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lazella · 5 years

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Yugioh and the Infinity Stones: In Which Tony Reacts to Stuff

The saga continues.

Tony at first though someone had spiked his drink. It was rather early in the morning for weird things to start happening but six kids with brightly colored hair was a new one. Seeing that two of them were injured he ordered all of them into the medical bay ignoring all protests. By this point Natasha showed up and assisted with the medical treatment. Tri-color needed stitches for his shoulder while Tomato head just needed a good bandage and orders not to smile which he seemed to take great offence too.

“So…” Tony said while munching on a blueberry Poptart, “Care to explain how you ended up in my tower?”

“How about you get their names first?” Natasha scolded as she finished up the stitches on Tri-color, “I know you are coming up with unflattering nicknames in that head of yours.”

“No I’m not…” Tony denied.

“And you haven’t introduced yourself either…” The only normal looking kids with brown hair spoke up.

“Okay fine….The name’s Tony Stark millionaire playboy extraordinaire. You are in my tower which is known as the Avengers Tower because you somehow bypassed all of my security measures and ended up one the thirtieth floor. Care to explain?”

All the kids looked as each other as if they were trying to silently decide who was going first. Eventually the brown-haired kids spoke up.

“I don’t know about everyone else but I was just walking around when this big purple guy calling himself Thanos showed up and…”

Now that got Tony’s attention, “Hold on…did you just say Thanos?!”

“Um yeah…you know him?

“Just to be sure…” Tony pulled up their file photo of Thanos on the nearby screen, “This is the guy you saw?”

“Yep, fought with him too.”

“…You should be dead…You should be very dead.” Tony shook his head, “Why did you fight this guy!?”

“Because he wanted this.” The brown-haired kid held up something that made Tony’s stomach drop.

He was holding the Power Stone barehanded with no negative effects.

Natasha eyes went wide, “How did you get that?”

“Just showed up in my pocket one day and accidently destroyed a table.”

“Judai-san…” The black hair kid spoke up, “I found something similar.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Time Stone.

This sent Tony over the edge, “Next thing you all are going to tell me you all have one?!”

One by one, the remaining four boys pulled something out of their pockets. The Soul Stone, the Space Stone, the Reality Stone, and the Mind Stone.

“Can you excuse us for a moment…we need to discuss something…” Tony motioned Natasha to follow him and exited the medical bay.

“Tony…I thought we got rid of the Infinity Stones.” Natasha was in disbelief.

“Me too…we chucked them into the multiverse so that Thanos couldn’t get his hands on them. Now their all back with six stowaways and one of them is claiming that he fought Thanos…” Tony went over to the bar, poured himself a drink, downed it, then poured another. “Thor is not going to be happy about this…”

“What is going to upset me?” Thor himself disembarked from the elevator with Bruce right behind him.

“Sorry we’re late Tony…” Bruce apologized, “Ran into Thor downstairs and we started talking. “So what’s the emergency you called us for?”

“JARVIS…pull up the live feed from the medical bay.”

Of course sir…

The screen lit up showing all six boys and they were now talking with each other.

“It certainly been awhile Yugi-san.”

“It’s only been two months for me Judai-kun.” Yugi said.

“Really…only two months? Wow…Yusei how long has it been for you?” Judai turned to the one with black hair and yellow highlights.

“Over a year for me…” Yusei responded, “I can’t believe we get to see each other.”

“How do you all know each other?” The one with red hair asked.

“Time travel.” All three responded at the same time.

“Are you being serious?” The blue hair boy asked.

“That is the simplest version, trust me…” Yusei said, “But I’m afraid we haven’t gotten your name yet. Care to tell us?”

“…Fujiji Yusaku.” Was the somewhat reluctant response.

“Nice to meet you Yusaku-kun, my name’s Fudo Yusei.”

“JARVIS…run those names as soon as you hear them.” Tony ordered as they kept watching.

“So was that motorcycle yours?” The kid who introduced himself as Yuma asked.

“Technically it’s called a D-Wheel.” Yusei responded.

“D-Wheel?!” The red headed one, Yuya, suddenly piped up then slouched as if embarrassed.

“You know about them?” Yusei asked

“I…road one once…It didn’t go well the first few times…”

“I’m surprised that you were allowed on one…” Yusei mused, “Usually you have to be at least sixteen to get a license.”

“That’s a…” Yuya looked even more embarrassed, “Extremely long story.”

“I hope it isn’t as long as how we all seem to get very powerful rocks and teleported to the same location…” Judai

“Tony-san looked very scared when he saw them…” Yugi said

“And you really fought that guy?” Yuma pointed to the picture of Thanos that was still on the screen.

“Oh yeah…” Judai nodded, “He wanted the one I had to complete this gauntlet of his. Claimed that having all six could give him unimaginable power. He even said he once wiped out half the universe with a snap of his fingers!”

All the kids looked shocked.

“Why does a power like that exist!?” Yugi exclaimed.

“Is that why I got attacked?” Yuma was nervous.

“I think we all got attacked…” Yuya rubbed the bandaged on his check, “All I remember is wanting to get to safety and then a white light, then I woke up here.”

There were lots of murmurs of agreement about seeing a white light.

“Hey Yusaku…you’ve been quite for something…anything to say?” Judai turned to the Yusaku who seemed was looking right at the camera.

Yusaku didn’t answer him instead he kept looking right at the camera.

“I know you are watching us…”

“Turn it off JARIVS….” Tony quickly said. How did that kid know the camera was there let along they were watching at the very moment?

Thor on the other hand look ready to hit something, “I though we permanently removed the Infinity Stones from our plane of existence…”

“So did we Thor…” Tony said, “But they are back and I’m curious about that white flash they talked about.”

“The stones never acted like that before…” Bruce said, “Actually…only the Space Stone has the ability to teleport people so how did all six of them ended up here?”

“That is something we need to figure out…” Natasha said. “JARVIS have you finished running those names yet?”

Affirmative, was JARVIS’ response, The results are on screen now.

Tony frowned, there were no records for any of the kids. Pretty much confirms that these kids are from a parallel world, most likely the ones they dumped the Infinity Stones into.

“Looks like we need to talk to the kids again…and fill them in on what is happening…” Tony sighed and headed back to the medical bay.

Yusaku turned back to the group, “It’s okay they’re not watching us anymore.”

“How can you even tell?” Yusei asked.

“I just do.” Yusaku didn’t want to say too much, thank goodness he put Ai on mute. He didn’t want to risk him drawing attention and blabbing information.

“So….do any of you duel?” Yuma eventually asked.

Everyone turned to look at him and all held up what Yusaku assumed were Duel Disks and smiled, except for him of course. Dueling was a tool, not for enjoyment.

Yuma on the other hand, got very excited, “Oh my gosh this is so exciting!!!”

“I guess you really enjoy dueling.” Yugi asked.

“You bet I do!”

“Then kid you are in luck cause Yugi-san over here is the original King of Games.” Judai laughed pointing a thumb at Yugi.

Both Yuma and Yuya were in awe. “Really?!”

“It’s not that special…” Yugi rubbed his head in embarrassment.

“Yugi-san…your skills are still talked about in my time. You left a legacy.” Yusei said.

Yusaku had to admit, that was impressive if his skills were remembered for so long. Granted if they were telling the truth about the time travel.

“But the game has changed a lot for you guys…I never heard of Synchro monsters until I met you Yusei.” Yugi said.

“Synchro monsters?” Yuma looked confused, “What are those?”

“You never heard of Synchro monsters before?” Yusei asked him.

Yuma shook his head, “I have XYZs monsters but not Synchro monsters.”

Now it was Yugi, Judai, and Yusei’s turn to be confused. It seemed like they haven’t heard of XYZs monsters either.

“I know about both types, but do you guys have Pendulum monsters?” Yuya then asked.

Now four people were confused. This seemed odd to Yusaku, why are there elements of dueling that only few of them knew about?

“Do you know about Link monsters?” Yuskau then asked testing the waters.

Everyone shook their heads. Seemed like he was the only one who knew about Link monsters.

“Looks like we’ll have to teach each other…” Judai said as they all saw the door open again. Tony and Natasha returned but they were joined by two others. The first guy looked average in a sweater and jeans but the one behind him stood out tremendously. Dressed in a think leather breastplate and armored pants with a large red cape and the large hammer in his hand indicated this guy was ready for a fight.

“So…” Tony clapped his hands together, “Might as well fill you all in so you know what is going on. The rocks you have are called the Infinity Stones. They hold immense power. This guy Thanos wants them, has gotten them a few times, and it’s very bad when he does have them. We hoped to remove the threat by spreading the stones throughout the multiverse but instead is seemed you guys found them and got teleported here. Did I miss anything?” He turned to those standing behind him who all seemed to shrug in agreement.

“You forgot the part about what happens now.” Yusei asked.

“That’s right!” Tony pulled up a chair and sat on it…backwards. “So here’s the deal, you help us figure out how you ended up here so we can reverse engineer it to send you all home. Kapiche?”

It did seem fair to Yusaku, a sort of you help us so we can help you sort of deal.

“We would really appreciate that Tony-san.” Yugi said.

“You can drop the san, just call me Tony.” He said as he stood up, “Let me show you where the guest rooms are.”

Over the next few days set a new norm for the Avengers. The weakly poker night was now dominated by Yugi. Tony checked several times for cheating, but it turns out he was just that good at games…any games it turned out as they all found out when they switched to Texas Hold ‘Em. The fridge now had a lock because Judai and Yuma did frequent raids on it which quickly resulted in a very empty fridge. Yusei had to be dissuaded from dismantling everything because he was curious as to how it worked. He was eventually given his own corner in the lab to satisfy his curiosity. Tony swore that Yuya was some sort of acrobat because they kept finding him in places that people thought impossible. Latest crazy spot was on top of the radio tower. Yuya’s excuse? He claimed he had to stay in practice. And no one knew what Yusaku was up to. He kept borrowing a computer to do something, but every time Tony checked it afterwards, it was completely scrubbed of data. Tony secretly hoped that Yusaku wasn’t a deep web hacker.

“So any progress on figuring out how the stones came back?” Steve asked at the impromptu meeting they had in the lab.

“Not much…” Natasha admitted, “We interviewed each kid and the story is rather similar. They suddenly found the stone in their possession one day. Got attacked by Thanos or one of the members of his Black Order, then a white light came from the stones and then woke up here.”

“Which doesn’t make sense as the Space Stone is the only one with teleportation powers…” Bruce added.

“So the mystery here is that white light…” Clint muttered, “We didn’t see a white flash when we sent the stones away did we.”

“No we did not,” confirmed Thor, “And before anyone asks I already checked to make sure Bifrost was not involved in this.”

“Noted,” Tony said.

“Speaking of which…” Steven looked around the lab, “Where are the stones?”

“Oh you’re going to love this…” Tony smirked, “Hey Yuya!”

There was a loud yelp, hurried footsteps and the red head poked his head in the lab, “Yes sir?”

“Do thing.”

Yuya brightened up, “Okay!” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the red Reality Stone, “Ladies and Gentlemen please watch and do not take your eyes off of this stone.” Yuya placed the stone on the table where they all could see it. “Now I will exit this room and right before your eyes this stone will disappear and return to my pocket.” Yuya slowly and dramatically backed away and left the room.

“Um…Tony?” Steven asked.

“Shhh…this is where it gets good.” Tony smirked.

Everyone blinked in confusion but kept watching the stone. It did nothing for a while then…

Gone. It was just gone.

“What in the seven realms?!” Thor exclaimed.

Yuya then bolted back into the room with the stone back in his hand. “Tada!”

“Good job kid! New recorded…” Tony laughed, “Thanks for the demonstration.”

“No problem!” Yuya gave a salute and ran off.

It was a while before Clint spoke up, “Are you sure it wasn’t him doing that. He had the Reality Stone after all.”

“Nah…I just had him do it because he makes it entertaining.” Tony explained as he pulled up some videos that showed the same effect with the other stones, “Not matter which one it is, the stone will instantly teleport back to its respective kid once they are far enough away. We even once tried switching stones for fun and sure enough, the stone swapped back on their own.”

“To sum it up…” Natasha said, “The stones are now linked to each boy and there’s no visible way to separate them. And given how Thanos was still able to track them down we can safely assume that he can track them here.”

“So it’s a fight with Thanos we are expecting…” Thor said, “Surely without the Infinity Stones aiding him it should be easy victory for us.”

“But we have six civilians that are the targets…not us.” Steven grimly pointed out.

“And we all know that Thanos is not going to hold back.” Bruce said.

Silence hung over the group as they all thought about their next move.

“Do Fury know about this yet?” Clint asked.

“Haven’t told him and honestly I’m surprised that he snuck his way into my office yet…” Tony said.

“So what would Fury say if he were here?” Clint then asked.

“That either get the stones away from the kids and send them home or train them so they are better prepared.”

“Tony…they are kids…” Steven said, “We are not going to train them for combat.”

“Well Spiderman was a kid when he started and he turned out fine. But we don’t have to do outright ‘training’ training.” Tony did air quotes on that word, “Just very subtle methods. I know Thor has taken a liking to them already.”

“They make great conversation and their tales are quite enjoyable.” Thor smiled.

“So that’s how we’re going to do it…pick a kid and parent them. There’s no need to fight, we can share.” Tony then hummed to himself and got back to work on something. Steven had to facepalm as it looked like hand blasters for the boys.

#yugioh #gx #5ds #zexal #arc v #vrains #avengers #infinity stones au

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sugar-petals · 6 years

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the scaffolding (m)

⌞ Jungkook paints your house. He blocks the panoramic view. You take no issue with that.

September. The first week. The weather is stable since Thursday, a lot of tourists are in town. Your phone won’t stay silent either. Clients, clients, clients. There’s not a single unhurried day in your house. You tell yourself to stay focused.

Because nature still inspires best, the windows to the first floor home office enable you to glance across an ample panorama. A lake, mountains in the distance, meadows, some occasional mist in the mornings although the sun does come out later quite a lot.

A very rural outlook, mature. And yet, it’s been boring you as of lately. You need some aesthetic change in your life. But since you can’t roll your desk to the other side of the house — where the windows aren’t as large anyways — and can’t really move the mountains aside either, you dare an experiment. A designer thinks in counterintuitive terms. What if you change something about what you project outward to the landscape instead of altering the landscape itself? The idea is to hire someone who will paint your house in an interesting color.

The legal framework is loose enough for you to go with a very deep cobalt blue type of shade. Friendly and upbeat Kim Seokjin from the local painter’s bureau, Kim Constructions, invites you for discussing the details and going through color books. The resulting sum is quite hefty since your house is moderately large with rather complicated architecture to climb around, but everyone at the bureau is very helpful. September is the perfect time of the year. Seokjin arrives two days later to inspect the building from the outside, taking notes, then asks a few questions about the history of the house, looks around again, and vanishes as silently as he arrived. When you glance out of the window seven days after, there’s already a scaffolding in place. Deckings, ties, braces, and transoms everywhere. While you’re busy editing flyers for the upcoming winter festival, there’s plenty of hammering, van maneuvering, and more loud motion outside.

While you did want something new to quench the boredom, now you believe it backfired in the worst of ways since painting sure will take a while. Instead of feeling inspired, all you are is distracted. You do ponder moving your tablets, the laptops, the screen, and the other paraphernalia for the time being. But yet, another client rings through and asks whether you can meet the deadline for the wedding cards. You say yes, they’re almost done, you print them in two days, goodbye, you’ve asked for the fifth time. Moving the office won’t get rid of the nervous wreck type of callers either, no amount of reassurance ever helps. it’s starting to rub off on you, in fact. So you plug your headphones in and distract yourself from the distraction outside, and have a reason to ignore the phone blowing up every twenty minutes. Anything of importance would come via email anyways.

You drag fonts around the screen and adjust colors when a shadow steps in between you and the 11 AM sun outside. It startles you to the point of almost falling off your chair. It’s a brunette guy in a red tank top, bib, moderately tall, carrying a full bucket of paint toward the right side of the scaffolding. Judging by how he balances along the scene and then disappears, the guy didn’t notice you. The flyers aren’t so important anymore. You put down your headphones and try to glance across the room, toward the corner of the window where he went out of sight but not out of mind. And he does come back a minute later, without the bucket. This time, the guy gazes into your direction. He looks surprised. A feeble greeting hand, a bow, you bow back, then nod. Expressionless staring. He gestures around with a paint roller in his left hand. Then he moves on. You’re quite puzzled. He seems to be the worker, and you know that there are about three of them, that’s responsible for your side of the house where the office is.

It’s hard dragging fonts again, and the music stays off. Another anxious client’s call is quite convenient to make it look like you’re all professional and busy when the guy returns peeking across the scaffold on a ladder with a mixing laddle, and fumbling around with a trim guide. You don’t want to disturb the workers. At the same time, you want to look at him. The client, Mister Park, keeps on babbling about how he needs his fancy bright website banners by the end of the month, that his revenue depends on it, and only calms down once you send him a screenshot about how much you’re already advanced.

