “Are you really, truly, certain this is what you want? Now? I don’t want you to just say so because…and we could wait, we have...”

“I am,” he says, adamantly, before you even have a chance to finish. His eyes flash to the side. “I…” He rolls back onto his back, looking straight up as he talks seemingly half to you, half to himself. “There is not much I know for certain these days. Some days… I scarcely can remember who I am anymore.”

He turns his eyes back to you, unwavering. “There are seldom few things I haven’t questioned of late, and my love for you isn’t one of them. And from the moment I’ve known, from the very first instant you let me feel the life within you, my love for them hasn’t been one either.”

Your thoughts split into two, one wanting to lean into it, to take him for his word that’s always true, and the other cautioning you, telling you to keep distant and watch for the surface level honesty he gives that hides the brutal one he safeguards you from.

But you’re not hiding anymore, feelings unconcealed in your energy and on your face, so he leans back into you, grasping your arm in his hand, squaring your shoulders to him. You cringe at yourself when you know he’s heard the impression of you questioning. It’s redundant, but self-doubt always is. “Know, please know, my darling.” Taking your hand in his, he brings it up to his temple with an insistence that you have no desire to counter.

And it’s there. Right there and sparking in its clarity, right at the threshold of his mind as you enter it. How much he means his words, no holds barred, no cleverly crafted glazes to an unly underbelly of reality. His reality was this, how severely he craves starting a family with you. How much he already loves the being within you, how he looks forward to the day he gets to hold them in his arms.

The fear is there too, quiet, but not kept from you. The fear of failing as a father, unsure of assuming any role that resembled a mentor again, all-too-familiar with the ghost that will float over him in every lesson he teaches.

What shocks you there is his faith in you. In how much he’s already learned from you about the impact of open affection, in how you don’t let your feelings lead you, but you let them breathe, not suffocate them. It’s part of how he even can acknowledge his fears to himself and to you without berating himself under the too-simple phrase “fear leads to the dark side.” There’s truth in it, but also inaccuracy.

Because he’s afraid, and yet, there is so much light in the acknowledging of it to himself, and in that very act, it loses much of any power it could have had over him. Oh, how deeply he wishes he could have articulated that understanding to Anakin.

The pain is fresh, but so is his anticipation for the future, swirling together in a potent drink, and his throat bobs with the effort to swallow them down simultaneously.

He knows you’ll help ground him through it, he trusts you, even in his uncertainty in himself.

It breaks your heart but also warms it: the knowledge that he lets you into that place where he keeps the questions of himself, the place only you and the man who’s caused most of this doubt have been permitted.

With a thankful short farewell, you part from his mind as you know exactly what you want to do.

The remains of your snacks still rest on the edge of the blanket, including the shells of the deep purple-pigmented melons. The one draw-back to their delightful taste was how badly they stained your fingers. You had to break them into tiny pieces, plopping them into your mouth without allowing them to touch your lips unless you wanted your mouth to stain too.

But right now? The staining quality was just what you needed.

Although first you needed a blank canvas.

“May I take your tunics off?” you ask, sitting up.

Despite a short twitch of confusion and then interest, Obi-Wan follows, raising himself up into a kneel, slightly lifting his arms in compliance.

The paleness of his skin catches all the light of the lantern, highlighting your view as you slowly slide the fabric up and off, gliding your hands up the line of hair dipping below his navel as it becomes more exposed. It grants you a quiet, steep intake of breath from him and you suddenly give halt momentarily, distracted by the alluring appetite you’ve created.

No, you won’t give in. Not yet. He needs to know this.

You take one of the broken pieces of melon rind in your hand, where little tart bits of the fruit still cling, dribbling pigment, but before your finger makes contact with the taut skin of his chest, you pull back at the realization you might have bitten off more than you can chew.

How do you even begin to describe him? Obi-Wan is so many things at once, so many attributes, and every descriptor that comes to mind falls blatantly short of him.

Then you recall Obi-Wan going through the motions of Alchaka, watching his body fight to maintain the poses at times. Being such a personal practice, you felt honored that he let you see him go through the exercises, and even more honored that he opened up to you about the purpose behind it later. It was an exercise of both physicality and Force use, and the goal was absolute exhaustion. That was the destination. Trying, knowing from the start that he’ll fall short in the end, but doing it all the same. Because there’s so, so much to be said for the trying.

So you do. You bring the messy fingertip to his clavicle, smearing the first word you know to absolutely be true of him, as if starting the premise with a whisper of I know you’re even more than the sum all of these singular praises.

The word “complex” appears in your penmanship on his skin as you drag it to life. You look up to his eyes, and his curiosity is clear there, but also so is the tenderness that is elemental to any time he looks at you. And just like that, you have your next word.

Kind.

And at the way he flushes so lovely for you at that?

Beautiful.

You feel his protest before you see it, the objection in his signature, and you know you’re going to have to switch methods.

Just then, a droplet from where you’ve written the last word on his pectoral falls, down, down, threatening toward the hem of his trousers, but you’re fast, dropping your mouth down and catching it all on your tongue before it can stain the bleached beige of his remaining clothing.

When his stubborn revolt at the affirmation quiets in his mind in exchange for a flash of searing lust, you know exactly how you’re going to continue.

Because Obi-Wan Kenobi, general, warrior, negotiator, Jedi Master, legend, has rarely ever been affirmed as such, and he squirms under the thick blanket of his humility and deprivation anytime someone endeavors.

So you need his mind to be preoccupied enough, guards down low enough, so he can even hear the message get through.

When you place your hands over his waistband, locking eyes in inquiry, stopping when he hesitates, scanning the area around you, vigilant as always. Overly so now.

“We’re alone. And wouldn’t you be able to sense it if we weren’t?”

He looks down at you as he answers. “If I stay mindful enough to do so, yes.”

Good, he’ll be even less prone to fight you if he has some of his mind sensing outward.

You look back up at him with the facial equivalent of asking “well?” to which Obi-Wan sighs in response. “Very well then.”

With your familiarity with ridding him of clothing, it only takes moments before you can finally taste him where you want to, where he’s already hard and swollen for you.

You know you won’t be able to take him as much as you want, a recently-developed overactive gag reflex preventing you. But it just so happens to be convenient tonight, as the resulting taunt should have him right where you want him.

A gentle kiss, right to the head of his cock is all the warning you give him before taking the whole tip in your mouth, swirling your tongue around him, pulling a choked hum deep from his throat.

Oh, oh, Maker, have you done a grand miscalculation, because you forgot an entire factor in this equation: the way you have been borderline hysterical in hunger for him.

You’ve kept so much from him, and part of how you’ve even managed is starting to convince yourself of less than fact. Facts like how many times you’ve had to change underthings recently, physical evidence of desire unwilling to comply to your head’s demands. Facts like how you’ve literally had to bite your finger to keep the feelings at bay.

You’d expected changes in your body even before your belly grew, but this was one you hadn’t anticipated. In some ways, it wasn’t that different than usual. You never knew you could want someone with the breadth that you want Obi-Wan.

But this? Of late? It feels like it’s been amplified tenfold.

You’re not keeping any cards close to your chest anymore, but you do have to ignore your own body’s screaming cries as you complete this.

He needs to know.

Nerves still serenading his brain with feedback, you re-wet your finger with the purple juice and write the next words across his abdomen.

Wise.

Perceptive.

He’s caught on to your scheme by now, cued by the all-too appropriate addition of the last word, and he lets you know it, an impression projected, speechless but still unobstructed. He’s still powerless against it. Or rather, letting himself be powerless. Trusting you with the control he has left, trusting you in his vulnerable places. The places where he’s weak.

Strong.

The word spread over his right upper arm, where he’s obviously just that. But may the tint of the word bleed through his skin, may it run through his veins, because that’s how deep and deeper still that his strength runs. It’s in the way he doesn’t flaunt it. It’s in the way he chooses to wield it.

Gentle.

He closes his eyes, flinching at the onslaught of acclamation, and you dip your head down again, wrapping your lips around his cock, letting him slide to where you can take him comfortably, just starting to build a pace as his hips squirm in harmony with his suddenly erratic breaths. Oh, how you’d love to let him deeper, allow his cock past your lips beyond the teasing amount you can take now, but the little writhes his body gives in protest are enough to almost make you okay with how your mouth won’t agree with your ambitions. He says your name, groaned out in bliss as he cups a hand on your cheek.

His barriers are down, so it’s easy to hear when his deprecating thoughts quiet again, and you switch back to coloring him again.

You know the moment you look up at him that it’s a mistake, because he’s flushed, so torn, suspended in the limbo of your give and withdrawal, mouth ever so slightly open, tongue darting out to wet his bottom lip.

You’re only human, so before you draw anything else, you bring your lips to his, which is yet another mistake, because among the many things Obi-Wan is, he is a deep kisser, and as his tongue delves into your mouth, your will power takes a devastating blow.

You pull back, reeling at the reminder of how easily he can take back control, knowing you have to complete this before you let him.

Stars, how you want to let him.

For now, you need that control back, so you take him into your mouth again, filthily wet and not nearly long enough as you quickly pull back, watching in satisfaction as he heaves forward at the loss, correcting himself quickly back into straight posture.

With a smirk, you drag your slippery, pigmented finger across his lower stomach.

Disciplined.

There’s so many more words, so much more he needs to know, and if you covered every inch of his skin in the smallest writing it still wouldn’t be sufficient of all that he is.

Or you could whisper it all through the Force, embed it all in his mind.

But because you’ve been there, know his mind inside and out, you know every time he sees his own skin, all he sees is the red of blood on his hands. The blood of his brother.

And that’s exactly why you’re going to stain it in your own colors. Take back territory and push back the front lines that the army of guilt has taken over on him.

Your Jedi, ever-adorned in unassuming beige, now drips in the color of royalty.

Charming.

Humble.

Confident.

Steadfast.

You’re only left with enough space for one more word, and you want some sort of conclusion to it all, something to summarize the expanse of the man kneeling in front of you.

Nothing can.

But maybe, just maybe, one word encapsulates what he is to you.

Treasure.

This time you do chant it across his thoughts, prompting him to open his eyes and look at you.

Cerulean blue blinks open, slowly, almost painfully and nearly overflowing with emotion.

Thank you, is all he says, unable or unwilling to say it out loud, much too heartfelt and newly-budded for that.

You know his pain has older roots than those tended to in this moment, but you vow to yourself that you’ll never stop trying.

Lowering your mouth around him once again, you don’t tease him anymore, at least not intentionally, even though you still can’t take more than half of him.

“Look at you, you’re…” he hisses in a breath as you swipe your tongue against that vein on the underside of him. “Stunning. You’re doing so well, little one.”

The taste of him compels you as much as his words, seizes you in spice-like addiction, and how interesting it’s going to be explaining that taste craving to him, among your sudden adoration for those damn melons.

“Darling, I’m…”

You feel it in his energy before he says it, already pulling off, replacing your mouth with your hand, dropping your lips down even lower, mouthing at his balls, and the feedback is instant. An outpouring crest of his pleasure blasting outward as he lets out a depraved moan, netting his hands into your hair.

Your hand is wet and so is where he’s spilled on his still flexing and releasing stomach, clear white maring the lettering halfway through “disciplined.” You’d clean it with your tongue if you weren’t sure how your overly sensitive taste buds would react now.

It’s not the first time you’ve had sex since you’ve known you were pregnant, but it’s the first time since he’s known, and it’s the first time you’re not hiding the symptoms. Before, you carefully shied away from anything that might give you away, and between the preoccupation of everything on his own mind he was trying to keep from you and his respect for your boundaries, he never pressed. He had questions in his eyes, but you knew how to carefully reveal partial vulnerabilities to keep him off your trail.

Your chest flares at the memory.

We’re not hiding now.

It’s your chant, your reminder, your comfort. How nothing of this caliber will be kept between you again.

His eyes confirm it, sincere and exact as they fight to break through their dazed slipping.

Never again. His voice in your head is home, so consoling it can and has put you to sleep before.

Right now, it wakes you up in a different light, dowsing you in heat as Obi-Wan takes your hand in his, wiping it on a piece of his discarded clothing before wiping the spend off himself.

Then he’s taking your face in both his hands tilting you up before kissing you soundly.

I love you, he says across the wire that ties your minds, the wire that keeps growing stronger every day. So, so very much.

You say it back, a fact as simple as breathing. You love him.

You want him, borderline need him the way you need your next inhale, you don’t say, but he must hear it anyway, because that cocky little smirk that’s been gone far too long is back.

“Shall we do something about that?”

You’re about to just lift your shift dress up and off in response, but he halts you, grasping your wrists.

“Allow me.”

He pulls you into another sultry kiss, completely neglecting the task of ridding you of clothing.

Or so you think.

There’s buttons all the way down the dress, and you’ve never used them, always wondering at their purpose if it can so easily lift over your head.

At first, you don’t even know he’s doing it until you start to feel the coolness of the night air on your nipples. Opening your eyes, you pull back from him to watch as seemingly in thin air, your buttons undo themselves.

“You needn’t seduce me further. You already know how much I need you,” you gasp, breathless from the kiss.

Obi-Wan just gives a small smile as he drops a hand, dragging it down your side, then down your thigh. “Hm. So impatient. All this from just pleasuring me?”

Maker, he knows! He knows that you are. You always have been, and it’s not as if you weren’t projecting your feelings too.

When he reaches a hand between your thighs, parting them and making a single, tempting stroke through them, his fingers come back glistening.

“I should think you could feel that I am.” You let the tide of your frustration spill over into your connection to his mind.

You know he had to hear you, but he gives no indication that he did.

“Mm. Desire needn’t always be indicatory of impatience,” he punctuates his statement with a hand at the base of your skull, tipping your head back to expose your neck. “I need you to be patient, little one. Let me savor you.” And with that, his mouth makes contact with your neck at the same time his other hand plays with one of your exposed nipples.

You whimper at the attention, quietly pleading with him for more. Among the still slight changes to your body, this has been the most notable one. How sensitive your breasts have become to even the scrape of the fabric of your clothing.

And with the rough pads of his fingers working only one, leaving the other to pang in want...

“Obi-Wan,” it’s a prayer, a request. He doesn’t need his hands to cause sensation, and you’d beg him right now if he asked.

He lets up on your neck, only barely, lips moving against the now throbbing skin. “Answer me first.”

Clearing your throat, you give the most cogent response you can muster. “Depends on if you’re definition of savor is synonymous with torture.”

He locks eyes with you then, gently grasping a breast in each of his hands, dragging his thumbs over the nipples as you moan out your assent.

His chuckle is far too self-satisfied to be becoming of a Jedi, but you’re already too far gone to call him on it.

“Is that what you want, little one? For me to torture you so?”

An affirmative whimper is all the response you can give, and Obi-Wan reacts quickly, taking your chin in his fingers and tilting your eyes up to his again.

“Then you will be patient for me. Because I’m always happy to stop, and we can begin again when you decide to adhere.”

Your brain short circuits on the spot, and all energy is redirected much, much lower. His voice, stars above, his voice when it takes a commanding tone.

It’s intimate, it’s personal, and yet this game is almost inappropriately playful for how sincere the moment is.

But such was being loved by Obi-Wan. Full of dissimilar feelings that shouldn’t fit, but moved together in liquid consistency. Like metaphors that didn’t rhyme but still somehow gave their own life-giving rhythm, not dissimilar to the sound of his heartbeat when you lay your head against his chest at night.

Making quick work of the remaining buttons of your shift and underwear, he beckons you to join him as he lies back down, large, warm hands guiding you to turn around so you’re facing away from him.

You know that the purple stickiness of the fruit will smear from his body to yours like this, but you can’t at all bring yourself to care.

You gasp a sigh of relief as one of his hands finds your breast, brushing a knuckle over the too-sensitive nipple.

“Please.” Your whispered beg sounds pathetic, even to your own ears. But as you arch against him in a frenzied attempt at skin contact, Obi-Wan juts his hips forward, grunting into the exposed column of your neck, and stars, yeah, maybe he didn’t find that so pathetic after all.

“What do you want, darling?” His voice doesn’t divulge any desperation, and for only the hundredth time do you envy his immaculate self-control.

“You know, don’t pretend you don’t.” Leaving any doubt to the wind, you push your chest against his barely-touching hand.

“Specificity can be a virtue; that I also know.”

You change techniques, driving your hips back softly into where he’s hard and insistent against your ass, hoping it compels him.

Then you simply… can’t anymore. You’re frozen, unable to move your lower half at all.

Tangling your desires into a knot and tucking it away, you find the mindfulness to reply. “Yeah, so is mercy.”

“Indeed it is. I shall concede when you do.”

You won’t win a battle of the wills with him. You’re not sure anyone could.

So you bring his hand over to your nipple. “Touch me here.”

You feel his smile without even seeing it as he starts tweaking the bud. “Like this?”

It’s so much sensation, all concentrated on such responsive flesh, that you want to beg for him to switch to touching you between your legs.

You haven’t even finished the thought when you feel his unmistakable metaphysical brush against your thigh.

Extending a tendril of your own energy, you invite him in, and he takes it eagerly, ever as eager if not more to be entwined with your mind as with your body.

He hears it all, the besottment, the arousal, the neediness. The panic that he might drag this out longer, that you’ll have to go a single minute longer without...

“It’s alright. It’s alright.” He sends soothing waves through your connection, and he swaps the positioning of his hand with the curl of power. He turns his hand so that the back of it runs through where you’re aching for him, gathering up your slick on the backs of his knuckles. You have to contort your neck to see what follows when he takes the hand back behind you, and your mouth goes dry when he sucks the knuckles in between his lips.

You want to hear, you want to know what he’s…

He’s welcoming you in, navigating you to the brink of his mental barriers, letting you take that final plunge into the unsuppressed fullness of your bond to each other.

Now it’s your turn to hear it: how his carefully constructed unaffected persona is not at all a match for his naked, wanton need for you.

And under that, the foundation on which that desire is built, not the product of it, is his love, his unyielding, unashamed, iridescent love for you.

It’s all you can do but to pour it back, affirming and soothing and calling his love into action with your own.

