#hiding this at the bot of the tags since I believe for tag searching you should only get the first 5 tags

[mj-skyair-star]

█🕹️👾🎮Chapter 2: Crazy Dream!░▒▓█

March 28th, 2036, Friday night, 11:32 p.m. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is getting too frightening! I very much regret visiting Sophia's house late at night, even though it was partially worth it! I guess the result of visiting was both lucky and unlucky.

I turned around immediately to see what caused that thing to break.

I figured out what would make that smashing sound so easy to shatter. It was a light pole's glass case that was smashed. I knew it was that because it was the only thing around my area that had glass, and that light pole has always been on... I was unable to see the case (that used to protect the light bulb) since it sits at the top of the tall dark green pole. However, I might see shattered glass somewhere in the freshly mowed grass...

Nah, I'll use my phone.

I pulled out my phone and tapped the options to click 'torch' and then, boom! I have light! The back of the phone lit up like an actual torch. Now I'm able to see properly. Shining my phone on the ground, I could discern pieces of shattered glass scattered around it. Other pieces were further away... My heart pounded as slowly as a turtle's pace as I examined the broken glass case...

Someone must have thrown a rock at it... But I couldn't see a rock anywhere unless it flew far away- that would be a strong throw. From the looks of it, this can't be good. Wary and scared, I walked up to it to examine it more until I thought about taking a photo of this-

SMASH!

I gasped, knowing for sure that another light pole had been blacked out!

My heart was pumping rapidly as fear crawled up my spine.

My entire body began shaking dangerously again.

"Am I in some horror movie now!?" I search around to see if I can spot anyone.

Using my phone won't help, it's not designed to illuminate far distances...

"Hehehe~!" I'M DEAD SET NOT GOING TO STICK AROUND ANY LONGER!

I ran to get out of the park.

I came across two paths within five minutes.

One of them is the quickest to take me home but because I'm in 'a bit' of a panic, and kind of not thinking straight... I TOOK THE LONGEST PATH! But that's ok! I can just lose this dangerous stranger from the chase... I believe I can...

Whoever that laughing belongs to, it oddly sounds awfully a lot like Crowby from 'War of Time'.

Let me be a video game nerd for a moment.

Crowby is one of the creepiest characters in WoT. In comparison to other video games, I wouldn't say it's the most terrifying character, just creepy. I remember this one sketchy quote that I'll never forget (I can't remember what scene): 'I hide in the shadows, watching my prey wander about, alone. Naive to think wandering alone at night is smart. You will not notice me lurking in the darkness. If you feel the breeze of the Arctic, death is approaching. Imagine it as a game of tag~' ... The game is PG... Somehow that's acceptable for a PG game.

Developers are injecting a sense of eeriness into Crowby...

Rated PG isn't supposed to have creepy moments... Can it?.. Well, how am I supposed to know?

Crowby may like scaring other bots, although he doesn't choose to destroy anyone unless he feels like it or was ordered to by Artron-

Off-topic, I know.

I stopped running after fifteen minutes to catch my breath. As my chest rises and falls steadily, I lean on a nearby tree. I wasn't kidding when I meant I'm freaked out! I'm still shaking from all of that! I'm scared like a wild bird flies.

"I think... I'm... sa-AHHHHH!"- My scream was filled with dread as a fricking KNIFE stabbed into the tree I was leaning against, out of nowhere, near my face!

I took a few moments to calm down before I realised there was something too far-fetched about this knife than I thought it was...

"... Wait a minute... That knife... it looks like-"

"Hello~"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" I flinch at that same creepy voice that was literally right behind me! Yet again, I somehow had the guts to turn around to see who that person was.

I was speechless and more startled than ever in shock.

"Ah, ha, ha! Your face is priceless when you're horrified!" The 'person' wheezed.

That 'person' who is standing right in front of me is a humanoid bot, with a blood-red cloak and a LED face-like mask thingy.

He shouldn't be real! THIS IS TOO REAL TO BE TRUE!

"Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-You're-"

"C0RW8Y-26, that I go by Crowby, the right hand bot of AR1R0N A.K.A, Artron, the greatest hunter and fighter you'll ever know,"

"Who also got his butt kicked by 'The Cosmic Five'," my brain really wanted me to stay calm but... I didn't know what to say other than gawking at him at this point... Yep, still fearful.

"This has to be some sort of dream..." I whispered.

It heard me.

"I assure you, little fleshy human girl, this is no dream. I am..." He leaned very close to my ear while I tried to move away from him, upon remembering that his blade is still attached to the tree... it's in my way. "Very real~ hehe!" I'M TRAPPED AND DEAD!

"A-Are you going to k-kill me?" He lowered his black scarf and smiled in a nightmarish way that gave me goosebumps.

"Kill you? What made you think of it, fleshy child..? Ah, yes. I see. I'm a hunter that kills the prey. I understand. If you are a bratty kind of fleshy child, I would... Though Artron would hunt me down for doing that. I would not want that to happen unless he told me to,"

All of this confused me, but I guess it was also relieving at the same time. That is when a dumb idea popped into my head.

I ducked under the blade (not a knife) and moved away from Crowby. I stood up again as his head and eyes followed me. His smile dropped in a flash... Something I feared more about him.

"Um... Okay... I guess I should get going then, hehe," when I was about to walk away he grabbed my arm.

Of course, I'm not able to get away that easily. I'm trapped.

"You are not getting away, Airis Gamer," he said.

I widened my hazel eyes as my head turned towards him in terror despite my amazement.

My mouth opened.

"H-How do you know my name?!" Crowby smirked.

"Questions will be answered later. I must- AH!" Instantly, I kicked Crowby in the stomach. I didn't expect it to happen! I was creeped out! And, and!- That's why! I'm dead meat, 110%, absolutely dead meat! So I backed away and ran away from him again. "Grrrrrrrr! You little-"

Shing.

"GET BACK HERE!" Ohhhh no! No, no, no, no! Hearing that indignant tone made me sprint faster than a cheetah! I can't die!

***

Thank God!.. I lost him..! I think!? This is the weirdest, yet, the most frightening dream I have had so far (yes, I'm convinced that all of this is a nightmare). I've been trying to lose Crowby for way too long! And I may have had a problem, well, kinda. I'm only thirty minutes from home... Except... I felt like I'd been followed... again.

Oh, come on!

"Don't you fricking dare tell me that Crowby found me already! Because I'm not doing another 'looking back and forward' thing again!" Not only is he creepy, he's also incredibly annoying to deal with! I mean, as in, he keeps jump-scaring me nearly every time I look back and then he unexpectedly appears in front of me after checking!

... Then again, I'm a little anxious about him capturing me from behind this time. I scanned the area meticulously in an attempt to see if he was around...

Nope, he isn't th-

"AHHH!" Now I'm suddenly swooped into some sort of bubble cage out of nowhere!? "Wha- What the heck!?" Alright, this is too random!

"Ah, ha, ha, ha! I have finally captured you!" That voice sounds completely different... That's not Crowby's voice that- No! No way! There is no way Crowby gave up that quickly.

He never stops hunting, otherwise, he knows he has lost them for good (which would be a 43% chance).

That new voice is on one, other than-

"Dr Brainstorm!?"

I looked down at, indeed, a short old robot who looked (almost) like a rip-off version of Dr Albert Einstein but with less 'hair' on his head. Likewise, I noticed that I was floating above the ground, so I am in the Bubble Trap... That's cool! But it's certainly not good!

"Correction my dear, it is I, 4R.8RA1N570RM- Dr Brainstorm is what I prefer to be called, and-"

"The evil robotic genius that helps Artron rule the timelines," I interrupted and finished the rest for him, it did cause the short old bot to feel upset at first but was perfectly fine with it at the end.

"It is very rude of you to cut the evil genius in, however, you already know who I am because you played the game, I suppose... Do you like my trap?"- He smiled wickedly- "I called it-"

"The bubble trap? That's pretty obvious," You should have seen the look on his face! He was so stunned at my response! Ah, ha! Then again, the name is very obvious for this type of trap.

Who wouldn't name it as manifest as that?

Him.

The evil genius didn't say anything for about five seconds.

"... Well... I... uh... NO! Of course not! It's called... Uhm... it's called... the... the Spear Trap! Yes! That's the name! You are entirely incorrect," my expression remained unconvinced.

"Bruh, you just changed the name, c'mon!" No, seriously. 'Spear Trap'..? That's the coolest trap name he came up with?.. I guess there's nothing special about it.

You might be wondering by now. 'Why are you suddenly not scared?' Well, Dr Brainstorm isn't really a 'scary' character. In the sense that he's more of a bot that tries to shoot for the scares (even though he is incompetent). Think of him as Dr Doofenshmirtz, primarily evil 90% of the time.

Even when he threatens someone, it doesn't come across as convincing or formidable, despite the fact that he gets easily agitated over that.

"Why are you calm? Are you not afraid?" He asked confusingly while I simply answered with a shrug.

"Afraid of you? Of course, I wouldn't. You're not the scariest character that I ever met in WoT, "

Now that I think about it... Let's see, first, I was upset because of my so-called 'friends' treated me like shit, then got terrified of Crowby's unexpected appearance when I was at the park, and lastly, all of a sudden... I wasn't scared once I first met Dr Brainstorm for the first time..?

Pretty queerish.

Is it bad to not be fearful of someone who doesn't look scary yet kidnaps you? I think it is.

To me, I see him as a goofball.

"Hm... I see... I suppose I don't have to hear your annoying screaming for help over and over again... Time to go!" Dr Brainstorm chimed with a pleased grin.

How did I just notice that he had a mini mobile ride floating above my head? That must have explained why the trap is floating.- Oh right-

Timid, I begged him to release me.

"Wait! Please let me go! You don't need to do this! I don't know why you and Crowby are real or what you guys want, but I assure you, I'm not useful for whatever-"

"Sorry, my dear! I follow my master's orders. He needs your service,"

"That still doesn't explain why! Why do I need to be a part of this?! I'm just a useless kid!"

"B-But! I have a family! A mum, a dad, a brother and a sister! They'll notice I'm missing!!"

"Oh, ho! Do you really think begging will do anything? After all, I don't feel pity. I'm an evil genius, not an idiot!"- He laughed out of mockery- "And don't worry about your family, they'll just disappear in thin air!" My hazel eyes grew wide in apprehension at what he was saying.

"No... He wouldn't... Artron wouldn't... They know my family... Oh no!" Fully panicked to death, I began to try (out of desperation) to break free, I banged on the clear bubble 'Spear Trap'.

Bang, bang, bang!

"C'mon! C'mon!" It's not working!

The scientist knew I was trying to escape, and he knew I couldn't break free, so he laughed at me once more.

"Ah-ha, ha! Trying to smash through the trap with your weak fleshy fist won't work! What was the point of that, child?"

"... Yeah... what is the point of that..?" I felt movement.

The mobile ship floated up high into the sky, taking me to God knows where, but to Artron.

This is all my fault.

I should've waited until the next day, I really do blame myself!

Sliding down on the bubble against my back, I began to sob. Even though I'm 100% sure this is all a dream, it felt too real to be one... Why?...

...

POP!

"Wha-!? AHHHHHHHH!!! OOF!"

"Gotcha!" Never mind, I'm free!

The bubble popped out of the blue, causing me to fall, but I was soon saved by someone that caught me in their arms.

The loud pop sound also got Dr Brainstorm's attention.

"Huh!?" My head tilted up to see who- OH MY GOD!

"Captain Techblast!" My eyes sparkled eagerly at the leader of 'The Cosmic Five!' He chuckled, sounding happy to see me as well.

"He caught me in bride style before I even touched the ground! What a hero!" I guess it's not gonna be a nightmare after all!

"I'm glad I found you, or else you would be gone by now," he told me in relief.

"T3CH81A5T!? Techblast!" Dr Brainstorm snarled and floated down near us to Techblast's level. "How did you find us!?" His fist slammed against the mobile mini-ship in demand.

For Techblast, he presented the 'really' look.

"You were floating up in the sky so it's not difficult to miss, and your Bubble Trap is easy to pop, like an actual bubble, Brainiac,"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" The robot scientist yelled and pushed down a button for the mobile mini-ship to open up two weapons on its sides.

I was alarmed by the two weapons pointed directly at us, ready to fire at any moment.

"Hey,"

"Huh?" I looked over at my hero.

"Hang on tight, ok?" The leader whispered, not looking at me but studying the weapons till I heard the sound of something that was preparing.

Oh, crap! I knew exactly what he meant, so with no hesitation at all, I wrapped my arms around the bot's neck ever so tightly.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" He uses his speed boost to run off while holding me protectively and firmly. I was not prepared for this! I'm freaked out by the amount of speed, which is why I'm able to distract myself (preventing myself from thinking he'll fall and I'll die) by peeking behind his shoulder to see the mad, I mean, angry mad genius right on our tail! "He's behind us!"

"I know!"

PEW! PEW!

After the doctor started shooting his lasers, he missed us every time he tried to aim for Techblast, however, it caused some explosions in the background.

BOOM!

I hugged Techblast even more than before and lowered my head under his chin so I could remain calm, and without feeling so sick either.

***

It's been twenty minutes.

Techblast is still carrying me along with getting away from Dr Brainstorm.

Damn, the doctor never quits, does he? Now that I think about it, what is Techblast's plan-?

BOOM!

The laser finally struck us! Resulting us to CRASH!

In a protective gesture, he changed the holding position to a hug before losing his balance.

"WHOA!" My eyes shut, tightly.

We were rolled down to the rough ground at a very fast speed until we crashed into (what I'm guessing is) a wall.

CRASH!

...