In the meantime, the brunette guy is gone again. Seokjin is on the scaffold now, but you can only see his arms stirring paint. The flyers are half done by the end of the hour, your tea cup is empty, and you figure it’s time to go to the kitchen to get yourself another drink. Hungry you are not yet, but already play with the thought of throwing some noodles in the Wok later for lunch at 1 PM, with some leftovers and a spicy sauce. Once the tea bag blurs out the hot water in your mug into a deep fruity strawberry red, you pace around the house, smartphone switched on, going through your social media. Nothing of real importance. A few likes on there, a comment here. More emails waiting. You end up strolling to the balcony —

And walk in on the guy, back turned to you. Pulling off his tank top standing on the first floor scaffold, and tossing it down to land on the hood of the Kim Constructions van. Your sharp exhale makes him flinch and turn around within the blink of an eye. His voice, high-pitched, cracks in a matter of seconds.

“I’m, I’m sorry! Thought you were workin’ on the other side!”

He covers his chest with both arms crossed before it.

Don’t look at his body. Don’t look at his body. He’s not comfortable with it.

You’re startled for a solid moment, too. Frozen.

“I, uh, made some tea,” you shove the mug toward his direction, eye to eye, desperate not to trail off below. “It’s very cold in September. I mean, out here.”

“Yes, it’s cold,” the guy says, pretty much sweating, but he takes the cup anyways, further disclosing his torso. You keep your head up stiff.

Don’t look at his body. Just a painter doing his job. Relax. You gave him a drink, that’s all.

“Really sorry, I hope the tea is okay.”

“Thank you, Miss Y/L/N, you didn’t have to do that. And I’m just a klutz, just walkin’ around like this. I hope I don’t cause an inconvenience. That’s too kind, you really didn’t have to prepare tea.”

You shake your head with too much vehemence for it to be normal. The guy starts sipping from the cup and almost burns his lips, but tries to play it off immediately by nodding at you more then necessary.

“I just saw you’re working hard, and Seokjin, I think, he can have a cup, too? There’s someone else, too, your co-workers—”

“Namjoon. But I think he’s allergic. Yeah. All sorts of allergies.”

“Oh, allergic. Sorry for that. And you are?”

“JK. Jungkook, um. Seokjin is always callin’ me JK. And Kookie, he thinks I look like one.”

“Yeah, I guess. I’m not allergic to cookies.”

“Me neither!”

Someone shouts from the other side of the house. Jungkook looks around.

“Uh, I gotta go. See you, Miss! I mean, if you want! I let that cup cool here, I pick it up in a minute.”

And he sprints around the corner. The scaffolding still vibrates after he’s gone and you hear a discussion from the East side of the house. You click the balcony door shut and sink down in the living room on the carpet. What on earth does he make you say. What on earth did he say. This JK guy. Allergic to kookies. Allergic to tea. What on earth. At least you managed to get a conversation together instead of awkward silence. So, Jungkook is his name. Seokjin thinks he looks like a cookie. But Jungkook is not allergic to that. And it’s icy cold in September, of course, especially when he walks around without his tank top. All that staring at screens has been making you dizzy.

You drink a glass of juice in the kitchen, grab your light-weight beige jacket, phone, tablet, and exit the house for a walk. Gladly, Kim Construction’s van parked at the other end of the house where Jungkook likely still climbs around. You can go to the lake and get moving, all day in a seat won’t do your body any good. Any important task you can do on your tablet anyways. And pass the time. You think about how bizarre it must have been for Jungkook to first get caught in the middle of stripping, being offered a teacup as a lousy excuse, almost burning his tongue, and having to hear about cold weather with the sun out.

Mister Park calls when you observe toddlers collecting stones at the beach, and the animals that make them wonder. He wants a certain color adjustment, the theme has changed, the mood has to be different. Even brighter, everything. The changes you can employ through your tablet, but not actually alter your very own mood until you get the idea to visit an ice cream parlor about two hours later. It’s their last day, they’re closing down until the end of May next year. For a reason easily explicable to you after thinking twice, you order a strawberry ice cream sundae. A big portion, with fruit, because the Wok— you postponed.

All because you thought your panorama was boring and wanted a blue house. Sitting at the dock seems to bring up more worries than that, just being completely thrown off balance, not having your shit together. Eating strawberries at least makes you a little more tolerable to yourself at least. You wish you could mute your phone to avoid further pestering by client XYZ asking for a new layout until Friday. But who could blame them. Their expectations were high, too. All you can do it type around on your tablet to get the wedding cards finalized with the right type of swirl in the golden frames. The children play and fool around against the raging will of their respective parents, but they don’t care. They keep on throwing stones into the water until they’re satisfied. The sundae is gone all too soon and you’re still hungry.

You take a picture of the orange, crimson sun lowering itself onto the horizon, the lighthouse from the harbor at the outer end, with sailing boats, and of course, the mountains. Maybe it’s a picture Jimin’s banners could look good with, you realize, and zoom in. You almost overlook it, but at a second glance, you see a familiar red shade on the harbor wall. HEX #ED2939, imperial red. You know that one from somewhere. Putting the tablet down, you gaze where you believe the color is supposed to be down the docks. Quite far away, near the lighthouse in fact, but you do see a silhouette. Now you decide to walk closer. That red is really striking, resembling the dusky sky. Coming closer, the silhouette turns and waves at you .

“Good to see you! Y/N! How’s it goin’?”

It’s Jungkook, looking a bit silly with paint on his cheeks, and a flat white box in his hands. It really is gigantic. He sits at the dock in black sweatpants, seemingly watching birds by himself.

“After-work hours?”

At first, you hesitate, but then crouch down on the harbor wall next to him, legs crossed. He wipes his chin with the back of his hand. You can smell that he reapplied whatever spray deodorant was likely available in the van.

“We finished the Northern side an hour ago or so. But, uh, you look more exhausted than any of us!”

“I don’t know. And good job, Seokjin didn’t lie about being fast.”

“Have a slice,” Jungkook opens the white box for you to peer into. Now you realize what it’s for. Pizza Funghi. “We ordered way too much. And Namjoon was havin’ an allergic reaction.”

Jungkook’s mindless nodding returns when you make a ‘really, can I?’ glance at the pizza.

“What reaction? He’s allergic to pizza?”

“Oh, I think I have to explain that,” Jungkook tugs at the hems of his tank top. “It’s some sort of insider joke. Namjoon’s on a diet since he ate and drank too much at the summer festival. Or fasting, we don’t get it. Whenever he sees foods and drinks he freaks out. Jin came up with that joke, don’t ask me why.”

In passing, he hands you a napkin for your lap.

“Wasn’t the summer festival exactly about food and drink? The slogan was culinary joys or something.”

The pizza is pretty crispy when you bite into it. Jungkook looks at you munch with big eyes.

“You got some memory right there. I don’t even remember whether I went there or not!”

“I designed the posters,” you mumble, “that’s what I’m busy with in the office.”

“Hey, that’s a cool job. Wish I did that. Been dreamin’ of some more artistic work.”

“Sure, we can swap. I climb on the ladders with a hammer, you take phone calls.”

“Not good at that. I’d just collapse. You likin’ the pizza? Take the rest if you want.”

Jungkook parts his bangs with a hand, getting the strands out of his eyes. His eyebrows are quite strong, unlike his soft eyes looking at you from their corners because Jungkook faces the lighthouse, letting his legs dangle off the dock’s edge.

“Topping’s nice and chewy,” you rub the corners of your mouth with the napkin and get another slice. “You enjoyed your tea?”

“Definitely warm now. Jin was lookin’ at me weird and asked where it’s from.”

“I’ll get you two some more tomorrow. Is peppermint okay? Running out of strawberry tea.”

“As long as we leave Namjoon alone with his water bottles and apples, you can do just about anythin’.”

The children’s laughter disappears. You finish the third slice when the sun is close to setting. Even the bustling people from the ice cream parlor disperse, and the staff cover the windows with curtains from the inside. Jungkook makes you laugh when, accompanied by funny faces, he reduces the giant pizza cardboard box to nothing but a ball of paper with bare hands, and tosses it right into a bin — ironically, the wrong one for plastic. After tucking it into the adjacent paper can, alongside the napkin, Jungkook balances on the dock and talks about Namjoon’s whimsical adventures on the festival where his shades flew off on a carousel until you suggest to go to the lighthouse.

“Want a good picture I can use for an edit. Maybe from the top. The lantern room has a railing all around. Probably a good view.”

Jungkook agrees quite heartily, but once you do reach the white tower, perhaps 45 feet high, any rattling at the door latch is futile.

“Closed,” Jungkook sighs. “For ages, I guess. It doesn’t look functional. I’ve never seen a keeper around here anyways.”

But you already point to the left-hand side of the lighthouse that faces the sea.

“Talk about ladders. Look at that.”

“Huh?”

“There’s nobody around.” You tuck your tablet into the inside chest pocket of your jacket.

Jungkook gazes around.

“Oh... I get what you mean. Anythin’ for a good shot,” he advances, testing out the metal steps planted to the outside of the lighthouse in regular gaps. “It’s not much different from a scaffoldin’, I think.”

“My very thoughts. Are the steps not rusty or slippery?”

“Not really, just a bit narrow, kinda antique. But it’ll do. For me it’s easy at least. But are graphic designers always that reckless?”

“My clients depend on it. We gotta be quick before it sets, I need the colors to be bright.”

Jungkook already climbs a few test steps up and down. It looks more than agile.

“Wait, I figure this out,” he fumbles around, relocates his balance back and forth. “Can you do this?”

“No, I ain’t stupid. If you can carry me, we’re faster, too.”

Jungkook takes the final step with a cough. You unwind your iron clasp around his hip and neck. He still smells like that deodorant. Even up here, where the wind carries all scent away fast. You both climb over the railing, the lantern room right before you.

“Hey, we’re not dead! That was awesome. Athletics 101!”

“Doin’ this every day,” Jungkook fastens his tank top, bashful now. “Gotta be good at least somethin’.”

You holding onto him caused the top to slip sidewards. It almost makes you forget to take the picture until he points at your jacket where the tablet is stored.

“Your turn, Miss.”

“Clouds look just right,” you nod, “was a good idea.”

Click. A quick shot for a start. Click. One with longer exposure time. Click. You turn the tablet by 90°. Click. Now diagonal. You crop the second last picture, then change a filter, add text, ponder for half a minute, then create a panoramic view. Jungkook watches with intent, picking at the paint on his cheeks without even noticing. You change positions three times to look for a better angle, without the railing in the way. Concentration. You hold the tablet still.

“Never knew how this works,” he ruffles his hair around a few feet to the right. “Looks like one hell of a job.”

You tuck away your tablet again, realizing that the brightness of the horizon already fades. The five pictures have to suffice.

“Hopefully. Only worried about getting down again.”

“I’ll figure this out.”

Jungkook, instead of going to the railing the way you expected it, walks to the lantern house. Indeed, hidden by white paint, there’s a door. He twists the knob at the very side twice, then frowns a little, changes directions, walks to the harbor side of the platform. You can hear a knocking, clattering, then a screeching noise.

“Come around if you’re finished! Found somethin’. Way down.”

His voice is a little silent given that the breeze is strong. But you do walk half the circular to reach him. He squats down at an open hatch in the floor.

“No ladder. But I think the room down there isn’t too steep.”

“Hey, you genius! What’s that?”

“The livin’ quarters. Sure we find a key there to exit the lighthouse from the inside. Don’t know how else.”

“But you really wanna get in there, like, fall? It does look steep! And how can I—”

Jungkook already rubs his palms against each other, bends his knees three times, then sits legs downward at the edge of the square opening.

“I think pizza makes people do reckless things in general,” he hums to himself, then glides off the hatch into the room. The rebound isn’t as loud as you thought. You gaze down the hatch to see Jungkook, already upright, pop and gyrate his knees, then stretch his arms toward you.

“O.K.,” he nods his head, bangs swiped to either side of his face.

“Just the same as you did?”

“Part your legs a bit. Don’t wanna get knocked out. Catch you halfway, arms forward. And don’t bite your tongue or somethin’. Other than that, hm. Guess that’s it.”

“Take this first,” you unzip your jacket, cast it off backwards, then let it hang down as far as the length of your right arm permits. The tablet weighs it down quite a lot. Jungkook plucks it out of the air like it’s nothing, rests it to his side, yet out of reach. He rubs his palms against each other again.

“Don’t think too much, Miss Y/N.”

“Oh man, poor pizza in my stomach,” you sit down at the edge now, leg to either side parted wide, arms forward. Jungkook stretches his hands further up toward the hatch opening.

“Think you’re good to go.”

“Get ready.”

And you slip down.

Jungkook’s exhale doesn’t reach the outside world. Instead, you’re the one to breathe out groaning. Holding on tight. With his torso between your legs, rock-hard.

“Oh gosh, hurts! Oh, fuck!”

A quick sting of pain. When you feel your hands at the back of his neck, finally, you gather your senses. Look down. He did catch you. He did. Jungkook keeps on muffling.

“You okay?”

You lean back to un-burry his face from your breasts.

“Boobs are a curse! Ouch, ugh.”

Jungkook lets you down, slowly. The inside of your thighs glide off his waist.

“Rest for a moment, Y/N. That takes a minute.”

“I quit my dream of climbing around.”

“You’re no athlete. I practice this all the time, too. There’s a bed over there.”

The pain still remains. Your eyes dart around the living quarters. The room is surprisingly spacious, perhaps because it’s rounded. The keeper left everything in perfect order. Equally, the bed looks like a promising comfort.

“Don’t beat yourself up, my face was just in the way,” Jungkook removes the bed’s duvet with its layer of dust on it, then sits at the edge, eagle eyes on how you lower yourself, then lay down on the mattress.

“Give me a second,” you groan into your sleeve. “Feel like passing out. Shit is like a groin kick.”

“If you distract yourself, it’s easier. Takes your mind off. Just tell me.”

Hesitation. But your mind shortcuts right away.

“Just— Come over. I need your hands.”

Jungkook swiftly gets his Timbs off. They tumble next to your jacket on the ground.

“What should I do,” he moves closer, kneeling next to your torso. You can feel his warmth.

“Here,” you point at your sternum. Jungkook takes his right to hover above the spot, palm facing downwards. His left hand is propped up beside your shoulder, creating a dent you sink down with.

“Put it— Like this?”

“Back and forth. Like, massaging or something.”

“Got it.”

He is very warm. And it helps. The sting, with every rub, eases. His palm is very broad, but light on your body. You can smell his deodorant again, but with a bit of sweat mixing in. Tinged bitter, but still sweet. You like it. Perhaps he wasn’t so wrong about distraction. Perhaps you were not so wrong about boredom. His touch takes away from the tightness in your chest the longer he circles his fingers into the spot between your breasts that gently part for his motions.

“Feels better, Kookie. Keep on.”

“Okay.”

Jungkook continues rubbing until the pain is wearing off, numbing, at least. The way he retreats his hand makes the bed shake a little because he shifts his weight, and the dent is gone. You’re looking at him now—

Something clinks on the floor. Strangely metallic. A noise more silent than you actually thought it was. You’re both startled. Looking around. Everything is blank.

“What was that? Is someone coming? Shit, shit!”

“Miss, wait a second.”

He peeks over the edge of the bed where the noise came from. You sit up. He’s chuckling. Then, he picks up a little silver item.

“Look at that.”

“Oh?”

He’s laughing.

“I think that’s the key. Keeper stored it under the mattress.”

“That was the shock of my life!”

“Your chest’s better, then,” Jungkook picks up the key and drops it on the dusty nightstand. “Gotta say, that was, uh, I was bein’ stupid. Namjoon knows how to catch paint buckets like that, he’s probably the only one lookin’ graceful.”

“To each their own talent. To each their own mishap. His shades flew off.”

You kick off your own trainers, adjust on the bed after removing the dust-covered pillow gently not to cause a stir in the air.

“We were searching for an hour or so,” Jungkook scratches his head. “It flew far, you know.”

“He seriously needs to read the safety instructions next time.”

“We climbed on a lighthouse, can’t preach to him ‘bout that I think. Pics will be pretty cool though.”

“I’ve had my climbing, you had some art stuff today.”

“Always learnin’ somethin’.”

The duvet is back in place, as is the pillow, the hatch closed with the makeshift help of a broomstick. You tap down the stairwell that smells a lot like sea, jacket back on, with the light from your tablet illuminating the way down. Jungkook, in his Timbs, is ready to dodge bats or spiders, but the staircase isn’t too webby and dusty. Only the stairs are a bit grimy.

“Need the biggest shower of my life,” he grits, balancing downwards.

“I can drive you home if you want. How did you get to my house earlier?”

“By bike, it’s parked at the harbor. My house isn’t too far away. Gettin’ there in ten minutes.”

“Ah, okay.”

After you get to the bottom of the tower, the key turns in the lock with less ease than you thought. Instead, you turn the knob and the door pops open with a creak.

“Opens from the inside only,” Jungkook huffs out a laugh. “I’ll get the key back to where it was.”

You hand him the tablet faithfully, and in the matter of a minute, he’s back to hand it to you. The bike in question is indeed not very far. As red as his tank top, chained before the beautiful mountain scenery. There’s fog coming up already.

“Don’t have any tea available I’m afraid.”

“Will get warm when I’m pedallin’,” he removes the lock from the bike with a number code, then puts on the helmet attached to it. “See you tomorrow, Miss Y/N. I try not to walk past your office too often.”

“Oh, my clients will be more than satisfied, I’ll have more time to lean back. Got a lot of work done today. If you want, I cook something in the Wok for everyone at lunch. Tit for tat. I liked your pizza, Kookie.”

“Tit for tat?”

“You don’t know that expression? It’s not because of my boobs. They’re fine now.”

“Ah— uh, sorry for that again.”