You both don’t want anything else except the most complete of entanglement, and that’s exactly what he moves to do, situating your bodies, hiking your top leg in the crook of his arm as you feel the initial breach of his body into yours, and all breath leaves your lungs in an exhilarating evacuation.

His audible gasp is an echo of his emotions, how he thinks he’s prepared for this onslaught of feeling, but how you take him off guard, how his equilibrium threatens to teeter every time.

The web of his consciousness enveloping you, it’s easy to pick out a single thought blaring within him: How much he adores the way you fit together. Your back against his chest, how your breast fits in his hand, how the snug joining of where his cock presses into your body sends you into trembles, how comforting your very presence is to his soul when he lets you in like this.

Tears, without warning, seep out of your eyes as he starts to move against you, slow and deep. You close your eyes, willing the powerful emotion away, but glimmers of light flash out behind our closed lids the moment you do, and how the kriff does he stay composed?

Anchor. Anchor against me.

He stills, letting you have a break from the barrage of pleasure blinding you as you search him out, looking for the cords of his intellect that seemingly both steam downward and beam upward, grounding him.

You find it, and you clasp on tightly.

But the moment he starts moving again, you lose sight of it all over again.

Your heightened hormones make your flesh so susceptible, and the tears start to fall again. Obi-Wan rolls your nipple in between his thumb and index, and he’s so good, and you’re so full, and you can hear his pleasure as your own, adding, doubling everything…

Scorching, electrifying heat speeds through your veins, hitting hard and fast, leaving you astounded and even more sensitive than before.

Obi-Wan’s signature spikes as your climax resounds through him, and you can feel the vibration of the wanton noises he’s making right where his beard scratches against your neck.

But he doesn’t allow it to overtake him, letting it run through him without resistance, making himself pliable but unmovable, keeping himself back from the edge.

You still have much to learn.

Because that control? Gives him the ability to not even stop, not even hesitate once, even at both yours and his own ecstasy flowing through him.

When he starts striking his hips hard into yours, the weight of him inside you dragging exactly in the right place, you start to cry in earnest. Obi-Wan stops for a millisecond, concern radiating off of him, even when he can hear how much you want this so clearly, has access to every little passing thought.

“Don’t stop, I’m fine, I pro…” He does just as asked while moving his hand down to your belly again, a soothing touch to his rough thrusts. Your eyes are blurred with wetness, overwhelmed with him.

He’s listening to it all, applying every micro-feeling of feedback into action against your desperate, post-orgasmic skin, hand switching back and forth from your nipples to loosely clutching your neck, Force energy focused on applying pressure to your clit.

“You’re doing so well, so good for me,” comes the wisp of his sultry tone, lips pressed against your ear.

Since you aren’t even thinking about changing position, you know it’s his own preference that has him withdrawing, guiding you onto your back.

There’s no inhibition this way, not the way there is when you’re on your side, no separation from your bodies being flush when he pushes into you again. You have to anchor in him, both mentally and with your fingernails clawing at his shoulder blades as your body starts into tremors.

He’s keeping the weight of his chest off of you, even though your belly is still barely swollen into distinguishable roundedness, and as much as you miss the contact, you can look into his eyes like this, can see the unfiltered attachment and all the weight of all the emotion he wills his body to not cave under.

But then the tremoring transforms into series of contractions throughout your body, centering through your slick core, and you thrash your head to the side catching a glimpse of Obi-Wan’s fingers clenching into white knuckles, grasping into the exposed sand from the blanket being bunched up.

He projects his thoughts across the tether to you, how thoroughly impacted by the very fact you’re carrying his child, how affected he is by every little thing about you, honored that he’s allowed to touch you like this.

You roll your hips back up into his, and that’s what it takes. His stuttering body is the lightning, and the searing, molten pleasure across your connection is the thunderous repercussion.

It completely overthrows you, and your body bows against him as his high instantly cues yours again.

You can feel him throb inside you at the very moment you do, his turn to experience the secondary sensory white-out of your mate’s climax through the Force, his shuddering shout meeting your breathy whines in the close distance between your mouths.

And he does kiss you then, soundly but with the haze of afterglow slowing it.

“Have you any idea how bewitching you are to me?” He breathes it out, and despite all the ways you’d normally scoff at such words, his eyes tell the story, and you listen to it’s truth.

His eyes hold that constant infiltrating study of you, the one that could be unnerving if his mind, still tethered to yours didn’t hold such amor, heart bleed such fondness that settles in the creases around his eyes.

How interesting it is watching someone as knowledgeable as him having such an inquisitive outlook on life, and being so frequently the object of those investigations.

Did the galaxy know her debt to him? Did she know the sum owed to inflicting the worst of life’s pains on someone who refused to let it build anything except an even gentler man of himself? When does she plan on repaying him? What does she offer in exchange for her cruelty of the hand she’s dealt Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Then the whisper comes, soft but crisp, from somewhere in the threads of existence around you, “Can’t you see? It’s you, child.”

You could argue it. You could scream how it’s not enough, how you’re not enough, how he deserves so much more from some dark insecure place inside you. Or how love shouldn’t be treated as currency in exchange for pain, how the galaxy could still have your fists if that was how it tallied.

But the finality of it settles in your soul, more impressionistic than in solid wording: there is no easy conclusion that ties the suffering of life into purpose, no experience that erases or mends its pain. But love. Love makes the complicated endeavor of trying to find purpose in the madness worthwhile.

Obi-Wan’s hum of agreement resounds in your ears and through to your head. His Force signature feels so familiar, so at home within yours and yours within his, that you’d briefly forgotten he could still hear you.

With all the strength still left in quaking limbs, you wrap your arms around him, and he melts into it.

The compassion of his soul hardly matches his war-ravaged skin, his guilt-ridden memories. Every good thing here came to be with a war waged, refined and not burnt away in fire at his sheer tenacity.

It’s a growing thing, blooming in the desert. The beliefs in both of you. Your love for each other. Your own trust in the Force.

Healing is no short journey, but her two sojourners here are determined.

And if that tender hope can blossom here?

Then maybe, just maybe: Tatooine is exactly the place for a baby after all.

*********

In the valley beyond the hut, a boy jets quickly away in some mechanical contraption he recently motorized, a girl in a similar vehicularized compilation of junk not far behind.

On the cliff’s edge stands Obi-Wan, eyes scanning the landscape intermittently for any sign of threat between longer affectionate looks at the children before him.

He turns, feeling your approach in his keen awareness as you set a hand on his shoulder from behind. His temples are now even thicker with sun-bleached silver, and his eyes wield the lines of laughter around them.

And you? You’re as roped in by his gravitational pull as you’ve always been.

He puts a hand over yours, clasping it to bring you in front of him, where he can still watch the children and encase you in his arms at the same time.

“Slow down, Luke! You’re going too fast!” comes the distressed cry of your daughter, Ahlina, drawing your attention away from admiring Obi-Wan and back to the valley. Her vowels curl in the same way her father’s does, but her more casual phrasing was certainly thanks to you. Luke shouts back at her, “Come on, keep up!” while he races on ahead.

Obi-Wan smiles, seemingly amused at a secret joke.

“They are much too young for this nonsense still,” he speaks, muffled slightly as he hides his lips in your hair.

“Probably,” you reply with an airy laugh.

Not long after, the engine on Luke’s small contraption gives out, jutting him off and tumbling forward into the sand.

“I told you!” Ahlina yells, her own machine coming to a halt not far away from Luke.

When they make it back up the cliff, Obi-Wan couches and opens his arms, and they both come running with smiles. They’re still young enough to be unshy about affection, and Obi-Wan knows to soak it up, closing his eyes in relishment.

Luke is the first to wiggle down, waving before running over to hug your leg, which you happily return, brushing some of the blonde mop of hair from his forehead. You adored the nights that the Lars let him sleep over.

Although the nights that Ahlina slept over at theirs certainly had their allure too.

“Can we have a snack, Daddy?” Ahlina asks, still happy to be hoisted up on one of his arms.

“Hm. Perhaps I can make some of those ahrisa sweet breads again?”

She wrinkles her nose. “Can Mommy make them?”

“Why not mine?”

“Because you always burn them.”

He bops a finger lightly on her nose with a smile. “Cheeky.”

She goes to bop him on his nose in return, but he catches the finger, holding it.

“Give it back!” she screeches through a giggle.

“No, no. I think I’ll keep it now.”

The suns are dipping low as you retreat into the hut, the two children running ahead, racing to gather the ingredients to help you bake the bread. Luke especially was an enthusiastic sous-chef.

You step to follow them, but Obi-Wan grasps your hand. You turn back to him, and he barely gives you a second before he joins his mouth to yours. Sliding a hand into the auburn beard, you open your mouth to him, letting his familiar taste permeate your senses.

He reluctantly breaks after a long moment, and you take his hand in yours. When you turn back to the horizon, the suns are dipping, blanketing the landscape in the most celestial light of the day.

The planet’s eyes aren’t harsh in the way you used to see them. They’re still intense, and frequently unforgiving.

Perhaps they never changed. Maybe only you did.

But as they sink now, you give a silent, partial farewell, knowing they’ll greet you again in the morning.

Because if Dark’s patience is infinite?

So is the promise of the return of the Light.

Tagging upon request: @million-dollar-legs

#obi-wan kenobi #obi-wan kenobi x reader #obi-wan kenobi x you #obi wan kenobi x reader #obi wan kenobi x you #obi-wan x reader #obi-wan x you #obi wan x you #obi wan x reader #obi-wan kenobi smut #obi wan smut #obi-wan smut #obi-wan #obi-wan x oc

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gb-patch · 4 years ago

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Ask Answers: December 11th, 2020

How old are terri, miranda, lee, shiloh and jeremy? Are they all the same age as the mc?

Step 1: MC is 8 and Shiloh is 7

Step 2: MC and Lee are 13 and Jeremy is 12

Step 3: MC, Lee, and Terri are 18, Miranda is 19 (though she just barely turned that age)

How many different personalities are there for Jamie? Does picking one color of dialogue option mark down the personality or is it the choices and actions themselves?

There’s not really any set amount of personalities. You can mix and match traits in different ways and different levels, it’s really up to you. The colored options just give an idea of the tone of what you’re doing (whether it’s serious or more lighthearted or more emotional, that sort of thing).

Hey! Sorry to bother, but I was just curious. Why does MC and Cove react the way they do in the errands moment? It just sorta seems like they overreacted to being left alone in the farmers market.

I’m a little confused on what you mean. You can choose not to care or to have a good time, your MC doesn’t have to be upset. There are more choices that lead to upset feelings, but that’s because there’s really only one way to say you’re really okay and multiple ways to feel upset (sad, angry, scared, etc). And if someone is upset, there’s nothing wrong with that. Feeling fine is okay too.

As for Cove, he’s just like that. Cove is a sensitive guy and he is especially bothered by parents pulling stunts without talking to their kid ahead of time. If you wanna annoy Cove, that exact thing they did is one of the fastest ways to do it, ahah. And he’s not gonna let it slide just because it was the MC’s parents doing it to them rather than one of his own parents doing it to him.

so if I were to become a one time patreon pledger, would I still have access to the things from that tier after the month is over (such as 18+ pics or access to a demo/beta)?

If you join Patreon for one month you’ll get everything released that month and have access to all our past posts, and you can save the stuff to your own computer to keep it forever. But you won’t get access to things that come out after your subscription has ended. So if you want to join for a specific piece of content, just make sure you wait until that content has already come out and then subscribe.

Why did Noelani and Pamela decide to adopt within the USA when they had previously adopted abroad?

Because we wanted to highlight more than one type of adoption. Both are valid.

At what age was MC adopted in our life?

Only around a year old, but it’s flexible based on what the player wants for their story.

If Pamela is estranged from her family and Noelani doesn't really talk to her's, where did Lee come from?

Lee is a backer created character, she wasn’t originally part of the cast. Because our main supporter wanted her to be related to the MC’s family, we gave Pam one sibling she still talks to and that sibling has a daughter, Lee. The game was still in pretty early development way back then when we first mentioned the family situation. It’s just kind of inevitable that during the game making process some things ended up changing, aha.

In the relationship DLC’s for Derek and Baxter will there be options for polyamory to include Cove?

I’m afraid not. The way Our Life: Beginnings & Always works doesn’t support developing a poly relationship well, it’d very quickly build up too many alterations to manage. But we do hope to feature polyamory options in future games.

Will it be possible to confess to Cove (or vice versa) in Step 4, if it hasn't been done already?

Yeah!

are you going to put the credits song on youtube or spotify? i really like it and want to play it for my friends 🙏🥺 ty

I’m so glad you like it! We have rights to use the song in our game and for our game to be the only game it’s ever used in, but the rights to sell/upload the song belong to the actual creators of the music. We’re happy to let them decide where they’re comfortable posting the track.

Quick question, do you plan on continuing to use MC we can custom? I liked all your games but being able to customize Our Life's MC was awesome

I can’t say if every game we ever make from now on will have a super customizable MC, but we are planning other projects with that feature. Our Life: Beginnings & Always won’t be the only one. It’s nice to hear you appreciated the effort to add that.

Can I just express my disappointment that you only get a 'makeout session' in Step 3 if your MC is outgoing? My shy MCs miss out on grabbing the Cove booty... xP

Whether or not you can make out with Cove and how intense it can get depends on how long you’ve been a couple. If your shy MC takes longer to get with Cove, he’ll need more time before he’s ready to do that sort of stuff. And if your confident MC has been with him for years already, then he’s at a point where he can go that far with them. I’m afraid patience is required when it comes to romancing that boy, haha.

If we played in 1.0 and we updates to 1.1 do we have to start over? Or do save files transfer? I hit the "ignore" not sure if I should have for the game to work properly

1.0 save files should work with version 1.1. If you’re getting error reports can you send us more details about what the error is saying?

Bug report: At the end of the 'Mall' DLC moment in Step 2, there's a point where Cove says the MC's name, but it's said in his Step 1 voice instead of his Step 2 voice. I don't know if it happens with ALL names, but it happened with my most recent game using the name Devin.

As a follow-up to my earlier bug report about the voiced names (or at least Devin) in the Mall moment, I had the same issue in the Soiree moment as well (with the same name - again, it might just be that one).

Thank you for the report! Can you let me know when you downloaded the DLC files? I think that should be fixed in the most recent version of them.

Dear gb-patch, I'm one of the OL Kickstarter backers (and I had and still have a great time with your updates, it's great to see the project grow and you are great in communicating with your fans 💕).

I want to wait until all steps are complete until I play, I know I'll enjoy it even more if I can experience it all together. Because of that I didn't open the game myself but I just saw your post with the screenshot of the voiced names and noticed that the name that I submitted to you isn't on the list. The name is Mai (or May), will it be available later?

Thank you for supporting us! Mai is one of the names that we’re still working on. It accidentally had a tone missed.

And thank you for all of these asks <3

—————————————————————— We released a new FAQ! It answers common questions and we’ll keep adding more to it. Please check there before sending an ask. FAQ Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

#our life #ourlifeba #Our Life Beginnings & Always #ask #asked #gb patch #gb patch games

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helltalia-inc · 4 years ago

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RULES + LIST OF CHALLENGES

RULES

1. Pick a challenge from the List of Challenges;

2. Create whatever you want, as you want;

3. Use the tag #helltalia-inc and @ with the name of the page;

4. And don’t forget to have fun!

Not that hard, right?

More info:

· There are no language barriers here, so feel free to use the language that you feel the most comfortable to express yourself;

· Bad behavior will not be tolerated;

· Feel free to use any characters and any ships;

· Take attention to tag your ships, any warming or triggering content;

· And for the last, but not least… support the “CONTENT CREATORS”!

LIST OF CHALLENGES

(This list will be updated occasionally. Feel free to search for the number of the challenges, for example like #1, or #20, I made sure to tag every work with the number of the challenge. So, if you want to see the works related to each challenge, you just have to search in the page by the number. And, of course, feel free to use the challenges to inspire your future works.)

1. Favorite Character

2. Egg Themed

3. Books + Favorite Trio

4. Your living country + his national flower

5. Crossing the line with the Star Wars Universe

6. Pajama Party + Female Characters Only

7. Revenge the Hetavision

8. Wedding dress

9. Child’s Day

10. Recycle, Reduce, Reutilize

11. Nordics appreciation challenge

12. LGBT Respect Day

13. “If you meant it, kiss me”

(Just to record it: starting from here, it was added as option, the “challenge quote”)

14. National Animal + The Country where you live / “No matter where I go, my heart will always be yours”

15. Healthy Food Habits/ “But loving you had consequences”

16. World Day of Friendship/ “It’s okay if you don’t like me. Not everyone had good taste.”

17. REVENGE FIFATALIA/ “I’m so sick of lying. I have to tell you…”

18. ROCK IN HETALIA / “the music is the language of feelings”

19. Stuck on a desert island/ “I’m so sorry I kissed you, my mouth just slipped”

20. ICE CREAM AND WATERMELON/ ”I wouldn’t do that if I were you”

21. Pirate and Mermaids AU/ “That’s the summer when we first met”

22. Aquarium park / “It is easier to pretend we are strong; it is much harder to admit we are weak; a true friend, by loving every part of us, teaches us to love our weaknesses”

23. Crossover with one of your favorite movies / “The two of us, we’re the best kind of disaster. Apples and oranges. Well, more like apples and machetes.”