Slowly my hazel eyes opened as I sat up slowly...

I can see dust... and due to dust filling our surroundings, I coughed up a little while simultaneously 'shooing' it away. Then I released Techblast and looked at the area that we were in... I could make out that we had crashed against the police station wall, leaving a massive crack.

This is the area I recognized.

We are definitely near Cranbourne Park.

My home is just a few minutes away!-

"Aww-̷̡̞̰̬̹̜̣̞̬͌̂̓͛͑͜w̴̨͔͐͂͛̚͝w̶̧̧̪̼̱̜͎͙͔͆͒͊̑͒͌́̇̂̆ͅ..." gasped from the groans of pain coming from- Oh crap! This is not good!

"At last! The ship is down!" I shot up at the familiar voice.

From afar, Dr Brainstorm is coming! Shit! Shit! SHIT!

"H̷̻̖͖̿̒̾͐̃̈̋͝-̴̱̥̆̈́̈́͆̽̀͝H̵͈̥̪̏͗͝e̸̢͎̯̝̫̥̊̀̅͆̓͆̄́͑̔͜ȳ̴̢̟̱̘͍̹̘͔̱̲̏̈́̀͂͝͝," The hero bot glitched- The exploitation really got him that badly!? The sight I'm seeing frightens me.

Techblast is damaged.

Not too messed up at least. My heart was pounding steadily.

"A-Are you ok?!" I asked anxiously.

"I'll b̶̢̢̜̰̲̰̻̗̽͑͆̇̒̔͋͋̈́͜͝ͅ-̵͚̞̙̲̻̅͌̃̔b̴̡̛̩̦̏̏̃ē̵̟̹̤̠̘̽͜͝ ̴̨̢̢̮͕̟̦̩͒͝͝f̴̼̹́̾̄̒̄̿͊i̷͇̪͙̮̾̋͜͜n̷̡̧̯̗͙͖̝̭̲̐͌̋̑͒͒̍-̶̙̳̪̜́̾̍͛̓́̈͘e̵̖̜͍̥̦͔̹̳̲̝̓̏̑͊̀͌̍́̓̕,̶̙̟̼̼̩̦͐͋ͅ ̵̨͍̦̲͋̓͋̊̎r̶̻̦̬̘̫̩̓͋̆͠ĭ̶̝͔̉̂͗̕g̴̢̜̬͖̜̞̖̩̭͊̂̐̑̈́̽̀́-̵̧̧̠̟͚̺̺͛͂̔͐͆͐g̴̮̮͙̰͑̃̇͒̌̈́̃̿͝h̸͚̣̤̻͍͋̊͆̄̐́̇̉t̸͚̤̖̑̆̋̆͌̆̚ ̶̦̐͒̋͐͂̈̍̈n̵̳̠̻͌̍-̴͎̻͈̝͉̙̌̄̈́͆́͆͛̕͝o̵̗̙̖̔͋͑̿̔͌̇̃̕͝ẁ̴̰̞͖̖̬͇͍̠͍͕̇̐͠͠ your ş̸̖̬̰̪̦̙̱̿́̈́̓̓̕ä̷̧̨̮͓̱̟͔͕́́̽͌̋̌̑͗̀͝-̸̻̮̜̈̅͌̒̈́̽͋̃̄̑f̴͍͎͖̘͕̫̰̥͂ḛ̸͉̠̈́̊̌̄̋̽̚̕͠t̴͚̹̜̗͔͗̉́́͘y̶̨͍̟̠͍̮̚ is m̸̡̱̙̠̻̪̥̩̗̰̄̄̄̈́͐́-̶̨̤̱͍̖͒͆̅̌̑͌̀͛m̸̛͇̿͐̆̊͂̅͂̕͜͝-̵̛̭̖̻̭̬̒̃̀̈́m̴̥̾̃̋̐͌͋ó̸̡̟̩̪͔̻̲̘̂̄̅̃͜ŕ̷̛̮̪̝̔̈́̓̊̀͆͘ę̷̯̮̇͛̋̾͐͑̚͘ ̶̥̣̞̤̰̣̮͍̎̓̓͐̕͝ì̶̜̈ͅm̶̨̢̤̲̹̃̾͗́̒̕͠p̷̢̧̨͍̳̮̞͉͓̃̐͑̀̾̿̆̚ò̸̹̣͇̮̲̦̱̀-̶̧̨̧̫͎̱͈̜̳̀͋͌̉̕͝r̷͈̤̈́̄͛͗͠ͅẗ̶̙̗̰͓̟̮͎̟͗́̈́͠ͅa̶̢̽̆̽̈́̏n̷̡̯͕̠͎̗̫͍̘̂̿̽̅͂̅̈́̒͜͠ẗ̷͈̤̩́̈́̀̊͐̇̀̏͝͠, run, run s̴̩͙̪͙͆̈́͗̈́͘-̵̲̹͕̻̻̼̫̤̯͎͛̐͑̾̐́̃̊͘s̴̝̍͊-̴̺̝̔̃̑̉͝ͅs̸͓̱͇̥̻̦͌̈́̈́͝-̴̮͙̱͓̠̞̦̘̦͐̏̈́̌̈́ͅó̶̭͉̘̪̞̟͐̽̄̄̂͜ ̴͈͍̘̲̣̞̍͋B̶̧̜̙̟͙̪̖͓͊̒͑͋͠r̵͚̺̀͐̃̉͐͊a̶͚̤͔̮̦̤͋̆͜ͅͅ-̵̛̣͙̽̀̏̃̕͠i̵̠̱̩̯̞͉̞̺̭͆́̈́n̴̨̛͇̩̹̝̹̓̃͗̌͂̅̒̒i̸͖̰̼͘-̸̨̪̺̝͕̦͖̖̤͠ͅa̵͔͈͉͙͌̽́̅͒̕c̸͙͗͌͋̂̿̈̕͝͝ doesn't c̵̯̱͈̹͒̓͗̋́͐ͅ-̴̺͓̟͈͖͖͇͖̈́͊̍̀̀͆̚͝ͅc̶̨̛͍͙̻͕͒̒́̆͒͝ͅ-̵̪̂̾͜c̷̱̘̜̹̞̤̝͆̆̑̔̄̏͠ą̷̛̛̱̜͈̫͖̬̤̞͇̐̈́̓̏͠t̵̡̻̘̝̂ͅc̸̢̙͇͎̳̻̥͙͗̓̉̉̏͘͝h̵̨̪̜̬͍̟͑̾ you ă̶̧̧̜͉̻̠͎̣̔͆̉͊̅͝-̶̠̈́̏͂͝ą̶͇͈̫̫̂͝g̷̥͒̀̑̓͑à̶͖̪͙̻͋̌́́̓i̷̦͆͒̈́ǹ̴̮̮͓͋͋͑̓͝!̷̨̖̱͎̦̲̫̓͋͛̓͐̔̕ͅ"

He told me.

My eyes widened to hear this.

"B-B-But-!"

"GO! ̸̦͊͋̚I̴̡̓̒̄͌͒͘̚͝͠-̶̧̨̦̰͙͋͗͗̀͐̇̋͠ͅI̷̗̟͒ͅ'̵̨̳͍̼̪͌̆l̸̪͉̫̻͛͋̌̉̍̾̅̊l̵͍̉̈́̇̄̂ ̴̙̥̰͓̃̈́͜be ḟ̵̲-̸̧̓̔f̶͇͍̺̺̲͇͇͉͝-̷̧͈͖̺͎̀͐̿̕͝͝f̶̥̻͈̮͚̝͝ͅį̵̡̺̀̚n̶̢͚̲̜͔̟̖̪̝̂ȩ̵̢̲̻̰̘͖̇͆̅͌͜!" He got himself up carefully and held his arm afterwards, "I'll d̴͍̾̈́͋͒͘͝͝ï̷̙s̸̟͇̹͍̩͚͖̍̐̇͐̊̕-̷͚̳̻̩͇̼͇͊͑̉̊̇̔͆ś̶̛̺͓̮̩̝̖̟͛ͅ-̵̣̞͓͎̳̒͐̆͒͆̕͠͠s̴̝͙̤͚̦̖̥̭͎͆͜-̵̧̮͇͗̎͂̆̎͘͝s̵̛͓̱̫̦̱͇̟̼͑͒̒͋͐͒̕̚̕͜-̸̨̙͚̲͍̳̲̈́̆̈̄͒̔̈́̑s̴̙̤̞̏͛͌͌̎̀̃͑͝t̸̨͓̖̪̖̊̔̀́͒̇̓͘̕̚ͅr̵̳̪͕̟̝̺̜̳̳̈́̄ͅa̴̢̮̭̭̭̯̓͌̆͒́́͒̂c̶̨̧̨̛̯͚̱͇̫̺̋̓̔̎̕̕͜͠ṫ̷̞́̀̐̍̀͛̕ ̸̧̡̞̦̬̗̤̙̮́̊̍̀͘ḧ̵̳́̔͐͆̀ḯ̸̠͓͖͇̳̥͍̻̮̎̔̒͆̈́́͠-̷̧̨̰͕̜̤̝̻͔̌͛͆̍̆̎̋͛m̴̧͒̑̍͆̒,"

Looking back at Brainstorm and then at Captain Technoblast... My heart sank, knowing there was nothing I could do.

I sighed and managed to stand up.

I have full confidence that he'll be alright... I hope so.

"Ok then..." I really don't want to leave him like this but... he wants me safe...

I ran off.

I was too scared to even be involved in this battle.

Besides... It's only a dream... right?

***

I arrived back home. Safe this time.

After closing my bedroom door silently.

"This dream is too real to be true..." I walked over to my closet and pulled out a pair of light blue pyjama pants with so many cartoon huskies on them, a grey shirt, and a jumper.

After I changed my dirty clothes into my clean PJs, I charged my phone to place it on my bedside table before my cold body got in contact with warmth, my blankets.

Once I lay down facing the ceiling, I sighed.

"It's just a dream, Airis..." From convincing myself that it was all a dream, to my consciousness being taken over by tiredness, I closed my drowsy eyes until I was officially drifting off to sleep... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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#GWU #Game World Universe #video games #real life video game charcaters #escape #saved #frightening moment #original story by mj skyair #Game World Universe by mj skyair #GWU serise #heroes vs villains #Yeah maybe it is a dream #all a dream? #attempt kidnap #action #original story #ocs #original characters #comedy? #glitch effects

[mistarover]

since twitter users are migrating here i figured i should make one of these since i was also one of you at one point :)

welcome to tumblr! here's how to do it aka a list of things i wish someone told me when i first joined

we ACTUALLY USE THE BLOCK BUTTON. there's no harm in blocking someone. i know you feel like blocking means the other person "won" or you're conceding or blah blah blah but no. blocking is for your own peace of mind. and you can block for any reason! don't like their vibe? hate the layout? bad opinions on your faves? block and go on with your life

cannot stress this enough. LIKES DON'T DO JACKSHIT HERE. yk the bookmarking feature on twitter? where it lets you save tweets for later? that's what likes are on tumblr. they're a way to save a post. they don't make that post show up on other people's dashboards or anything. reblogging on the other hand? THAT'S what spreads posts. reblogging is like liking AND retweeting at the same time.

2nd 'cannot stress this enough'- if you're on desktop, USE THE SHINIGAMI EYES EXTENSION. it'll help you know which blogs are terfs/radfems so that you can block and avoid them and tell your friends who to block and avoid.

you can never truly delete a post. oh sure you can delete the original. but once someone reblogs it? it's there forever. you can still see all the reblogs that everyone has reblogged of that post. same with editing- if you edit the original, only the original changes. the reblogged version stays the same.

you don't lump words together to hashtag. for example, if i wanna tag something as percy jackson, i don't write "#percyjackson". i write "#percy jackson".

you'll notice that when ppl reblog, they talk a ton in the tags. that's what they're for. if you wanna add something to the post but you don't think it's important enough for the main post section, you add it in the tags.

you know how on twitter you can follow topics. that's what tags are like here. on twitter i would follow the topic "percy jackson" but on tumblr i gotta follow the tag "#percy jackson"

another one i can't stress enough- anons on here are NOTHING like curiouscat or tellonym. they are not there for you to spew hate unabashedly. we don't believe in cowardice here. you got a problem w/ someone? say it on main or keep your mouth shut. anons are for people who are too shy to ask questions with their account visible.

comments (while not as useful as rbs) are still good. comment a ton! it helps you talk to other people and express any opinions

there is no such thing as clout here. the only ppl who have it are neil gaiman, neil cicierega, and those 2015 youtubers (dnp, thomas sanders, tyler oakley, etc). no one can see your follower count but you. anyone you follow could have 50 followers or 50,000 followers and you would never know unless they told you. it honestly doesn't matter.

GIVE YOUR BLOG A HEADER AND PFP. don't just use the one tumblr automatically sets for you. people will think you're a bot and block you instantly because if there's one thing people HATE on this site? it's bots.

same if your blog is empty. post something, rb something, just do SOMETHING otherwise you'll be assumed to be a bot

the "based on your likes" feature is not based on your likes. at all. not in the slightest. so just toggle it off tbh

tumblr is like a massive archive. it is 100% normal to see posts from 2012 or reblogged posts from accounts that have been deactivated to circle around again.

there are so many fuckin porn bots on here. just block them

your likes and follows aren't public unless you toggle that feature on, but people can see when you like and follow them

for extra privacy, you can hide your blog from search results (including external sites like google or yahoo), make it only viewable within the tumblr dashboard, or password protect it (ppl will have to enter a password in order to view it).

turning on submissions basically means that users can submit posts to your blog. you don't have to allow the submission but if you do, it'll have a small heading underneath the text that says "submitted by (insert username here)". you can turn on and off any types of submissions you want to allow or not allow

i'll add some more in rbs bc i hit word limit

#new to tumblr #twitter #deyjah talking #not pjo #but also kinda pjo???