“Tit for tat just means, ah, compensation. Back and forth. I’ll treat you to something, hm.”

“Sure it’s gonna be delicious.”

“We’ll help Namjoon get over his allergy as well. I’m confident.”

Jungkook’s eye smile appears under the brim of his helmet. You ask whether you can take a picture with your phone before he leaves. Oh sure, Miss, he says, adjusts the tank top. You zoom in a bit, center his face. There’s still a bit of blue paint on his nose. Click!

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bob-dude · 5 years

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I will say, that as someone who grew up with the PT and sees it as “his” star wars and have dealt with so much ‘Your thing is bad and sucks because xyz here!’ for literal decades by this point, I can emphasize with the ST fans. Since 2015 I’ve never tried to actively go to someone who is clearly a fan of Rey, Poe, ect and go ‘your fave is bad and you should feel bad for liking it’.

There is a toxic, bitchy, whiny side to fanbases and fandom. I’ve dealt with it for over 15 years and I’ve seen it first hand. “George Lucas can’t write/isn’t a good director’, “it was everyone else but Goerge who were the TRUE and HONEST creatives behind the OT”, “Muh Sand line” Muh “We just want higher quality stuff”.

Yeah, yeah. Me, I think the OT is overrated as hell. I like Luke, I like R2, I can take or leave the rest of it (Oh, and Lando, Lando is cool he can stay). Leia? Still got captured and had to be rescued by men and made no effort to leave her cell nor was she the one who blew up the Death Star? Han Solo? He was better when he was called Northwest Smith. Fuck Han Solo and the discount space horse he rode on.

While I agree with Retroblastings overall points (even if the likes of Doomclock and Midnight’s Edge did devolve into paranoid whining after a while as someone who started out agreeing with their larger points) I do find is comment at the end of ‘well you’ve just mislead people that the prequels were good because memes’ to be very tiring and frankly flat out misleading. Yes, a lot of fans have raised legitmiate points and problems about the ST and yes, many of them are women/people of color and a great majority of them do want a ‘better product’ but as shit as TFA, TLJ, and Rise of Skywalker wound up being, forgive me if I find it hard to believe the generation of the fanbase that gave us the monstrously stupid RLM reviews and piled up one countless straw man after the other (What the fuck do people even MEAN by ‘Lucas was surrounded by Yes Men?’ You mean people who are professionals and do their job to get a movie made on time and creatively. Yeah, real ‘yes men’ there.) seriously when they say

“We just want the product to be good.”

Older fans, reactionaries, whatever the hell you call yourselves. Just because you guys are right about some shit some of the time (mass effect 3′s endings were bad, Netflix She Ra has writing issues, Bendis has been a bad fit for Superman) doesn’t mean you’re right about everything all the time and not full of shit, some of the time, either.

All that being said, retroblasting is still overall on point and I do agree with a good 2/3rd of the video before he starts dragging the Prequels through the mud.

#star wars thoughts #Star Wars Expanded Universe #star wars prequels #star wars sequel trilogy #writing quality

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surveys4ever · 3 years

Text

26.

Have you ever been in weather below 0 Fahrenheit (-17 Celsius)? ...yes. Literally every year. There’s usually a week or two in January when it gets down to -50 to -75 F.

Have you ever been caught outdoors away from shelter during a thunderstorm? Maybe when I was a teenager? I’ve definitely been caught in the rain, not sure about a thunderstorm tho.

What’s your favorite macaron flavor? I’ve actually never had a macaron! But I don’t like meringue so I don’t think I’d enjoy them.

How often do you have friends over to your house? Literally never.

Have you ever had a boss who acted unprofessionally? YES. The assistant manager at the last job I had was insane. She tried to tell me that I wasn’t allowed to leave town on the weekends in case they needed me. LOL girl bye.

How many times have you stayed at a hotel in the past year, and where? 0, covid.

Have you ever done a flip on a trampoline? Noooo.

What about a flip off of a diving board? I’ve never even been on a diving board.

Are you embarrassed by your school yearbook photos? I believe in the 10th or 11th grade I hated them but I was on the yearbook committee so I finessed some new ones to put in hehehe.

Who taught you to tie your shoelaces? I believe I learned at school.

Currently how many pictures are on your cellphone? 9,008.

Do you think dimples are cute? Oh hell yeah.

Would you rather chew fruity or minty gum? Minty.

The last time you went to the mall, who did you go with? Beebs!

What’s something you used to collect when you were younger? Rocks and lip balm.

Have you watched a movie today? Yes! We went to see Dracula.

Aside from your own, whose house did you last set foot into? We went to an indoor garage sale a couple weeks ago.

Do you love soft pretzels? They’re alright. They smell better than they taste in my opinion.

Who was the last person who cried around you? Why did they start crying? Was it unexpected? Does my dog count? Bc she’s just a drama queen and I wouldn’t expect anything less from her.

Are you more likely to like someone before you really know them, or do you feel you like them more after you know a lot about them? True love is when you like them a ton before you actually really know them and then like them even more after.

Do you buy people cards on special occasions, or do you prefer to make your own? I honestly think cards are a huge waste of money so if I do give one, I made it. But I have a Circuit and I’m pretty creatively inclined so it’s pretty easy.

When was the last time you were being hypocritical? It sounds pompous but I honestly think I'm too self aware to by hypocritical.

Where on your body was the last cramp you had? Why did you have this cramp? My hip, because I was sitting weird.

What is the weirdest name you’ve ever heard? Someone I know named their kid Emanda. Unsure if its pronounced ee-manda or just regular Amanda. Haven’t wanted to ask. Another named their kid Albrea. I just call her Algebra. And another named their kid Annekke, pronounced Anika. She will forever be a-neek-ee to me.

Do you get embarrassed when people hear you sing/compliment you on your singing ability? Bold of you to assume I ever let anybody sing.

Are you good at comforting people when they’re upset? I’m the big sister to like a bajillion children. Yes I’m good at it.

Do you have any exercises you do everyday? Newp.

Do you own one of those singing fish? Do you think they are silly or funny? Hahaha I don’t but I literally just saw a Billy Bass at a thrift store yesterday. They were funny then and they’re funny nostalgic now.

Has anyone ever accused you of being bipolar or any other mental disorder? Do you really have any mental disorders? I have a pretty severe anxiety disorder but no one’s accused me of having it because like...it’s pretty obvious?

Did you buy the last thing you bought with your own money? If not, whose money did you buy it with? Haha yes! We bought movie tickets, a drink, and peanut butter m&ms.

Do you like to put your feet up on the dashboards of cars? Do you parents yell at you if you do that in cars? Our car is too short for that but yeah, my parents always yelled at me for it when I was young.

Which Beatle is your favorite, or do you love them all equally? I wouldn’t say I loved any of them but John Lennon is absolute hot garbage.

Do you enjoy classic rock? If so, who are some of your favorite classic rock artists? Uh...not really?

Did you ever own a Tamagotchi? Yes! They were all the rage in the 6th grade.

Are you more of a dog or cat person?/ Dog, definitely.

Have you ever failed math? I very, VERY narrowly passed the last math course I needed to graduate and I did the math and because of the mark I got on my final, I should have failed by 3% but I got 1% over what I needed to pass. Pretty sure my math teacher just didn’t want to deal with me taking the course over so he passed me BUT my math could have been wrong, haha.

Skittles! What's your favorite color? Lordt. I haven’t purchased skittles in ages. I think I remember red being my favorite?

Have you ever had a dream of stabbing someone? Yeah, actually.

What would you want your last words to be if you could choose them? I would just want my husband to know how much I love him and that I’ll be waiting for him in whatever form of afterlife there is.

Can you sleep with the light on? If I'm dead tired.

What’s the most bizarre horror movie you’ve ever seen? I mean...Dracula is supposed to be a horror movie. The only thing horrific about it was the acting.

What band can’t you stand listening to? I honestly can’t think of one right now.

Would you ever take a lie detector test for your significant other? I mean, if I had to? But we trust each other 100% and I’m brutally honest about everything so he would never require that from me.

What is your favorite Mystery/Crime/FBI related show? Murder, Mystery, & Makeup Mondayssss! Sha na sha sha na sha sha na sha sha sha na shaaaaaaaa!

Would you ever have a bird as a pet? Absolutely not.

How's your relationship between you and your grandparents? I love my mom’s parents to bits. My grandma is one of my absolute favorite people in the world and my grandpa is very quiet but he has a lot of really sweet moments. My dad’s parents are awful fuckin people. My grandfather died like 5 years ago and I really had to try hard to feign sympathy about it to him. My grandmother is still kicking it but we haven’t spoken in over a decade for good reason. She also changed their joint Facebook account to just her Facebook account less than a week after he died loooool. She hated him as much as I did I think. And then my bio dad’s dad is dead but he was also a piece of shit but his mom is a sweetie. We facetime every so often and she holds the phone a grand total of 6 inches away from her face the entire time and tells me the same stories over and over. Bu

Ever had a forbidden love or lover? Newp.

Have you ever had to speak at a funeral? No, thank god.

Do you know someone who’s been cremated? My grandma’s dog.

What is your current problem? My eyes are blurry because I’m tired.

Do you like canopy beds? Tbh, canopy beds are the epitome of glamor in my eyes.

What is your favorite animated movie? Onward.

Would you rather live in a small town or a big city? I like medium cities. You won’t get mugged walking down the street, traffic doesn’t absolutely suck, and you can get clear across town in 15 minutes.

If you could summon any animal to come to your rescue, what animal would it be and why? Uh? Why am I in trouble? Why can’t I call a human? What’s happening here?

Have you ever watched The Golden Girls? I tried watching a couple episodes but it didn’t pique my interest.

Did you ever like the Ninja Turtles? Noooo. Beebs loves them though so he tries to make me love them and it’s just not happenin, buddy.

Last alcoholic drink you had? No idea tbh.

What are you known for? For being talented and having big hair.

Has anyone ever threatened you? Oh yeah. There was this one guy who was constantly sending me really graphic messages about how he wanted to put a gun to my head and kill me or he hoped I would get XYZ and die. I tried to block him but he would immediately make 3 more accounts to send me the same shit.

Have you ever gone frog hunting? Noooo.

Do you ever suffer from dry skin? Yessss. My body is the Sahara.

Do you still sleep with a stuffed animal? No, I sleep with a husband.

What’s the weather like right this moment? It’s rainy!

Do you bite on straws, lollipop handles, or ice cream sticks? Nah.

In what type of area was your first sexual encounter? Beeb’s bedroom. His stepfather interrupted and made him come outside to talk to him for some reason and then very weirdly pointed out his half boner? V. uncomfortable all around.

Where is your mother’s side of the family descended from? Somewhere where white people come from idk.

What do you occupy your time with on flights? iPad games usually.

Do you dog-ear pages in books? No, I’m not a heathen.

What’s a made up word of yours? We call pickles ‘pickies’ and hamburgers ‘borgers’ or ‘borgs’ because we’re gross.

Do you use Q-Tips? In my ears? No. To clean out tight spaces of things I've thrifted? Yes.

Ever gone out with somebody you didn’t like? Noooo.

What hero or heroine do you most relate to in history, fiction, or song? ....No.

What makes you dizzy? Getting up too fast usually.

Are your parents liberal or conservative? Bleh, conservative. If you have liberal parents, consider yourself blessed.

Do you like your teeth? Did you have braces? I got away with having just an appliance/Invisaligns but I still don’t like my teeth. They’re perfectly straight and white enough but I have body dysmorphia and for some reason I think they’re atrocious and I hate them??? I can’t explain it.

Are you happy with your height? I’m 5′11 and I wish I was shorter sometimes. Hugging my husband would be easier.

#survey

0 notes

entamewitchlulu · 7 years

Text

Final Code

Prompt: Alternate Death

Warnings: Major Character Death (i mean...of course)

Characters: Yuma Tsukumo, Nasch, Astral, Kotori Mizuki, Kaito Tenjo

Summary: canon divergence from episode 143, the final duel between Yuma v. Nasch, in an AU where the Numeron Code accidentally merged with Yuma, and the only way to get it out and use it without killing Yuma was to collect all of the Numbers.Only, they’re going to find out that the final cost of using the Numeron Code is a lot worse than they imagined.

((so this is late and i was gonna like, draw shit for it but i didn’t...this is spoilers for my Zexal longfic but in all honesty i think like three people read that one anyway and most likely everyone will have forgotten by the millennia that i finally go back to finishing it))

He couldn't. He couldn't hold it up anymore. Being one with Astral made it so hard...so hard...to hide things. He didn't want to hide things from Astral but he didn't want Astral to know—not yet. He couldn't....it would hurt...

Astral gasped as the two of them pulled apart, Zexal shattering around them. Yuma dropped lightly to one knee.

“Yuma—why did you undo Zexal??” Astral said, zir voice cracking slightly with uncertainty.

On the other side of the field, Yuma saw Nasch's eyes widen slightly. He was just as shocked as Astral. Kotori gasped from the sidelines, too. Yuma tried to swallow—it was hard around the lump of tears in his throat.

He was scared.

He knew, now, exactly what he had to do. He knew what he had to do—and he would do it. But...

He was so scared....

He forced a faint smile as he wobbled up to his feet.

“That door told me,” he said. “That...that if I accepted it's power, I would lose the thing most important to me.”

Yuma swallowed again—talking was hard, every sound that came out of his throat forced the tears in his eyes a little closer to the surface.

“For so long I thought it must mean one of you guys,” he mumbled. “But...but the thing that's most important to me is...is my self...it's who I am...my kattobing...”

He quickly rubbed a hand under his nose.

“Yuma, what's wrong? What are you talking about?” Astral said, sounding suddenly nervous.

“I think I lost something of myself along the way already,” Yuma said. He had to keep talking, or he wouldn't be able to talk again. “The me that I like—that's the me that never gives up on anyone, that never leaves anyone behind, and for a minute there, I think—I think I almost sacrificed you, Shark...I don't want to do that...I don't ever want to live in a future that had to be taken from the lives of my friends.”

Nasch's eyes narrowed, but it was more from confusion than ire.

“Yuma,” he said. “What are you on about?”

Yuma rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand. Oh no, oh no, he really was going to cry...he wanted to keep his eyes closed, so he wouldn't have to see the three of them all looking at him. Astral with zir wide, worried golden eyes, Nasch's deep blue confusion, Kotori's hazel uncertainty.

“I guess at the end I just want to make sure I say...uh...thank you...Shark.”

Nasch blinked with surprise, his duel disk arm drooping slightly.

“For what?” he said.

“For taking me seriously. For telling me that you understood. Even though we're on different sides, and even though you've known me as that stupid kid who can't stop trusting everyone, you took me seriously as an opponent and faced me head on....and thank you.”

He shook his head quickly.

“And thank you, Kotori, for—for following me all the way out here, so far away from our home.”

Kotori clutched at her breast—the look in her eyes made him think that maybe somehow she already knew what he was about to do, even though there was no way she could.

Then Yuma slowly, slowly swung his eyes up to Astral, met zir eyes, and remembered the tingly feeling of their minds melding together in Zexal, the rightness of it, the wonderful, chilling feeling of meshing together for a few brief moments at a time.

“And thank you, Astral...for...for fighting alongside me, all this time, even when I was really, really dumb.”

Actual fear sparked in Astral's expression, and Yuma felt his head break. He...he didn't want to make Astral look like that.

“Yuma, what are you talking about? Why are you talking like this?” ze asked, voice trembling.

Yuma licked his suddenly dry lips. The world around them was so...cold, and distant. These floating ruins in the vast depths of space felt so alien. He didn't feel at home. He...he missed Heartland, with all its gaudy colors and glowing lights and its warm homes...

He lifted his hand to his chest, touching softly over his heart.

“The Code is almost done,” he said. “We...we all knew it was gonna come down to this, right...? It wasn't just me?”

Astral jolted. Ze zipped forward, trying to grab for Yuma's shoulder.

“Yuma, no,” ze said frantically. “Once we win—once we obtain all the Numbers—their power should be enough to extract the Code from your soul safely. That's what we're doing. You don't have to—you don't have to act like you're about to die—”

Yuma smiled, but even he could tell it was strained and trembling.

“That's not what the Numbers are for,” he said. “It's not what they were ever for—you know that, right, Astral? Shark? The Numbers aren't just power...they're...”

“They're a blueprint,” Nasch said suddenly, his voice cracking. “Oh—oh gods. Yuma, you're not—”

“I have half of them right now,” Yuma said quickly. “And once I have the other half of the Numbers, the blueprint will be finished, and I'll know—I'll know how the universe is actually supposed to fit together, and I can fix it, and everything will be okay again—”

“Yuma, no,” Nasch said, his voice actually leaping with fear. “Yuma, you're—you're planning on using it, you're planning on—if you do that, if you fix the entire universe like that, you won't even be you, anymore, you can't do this—”

“The Astral and Barian Worlds were never supposed to be separate,” Yuma said. “Maybe that's why I became friends with both of you—isn't that kinda funny? I started on the road to being friends with the both of you on the same day...”

He sucked in a breath.

“I activate the effect of Sylphid Wing—I can change it into one of Utopia's overlay units, and then I use it to negate my Double Up Chance attack.”

“Astral, stop him,” Nasch was shouting. “I can't—if he does that he'll—”

Utopia's attack stopped in midswing, and Nasch might have sworn. Yuma couldn't tell due to the sudden ringing in his ears. He knew before Nasch or Astral made a sound that it was over—he had won. Nasch's card that he had drawn from Draw Reset had to be played, or he would automatically lose...and from the scream in Nasch's voice, whatever he had drawn couldn't react to Yuma's move.