24. Alice in the Wonderland AU / “I really did think you were cute when you were jealous.”

25. Improvised Olympic Games out of Season/ “I’d find you whenever you were.”

26. Ancients Countries Appreciation Challenge / “Chaos isn’t meant to be understood”

27. University AU / “Never say “Goodbye””

28. Color’ (or body or personality) swap / “Puns are the highest form of literature.”

29. Crossover with Sesame Street or The Muppets / “I’ve missed you. But it seems like you’re not happy to see me.”

30. Alter Ego AU / “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have even come here tonight.”

31. Your favorite writer + his respective nation / “I wanted to end the world, but I’ll settle for ending yours.”

32. Candle in the dark / “I’m pregnant”

33. Orchestra AU / “You can run, but you can’t escape”

34. Trapped in a maze / “Can you keep a secret?”

35. Wingtalia / “Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off”

36. Space, stars, moon / “You’re better than you think.”

37. Villain AU / “I don’t want to sleep alone today. Will you sleep with me?”

38. African nations / “You promised that we would always be together… now, how I’m supposed to live without you?”

39. Love potion / "We didn't realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun"

40. Treasure hunt / “The only thing you’re good at is fake crying”

41. Asian nations / “You can see me?”

42. National desert / “Nice try. Better luck next time”

43. Death note AU / “How long will you keep me waiting?”

44. Kabedon / “What is your problem?”

45. Siblings / “Don’t just say nice things, give me advice.”

46. The 7 deadly sins / “Take that stupid grin off your face”

47. Reincarnation AU / “We have only one chance at life. And I want to live a life with no regrets.”

48. Autumn / “You said I could do whatever I wanted.”

49. Red apple / “I want to crush anyone who dares to touch you. I want to hide you, monopolize you.”

50. Hot chocolate / “It’s too late now.”

51. Tarot Cards / “Take your hands off of me.”

52. Summon Demons /”Have I done something wrong?”

53. Ouija / “That’s the one thing I regret the most in my life.”

54. Underworld / “If you want, we could swap secrets.”

55. Supernatural creatures / “Close your eyes and listen carefully.”

56. Hunter / “Even though it isn’t a big deal now, it will be later.”

57. Shadow / “You helped me become who I am.”

58. Bloody sunset / “If you took well care of it from the beginning, then none of this would’ve happened.”

59. Ghost mansion / ”What the hell do you want from me?”

60. Mysterious box / “It’s not extreme, it’s the most effective way.”

61. Scream / “What makes you think I’ve changed?”

62. Evil laugh / “I thought I knew you better than this...”

63. Superstition / “There are times when it’s dangerous to approach something or someone when you don’t have sufficient knowledge about them.”

64. Roses / ”My understanding is that faith is something that one builds up through actions.”

65. Destiny / “I don’t want to live like that.”

66. Coincidence / “Growth always follows hardship.”

67. Broken heart / “They want me to find happiness more than anyone else.”

68. The wedding day / “You don’t have to worry about me anymore.”

69. Slow dance / “It’s better to spend the rest of my lifetime alone, than being stupid and crying over someone who broke my trust.”

70. By my side / “Time flew by.”

71. Holding hands / “I gave you a chance to pretend that nothing happened.”

72. Friendzone / “I won’t run away this time.”

72. Rejection / “Sorry, I let my emotions get the best of me.”

73. Forever alone / “If they’re your friends, they’ll understand and be happy for you. Just like how you were for them.”

74. BDSM / “Whatever you choose, I’ll respect your decision.”

75. Dirty talking / “You’re just taking advantage of the people around you.”

76. Love letter / “Money and Status... you’re nothing without those things.”

77. First love / “Seeing you happy means the world to me.”

78. First time / “Friendship isn’t about whom you have known the longest, it’s about who came and never left.”

79. Crush / “I’m in a threesome with anxiety and depression.”

80. Decorations / “Just fantasizing about it isn’t enough for me.”

81. Presents / “You just have to work hard to turn it into a reality.”

82. Traditions / “Anger cannot be dishonest.”

83. Family Dinner / “Relationships are like glass, sometimes it’s better to leave them broken than trying to hurt yourself putting it back together.”

84. Friends / “I’m glad I at least left an impression on you. Though apparently, it’s a negative one.”

85. Figure skating / “The mirror is my best friend because when I cry it doesn’t laugh.”

86. Snowboard / “The saddest people have the brightest smile.”

87. Ski / “I don’t think we wasted a single second.”

88. Hockey / “I wish I knew I was in the good old days before they became the good old days.”

89. Snow globe / “Those who are already dead don’t care about those who are still alive.”

90. Acts of kindness / “People only listen and believe in what they think is entertaining.”

91. Aurora Borealis / “If this is for the best.”

92. Church bell / “The more envy you show, the worse you look.”

93. The little match girl / “Whatever you do, I’ll never be disappointed in you.”

94. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / “When people brag so openly about their past, if often means, that they have nothing to brag about now.”

95. Heart made of ice / “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

96. Message on a bottle / “I never truly fell in love with anyone.”

97. Bubbles / “This is all very suspicious... extremely suspicious.”

98. End of the world / “I was afraid kindness would make me weak.”

99. Halloween dolls / “No hard feelings but I hate you.”

100. Redemption / “I should apologize for this. But I won’t.”

101. Femme fatale / “Do you think you can handle it?”

102. (more challenges will be added eventually. If you want, send your challenge’ suggestions to the Ask Box)

Note: Most of the quotes aren’t mine and have no source.

#RULES #RULES + LIST OF CHALLENGES #LIST OF CHALLENGES #Helltalia-inc #hetalia #aph #hws #importante

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otp-armada · 4 years ago

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I am not looking forward to these flashbacks.

To date, we’ve had four onscreen kisses shared between Bellamy and Echo with additional, smaller moments of other forms of intimacy. I’d rather the show refrain from adding more tally marks to the count.

If humans were gifted with the capacity for purging unwanted memories, then all this discomfort would be a moot point. I suppose there’s always alcohol as a fallback option, but not even the prospect of temporary amnesia is worth destroying my liver. Turning to alcohol to drown my B/E-related sorrows would probably qualify more as self-harm than self-help.

I’d much prefer to cut directly to an imminent breakup scene without the pomp and circumstance of an agonized Echo’s trip down memory lane.

If anything, supplying us with visual evidence on how happy they were together is an even sadder remark on the state of B/E’s fragility, knowing it took 0.001 seconds for the mere mention of Clarke’s name to bring it all to ruin. No collection of past happy moments shared on the Ring erases the fractures in their relationship that occur between them afterward, originating with the revelation of a still-living Clarke. I'd be an absolute fool to believe otherwise.

But if Jason deems a tour of their greatest hits as necessary to the story, I trust his judgment. Showing us B/E's origins as their romantic relationship begins to fall apart in real-time brings it full circle, and it lends gravitas to the story he's telling with Echo. With this particular arc, the bigger picture is still Echo's evolution. It's not about B/E.

Once season 7 started, there was a visible shift in how Jason utilized B/E. Whereas seasons 5 and 6 primarily used B/E as the third leg in a love triangle designed to keep a pining Bellarke apart, season 7 uses their master-spy dynamic to bolster Echo's development almost exclusively. Post-season 6, Bellarke is so primed to get together, one honest admission of mutual feelings without Echo as an obstacle and BOOM. Canon couple.

Echo has a more extensive role than girl-to-be-dumped, and I'm not upset over it. She gets to stand up as a character after the majority of her life has been marked by slavery for her crown, and I'm not upset over it. As indemnification for the loss of her relationship, this orphan-turned-soldier is finding her place in a supportive, loving family while developing a sense of identity and independence, and I'm not upset over it.

I would’ve preferred Jason found a way to take her on this path without B/E remaining intact this far into the final season and theoretically for the foreseeable episodes. I would always choose to end them sooner rather than later, given a choice. But I understand why Jason didn't.

Echo can’t very well outgrow a master-spy complex if there is no master to her spy. And as much as I hate it, the romantic aspect of B/E is a believable, convenient tool to keep this complex in place until her story comes to fruition. Would Echo act so extremely in service to a recent ex-boyfriend who left her for another woman? Probably not. As far as I can tell, the pinnacle of her arc is the moment she realizes she has to break free from Bellamy. So narrative structure demands B/E stay together, however technically, long enough for her to break those chains.

I was initially excited about the flashbacks, if only because I took them as a sign of an impending breakup. But the timing doesn't pan out. Aside from the logistics of Echo and Bellamy presumably on separate worlds, and with her thinking him dead, we've only just reached the point where Echo might start to ask herself those hard questions she's been avoiding. She must have noticed a change in her relationship. Between Psychosis!Emori, B/E's 6x04 fight, and Anomaly!Roan, she's had enough cause for doubt. But I think she's suppressed any urge to reflect upon it for a number of reasons. Love. Continued hope they'll last. War. A mission to save him. It took a lot of meticulous maneuvering to corner Echo to this point. Now that we're here, I don't think Jason would pull a reverse Uno card in a 40-minute episode. It seems more likely that he will let her continue to stew in her emotions. Either she'll keep sinking until she hits rock bottom, or she'll start learning how to swim.

Jason could always prove me wrong. And if I am, I'd never be happier for him to do so. If I'm not? It's at times like this when I am reminded of the resolution I made at the end of season 6- rest easy in the comfort of knowing B/E will meet its inevitable end but do not try to speculate when that might be. Attempting to discern the specifics of "when" brings one only misery.

Jason’s signature sometimes-too-fast, other-times-too-slow pacing, is often liable to tempt one into ripping their own hair out. That being said, I’ve seen enough of this show to trust in his ability to tell a damn good story. Faith in his competency for the craft just requires on our part, the patience of a saint.

If nothing else, it isn’t my story to tell, so I’ll just have to suck it up and find a way to deal with any disappointments I may feel. Or I can try to find the value within the story told. It's a better alternative than to be left bitter. No promises, though.

Maybe Echo’s actions against the Disciples aren’t reprehensible, considering the people she’s killing are those complicit in kidnapping and torturing her people. But Orlando was a good, honorable man whose naïveté convinced him to play for the wrong team, yet helped our heroes when he didn’t have to. Not unlike Shaw, whom Echo sold to Diyoza to fulfill her mission. But I assume “We are not his people” is residual mistrust leftover from Ryker’s betrayal of her. She miscalculated the feelings of one possible defector before, she won’t make the same mistake twice.

If she was able to save Bellamy in the end, I’m sure she’d be able to justify the spilled blood it took to get there. But Orlando suffered at her hands for nothing, and she may not be overly concerned with morality, but she cares for the people she grows close to. Unless the episode proves otherwise, I’d like to think Orlando’s fate will weigh heavily on her.

They may not have been close. But five years in close quarters with only a few people akin to friends for comfort, it'd be hard not to feel the slightest bit attached.

Those of us who believe in Bellarke know Echo is the third-party obstacle in a love triangle. But what is far more interesting is the role she played in the seasons-long Blake siblings struggle.

Echo was persona non grata to both siblings following her and Octavia's mountaintop fight. Six years later, she highlights the difference in the siblings' maturities. Whereas Bellamy has learned to embrace empathy and forgiveness with open arms, Octavia is cold and unyielding. On a more personal note, B/E represents Octavia's persistent unwillingness to respect Bellamy as his own person, with needs and wants independent of her.

After her soul searching on Skyring, I thought she had buried the hatchet, as per her lack of vitriol in her 6x12 conversation with Bellamy, and enthusiastically joining forces with Echo in 6x13. Maybe she did. But Octavia has also proven herself an unreliable narrator, and Hope feels indignation on her aunt's behalf. Whatever the case, there's a reason why the dialogue keeps referencing Echo and Octavia's hostile history. And I think it's building to a head in 7x07.

I think mutual love for Bellamy is healing the divide between them when Echo is at her most fractured. She's isolated from Bellamy and the rest of Spacekru. Left in pain and seeking retribution as Octavia did, which, as we know, is where it all went wrong for the latter. Octavia, more than most, is in the best position to empathize with what Echo is currently feeling and how pain can destroy her if she lets it consume her.

If Octavia can remind Echo she's not alone, if a former enemy can convince her she belongs and welcome her with open arms- as her brother did before her- it might do well in healing some broken piece inside of her. And it would be a roundabout display of Octavia's newfound maturity. This is good for both of them. This spiral she is in will require her to look inward. Since her fixation with Bellamy is partly what landed her in this mess, absolution cannot come from him. She can only find it in herself if she wants it. But I'd be glad if Octavia can help see her through it. This is what I mean about seeking value in the story told. We're so concerned about Octavia calling Echo family, about the possibility of it legitimizing B/E, it doesn't occur to us that it's about the characters themselves. And B/E is only a vehicle used to bring us there. It's easier to see when not consumed by automatic seething rage, as typical of our fellow Bellarke compatriots, for anything remotely associated with Echo.

If my heart and mind weren’t chanting “BELLARKEBELLARKEBELLARKE,” there’s a good chance I’d be able to better appreciate the complexities B/E gives to the development of the four characters it directly impacts.

Our side of fandom has made lots of accusations about B/E since 5x01. It’s a forgettable, physical relationship worth little to Bellamy. B/E is unhealthy for reasons x, y, and z. We generate a different example in every episode. Click slideshow for more details. But the fact of the matter is, much of this isn't true. Until Echo went postal, B/E wasn’t unhealthy. Bellamy just had a greater love for Clarke. Up until their ending scene in 6x04, there was nothing they couldn’t come back from together, if both committed themselves fully, no more walls. It's not a particularly popular train of thought among us, but Jason absolutely could've written B/E as an endgame pairing. And all it would take to deliver a final killing blow is the inclusion of a single damning scene.

We can gripe over the length of time they've stayed together. But, in spite of what most people think about every new B/E development and Bellarke separation, Jason has never actually dropped an ax on Bellarke. Hope persists.

Jason is responsible for the development of dozens of characters, major plots, and dozens of smaller subplots. But our fandom reduced the story chiefly to Bellarke's romance. Our villains are those who stand in their way. Namely Echo, the only outside love interest to be an official obstacle. We fashioned Echo as our enemy. In lieu of removing her from the narrative (which is not in our power to do), we've done everything within our purview to diminish her. If Jason won't treat B/E and Echo as the jokes we know they are, we'll do it ourselves. Minimizing her role in the story makes it a hell of a lot easier to erase a character we'd rather didn't exist for our preferred ship to advance.

Lord knows how many times we've claimed she has no story. That absent relevance or substantial bearing, she's there simply because Jason is partial to her for some elusive reason. But the reality is, we never looked for her story because we wanted to be able to claim its inexistence. We wanted to be able to say she's frivolous to the story, and by extension, to Bellamy. We want to be able to dismantle B/E when it appears Jason doesn't. Except he is and has been doing so since day one.

Months ago, on a whim, when I was feeling benevolent towards Echo, I wrote a long post HERE giving her the benefit of the doubt, and I said:

In the grand scheme of the story, I think this is the purpose Echo serves, to represent the part that says, “We’re all human. No matter what tribe we belong to, we fight for the same reasons. We love the same way. When you leave allegiances aside, when you see someone for who they are at their core, an enemy today can become a friend tomorrow.”

True peace, a series-long running theme for our heroes, begins with embracing former outsiders like Echo and Emori. Easy to lose sight of this when focused on ship wars.

It is perfectly acceptable not to love all the components of a story. It is understandable to focus your attention on those select segments you find appealing. But a tunnel-visioned mindset lands you in trouble when you become resentful at the reminders that a story is a composite of more moving pieces than just the parts you like. And when you forget that screentime allotted to developing those pieces ahead of what you favor is permissible. Everything on a show has its time, all in due course.

On the other hand, B/E shippers overinflate their ship's significance. They take canon and twist it to say, "Look at how strong B/E is, Bellarke could never. B/E is endgame, and Blorkes are delusional." Their conclusion of an epic love is another bias-based fandom interpretation that doesn’t hold water, either.

I think the reality of B/E lies somewhere in a muddled middle of these two extremes.

One last point, and I'll get off my soapbox. Despite what the melodramatic diatribe in my opening paragraph suggests, B/E is never as atrocious as fandom makes them out to be. Greater fandom treats anything remotely associated with B/E as the next great catastrophe. And as it turns out, it never really is.

Tagging @sometimesrosy, because I think, after years of combating opinions you don’t agree with, it might be a refreshing change of pace to know some of us do have more balanced views regarding B/E. If I do say so myself.

#hmmm how i tag this in a way that will land me in the least amount of hot water?#the 100 meta #with a side order of #fandom wank #long post #the 100 #bellarke #b/e #c/b/e #the 100 season 7 #my post

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plus-size-reader · 6 years ago

Text

Inseperable

Alec Volturi x Plus size!reader

Word Count: 1708 words

Warnings: Jane makes rude comments about the reader’s weight.

Summary: Alec and Jane are inseparable until she begins tormenting you because of your weight and he refuses to speak to her, spending the night with the reader at her home

———————————————————————————————————

It wasn't a secret that Jane was mean...in fact, she was beyond mean, she was vile, and cruel, and sadistic at best. Luckily, you'd never had to experience it for yourself until you found out just how close you and Alec could become.

That had not been the plan when you first joined the Volturi, but sometimes things just happened that way. It didn't matter how many times you tried to convince yourself that you didn't care about him-There was nothing you could do.

Everything you'd ever felt about anyone had never added up to this much trust, and appreciation, and love.

And that was something that you hated.

Loving Alec wasn't something you needed, or wanted but now that it had happened, you were both glad to have each other. It felt right for the two of you to be together. You had shared life experiences and a lot of other things in common.

When you were with Alec, you weren't concerned with torture, or any sort of vampire business in general. All that mattered to you in that moment was Alec, and everything that surrounded him.

In a different world, maybe it would have worked out better; If you weren't in the Volturi, or if Alec and Jane weren't siblings. There were many scenarios in which your relationship could have thrived, and been perfectly fine, but Jane simply wouldn't let that happen.

And it wasn't even like you could be upset with her. You understood exactly why Jane had so many reservations about you and Alec, it was obvious.

All her life, it had been only her and her brother, until of course, the Volturi. There was nothing else, and she wasn't going to give him up just for you. There was not a thing that could convince her to accept you, no matter what you said or did.

At this point, the two of you had basically agreed not to speak to one another, and just pretend that you didn't exist in the same space and it was working well enough. Until of course, it wasn't.

If Jane wanted to hurt you, it wouldn't be a difficult goal to accomplish. You were powerful, and strong in the best ways but everyone had a weakness and yours was body. You felt stupid admitting it but the fact of the matter was that you couldn't stand the composition of your body and now you were trapped that way for all of eternity.

It was agony, and Jane knew that.