[ajbwasntwriting]

Daughter!Reader x Negan, Reader x Daryl: Chapter 5. Secrets hurt

First | Previous | Next

Listen I don’t know why I decided to give each chapter an artsy title I just did. Also as anyone following this may have noticed this story isn’t gonna be regularly updated but rather updated when I have something I’m proud enough to post though I am determined to finish this series, just school comes first. I hope you understand.

I’ll only post more chapters if previous chapters get a good reaction so if you enjoy this please heart it, reblog it, and/or reply to it. Interaction inspires.

if you wish to be added to the tag list please dm me. All chapters can be found under the tag AJ’s Negan’s Daughter AU

The winter continued like that. He’d bring you food and you’d give him goods, even visiting multiple times a week. Sometimes he’d tell you about the stuff, holding up a jar of applesauce ‘from The Kingdom. The guy who runs it used to own a tiger’ or loaf of bread ‘the hilltop grows the grain, but Alexandria makes it.’ You would hum and nod along, knowing he was just trying to convince you to come back. Mainly because he’d ask if you wanted to come back with him and you would be ‘grateful but happy where you are’

You had asked him to start making lists so you knew what to find and you always tried your best to deliver. Cloths, blankets, kitchen utensils, baby bottles-

“Baby bottles?” you asked, pointing at the item on the list. He nodded.

“John and his wife are pregnant and we don’t have enough to go around.” He explained from the comfort of your couch, feet up on the table.

“But you have some?” you continued, not believing what you were hearing “You have...children? As in...babies?”

“Yea. I keep telling you we’re building a society.” he laughed at your bewilderment. “You’d fit in gr-” your mind ran as what you knew was coming ‘Here it comes again. No never works with these people. How do I get him to shut up?’

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” you cut him off, smiling. You turned to your kitchen unit, pulling out a large bot, a can of vegetable soup, and salted beef that Daryl had brought that day. “You’ve brought me so much it’ll probably go bad before I can eat it all.”

In that time he had stood up and walked over to the kitchen, now leaning on the counter. His sudden appearance made you hold your breath “When did ‘get out’ become ‘stay for dinner’?” he asked, seemingly amused.

“When you stopped understanding what ‘I don’t wanna be part of your group’ meant.” You retorted, cutting up the salted beef with a dedicated kitchen knife. “Are you staying or not?” you turned to him, stopping your cuts for the moment. He nodded with a shallow ‘yeah’, making you smile then go back to cutting. You poured the meat and soup into the pot, placing the lid on top. “Some snow on top to water it down and we’ll be sleeping with full stomachs tonight.”

You had him carry some bowls and a ladle up to the roof. Within an hour the fire outside was lit and the food was cooked atop four bricks you were lucky enough to be able to upgrade your cooking fire with, the old lamp now repurposed into a weapon. There was no conversation but you didn’t feel like you needed it. The wind was calm, letting Daryl look out over the city. “Do you know where the museum is?” He asked while you were stirring the soup.

“A couple of blocks down,” you called back. “Why?”

“Me and a few others are planning on raiding it in the summer” he answered, not turning back to you.

That’s when you realised something. You had heard about all these friends. Carol, Michone, Saddiq, Rosita, Eugene, Henry, Ezekiel, Lauren. He’d mentioned them in passing, saying how they made something he brought you or appreciated something you brought him. Yet he always came alone. It would’ve made more sense if Rick was doing these deliveries, you’d met him before the winter. Sure you stitched up his leg.

The two of you were sitting in front of the fire as it fizzled out when curiosity got the better of you. You swallowed the food in your mouth.

“Why are you always here alone?” you asked, he looked up at you from the other side of the fire. “It makes more sense to have people watching your back but for the past month or so you’ve been visiting me on your own. Why?”

“That’s how it is” he scoffed between mouthfuls.

“That’s how what is?” you snapped.

“You’re allowed to be all secretive but I’m meant to have my cards on the table.” he cut back. You thought it over a second, then went back to eating. You both finished up as the fire mellowed, taking your leave back inside. You carried the pot while he held the bowls. Back in your unit, you piled the dishes into the sink.

“I should get going,” he said, going to pick up his back.

“Y/N!” you nearly yelled. “My name is Y/N,” He looked back at you incredulously. A tense silence fell over you both “Before this,” you waved your hand to motion to the apartment “I was with a few people...including my father. We managed to secure a building, kept the walkers out but after some time new people arrived and a few of them got...Protective, I guess. Including my old man.” You crossed your arms and leant against the sink, the floor now far more interesting than the man in your apartment. “People died keeping me safe when they didn’t need to, all ‘cause my old man refused to let me help, but we were still bringing in new people but not everyone was helping, either cause they weren’t allowed to or didn’t want to. That caused anger to boil in the group and then...more people died.” Thinking back on the Sanctuary tears began to flow, but your voice didn’t shake and your body stayed firm. “I ran away and I’ve been hiding ever since ‘cause I know they’ll kill me if I’m found.” You finally looked back at Daryl who had been hanging on to your every word. You wiped away your tears. “You said I can’t be secretive, well there it is.”

“I didn’t mean-”

“You don’t wanna go home” you cut him off. “You don’t like where you rest your head, that’s why you’ve been spending more and more time out here with me. I get it.” you pushed off the sink, leaning under it to pick up a jug of water to do the dishes with. “You can leave or you can stay the night. I don’t mind.”

You turned your back on him to focus on the dishes. He picked up his things and left without another word. ‘That’s it’ you thought as you scrubbed the pot, now getting more aggressive with it, ‘you fucked up Y/N.’

The following morning you woke up, opened your bedroom door, and saw a familiar red-neck on your couch. You couldn’t stop the smile that plastered your face, but you did grab some clothes from your closet then went back to your room to dress. This time when you left he was up. “‘Morning” he croaked as he stretched. “This couch was a lot comfier the first time.”

Your relationship continued like that for the next while. He’d visit you more regularly, stay for dinner, and usually, he’d stay for the night. You got tired of the complaints about the couch and cleared out the second bedroom. You liked having him visit and were willing to facilitate it. He’d even begun leaving a few things there. Functional stuff like arrows for his bow and fuel for his bike. You found him some clothes and extra blankets, and a bigger bag to carry stuff home.

You didn’t ask why he didn’t want to be with his people. After keeping everything a secret for so long it didn’t feel right, but you could guess. Between your family and your time in the army, you had developed a skill in reading people, a skill you noticed he also had. Maybe that’s why every second didn’t need to be filled with conversation. Though you wish it was so you could know more. He was kind, there was no question of that with everything he did for you without even knowing your name. Though when he came to your apartment he was tense, and he was never happy to leave. This made you think he was going somewhere he didn’t want to be, but he had to be. He always talked so highly of the settlements, trying to get you back there. He must be going someplace else.

The winter passed, your garden began to flourish again, and the walkers thawed. You thought after the winter Daryl would stop visiting but he still showed up. He didn’t come as often for a time, saying he wasn’t gonna make the trip unless he had enough to offer you. You frowned at this “Do come out” you ordered him. “You’ve got people relying on you. Children and everything and I’m able to find stuff in the city you need.”

“I don’t wanna leave you short. Our deal ya know-”

“Screw the deal, Daryl.” you huffed “You’re my friend and I wanna help you”

“Oh we’re friends?” he commented, with a cheeky smirk “Didn’t you try to kill Rick.”

‘So Tara told them’ you thought. “Yes,” you said “In a friendly way.” normally he wouldn’t find that funny, but these past few weeks escaping away to your hide-out had given him a chance to get close to you. “Come and visit me when you can, please? I got nobody else to steal my food.” That afternoon you both search for some last pieces for Daryl, having to go deeper and deeper into the city. You talked about his group’s plan to go to the museum and raid it for seeds and old machinery. You saw first-hand what a crack-shot he was with his crossbow, you whistled as another went down “Not bad bow-boy. How’d you get so good with that?”

“Before all this” you started, walking ahead to pull the arrow out of the dead one. “Me and my brother, Merle, used to move around a lot. We used to hunt sometimes for sport, sometimes for food, but he’d always make it a competition. Decided to learn a quieter weapon so I could beat that son of a bitch.” Another two walkers approached as he spoke. He shot a bolt through one of them while you took the other down with your knife. “After that, he never helped hunting again”

“Sounds like a sore loser” you commented, pulling the arrow out of the walker's head and handing it back to Daryl. He took it and reloaded the bow.

“You have any brothers or sisters?”

“Nah” you shook your head, keeping a lookout while he reloaded. “My old man said I was a miracle baby. Mom was always sick. They thought they’d never have any. I used to hate it but after hearing how Merle left you in a cell while he ran off with your girl, I’m glad.”

“Ahh, he wasn't all that bad,” he commented, walking alongside you.

“No one is as bad as they seem when you know them. At least that’s what my superior officer said”

That evening he couldn’t stay, but he left with a heavy bag and that made you happy. As the evening descended you went back to your unit. The following week would be quiet since Daryl had his big raid coming up. Though you didn’t realise how quiet until you were in the midst of it.

You had scavenged a few things. At this stage, the apartment building had been picked dry but you had a few children’s cloths and some old bandages from first-aid kits that had seen better days. As usual, you had piled everything in Daryl’s room. As usual, you were reading another book. As usual, it failed to entertain you since you’d read it about three times now. As usual, you fell asleep on the couch, not completely though because you heard the front door open.

You sat up sharply. “Dary-”

Thwack

~ Tag List ~

@softsebastian​

#twd daryl #daryl x reader #the walking dead daryl #The Walking Dead #the walking dead fanfiction #the walking dead fanfic #twd #twd fanfiction #twd fanfic #twd reader #twd x reader #twd reader insert #daughter reader #negan x daughter reader #AJ's Negan's Daughter AU

[pikapeppa]

Fenris/f!Hawke feels: Standing Still

In which Hawke duels the Arishok, and Fenris finally gets his head out of his ass... but the timing is less than ideal. 

A longer one, again (~6600 words). Here is a clumsy link to the AO3 post, since I don’t want the fancy new Tumblr anti-porn-bot algorithm to hide this post from tag searches: tinyurl.com/fenhawke 

**************

Fenris did not consider himself a particularly fast learner.

Hawke would heartily disagree, and he supposed she was right when it came to some things. Fenris was a skilled combatant, and he could master a weapon in the space of a few sessions. And Hawke had said he’d learned to read even faster than she’d thought possible.

Even so, when it came to life-changing realizations - things that shifted his way of thinking like an earthquake, tilting the ground beneath his feet and forcing him out of the confines of his own beliefs - Fenris was unforgivably slow on the uptake.

Revelations. They always seemed to bash him in the face with the devastating force of a Qunari warhammer. Escaping Danarius had been like that; it wasn’t until Fenris had looked upon the aftermath of his own horrific mass murder that he realized that he couldn’t live under the yoke of Danarius’s control anymore.

And it wasn’t until he was clutching Hawke’s crumpled body on the ground outside the Viscount’s Keep that he realized he couldn’t live without her.

*****************

A few hours earlier... 

“Should’ve stopped by the Hanged Man and grabbed a bottle of whiskey,” Hawke panted as they ran up the steps to the Viscount’s Keep. “I could use a drink right about now. A little liquid courage never went amiss, wouldn’t you say?”

“It’s probably best we didn’t,” Fenris replied. “Falling over drunk is not a defensive strategy I’d recommend.”

“But we could have offered some to the Arishok!” she said. “Friendly drink to loosen him up, persuade him to change his mind about converting or killing everyone… It’s a classic negotiating strategy, right?”

“I think we’re a little past the talking-over-drinks stage by now,” Varric called breathlessly from behind them.

Hawke paused at the doors to the Keep and threw Varric a rueful grin. “And that, my friend, is what’s really wrong with politics. Hardened enemies become fast friends with the power of a drink.” She pointed playfully at him. “You can quote me on that for that damned novel of yours.”

Fenris smirked and shook his head, but beneath his amusement, he was worried about her. She’d been cracking jokes nonstop since they’d found Isabela’s farewell note on Wall-Eyed Sam’s body. To Fenris’s eyes, her incessant humour was a clear indication of how upset she was about her best friend’s abrupt disappearance.

Hawke took a deep breath, then raised her eyebrows at their little group. The whole crew had insisted on coming this time, despite the obvious danger. “All right, kids,” she said. “Last chance to go home and hide under your beds. Anyone having second thoughts?”

There was a general murmur of negations and readiness, and Hawke grinned at them all. “Oh good. Then you lot can go on in for me, because I’m definitely going home to hide under my bed.”

Aveline shot her a desperate look. “Hawke, we have to hurry-”

Hawke laughed brightly, then shoved open the doors to the Viscount’s Keep.

They were instantly set upon by a small contingent of Qunari warriors. Fenris immediately phased through the nearest one, materializing inside of him and blowing his innards apart in a shower of blood.

The next few minutes were a blur of clashing weapons and explosive magical attacks, of battle roars and shrieks of pain. Once their final enemy was felled, Fenris straightened and looked around the room.

It was a scene of blood and disarray, but his gaze skipped carelessly over it all until he spotted Hawke, upright and hale at the top of the stairs. Her face was as serious as it always was in battle, but when she met his eyes, she smiled and blew him a kiss.

He shook his head in mock exasperation, then jogged up the stairs with the others to join her. Panicked screams were emanating from the grand hall, and Hawke jerked her head in the direction of the ruckus. “Let’s join the party, shall we?”