Nasch let out a faint choking sound that might have been a muffled scream.

“I have to activate Glorious Seven,” he said in a choked, angry voice. “I attach the rest of my banished Chaos XYZ Monsters to Barian Hope as overlay units, and increase Barian Hope's attack to 7000—but when the battle phase ends, my life points becomes the change in your life points.”

“My life points didn't change,” Yuma choked.

Nasch's pained eyes looked helplessly at Yuma.

“And mine become zero.”

Yuma closed his eyes.

He felt the Numbers surging towards him before they hit—the pain was intense for a moment, as the cards sank into his skin and melded into the Code trapped in his heart, and he almost screamed. His head was so heavy and thick and dizzy, he could see galaxies swirling in the space behind his eyelids, the entire world vibrated as the Numbers integrated into the Code in his heart, sending him wobbling to his knees.

He heard someone screaming his name. He wasn't sure who—it could have been any of them.

“I'll miss you guys,” he mumbled. “B-bye.”

The Code was completing itself, weaving itself back together—it was fixing the hole left by the tearing apart of Barian and Astral worlds, figuring out how to fix it. Yuma wasn't in the right place, he realized suddenly. He had to...he had to go. He had to follow the map that the Numbers were putting together, so that he could...oh god, it hurt, why did it hurt so much?? He couldn't think, he was being ripped apart—

“Hey...sh...it's okay. I'm here.”

Yuma cracked open his eyes.

There was a hand in front of him—a gentle light surrounded him, and all at once, the pain faded. He felt...calm, and safe...it was kind of like the feeling he remembered from when his mother held him as he fell asleep.

He looked up to find the other end of the hand stretched out to him.

Tenjo Kaito sent Yuma a half smile.

“Hey,” he said. “Long time no see.”

“Kaito,” Yuma breathed. “You're...”

“Dead? Yeah. I might have gotten a little carried away back there.”

He looked different. It was Kaito, but it also...wasn't. He was glowing—or maybe it was the world around him that made it look like he was. Both of them were entirely enveloped in a soft, golden light, that somehow wasn't blinding. But if Yuma looked a little too hard at Kaito, or not hard enough, he thought...maybe it wasn't a person standing in front of him...but something with the hint of wings, the faint swish of a tail, the glint of fangs, the swirling of galaxies for pupils...

He took Kaito's hand, and let him help him up.

“Looks like you did it, though,” Kaito said. “I knew you'd make it.”

Yuma tried to hide the fact that he was sniffling.

“Were you waiting?”

Kaito nodded.

“I'm the dragon of light and time,” he said. “That's why I had to go to the moon. Not just to get Numeron Dragon...but to figure out exactly what I was. So I could lead the Code to the end of the universe.”

Yuma looked down.

“I'm sorry,” he mumbled.

Kaito tilted his head.

“What for?”

“You...you died because of me...so that you could do this...”

Kaito actually chuckled softly. There was something so much lighter about this Kaito than the one that Yuma had known as a human. Dragon Kaito was...he didn't have any weight on his shoulders, Yuma thought. He was free and glowing and full of light.

“I didn't really have to die to become the dragon...I just might have...gotten a bit overzealous.”

He smirked at Yuma, nudging him with his elbow.

“Maybe a certain someone was rubbing off on me.”

Yuma covered his mouth against the unbidden snort. But the brief spurt of mirth faded quickly, and he looked down at his feet again.

“Kaito?”

“Yeah?”

“Is it okay...that I'm...scared....?”

For a moment, Kaito did not respond. Then Yuma felt his hands grip Yuma's shoulders lightly, squeezing.

“Of course it is,” he said. “But that's why I'm here. I'm here to guide you to the point where the world can be fixed. And I'll be there every step of the way.”

“Do you think I can do it?”

“Yuma, you are literally the most ridiculous fucking person I have ever met—if anyone can do it, it's you.”

Yuma looked up quickly, and found that Kaito was actually smiling at him. He found himself smiling faintly back. He wiped at his eyes quickly.

“Okay,” he whispered. “I'm ready to go.”

Kaito clapped him lightly on both shoulders, and then extended hand to him. Yuma took his hand, and then, all at once, they were nowhere. Yuma felt the Code in his chest shifting, clicking together, finding the last stray lines of its program while Kaito dragged them between space and time. Light bent around them, and the part of Yuma that was still human and not Code could not comprehend it, could not understand it enough to put any semblance of words to it.

He could feel the tingle of every single star in the universe—he could sense the space between every galaxy, the whisper of every space between dimensions. He could feel the horrible, torn edges of Astral and Barian worlds like an open wound in his own chest.

It was never supposed to be separate.

For just the briefest moment, he remembered everything. The faces of his friends flashed across his mind—everyone he had lost, everyone who had fought and died to make sure that he made it, made it to the point where he could do this—where he could fix the world. They had no idea...they had never known that he would do this.

Shark and Astral's faces lingered the longest before vanishing. Yuma closed his human eyes, and let the Code take over.

Shark....Astral....Kotori....everyone....thank you so much.

I love you all so much...

I hope...I hope this new world is one where all of you can smile and be happy again.

I'll miss you.

Yuma let out one final gasp, felt Kaito's hand slip away, and then the Code began to turn.

And then Tsukumo Yuma ceased existing.

* * *

Nasch of Barian woke up, not on the warm red ground of Barian World, but on the cool clay stones of....Heartland Park.

He shot straight up—and immediately regretted it when his head spun. He gasped at the sudden rush of bile in his throat. That...that wasn't normal for a Barian...h-hang on...

His vision blurred slightly in and out as he stared at his hand. Pale, soft flesh looked back at him. He tried to put on his Barian armor—it was easy, as easy as breathing.

It didn't happen.

W-what? What was happening? And where was he—

The first thing he saw was Heartland Tower, standing tall and untouched. No hint of the Barian World fusion remained. He...he was on the edge of the park. He could see kids running around with Duel Disks, families walking with strollers, businesspeople in suits rushing past without looking. It...it was too normal for a world that had just recently died...

“Nasch—Shark.”

Nasch jerked his head up to find wide, golden eyes staring down at him. Astral hovered above him looking for all the world like ze had just seen a ghost. Was...was ze crying?

“He's gone,” Astral said, zir voice breaking. “Shark—he's gone.”

For a moment, Nasch had no idea what ze was talking about.

And then he remembered. The light, enveloping Yuma. The world breaking apart around them as the entire universe briefly disintegrated, pulled apart before snapping back together.

“I can feel it, the Astral and Barian Worlds—they reformed,” Astral was saying as Nasch's head spun. “There's only one world now, they came back together. H-he fixed it. H-he actually fixed it but he's...he's...”

Astral couldn't finish the sentence, wobbling in midair as zir voice broke into a faint, moaning keen.

Nasch felt tears bubbling into his own eyes. He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. It wasn't real, right? He was going to open his eyes, and Yuma was going to be grinning down at him. He wouldn't have rebuilt a world where he didn't exist, would he have?

Did he have a choice?

It shouldn't hurt this badly...oh gods, it shouldn't hurt this badly.

He broke down anyway.

Tsukumo Yuma was gone.

#zexalmonth #yuma tsukumo #ryoga kamishiro #nasch #kaito tenjo #astral #kotori mizuki #yugioh zexal #lulu writes

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hazuki-no-yume · 7 years

Note

To shift the topic of my ask, I’d like to know your thoughts on the Vocaloid community as a whole. HNY’s retirement video brought me back to the intriguing Vocaloid decline theory from a while ago. I don’t think Vocaloid has necessarily “declined” but the community has undergone a vast culture change (which HNY suggested(?) in the video). I think now Vocaloid is viewed more like an instrument and medium for creators to share their works. (part 2)

My thoughts? To be quite honest with you, it comes in two flavors.

On one hand, I love the community. It has been the backbone to my growth in more ways than one, always being there for me in times when I needed it to this very day! After so many years it finally clicked to me what exactly Vocaloid was, who producers were, who were the artists, and it became this very nice stream of music and understanding to me. Being able to follow artists rather than blindly waiting for another neat song to pop up, being able to expand my horizons and listen to other Vocaloids outside of the Crypton 6, I love being able to listen and hear vocals and be like “Oh, that’s Avanna!! And that’s IA!!” and like…

The main thing that moves me is that Vocaloid, to me, is this embodiment of hope. It’s this magical, magical thing where the concept is that you can sing even if you don’t have the voice to. It’s this tool that helps artists to paint when they don’t know the colors, you know? It’s such a beautiful thing that unites so many people and creates this, this unity. Even being here now running this blog for the time being, having this influx of people coming in and dropping their opinions and grievances, it’s a reminder that so many people are brought together by this stream of music we hold near and dear. That’s just really the best part of the Vocaloid community to me, that anyone can do anything and that we can all unite and bond over it.

… But then the other side of my opinion isn’t really as kind;; As much as I love the community and what it brings to me, as much as it has saved myself and many others, it’s also really, really sad. It happens whenever someone has a big enough following that fans get really, really possessive. They cling too hard to what people make and in return that shuts down so many people. Wowaka left the community because people overshadowed him and looked towards Miku as the star, I’ve personally seen a fan get witch-hunted over the fact that they asked about how a youtaite using lyrics that weren’t her own, I’ve personally seen Producers at their wits end trying to maintain their mental health and fans still pressure them, “where’s the next update? where’s the next installment? where’s the next song?”. I’ve seen Producers get shafted on their own works!!!! With collaborations!!!! With people saying “oh this is by XYZ!!!” instead of saying XYZ and ABC combined.

I’ve seen so much pain, so much drama, people leaving the community and never looking back due to how toxic it got and due to how needy the fans were. I’m really honest to god scared that one of my favorite Producers will leave the community, and they’re someone I look up to and appreciate so much; their music coupled with PinocchioP’s music was what helped me leave my abusive home. They were the songs I listened to when I was walking from my old apartment to the bank to save my money and to hitch a Uber to a friend’s place before figuring out what the hell was I was supposed to do.

I really made myself sad typing this but like… Yeah. I’m very optimistic and hopeful about the community, it has literally been a second home to me. It has been a solace when nothing else was. But for the years I’ve been in it as a bystander, it’s always been this tangle of toxic on top of people just not crediting things or not understanding what is what.

At the end of the day, we are all people. At the end of the day, Vocaloid lives through us. If we tear at each other like this, more people will leave and then what will be left of us is remnants of what once was. As dramatic as this sounds, Hazuki up and leaving should be a solid picture as to what could be the future if we don’t shape up.

#Anonymous #asks

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real-life-pine-tree · 7 years

Text

Arc-V Aftermath: Celina in Love (7/26)

When all is said and done, things have quickly recovered in the four dimensions. But when weird things start happening, the Yu-Salad Boys and the Bracelet Girls quickly realize they have some loose ends to fix. Co-written with @violetganache42.

WARNING: Dub names will be featured in the story.

"You did that on purpose!"

"So what if I did?! Clearly you slipped up, so I technically won!"

"Oh, look who's talking! Your dragon doesn't even fit in with your overgrown weeds!"

"How dare you call my graceful Predaplants weeds!"

Yuri and Celina sounded like they were arguing about a duel they recently had. Ever since Zuzu's revival, the two have developed this heated rivalry with each other. You would think that Zarc and Ray splitting and the dimensions merging once again would bring new changes to everyone; as it turned out, there were some things that remained the same, and the Fusion duo's rivalry was one of them.

In the midst of yet another argument, Yuri took out Violet Flash from his deck. Celina saw the Spell card and, becoming angrier than she was, yelled at him not to teleport while she "talking" to him. In response, the cabbage-haired Fusion user simply gave her a deadpan expression as he activated his Spell card and teleported away. A frustrated and annoyed sigh escaped her mouth.

"Why do I even bother?" Celina muttered to herself, frustrated at Yuri once more.

Meanwhile, Yugo and Rin have recently become roommates with Crow and Shinji and all are living in an apartment/garage next to a watch shop called Poppo Time. Right now, they were working on a new Duel Runner, with Yugo on the driver's seat and the others checking the laptop to see how well the new engine was running.

"You might want to go easy, Yugo," Crow advised.

"No way!" Yugo happily exclaimed, accelerating even more. "I wanna push this baby to its limits!"

"Crow's right," Shinji said, checking the computer. "There's a slight possibility it might-"

BOOM!

The entire apartment/garage interior and everyone in it were covered in black smoke from the engine overloading. Rin yelled at Yugo for doing something as reckless as that. He was very lucky that it didn't suffer too much damage though; otherwise, they may have ended up buying a new one. For now, they'll just check it and fix any impairments it suffered.

Just then, a bright light unexpectedly appeared, almost blinding everyone in it. The light vanished to reveal Yuri, who had apparently teleported in here in the motorcycle engine's aftermath.

Yugo wasn't happy to see Yuri again. "Oh great," the Synchro Duelist said. "Did you have another fight with Celina?"

"You say that as if it's a bad thing," Yuri remarked. "I simply enjoy getting Miss Celina irritated."

Aside from that, Yuri mentioned about how he technically won a duel against Celina and how she had the nerve to call his Predaplants weeds. Even though he usually gets bored with long arguments, teleporting away is his favorite because it irritates her even more. He even managed to sneakily take her ribbon out of her hair earlier in the week they were separated. At this point, Yugo was starting to get a little fed up with his antics involving Celina.

"For someone who hates Celina, you sure like talking about her a lot," Yugo remarked.

"Almost like you have a crush on her," Shinji added.

"What?!" Yuri asked. "I do not have a crush on Miss Celina!"

"Kinda sounds like you do," Crow pointed out.

Yuri kept denying that he harbors any feelings for Celina and they are just rivals. Rin pointed out how some people who have crushes on someone tend to act harsh around them; in other words, she was telling him that he may be a tsundere. He was backed into a corner on this discussion thanks to her indication. She wasn't wrong about what tsunderes do yet he knows he wasn't in love with Celina. His opinion was final and nothing else was going to change that.

"Are you sure?" Rin asked.

"Of course I am certain!" Yuri insisted.

Rin let out a sigh. "If you insist," she said. "But try recalling what she looked like when you took her hair ribbon."

"Oh, that's easy," Yuri said. "She..." He was unaware of a small blush appearing on his face. "She..."

Yugo, Rin, Crow, and Shinji easily noticed Yuri's blush on his face. She really got him on that one. The Synchro Duelist with Clear Wing's eye color was having some difficulty suppressing his laughter.

"Stop laughing, you moron!" Yuri exclaimed. "It's not my fault Miss Celina looks too pretty with her hair down!"

Yuri instantly covered his mouth with his hands, realizing what he just said. Yugo ended up falling on the floor laughing his butt off while the rest of the Synchro crew had "called it" faces, especially Rin. She even threw out a fist bump to Crow with her left hand. As of now, the Fusion user was at his wit's end and took out his Violet Flash card again to teleport out of the apartment/garage.

"Oh man, that was too funny!" Yugo exclaimed.

Rin smirked in satisfaction. "'Bout time he got some payback for kidnapping me."

Before anyone knew it, the same bright light flashed in front of their eyes as an embarrassed and mad Yuri teleported out of the apartment/garage, leaving the Synchro crew the only ones left. Seeing that they were still covered with some black smoke from the engine mishap, they all decided to wash up before resuming with working on the Duel Runner.

Back with Celina, she was still annoyed about the fight she had with Yuri. She figured she would talk to Lulu to help try and calm down. She took out her Duel Disk and opened up the webcam app to call her, only to find out the XYZ user was at the spa. She was getting a facial, based on the mask on her face with cucumber slices on her closed eyelids, and some robots were giving her a manicure. She even had curlers in her hair and was wearing a robe.

"Uh... Lulu?" Celina asked. "What are you doing?"

"The Kastles invited my family to a grand party tonight," Lulu explained. "The richest people from Heartland are attending, so I have to look my best."

"So how are you holding your Duel Disk?" Celina asked.

"Lillybot is holding it for me," Lulu answered. "I know she's one of the older models, but she's still pretty useful."

"Lillybot?" Celina repeated.

Lulu's Duel Disk turned around to have the webcam briefly aim at Lillybot's face. Celina waved "Hello" at her as Lulu explained that this bot used to be her nursemaid at a young age. The Fusion girl was interested by this information until something struck her mind. Was her XYZ counterpart even at the spa? She immediately asked while the thought was still fresh in her head.

"Where are you?" Celina asked.

"The spa room in the family household," Lulu answered.

This initially shocked Celina, but she shook it off since she should have known Lulu lives with a wealthy family. Celina told her that she wanted to talk to her about Yuri and their most recent argument. She mentioned about the bickering on who made the bigger blunder during a round of Duel Monsters and how he teleported away with his emotionless expression yet again. She admitted that she could honestly care less about where he went off to.

"Normally I would say those are the signs of a crush, but this is Yuri we're talking about," Lulu said. "He's the worst."

"I know," Celina agreed with a groan. "That jerk thinks he knows everything!"

"Not to mention he's as ugly as his personality," Lulu added. "Have you seen his tacky choice of fashion?"

Celina nodded in response to her question. She also noted about the Duel Academy students combined having a better fashion sense than him and Lulu couldn't agree more. If she was going to be honest, this rivalry seemed to be more like an enemyship because most rivals at least know when to tolerate each other. She even confessed that she would rather hang out with Sylvio because he isn't as sociopathic as Yuri despite having the same nobility.