So, for the first time in her life, she set her gifts aside and decided to attack you with a totally different sort of weapon. As it would turn out, her power of pain was nothing near the power of words, and she was going to use it to wreck you.

The fighting was all planned in secret and came as a surprise to not only you, but Alec and the rest of the Volturi as well. Somehow, everything Jane had ever learned about etiquette had melted away the moment her gaze fell on you.

The only thing she could feel was hatred coursing through her veins, and it was almost as if she'd been blinded by her feelings and nothing else mattered to her more than hurting you in every way, shape, and form.

"It's nice of you to join us Y/N, I knew there was something big missing from the meeting" she hummed, her voice sickeningly sweet as she addressed you. It was clear that there was something nasty hidden in the tone, but you thought nothing of it as you sat down on the other side of Alec.

The man smiled at your arrival, wrapping his hand around your own under the table, though it didn't escape the watchful eye of his sister. It didn't matter to you that she was upset about it, there was something so comforting about having Alec at your side.

You really did love him, not that Jane knew that, or cared much anyway.

"Tell me the truth, did you put any thought into what you put on your body, or did you just grab the most inappropriately sized thing in your closet" she asked, this time making her jabs much more obvious.

You were shocked at her question, looking down instantly at the clothes dressing your frame. When you'd put them on this morning, you thought that they were pretty. The new top you'd found a few days ago was encrusted with golden fabric, and fit your curves perfectly.

The only thing that Jane could be referring to was the fact that it wasn't as baggy and concealing as your outfits normally were, and clearly that was what was bothering her. The reaction wasn't positive and it hurt you because it was so hard for you to put yourself out of your comfort zone in that way.

Since you'd started seeing Alec, it had pushed you out of your box and made you want to be more confident and try the things that you never thought you could before him. You'd spent a hundred years without the love and support that Alec gave you and there was nothing better than that.

However, nothing you thought about yourself was going to change the way that Jane was looking at you from the other side of Alec's shoulder. You had never seen so much hatred in your life, you could practically feel her gaze burning into your flesh and it boiled like nothing else ever could.

It had been so important to you that Jane liked you at first because you cared about Alec, but it was becoming clear that you two that that wasn't an option. As heartbreaking as that was, it was just how it was going to be, and you knew that.

"You look amazing Y/N, don't listen to Jane" Alec assured, shooting his sister a pointed look that showed both you and her just how upset he was at her words. There was no point in her being so cruel to you, and as much as you wished he would just let it go, Alec had no intention of doing that.

It didn't matter to him if Jane was his sister, his best friend, or a stranger...no one was going to ever make you feel bad about your size or what you felt like wearing. You looked beautiful, and Alec loved you, even if he wasn't sure how to let you know it yet.

There wasn't much going on in the meeting so far, and you had no obligation to be there, so Alec grabbed your hand again, this time raising you from the chair. The last thing he was going to allow was for you to spend all your time getting daggers thrown at you, verbally or mentally.

No one should be expected to take that, and what man in his right mind, would let the woman he loves be treated that way? Not Alec.

So he took you by the hand and rescued you from the terrible situation his sister had built for you. There weren't many places to go in the large, cathedral building in which the Volturi resided, but each of you had rooms, so Alec took you off to his.

You had never been to Alec's bedroom in all the time that you two had been together, but you weren't surprised by what it looked like. It was about the same size as yours and decorated similarly but without the little personal touches that you'd been expecting.

There wasn't even a picture frame or any items from his past on display and you had no idea how to look at it. There was something so strange about the near empty bedroom you had just entered.

Still, you smiled at the help that Alec had given you. The fact of the matter was, you had no chance against Jane without her brother's help and all of you knew it. Jane was stronger mentally than you, and if she wanted to, could crumble every part of your being.

Luckily, Alec wasn't going to let that happen.

Gingerly you sat down on the bed with Alec on your side, his hands finding their way onto your face without so much as a look in your direction. Unspoken communication was something that you two had gotten pretty good at, and it was brilliant to be a part of.

"I'm sorry she treated you that way, I don't know what's gotten into her" Alec spoke softly, his words just as gentle in your eyes as his touch was on your skin. It was incredible to imagine his killer smog leaking from those fingertips at moments like this, though you never forgot that he had the ability.

Alec was the kind of amazing man that you could never forget the first thing about. You knew how genuinely disturbed he was about everything with his sister, but what he didn't understand was that you'd been feeling that way since you were a child, in the 1900s.

Nothing had changed in all that time, and because of immortality, now it never would. You were trapped in this body for the rest of your life, the best you could do was make the best of it and learn to love it.

"Thank you for that...I have no idea how difficult it must have been to do something like that to her, I know how close you two are" you explained, it must have nearly killed him to separate from her in that way. The two of them had been inseparable all their lives, and nothing was going to ever lesson that, not even this fight.

Alec chuckled, thinking about what happened as he looked in your beautiful eyes, thinking about everything that he saw in their reflection. "Not as close as I am to you darling" he purred, pressing a light kiss to the side of your face.

You ended up falling asleep wrapped up in Alec's arms, feeling more safe and beautiful than you ever had in your life, old or new. Being with Alec was going to set you free, and there was nothing better in the world than that.

#alec volturi #alec volturi x ps reader #alec volturi x plus size reader #twilight #twilight x reader #twilight x ps reader #twilight x plus size reader #the volturi #the volturi x ps reader #the volturi x plus size reader

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watchtoomuchtv · 6 years ago

Text

A MARVELous Christmas - Part 4

Pairing: Mystery Avenger x Reader

Warnings: angst and fluff

Summary: In the lead up to Christmas y/n is made aware of a secret admirer. Can she work out who the mystery avenger is in time for one important dance at Stark’s annual Christmas Eve party?

Word Count: 2k

A/N: We are getting closer to Christmas Eve so closer to the big reveal! Thanks for all the support for the series so far I really appreciate it. I’ve had so much fun writing it. Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!

PART 3 | PART 5

“Okay Nat, don’t be mad that I haven’t told you this before.”

She quirked an eyebrow at you, tilting her head to the side urging you to continue. You couldn’t help but hesitate, glancing at her then at your hands. You pushed yourself up into a sitting position and looked around the room. At the ceiling, at the reading chair she had in the corner. The bookcase against the wall. The framed photos lining the shelve. To Nat. Then back down to your hands. Shuffling in your position once more. Okay now or never.

“When I first started at SHIELD… when we were barely even that close, really, if you think about it it isn’t too crazy that I didn’t tell you. But then I guess we became friends shortly after. Look I definitely should have told you sooner. But me and Clint used to, urgh I don’t even know what to call it. Actually I don’t even know if he felt the same way. Okay to put it plainly, I had a massive crush on Clint when I first started.”

“I know” she said with a smirk, crossing her arms across her chest and waving a dismissive hand.

Extremely taken aback you couldn’t seem to close your agape mouth or lower your raise eyebrows. This was supposed to be the best kept secret. But she knew? Oh of course she knew. She was Nat. Why were you so stupid. But was she mad? Oh you hoped she wasn’t mad.

“Are you angry I didn’t tell you? I mean it never really turned into anything, except a kiss but that was it.”

“Come on y/n of course not. I have been wanting to hear the juicy goss from the source but you know, I understand wanting to keep somethings to yourself, especially in this environment.” She gave a small laugh and rubbed her hand over your shoulder. “But for the sake of the mission. You need to tell me, everything.”

You knew she was right but you couldn’t help but let out a groan.

- - -

Three Years Earlier

You walked through the doors for the first time, on the first day of your new job. ‘Y/n y/l/n, SHIELD agent’ had a nice ring and you were ready to dive right in. Walking into the lobby you became slightly intimidated. There were people who all looked like they knew exactly what they were doing and where they were going scattered across the level. You needed a second to take it all in. Moving to the nearest wall you pressed your back to it and took in the room that was in front of you. A water feature took up a large section of the lobby, whilst the ceiling seemed to be many feet high, with an impressive mirror style design on it.

Your eyes travelled along the ceiling until they locked with those of a man perched on one of the rails placed metres above you. Letting out a small chuckle you recognised the bow and arrow. Hawkeye. You’d heard of him of course, the best aim in the entire agency. You let out a small laugh wondering how he’d made his way up there and lifted your hand slightly to wave at the agent. Yeah nice one, really professional. Really agent like. You mentally berated yourself for that silly slip up.

As Clint looked down to the new face who had walked into the lobby he realise who it was immediately, the new recruit. She was cute he thought to himself, watching her look around the impressive building she had just entered. Then she noticed him and time itself froze. Nobody usually paid any attention to him up here. Did she just wave? He chuckled to himself. Looks like somebody is nervous. Oh and now she’s flailing her hands around. Must be really nervous. Wait, no. That’s sign language. She’s trying to speak to him. His heart skipped a beat and he almost fell from his perch.

You’d been practising sign language as soon as you learnt some of the agents were deaf, partially deaf or already knew it. Thinking it would come in useful at one point or another. What better time to test it out than now? So you signed to Clint letting him know you were very impressed with his advantageous position. Even from this far away you could make out the smile the crept onto his face with each hand movement you did. He quickly signed back telling you that you were free to join him anytime.

You laughed, looking down at your watch and realising you needed to make it to your first meeting.

“This is not going to end well for me.” Clint couldn’t help but mutter under his breath as he watched you walk away. Already missing your company.

- - -

Two Years Earlier

Ever since the first time walking into the lobby, you and Clint had been the closest of friend. Signing across the table to one another during team meetings, sharing tents on wilderness missions and always sitting together at lunch in the SHIELD cafeteria.

What can you say? He was cute and you enjoyed his company. So when a mission went badly and you ended up having to be induced into a coma of course Clint visited you every day. And of course while he visited you heard him speak about nothing and everything to you and it meant the world.

When you finally woke up before the sun had even risen, Clint was there in the chair beside you. His hand tightly holding onto yours. Squeezing his hand as your eyes blinked open he shot straight up. “Y/n?” He asked, moving his hands to rest on your cheeks, cradling your face as he looked into your eyes. He rubbed small circles with him thumb against your cheek, “how are you feeling?” You slowly moved your hands so that the index fingers touched your thumbs signing ‘perfect.’ Clint’s gaze flicked down to the gesture until they focussed back on your eyes, you could see a battle raging within his head. You could have sworn his eyes slid down to look at your lips. Slowly the gap between your faces was closing as you both searched the others’ eyes, wondering if the other wanted it as much as they did.

Your eyes flutter shut as you felt Clint’s lips gently brush against your own. Your lips nudged his open and you raised a weak hand to tangle through his short hair. Pulling him closer. He ran his tongue across your bottom lip and you opened up giving him entrance. Letting out a small whimper you felt your body fight to get up from the bed, to get closer to him.

But suddenly he pulled away, opening your eyes you look into his as they crinkle with a smile for what seems like a millisecond before the smile is replaced with an expression you cannot read in your state. And then he’s backing towards the door, his hands no longer on you. “Ah sorry, I’ll get the doctor. They’ll want to know you’ve woken up.’ he said stumbling out of the room. Leaving you to wonder with your head feeling so hazy who had actually initiated that kiss.

He had been on the mission with you. He felt guilty and he was just glad to have you back of course. Nothing more than that. You’d just been caught up in the moment you convinced yourself. Wiping the tear away from your eye as you looked down at the sterile hospital sheets you promised yourself to never get caught up on those you work with again.

- - -

3 Days Till Christmas Eve Party

“It’s not even a thing anymore though right. Nothing happened, we just stayed friend. Good friends. And I’m happy with that.” You said, not even thinking to ask how Nat had known about whatever you’d call your relationship with Clint.

- - -

Two Years Earlier

“I kissed her Nat. I kissed her then ran away. I loved her the minute she walked through the doors. I thought I’d lost her, when she opened her eyes I felt like I was getting her back.” Clint had come to her apartment door at the early hours of the morning, yes, Nat experienced this a lot. “What am I supposed to do?” he questioned, plonking down in the couch holding his head in his hands as his elbows rested on his knees.

“Clint, you know I can’t answer that for you. Y/n is wonderful, she is probably the kindest person I know. But she’s also the most oblivious when it comes to this. So if you want her to know how you feel, you need to tell her. I don’t think a kiss will cut it.” Nat carefully sat down next to Clint placing a hand on his back.

“It’s your decision, but I’d make it quickly and no matter what, you need to stick with it. Now I’m going to go visit her if she’s awake, I’ve missed that girl.” Nat said getting up from the seat.

“She’s eventually going to join the team Nat, she’s so talented and she’s moving up the ranks so quickly and I just know that when that happens Steve will swoop in, or Sam more likely with the wings and all.”

“Or Tony, he’s got the jets remember” Nat teased nudging Clint’s shoulder.

“I don’t think I can risk the friendship. I’d rather be able to see her everyday from a distance than never see her again, I can’t lose her like that again.”

“You do realise there is a third option there, that you get to see her everyday right up close and personal.” Nat offered.

“I just can’t take that chance Nat, sorry.”

“It’s not me who you should be sorry for.” And to this day Nat still didn’t know whether Clint owed himself or y/n the apology.

- - -

3 Days Till Christmas Eve Party

“Don’t get me wrong I’m thoroughly enjoying hearing all about your past love life. But what does any of this have to do with your door being locked?” Nat said shaking the memory from her head. Surely Clint had gotten over it? He’d made his decision and he hadn’t told you his feelings.

“Right!” you exclaimed, ashamed at yourself for getting so off topic. “So back in SHIELD days, around Christmas time we would always have a competition, to see who could find the other’s present for them first. If I found the present Clint had gotten for me I got to open it, no matter how far away Christmas was and vice versa. One year he’d bought it 2 months before and thought he didn’t need to worry about hiding it just yet because I wouldn’t be looking that early. But he was wrong.”

“So you didn’t want Clint to find his gift?”

“Exactly. So I didn’t allow access to my room to anyone. I don’t know who he might send to do his dirty work. Actually that reminds me! I need to go wrap everyone’s gifts.” You said jumping up and running out of the room before Nat could say anything more. You’d done enough divulging into your past, you needed a break.

While carefully placing the presents under the tree a small box wrapped in silver paper caught your eye. The name tag had your name on it, but it didn’t say who it was from. Smiling a bit to yourself you reached out and picked it up. It was small but something about it made your heartbeat a little faster. Trying to weigh it and listen to hear anything from it you sensed a presence behind you and glanced back over your shoulder. “No peeking before Christmas y/n, you know the rules.” Clint said as he leant against the door frame, at a distance. “Thought you’d know better than to put my present right out here in the open Clint.”

Shaking his head and pushing off from the door frame he shrugged “I do know better, that ones not from me.”

Looking back at the gift you quirk your head to the side thoughtfully. It just seemed so familiar. Then you realised. You’d seen this wrapping paper somewhere. And recently. Racking your brain trying to think of where it had been it was coming to you in pieces. On the floor. A dark room. A notebook on the table. Letting out a breath and delicately placing the gift back onto the ground, you realised exactly where it had been. On the bedroom floor of a certain one armed super soldier.

To be continued…

Tag List: @mcrvellouslystcrk @astronomicparker @becka-jackson

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aharris00britney · 7 years ago

Photo

ASKS 04

wow I let this build up didn’t I.... updates on the ViVi inspired hair, Sim download info, some sweet people, some K-Pop, and other stuff below

@agentwashsims said: I️ knew you wouldn’t disappoint on the curly hairs!

Thank youu! lmao it is a pretty basic edit but I’m glad you like it ;-;

Anonymous said: Could you convert the solid colored EA Cruella DeVille style for girls or tots?

Actually it has already been converted HERE (warning: she uses an ad thing :( )

@pierce-the-rachel said: Okay hello I just love your cc so much!!! Like you're amazing I what you do. Much love<3

Thank you so much omgg I am not nearly close to being amazing but I appreciate it <3

Anonymous said: Hi! Is there any chance your sim that modeled the Braxton hair will be up for download? Along with his cc?

Yes! In the next week he 100% will be. Taylor will be posted tomorrow :)

Anonymous said: What skin do you use on your male models? It looks the same as the female one but I can’t find it in CAS.

Check my resource page for my default. I don’t have the overlay labeled on there but in the next few days when I have my male model for download it will be listed there.

Anonymous said: I love your whistle skinny jeans alot, I was wondering if you were ever thinking about making one without the jacket around the waist? Sorry for wasting your time :P

That is sadly out of my ability :( but I am glad u like my whistle skinny jeans!! Not a waste of time to give someone a compliment

Anonymous said: Not exactly an ask but. I love your cc, you create beautiful content, and no matter what others say someone is gonna like it :)

Thank you soooo much omfg I really fucking appreciate stuff like this.

Anonymous said: Your creations are so awesome! I always love coming to your page and seeing all of your amazing creations!!

Thank you!!!!!! omg I feel bad that I never respond to these until I do these things, you guys that send these prob think I ignore them ;-; but for the people who read these and who send them: I really appreciate it like so much ;-; it has been a meh couple of weeks which is why CC has been slow but I love you all so much <3

@raivynmoon said: Omg why do you always get so much hate from anons? I’ll tell you why, because you’re doing things right and toxic people get jealous. Don’t mind the haters, you’re amazing! Happy new year ❤️

I actually don’t get that much hate! I never really pay them any mind bc I know as long as it is something I like that I will release it. People do def prob get jealous they can’t mesh stuff that well, not saying I am the god at it, but I do have some talent in that area from doing it for a while. Happy new year to you too!!! and thank you for the ask <3

Anonymous said: hey i just want to say that all of your cc is amazing, you put so much time and effort into it. of course everyone can give you feedback and opinions about what you make, but you are the creator so you can do whatever you want with it. that anon below was just rude, inconsiderate, and isn’t really helping anyone. that person obviously doesn’t make cc hair, because im sure then they would understand and not be a total jerk about it. maybe they should just stick to makeup, instead of hating.

<-- what she said (thank youuu)

Anonymous said: well I think that all of the hair you make is really great, even if not everyone likes it. You spend so much time making these amazing hairs and shout-out to the person below: why would you waste your time hating on somebody else’s hard work when you could be creating makeup cc? You don’t put your effort and time into creating this kind of stuff, of course I know you were also giving feedback.