They all ran toward the grand hall, and Hawke didn’t hesitate this time before pushing open the doors.

They stepped into the room, and a familiar face stared up at them from the base of the stairs - a face that was separated from the rest of its body: the Viscount’s decapitated head.

Merrill gasped.

“Maker save us,” Sebastian breathed.

“Shit,” Varric muttered, and Hawke huffed. “You can say that again,” she whispered.

Fenris merely twisted his lips in rueful acknowledgement of the Viscount’s death. Frankly, he was unsurprised. It was only logical for the Qunari to dispense of the existing authority before imposing their own.

“Shanedan, Hawke. I expected you,” the Arishok rumbled. He slowly made his way down the stairs, ignoring all of them except for the dark-haired mage. “Maraas toh ebra-shok. You alone are basalit-an.” He opened his arms expansively and glared at the assembly of terrified hostages. “This is what respect looks like, bas,” he announced. “Some of you will never earn it.”

Then he returned his austere gaze to Hawke. “You know I am denied Par Vollen until the Tome of Koslun is found. How will you see this conflict resolved without it?”

Hawke offered the Arishok a sickly sort of smile, and Fenris suppressed a wince. He could practically see the quip gathering itself at the tip of her tongue, but he had to agree with Aveline: this was not the time for jokes.  

Before Hawke could speak, a sardonic voice called out from the door.  “I believe I can answer that.”

Hawke’s face slackened in surprise for a split second before lighting up with joy. “Bels!” she exclaimed.

Isabela sauntered over to Hawke’s side with an enormous tome in her arms, and Fenris watched her approach with no small amount of surprise himself. He’d been just as shocked as Hawke at Isabela’s abandonment, given how close she and Hawke were, but he was even more surprised at her return. Isabela had many fine traits, but it was clear from her antics with this blasted relic that loyalty was not among them.

After a moment’s hesitation, Isabela handed the huge book to the Arishok. “I’m sure you’ll find it mostly undamaged,” she said.

The Arishok took the book reverently, and Isabela shot Hawke a small sideways look and rubbed the back of her neck. “It took me a while to get back, what with all the fighting everywhere,” she said with a shrug. “You know how it is.”

“You fucking tart,” Hawke said happily. “Showing up at the eleventh hour. You trying to steal my place as the heroine of Varric’s book?”

Isabela folded her arms. “This is your damned influence, Hawke. I was halfway to Ostwick before I knew I had to turn around. It’s pathetic.”

“Yes, coming back to help your dearest and most attractive friend in the whole wide world,” Hawke retorted. “How very pathetic.”

Isabela tutted and rolled her eyes, and Hawke beamed at her until the Arishok spoke again. “The relic is reclaimed. I am now free to return to Par Vollen.” He turned his stare to Isabela. “With the thief.”

Hawke stiffened, and Isabela instantly dropped her confident stance. “What?”

Fenris couldn’t help himself. “You thought you could strand them here for four years without consequence?” he drawled.

Isabela glared at him over Hawke’s shoulder. “Hey. Whose side are you on, anyway?”

The Arishok ignored them and addressed Hawke. “She stole the Tome of Koslun. She must return with us.”

Hawke folded her arms, her face and posture now utterly serious. “Sounds like you have something very specific in mind,” she said cautiously.

“She will submit to the Qun and the Ben-Hassrath,” the Arishok said. “More than that, I will not say.”

Hawke narrowed her eyes. “Well, I don’t like the sound of that, whatever that means,” she retorted. “You have your relic. Isabela stays with us.”

“Then you leave me no choice.” The Arishok lifted his chin, then proclaimed, “I challenge you, Hawke. You and I will battle to the death, with her as the prize.”

“No!” Isabela blurted. “If you’re going to duel anyone, duel me!”

The Arishok finally deigned to look at her - a very quick dismissive glance. “You are not basalit-an,” he said. “You are unworthy.”

Isabela opened her mouth to protest, but Hawke held up one hand. “I accept your challenge,” she said.

“Oh no!” Merrill squeaked, and Aveline took a concerned step forward. “Hawke, wait-”

Fenris stepped away from Hawke’s side and gestured for them to back away. “Don’t interfere,” he said, primarily to Aveline; the Guard-Captain looked ready to pounce on the Arishok herself. “It will be fine.”

He took his place among the other spectators that lined the walls, and Anders stormed over to him. “How are you all right with this?” he hissed. “She’ll be killed! You would just stand back and watch her face off against that - that beast?”

Fenris didn’t bother to look at him. “She will be fine,” he repeated firmly. “Hawke is strong. Unlike some mages I know,” he added waspishly. He folded his arms. “Besides, it is her choice. She wishes to resolve this with as little bloodshed as possible, then I am happy to stand here and watch.”

“I can’t believe this,” Anders snapped. “You argue with her at every turn, yell at her for every other decision she makes, and now that she decides to face off against a two-meter tall horned warrior with battleaxes in both hands, now is when you just stand back and watch?” He leaned away from Fenris in disgust. “Why do you even follow her? Do you even care about her at all?”

“Shut your mouth,” Fenris snarled. “You know nothing of this kind of respect. You are unworthy to follow her, not me.” He stared venomously at the scowling mage. “Don’t speak to me again unless you wish to have your heart torn out of your chest,” he spat, then stalked away from Anders to stand beside Sebastian instead.

And then Hawke’s battle with the Arishok began.

Fenris had been fighting at her side for years now, but as he watched her fingers tapping slowly on the smooth handle of her staff, he realized that he’d never really had a chance to watch her in combat before. He was always at the forefront of a fight, while Hawke threw up barriers and rained fire and lightning on their foes from behind.

This was different from any other fight Fenris had seen her in. A single foe in close quarters, one who wouldn’t be tricked by some of her more discombobulating magical attacks: it was a duel in the truest sense of the word, and despite his confidence in her skill, Fenris was curious how she would adjust.

Her posture was tense and nervous, but her first dodge was perfectly timed when the Arishok lunged at her, and the fireball she threw at his back was swift and unerring. Fenris relaxed slightly as Hawke played to her strengths, maintaining a careful distance and striking from behind when the Arishok couldn’t deflect.

And then she didn’t dodge quickly enough, and the Arishok ploughed into her with a powerful lunge.

Fenris flinched as Hawke slammed back against a pillar with a sickening thud. She slumped to the ground and sat frozen for a second, then drew in a gasping breath and clenched her fist.

A glow of green healing magic shivered over her skin, and she was on her feet a second later, rolling clumsily away from the Arishok’s swinging battleaxe.

Fenris released his breath, then continued to watch her intently, feeling a bit more nervous than before. The battle went on for minutes that seemed to stretch like hours, and Fenris tried to quell his growing anxiety as she took a number of strikes from the Arishok, recovering each time with the help of her own healing spells.

She struck the Arishok multiple times as well, and soon he was limping from a bleeding wound to the thigh. But Hawke was slowing down. Her dodges and evasions were becoming less timely. She didn’t have a warrior’s stamina, and if Fenris could see her fatigue, then the Arishok certainly could.

That’s when the Arishok grabbed her by the neck and hauled her off her feet.

Fenris’s entire body went tense. Everything was frozen: his lungs, his heart, his tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth - he couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe as he watched Hawke kicking her feet ineffectually, scrabbling to grab hold of the Arishok’s armoured wrists, then his bare forearms -

Smoke began to rise from the Arishok’s skin where Hawke grabbed it. Finally he snarled with pain and released her, and she dropped to the ground like a rag doll.

Fenris moved - a slight step forward, he knew he shouldn’t but he couldn’t stop himself - but someone was holding his hand and keeping him in place.

It was Isabela. She looked just as horrified as he felt, and her fingers were clutching his own in a death grip.

Hawke drew in a desperate scraping of air, and Fenris whipped his head around to look at her. She was on her feet again, the glow of her healing spell fading already and her lips drawn in a snarl.

She twisted her left hand in a vicious gesture, and the Arishok was encased in a cage of pure magic.

The huge Qunari warrior tried to slam his way out of the cage, but the snapping bars of light threw him back. Hawke heaved a huge exhausted sigh and ran a hand through her hair. “Friendly drinks would have been the way to go,” she said, her voice rough with fatigue. Then she slammed her staff on the ground.

A crackling pattern of ice appeared on the Arishok’s belly, crawling and thickening across his abdomen, and Fenris held his breath, knowing what was coming next -

Hawke jabbed her staff in the Arishok’s direction, and his frozen organs exploded along with the magical cage, scattering grey-and-red chunks of frozen flesh and viscera across the floor.

The Arishok fell to his knees. He lifted his eyes to Hawke’s face. “One day, we shall return,” he rasped. Then he collapsed on the ground with a limp finality.

For once, Hawke didn’t instantly reply with a clever quip. She bent over, hands on her knees and her long hair falling forward to hide her face.

In silence, the remaining Qunari began to file out of the room. Fenris pulled away from Isabela’s grip and strode toward Hawke, but she was standing upright again already before he could reach her side.

She smiled tiredly at him. “Remind me to bake them a cake if they do return,” she said to him. “A chocolate one. With icing. Everyone likes chocolate.”

Fenris gripped her arm and peered at her face. “Are you all right?” he demanded. She certainly looked fine; tired, of course, but there wasn’t even a hint of bruising on her neck, thanks to her healing magic.

She nodded. “I’m fine. Really, I’m fine,” she repeated hastily as the others all hurried over with worried faces. “Let’s just get out of here before-”

“Is it over?” A ringing, authoritative voice cut her off, and Hawke pulled a little face. “Too late,” she muttered.

Meredith strode into the room with a handful of Templars at her back, and Hawke squared her shoulders before turning to face them. “It’s over,” she replied. She gestured at the Arishok’s half-frozen body. “One chilled Qunari, as ordered.”

Her irreverent words seemed to break the tension in the room; someone laughed, and then the noble hostages were cheering and applauding.

Hawke cringed slightly, and Meredith narrowed her eyes. “It seems Kirkwall has a new champion,” she said.

“Oh Maker’s balls, please don’t call me that,” Hawke begged. “‘Champion’ is such a heavy word, it carries so much responsibility…”

But it was too late: the nobles were already calling her name, calling her the Champion, and Hawke rubbed her face and shot Meredith a half-hearted smile. “Thanks for that,” she said.

“I look forward to seeing how you will serve your city with this new… title,” Meredith replied, her tone positively dripping with subtext.

“I’ll be serving myself a drink or three first, if you don’t mind,” Hawke quipped. “Now if you’ll excuse us…” She edged around Meredith cautiously and headed for the door at a brisk pace.

Fenris and the rest of the group followed at her heels. Once they’d stepped out of the clamour of the grand hall, Varric chuckled. “The refugee mage from Lothering defeats the Qunari chief in single-handed combat,” he said, with much relish. “Oh, this is good. Nobody will believe it. That’s what will make it so compelling.”

Hawke groaned. “Please, Varric, give me one single day without having to make…” She trailed off and rubbed her face. “...without making editorial comments,” she finished faintly, then headed for the stairs.

“Hawke?” Anders’s voice was sharp as he called her name from the back of the group.

She didn’t reply, reaching instead for Isabela’s arm as they approached the stairs. “Now you,” she said pointedly. “I can’t decide whether to punch you or hug you. I knew you’d come back, you know. I knew you wouldn’t really leave.”

Isabela rolled her eyes. “You’re reading way too much into this.”

“Wrong,” Hawke said as she tottered down the stairs. “I know exactly why you came back. You know you love me, you tart. You wouldn’t really-”

She stumbled on the bottom step, and Fenris and Aveline grabbed her arms. “Kaffas,” Fenris swore. “Hawke, are you-”

“I’m fine, I promise I’m fine! I just need some air, let’s - we’re nearly…” She seemed to run out of breath, and her feet were dragging as she tried to keep on walking.

“You’re not fine!” Aveline exclaimed, her voice tense with worry. “Are you hurt? Where are you hurt?”

“I’m not,” Hawke insisted. “I’m just… need some air.” She tried feebly to twist away from Fenris and Aveline’s hands, finally wresting one arm away from Aveline to push open the door to the Keep.

Fenris kept a steady hand on her arm, and it was a good thing; as soon as she took two steps into the smoke-scented nighttime air, she seemed to lose control of her legs, and Fenris caught her before she could hit the ground.

“Venhedis,” he hissed. Her eyelids were at half-mast and her eyes were unfocused as they drifted vaguely across his face.

“Fenris,” she murmured, “you’re so… Have I ever… told you…?”

Her smile was lazy, and he glared at her. “Hawke, what’s wrong?” he demanded. “Where are you hurt?”

“I’m not,” she mumbled. “I’m…” She trailed off into silence, her body going limp in his arms.

Fenris stared at her stupidly, struck dumb by her sudden stillness. She couldn’t be - no, it was impossible. Hawke was never seriously hurt. She was too lively, too full of vitality and optimism. She couldn’t be…

A yawning terror suddenly opened inside Fenris’s belly, a pit of sucking fear the likes of which he’d never felt before, and he fought to breathe as he stared at her precious face. Wake up, he thought with rising desperation. Wake up, or nothing will ever be right again.

The words sat frozen in his brain. He was unable to speak. He was paralyzed by this new and petrifying terror. Then suddenly Anders was there.

“Move, you idiot,” he hissed, then shoved Fenris roughly until he shifted aside. Anders hovered his hands near Hawke’s temples and closed his eyes, muttering under his breath as a cool green glow emanated from his palms.

“She’s overextended,” Merrill whispered tremulously.

“What does that mean?” Isabela demanded.