"Oh, really?" Lulu asked, intrigued. "Do tell."

"Sylvio is a pretty decent guy," Celina admitted. "His dueling style is fun to watch and I wouldn't mind facing off against him in a sparring session."

Lulu was pretty excited to hear that. "Sounds like you have a crush on him."

Celina blushed upon thinking about that possibility. "I'm not sure," she replied. "We never really got to spend a lot of time hanging out, but I wouldn't mind getting to know him more."

Lulu smiled wide. "Lillybot, contact Sylvio and tell him to visit the southeast park," she instructed.

"YES MISTRESS LULU," Lillybot replied.

Southeast park? That's where Celina was currently at. She asked Lulu what she was doing and the dark-purple-haired girl responded that she's helping her Fusion counterpart get a chance to connect with him. In other words, a date is being set up for the two. This surprised the indigo-haired girl; she never thought about going on a date with Sylvio. After Lillybot made the contact, she said he'll be heading to the southeast park in about 15 minutes. Still smiling, Lulu thanked the robot and reminded Celina to get herself ready—nothing too fancy, just brushing her hair and a few touch-ups. She wished her good luck before the two girls ended the webcam conversation. Here's to taking a breather from Yuri, Celina thought.

Meanwhile, Yuri had teleported in front of a random restaurant, still humiliated and angry about what happened back at the apartment/garage. It wasn't his fault he likes Celina having her hair down. Besides, people can like someone without having romantic feelings for them, right? …Right? A few minutes later, he encountered Sora walking by with a cherry lollipop in his mouth.

"Hiya Yuri," Sora said. "What's up?"

"Do you mind?!" Yuri snapped. "I'm not in the mood to talk!"

"Yeah right," Sora said. "You're clearly upset about something."

"Those Synchro Duelists humiliated me!" Yuri ranted. "How dare they accuse me of having romantic feelings for Miss Celina!"

"Do you?" Sora asked.

"Of course I don't!" Yuri exclaimed. "But it's not my fault she has beautiful hair!"

This was very weird. Everyone knows Yuya, Yuto, and Yugo harbored feelings for Zuzu, Lulu, and Rin. Why on earth would a group of Synchro Duelists believe Yuri had a crush on Celina? It's not like they assumed he does have one because you know everyone says about "assume"… Never mind about that; what really matters is Sora may have an idea on how to cheer his Fusion friend up.

Sora proceeded to take out his Duel Disk and started typing. "What are you doing?" Yuri asked.

"Sending Dennis a text to meet me at Card Craze," Sora answered, referring to a local card store that originated in Domino City. "You're welcome to come."

"No thank you," Yuri said.

"Are you sure?" Sora asked. "There's a new booster set featuring Fusion cards."

This appealed Yuri a little. As a Fusion user, it never hurts to find the right monsters that correspond with their Fusion monster, whether it is special summoned with Polymerization, Super Polymerization, or any other Spell cards effects like Fusion Gate. He also had occasional thoughts about finding other cards to come up with new strategies that work with his Predaplants, maybe even trying to get new Predaplants to include in his deck.

"Fusion cards?" Yuri asked.

"Yeah," Sora innocently answered. "I'm hoping to pick up some Fluffal or Frightfur monsters, but there's a possibility that the set could include some new Predaplants."

What do you know? Great minds do think alike. Yuri depicted which Predaplants were available at Card Craze, and after checking his deck, he may have figured out which ones he hasn't gotten yet.

"Very well," Yuri said. "I accept your offer."

"That's the spirit!" Sora cheered. "Hopefully there are still some booster packs left for sale."

Sora and Yuri then headed down the street to head to the card shop and meet Dennis there. It never hurts to spend some male quality time, so maybe that's what Yuri may need: hanging out with his Obelisk friends for a few hours.

Back at the southeast park, Celina had finished getting ready for her date with Sylvio. With a little over five minutes left, she walked towards the park entrance to wait for him. As she stood there, she tried to relax about the argument from earlier today. Yuri was always thinking highly of his cards, and not every blunder was done on accident; even if she did slip up, he was the one who set her up like that on purpose. It was executed rather well, but it still doesn't change the fact that everything he does annoys her. Seeing it was for his own amusement, it was working. He was constantly winning at these emotional games, trying to find the right buttons to push. She sighed and figured spending some time with Sylvio can relieve any stress she has.

Before long, she spotted a figure walking down the sidewalk. Speak of the devil; it was Sylvio. Based on the time it was, it was safe to say he arrived on time. "Celina," the Dueltainer said. "What a surprise to see you."

Celina smiled a bit, happy to see a friend again. "I know," she said. "We haven't spoke to each other for a while."

"And yet so much has happened to us," Sylvio said. "How are things going for you?"

"Pretty alright," Celina answered. "I'm glad to have my body back. While I didn't mind having someone to talk to, I didn't like being forced to spend time with Yuri."

"I can't blame you," Sylvio said. "He did unintentionally help destroy the dimensions."

"I really needed a break from him," Celina said. "He's been on my nerves for a while. Every time he duels, he deliberately acts annoying!" She let out a sigh. "Sometimes I wonder if he does that on purpose."

"Well I know what might cheer you up," Sylvio said. He proceeded to activate his Duel Disk.

"You want to duel me?" Celina asked.

"Certainly," Sylvio replied. "My dueling style is all about entertaining the crowd. And who knows? Maybe I'll entertain you as well."

Celina took out and activated her Duel Disk as well. With fierce determination in her eyes and a smirking mouth, she was ready to duel against Sylvio. It was nice to finally take a breather from Yuri and bond with not only a member of the Lancers but a friend as well. With the shout of "Let's duel!" from the two, the duel had begun.

After an unseen coin toss, Sylvio was given the honor of deciding who went first. "Ladies first," he simply said.

"Very well," Celina said. She checked her starting hand. "I'll start things off by setting the Pendulum Scale with Lunalight Wolf and Lunalight Tiger!"

With Celina's Scale 1 Lunalight Wolf and Scale 5 Lunalight Tiger set, she can now summon any monsters between Levels 2 and 4, which she did by Pendulum Summoning the Lunalights Black Sheep, Purple Butterfly, and White Rabbit.

"I see," Sylvio said. "You're mixing things up."

"Indeed I am," Celina said. She set a card face down. "But don't worry. You'll see Cat Dancer later on."

Elsewhere, Yuri and Sora were both nearby Card Craze. The candy-loving teen directed his cabbage-haired friend to follow him around the corner; the card shop was only a few buildings away from the street corner. He changed his directions to turn right at said street corner and the two ended up reaching their destination. To their surprise, Dennis also showed up by going a different way. It only delayed him by a few seconds, but it didn't matter.

"Yuri?" Dennis asked. "You came too?"

"I needed a break from Miss Celina and Sora bribed me with the possibility of getting new Predaplants," Yuri explained.

"So Sora told you about the new booster set," Dennis concluded.

"Yep!" Sora cheerfully said. "You interested in it too?"

"Not today," Dennis replied. "I'm actually thinking about switching decks. The Performage cards aren't really my thing."

"True," Yuri agreed. "XYZ is not a good fit for you."

Fortunately, the Card Craze employees are skillful at choosing an archetype based on a Duelist's personality, ideals, and which special summoning technique they're experts at. This greatly comes in handy when the customer wants to exchange their old deck in favor of a new one. The Fusion trio walked through the shop's double doors to see how busy it is. So many people were heavily invested in getting the new booster set.

"Wow!" Sora exclaimed. "There's still a lot of booster packs on sale!"

"I'm not sure if we could afford a lot," Yuri said.

"Relax," Sora said, taking out his Duel Academy student points card. "Cards are on me. Take as much as you want."

Dennis brought his Performage deck to Customer Service for exchanging. Not long after that, one of the employees scrolled through a list of archetypes on the computer, examining each one to conclude which one is a best fit for him. They eventually settled on Shaddolls, an archetype primarily consisting of DARK monsters—having searching and field advantaging Flip effects and advantage regaining second effects after being sent to the Graveyard—that center around the special summon restricting/punishing El Shaddoll monsters.

As for Yuri, he was having a hard time figuring out where the Predaplants would be, especially since how crowded the place is. Another employee assisted him in maneuvering through the crowd and brought him over to one of the booster sets. He asked the cabbage-haired teen to show him what kind of cards he does have based on the archetype. After some thorough searching, he gave him a booster pack that contained the Predaplants he doesn't have. Yuri looked to see Sora getting some booster packs as well. The only difference is he was having an easier time handling the crowd.

Several minutes later, after the cards were paid for, the trio were walking down the street, checking out what they have purchased.

"Frightfur Wolf..." Sora read. He checked the card's stats. "Not bad. This should give the Obsidians a run for their money."

"Well I'm happy with my new deck," Dennis said. "These Shaddoll monsters are a better fit for a Fusion Duelist such as myself."

"What did you get Yuri?" Sora asked.

Yuri opened his booster pack, checking the cards he got. "Let's see..." he said. "Predaplanet, Mark of the Rose, Miracle Fertilizer, Battle Fusion..."

As Yuri was skimming through, he stopped at a card that he couldn't take his eyes off. It was a Fusion monster called Predaplant Chimerafflesia; not only were its stats very useful, the card's illustration was what really piqued his interests. He became extremely happy that he pulled out a "beautiful" creature from the booster pack. No doubt Chimerafflesia would make a nice addition to his deck.

"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed, peaking up to see the card. "That's a secret rare! Nice pull!"

"But look at the artwork!" Yuri praised. "I have never seen such a finer specimen! A fine addition to my lovely Predaplants!"

"Why do you like Predaplants?" Dennis asked. "We have been friends for years, yet you never explained why you like those particular cards."

"Because no one else wanted to duel with them," Yuri explained. "Whenever the other students bought booster packs, any Predaplants they received were thrown into garbage cans. But I was able to see the beauty in them, so I retrieved every Predaplant that was discarded and constructed a deck with them. It just happened to be coincidental that Starving Venom works so well with them."

But deep down, he knew the true reason why. As a kid, no one at Duel Academy wanted to duel him because of how powerful he was. They feared him so much that he was left alone, from stepping aside to not approaching him, but he didn't mind. He enjoyed defeating his opponents, but his skills and talents resulted in him not having any friends before meeting Leo, Sora, and Dennis. To Yuri, his Predaplants were his first friends because they were regarded as outcasts by society and he saw the beauty and strength the cards and the cabbage-haired Fusion user respectively had in each other, which was why their chemistry proved essential during the Interdimensional War.

After a few seconds of silence, Yuri cleared his throat. "So, shall we see if Leo can let us test our new cards?" he suggested, wiping away any possible tears on his face. "This Mark of the Rose Spell card seems fitting for my dueling style."

"Certainly, Yuri," Dennis agreed.

"Alright!" Sora cheered. "To Duel Academy!"

While Yuri, Dennis, and Sora went off to visit Duel Academy, Sylvio and Celina's duel was about to reach its end. "Not bad, Sylvio," Celina remarked. "But let's see how you'll do once I beef up Lunalight Panther Dance with Crimson Fox and Kaleido Chick!"

Celina activated Polymerization from her hand, allowing her to fuse Lunalight Panther Dancer with Crimson Fox and Kaleido Chick to Fusion Summon Lunalight Leo Dancer. Suddenly, her En Moons marking started glowing on her forehead, in which Sylvio noticed.

"Again...?" Sylvio mused to himself.

"What?" Celina asked.

"Nothing!" Sylvio lied. "Carry on!"

"Alright," Celina said. "By equipping the Spell card Mystical Moon to Leo Dancer, her attack points increase by 300, allowing me to destroy your Superstar and ending this duel!"

With an increased ATK of 3800, Leo Dancer attacked and destroyed Abyss Actor - Superstar, bringing Sylvio's LP to 0. At the same time, Celina's marking stopped glowing once the duel concluded.

"What a wonderful duel, Celina," Sylvio said, approaching the Fusion Duelist. "But I couldn't help but notice your forehead glowing whenever you fused your monsters."

"My forehead...?" Celina asked.

"Yes," Sylvio said. He proceeded to move Celina's bangs aside, revealing her marking. "What's this?"

"Oh, that?" Celina asked, referring to her marking. "I got it after Ray was separated the second time. Leo said it's based on the symbol of En Moons, the Natural Energy Card that 'created' me."

"How interesting," Sylvio remarked, his hand slowly moving from Celina's forehead to her cheek. "And it seems to glow whenever you Fusion Summon."

Sylvio was right; since En Moons "created" Ray's Fusion reincarnation, it would make sense for her marking to glow when she Fusion Summons a monster. Seeing how the Natural Energy Card ends with "Moons", it also means the glow only happens when she uses the Lunalights archetype. Does that also apply with Zuzu, Lulu, and Rin when they perform their respective special summons with their archetypes?

Celina was going to have to answer these questions for later because she couldn't help but blush as Sylvio caressed her cheek. There was something about him that she couldn't stop thinking about; he had a similar nobility-like personality as Yuri, but he generally acted more gentlemanly and charming based on his looks and mannerisms. She became convinced that she may have started developing a crush on him.

"Sylvio..." Celina said, still blushing. "Would you like to eat lunch with me?"

"Hmm?" Sylvio questioned.

"I want to discuss dueling styles with you," Celina explained. "Maybe you could be a better rival than Yuri."

"Certainly," Sylvio answered. "I do hate seeing such amazing dueling talents from a beautiful girl go to waste." As he said that last line, he carefully untied Celina's hair ribbon and placed it in her hands.

A realization popped up in her head almost as fast as—if not, faster than—when she developed her first crush. She may have found a good match in Sylvio. Yuri was never this kind to her and their constant bickering was a sign that they would most likely try to strangle each other. As for Sylvio, he seemed nicer and was interested in cherishing their dueling rivalry. With this in her mind, the two left the southeast park to look for a restaurant to have lunch.

Meanwhile, the Obelisk trio were at Duel Academy testing out their new cards. Leo had given them permission to do so after hearing about the Card Craze booster set sale that was going on. At the moment, they were currently dueling out in the schoolyard in a Battle Royale style.

"Go Frightfur Wolf!" Sora exclaimed. "Tackle that flower!"

"I activate Mark of the Rose!" Yuri replied. "By Banishing Predaplant Flytrap from my Graveyard, I shall take control of Frightfur Wolf, protecting my darling Chimerafflesia from harm!"

"And I chain that with the Trap card Shaddoll Core to protect my life points and allow me to Fusion Summon a new monster during my next turn!" Dennis added.

The three were all having fun dueling each other. Even back then when they were still enrolled in Duel Academy, they had Battle Royales with each other and reveled in the entertainment they brought to one another. Now here they are, in the newly-revived Original Dimension, having an enjoyable duel with each other at the school they all attended. It was just like the old days.

"I see you're having fun as always."

The three former Obelisk Force soldiers noticed Leo had arrived. "Professor Akaba!" Dennis exclaimed. "What is it?"

"I couldn't help but notice how in-sync your dueling is among yourselves," Leo said. "Maybe your skills would work better in a team."

"A team?" Sora repeated. "I don't think that's tournament-legal."

"Until now," Leo continued. "I just got off the phone with Declan. He informed me that after speaking to the Vanguard Association, he decided to host a Team Duel Tournament in a few weeks."

"Vanguard?" Yuri repeated in disgust. "You mean that cheap Duel Monsters rip-off?"

The Vanguard Association is a company that's best known for the Cardfight Vanguard card game. The people who play said game are called Cardfighters. They have a heated rivalry with Duelists about which card game is better: Vanguard or Duel Monsters. Yuri calling Vanguard a rip-off is understandable because Duelists believe it is mimicking the Duel Monsters playing style and Cardfighters are being delusional due to them claiming Cray (the planet that’s featured in the franchise lore) is a real place. On the other hand, Cardfighters claim that the Duelists are uncivilized due to having a lot of cards other than basic monsters. All things considered, why the H-E double hockey sticks would Declan host a Team Duel Tournament after talking to Vanguard Association? Are the companies going to co-host this upcoming event?

Sora let out a groan. "Why would Declan talk to those delusional people?" he asked in disdain. "Did they manage to convince him that their pretend planet is real?"

"Not exactly," Leo explained. "While the Vanguard Association is rather insane with their ideals, their tournaments are for teams of three people. After learning that this format is to promote trust and teamwork, Declan thought that might be a good thing to help restore trust among Duelists after the Interdimensional War."

This actually left Yuri, Sora, and Dennis somewhat flabbergasted. Usually, when it comes to teaming up, the duels are either done in a tag team or a Battle Royale, but Team Duels were generally illegal in tournaments up until now. But of all the people Declan spoke to, it had to be with the CEO of Vanguard Association. Still, it was a reasonably nice decision of him to make Team Duels tournament-legal, and seeing how well the three worked together and had fun over the years, this could be their big chance to utilize it in a few weeks.

Yuri smirked. "Are you suggesting that the three of us should register under a team?" he asked.

"Certainly," Leo answered. "You were the best Obelisk Force soldiers."

"Count me in!" Sora cheered.

"I don't approve of Declan getting the idea from those Vanguard people, but I do like the idea of working together with my friends," Dennis said.

"I can already tell this was an excellent idea," Yuri happily said.