Thank you <3

Anonymous said: THE HAIR IS CUTE AF

Anonymous said: Wcif the hair in your "In The Time Spent With You" post? Thank you!♡

Deleted :( I never got it to look how I wanted so I never finished it

Anonymous said: I'd just like to say that the hair looks pretty, honestly your hairs are always high quality and never fail to dissapoint, I'd just say that it could be a little puffier on the sides, and over all ignore the haters, they probably couldn't make anything close to what you're making! Luvs.

Thank you!! I tried puffing the sides up some, here is a comparison pic:

(brown is now) (blonde is before)

@twirlyb said: I love the idea of the hair and I think it looks good so far but so you think that there's anyway to add for volume? I love the hair that it's based on and I really want to have it in game. I Completely understand if it's not an option but I though I would ask anyway. Btw I think your hairs are amazing. I went mostly cc free for a while (not anymore could handle not having cc but) and the only things I kept were my defaults and some of your hairs that I absolutely can not live without.

Refer above lmao

@cutesimmer23 said: Hi , anonimus , I have a message for you. If you think Austin's cc is trashy , it's just your opinion. His ccs are one of my top favourites , and I support him in all that he does , even if that's not too good. He tries to do something and , even it's not perfect at the first time , he tries to perfect it. I really love his cc . And I have something more to say. If you are that good at cc give Austin a message (not anonimously) and then we will see who's the best. We love you, Austin!

Thank you <3 You're lovely for sending me this

Anonymous said: heyy love your blog and all of your creations. wcif ALL of your sims? do you ever upload them to the gallery?

Macie is already posted, link on my resource page. Taylor will be posted tomorrow, and my male model will be posted next week. The rest idk

Anonymous said: um can that damn anon piss off. your content is absolutely amazing and some things aren't for everyone but someone out there will love and appreciate it. also the hair in your profile picture looks gorgeous. is it released yet? and the wip you posted is cute af. ignore those haters <3

Thank you <3 Hair in my profile pic is my HyunA hair :)

Anonymous said: Hi, so sorry if anyone has already asked this, but I was wondering hat your origin ID was, since your sims are super cute!? Ps. I'm totally in love with your blog!!!

My origin is Spotharris but it does not have much on it right now, Ps. thank you

Anonymous said: Do you have any K-Pop albums? Which ones?

Oh my! I have a few! I have Red Velvet’s Perfect Velvet, and 6 LOONA albums (Kim Lip, Jinsoul, Choerry, Yves, Mix & Match, and Max & Match)

Anonymous said: I miss you having Macie as your icon :(

Me too jush she needs to make a comeback

Anonymous said: Hey I was wondering if you could do a tutorial on how to make a middle parted hair side parted ?? please

I might do a livestream sometime in the future that is me remaking a hair like Joy or something where I did that. I am really bad at video stuff though so like... someone help?

Anonymous said: Can I just say how much I absolutely love all of your hairs? Like your so talented in making cc. Please keep up the great work!

Thank you!

Anonymous said: Can you convert the cupid eyes you posted for dogs/cats? It's fine if you can't, jw!

rip I can but I really don’t want to ;-;

Anonymous said: I just want to say I love you so much! All your creations are so beautiful and I use them ALL the time. Happy Holidays! ~ V

Happy late holidays!

Anonymous said: Do you have all of your own CC in your game?

Nooooo lmao

Anonymous said: does ur hyuna hair work with the ombres?

She does not :(

Anonymous said: make more diverse sims

gotcha

Anonymous said: yo i remember when you first started out and you were just starting. now you've improved a HELL of a lot. like WOAH (i love your cc)

we don’t speak of those times in my life ok

Anonymous said: I don't know if you are open to cc requests, so if you are, would you ever consider separating them utility jacket from cats and dogs? I've seen so many people recolor it but I can't find it as an accessory, and I've looked everywhere.

A friend of mine tried it but it was really glitchy :( Maybe in the future I could give it a go?

Anonymous said: LIPS, HIPS LIPS, HIPS (ahh, ahh) L-LIPS, HIPS (ahh, ahh) Hi-hi-hi-hi-hip (POP!)

yes i agree with everything

Anonymous said: I have the same b-day as you

only legends were born on that day. and December 2nd.

Anonymous said: Your birthday is the day before mine and the day after my sister's

So close to being legends.... sad

Anonymous said: I thought, you're female😅😅🔫

rip ur mind after i blew it up by being a male

Anonymous said: damn didnt know u were homophobic lol

Anonymous said: fmk: danny devito, shrek, and jim carrey's the grinch

fuck danny bc idk who it is and i know a hot danny. marry the grinch bc he i like mayor of whoville after the movie. kill shrek and take the donkey.

Anonymous said: ahHHHhhHh idk why but i love you so much(not in a weird way u pervery xddd)

thanks babessss

Anonymous said: You should start a gameplay

I dont have the computer or the time for that I am sorry to say

#asks #well let's hope that cuts the inbox down some thdbv #i let them build for too long #it is my own fault

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maritzaerwin · 4 years ago

Text

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Final Thoughts — Should You Build Your Resume Using Rezi?

After reading this review of Rezi, you will have a clearer idea and know for sure if you should build your next resume using the platform.

So, let’s get started.

About Rezi Resume Builder

Rezi was originally founded by Jacob Jacquet, Stephen Wagner, and Helen Park.

In May 2015, a post in Reddit made by the founders helped a couple of individuals.

The Rezi Alpha resume template was the first product offered on a simple WordPress site. After that, they expanded more to South Korea in November 2015 to help Korean job seekers prepare to start their global careers for the first time.

It was that time as well that Rezi became the most recognized global startup in South Korea. They even further scaled their business as they went Software as a service (SaaS). to give job seekers a reliable way to make a Rezi resume in minutes, for free.

To this date, Rezi now supports resume creation for university career centers and organizations in the United States and South Korea.

Rezi Resume Builder Review

Before I go into the details of the dashboard, I’d like to commend Rezi and its web dev team for the very futuristic and minimalistic design. I love the way they positioned different moving graphics as you scroll down (it is very pleasing and easy on the eyes). It also helps that they used a shade of the color green for their theme.

To be honest, it is hard to paste a screenshot of the website here because there are just so many good things going on their website. So, I decided to just paste a screenshot of the dashboard below so we can go into some specifics:

As you can see on the dashboard, there are these options:

Rezi Score (this is a new feature).

Features.

Pricing (I love that this is presented here right off the bat).

Let’s took at some the features on Rezi Resume Builder in detail:

Rezi Score

ATS Keyword Targeting

Real-Time Content Analysis

Rezi Expert Resume Review

Flexible Formatting Tools

Resume Link Sharing

Resume Version Management

Export .PDF, .DOCX, Docs

1. Rezi Score

This is a new feature on their website which is pretty cool because it accounts for all the details on your resume in a detailed-metric (Basically, Rezi provides a scoring input of your resume to see if it is good or not). It’s like having a personal quality assurance analyst for your resume.

Rezi audits your resume through different scoring categories. If a resume entry/experience fails to meet the best practices, then it will be scored accordingly for the jobseeker to be aware of the points of improvement.

There are 4 Categories of Audits, namely:

i. Content Audits:

Consistent Bullet Points (critical).

Punctuated Bullet Points (critical).

Short Bullet Points.

Quantified Bullet Points.

Weak Bullet Points.

Personal Pronouns.

Buzzwords.

Filler Words.

ii. Format Audits:

Page Length (critical).

Resume Template (critical).

Font Size (critical).

Excessive Number of Bullet Points (critical).

Low Number of Bullet points.

iii. Optimization Audits:

Tailored for Job Description (critical).

Defined Experience Level.

Defined Industry.

iv. Best Practice Audits:

Email Address Included.

Skills Included.

Dates Included.

Location Included.

Resume Name.

Phone Number Included.

Abbreviated LinkedIn URL.

Summary Length.

Word Count.

2. ATS Keyword Targeting

They have this really cool software which skills and keywords that some applicant tracking systems (ATS) software is searching for. By adding these missing resume keywords, you can instantly improve your chances of being selected for an interview.

3. Real-Time Content Analysis

In addition, to resume keywords, Rezi can also identify formatting errors such as missing bullet points, buzz words, useful content, and more.

4. Rezi Expert Resume Review

Rezi’s professional resume writers team will help ensure that your resume is free of errors, and provides suggestions/tips you can use to improve its contents.

5. Flexible Formatting Tools

This is common in every resume builder, and I’m glad Rezi has this so you can easily adjust things like font size, line height, and zoom level right within the app.

6. Resume Link Sharing

Rezi now allows you to share your resume with a private, updated, and shareable link.

7. Resume Version Management

Rezi also allows you to tailor, duplicate, and organize as many job-specific versions of your resume and cover letter as you need.

8. Export .PDF, .DOCX, Docs

Rezi supports downloading as a Microsoft Word DOCX, or. PDF file. You can even export your resume to Google Docs.

Rezi Cover Letter Builder

In addition to resumes, Rezi also allows you to edit, duplicate, and organize as many job-specific and tailored versions of your cover letters as your job search requires. This is perfect for those who are new to composing cover letters.

Building a Resume Using Rezi

I checked out the ‘create a new resume’ option first, and I must say I like the pop-up which asked for your resume name, field/domain, and experience. It made me feel as if Rezi really wants to get and connect with me.

As seen from above, you can also import a resume from your LinkedIn account. I also found it easy to fill out the fields because they have an auto-fill feature when you type in a letter or keyword. After filling out the details, I started to build a resume from scratch:

Notice that there are a lot of parts to complete:

Contact.

Summary.

Experience.

Project.

Education.

Coursework.

Involvement.

Skills.

Finish Up.

In each part, there are fields to fill out and you only have to input your data and Rezi will do the rest! How awesome is that?

I then filled out the contact fields as they were basic information. I moved to the summary part, and this may be challenging for newbies as you may not know what to put. Other resume builders have templates, but Rezi doesn’t so you may have to prepare a summary to input here.

Now, after typing your professional summary, you now proceed to input your experience/s. I like that there is a video widget of a person giving you hints on what to do in the top left corner. The idea here is to list your employment experience in reverse chronological order, meaning you start with your most recent job.

If you remember the Rezi Score feature that I mentioned earlier in this article, then you may see here below early on, that Rezi is already giving you some points to improve on such as Short Bullet Points, and more (to unlock more audits, you have to pay for their service).

So, the next thing after the experience is your projects. Rezi’s suggestion is that you input projects that you feel are related to the job that you are aiming to be hired for. There’s no pressure though because if you don’t have any projects, you can simply skip and move forward.

Now, it’s time to enter your education. This part simply asks you where you studied, but not anything specific to your course.

So far, filling out the fields is simple, but I would have appreciated if there was an auto-fill option or at least a suggestion feature here which would allow newbies to create their resumes easier.

Anyways, moving forward to coursework here is where you obviously enter what course you took.

In my honest opinion though, I think this could have been merged with the education part although I think in fairness to Rezi, they may want to separate the two to highlight your actual course work and the skills you have.

Next to that would be your involvement. From the looks of it, this is the part where you enter the different organizations or affiliations you might have had during your education years or employment.

It is where your extracurriculars will be highlighted. The Rezi Video Guy did tell me not to be shy as my intent is to show the employers that I am a great fit for their company.

Once done, I then moved to the Skills part where you input all the different skills you possess that will help you get hired.

So, after you filled in all the pertinent details needed for your resume, you get to ‘finish up’ and see the overview.

As you can see in the top left corner, there is a score rating from Rezi based on the different categories of audits. Once you click on it, it shows you a breakdown:

You may notice that the resume that I had made is deemed ‘not ready’ and I have made 83 critical mistakes.

I like that Rezi is really frank and elaborate with regard to the scoring. They even have a breakdown of the points of improvement so you can go back to each part of the resume and make edits.

This is also where the A.I. Keyword targeting comes into play. The Rezi AI helps you get past employer resume systems by optimizing your resume with certain keywords. If you remember the Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) that was mentioned in the introduction part of this article, this is where Rezi does its magic.

The Rezi AI detects the keywords that would help your resume be selected amongst other resumes submitted to a company.

Aside from that, you can also make some adjustments on the line height, font size, and how zoomed in/out you want your resume to be.

The template is on a ‘standard Rezi format’ which is recommended for applications for large companies and has full ATS compatibility. Unfortunately, you can’t choose other templates as you have to sign up for the paid subscription in order to enjoy the other features.

Once you are satisfied with what you see and what your score is, you can download your resume on either a PDF format, Word Document, or save it to your Google Drive.

I always preach that every resume should have a cover letter attached to it, and luckily as mentioned earlier, Rezi also has a cover letter builder. However, it looks like you have to sign up to build a cover letter since they only allow one free use for either building a resume or a cover letter. So, let’s proceed to the pricing instead!

Rezi Resume Builder Pricing

One of the things that I appreciate really about Rezi is that they’re upfront with their pricing on the homepage, which is fair because having an AI which helps resumes get through companies’ different Applicant Tracking Systems shouldn’t be free for all. Below, let’s discuss the pricing and its benefits.

I made a table of the three (3) packages to choose from so that you guys can get an idea:

Package Benefits Price/Month Price/Quarter Rezi Free Limited features, but you can make one (1) resume and download it via PDF. $0 n/a Rezi Basic Limited features, but you can make one (1) resume per month, and you can download it via PDF, Word document or export it to Google Drive. $3 $8 Rezi Pro Get the full experience as it allows you to make unlimited resumes, cover letters, and download them via PDF or Word document, or export them to Google Drive. You also get two (2) reviews per month, full content analysis tools, full AI Keyword Targeting, and Priority User Support. $39 $89

Rezi Support

I love that Rezi has a chat support widget on the bottom right of the screen, where you can ask any questions. The answer may not be immediate if you are on a Rezi Free package, but I love that they also send you an email (the email that you used to register for Rezi). I did get a reply to my message in about 15 minutes though which is fine for me.

Rezi Pro users get priority support so I would say that they get more immediate responses from the Rezi support team than the other package users.

You can also email [email protected] if you don’t want to use the chat widget.

Rezi Privacy and Terms of Service

These are some of their privacy policies:

They collect information if and when you provide information to them, automatically through operating their Services, and from outside sources.

They collect information automatically such as your logins, usage, location, and any other information from website cookies and other technologies.

They don’t share your private information.

I would also like to highlight this statement from their terms of service:

By accessing the website at https://rezi.io and all subdomains, you are agreeing to be bound by these terms of service, all applicable laws, and regulations, and agree that you are responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws.

So, don’t be scared to input your information as Rezi makes sure to keep them private.

Rezi Resume Builder Reviews

Rezi has its own Reviews section which contains a lot of positive feedback. It even boasts Rezi as the ‘Most Recommended Resume Software in 2020’ and getting good reviews from websites such as The Next Web, Mashable, Entrepreneur, NBC News, and NY Post.

I also found some positive reviews from Product Hunt about Rezi, as it got 4.4 out of 5 stars.

Final Thoughts — Should You Build Your Resume Using Rezi?

I want to sum up my experience towards Rezi with one word: WOW.

I was definitely amazed aesthetically by their website, which is really modern, minimalistic and the graphics are strategically placed to guide neophytes like me through everything.

The edge that they have is their Rezi Score which is like a smart assist program that audits the contents of the resume you are building. A lot of applicants may really find this helpful because you get specific points of improvement you can work on up until you get to the score that you want.

Pricing is upfront and not hidden. The price is also fair, as you get the full features when you subscribe to their pro package.

I would say that one thing they can improve on is to include an autofill or suggestions feature which can help users fill out the data in their resume. Sometimes users may not have the creative juice to create their job descriptions or summary.

Other than that, I would say Rezi is not your typical Resume builder as it strives to also educate you on creating the right resume that is tailor-fitted to the job that you want to apply for. It helps you create a resume that increases your chances of being selected for an interview especially when applying for a big company.

Additional Reading:

The Ultimate List of 30+ Resume Builders (Free and Paid)(Updated July 2020)

How To Write A Hirable Resume Without Any Experience?

The post Rezi Review (2020) — AI-Powered Free Resume Builder appeared first on CareerMetis.com.

Rezi Review (2020) — AI-Powered Free Resume Builder published first on https://skillsireweb.tumblr.com/

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lawrenceseitz22 · 7 years ago

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 165

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Click on the video above to watch Episode 165 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/2BQjTCo.

Announcement

Adam: Episode 165. The first Hump Day Hangouts in the brand new spanking year of 2018. Before we get started, I just want to jump down real quick and say hi to everybody. Chris is muted, but hopefully he’s going to speak up here. How are you doing, man?

Chris: Been good. Obviously, I’m speaking up here.

Adam: Awesome. As always, appreciate you joining us. Sometimes I forget that Chris is like super far ahead of us timezone-wise. I think I’d probably be asleep if I was him, so thanks for being here.

Chris: Interesting.

Adam: Hernan, how’s it going, man?

Hernan: Hey, guys. Hey, everyone. Yeah. Really, really excited about what’s coming. I’m really excited for this new year. There’s a lot of the good stuff coming up, so I’m excited to be here. I like your t-shirt by the way.

Adam: Oh, this one? Oh, that’s right. It’s the Semantic Mastery Mastermind shirt. I’m glad you noticed. Thanks.

Bradley: This old rag? I just threw it on, right?

Adam: I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is custom, so I’ve got like three shirts now because we tried a couple different materials. I’m Semantic Mastery decked out.

Bradley: Nice.

Adam: Yeah. Marco, what’s up, man?

Marco: What’s going on, man? I’m so looking forward to 2018 and everything that we got going. I mean we just got some awesome stuff coming down the pipeline.

Adam: Yes, we do.

Marco: It’s going to be a good one.

Adam: It is. I completely agree. Speaking of that, one, Bradley, how’s it going, but then two, I also wanted to ask you, we’re starting in on the new mastermind training and so if you can share with people just quickly about what kind of January’s about because we kind of got I’ll say like a theme for each month and that we’re doing kind of modulized training. If you want to kind of share with people like what’s going on?