“She pushed herself too hard without help,” Merrill explained. “No lyrium, no blood magic to supplement -”

“Her mana is almost depleted,” Anders interrupted brusquely, his hands still glowing with restorative energy. “Please, be quiet while I…” He trailed off, and the rest of the group fell into a tense silence as he worked.

Fenris was completely still. He could barely breathe, and he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Hawke. Her magic force was almost depleted - that force that he hated on principle, but which Hawke controlled so well and which was such an integral part of who she was. Of course Fenris didn’t hate that part of her, because it was her, it was Hawke, and he didn’t hate Hawke. He hated nothing about her, not a single thing, not her constant flirting or her pro-mage tendencies or her teasing the Templars or her inability to take most things seriously - he didn’t hate anything about her, of course he didn’t, because he loved her.

Andraste save him, he loved her. He fucking loved her, and if she died…

An interminable eon later, Anders leaned back opened his eyes. “She’s stable now,” he said, and Fenris’s heart thudded with a painful squeeze of relief. “She needs to rest. And she needs lyrium supplements, carefully controlled. But she’ll be all right.” He looked at Aveline, his manner brisk and clinical. “Aveline, will you-?”

“Of course,” Aveline said, and she carefully lifted Hawke into her arms.

They made their way to Hawke’s mansion as quickly as they could, ignoring the disastrous mess that the evening’s battle had made of the city. Fenris ran at Aveline’s side, oblivious to everything except the knowledge that Hawke would be all right.

She would be all right. The world wasn’t a complete ruin.

Sebastian banged on the door to Hawke’s mansion, and Fenris wasn’t sure if it actually took longer than usual for Bodahn to come to the door or if it just felt like it, but by the time he opened the door, the entire party was so impatient that they poured inside like an unstoppable tide.

“Guard-Captain Vallen? Brother Vael? I - what has - Serrah Hawke! Is she - what’s happened? The Qunari, did they-?” Bodahn was completely flustered, and Fenris was vaguely aware of Sebastian pulling him aside to explain the situation while the rest of them followed Anders and Aveline up to Hawke’s bedroom.

Aveline laid Hawke tenderly on the bed, and Anders immediately began issuing orders, sending Merrill to fetch some lyrium and Varric to get some cloths and a basin of water before resuming his treatment.

Fenris prowled restlessly at the foot of the bed, his eyes scanning Hawke’s face and body almost compulsively. She was so limp, her breathing so slow and her face so pale, and he couldn’t stop staring at her as though the force of his gaze alone would revive her.

Anders said she’ll be fine, he reminded himself firmly. He didn’t trust Anders’s ethics or motivations or his companionship, but he did trust the man’s healing skills.

“Would you stand bloody still?” Anders snapped at him. “You’re distracting. Stay still or get out.”

Fenris narrowed his eyes, his temper rising instinctively at Anders’s tone, but he forced himself to comply. If standing still helped Anders to help Hawke, then he would do it. He would do anything.

Merrill eventually returned with an armful of bottles from Hawke’s medicine cabinet, and Varric came back with the basin and the cloths, and Anders continued to tend to her, giving calm and quiet directions to Merrill and Varric as needed. Aveline, Sebastian, and Isabela stood at the sides of the room, waiting and watching as Anders worked. Orana drifted in and out, bringing extra chairs and glasses of water as they all settled into their sickbed vigil.

Finally Anders sat back on his heels with a tired but satisfied sigh. “All right,” he said. “I’ve done everything I can for tonight. The best thing for her now is rest, so I’d suggest you all go home.”

“Are you staying?” Merrill asked shrewdly.

Anders frowned. “Yes,” he said. “I have to monitor her, check on her every hour. But you should all go.”

Merrill folded her arms obstinately, and Varric chuckled. “I think you’ll be finding yourself on the losing side with that order, Blondie,” he drawled. “No one’s going anywhere.”

Anders scowled more deeply. “Well… You all need to leave this room, then,” he said severely. “Give her some space.”

There was a general grumble of protest, but eventually everyone drifted out one by one, with Bodahn’s fervent promises to set up accommodations for them in the other rooms of the mansion.

But Fenris refused to move. He remained at the foot of the bed where he’d stood for the past hour.

Anders frowned. “Go on, get out of here,” he said. “You’re not helping anyone by standing there.”

“No,” Fenris said simply.

Anders gave him a hard look, but Fenris calmly returned his stare. “I am not leaving,” Fenris said quietly. He shifted his weight awkwardly from one foot to the other before speaking again. “You should get some rest. You… worked hard tonight.” He broke off and swallowed hard. This was the closest he could get to expressing his appreciation for Anders, and he hoped that the mage would accept it for what it was worth. “I can rouse you if she seems unwell. But you deserve the rest.”

Anders stared at him for a moment longer. “Fine,” he finally said, then rose to his feet. “If she spikes a fever, or stops breathing, or does anything at all except for sleep peacefully or wake up peacefully, then you fetch me immediately. Do you understand?”

Fenris nodded, and Anders gave him one last suspicious look before heading for the door.

“Thank you,” Fenris said, to his own surprise.

Anders frowned. “I’m not here for you,” he retorted, but with a little less heat than usual. Then he left the room.

Fenris returned his gaze to Hawke’s sleeping form. She looked peaceful and comfortable now, less like an unconscious invalid and more like her usual sleeping self. For the first time in hours, Fenris felt his muscles starting to relax.

Slowly and cautiously, he approached the bed and pulled up a chair, then sat close to her head. He’d been in this exact position a mere week ago, sitting at Hawke’s side after her mother had died. How strange and terrible for them to be here again so soon, and under such dire circumstances.

He gazed at her tenderly. Anders and Merrill had removed her armour and cleaned her face and neck of the majority of the night’s dirt and sweat, but her long dark hair was in disarray, a mass of sweat-dampened waves that smelled of acrid smoke. As Fenris studied her, his eyes tracing the delicate lines of her cheekbones and her lips, he realized he wasn’t alone.

He turned toward the door and found Isabela standing there, looking deeply uncomfortable.

She caught his eye, and they stared at each other in silence for a moment.

“Would you really have given me over to the Qunari?” she asked suddenly. Her tone was belligerent, but she was holding herself very still, like a rat in a cage.

Fenris frowned. “No.” He turned his eyes back to Hawke.

“But you said… that thing you said,” Isabela muttered.

“I don’t think you should have gone with the Qunari,” Fenris said. “But maybe you should act with some forethought on occasion.”

Isabela scoffed and took one step into the room. “Oh, like you should be giving advice.”

Fenris tore his eyes away from Hawke to scowl at her. “What are you on about?”

“Fenris, look at you!” Isabela exclaimed. She waved an exasperated hand at Hawke’s sleeping form. “You’re in love with Hawke,” she said bluntly. “Everyone knows it. You’re the only one who won’t admit it. Just do something about it already, won’t you? It was kind of cute two years ago. It’s not anymore.”

He didn’t bother to reply, because she was right. Silence settled over the room again as he watched the comforting rise and fall of Hawke’s ribcage.

After a long, quiet moment, he spoke. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”

He raised his eyes to Isabela’s face, and she glared at him. “Don’t look at me like that,” she snapped. “I know you almost left after you dumped her.”

Fenris flinched at her scathing words, then calmly replied. “I was not judging you. I was just… asking.”

Isabela looked at him for a long moment, the defensiveness melting from her expression until she dropped her gaze to her fidgeting hands. “You’ll look after her, won’t you?” she muttered.

Fenris nodded. “I will be here,” he said. There was nowhere else he could imagine being than by Hawke’s side. It was a truth he’d been fighting for years, but the possibility of losing the chance - of losing her...

Fenris was a slow learner, but he’d learned this much: his life would mean nothing without Hawke in it.

Isabela lifted her eyes back to his face. Then she gave him a small smile. “I won’t be gone forever,” she said. “Just until this all… you know… blows over.”

Fenris nodded a silent acknowledgement. Isabela took a tentative step closer, then leaned over and pecked him on the cheek. “You two had better be fucking again by the time I come back,” she said playfully.

He studied a lingering smudge of dirt on Hawke’s cheek. Isabela was waiting for a lighthearted response, he knew, but his heart felt so damned heavy, weighed down by the night’s revelations, and he didn’t quite have it in him to dig up the expected reply.

Isabela sighed. “Oh, Fenris. Someday you’ll get that pretty head out of your ass and then you’ll be happy, I’m sure of it.” She shifted, then made her awkward way toward the door. “I’ll… I’ll see you, all right?”

“Safe travels, Isabela,” he replied. Then he smirked. “I hope you do not die.”

She scoffed at his use of the Qunari farewell, then threw one last regretful look at Hawke’s slumbering body before leaving the room.

Fenris returned his attention to Hawke. Her hair really was a mess, and it was sure to get even more tangled if she moved around in her sleep.

He wanted to stroke it. Run his fingers through the dark mass of waves and rinse it clean of the sweat and smell of battle.

No, that was the least of what he wanted. What he really wanted was the reassurance of her heated and hedonistic body in his arms. He wanted the privilege of crawling into this bed and curling around her like he had when her mother had died, when his unconscious body had deigned so boldly to hold her when they’d both been asleep.

Fenris dragged his fingers through his own sweat-matted hair. Did he dare to admit, finally, that he wanted something? To tempt the cruelty of his life into taking something more away from him?

But this felt like so much more than wanting. This - her, the woman in this bed, Rynne Hawke - she was what he needed. He needed her as badly as he needed to be free of Danarius. Hawke had torn a hole in the fabric of his life, patching the tear with levity and humour and trust, and worst of all, with hope - with blasted, poisonous, fucking hope.

The realization was blinding: bright and bruising, brilliant and difficult to look at directly. Acknowledging that he loved Hawke - he, Fenris, loved someone: it was like tearing away a blindfold he’d always worn, like breaking the shackles he’d always maintained around his heart. It was another kind of freedom: freedom to want her, to need her, to… to feel something other than anger and hate and resentment.

But Fenris had never been particularly good at making the most of the freedom he already had. He’d run away from Danarius only to trap himself in the limbo of the present. For years he’d sat in a precarious kind of balance, with Hawke on one shoulder and his unknown past on the other. He’d refused to take any risks, refused to tip the uncomfortable but familiar balance of his stagnant life by launching himself wholeheartedly into either his past or his future, and thus he’d simply… stood still.

For the second time in his life, Fenris was free. And for the second time in his life, he didn’t quite know what to do with this freedom.

Suddenly Hawke inhaled, a deep draw of breath through her nose, and Fenris snapped out of his roiling reverie to look at her. Her eyelids were fluttering, and as he watched, breathless with anticipation, she lifted one limp hand and rubbed her cheek.

Finally she opened her eyes, her gaze roving slowly over the canopy of the bed as she slowly came awake. Then she turned her head and met his gaze.

She blinked at him with those beloved bronze eyes, then smiled slowly. “Fancy seeing you here. Yet again.”

She was cheeky as always, with a smile on her face as always, and Fenris thought his heart might thump clean out of his chest if it beat any harder.

He released an unsteady breath. “I was thinking the same thing,” he said. “You are devastatingly unlucky.”

She chuckled tiredly, then stretched her arms. “Well, I don’t know about that. I’m alive, aren’t I?”

It was true. She was alive, and Fenris had never been more vehemently grateful for Anders’s healing abilities than he was tonight.

Almost as though she’d heard his thoughts, she suddenly lifted her head and looked toward the door. “Was Anders here? He must’ve looked after me, didn’t he? Is he still here?”

Fenris nodded. “He is. They’re all - well.” He broke off, then decided against telling her for now that Isabela was gone. “The others are sleeping here tonight,” he said carefully. Then he hesitated before going on. “Do you want Anders? Should I fetch him…?” Fenris didn’t want anyone else to interrupt this time with her, but he would if it’s what she wanted.

Hawke shook her head, then rolled onto her side to face him. “No. Let him rest. He’s probably almost as exhausted as I was. I…” She grimaced. “Damn, Fenris. I was not prepared for that fight. The bloody Arishok, for fuck’s sake?” She shook her head in wonderment, then smiled at him and tucked her hands under her cheek. “See, this is testament to how lucky I am.”

He returned her smile, his throat throbbing with a potent combination of fondness and retroactive fear and incredulity. She’d almost died multiple times tonight, and her mother had died a mere week ago, and she called herself lucky…

Of course she did. That was Hawke. Her pain was inked on her back in twisting black lines so she could maintain that beautiful smile.

Fenris swallowed hard. He had no idea it could hurt to love someone this much. “Yes, well,” he said gruffly. “Anders said no more adventures for at least a week, so your luck can have some time to recover.”

She groaned. “Bedrest? Not having to run from Lowtown to Sundermount to save everyone? What a pity. Shall I gnash my teeth and wail in despair?” She yawned deeply, covering her mouth with her hand to hide the yawn.

Fenris smirked. “Go back to sleep, Hawke. You need it.”

She smiled again. Her eyes were drifting closed already. “Bossy,” she slurred. “You can use that bossy tone with me anytime.”

He huffed with amusement, but the smile was already slipping from her face, her cheeks relaxing back into the easy rest of slumber. Moments later, she was asleep again.

Fenris quietly studied her sleeping face, that residual smear of dirt on her cheek, the tangled ropes of her hair that coiled around her head and neck. A few minutes later, when he was sure she was deeply asleep, he reached toward her.

With this thumb, he carefully wiped the dirt from her cheekbone.

He hesitated. Then, very carefully, he lifted a lock of hair away from her neck. Gently, so gently, he ran the edge of his thumb along the delicate line of her jaw, then reluctantly lifted his hand away.

Fenris had to be with her. There was no question about it. But that meant that he had to act.