With this in mind, the Obelisk trio eagerly agreed with Leo's suggestion to register for the first ever Team Duel Tournament. Despite the new change being inspired by a rival card game, they all knew this was going to be a great change for not only them, but for the other Duelists as well. Three different decks will mean a whole new variety of strategies for Dennis, Sora, and Yuri.

#Arc V Aftermath #yugioh arc v #Yuya Sakaki #Zuzu Boyle #Yuzu Hiragi #FruitShipping #Yuto (arc v)#Lulu Obsidian #Ruri Kurosaki #FallenAngelShipping #Yugo (arc v)#Rin (arc v)#AppleShipping #Yuri (arc v)#Celina (arc v)#Serena (arc v)#PredatorShipping

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tintguidepage · 4 years

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Window Tinting for your Home | Luxury Realtor Corrie Sommers talks with Smart Sun Control.

Hey everybody it is me Corrie Sommers your local Los Angeles LUXURY REALTOR Today I am here at smart Sun control with one of the owners Sabrina and we're going to talk about their business and what they do to help protect your car and what options you have

Stay tuned if you haven't already SUBSCRIBED to my youtube channel go ahead and click that SUBSCRIBE button below, as well as the bell for updates We'll be right back everybody So today, I am here at SMART SUN CONTROL with Sabrina, one of the owners and smart Sun control focuses on window tinting both for vehicles as well as property correct That's correct so we provide window tinting for cars and also for homes and businesses Okay and in what circumstance would someone maybe want their windows tinted in their home? So a lot of her customers are not really familiar that you can get your windows tinted at home and that will help you to reduce the heat

It can also help you to protect your furniture from fading as well In an office, it provides you comfort because you can also reduce the glare, so your employees can work better and we'll have a better environment Okay and every now and then I show a house where I can tell that there's some kind of film on the windows when you step outside and look in it looks a little bit darker Is that true of most of your products? Do they kind of put a coat? There's it's true – there was some reflective tints once I look a little bit, noticed 3M has a really good product, that is a non-metal eyes film therefore it's a non-reflective so you can take your windows without changing the appearance of the window ok so that would offer like you just suggested some protection some reduce the cost of like cooling and that sort of thing because the way exactly Zoe's air-conditioned it will work better because you're gonna be cutting to heat before he gets inside a house ok and with that is that something that you guys suggest only when windows are new or just for any homeowner at any time any homeowner in fact it works really afraid when you have I would say old windows because those are not double pane windows so when you have double pane windows meaning two glass that helps to reduce the heat by all windows are usually just one glass so you need something that will help to reduce signals very interesting ok what makes you open the business here in NZ no we live in the area and we really like the area so we thought why not help being or neighbors with the product fantastic and what made you get into window tinting that's it's not something you know like it seems very especially when we're talking about cars very masculine and how did you get involved actually my partner's started the business and I parted out with him I used to work in insurance actually but I practice in front of me and I'm like why not give it a try and also will bring more female customers to us and they will feel more comfortable talking to a woman then media men okay so here's a question for you what is one of your top selling products when it comes to window tinting at the moment we've been doing a lot of safety and security film which is basically a protection that you add on the window will help it to the tear break ends especially nowadays have been so many freaking is in the area it's a good option to add more protection to your house and how does does it have the protection are you not able to really see it so it's a completely clear film okay there are also some options where you can add protection and some tinting so we get both benefits but if you still want to do some safety film it's just a completely clear one you can even tell that it's in the window okay oh and what it would do will help you to to tear the break in someone's trying to break in it's gonna take more time to go through the window gotcha so kind of like protects the glass yes it will make it harder to break through okay well thank you you could add on these up to I will say five minutes so if you have an alarm system in your house it works fantastic yeah an alarm or a dog you know I know it's fine five minutes is a long time when someone's trying to do something like that because right now they do if you have an alarm system in your house they steal get in they break through to get in and then they take whatever they can and then they leave but if you have us safety and security filming your windows it's gonna take them how'd you get four there's also been looking ball and so maybe by that time if you have ring or some other kind of security system you're seeing that there's someone trying to break in you can call the police and you can have exciting you know mitigating okay and then I'm gonna have to ask this because we were talking about this earlier when it comes to cars you guys also do some tinting like cars yes we do okay we also offer 3m and 3m it's fantastic film it has one of the most comprehensive warranties in the market and we're a 3m Padres dealer and certified installers as well okay now you mentioned you live in the area which is how you guys pick this location when you're working where do you like to go for lunch is there any more particular actually there is there is a really nice restaurant on the street it's called CeCe's girlfriend okay and it's the food is fantastic cafe so if you're in the area you're coming by to talk about getting the windows of your home or your commercial building or maybe you've got a new vehicle and you're like hey I don't have to go way out to XYZ or the dealership or whatever you've got someone here local come on in and then grab some lunch yeah mister I really want to thank you for with me today and in the background everyone kind of said this is some of the different ranges of tints yes so we have the colors manga series ceramic art increasingly crystalline series is to talk to you right now it's one of the latest technologies in window film where you can have a really light film and it will reduce a SEMA one of he doesn't dark tint so you don't have to go down so Chris I mean seriously it's a very live film that will give you the same protection that a dark tan will give you but you don't have to go dark nor did you get a benefit there also recommended by the Skin Cancer Foundation because they do reduce 99% of the evening grace and I think that's important because here in Southern California we get so much sunshine which is amazing and why most of us live here right but sometimes I remember there was a study of people driving and that had like their arm out the window and how much this light got so much more sun damage and it made me think well I do tents on my windows but not the windshield or they do it just at that little bit of top but if you can do a clear coat that's gonna protect it from UV exactly so my like a no-brainer um well in the state of California it's illegal to put any window film on your windshield not unless you do the vises trick but having this completely clear film it is a good option to do because they will help you to reduce 99% of the UV rays and 90% of it infrared so not other you're gonna get the UV protection are you also gonna get some of the heat reduction as well so hey if you're not ready to get something done on your home or your commercial building but you're concerned about it sun exposure and the damage it can do to your skin you need to talk to them absolutely so all of smarts and controls informations below sabrina is amazing and she'll be able to help you walk you through the process get you scheduled up give you a quote and again thank you so much for today I really appreciate your coming absolutely so everybody one last thing if you haven't subscribed to my youtube channel go ahead and click that subscribe button below as well as the belfry updates and we'll get back to you again next week with more all of Sabrina's informations below and smart Sun control come on by

The post Window Tinting for your Home | Luxury Realtor Corrie Sommers talks with Smart Sun Control. appeared first on tintguide.

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lawrenceseitz22 · 6 years

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

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

Announcement

Adam: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Anyways, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. We got some really good announcements, as well as diving into the questions. And thank you, first of all for watching. But first, we’re going to take a minute Say hello to the guys and then we’ll dive into it. Chris, you want to kick us off?

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Hernan: I was trying to upload storage and Instagram but that didn’t work. So if you guys are doing any Facebook ads, raise your hands. And if you are, everything is down. So yeah I’m gonna just, you know go hide somewhere because everything is down. I know the end or something.

But you know, other than that – good, good. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited about what’s coming up. Be three again what’s a big successful. I really appreciate all of you guys that go to help support some for the semantic mastery group. So outstanding.

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Marco: I gotta miss your secret. It has never been easier to rank and make money online than it is right now. Google has so many people convinced that it’s so difficult that people just simply won’t put in the work to do the SEO correctly. And by correctly I don’t mean you know as had SEO doesn’t work for me. I manipulate, manipulated as much as I can. But that’s what they don’t want you to do because they know it works. So that’s a secret what Google is telling you not to do it for a reason. And it usually works really well when you can get around all of the barriers that they put up. But guys and ladies, it has never been any easier. Listen to me and I’ve been at this for more than 15 years now, it has never been easier to make money online and it has never been easier to rank online. Remember that. I said it.

Adam: trademark. Marco 2019. Copyright. Awesome. Bradley. How are you doing man?

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Well, hey, everybody wanted to say again, thanks for checking out Hump Day hangouts. If you’re new and watching us thanks. And we’re normally not quite this weird, although kind of borderline. And we appreciate you watching if you catch the replay, that’s cool too. We love it if you’re watching on YouTube or wherever you’re watching these clips. And if you’re wondering where to get started with semantic mastery, this is the place to be you can come to semantic mastery.com slash HD. Questions every week if you’re early or late because you’ve got a meeting and got a client call or your work whatever it is, you can ask your questions on the page and we answered them in the order they came in. So you can always check out the replay as well but we love having people live case only there’s good reasons to be here some fun stuff some giveaway stuff like that and then after that definitely check out the battle plan we just released version 3. Bradley you shaking your head up should people not get the battle plan?

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Adam: I was like, hey what the hell man. Yeah, so grab the battle plan. go to battle plan dot semantic mastery. Com and get started there and make Bradley go like this instead of like that. So that’ll happen if you get the battle plan and we want to make Bradley happy so do it after that join the mastermind if you’re looking for a way to grow or start your local digital marketing agency the mastermind is the place to be on top of everything else you get in there you get a closer access to us to answer questions you can ask stuff Bradley Marco me, Hernan, Chris whatever you need and we’ll get back to you You can find out more about that as long as long as in addition to all the awesome stuff you get at mastermind dot semantic mastery. com and then for everybody if you’re looking for done for you services done to the highest standards go to empty why b dot SEO actually we’ve got a sale going on right now we got a really short term sale we extended a little bit this time there’s a little bit of confusion that we’re working with the new system so you can still save 25% off on our wireless drive stacks and I’m going to put all that information on the page you got 24 hours

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

Hernan: Where we were saying that there was like four more services being added. That’s pretty cool. Adam: Yeah, we got link building, which I believe will be out by the end of this week. If we push it, hopefully, things get done there. And then the mastermind members, right, Bradley or the mastermind members can get to test something. First. Is that public knowledge? are we keeping quiet on that?

Bradley: Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it. We’re going to, we’re actually going to be launching the Off-page GMB SEO service. So essentially, our team will build all of the off page assets that we teach on the GMB Local Lease Pro method essentially, and we’re going to be obviously launching that to the MasterMind First, we always do and making sure that you know, get the delivery and fulfillment everything worked out well, and then we’ll launch it publicly. So you know, it’ll be several weeks before you guys can see it Mr. In the mastermind, which in that case, it’s very likely that will be available next week.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, we’ll put that stuff on the page for people who are here live, especially. So you can go take advantage of the ROI Sal, grab the Battle Plan or join the mastermind. And while you’re at it, hit up the YouTube channel or if you’re watching the replay, go ahead and click subscribe. And if you come across our clips, we’ve got tons of clips, answering questions, webinars, all sorts of stuff. If you find one that would be helpful to someone, you know if it’s going to solve their problem. If it’s going to help them on the right path, please forward it over to them. You know you don’t gotta tell them to subscribe. We just help them out, help bring them into, you know, let them know about semantic mastery and how we can help them and get them to the hump day hangouts here. We love getting questions from people and helping people out and if we can’t ever answer the question, we’re just going to point you in the right direction. So kind of pay it forward and please share any of the clips of the videos you find helpful with that said, I think That’s about it. Guys. we dive into it?

Bradley: I’m ready. Any objections? Speak or forever hold your peace. Let me grab the screen. Let’s do it. I haven’t grabbed the screen button. Hold on. It’s like, it’s my first time. All right, we’re gonna jump. Not a lot of questions. So you guys better get to ask him. Or we’re going to start singing show tunes and shit. I don’t think you want that. Alright, so Alex is up. I kind of replied to him even six days ago, because it’s funny when we close down the hump day Hangouts. And then like an hour later, we get more questions. I feel obligated to answer them because it’s like, otherwise, you gotta wait. That person’s got to wait seven days. So don’t get in the habit of posting on the, you know, the day of the Hangout after the Hangouts over because I’m not always going to be able to answer them.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Anyways, that said, Alex had a pretty good question guys. And I’m going to kind of run through this it says. Hey guys, I have a brand new lead gen WordPress properties calling it XYZ company. For this example, I have made the mistake to not use a calling center. And the confusion happening eight to 10 times is insane. The contractor has an answering service as well, which of course only says their own name. when the phone rings, the color might ask three to four times is this XYZ company? And they reply No, you made a mistake. We are ABC. The problem is, even if I solve the problem with the calling center, my client, the contractor still has a problem with the confusion that occurs when they arrive at the job site. And they see something different than the website or even when he calls back mentioned this company. And then the question arises, why is it different, etc, playing the game that he is, indeed, XYZ company while he owns another big company in line to his clients is not viable. Yeah, you never ever, ever recommend that you mislead anybody? Or that your client or your service provider, in this case, mislead anybody yet? Why would you encourage you don’t incur it, and that’s what he’s saying. It’s not viable. So that’s not what Alex is doing. But I’m telling everybody else. Don’t ever do that, right. You don’t ever want to try to mislead people or have your comment or ask anybody to mislead people? Which would be your contractor in this case, would you recommend to use their name inside the website as partners just give a hint to who is going to be on the phone? And the contractor calls back and of course, to know who is going to come to the job. And so you can see, I replied and never attempt to mislead the caller asked the call center or contractor to mislead, what you can do is have your call center if you have one answer with ABC, formerly XYZ. So in other words, you can say or another version of that is XYZ is under new management by ABC, or you can say thank you for calling XYZ part of the are part of our use. Excuse me, thank you for calling ABC, which would be the company the actual contractor that’s going to go to the job and say, part of the XYZ marketing group or something like that. Does that make sense? Here’s the thing guys. When I first got started in this business, that is exactly the issue that I started I ran into was I would have my generic branded websites. In Google Maps listings at the time, because I would do both and for example I would always just use the city name plus Tree Service so let’s just use Culpeper tree services and example the listing would show on the website would show called laboratory service but then whatever the company’s name was that would actually go show up at the you know, I would send them to lead information but they would go show up at the house because I never sent the calls directly to the contractor I would have them go to a call center like I learned that really early on and so I always had a call center setup but the call center would answer like Culpeper Tree Service How may I help you they would take the lead information and send it out to the contractor the Tree Service contractor within show up at the job but their truck and their lettering and you know that their shirts everything would have completely different branding and that would cause confusion and I remember contract is calling me and asking me well what do i do and at the time I didn’t really have a good answer but I learned over time you know kind of rather quickly that the best thing to do is just either rebrand the site essentially for them, which you can do if you have a decent relationship with the contractor and and with a Google My Business profile or a maps listing, what you can do is if you’re worried about actually rebranding, renaming it which I wouldn’t be if you have a good relationship but it can cause a bit of a pain in the ass if you decide that you have to replace the contractor with somebody else. But what you can do is actually put that change the logo image to the contractors logo and the profile like the main you know, banner, the main profile, not just the the, the profile image but the, you know, the the header banner, excuse me, which could also be the the image on the GMB website if you’re just using Jambi assets and then on the website itself, I would always rebrand the website for the contractor so that I wouldn’t have to update my NAP essentially but I would still have the contractors information on there but with the current with the call center what I would do is I would end up saying have the call center say you know, this is

Joe’s Tree Service formerly called pepper Tree Service, or part of the call preparatory service marketing group or something like that, right? So that it would be very clear to the color right off the bat.

If the call I would say, Well, I thought it was calling card Tree Service. Oh, yeah. That I would tell the contractor when they’d say, Well, I thought I’d call contractor or treating Cole pepper Tree Service, I would tell the contractors tell him Hey, it’s a marketing website that we use for generating leads and it hadn’t been rebranded to our name yet and that’s that way you’re not misleading anybody they’re telling the truth. And so again, if you’re using a call center or in this case, he says that he should be which I totally agree I’ve said that many, many times. Guys, your best bet is to use a call center period gives you a lot more control it’s a more of an exclusive service that way you know it is a lot of benefits to using a call center but that’s what I do. So for example, I just had to fire a handyman for some assets that I had built for him, but that’s what you know, we would say thank you for calling. Home pros or whatever.

Now. Now under new management by and in the hand, we’ve mentioned the new net, manage the new handy man’s name, excuse me. And so it was very clear to the color that what they call it online was still the correct so from the number that they call it online, they went on I did a search they found a company they call that company and now that companies either under new management or part of a marketing group or something like that, does that make sense? It’s a very simple way to get to make it clear to the caller that they are indeed getting their phone is being answered by the person that’s going to come out and provide them with an estimate or service you know, provide them with the service that makes sense. So that’s essentially what I told him. It’s just to do that if you have a longer term relationship with a particular contractor that is proven or service provider doesn’t have to be a contractor, right, but has proven to be a good partnership, because that’s the way I look at these when I deal with service providers, then I don’t mind even setting up new assets under that brand, I still control them. I don’t give them access to that to it. But I could, I don’t mind setting them up under their brand, it’s going to be my phone numbers, my web assets or everything, so that in the event that it goes south, then I can always go in and update all that stuff.

So I don’t mind actually going in and setting them up branded for the contractor right off the bat. As long as I’ve already established a good relationship, you guys, that’s where it’s critically important guys that to deal with service providers when you’re selling leads that you can build a long term relationship with because you’re going to have a much better business, it’s going to be more stable and you’re going to have a much better time just managing it right? It’ll be easier to manage.