Bradley: Yeah, man. First of all, happy to be here. Glad it’s 2018. I’m glad the holidays are pretty much over now because although it’s a nice time of year, it’s incredibly stressful. I’m glad it’s over so we can get back to the grind. Do what I enjoy. That said, yeah, mastermind we’re starting the new curriculum right away. I’ve actually started working on it yesterday and I will be … Throughout the rest of the year we’ve got several different modules and we’re trying to kind of like trying to keep our training more organized now and more logical in a way.

That’s really what we’re going to be developing out and building two businesses throughout the process, a local gym, it’s a CrossFit and MMA/boxing gym, as well as the digital marketing agency that we’re building. We’re going to be building those in the mastermind in this first month or the first module. The modules are somewhat going to follow the months. In other words, one for January, one for February, but there’s likely going to be some modules that take more than four weeks. It may end up being that we end up with 10 modules over 12 to 14 months or something like that.

That said, we’re starting with the PPC module because that’s basically how I start all sort of projects now is using PPC to determine keywords and find out where the traffic is and which offers convert and that kind of stuff. It’s logical to start there. We’re starting with the PPC module. I’m going to drop a link on the event page, guys, that is the actual mastermind 2018 schedule or course outline I should say. Just one minute while I drop the link. You guys can check it out. I’m going to grab the screen real quick and we’ll just very quickly look at the first module and then we’ll get into questions. Bear with me for one moment. Okay. This is it. We’ve got module one, which is the PPC.

Emphasis is obviously going to be on local because well, I say that, but we’re going to be doing a little bit of both actually because we’re going to be doing PPC and AdWords. I’ll be managing the AdWords stuff. Hernan is going to contribute some Facebook stuff. I’ll be doing AdWords and Bing training. Okay? We’re going to be doing ads for a local business, the CrossFit gym, which could be applied … The training can be applied to client work or for your own lead gen stuff, right, because it’s the same thing. It’s generating local leads. That’s basically what we’re going to be doing. Doing AdWords for Google search, AdWords for YouTube. In other words, AdWords for video and then we’ll be doing some Bing stuff.

We’ll wind up doing some retargeting stuff a little bit later down the road, retargeting and remarketing. We’re going to touch on that briefly at the beginning or excuse me, during this PPC module, but we’re going to have later on down … Later on in the year, we’re going to have probably a whole entire module based on remarketing. Okay? I just want to kind of give you guys a heads up that we’re going to be doing that for local businesses first. We also have the agency, which is great because those are national terms. Right? We’re going to be targeting an industry, a niche, not a specific location. For our agency, we’re going to be setting up some PPC campaigns, as well as Facebook Ads and stuff to try to drive the industry type into our agency.

We’re going to get both national PPC stuff, as well as local PPC stuff. Then that said, I’ve also got … Because I’m going to be basically neck deep in AdWords and PPC stuff for the next several weeks, we’ve got a few different like campaign things that we want to set up for both Semantic Mastery, as well as our affiliate business Mastery PR that I’m going to be doing some AdWords for YouTube, excuse me, YouTube ad stuff for both of those, which could be applied to affiliate work, right, or list building. List building and affiliate offers. Again it’s going to be rather intense, in-depth going into PPC as much as we can over the course of the next four to six weeks. Again I’ll be doing the AdWords stuff and Hernan will be doing the Facebook stuff.

If you’re interested in checking it out guys, now is a really good time to get in. This is the start of this whole process that we’re going to be going through for the rest of the year. We’ve got a lot of work cut out ahead of us, but I think it’s going to be really, really good.

Adam: Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, that’s just one of the many good things we got going on. I’m pretty pumped about that. If anybody has any questions about the mastermind, feel free to ping us at [email protected], post in the Facebook group. Let us know and we’re happy to answer questions about that. Before we get into the questions though, we did have one thing we wanted to mention. Again we’ve gotten a lot of donations. We’re really happy about that and I’ll let Marco kind of talk about this because it’s still going on for a couple more weeks. If we can, we really like to bump that up.

Bradley: Yeah.

Marco: Yeah. I mean we have it going on until January 26, which gives us a week to go shopping before school starts. I mean I’ll drop the link for people who want to go and donate. A dollar, $2, everything that you donate gets us that much closer to getting another kid a full set of supplies, uniforms and books. It’s for the entire year, right, for 2018. A hundred bucks will go a long way towards getting these kids to school and then out of the streets. Right? That’s what we try to do. Keep them away from the gangs, from the drug dealers who use them. Right? Just other people who use them. We know that education is the way to go and so we try to provide that.

We try to provide tutoring. We try to provide safe havens so that they can go and have a place to stay so that they can be safe while mom and dad are at work because even in these communities, right, the so-called the most dangerous communities, there’s good people there who have to go out and work everyday and run the gauntlet, man. They don’t know what’s going on with the kids because they have no option, but to leave them at home and hope that they go to school and hope that they survive the day. I mean that’s what we’re doing. We’re trying to get them out the street and into school. Keep them in school because education is the way. That’s what we’re doing. That’s the link. We’re at over 3K.

I think I mentioned too. It’s on the page. We’re tracking. Everything’s on the page, how much has been donated, how much is still needed. We’re using Stripe because the fees are way lower than anything else. If we had gone through PayPal, it would have been ridiculous. We chose Stripe. Please. Just go there, donate what you can. If you don’t, we’re still going to answer your questions, guys. We’re not forcing anyone into doing anything. We’re still here. We’re still live. We’re still free.

Adam: We got a forced charity Hump Day Hangout. We’re not going to do that. A big thank you to everyone who’s donated. There’s been a lot already and we really do appreciate it. More than that, I mean you can imagine there’s going to be a ton of kids getting to go to school having the stuff they need, which is pretty awesome in my mind.

Marco: Before I forget, Semantic Mastery donated $1,000. Anyone matching the $1,000 that Semantic Mastery donated gets two hours consultation from me. If anyone donates $5,000, I’m going to set up one campaign, right, from beginning to end with everything, with IFTTT, with RYS Reloaded, with everything that you need to make it work whether it’s client, whether it’s your own personal business. If you’re willing to do that, I’m willing to do this for you. 10 hours is more than enough for us to go grab a niche and you’re going to start making money. Anyone thinking about it, there it is. That’s my offer to you.

Adam: That’s awesome. All right. Before we get into it, real quick, just want to say if you’re new to the Semantic Mastery group and you’re just seeing this, first of all, thank you very much for being here. A lot of people ask us, “Where should I get started?” The place to get started is the Battle Plan, the SEO Blueprint. We got a coupon code for you. You can save 75 bucks. We highly suggest just grabbing that and getting started with that. That’s going to show you what you need to do and just break it down so you can just follow that. All right? If you haven’t yet created an account at SerpSpace, head over there. It’s free to create your account. You can check it out. There’s some free tools, as well as all of the done-for-you services inside of there.

Some really cool stuff coming there. Don’t have time to go into that today. Then support.semanticmastery.com, that’s where we put a lot of the frequently asked questions. Maybe it’s like Friday and you don’t want to wait until Wednesday for Hump Day Hangouts. You can go there, check that out and see if it’s already been answered. We have a lot of videos, clip videos and charts and diagrams and things like that. Anything else on your guy’s end or should we jump into it?

Bradley: I’ve got one thing. Go to bradleybenner.com and subscribe if you want mindset like kicking ass everyday. I’m still working on that everyday. I have not been able to record any videos in like three weeks. Yeah, yesterday was Tuesday, right? It’s kind of blur, but I just started my coaching at the CrossFit gym every morning. I’m going to be setting up some video equipment over there and I’ll probably have time to bust out videos over there a lot more often. Anyways, I’m going to be adding more videos to my YouTube channel, guys, for the mindset stuff, but I haven’t had the time due to the holidays. I have been updating the emails every single day, which is awesome.

It’s something that I’ve developed that habit now. I’m like 47 days into it. It’s great because it’s really helping me to become a better writer and to kind of get my thoughts out there in a more concise way, which is difficult for me sometimes. Again it’s just more of a kick in the ass type thing like to motivate, get you thinking about your own goals, your own habits and that kind of stuff on a daily basis. I encourage you to go check it out, bradleybenner.com. I’m not pushing a bunch of affiliate offers. I do link to the resources that I discuss like the books. It’s pretty much all Amazon stuff, but it’s really just more about try … I’ve gotten a lot of really, really good replies from people that are subscribed.

Keep them coming by the way, guys. I really appreciate the comments. I appreciate the questions. I will be recording some videos to answer some of the questions that have been submitted over the last couple weeks. Like I said, just bear with me. Give me another week or two to get everything set up. I’m really going to continue building that out. Okay? With that said, if we don’t have anything else guys, I’m going to go ahead and jump into these questions.

Adam: Let’s do it.

Do You Have Any Advice For Using Up CrowdSearch Credits?

Bradley: All right. Tom’s up first. Tom, I read your question earlier and yeah, you can still use crowd search. I’m not saying don’t use it. I’m just saying it’s not as effective as it used to be. I think there’s some reasons for that. We won’t get into that now, but it can still be used and it can still be effective if you use it correctly. Okay? First of all, yeah, you can run traffic directly to your YouTube videos. That’s fine. You can run traffic direct to the YouTube URL, so it’s not even a search and click in other words, or you can run them through YouTube search or Google search. Right? You can do either one. It’s what we call CT spam, click-through spam. That works. That still works fine.

I wouldn’t worry about running those kinds of clicks to a YouTube video. All right? Don’t worry about that. As far as your money site, I would be lying if I said that I don’t still have some campaigns running using it, but they’re all navigational campaigns that are going to money sites I mean. In other words, they’re set very conservatively with just brand or what we call navigational searches, navigational search queries. Right? What is a navigational search query? That would be brand name plus … Just brand name. Brand name plus phone or brand name plus contact. Brand name plus website. Brand name plus location. Brand name plus service. When I say service, I mean like keywords.

For example, if it’s a plumber and let’s say it’s Roto-Rooter and you need a water heater repair or replacement, let’s say water heater repair, a navigation search for that would be like Roto-Rooter water heater repair. Does that make sense? Anything like that. A brand search plus the city name. Anything that includes a brand search is what’s called a navigational search query or any search that contains the brand term, brand name is a navigational search query. I’d still have some of those setup. They’re just run very conservatively. Just a trickle, a couple 10, 15 maybe searches per month. Then from that I end up using the location IPs. I don’t know how accurate any of that is.

It does use a shit ton more credits if you do it that way, but I narrow it down to the city level. Then what I do is just monitor the activity on those to see what sort of search activity has been done. If I don’t see any in a couple of weeks, if I haven’t seen what I had set it to like let’s say I got 15 a month, so you should essentially see one every other day. If in two weeks I don’t see five, six, seven searches, then I know that it might be too narrow, my targeting, so I pull that back to just maybe state level as opposed to city level if that makes sense and then allow it to run that way. I still use it for that and it still works okay. It’s not great. It’s not nearly as effective as it used to be.

One other thing you can still do that does still work well is the referral traffic method. I don’t know, Tom, if you caught last week’s Hump Day Hangout, but somebody asked a question similar to that and I found the video that I had done with Jason Johnson about how to use crowd search for referral traffic for video SEO. It works whether it’s video, SEO or for your own money sites too. I don’t have that right off hand, but it was on last week’s Hump Day Hangout if you want to go find that in your Google Events. If not, maybe I’ll locate it afterwards and grab that link and drop it here on this page. You can watch that too and that will show you how to set up referral traffic campaigns with it, which are really good.

Okay? I mean if you’ve got it, just use it. You know what I mean? There’s no reason not to use it. Just be careful about it. I do not like doing keyword search click like CT spam, right, click-through spam, from Google search to my money sites with it anymore. Okay? Referral traffic’s fine. Navigational search queries are fine, but not keywords. I wouldn’t recommend doing keyword search queries unless you’re incredibly conservative. All right? Then referral traffic works well in YouTube also.

Do You Recommend Posting Published Press Releases On Lead Generation Sites?

Jenny is up. He’s been following the mastermind or excuse me, the Mindset Mastery Series. What’s up, Jenny? I appreciate your comments, buddy. He says, “Happy new year. Wishing health, wisdom and prosperity to you all.”

I’ll plus one that. Back at you. Question, do you recommend publishing or posting published press releases on lead generation sites? I’ve been using PRs for a while and it does help with the snack pack rankings. Yes, it does. I was wondering if it would be wise to post a copy of PR on money site under like in the press category or have it run through IFTTT? Good, bad or ugly ranks? I mean, thanks. Jenny, yeah, you can do that.

Just whenever a press release is distributed, it always from whatever the service is, the distribution services that’s being used, it’s published in one location first and then it’s picked up by the press cables or the press wires or whatever and republished, right, syndicated and republished by all the sites in that distribution network, but it’s originally published in one location. If you can identify and a lot of times all you got to do is just publish the press release and then go … Once you get the report back from whatever service it is that you’re using, just go open up one of the press releases and click on one of the links and it’ll take you to one of the published press releases.

Usually at the bottom it will have an attribution as to where the original source was, the original publication source. Right? Just click that and it’ll take you to the original source and from there just copy that URL and give attribution to that URL. You can republish the press release on your own site and your own syndication networks. Right? You can resyndicate it out to your own networks. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just make sure that you treat it just as if you would any other sort of syndicated posts, which is that you give credit back to its original source. Identify the source. Like I mentioned, you can do that by just clicking on anyone of the distribution points.

Most of them will have an attribute. They should. They should all have it really, a link back to the original publication, and from there you just copy that URL and just give attribution back to that. Cite the source. Republish it on your own blog. That’s fine. Just put a link at the bottom that says, “Originally published here,” and then link to it.

Marco: You know what? I’m in a good mood. Someone just donated a hundred bucks to the charity. I’m going to give something away. Look, most of these press release centers have a media room, whatever they call it, where they list your press releases. They’ll also allow you to iframe whether it’s your website, maps or whatever videos or other things in that media room, in that media center. Take that page and iframe it on your website. It’s not that difficult. If you don’t know how to iframe, just go to the W3Schools and it shows you how to iframe, how to make it fit your page or whatever. Then you can, I’m not going to say spam, you can build links, let’s make it as quality as possible, to your media center on the press release center.

That’s going to hit the iframe that’s on your webpage anyway. What’s going to happen is you’re going to get that mirror on mirror effect that’s powering up your press releases. Anyway, it’ll power up your media room and it’ll power up the page where you do the iframe and then that’ll spread throughout. If you have that linked correct and we showed jump links in RYS Reloaded, I’m not going to share that here, but if you have your jump links done right and iframe also correctly, I mean you’re going to destroy just about anything that you’re doing … Your competition locally. I mean it works really, really well.

Bradley: I was going to say then you do a drive stack with the iframed page, the page on the site with the iframe media room. You do a drive stack with that page as the target URL. It’s incredibly good.

Marco: You have like a triple iframe. It gets crazy, but iframes is where it’s at. It’s where it’s at because it’s not counted as a link, but it’s a link. Do follow and all kinds of good things happen through iframes.

Does Changing The Address From The UPS Store To A PO Box In Minneapolis Affect Current Local Rankings?

Bradley: All kinds of debauchery. It’s awesome. I can’t believe you gave that away. You’re usually telling me to zip it. Awesome. Thanks, Marco. Ralph is up. Ralph says, “Hump Day questions.” Okay. Back to the PO Box question, “I recently took over SEO on a client’s website. They’re ranking well for certain keywords using a Minneapolis address. However, the address used is a UPS store. I didn’t realize this until I looked at the photos. I thought it was a PO Box from the US Postal Service, but it is not. What should I do? Move it over to USPS PO Box? If I change the address from the UPS store to a PO Box in Minneapolis, will that affect our rankings? Will I be able to move the reviews along with the address?”

Yes. Okay. The first question is what should I do? Move it? I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t move it if it’s ranking. Here’s the thing, if it’s already ranking, there’s really no reason to move it. I don’t suggest creating new UPS or a new Google My Business listings using UPS mailboxes because Google has cracked down on that quite a bit. If you have flown under the radar this long, leave it. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. You know what I mean? I wouldn’t go in and mess with it as long as it’s ranking. That doesn’t mean that tomorrow or six months from now or two years from now Google isn’t going to come in and say, “It’s a spam account,” and deactivate it or delete that listing, terminate the listing, but why not just cross that bridge when you come to it?

I mean that’s what I’m saying. If it’s not ranking yet, then yeah, change it. Why not? You don’t have anything to lose. Right? If it’s already ranking and it’s producing results for the client, then I wouldn’t mess with it. Just leave it alone. However, if you were to change the address from a UPS store to a PO Box, would the reviews move along with the address? Yes. The only time the reviews do not move is when you delete or terminate or say when you close a listing and then create a new listing. That’s the only time that you’re going to lose the reviews. It used to be when there were Google Plus pages and all that kind of stuff there was some trickiness there where you could lose them, but now it’s all done in maps.

If all you’re doing is changing the address or anyone of the data points, anyone of the company details, it doesn’t change the listing. In other words, it’s still the same company. It’s still the same entity. It’s just some of the details have changed, so your reviews will stay in place. Okay? Some of this maybe rookie questions, but hey, I’m thankful. No, that doesn’t matter, Ralph. That’s what we’re here. I know there was some time in the past where rookie questions may have been looked down upon by me at some point, but that’s no longer the case, guys. I welcome any question. We do. That’s what we’re here for. That’s what Hump Day Hangouts is all about. Thanks for participating, Ralph, and hopefully that helps.

I wouldn’t mess with it. Leave it alone as long as it’s producing results. If it’s not ranking, then sure, change it now because it could be a problem in the future. It may always stay under the radar. I just know I’ve had UPS mailboxes that have had issues because of that. Okay?

Mohammad’s up. What’s up, Mohammad? He just joined our mastermind recently. It’s awesome. He’s been really active. Thank you for that. He says, “Hey, guys. What’s a good sign that your client acquisition pipeline needs work? Maybe it’s because of the holidays, but lately, I’ve been getting just a couple of leads every week or two. Now obviously more is better, but what does a healthy pipeline look like to you guys in terms of activity?”