There was no excuse anymore for the suspended state in which he’d lived his life. If he wanted to be with Hawke, he had to know everything about his past. He had to make sure he hadn’t left any skeletons behind - figurative or literal - that would rise up to steal his future. He had to know if he’d once had a family, if he’d once been capable of caring for someone without hurting them constantly the way he’d done to Hawke.

Fenris had to be whole and good and strong, so he could stand beside Hawke and support her the way she supported him.

And there was only one way to find out everything he needed to know.

He had to find his sister.

#fenris #fenris fic #fenhawke #fenris x hakwe #fenris/hawke #fenris/femhawke #fenris x femhawke #fenris/f!hawke #fenris x f!hawke #pikapeppa writes #gearing up for the writing of Act 3!! who's ready?? JFC I AM I CAN TELL YOU THAT

[expurgatedversion]

I hate explaining things, especially if they are transparent to everyone who participated, but Mads was kind enough to think it might make a difference to lay out exactly how that theme won. The funny thing is that none of those complaints or appeals had shit all to do with our methodology. Weird, right? It's almost like they were concerned with a completely unrelated thing. Unpossible!

With that in mind, this is not a post about The Theme That Dare Not Speak Its Name or Steter Week. This isn't even a post addressed to the people with all of those concerns.

This is (mostly) a post for anyone who has no idea what the Scerek Anon or anti-Scott sentiment has to do with Steter fandom.

The very short answer is that they don't.

If you want the longer answer, there is an entire investigative report that happened. No, I'm not fucking with you. It totally happened, and you can read it here. 

If you want the other long answer about racism affecting fandom trends and favorite characters, you’ll have to do your own homework.

So am I saying that no one left Steter fandom over Scott-hate? Nope. I don't know everyone. I've also been told that learning about the Scerek Anon caused a lot of a big feelings in people who weren't even the targets. 

Speaking of targets, let's not forget that the Steter fandom was barely touched by these events. The Scerek Anon seemed to enjoy several different Stiles-ships as long as Scott or Malia weren't involved, and they were known to leave positive comments on Steter fics. Steter writers were not the ones being harassed for their correct use of AO3 tags. They weren’t sent horrible messages wishing they or their families would die for daring to include Scott or write Derek in a less than perfect light. I find it infuriating that anyone would try to say that the Steter fandom ever faced the same kind of treatment that the Scott, Braeden, and Malia fandoms did.

But Nyx made some extraordinary claims, particularly about the “biggest Steter fans”.

"Steter fandom is so much smaller and quieter today than it used to be is because some of the biggest Steter fans of several years ago were bullied into silence or out of the fandom"

"One of the leaders and many of the biggest proponents of lolscerekanon were big Steter fans"

Okay. Credit where it’s due. The second one is pretty accurate. But the first is not remotely based in reality. With the mention of lolscerekanon, I have to believe that Nyx is specifically talking about Taylorpotato, and I'm sorry. Is this seriously an assertion that he was silenced or bullied by anti-Scott fans? I guess he was so bullied that he proceeded to write Scott-centric fic for the better part of a year. Yes, he was so petrified by the overwhelming hatred for Scott fics that he spearheaded a project to mock the Scerek Anon and eventually declared that they had won against the troll. 

But no, he and all of those other unnamed Steter writers fled the fandom because the Scott hatred was too powerful.

There are plenty of older fans who are still here, but I can also think of several well-known people who no longer create Steter content. Some of them still read and comment on Steter fics. Many of them are writing in other fandoms. A lot of these people are awfully findable for being “in hiding”.

You know who I do remember being harassed over fics/blog posts and actually left fandom? Kinkyfics and Morallydubious. I can’t say if it was Scott-related. It seemed to involve several issues, including nasty comments, but regardless of their motives, it would be a huge stretch to call them Steter writers as most of their work was for other pairings.

Is Steter fandom smaller and quieter? The AO3 tag updates more frequently than ever. The @steternetwork gets new followers everyday, and they mostly don’t look like spam bots. The Network chat almost always has someone online, ready to talk about Steter, and there are some other Steter chats around.

None of that sounds smaller or quieter to me, but hey. Your mileage may vary.

Now, I'm going to get a little personal here. It wasn’t part of the original plan, but my annoyance level has increased a lot as I’ve watched the wank unfold.

Maybe it’s coincidental or just a case of weird optics, but I find it positively fascinating that Nyx hasn’t mentioned Steter Week since arguing with me and Bxdcubes about fandom’s ability to come to their own conclusions.  Isn’t it funny how she claims that this will be the year... now that Mar isn’t involved and I’m on a different blog? I guess Nyx is ready to release about two years' worth of thwarted Steter smut. After all, there's no way that anyone has ever managed to continue posting fic in a fandom after disagreeing with people.

Looks pointedly at 220k of Sterek fic on Nyx's AO3. 

Well, fuck me running. I guess the realization that the Steter fandom won't blindly agree with anything was harder to take than the frequent debates and callouts Nyx deals with now.

Folks, I am beyond tired of the character/ship squads and pro-anti-whatever fighting. I am done crusading for anything, even trash. I no longer have it in me to engage in The Discourse 24/7. One of the reasons I made a new tumblr home was to get away from the endless wank.

Yes, there are people in the fandom who hate Scott. Maybe they dislike his crooked jaw, or they disapprove of the actor’s life choices. I don’t care. They’re allowed. Plenty of people hate Peter/Ian Bohen, and I sleep just fine at night. I don’t even harass them or hijack their event posts, and from what I’ve seen of fandom, that’s downright amazing.

*My apologies if this winds up in the tag. Hopefully, it won’t show up if you use tagged/steter instead of the search bar. *Regarding the creators I’m aware of who no longer contribute to Steter: I don't name them here because they don't deserve to be dragged into this ridiculous shit. Quite frankly, none of us do. *I hope everyone realizes that I'm not minimizing what happened to the people who felt unable to continue in fandom because of any kind of ship or character hate, but the post specified "the biggest Steter fans", so that's what I examined. *I have answered and received more than my share of questions about Taylorpotato. If I receive any personal or intrusive asks on that topic, I will delete them. Anything I’ve said about him in this post is available on tumblr and ao3.

#mal has a life #get off my lawn #fandom wank #long post

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

Here's what you need to know about those CGI influencers invading your feed

Human influencers like Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner might want to secure their positions in the influencer realm before they get ousted by glorified Sims.

That's right: There are now computer generated images that do exactly what human influencers do. There's a human behind each one — coming up with captions and manually generating the content — though it can be unclear who exactly that person is. The financial threads are equally hazy, but you can be sure that someone is making money off of these "people."

According to CBS, the digital influencer market is set to reach $2 billion in the next two years. The scariest thing is just how convincing these artificial influencers really are: 42 percent of people who were following a digital Instagrammer didn't realize it wasn't a real person, according to a recent study by the media company Fullscreen.

SEE ALSO: 'Alita: Battle Angel' is relevant for cyborgs and humans alike

I set out to understand who exactly these new influencers are, and why they exist. That involved interacting with them — or at least trying to. The feeling of being left on read by people who don't exist is a unique one. It also made me feel like they're hiding something. But here's what we know ... so far. 

Rest assured, they'll either save us from the digital malaise we’ve all scrolled ourselves into, or destroy us further. 

Lil Miquela, 1.5 million followers

Lil Miquela, or Miquela Sousa, is a perpetually 19-year-old girl from Downey, California. She has all the necessary ingredients for Insta-success: good looks, flashy clothing, a nonexistent yet bottomless bank account, and a passion for activism. It's easy to forget you're looking at a bot when reading her captions, which are sprinkled with witty remarks and relatable musings. "No lie, I wish I’d been assembled in the ’90s ..." she quips, echoing the very human desire to be from another time. It's part of what makes her so popular — and so uncanny. 

View this post on Instagram

So am I just going to have crushes on everyone this year? That’s how it’s gonna be, huh? Cool, cool.

A post shared by *~ MIQUELA ~* (@lilmiquela) on Jan 4, 2019 at 5:08pm PST

The algorithmic babe was named one of the 25 most influential people on the internet by Time last year, alongside Busy Philips and Logan Paul. (She was the only non-human to make the cut.) It's safe to say the integration of bot personalities into the mainstream has begun. 

In addition to being an influencer, she’s also a singer and merch seller. Miquela has around 52,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Not bad for someone who doesn’t exist in the physical realm. 

And the merch? Socks from Club 404, Lil Miquela's overpriced swag brand, will run you $30 for two pairs.

But wait a second, why CGI influencers?

Before we introduce more of these new age avatars, it's important to understand how they came to be. Cue Brud. And Cain Intelligence. 

Brud is the LA-based tech startup credited with Miquela's existence. It's described as a  "transmedia studio that creates digital character driven story worlds," whatever that means. Other than that, it's pretty much a mystery. We do know that it was founded by two people: Sara DeCou and Trevor McFedries, neither of whom could be reached for comment. 

Cain Intelligence is even more of a mystery. Founded by Daniel Cain, who may or may not be real, the company is another startup. It describes itself as "the industry leader in Conscious Language Intelligence (CLI), a type of Artificial Intelligence that allows for humans to engage with our specialized robots in free-format, natural language." The website feels bleak and dark, something a villain in a spy movie would create. (It's also pro-Trump.) 

If you're reading this and you're confused, that's sort of the point. Lil Miquela and Blawko, another CGI influencer, are characters created by Brud. Bermuda, also a CGI influencer, was made by Cain Intelligence. Allegedly. But wait: Bermuda now has Brud's Instagram page tagged in her own bio, followed by the message "Look closer"; likewise, Brud's bio identifies Bermuda as a client. Seems like Cain was a marketing hoax to launch Bermuda and her right-wing agenda? As a scheme to get attention for the entire CGI universe Brud has created, it seems to have worked. 

The only person I was able to get in contact with about these three CGI influencers was Jemma Litchfield from Huxley, the creative agency that represents Miquela, Bermuda, and Blawko. In an email, she said she "looked after Miquela." She said they weren't doing interviews, but she'd fact check for me, if I'd like. She didn't offer any clarification about Brud or Cain Intelligence, but instead shifted some sentences around and corrected my first-draft grammar. 

Perhaps the enigmatic nature of Brud and Cain is the reason their influential prototypes have become so successful and so followed. Curiosity today usually leads to a Google search. But when there's no information available beyond what you already know, it can prompt a fascination. Or frustration. 

Anyway, meet Miquela's digital squad: Bermuda and Blawko. 

Bermuda, 133k followers

Bermuda is a controversial blonde known for stirring the digital pot. She's pro-Trump and describes herself as a "robot supremacist." She also once hacked Miquela's page, which gained followers for both of them, pushing Miquela past the 1 million mark, a milestone that opens up a lot of doors in influencer world, including lucrative brand deals with prominent designers. 

Now Bermuda and Miquela are friends who hang out, go to lunch, and put makeup on each other— digitally.

View this post on Instagram

💚💚💚 Decided to give Twitter another try. I’m BermudaIsBae there, too. 💚💚💚 In a great mood today and I hope you all are, too. Mwah!

A post shared by Bermuda (@bermudaisbae) on Nov 12, 2018 at 5:27pm PST

Blawko, 135k followers 

Miquela and Bermuda are joined by another Brud-born character, Blawko, whom they both seem smitten with. Just like Miquela and Bermuda, he offers an eerily authentic personality. He plays video games, goes on dates, and doesn't clean his room. As for the bizarre love triangle between him, Miquela, and Bermuda ... Are we supposed to imagine them in compromising positions? Is this a clear representation of CGI flirtation by default? We're not really sure! 

View this post on Instagram

heaux heaux heaux

A post shared by 🅱️LAWKO (@blawko22) on Dec 20, 2018 at 3:34pm PST

Aside from the Brud crowd, there are other CGI influencers out there in the digital space.

Lil Wavi, 12.1k followers

If you squint, Instagram user @lil_wavi might seem like just another Soundcloud rapper-looking hypebeast, dressed in the latest streetwear and spattered with tattoos. Upon further inspection, you'll see he's a digitally-rendered avatar in human clothing. His graphics give off an edgy early-2000s Sims vibe. Since he "lives in a computer," he can get his hands on expensive pieces of designer clothing that he describes as "the drip" and cites as his main draw. "I’m all about innovation, encouraging creativity, pushing minds to think out of the shitty boundaries," he — or, rather, the unidentified human speaking for him — told Mashable over email. "I want my fans to be influenced in that way. It’s important to me that I am sending positive vibes out to them all." 

View this post on Instagram

Flameboyyyy 🛸🏴‍☠️ yuhhh my $$ fly 💸💸💸 y’all ready for merch?

A post shared by 🛸LIL WAVI🛸 (@lil_wavi) on Jan 28, 2019 at 10:05am PST

Noonoouri, 279k followers

Brand deals and fashion show appearances abound for this influencer. It's unclear how a digital avatar can attend IRL events, but a quick scroll of her page will show her doing just that. Noonoouri takes her role as influencer very seriously. When Vogue Australia asked about her favorite beauty products, she answered, "I love KKW Beauty contour and highlight — they truly work!" Since she's done ads — on YouTube and on Instagram — for KKW Beauty before, it's no surprise that she would plug the products. What's surprising is that a digital persona who looks straight out of a Pixar short is using makeup and getting paid for it. 

Joerg Zuber, Noonoouri's creator, spent several years making her before debuting the influencer on Instagram. A visit to her page suggests she was recently in Africa for a number of fashion-related appearances. And she's from Paris, France, according to her Instagram bio. "I am who I am. If I can help or support others I am very happy. I believe in swarm intelligence. In times like these we need to share and not to hold back," she told Mashable via email. 