So that’s why I recommend said that over and over and over again. I even said it in the training. If you’re starting out, you’re going to have to establish that relationship first. And this is the workaround until you have established that relationship, once you have established that relationship, and don’t be afraid to rebrand for that particular Service Provider. It just makes everything easier for you to manage going forward as well as you know it will make your content your service provider happier too because it’ll be their name out there on the web and tell them unless they do something stupid and you have to go rebranded again but since you maintain control of the assets that shouldn’t be an issue right? It’s not something you want to do by the way is switch service providers often guys it’s a pain in the ass don’t do that it because it only makes it harder on you so that’s why I said it’s important to try to fight now initially as I said, you might have to sift through you know several pieces of garbage to find a good one and that happens. Like I just mentioned I had to fire a handyman that I built some and assets for because he turned out to be a piece of garbage literally, okay? But it happens from time to time and that’s why I didn’t I had set up his original handyman service provider maps listing under his name but all the other ones that I had set up in, you know, in the adjacent areas were all branded under a generic brand name.

It was for a reason because I said to him I’m not going to brand news for you until we’ve established a good relationship and guess what within six weeks I realized that he was a piece of shit and so I sent I set up his original branded account and didn’t give him access to it I literally shut his branded account down it’s gone like it’s gone. You can’t even pull it up and maps anymore but I kept all the generic ones that I had set up and they were all still under the generic name because he hadn’t proven himself to me yet which was great for me because I didn’t have to go in and try to rebrand them again within six weeks. So that makes sense so again guys there’s there are ways to deal with this and that’s a great way and that’s part of the reason why I prefer using a call center there’s just a number of benefits for using a got a call center guys, all right? I was a good question though Alex.

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Robert says, is Bulkvpa.com still a viable source from PVA accounts? You know, I’ve told you this can because I know you asked this in Syndication Academy, I think. It is Facebook group and I answered you there but I’ll answer it for everybody else’s benefit I’ve had mixed results the last couple times I’ve purchased accounts from them as well as any provider for that matter we are it’s it’s hard to find good email accounts now because they if they’re not set up properly then they will get triggered or flagged very easily no matter what you do with them and that’s one of the issues we’ve run into we’ve talked about you know internally we’ve talked about providing that as a service ourselves because we have VA that actually create the accounts manually in phone verify them and all that for like syndication networks for example, but it’s, it’s it really is kind of a pain in the ass and it would be hard to be profitable especially if people are ordering a ton of accounts. And that’s not something that we want to focus on. So that’s, you know, we’re having the same trouble is like when I’ve got when I need a set of accounts, it’s difficult for me to get them as well so you’re not alone in that can I would say use it your own risk.

You know, I can’t speak for them except that I have had mixed results with every provider that I’ve tried in the last, you know, several months. It’s been like that for months actually. So, anybody wants to comment on any of these?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Okay. So cannot says up again. He says, If I’m creating a service based GMB where they only go to the customer know the store. Does it still make sense to create my maps? How does Google view my maps for service businesses? Example, If I’m a plumber, plumber, Excuse me, could I create a My Maps going from my business to a customer’s address?

Yeah, you can. But here’s the thing. If it’s a service area business and you don’t have a storefront then you’re not going to you don’t in your GMB for example, you’re not displaying your physical location which you shouldn’t be for a service area business that’s against Google’s Terms of Service for that and fewer people also come to the business.

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So can As I was saying, what you do is just grabbed the city center. So type in the name of the IRS, the city that your zip code or whatever that your businesses listed in, like the physical location. And then you actually just create those driving directions from the city center to the areas that you want to target, for example, and again, that’s something that like, you know, you can do that for creating geo posts and that kind of stuff for Jambi or, excuse me, surface area businesses, right, so you don’t want to reveal especially if you’re using a spam the maps listing, you don’t want to use the actual physical address, so you don’t want to cause that as the starting point or, or publish that as the starting point for my map. What you do is just wherever that physical location is of that map listing, you take that zip code, just enter it into Google, it’ll give you the map pin is what it deems City Center, right? And so you just grab that coordinate and start it from there. That’s what you would drive you, you’d have driving directions from that point out to the target area that you want to optimize for. Does that make sense?

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it's a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

JOHN says, I have a legitimate GMB for my own, but I’m sorry, somebody’s gonna jump in. Okay. Third somebody. I have a legitimate GMB business for my own business, if I got an RYS Drive Stack should it be built on the legitimate associated Google account or separate persona account? I answered you just a few moments ago, John, we will build it on the persona account because we will never ask you for access to your Google account. There are many reasons why we won’t do that. So we will build it under a persona based account. But once we deliver it to you, you can always transfer ownership to whatever Google account you want. Okay?

Adam: Wouldn’t even transfer ownership, I would not just make it a manager, make your legitimate GMB and whatever Gmail account you using for that going, it’s all explained in the email that you get with your arm is drive stack. Yeah, it’s all in there. What you need to do with this with the account at all, as the owner, you never go back in there, again, as the owner, but as the manager, and then you could do whatever you want as the manager or you go as a manager, or like for drive stack. Specifically, just proper editing permissions, right? You would keep the persona count as the owner of the documents, the folders and files and such. Yep. But you would add to your main business account. As you know, with editing permissions,

Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Bradley: Alex says what should anyone be aware of when rebranding a site? How can you prevent losing rankings? Well don’t I mean again it here’s the thing if you’re just rebranding the images so if it’s if you’re saying a site so I’m not sure if you mean again. Or if you mean a website, if it’s a website, it shouldn’t hurt anything. If you’re just changing the branding on it.

Typically I build the websites for, you know, keyword optimized, not brand optimized, right? Obviously branding as a component of it. But it’s more about keyword optimization. When it comes to a GMB. Be, like I said, if you’re worried about I don’t build citations, guys, until four GMB sites listings locations until I have a security service provider in place like and when I say secure, I mean one that I’m going to I expect to have a long term relationship with I don’t build citations for those until then, because that’s part of the problem. If you build a bunch of citations under a generic brand, and then you have and then you do rebrand it for a service provider. Now you’ve got NAP consistencies, so I don’t do that I use all the other off page method on page and off page methods that I can to get results first find a service provider then once I’ve established a good relationship, then I will rebrand, and that at that point potentially start building citations.

But if you’ve already got results, why do I need to build citations that make sense? Now again, I’ve got certain service providers that I have Legion relationship with or engagement with, I can say that I go out and build the assets under their brand right off the bat, and I’ll build citations to them. Because some of these guys I’ve had relationships with for years, they’re not going anywhere. So there’s really no reason for me not to just build them for them immediately branded for them and start building citations right off the bat. And that’s why I’m telling you guys it’s better to build that type of relationship if you can, there are good contractor I say, contractors, but service providers, you know, I do mainly with contractors, there are good ones out there, you have to sort of sift through several of them to find them, but there are good ones out there that will understand the relationship that you’re presenting to them like the offer, right and those are the those are the best ones because then once you have somebody that says that they want to continue to get more leads from more areas, then it makes it a lot easier to build your lead gen business because you can build the assets under their brand right off the bat. Okay? Now again, doesn’t mean it can’t go south at some point in the future, and it can cause a bit of a nightmare if you’ve got a bunch of citations out there. But, you know, that’s part of the business guys it is.

So number two, when creating mass page sites, as far as rebranding, like I said, if you’ve got stuff that is ranking really well then I would just change images in such on the site. You don’t have to go in and change title tags and things like that. And I mean, you can change the title tag for the business name if you want but I typically am optimized for keywords anyways, right? So you can go in and add images that have the company that you’re promoting. I have there don’t put their phone numbers in the image guys, obviously, but you can put their logos banners that display their name, that kind of stuff, right? People aren’t going to, well, maybe some people but very rarely are people going to go to a site that’s branded for the company that you’re promoting right that you’re sending leads to that has the company’s logo on the site that has the banner that talks about the company’s name and they’re going to go to another browser tab and it goes search the company and call the company direct it’s very rare that people are going to do that because people are typically they just want to call to get this you know a quote or service or whatever right?

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

So that’s when creating mass page sites and the initial content is unique but copy 300 times with the change the suburbs is considered spam of, absolutely that spam there’s no question that spams. How can you do it safely? Well, I mean, you really can’t I mean, you can get away with it, but it’s spam. I’m just aware of that. You know, we all do it tell me like I don’t do mass page sites anymore. I did years ago, but that’s a churn and burn strategy. I always expected them to get slapped. And most often more often than not, they did and so I didn’t like that because there’s a lot of work that you’d have to set up and then you know, I don’t like rework I like trying to build long term and assets.

And so again, I mean, it is spam though, just make no mistake can be Let’s be really clear about that. How can you do it safely? Well, you really there are things that you can do. I’m not going to be able to give you the best advice on that because I don’t like doing those type kind of sites. I would consider. You know, again, there are other people out there other groups that do a ton of that kind of stuff. Mass page stuff that can give you much better advice than I can. Does anybody want to comment on that?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

That last part of that is when indexing so many pages from Search Console, is it dangerous to get slapped? Yeah, I mean, yes, but again, what I found like years ago when I was doing stuff for with lead gadget and what they called the ATM that was like this industrial strength mass page builder. It was odd but it was crazy like we would let you know we would build a site with 30,000 pages a WordPress site with 30,000 pages, we would add maybe, let’s say, six tags per page, which would then create 180,000 tag pages. So the site would be 210,000 pages, right? Or because we would create 30,000 thousand posts, essentially, that would have six tags per post. So again, think about that guy at 210,000 pages. And what was interesting was, and again, very similar to what you’re talking about like I would use spam content anyways, even though sometimes they said not to I would still use spam content. But what was interesting was the tag pages would index like crazy and you’d end up checking like a lot of the posts the original post wouldn’t index but the tag pages would index and it was crazy to watch a site go from, you know, a couple of hundred pages index to a few thousand to a few to several, you know, 10s of thousands and then well into the hundred thousand mark and it was crazy to see that because they were essentially spammed sites but it’s almost as if those big types of sites played like within different rules like they haven’t for. I’m not sure why that was. But they seemed to index anyways. And I mean to for a period of time, I don’t know any more guys, because I haven’t done any of that stuff. And at least two years now, but back when I was doing it, it was crazy to watch how many of those pages would index it was just, it was nuts. But again, if you’re if you if a lot of times we would recommend not and I’m prefacing all this with I haven’t done this in two years, at least. But I tested adding into Search Console, and I found that it wasn’t necessary to do so you could add like a sitemap. That’s all I would do if you’re going to do it was at a site map, you know, you first have to verify the site, but then you can just add the site maps. But again, that’s you’re giving direct access to Google at that point to a spam site. So I’m not sure that I’d want to do that. And if you were going to do that, then I would recommend that you only do it through persona based Google accounts, like additional Google accounts that you set up, certainly not through your own main account or any account that you have that you that has any value. Does that make sense?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

All right. I’m gonna keep moving. Alina. I see you’re asking the same question that many other people have asked and I got it guys. I’ve just got to be real clear about this. This is not our software. It never was Chad Kimball’s Easy Local Cash (ELC) software. It’s awesome that we’ve been able to use it for six months. It’s free software. You know, again, it’s not our software. We don’t support it. We cannot support it. It’s his software. And I can understand why he has changed it. And I know what you’re saying. I pulled it up today to verify it. This is the easy local cache software guys that we’ve been using for six months. And he says important, this version of the easy local cache software has been discontinued and is no longer returning accurate results. Look guys I understand why he’s done this. He wants to push people into his email list so that he can market his maps products to you. I get it guys it makes perfect sense. It wasn’t our software, to begin with. Okay, so you. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you right now we don’t have a solution for that. It’s might be something that we can develop. We don’t have it on the books to develop at the moment. So it says email here for more information about the newest version of the software. I know when you click that button, all it does is it opens up your email service provider and it goes directly to this email address and if you’ve emailed him and he hasn’t replied I’m not sure what else to tell you, unfortunately.

Hernan: Now, unfortunately, that that’s like standard practice not to answer that email because I know quite a few people that have sent in they’ve used the recommendation email here and it’s probably a catch-all Yeah, and it does it doesn’t get a response. So if he wanted people in his email list and people are going into his email list, he should have had an autoresponder at the very least so the lesson to learn here guys set up your email marketing correctly or else you’re going to lose a whole lot of people from your email list to start with.

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don't resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Mobile local business says image optimization and video to use underscore or hyphen to separate keywords and titles on the images saved. And in the background optimization, optimization and image details should underscore hyphens be used or at all, or just spaces between words in regards to SEO. I’ve always just use spaces. I don’t know if there’s really any difference between any of that now, because, you know, almost all web browsers and, and everything understands spaces. I remember years ago, a lot of times, you’d want to use hyphens and stuff like that, but I mean, we’re in 2019. Now. I don’t think that matters at all. Marco, do you have any definitive answer for that?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Marco: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I do. I mean, I don’t know because most of the stuff I don’t, I don’t really do anymore. I just have I just tell people this is what you need to do, right? I tell people that I have working for me, this is what you need to do. So I don’t tell them how to add the title to the image or how to upload it because to me, that’s why I said doesn’t make a difference because whatever they’re doing well. Whatever we’ve set up to do works. And so why bother going into that granular? Right. Hyphens or underscores, or spaces, I haven’t seen any difference. So until I do, or until I, we test it, I can’t really say, I do know that just doing spaces works, because that’s what all of our people do.

Bradley: Yeah, so that’s interesting. I, you know, just to be clear, like I said, I’ve always just you spaces in my team, I do know what my team does because I’ve given them the instructions and they just follow my lead. And that’s always to just use spaces and I’ve never had any issues with that. So yeah, I don’t think it makes a difference. Remember, it’s like I said, it’s 2019. I don’t think that makes any difference whatsoever. Now, I could be wrong now.

However, let’s see. That was something else. Yeah, it’s interesting. I don’t think that makes a difference because I know that you could, you could run all the words together and Google can still understand it like in other words, if it’s, you know, a forward keyword phrase, if you run them all together, Google still recognizes what that keyword phrases, right? It’s not like jibberish at that point, Google can still recognize it. That’s part of the reason, exact match domains could get you in trouble, guys, if you got an exact match domain with no hyphens, which, you know, hyphens look spammy a shit and domains anyway. So most people would never use hyphens as part of an exact match domain. But Google still understood with that keyword that exact that match domain was an exact match keyword, Google knows that that’s part of the reason why the threshold for triggering a spam filter or penalty filter essentially is lower with exact match domains, because you’re coming right out of the gate with an exact match keyword is your domain name. So you’re telling Google I’m an SEO you know what I mean? And again, those were typically I’ll just run together.

I’m just thinking about this a little bit more with Elena and because I see the next question coming up. Robert, I’ll get to you in just a moment. But Jason had a very similar question guys, Tree Pat, our developer for the GMB auto poster and the briefcase. I’m not sure if autoposter has it or the post to scheduler but the briefcase has a Google My Business Rank Tracker. It’s part of the briefcase service. So if you have a briefcase subscription, I think it Rank Tracker is part of every subscription level, correct me if I’m wrong, anybody, but he actually sent me a video in slack and the channel that we communicate in to check out he sent it to me yesterday, and I looked at it today. And he was asking using, he was showing me how he’s using the Rank Tracker for a potential prospecting strategy. Because the Rank Tracker shows the way it works is you can set up within the Rank Tracker in the GMB briefcase I don’t have it open guys to show you maybe I’ll I’ll do a tutorial on it next week. If I investigate this a little bit further or and guys, if I investigate this a little bit further and come up with a solution.

Through the GMB briefcase that will be able to provide us with accurate details so that we can still do location research to substitute for Easy Local Cash software. If I find out that that works, then I’ll record a training a short training video about it, and I’ll post it and all of our groups. So you guys have that even before next week. But I’ll probably covered again, next week on Hump Day hangouts too. But what I’m saying is within the GMB briefcase, you can go in and set your keyword and your location and then you can set up a grid to for service area businesses, especially that’s either a three by three grid or a five by five grid. So if it’s a three by three grid, it will show nine points on the map that and I think you can set the radius of so like the distance the surface area radius, essentially of the grid as well. And so if you set like, let’s say, a 10 mile radius, and you’ve got the nine the three by three grid, which would be nine points, it would be nine points spread out in a square. Around a 10 mile radius with your the location that you set right in the middle. And what it does is it will go out. And again, you put your keyword and in the location, and then if you set that it will go out and show the grid. And then we’ll show how many listings are ranked and, or whatever, like through the API. I think for each one of those map pins in the grid, it will show like Matt pins and will show a number. And so that’s one way that if you do five by five, it’s 25 points right at 25 point map. So there’s 25 pins, and so it’s a lot more accurate or granular, I should say. So he was actually showing me a strategy. He was asking my opinion about using the GMB briefcase Rank Tracker tool as a prospecting strategy for outreach to potential clients to show where there is an opportunity or where there’s deficiencies in their own marketing and things like that and using the tool as the data driver, right. And so that’s something that I’ll look into a little bit because I think It was interesting because I asked him specifically like, this is pretty cool. But what is your strategy? Is it for prospecting? He replied, Yes. Now, we haven’t chatted since then, because it was just today that this happened. However, there may be an option. I’ll dig into this to be able to use the GMB briefcase as a substitute for easy local cache. And if that’s the case, that’s even better. Because we do support that tool. We can endorse that one and you guys are already on our list, so you don’t have to sign up for anything else. You would have to have a briefcase account though, so that’s something we’ll look in guys. Can somebody remind me of that? If you don’t mind and maybe Marco? You can, you can look at it as well.