Okay. That’s a great question. Mohammad, we have been heavy prospecting for the last, I don’t know, two months or so. Yes, I think we have been unsuccessful for the most part in closing the leads that we’ve been able to generate because I believe a big part of it has to do with the holidays. Look, we as a group, Semantic Mastery, know for sure beyond a shadow of a doubt because we’ve been doing this stuff now for several years in the internet marketing space is that our product sales and everything tanked between November and basically middle to end of January. Pretty much from November to February like sales just tanked. It’s because of the holidays. It makes sense. Well, I’m finding that to also be the case for like most …

It’s not just internet marketing industry related, right, or specific. That’s across the board it seems because we’ve been contacting contractors for our agency and we haven’t been able to sell shit in the last month, like six weeks really and I believe it has to do with the holidays. It’s probably pretty normal. At least from my experience it seems to be that that’s the case. We probably would have been better off just pausing the whole prospecting campaign at the start of November, but I’ve been trying to refine that process a bit for training purposes. That’s why we left it going, but that said … Go ahead. Sorry.

Hernan: No. I was about to say that I was experiencing the exact same thing that you guys were. We discussed this a little bit on the meeting. It’s completely normal. Like November and December are by far that worse months for new client acquisition. They’re great for upsells or cross-sells or if you have a client and they’re investing because they’re with a credit card in hand and what not. That’s great if you already have a database built, but starting from scratch on November and December for new client acquisition is pretty tough mostly because everyone else, like everyone is seeing what kind of deal they can get. Right? Everyone is shopping pretty much, number one. Number two, everyone is thinking about something else.

You need to have that in mind, Mohammad. Most of our businesses are none seasonal, unless you’re treating with some specific type of contractors. I know that Bradley does a lot of tree services and those are really seasonal, but nonetheless, you need to have that in mind. These months are usually best for upsells and cross-sells. Sell them some more stuff.

Marco: The only client I ever closed and we’re talking about nearly 15 years, the only client I ever closed at Christmas was a client who did something that was seasonal. Of course, for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season and that was it. Well, there was another one, but that was here in Costa Rica, but that’s because that’s the tourist high season in Costa Rica. It’s very seasonal. I mean you guys are absolutely right. That I can think of in 15 years, two clients, one was for tourism and the other one was what they were selling was for … Not Thanksgiving, but Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s okay, Mohammad. I’d be worried if it doesn’t start picking up this month, like towards the end of the month.

Then that’s when you should start looking and saying, “Okay. What’s going on? What do I need to fix?”

What’s A Good Sign That Your Client Acquisition/Pipeline Needs Work?

Bradley: He says, “I’ve been getting just a couple of leads every week or two. Now obviously more is better, but what does a healthy pipeline look like to you guys in terms of activity?” That’s also a good question. It depends really on what type of volume you’re looking to do. Also, what type of prospecting you’re doing. In other words, there was the laser approach or the rifle approach, right, which is very, very targeted. We covered that just recently in the mastermind when we did the video email prospecting webinar where I went through that step-by-step. That’s very super effective for generating leads, but it can be very time-consuming.

You can outsource the majority of it, but there is one specific part that you, as the technician, the person that will be dealing with the client, needs to do and that’s record the videos yourself. The introduction or the audit videos is what I call them. Right? That’s something that you would need to do, but that right there it’s time consuming, but it’s very effective. What I suggested during that webinar was that you develop a process and develop a habit. Make sure that that’s like a corporate habit. In other words, it’s habits you develop for your business so that it gets done. That’s why I mentioned in the webinar and we’re going to be releasing a course on this in a few weeks guys, specifically about this.

Okay? A full on course about it. All right? If you outsource this, you know what will get done. If you leave it to yourself to do it, I know and I’m speaking from experience from me, guys. I can talk about what I did and it’s pretty common. It’s pretty typical because I’ve heard this. What do we do especially as solopreneurs, which I’m pretty sure Mohammad is, which is what I was for a very long time, is if we provide client services or we’re looking for lead gen service providers to buy leads from us, then what do we typically do? We typically go out, set up prospecting campaign. We start to generate leads. We start talking to a few people. Then we land a client or two or three and then we turn the prospecting machine off.

We go do the work that they hired us for. Right? We go rank properties and work on their stuff and blah, blah, blah because we’re good. We got those leads. Right? We closed the sale. We’re good. We don’t need anymore leads right now, but then what happens when that work is done? Then you got to start all over again. Right? You got to start that machine back up. You got to go through the process. What you should be doing is and I’ve said this many times before, but this is where I failed and that’s why I say I speak from experience because I didn’t … That’s exactly what I did. I used to do it in waves, in cycles. It was always up and down, up and down.

What I should’ve done in retrospect was kept my pipeline full of leads at all times because that does a number of things. Number one, it helps you to be more selective in who you get to work with. Right? If you got 10, 20 new leads coming in every single week, then you can select out of that. You can cherry pick the best leads to work with. That way if you start to catch any resistance from anybody or you feel like that the communication isn’t great between a potential prospect and yourself, then you don’t have to work with them. When you only turn on a prospecting machine long enough to collect a few leads, then you try to close everyone of them sales. Am I right? How many of you guys can relate to that?

If you’ve only got five leads in your pipeline, you try to close every damn one of them regardless of whether the project is really ideal or not, right, because you don’t have any other leads to work on. If you had 20 leads instead of five, you could hand select the ones that you want to work with and the ones that feel like they’re uncomfortable or you got a gut feeling are going to be difficult or whatever, you pass on them. Right? You put them in the delete pile so that you don’t even have to worry about them. That way you can be more selective. You get to work on projects that you prefer to work on and it’s something that again you need to keep that going all the time, Mohammad.

That’s what I totally recommend and that’s why I recommend outsourcing the vast majority of that because then you know it gets done week in and week out without you having to do it. You can focus on doing the other stuff. Right? Just to finish up, if you’re using the video email prospecting method, which is a very targeted approach, the rifle approach, you may only be able to get 10 or 20 emails sent out per week. If you systematize it, you turn it into a process, you hire an outsourcer, you could easily do 10 to 20 videos per week, outbound emails per week. Out of that you should expect about six to eight leads, right, as long as your numbers are similar to the numbers that I’ve been able to repeat over and over again over the years.

However, if you’re doing a shotgun approach, which is a more mass prospecting method, then you probably are going to want to have a much higher number as far as inbound leads coming in. The quality of those leads are going to be a lot lower because it’s not specific messaging targeted to each prospect like it is with video email. Right? It’s more of a generic or generalized message that goes out. Those leads aren’t as valuable. I don’t want to say they’re not as valuable. They’re not as qualified. You end up having to sort through a lot of duds to find the gems. Right? You sift through a lot of dirt to find the gems and that’s what happens with the mass prospecting method, but you can increase your inbound leads exponentially.

Right now we’re averaging about seven or eight inbound leads per day based on about a 75 or 80 outbound emails per day. It’s roughly a 10% response rate from mass prospecting, but our quality of leads isn’t as good as if we were to do video email where we’d get a 30% to 40% response rate and they would be much higher quality when we … Those responses are much higher quality because it was more like a personalized message if that makes sense. Again it’s going to all depend, Mohammad, on what are good numbers. It depends on your prospecting method. It depends on how you’re trying to scale your business and that kind of thing.

Either way, whether you’re doing shotgun method or the rifle method, I recommend that you set up a process and just turn that shit on and don’t ever turn it off. Just let it run. Keep your pipeline full of as many leads as possible, so that you always know that you have a bucket to go to to pull work from whenever you need it. Okay? You guys have any comments on that before I move on?

Adam: No, that’s good.

Hernan: Yeah. I just wanted to add. Adam, are we still sending out books to our mastermind members? Like The 10X Rule for example?

Adam: Oh yeah.

Hernan: Okay. That’s a great book, Mohammad. Like that’s a great book to read if you want to increase the amount of leads that you’re getting. It’s a way of seeing things. Right? Grant Cardone, he will tell you that you need 10 times the amount of leads that you think you need in order to close one of them. Right? I think that’s another thing that I would do for mastermind members is that we send them amazing books every month. The 10X Rule is definitely one of my favorite books on this regard.

How Do You Index Lead Gadget Sites?

Bradley: I agree. Adrian. “Hey, guys. Happy new year to you all. I was wondering if you could answer a question about Lead Gadget. I’m interested in your method of helping get my LG sites indexed. I saw somewhere that you had the sites to Google to index, but only two sites per Google account. Do you use browser?” Well, first if all, Adrian, just as a clarification, I haven’t used Lead Gadget in probably over a year. Not because it doesn’t work. It doesn’t fit my business model. I attempted to force that into my business model, but it’s a churn and burn strategy guys and it’s not my preferred strategy. I’m not saying anything bad about Lead Gadget and the ATM, the application that they built to build these mass page sites.

It’s awesome. It’s very powerful, but it’s a churn and burn strategy. It’s not something that I like to do. I like to develop assets that I build once and they last for years for the most part. Right? Again I spend a lot of time and money developing training for Lead Gadget, training virtual assistants. We built out like I think in total between my sites and the sites that I was doing for Semantic Mastery when we were scaling that, over a thousand sites. Honestly, they didn’t pan out the way that I wanted them to and I know that it would’ve had I stuck with it. I would’ve had figured it out, but it wasn’t. Again it was churn and burn and I don’t like that type of work personally. I prefer to build assets that are long-term assets.

I build them once. Once they start generating revenue, they continue to generate revenue. Just to give you some update, Adrian, like I said, I haven’t done any stuff, anything with Lead Gadget in well over a year. I don’t know that any of those methods are even still valid today because I’m not in there messing with that application anymore. Okay?

Adam: Where would be a good place for him to go?

Bradley: I would go to the Lead Gadget group in Facebook or contact Don and/or Brian. Right? The developers. Find out. I’m sure they’ve got training somewhere on what’s working right now. Again what I did was, well, what? A year and a half, two years ago now, and so I wouldn’t recommend … I mean that may still be valid, but I would get confirmation on that from people that are still doing this everyday. Right? All right. I appreciate the question, Adrian. Sorry I can’t give you a better answer, buddy. It’s just not something I’m doing. If I gave you an answer right now, it would likely not be accurate. I don’t want to do that.

What’s The Deal With PBNs For 2018?

Amy. “Hey, Semantic Mastery gang. Happy new year. My question is what’s the deal with PBNs for 2018? I see a lot of conflicting information about setting them up and how to use them. I am so confused and I really don’t know what to do.” I’m going to let Marco take that one because I know he’s got a strong opinion on it.

Marco: I wanted to rant when I saw this because people who are still using the term PBN are doing the industry a disservice. There’s no such thing as a PBN anymore. Name me the last private blog network that you got into and you got some links and it actually did something for your rankings. I mean truly private. Because the moment that they advertise, it’s no longer private. I mean that’s an oxymoron. Private blog network, but you advertise. Right? You go out and you do it in Google and Google’s looking for you. What’s going on now is that PBNs or whatever it is that you want to call them, I don’t know what we’re going to call them, what it’s become it’s a link network. You could do your own link network, but it takes a lot of time and effort.

You can’t just go the way that you used to get an expired domain and just bring it back, put a link in there and link to your website and that’s it. It was fine. Now we’re talking about relevance. Is there activity relevance, right, and trust and authority? That all comes into play. Why? Because Google figured out that instead of going after the private blog networks, all they had to do was go after the type of links that these private blog networks provided, which were garbage to start with. They came up with the distance graph. What the distance graph did is it devalued most of the links, unless your links came from what’s called a seat site or a seat set.

If you Google The Death of the PBN, Death PBN, I forget what I called the blog post from back in 2015 December, it tells you what happened and why it happened. I told you way back when Google simply came public with what they were going to do with these types of links. How do you fix that? How do you make these links quality? Well, it’s something that has to be worked on. We do it through RYS Reloaded. We do it through drive stacks. We do it through Google sites. That’s inside the belly of the beast. You can’t get any closer to trust and authority than that. Then we get some activity going. We get tons of relevance going. We don’t need to go to a PBN type thing to do it.

We could call it satellites because we do use a Peter Drew’s List Site Builder to push relevance to something that maybe a little bit difficult to push up. Right? Maybe we have a keyword. We’ll build a page for it. We’ll push actual relevance. It might just take an extra folder inside the main drive folder for that keyword, an extra page, an extra push page. I mean so many things work. Press releases have quality links that you could use. There’s so many places where you can grab quality links. Our own Syndication Academy over time builds up the quality, the relevance, the trust, the authority and activity, all of the things that you need to make this work. I get upset when I see people still using the term PBN.

Even in one of the bigger Facebook groups that still push PBNs, the person who started the group came out and said that PBN were no longer working the way that they used to. You have to do them differently, but he’s still calling them PBNs and I don’t understand why because they’re not PBNs. I mean that’s my take on it. If you guys have another take on it or if you can expound on what I said, you’re more than welcome, but to me the upsetting thing is that in 2018 we’re still calling them PBNs and that’s a disservice to the community.

Bradley: Yeah. They can still be effective. Part of the reason I stopped using them was because the requirements to hide your footprint, it became more and more difficult like really to do it correctly. Finding hosting that was decent, that was affordable, hiding all the footprint issues like name servers and SOA records and who is data and then you have to have unique IPs and different themes and different types of site installs. All the shit that goes into it is just it continued to get more and more difficult, more and more stuff was added in order for them to be set up correctly to where they were safe and would last, would have some longevity and still be effective. Right?

Another one of the things about PBNs, those types of sites, is that they need to be built out to look like real sites. Right? What I ended up finding was that I ended up having to built out PBNs as if they were mini money sites, like other money sites, because that’s the only way to make them look valid and genuine and real to where they’ll pass manual review. What makes PBN so much more effective is if you can get them to rank and to actually generate real traffic. Right? That in itself will super charge a PBN, but in order to do that, you have to treat the site like a money site. To me it just was so much work to try to build little mini money sites so to speak to build links to the money site that I ultimately want to target.

It’s just a lot of work. That’s part of the reason why I stopped doing it. However, there might be some solutions out there that are still valid that work. Maybe your friends at Semantic Mastery are working on developing something to do that.

Marco: I would say that’s a definite possibility that we will come up with something, but it will not be a PBN. There’s so such thing as a PBN, guys. There is no such thing. I don’t give a fuck who’s saying it. There’s no PBN.

Bradley: One last thing I want to mention about that before we move on, we still got about 10 minutes, is interestingly some of the people I talk to that still use PBNs quite a bit actually, the process or the method that I was just talking about is what they do is that they treat them almost as if they’re mini money sites. They work on making sure that the design is nice, that content is quality, that it ranks, that there are offers and things that can be monetized on the actual PBN sites, so that the site itself ends up generating revenue. It’s not just a site that was built for the sole intent of ranking another site. It’s a site that actually generates traffic and actually generates revenue.

They’ll put ad sets on it or they’ll put affiliate offers or they’ll put banner ads, so that they can get paid for clicks. That kind of stuff. There’s all different kinds of things that you can do to monetize affiliate site, or excuse me, PBN style sites. Okay? That’s one of the things that the people that are still using them that’s what they’re doing, right? At least the people that I’ve talked to. They’re creating like these little mini money sites that they’re monetizing, they’re ranking, they’re getting traffic to them and all of those are signals that help to elevate or increase the power of that site. It makes it more valid, right, more powerful.

Anything that it links to becomes … It’s a much stronger link because … What Marco says, A-R-T. It has all of those characteristics of a real site. Go ahead, Marco.

Marco: What they work on is activity, relevance, trust and authority, which changes the link from a garbage link to a link that’s considered part of a seat site or a seat set and again go read the blog post. I know it’s from 2015. It’s over two years old, but it’s relevant today because it’s explaining what’s happened. I explained it back in 2015. Two years ago, guys, this was done. You were warned that it was happening. I know a lot of you guys are new and you’re not up on it. If you’re not, I’ll go find it for you and post the link so that you can go read it. It’s a good read.

Bradley: Awesome. Adrian, one more question about Lead Gadget. He says, “You said you would be doing a course on teaching VAs to build with Lead Gadget. How is that going?” Well, I mean that was done. I created training for virtual assistants. I trained two VAs that that’s all they were doing full time was building sites, but I never released that. It was proprietary training. In other words, it was specific to the projects that we were working on. I did not make a more generic version of it. I am no longer associated with those guys. I’m not part of that business anymore. Obviously, I’m not going to create training for it now, Adrian. Okay?

What Are Your Advice For Newbies Who Want To Purchase The SEO BattlePlan And Done For You Services In Serp Space?

At the time, I was associated with them and I did develop it, but it was never turned into an actual training that you could use because it wasn’t white labeled so to speak or whitewashed if that make sense. It was still all the projects I was working on. Okay. John, thank you for that, buddy. I appreciate that. John is also a mastermind member. He just posted the video for the crowd search for referral traffic from last week. I appreciate that, John. Nigel says, “Happy new year, gents.” Plus one.

“I’m starting out with a new client yoga studio and want to follow the Battle Plan using done-for-you services. However, a lot of this is new to me and I want to be sure of what I’m ordering. That said, is there additional guidance that comes with or advice for a newbie when purchasing SerpSpace done-for-you services? Any recommendations beyond Battle Plan for new yoga practice whose end goal was eventually Amazon and sponsorship? I am trying to establish a more done-for-you fulfillment from the start if that matters. Any feedback is appreciated.” Well, Nigel, right here is a great spot for you to ask any questions at all about SerpSpace stuff or processes or anything. That’s what Hump Day Hangouts is for. Right?

This is free. It doesn’t cost you anything. You’re welcome to come here and post questions. We certainly ask that you don’t post six questions in a row. You know what I mean? Because that wouldn’t be fair to other people, but come in and post a question or two. If you can attend live, then you can just wait until a couple other questions have been posted and then post another question or two. That’s fine. We’re happy to answer them here. You can also ask some questions obviously in the SerpSpace support.