"I have a real soul," says Noonoouri.

Image: Joerg zuber

Shudu, 172k followers

Self-identified as "The World's First Digital Supermodel," Shudu was created by beauty photographer Cameron James Wilson as an art project. She blew up when her image was featured on Rihanna's Fenty Beauty Instagram page. In the photo, she's modeling one of the buzzy beauty line's lip products and smizing for the ... computer? Though she's more model than influencer, her likeness is used to sell, too. Shudu doesn't have a personality, per se, but it's because Wilson hasn't come across a human that could do her justice — yet: "Only someone similar to Shudu would be appropriate to tell her story, and really shape who she is as ‘person,’" he mused to Mashable via email. He supports the movement to create more digital supermodels like Shudu: "It doesn’t matter who you are, if you study art and learn how to use 3D programs, you too can be a 6ft tall virtual runway model!" 

View this post on Instagram

Shudu @thesavoylondon trying on beautiful #EEBAFTAs outfits, complete with @atelierswarovski earrings. 6 days to go till she shares #redcarpet looks with you all. . @ee @BAFTA . . #3D #3Dart #digitalsupermodel #worldsfirstdigitalsupermodel #virtualinfluencer #BTS

A post shared by Shudu (@shudu.gram) on Feb 4, 2019 at 11:07am PST

Barbie, 6.2 million subscribers

Here's a familiar face. The uber-popular icon that is Barbie has a digital counterpart, and she's a vlogger. Her first video, in which she introduces herself, went up in 2015. In it, she talks about being from Wisconsin (who knew?) and having a sister. "I've always just been curious about things," she shares earnestly, her huge animated eyes blinking like those of a human YouTuber. Since then, she's uploaded over 75 vlogs, most of which include her sister Skipper and boyfriend Ken, to the YouTube channel owned and operated by Mattel. Barbie is the OG influencer — she's known for doing a million different jobs and having fun while doing them. Why reinvent the wheel?

Balenciaga's digi-models 

While you can't follow these influencers, they're worth mentioning. To show off their Spring 2019 collection on Instagram, Spanish fashion house Balenciaga utilized shape-shifting digital models made by artist Yilmaz Sen. In a series of short video clips on Instagram, the digital models sparked questions about the future of technology in fashion.  With cool haircuts and names like Elsa and Ruben, everything about them screams high fashion. However, unlike human models that walk down runways, these models stand in place and distort themselves like they're made of rubber. Because all haute couture should be shown on computer-generated contortionist models! 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Balenciaga (@balenciaga) on Nov 14, 2018 at 1:53am PST

What's next, then?

Tapping around on these digi-fluencer's pages provides an exciting, if not unsettling, look at the future of technology and the part it may play in pop culture. Some question the validity, appeal, and purpose of these bots. Perhaps it's performance art. Or maybe it's all just an elaborate stunt to leverage consumer action? YouTuber Shane Dawson has a popular video dedicated to uncovering the identity of Lil Miquela. He even calls her on the phone — only to be met with a clearly auto-tuned voice who's careful not to give anything away, or falter at all. 

Liz Bacelar, a tech expert, mused to Forbes that we could potentially find ourselves living in a world in which we all have a digital avatar. And with facial recognition being insidiously installed in mundane places (like gas stations) in order to advertise, secure, and identify us, this may be sooner than we think. Just imagine, we'll be in self-driving cars, scrolling by digitized avatars trying to make us use their discount codes. Or perhaps we'll allow our digitized selves to live for us, like we've seen in futuristic movies like Ready Player One and Wall-E. 

Think of your new CGI friends as the pixelated pioneers of a new, formulated frontier. Who knows? Maybe our human selves could be rendered virtually useless. For now, though, we can just keep an eye on Instagram.

WATCH: Dunkin' and Saucony release running shoe ahead of Boston Marathon

#_category:yct:001000002 #_lmsid:a0Vd000000DTrEpEAL #_uuid:8b8db620-cdb5-39b6-b9bd-f5de5787ae55 #_author:Harry Hill #_revsp:news.mashable

[crimisin]

So I just replied to a friends post about wanting to filter out the pornbots from a tracked tag.

But I don’t know how well I managed to get the process across, and it’s something other people might want to see so I made a little guide

First of all you need to have xkit installed

and then you’re going to find the xkit extension “servant” 

and install that sucker

then go back to the my xkit tab and click on it 

Now there’s a whole drop down list of things you can select here but since we want to kick the porn bots out of our tracked tags first we’ll be selecting the option for when we’re viewing a tracked tag or tag search page

then we’re going to add another condition which will be when the post is made by a nsfw or adult blog (you can also choose either separately)

So now that you’ve set the conditions you can decide what action you want taken, we want to hide these posts so that’s exactly what we’ll do

then you just have to click the add servant button at the bottom and presto

No more porn bots.

Fair warning, I don’t personally filter out nsfw material regularly I did create this servant and then go into the corset tag (which has a huge problem with porn bots) and the only nsfw/porn I saw was at the top of pages before xkit fully loaded So i really do believe this should work

But if it doesn’t I’m very sorry, please tell me so I can delete this post in shame

#cryptfly #long post

[she-willnotfall]

15 Things You Should Do In SEO 2019

This is important to focus upon SEO professional if you want to bring more traffic in order to your site and increase the particular visitors of your content. Every advertising SEO blog will be talking about online video advertising and every third company professional you talk to is intending to shift marketing dollars to a good online video campaign. ” Simply by 2019, video is expected in order to account for 80 percent associated with all web traffic. Don't set it and neglect it. Take time to review your SEO keyword strategy each few months to make certain it's still relevant and attaining the outcomes you want. Stories are a easy method to do marketing, you simply need to include some custom made images or text in purchase to let people know these people could swipe to click plus see where you can obtain a skirt, grill, buy SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, or anything else you're attempting to pitch to the people. Jana Granko, PR (public relations) head with SEMrush - one of the particular top marketing tools of the particular world - believe that within 2019 AI (artificial intelligence) would certainly change the way people lookup for keywords. In fact, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is simply one part associated with every successful digital marketing technique, but possibly the most essential part. These are called SEO rank factors. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is the art and technology of driving the most certified visitors to your website simply by attaining high search engine outcomes. In Digital SEO Land, Rintu Biswas a professional SEO expert within Kolkata will assist you in order to build quality backlinks aimed at your website. This ‘what is SEO‘ guide (and this whole website) is not about churn and burn type of Search engines SEO (called webspam to Google) as that is too dangerous to deploy on a true business website in 2018. Here's a true statement you don't need to hear as often: Your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION technique for 2018 shouldn't concentrate on keywords. (1888PressRelease) Packet Marketing, a Boston-based, full-service SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and internet marketing firm today announces they have been positioned as the number five SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION firm in the 2010 Advertising World Top ten SEO Organization Award initiative. According to Forrester Study, the number of global smart phone subscribers is expected to achieve 3. 5 billion by 2019, crossing the 50% mark regarding smartphone penetration by 2018, plus reaching 59% by 2019. On-page SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ensures that your site can be read by both possible customers and search engine programs. In 2019, voice-search will end up being the dominant way that individuals search. But SEO is all regarding the organic” rankings, which show up in the middle of the particular search results page. The most important SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION factor for creating high-quality content material is doing good keyword study. Criteria changes in 2018 seem in order to centre on reducing the effectiveness of old-school SEO techniques, along with the May 2015 Google ‘Quality' protocol update bruisingly familiar. Keep in mind in SEO article writing suggestions you keywords have to create sense too. Domain Authority within SEO is a rank that will measures how popular and reliable search engines call at your own website. If the terms you happen to be hoping to rank regarding don't display on the page, this will be much more tough to achieve your goals -- making on-page optimization a important part of most SEO advertisments. With internet customers who use their mobiles in order to search on the increase, since an SEO consultant it can make sense to possess a look at the particular effects SEO marketing is putting on search engine optimization. The sole purpose of SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Services is to improve your own search engine ranking. Assure redirected domains redirect through the canonical redirect and this too offers any chains minimised, although Produce sure to audit the backlink user profile for any redirects you stage at a page just such as reward comes punishment if all those backlinks are toxic (another type of Google opening up the particular war which is technical seo on a front it's not really, and in fact is speak, to building backlinks to your own site). In order to smoothen out the software system interface problem, the web developing team as well as the particular SEO specialist work together in order to build the major search motors friendly programs and code that may be easily integrated into the user's website. They will possess to find SEO expert sites, who will help the company owner's site have many clients in internet marketing. This is since they are not SEO pleasant and can affect your positioning significantly. These SEO crawler programs are similar to Google's own crawlers and will provide you an overview showing just how your page will perform within SEO rankings. Google is making certain it takes longer to discover results from black and white hat SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, and intent on ensuring the flux in its SERPs centered largely on where the searcher is in the world during the particular time of the search, plus where the business is situated near to that searcher. Deciding on the best key phrases is critical for successful SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and it is easy in order to choose the wrong ones through falling into the trap associated with optimization. Research engine optimisation, or SEO, is the procedure of enhancing your site's rating in search results. Web Marketing SEO, and in specific, Google SEO is the essential. Get into your competitor's URL into the particular SEMRush search bar and you should end up being provided with a list associated with SEO keywords, with their search positions and traffic. About: Brighton SEO is made up of courses and a one-day search marketing conference. Before this change, the greatest practice was to avoid concealed content at any cost because it wasn't as effective intended for SEO (it was either as well much to crawl for the particular bot in some instances or even given less important by Search engines in others). This is due to the particular fact that you will require contents to be submitted in order to the websites for whom a person are working as an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, when you build the hyperlinks, you will need to supply the profile information, and a person will also have to produce articles for submissions as nicely as numerous other types associated with written work. If you've actually searched for something online (and most of us have), a person already know read more regarding SEO than you think a person do. We all already see this trend within several places, like extremely accurate targeting of social ads -- some brands still approach SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and content creation with the one-size-fits all attitude. I think it as simple as a good example to illustrate an factor of onpage SEO or ‘rank modification', that's white hat, totally Google friendly plus not, ever going to trigger you a issue with Search engines. So when you want to get began which includes basic SEO, the particular first thing that I would certainly recommend would be choosing the set of keywords for every page on your website. Away page, SEO has contrasted along with it. Undoubtedly, off page search engine optimization is all about link developing, but the quality links plus content. Via a direct incorporation of Google's Search Console, Siteimprove SEO helps you understand how the particular world's most popular search motor and its users see and—more importantly—find your website. On Page Ranking Factors — Moz's on page ranking aspects explains the different on web page elements and their importance within SEO. Surprisingly enough, some sort of lot of SEOs out presently there do tend to underestimate this power of Google Trends Typically the tool has a separate "YouTube search" feature, which hides underneath the "Web search" option. An SEO agency may work together with a organization to provide an added viewpoint, when it comes to knowing and developing marketing strategies with regard to different sectors and various varieties of business websites. Given the ratings and search volume, SEO may drive considerable traffic and prospects for Grainger. SEO stands for lookup engine optimization - that significantly has stayed the same. But they keep on transforming their algorithms making it challenging to rely on one specific tool for SEO optimization Plus today you could have a good appropriate rank which may not really last in the coming 6 months.

Search Motor Optimization (SEO) is the technique to campaign your products on-line towards the right clientele intended for increasing ROI. There are many tools upon the web to assist along with basic keyword research (including the particular Google Keyword Planner tool and there are even more useful third party SEO tools to help you perform this). The biggest change that will we'll see in 2019 (and that's already happening) is the particular fact that keywords are getting less important. Once you've discovered your keywords, use another SEMrush tool, the SEO Content Design template, which is part of their own Content Marketing Toolkit, to function out the best way in order to optimize your content. If a company is providing you all these services below one roof, climbing up the particular SEO ranking will not end up being an uphill task for your own business any more. Local SEO companies allows a person to position your business upon search engines like google plus other digital marketing platforms therefore you're seen by potential clients — on their terms. YouTube adds the particular nofollow” tag to their hyperlinks, so they don't really assist with SEO. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION isn't just about building research engine-friendly websites. The sooner you understand exactly why Google is sending you much less traffic than it did a year ago, the sooner you can clear it up and focus upon proactive SEO that starts to effect your rankings in a good way. The trending SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION technique or strategy now plus in 2019 will be Research Enterprise Optimization It has already been coined by myself since 2015.