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Alright, we’re going to keep moving it. Robert says. Hey, do you guys do recommend including NAP and GMB posts? frequently, not if it’s a service area business? You can do this though, and I replied to you earlier, Robert, who’s also a mastermind member, I recommend if it’s service area business, you can put name city state zip don’t put the street address if it’s a service area business and you’re not displaying a street address in your maps listing. Don’t display it or don’t post it as part of your GMB post either and you don’t have to do that every time guys either you can do it you know very it up varied up so that you know sometimes they do have it sometimes they don’t okay ship I didn’t mean to do that.

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

What would you say is the fastest and cheapest way to get a listing boosted as a way to get your foot in the door with clients citations is not citations. I’ll tell you that citations take a while to really start taking effect because citations typically take a long time to index citations is more of a longer-term strategy guys, it’s not something that again all Legion assets that I set up now I don’t even start publishing citations until I’ve got a service provider in place. And I’ve established a good relationship that I expect or assume is going to be long term.

So citations are not even something that I do anymore. A standard operating procedure unless it’s for a client already, or something that I’m setting up branded right off the bat, which could be maps expansion for a client or for an already existing lead gen service provider that I have a good relationship with that make sense?

Citations are great for long term strategy, but it’s not something I do. It’s not something that’s going to push it maps listing anytime soon, okay, post Yes, Jambi posts, obviously, that’s the local GMB pro method. Right off the bat, their post is a great way to start getting traction guys, it’s not necessarily to rank the maps listing is it is to get leads from the listing because it’s a mobile device thing. It doesn’t necessarily equate to more better rankings. It can and will over time, but you can get leads from posting properly without even pushing the rankings. That’s exactly what the local GMB pro method is all about. Okay, so post absolutely, that should be standard operating procedure right off the bat. Like as soon as you come out of the gate clicks to the GMB Yeah, click through is absolutely important. Guys, if you can manipulate that, and there’s ways to do it, you can, you know, you can try automation, although a lot of the times, that doesn’t work very well.

Also, I’ve talked about this many times, but you can use Google you can use ads traffic paid traffic to, to get traffic to you, like, legitimate real traffic to the listing. And that is weighted extremely heavily and there’s ways to do it. We did a training on it for YouTube, how to do it with YouTube ads, that was an order pump on the battle plan. So if you didn’t get it, and you still want it, I don’t know if we can make that available. But that’s one of the ways that you can actually use YouTube ads to drive traffic directly to a GMB listing.

And that is heavily weighted traffic because Google knows who those users are. It knows that there if you can find an end market audience that they’re in the market for those services and you can set your geographic targeting so that it’s only local people actually clicking through their Genuine Google users with a valid interest in what you have to offer. So it’s not just about manipulating the rankings by sending traffic targeted traffic. It’s also about potentially generating leads. And I’m saying YouTube guys because you could use AdWords. google ads, like search traffic. But that’s damned expensive. YouTube ads is incredibly inexpensive. I mean, literally, it’s pennies per view on the video. And if you have your targeting, right, and a compelling message in the video, you can get clicks for 10s of sense, right? Because remember, you might take you six or eight or 10 clicks, or 15 clicks, or excuse me views eight or 10 or 15 views to get one clip. And if you’re paying five or six cents per view, and it takes you 1212 views to get one click, that’s 60 cents per click. That still has a lot better than paying six bucks per click, or 16 or 26 or 30. You see what I’m saying. So my point is a YouTube ad is a great way to drive traffic. Also, guys display ads.

Google display ads, the display ad platform is so much better than it used to be. It’s so much easier to set up a display ad campaign now, because all you have to do is have images and lines of text. And you can set up a display ad campaign and get clicks. I start off for contractors, guys, I’ll set up display campaigns for 100, or excuse me, $1.50 per click is my max cost per click bit, right. And then once I get some data that comes in, typically they run somewhere between and for most contractors. Again, I deal almost exclusively with contractors, but the average cost per click usually run somewhere between 85 cents to $1.15.

So what I do is I always start off the campaigns at $1.50 max cost per click bid. Then once I have some data coming into the account, then I’ll go in and start manually adjusting the max cost per click bid down to what around the threshold of what the average cost per click data shows me. And then once I have some more data come in, I actually do encourage using Google’s automated bidding strategies and Google will tell you right

In the ads platform of give you recommendations two years ago, I would have said you’re nuts if you use Google’s automated bidding strategy, because they’ll, they’ll burn through your money. I’m a believer now. The Google I every time I go in not every time but what I’ll do is I’ll go in and implement one of Google’s recommendations to an automated bidding strategy could be maximum conversions target CPA, there’s, there’s several of them, I’ll let you will make the recommendation it takes I always manage the campaign manually to begin with until there’s enough data in there. And then I will start using or start implementing or applying some of Google’s recommendations which are typically automated bidding strategies and then I’ll make a note of when I applied that particular recommendation. And then I’ll go back in and a week or two weeks depending on the traffic volume and see what you know, compare what the results were from my manual campaign management versus the automated campaign management and if Google’s is better, I leave it implemented right? If it’s if my campaign management was better, more cost-effective, then I will switch it back to manual CPC or manual management, excuse me to make sense.

And again, guys, Google Display Network is a fantastic way to get targeted geo-targeted traffic from people that are from a relevant audience to click through to your assets which can be a GMB, guys. You can put a GMB business site URL in there so it makes sense or even a map URL so again if you if you want more training on that we had it was part of an order bump I don’t know if it’s still available but that was part one of that was the I think was called the Google Ads mastery or some shit like that as part of the battle plan funnel.

So, as far as on-page SEO, well, you want to do that anyways, but one also one of the best things Kelvin is press releases. It’s not as easy with press releases as it was a year and a half ago, like a year and a half ago I could get within oftentimes within to press releases, I could push a map list into the three pack. It seems that as with everything in SEO, once it’s been the cat is out of the bag and it’s been done enough or by enough people, it starts to become less effective. I’m not saying press releases are not effective for pushing maps assets into the three pack they are but it requires a little bit more persistence more of them. Pr stalking really helps. And also if you can diversify your distribution networks. So in other words, don’t use the same distribution network 18 times right. Like it does help if you have some diversity.

Okay. And then like we teach and local PR pro about PR stalking, there’s a very specific way it’s random, but in a specific way that you can get better results from your press releases. And that’s taught in local PR pro. But I think press releases on page, you name several of them posts, which should be standard operating procedure clicks to GMA yeah I don’t recommend trying automated strategies guys, you know, you can, you can play with that if you want.

But I’m telling you guys, you could for an very inexpensively you can buy traffic from YouTube for a little bit more money, you can buy traffic from the display network and it’s in Google knows that audience guys, it knows who those people are, it knows that they have an interest in what you’re sending them to, right, because you set all that up and you’re targeting. So that is heavily weighted traffic. If you send spam traffic or automated traffic or non relevant traffic, it can give you a boost. But what might take you know, 300 clicks through from non relevant traffic might only take 30 click through from relevant traffic to achieve the same results. Right. And the point with relevant traffic is that traffic has a very good chance or at least is likely to actually convert into a lead anyways, because it’s relevant traffic to begin with, whereas non relevant traffic is strictly an SEO tactic. Make sense, so hopefully, that was helpful. Let’s keep moving.

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

Ted says WordPress question clients that is creating spammy blog posts client site is creating I change the password set up 2FA what is 2FA not sure what that means and reinstalled the core WordPress via the admin dashboard but it’s still happening what steps would you take action? better hosting sounds act yeah does it sounds like it’s hacked. If the hackers in your actual server which it sounds like likely is or they are likely in your server I’ve had that happen in the past it doesn’t matter how many times you delete the site and reinstall it like if the they can they can take over it. So I would actually highly recommend switching to a better host if you’re especially if you’re on a budget host guys, you know, don’t try to save money on hosting. We’ve said that for years because shitty hosting will make it hard to rank sites anyways.

Like I’m not kidding because you’re associated with like bad neighborhood guilty. You’re guilty by association. Like if you’re if you’re IP or your WordPress site or your whether it’s WordPress or not, doesn’t really matter. But if your site is hosted in a bad neighborhood, so means it’s surrounded by a bunch of other shitty spammy sites, it’s going to make it very difficult. That’s one of the ranking factors. There’s no question and for these kinds of issues, also, if you’re on a budget host guys, I recommend that you do something like install something like uptime robot or something like that, so that you can see how often on shitty hosts your site is down. And that’s a terrible ranking signal. You might not even know it because you’re not probably in the site all the time. But a lot of times on those budget host because it’s shared bandwidth and they way overload IPS. They put way too many sites on a single IP. What happens is if if any site out there is getting a surge in traffic or is getting, you know, spam bot, like a surgeon bought traffic and things like that it will actually slow down all of the other sites and oftentimes knock them offline that are also hosted on that same IP. And so if you put enough time robot on an inexpensive hosts on a site that’s hosted on an inexpensive host, you’ll see that your site is going to be down often. And that’s a terrible ranking signal.

So spend a little bit of money, get a better host highly recommend, especially if you’re doing client work, guys, you know, pass that cost off on to the client. In fact, you can actually make hosting a profit center for you, if you go out and get your own VPN or, you know, like, for example, what we always recommend liquid web liquid web is fantastic. You can go out and get cloud hosting or virtual private server hosting. And you can set it up to where you can host multiple sites through your hosting service and in charge your clients what they would be paying to host on, you know, hosting companies for their own hosting account, you just become the host to them, then essentially, you’re reselling your hosting service to them. And so that can become a profit center right. Let’s say you got 10 clients and you go you sell them. You tell them it’s $20 a month for hosting or if you pay month by month or $15 per month.

If you pay annually and you collect $180 per year per client, that’s 1800 dollars on 10 clients, guys, it doesn’t cost you 1800 dollars for a good server and liquid web for the year for only host 10 sites. I mean that when you get what I’m saying, so now you turn that into a profit center and you can assure your client that you have well secured server that also has fantastic support. Liquid webs got fantastic support. So hopefully that makes sense. Where is this question that I’m missing? That’s probably old. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to keep moving.

Alright, guys, we’re almost out of time and go through just a few more, and we’ll be done two factor authentication. Thanks. Well, appreciate that. It would be great if you could offer PBS. Yes, God I know we’ve talked about I don’t think it’s going to be something that we’re going to do though honestly, it’s it’s a lot of work and it wouldn’t make us very much money and it’d be tough to manage and plus, we’d have to deal with support issues obviously when counts got shut down, which will invariably going to happen. So it’s not something I think that we want to do I understand your pain trust me I do. But I’m not sure that we’re going to do that if we do we’ll certainly announce it commonly says asking a second question because the questions here look like. Yeah. I’m curious as to why today such a slow day. That’s okay. We only got five minutes left anyway. So we appreciate the additional question.

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Kelvin, he says how important is on page SEO for client GMB rankings? Compared to back linking strategy? What comes first on page always do on page first I mean, here’s the thing right now with with Google just being tight about stuff trying to prevent us from doing stuff. And that’s exactly why because, you know, the the world the SEO world has been spamming GMB’s been for the last six months pretty heavily. It’s not just us, but there’s certainly a lot of that going around. So I would recommend like if it’s an established company that has had a GSB for a period of time I wouldn’t worry about it because I haven’t had any issues with that whatsoever, but if it’s a brand new GMB listing, I would recommend that you do on page stuff and stages slowly, instead of going in in one fell swoop and optimizing everything, like from top to bottom, you know what I mean? Which is what we taught because it was working really well. But what I’m saying is for new, if it’s a brand new Jambi listing, I would recommend that you go in and just do you know, one thing at a time and give it a day or two in between significant on page changes or edits, okay, only because, like I said, also, you would probably want to log in through a manager account, not the primary owner account to do that.

if you are established, you know, agency like you know, if you provide Client Services, and you typically are a manager to multiple other clients, then use your your main Google account if that’s how you access other people’s GMB is through through a manager account. If it’s you your profile like it is with me. I’ve got to my main account which is you know my own personal name, essentially. And then I have my G sweet account that is for my company, my agency. And so I typically have my clients add both names as managers to their GM bees so that I can depending on which account I’m logged into, I can still access and make edits and changes and such. But I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time. So it’s not it’s not odd, or it doesn’t look suspicious for me to have access to clients accounts and make changes because it’s, you know, Google I’m sure understands what I do you know what I mean, so that that’s completely normal. But what’s not normal is to login through a primary owner account for a new listing and make an optimized soup to nuts like top to bottom, you know what I mean that that could potentially cause a suspension right now, if it’s an established company, though, like in other words, that the GMB has been published online for a period of time the company has authority as you know, as a validated entity and the real business world then I wouldn’t I wouldn’t worry about it. I would still access through a manager account because I don’t I don’t like to log into my client accounts anyways. So I would still recommend that you go through a manager account and then make the changes but again depends on the length but GMB on page stuff is certainly important. Guys, anything that you can do on page is going to make your off page efforts more effective, right, or you’ll get better results with less off page work. That’s kind of the point. So that’s always we’ve always recommend starting with on page stuff.

By the way, if your if your client does have a main website that is attached as the primary website for the GMB guys on page SEO for the clients website is critically important and there’s no better course out there for on page SEO then Jeffrey Smith SEO boot camp which we should probably drop a link for that because if you try to buy it on his public link, it’s going to cost you $1,000 if you buy it from us will cost you 500 and it is hands down the best on page SEO course I’ve ever seen Jeffrey Smith ranks websites guys like with zero backlinks like he outranks authority sites was your backlinks because of the way that he creates on the way he does on page SEO. It’s absolutely incredible. Never seen anybody better in the business. That is the truth.

So anyways, we’re about out of time. Yeah, that code is working now, by the way, guys, thanks again for that grant says when I tried the briefcase right track or in the past, I didn’t see where competitors optimization information would be collected, such as, yeah, that might be an update grant. Again, I just had tree pad just sent me the video yesterday and said, What do you think about this, I, you know, I appreciate your input. And he was showing me what he was using as a potential prospecting strategy. And it did have a lot of additional stuff that wasn’t there a couple of months ago, when I started testing it. Remember grant we were in we’re in the beta, the beta testers, slack group. So a lot of these features are still being developed out. So it might be that it’s just a, you know, new new data and that’s why he sent it to me to ask me my opinion on it. So again, I will look into that a little bit further Guys, if it’s something that we can use as a buck.

Even if it’s not able to do what we want it to do for location research yet that’s something we can certainly request to have done and I’m sure it’s repaired can work that out for us so again guys just give us a little bit of time we’ll try to work out a solution for that I’m sure right SEO. But look at Adam on the draw. Alright guys we’re gonna wrap it up five o'clock.

Thanks everybody for being here we don’t have a mastermind webinar this week so I guess we’ll just see you all next week any parting questions or words guys bye everyone yeah Have a good day have a yeah I lost my train of thought so Have an awesome day alright guys see everybody later thanks for being here.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 posted first on your-t1-blog-url from Blogger https://ift.tt/2THJycx via IFTTT

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sherrygaonaa · 6 years

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

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

Announcement

Adam: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it’s a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don’t resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 syndicated from https://jesicasearcy.wordpress.com/feed

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 posted first on https://xanthelasmatreatment.com/

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makironata-blog · 6 years

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

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

Announcement

Adam: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

So that’s why I recommend said that over and over and over again. I even said it in the training. If you’re starting out, you’re going to have to establish that relationship first. And this is the workaround until you have established that relationship, once you have established that relationship, and don’t be afraid to rebrand for that particular Service Provider. It just makes everything easier for you to manage going forward as well as you know it will make your content your service provider happier too because it’ll be their name out there on the web and tell them unless they do something stupid and you have to go rebranded again but since you maintain control of the assets that shouldn’t be an issue right? It’s not something you want to do by the way is switch service providers often guys it’s a pain in the ass don’t do that it because it only makes it harder on you so that��s why I said it’s important to try to fight now initially as I said, you might have to sift through you know several pieces of garbage to find a good one and that happens. Like I just mentioned I had to fire a handyman that I built some and assets for because he turned out to be a piece of garbage literally, okay? But it happens from time to time and that’s why I didn’t I had set up his original handyman service provider maps listing under his name but all the other ones that I had set up in, you know, in the adjacent areas were all branded under a generic brand name.

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it’s a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don’t resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Nguồn chia sẻ:

Nguồn chia sẻ: https://ift.tt/2SJXUsl

0 notes

beyondvapepage · 6 years

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

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

Announcement

Adam: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it's a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 posted first on http://beyondvapepage.blogspot.com

0 notes

neliesheppard · 6 years

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

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

Announcement

Adam: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

If the call I would say, Well, I thought it was calling card Tree Service. Oh, yeah. That I would tell the contractor when they��d say, Well, I thought I’d call contractor or treating Cole pepper Tree Service, I would tell the contractors tell him Hey, it’s a marketing website that we use for generating leads and it hadn’t been rebranded to our name yet and that’s that way you’re not misleading anybody they’re telling the truth. And so again, if you’re using a call center or in this case, he says that he should be which I totally agree I’ve said that many, many times. Guys, your best bet is to use a call center period gives you a lot more control it’s a more of an exclusive service that way you know it is a lot of benefits to using a call center but that’s what I do. So for example, I just had to fire a handyman for some assets that I had built for him, but that’s what you know, we would say thank you for calling. Home pros or whatever.

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it’s a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don’t resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 syndicated from https://jesicasearcy.wordpress.com/feed

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deborahmuro · 6 years

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

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

Announcement

Adam: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it’s a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don’t resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 syndicated from https://jesicasearcy.wordpress.com/feed

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 syndicated from https://xanthelasmatreatment.com/

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