I don’t think we have a Facebook group for it yet. I know we’ve been talking about it, but you could also ask questions probably in our Facebook group too and we can tag the appropriate people to get you the right response. You guys have any other suggestions? Adam maybe?

Adam: Yeah. One sec. I was just trying to look. If I can find it, I think the group might be going up, or it’ll be up soon. I thought I saw something, but I don’t want to give it out in case they’re still working on it. We’ll just say I think what you said is a good start. Just keep asking questions, Nigel.

Hernan: For Facebook group, we are there from time to time. We were talking a little bit about this yesterday. That group is mostly about having a conversation going and asking you guys questions and talking about trends and what not. Sometimes we will answer some questions over there, but mostly it’s for you guys to interact. If you want your questions answered by the Semantic Mastery team, that’s what the mastermind is for or you get your shot at Hump Day Hangouts too.

Bradley: That’s right. Yup. Again definitely feel free to come here, Nigel, and ask questions. That’s fine. You can use the support over there also if you have questions specific about an ordering process or something like that. That’s what it’s for. We’re happy to answer any questions. Okay? It looks like we’re done with questions. We can wrap it up a couple minutes early. That’s fine. I know we’ve got another meeting coming up anyways. Any parting words?

Adam: Let’s see. We got a few minutes, so I’m going to take the mic for a second just say to everybody again thank you for donating to the charity. If you have a chance to go back, if you haven’t yet. Literally like Marco said a dollar helps. Anything’s appreciated. You’re going to end up helping kids, which is what we’ve done now two years in a row is finding charities and ways we can try to help kids. There’s always someone worse off who can use help. I know I’ve had help in my life and I’m super appreciative of it. Hearing what Marco’s saying about these kids, I’m sure that this could make some pretty significant changes in their lives.

Would It Still Be Advisable To Follow The BattlePlan Section That Deals With PBNs?

Bradley: Yeah. Absolutely. It looks like we got another one from Mohammad. He says, “Hey, guys. Given what you all just said about PBNs, would it still be advisable to follow the Battle Plan section that deals with it?” Hernan?

Hernan: I would say so. The reality is that when we talk about PBNs in the Battle Plan, if you see how we treat them, we talk about them in a context. Right? We’re not saying, “Yeah. Go ahead. Buy a shitty domain. Put one link on it. Blah, blah, blah.” We are really actually saying what we are actually saying here, which is the work involved on a PBN is much more than what it was three years ago when you could just slap up a shitty website and just put a link and bam, you got ranked. That’s not how it’s working right now. It’s another way and I think it’s like the seventh or eighth step after you go into the Battle Plan. We always recommend first doing everything else that you know how to do, Mohammad, which is the drive stacks, the syndication networks.

Boost those syndication networks, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera first and then you can go into some sort of PBNs should those be needed. Right? Because if you comply those steps, those usually are not needed. We’re really clear on the Battle Plan that these are steps that you can follow, but at some point if you don’t need to push any more links to it, just don’t do it. Right? Don’t do a PBN because it says over there “do PBN” or whatever. Those are mostly suggestions. Right? The way we do things if we need a keyword pushed up or whatever. You need to have that in mind and you need to have the context that surrounds all of the website.

I think the on site SEO part of the website is really like super, super critical that you go through that first and then you move forward down the line. You move down the line on the different tips and tricks that we get. Have that in mind, Mohammad.

Marco: My take on this is until our service comes online, which shouldn’t be that far, I’m looking probably four, five, six months down the line when we bring that on where it’s going to be perfect for solving the PBN problem, I’d say just save yourself a whole bunch of time, problems and headaches and go order a drive stack. You’re going to get better results that you can get from probably any for lack of a better word PBN that you could buy and set up, unless you get that in one in a million where it’s super powerful and it has those links that you’re looking for and you can build it up.

Then it’s worth spending the time to get it to rank and to do all of the things that you needed to do to push all of that relevance and trust and authority and activity over to the main site, but you can get that done through a drive stack, man. Why go through all that hassle?

Bradley: Yeah. All right. We got to wrap it up. We got one more question that came through from Ralph Pendergraph. He says, “Bradley, are you worried that Google may come down on USPS PO Boxes?” I mean yeah, I am. Of course, that’s always a concern. It still works. I’ve been worried about that for three or four years since I started doing it. It still works today. What I recommend is if you’re going to be using PO Boxes with the street address option, it absolutely still works. What I have seen is if you try to register several Google My Business listings under the same account that are all using PO Boxes, sometimes after the second or the third PO Box that you try to register as a Google My Business listing, it will flag the account.

I’ve had that happen. The workaround is just create a new Google account, a new Google profile for every single new GMB listing that you’re going to create using a PO Box as the physical address. That’s what I found works and I haven’t had any trouble since. Occasionally I will still get one that gets terminated or rejected right off the bat. It’s rare, but it happens. I’ll even get another PO Box in the same freaking post office and create a new Google account using the new address and it’s worked. I don’t know if it’s a fluke or what, but it has happened. Like I said, it’s something that I’m going to continue to use as long as it’s still working. At some point they may crack down on it.

Technically it’s against terms of service, but as long as it’s still working, I’m going to use it. Building a backlink to your site is against terms of service. You know what I mean? All right, guys. We appreciate you all being here. We’ll see you all next week. Thanks.

Chris: Adios.

Bradley: All right.

Hernan: Sounds good.

Bradley: All right. Bye, guys.

Marco: Bye, everyone.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 165 posted first on your-t1-blog-url from Blogger http://ift.tt/2AGnXTo via IFTTT

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daynamartinez22 · 7 years ago

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 165

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 165 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/2BQjTCo.

Announcement

Chris: Been good. Obviously, I’m speaking up here.

Chris: Interesting.

Adam: Hernan, how’s it going, man?

Adam: Oh, this one? Oh, that’s right. It’s the Semantic Mastery Mastermind shirt. I’m glad you noticed. Thanks.

Bradley: This old rag? I just threw it on, right?

Adam: I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is custom, so I’ve got like three shirts now because we tried a couple different materials. I’m Semantic Mastery decked out.

Bradley: Nice.

Adam: Yeah. Marco, what’s up, man?

Marco: What’s going on, man? I’m so looking forward to 2018 and everything that we got going. I mean we just got some awesome stuff coming down the pipeline.

Adam: Yes, we do.

Marco: It’s going to be a good one.

Bradley: Yeah.

Adam: Let’s do it.

Do You Have Any Advice For Using Up CrowdSearch Credits?

Do You Recommend Posting Published Press Releases On Lead Generation Sites?

Does Changing The Address From The UPS Store To A PO Box In Minneapolis Affect Current Local Rankings?

Then that’s when you should start looking and saying, “Okay. What’s going on? What do I need to fix?”

What’s A Good Sign That Your Client Acquisition/Pipeline Needs Work?

Adam: No, that’s good.

Hernan: Yeah. I just wanted to add. Adam, are we still sending out books to our mastermind members? Like The 10X Rule for example?

Adam: Oh yeah.

How Do You Index Lead Gadget Sites?

Adam: Where would be a good place for him to go?

What’s The Deal With PBNs For 2018?

Anything that it links to becomes … It’s a much stronger link because … What Marco says, A-R-T. It has all of those characteristics of a real site. Go ahead, Marco.

What Are Your Advice For Newbies Who Want To Purchase The SEO BattlePlan And Done For You Services In Serp Space?

Would It Still Be Advisable To Follow The BattlePlan Section That Deals With PBNs?

Chris: Adios.

Bradley: All right.

Hernan: Sounds good.

Bradley: All right. Bye, guys.

Marco: Bye, everyone.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 165 published first on your-t1-blog-url

0 notes

jerrycairns601 · 7 years ago

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 165

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 165 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/2BQjTCo.

Announcement

Chris: Been good. Obviously, I’m speaking up here.

Chris: Interesting.

Adam: Hernan, how’s it going, man?

Adam: Oh, this one? Oh, that’s right. It’s the Semantic Mastery Mastermind shirt. I’m glad you noticed. Thanks.

Bradley: This old rag? I just threw it on, right?

Adam: I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is custom, so I’ve got like three shirts now because we tried a couple different materials. I’m Semantic Mastery decked out.

Bradley: Nice.

Adam: Yeah. Marco, what’s up, man?

Marco: What’s going on, man? I’m so looking forward to 2018 and everything that we got going. I mean we just got some awesome stuff coming down the pipeline.

Adam: Yes, we do.

Marco: It’s going to be a good one.

Bradley: Yeah.

Adam: Let’s do it.

Do You Have Any Advice For Using Up CrowdSearch Credits?

Do You Recommend Posting Published Press Releases On Lead Generation Sites?

Does Changing The Address From The UPS Store To A PO Box In Minneapolis Affect Current Local Rankings?

Then that’s when you should start looking and saying, “Okay. What’s going on? What do I need to fix?”

What’s A Good Sign That Your Client Acquisition/Pipeline Needs Work?

Adam: No, that’s good.

Hernan: Yeah. I just wanted to add. Adam, are we still sending out books to our mastermind members? Like The 10X Rule for example?

Adam: Oh yeah.

How Do You Index Lead Gadget Sites?

Adam: Where would be a good place for him to go?

What’s The Deal With PBNs For 2018?

Anything that it links to becomes … It’s a much stronger link because … What Marco says, A-R-T. It has all of those characteristics of a real site. Go ahead, Marco.

What Are Your Advice For Newbies Who Want To Purchase The SEO BattlePlan And Done For You Services In Serp Space?

Would It Still Be Advisable To Follow The BattlePlan Section That Deals With PBNs?

Chris: Adios.

Bradley: All right.

Hernan: Sounds good.

Bradley: All right. Bye, guys.

Marco: Bye, everyone.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 165 published first on your-t1-blog-url

0 notes

greaterhoustonleaders · 7 years ago

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 165

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 165 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

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

Announcement

Chris: Been good. Obviously, I’m speaking up here.

Chris: Interesting.

Adam: Hernan, how’s it going, man?

Adam: Oh, this one? Oh, that’s right. It’s the Semantic Mastery Mastermind shirt. I’m glad you noticed. Thanks.

Bradley: This old rag? I just threw it on, right?

Adam: I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is custom, so I’ve got like three shirts now because we tried a couple different materials. I’m Semantic Mastery decked out.

Bradley: Nice.

Adam: Yeah. Marco, what’s up, man?

Marco: What’s going on, man? I’m so looking forward to 2018 and everything that we got going. I mean we just got some awesome stuff coming down the pipeline.

Adam: Yes, we do.

Marco: It’s going to be a good one.

Bradley: Yeah.

Adam: Let’s do it.

Do You Have Any Advice For Using Up CrowdSearch Credits?

Do You Recommend Posting Published Press Releases On Lead Generation Sites?

Does Changing The Address From The UPS Store To A PO Box In Minneapolis Affect Current Local Rankings?

Then that’s when you should start looking and saying, “Okay. What’s going on? What do I need to fix?”

What’s A Good Sign That Your Client Acquisition/Pipeline Needs Work?

Adam: No, that’s good.

Hernan: Yeah. I just wanted to add. Adam, are we still sending out books to our mastermind members? Like The 10X Rule for example?

Adam: Oh yeah.

How Do You Index Lead Gadget Sites?

Adam: Where would be a good place for him to go?

What’s The Deal With PBNs For 2018?

Anything that it links to becomes … It’s a much stronger link because … What Marco says, A-R-T. It has all of those characteristics of a real site. Go ahead, Marco.

What Are Your Advice For Newbies Who Want To Purchase The SEO BattlePlan And Done For You Services In Serp Space?

Would It Still Be Advisable To Follow The BattlePlan Section That Deals With PBNs?

Chris: Adios.

Bradley: All right.

Hernan: Sounds good.

Bradley: All right. Bye, guys.

Marco: Bye, everyone.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 165 this post was syndicated

0 notes

your-clarity-digital · 7 years ago

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 165

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 165 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/2BQjTCo.

Announcement

Chris: Been good. Obviously, I’m speaking up here.

Chris: Interesting.

Adam: Hernan, how’s it going, man?

Adam: Oh, this one? Oh, that’s right. It’s the Semantic Mastery Mastermind shirt. I’m glad you noticed. Thanks.

Bradley: This old rag? I just threw it on, right?

Adam: I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is custom, so I’ve got like three shirts now because we tried a couple different materials. I’m Semantic Mastery decked out.

Bradley: Nice.

Adam: Yeah. Marco, what’s up, man?

Marco: What’s going on, man? I’m so looking forward to 2018 and everything that we got going. I mean we just got some awesome stuff coming down the pipeline.

Adam: Yes, we do.

Marco: It’s going to be a good one.

Bradley: Yeah.

Adam: Let’s do it.

Do You Have Any Advice For Using Up CrowdSearch Credits?

Do You Recommend Posting Published Press Releases On Lead Generation Sites?

Does Changing The Address From The UPS Store To A PO Box In Minneapolis Affect Current Local Rankings?

Then that’s when you should start looking and saying, “Okay. What’s going on? What do I need to fix?”

What’s A Good Sign That Your Client Acquisition/Pipeline Needs Work?

Adam: No, that’s good.

Hernan: Yeah. I just wanted to add. Adam, are we still sending out books to our mastermind members? Like The 10X Rule for example?

Adam: Oh yeah.

How Do You Index Lead Gadget Sites?

Adam: Where would be a good place for him to go?

What’s The Deal With PBNs For 2018?

Anything that it links to becomes … It’s a much stronger link because … What Marco says, A-R-T. It has all of those characteristics of a real site. Go ahead, Marco.

What Are Your Advice For Newbies Who Want To Purchase The SEO BattlePlan And Done For You Services In Serp Space?

Would It Still Be Advisable To Follow The BattlePlan Section That Deals With PBNs?

Chris: Adios.

Bradley: All right.

Hernan: Sounds good.

Bradley: All right. Bye, guys.

Marco: Bye, everyone.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 165 published first on your-t1-blog-url

0 notes

liteblock · 7 years ago

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 165

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 165 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/2BQjTCo.

Announcement

Chris: Been good. Obviously, I’m speaking up here.

Chris: Interesting.

Adam: Hernan, how’s it going, man?

Adam: Oh, this one? Oh, that’s right. It’s the Semantic Mastery Mastermind shirt. I’m glad you noticed. Thanks.

Bradley: This old rag? I just threw it on, right?

Adam: I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is custom, so I’ve got like three shirts now because we tried a couple different materials. I’m Semantic Mastery decked out.

Bradley: Nice.

Adam: Yeah. Marco, what’s up, man?

Marco: What’s going on, man? I’m so looking forward to 2018 and everything that we got going. I mean we just got some awesome stuff coming down the pipeline.

Adam: Yes, we do.

Marco: It’s going to be a good one.

Bradley: Yeah.

Adam: Let’s do it.

Do You Have Any Advice For Using Up CrowdSearch Credits?

Do You Recommend Posting Published Press Releases On Lead Generation Sites?

Does Changing The Address From The UPS Store To A PO Box In Minneapolis Affect Current Local Rankings?

Then that’s when you should start looking and saying, “Okay. What’s going on? What do I need to fix?”

What’s A Good Sign That Your Client Acquisition/Pipeline Needs Work?

Adam: No, that’s good.

Hernan: Yeah. I just wanted to add. Adam, are we still sending out books to our mastermind members? Like The 10X Rule for example?

Adam: Oh yeah.

How Do You Index Lead Gadget Sites?

Adam: Where would be a good place for him to go?

What’s The Deal With PBNs For 2018?

Anything that it links to becomes … It’s a much stronger link because … What Marco says, A-R-T. It has all of those characteristics of a real site. Go ahead, Marco.

What Are Your Advice For Newbies Who Want To Purchase The SEO BattlePlan And Done For You Services In Serp Space?

Would It Still Be Advisable To Follow The BattlePlan Section That Deals With PBNs?

Chris: Adios.

Bradley: All right.

Hernan: Sounds good.

Bradley: All right. Bye, guys.

Marco: Bye, everyone.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 165 published first on your-t1-blog-url

0 notes

anchorsawaytat1 · 7 years ago

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 165

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 165 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/2BQjTCo.

Announcement

Chris: Been good. Obviously, I’m speaking up here.

Chris: Interesting.

Adam: Hernan, how’s it going, man?

Adam: Oh, this one? Oh, that’s right. It’s the Semantic Mastery Mastermind shirt. I’m glad you noticed. Thanks.

Bradley: This old rag? I just threw it on, right?

Adam: I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is custom, so I’ve got like three shirts now because we tried a couple different materials. I’m Semantic Mastery decked out.

Bradley: Nice.

Adam: Yeah. Marco, what’s up, man?

Marco: What’s going on, man? I’m so looking forward to 2018 and everything that we got going. I mean we just got some awesome stuff coming down the pipeline.

Adam: Yes, we do.

Marco: It’s going to be a good one.

Bradley: Yeah.

Adam: Let’s do it.

Do You Have Any Advice For Using Up CrowdSearch Credits?

Do You Recommend Posting Published Press Releases On Lead Generation Sites?

Does Changing The Address From The UPS Store To A PO Box In Minneapolis Affect Current Local Rankings?

Then that’s when you should start looking and saying, “Okay. What’s going on? What do I need to fix?”

What’s A Good Sign That Your Client Acquisition/Pipeline Needs Work?

Adam: No, that’s good.

Hernan: Yeah. I just wanted to add. Adam, are we still sending out books to our mastermind members? Like The 10X Rule for example?

Adam: Oh yeah.

How Do You Index Lead Gadget Sites?

Adam: Where would be a good place for him to go?

What’s The Deal With PBNs For 2018?

Anything that it links to becomes … It’s a much stronger link because … What Marco says, A-R-T. It has all of those characteristics of a real site. Go ahead, Marco.

What Are Your Advice For Newbies Who Want To Purchase The SEO BattlePlan And Done For You Services In Serp Space?

Would It Still Be Advisable To Follow The BattlePlan Section That Deals With PBNs?

Chris: Adios.

Bradley: All right.

Hernan: Sounds good.

Bradley: All right. Bye, guys.

Marco: Bye, everyone.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 165 published first on your-t1-blog-url

0 notes