When a person think of a white head wear you may think of the particular Kentucky Derby or perhaps a Royal Wedding ceremony but in SEO speak this means the group of strategies involving the best practice, the particular ones that earn you most of the gold stars plus brownie points, the ones that will don't use bad manipulations to achieve traction or ranking, but individuals who do what they perform to the best of their particular abilities, create wonderful content plus follow all the rules. Also, worthy of bearing in mind is of which Google pay attention to developments and what their customers need, if you want to keep ahead of the game plus make sure your SEO will be fit to get a 2019 audience, that is worth ensuring you likewise include SEO techniques that follow newer trends such as words searching. Our own search engine optimisation (SEO) solutions are designed to increase presence inside the algorithmic (natural”, organic”, or free”) search results in order to deliver high quality, targeted visitors to your site. We might suggest them as an agency for any range of digital marketing providers from content marketing and on-page SEO. In short, we think that SEO in 2019 will certainly have to shift focus actually more towards answering people's queries and solving people's problems. With this SEO article creating guidelines formula it pleases the particular search engines and the visitors reading the content. Search Engine Search engine optimization Starter Guide — This guideline was written by Google and possesses many SEO best practices regarding webmasters. On this web page you'll find a list associated with 21 SEO insanely tactical methods that you can use in order to boost your engine rankings. 26% of respondents state email is the digital advertising channel using the greatest positive influence on revenue; SEO is 2nd (17%), followed by paid lookup (15%), social media (5%), plus online display advertising (5%). Along with an increased focus on consumer experience, Google has challenged the particular SEO community to pay even more attention to the entire knowledge of a website and just how the content interacts with customers, rather than just the simple elements that most optimize towards. While that may not get solved in 2018, we want integrate the SEO group alongside other marketing, both compensated and owned initiatives. For example, a few Blog9T businesses miss the mark along with SEO and images, and nevertheless rank well. Luckily, you can find your very own broken links on site using the particular myriad of Tools available. Ask any SEO services company and they will tell a person that whenever a page is usually searched, the major search motors spiders search it through hyperlinks. Effective SEO aims to improve research engine position, user visits, come back visits, and to improve transformation rates, which reflect the amounts of visitors who take preferred actions on the site. Wise SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION activities transform your rankings in the particular search engine results page (SERP). This is the greatest goal for ecommerce SEO, plus the traffic those links can bring through will convert with a very high rate. Over the particular last 20 years SocialSEO provides grown to be the biggest full digital marketing firm within the state of Colorado, offering Social Media, Pay Per Click on and SEO in Denver, Co Springs, Boulder and across the particular State. Lastly, Amazon will dominate ecommerce queries in 2018 via Alexa voice, touch, as well as other innovative interfaces, leaving many e-commerce SEOs in order to focus in on the content-side of their marketing. If you could use twenty times more chances for net traffic, three times better outcomes than social, and returns about investment that will only enhance over time, SEO must end up being a priority. Since artificial intelligence search motor optimization is in its preliminary stage, the impact of synthetic intelligence in marketing is heading to be felt in 2019 and 2020. So regional businesses have to put unique effort into maximizing their SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION efforts for local visibility, which usually means doing things like customization their Google Places pages. All these types of steps are used by the particular company to provide the greatest search engine optimization services in order to its clients in Thailand, below the Thailand SEO concept. Keyword phrases, whilst not being as important in order to SEO ranking as they as soon as were, still play an essential part. •Social Mass media Optimization - SEO services make use of various means of social mass media optimization for clients. Lots of people are usually now asking, How will AI and Voice Search impact SEO”? User-generated content racks up serious SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION points by providing sites along with fresh content, bundles of inbound links, and sources for organically framing natural attributes. You'll find it right here Also really worth checking away is Moz's Beginner's Explained SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, ” which you'll find right here, and the SEO Success Pyramid from Small Business Search Marketing and advertising. Off-page SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategy refers to the impact of a change in various other websites in your search position. Bruce Clay-based set the standard for honest internet marketing by authoring the particular " SEO Code of Integrity, " now translated into eighteen languages, and it has already been a respected leader within the particular ever-changing research engine marketing industry since mil novecentos e noventa e seis. Website SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (including, content optimisation, meta optimization, the significance of links). A good SEO Specialist is someone who else is an expert on the particular topic of search engine search engine optimization. Just since a proper On-page and Off-page SEO optimization work will provide a better Ranking to your own website in Search Engine Outcome Page (SERP). The largest SEO change and craze I realize already happening within 2018 is Google's switch in order to a mobile-first index, so in case a site is not however mobile-friendly and optimized for this, it's critical to prioritize this particular as it is now basic for its SEO success. With good on-page SEO, research engines can easily index your own web pages, understand what your own site is about, and quickly navigate the structure and content material of your website, thus rank your site accordingly.

Keep in mind that will links, content, and user knowledge are all major SEO rank factors. Could holistic approach will ultimately eliminate a lot of the particular issues created by some SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION practitioners over the years, I actually suspect that search engines' technical engineers will initially overestimate the accuracy of their AI, resulting within Penguin-level collateral damage. SEO (Search Motor Optimization) is the process associated with making a website more noticeable in search results, also called improving search rankings. Siteimprove SEO furthermore provides in-tool tips on where to start and the way to get the most out associated with your keyword research and supervising. We've already been operating in the SEO plus content marketing industry since last year and know how search motors work. Generally there are a great number associated with resources out there surrounding aggressive link analysis (and a great deal that have been authored simply by me! ) but whenever I actually speak with people that are usually working on SEO projects, it can always one of those "yeah, I realize I should do this more" tasks. Amy Kilvington, Marketing Executive at Custom Drapes, believes that SEOs are heading to have to optimize social networking more as Google indexes this and prioritizes it over their own sites' pages. Social media will be the easiest and most efficient way to push out the SEO-based content. However, generally there are some easy adjustments that will you can make to the particular search engine optimization (SEO) component of it, which will ideally provide you with fantastic results.

The Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) Keyword Electrical generator is like a thesaurus intended for SEO -minded content marketers. SEMRush - Another excellent tool for SEO analysis, especially where it concerns business cleverness, SEMRush allows you to recognize and analyze the keywords that will your competitors are using. I'm heading to share some of our most effective SEO tips that will I've used within all types of campaigns to increase organic lookup traffic. FAST SEO ADVICE search engine search engine optimization is not magic, and are not able to perform wonders. This SEO guidelines and tricks cover all the required information you should know concerning Search Engine Optimization. The SEO content author should have a strong knowing of the keywords that are usually ranking and trending on the particular analytics framework. In 2018, there were certain trends of which ruled the world of e-commerce SEO (search engine optimization). Don't get frightened by them but make certain to use only natural hyperlinks and keep in mind that will their SEO potential may end up being a bit lower in assessment with single links. As a partner to the table, Internet lookup engine Land's Guide To SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION explains the ranking factors within more depth, inside a tutorial delivering tips and advice on applying them. Google states that sociable media is not an fast SEO ranking factor, but the majority of experts agree that things this sort of as retweets and facebook stocks DO, in fact, effect websites' rankings. And since SEO furthermore targets users who are positively searching for products and providers like yours, the traffic ensuing from SEO is more competent than many other marketing methods, leading to cost-savings for businesses. In 2018, SEO is content and content material is SEO, content is electronic and digital is content. Before starting a good SEO project, site owners ought to carefully read through the site owner guidelines that every search motors provides and follow recommended greatest practices. This is clear that when website owners hire a search engine optimisation SEO expert, they stand the better chance of maximizing their own SEO services. Search motors cannot understand this type associated with content, so it's crucial to style video pages in an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION oriented manner. Subscribe to our weekly SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and daily SearchCap newsletters for a summarize of all the latest SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION related news, tips and strategies from Internet search engine Property and other sources all more than the Web. When you aren't The 7 Secrets That You Shouldn't Know About SEO 2019 logged in, go to SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Toolkit » Keyword Research » Keyword Overview. For just about any SEO technique to operate successfully you require content and that will can come in any type like keywords, articles or sites. From 2019, AI may be utilized by the businesses to acquire higher rankings upon search engines. Consequently, it can be a great idea to incorporate expenses intended for professional SEO content in your own quarterly marketing budget. Google will see right by means of sneaky, black hat SEO strategies like creating duplicate pages, developing pages with thin content simply for the sake of obtaining more pages and buying inbound links. Performing SEO upon your own websites is the great method to practice plus hone your SEO ability. We optimize your web site both of internal and exterior factors thats Google's engine rely on and reliable for top rank search result, Gurantee your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ranking No succeed can refundable. Looking deeper: An SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION cost often means one associated with two things: the investment within your organic search strategy, or just how much you pay for compensated search engine marketing (SEM) providers like Google AdWords. All of us are dealing with new methods designed to target old design SEO tactics and that concentrate around the truism that WEBSITE ‘REPUTATION' plus Plenty of WEB PAGES plus SEO equals Plenty associated with Keywords equals LOTS of Search engines traffic. BrightonSEO is a one-day search marketing and advertising conference and series of coaching courses held, unsurprisingly, in Brighton. From narrowing straight down target markets to changing the particular way content is written, AI and voice search will possess a continuous effect on SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION moving forward. One aspect of SEO will be link building, which we will certainly discuss slightly below, which usually leads to thin content. Applications for typically the 2018-2019 cycle of the SEO Progress programme are now closed plus will re-open again in Springtime 2019. SEO could be difficult because search engines are often reevaluating and changing how they will prioritize search engine results. Moreover, it will help SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION by gaining backlinks, likes, remarks or shares. This free marketing device is really a long-term technique and can be time rigorous but it will worth this. A good user experience is definitely the key to satisfaction plus a powerful SEO. 1 SEO might target different kinds of lookup, including image search, video research, academic search, 2 news lookup, and industry-specific vertical search motors. Many of us are in the fourth fraction of 2018, it is typically the right time start thinking with regards to the year ahead and fresh changes SEO realm might anticipate. We've long known that client opinions, input, and sentiment regarding a brand deeply impact SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION rankings, but we wanted the particular information to prove it. Off-page SEO means getting action to build trust, expert, social signals and inbound hyperlinks. How video affects SEO actually depends on your goals whenever using video in your marketing and advertising campaign and which video system you use. LSI is not really what most SEO professionals claim it to be. This is certainly not a idea that can be used simply by the average web designer or even webmaster to improve their research engine listings, and it will be not what many people, which includes myself, has written it in order to be. Nevertheless, first some history. This particular video walks you through the particular specific steps you should get increased rankings in 2018, including launching speed, technical SEO, content, hyperlinks, and more. Due to the fact it is, all across this year businesses specializing in SEO were active recovering and finding new procedures to optimize the search motor even better than what their own competitors were doing.

[sirlennon]

How To Get People To Like SEO 2019

Content marketing plus SEO are two frequently utilized terms and broadly discussed subjects in digital marketing. To get a better SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, helps your website can obtain on the top among well-known search engines like Bing plus Google. On the some other side, you can ensure a good effective content marketing campaign just when you apply the SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION techniques properly. SEO : Search engine optimization: the procedure of making your internet site better intended for search engines. The purpose of SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION writing is to make your own company more visual, more attractive in website search engines. SEO is definitely the practice of increasing this quantity and quality of visitors to your website through organic and natural search engine results. 31. SEO data can notify a smart social media technique. Solid keyword & marketplace research assist SEO strategy plus allow us to deliver realistic projections and forecasts of opportunity inside your market. Nevertheless, when this comes to developing and performing an audio SEO strategy regarding your business, just creating content material for the keywords your clients are looking for is each arduous and, well, wrong. In this situation, in, the article ranks correct after the official Google recommendations (and it makes sense that will Google should be number one on their own branded query) but Smashing magazine is demonstrated as a position 0” little of text on the problem Google pop up guidelines” within. Search Engine Land, a top quality SEO blog this is the pillar of the community is definitely ranking after Smashing (which occurs to be associated with a style blog than an SEO one). SEO focuses upon rankings in the organic (non-paid) search results. SEO therefore helps you get traffic by search engines. With Ahrefs, a great starting place for keyword research regarding SEO is the Keywords Explorer tool. Topics: SEO, backlink, articles marketing, social media marketing plus advertising, analytics, and more. 60+ sessions on hot topics, good results stories and strategies in SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, SEA, PPC, Social Media, On-line Marketing and SMX Future Monitor. 2018 (I believe) will be a lot associated with catch up on current SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION themes, with the biggest trends” occurring around voice queries to find results. Therefore, SEOmonitor tracks all of the related data that could influence SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION performance and displays it within the Keyword Events Timeline. If you forget that will quality content is a best priority, then you can definitely forget about having an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategy. The particular way we asking the device is different from person in order to person. therefore, optimizing your site 100% mobile friendly to accomplish cellular voice search is very essential to SEO 2019. We am just newbie and significantly i do get frustrated whenever articles doesn't rank on best or near top, but individuals like you and many various other also inspire me to in no way give up. There are a number of points that i wasn't identified up to now but say thanks to to you, you are often make us learn important issues about seo. If your business does not have SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Internet marketing strategies, she or even he will need help through SEO experts. One of the particular most commonly asked questions, White colored hat SEO in layman's vocabulary is applying the right strategies along with a legal strategy to boost your ranking plus increase your popularity. To help our own client's future-proof their businesses plus maximize online Return on Purchase (ROI), we have caused our own global partners to develop a good SEO methodology that aligns along with Google's recommended best practices. Off-page SEO will assist make your website most well-known and visible on the internet, so you can get even more traffic and users for your own website and product. You might be the proprietor of a growing and growing business, the webmaster of the dozen sites, the SEO professional inside a Web agency or the DIY SEO ninja passionate regarding the mechanics of Search: this particular guide is meant for a person. On their business blog, Demand Wave also offers a great article about 2016's tops trends in B2B electronic marketing and SEO. Why don't explore some roles that cultural media plays in SEO. You will craft the SEO strategy around the keyword phrases that will lead customers in order to your most profitable products. Google for example, states that will the no follow link end up being taken literally as well since the link will not become followed at all however within reports done for SEO reasons it shows some conflict in order to this. Selecting the most appropriate key phrases is critical for successful SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and it is easy in order to choose the wrong ones through falling into the trap associated with optimization. Lookup engine marketing, or SEO, is the procedure of enhancing your site's rating in search results. Web Marketing SEO, and in specific, Google SEO is the essential. Get into your competitor's URL into the particular SEMRush search bar and you will become provided with a list associated with SEO keywords, with their ratings and traffic. About: Brighton SEO is made up of courses and a one-day search marketing conference. Before this change, the greatest practice was to avoid concealed content at any cost since it wasn't as effective regarding SEO (it was either as well much to crawl for the particular bot in some instances or even given less important by Search engines in others). This is due to the particular fact that you will require contents to be submitted in order to the websites for whom a person are working as an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, when you build the hyperlinks, you will need to supply the profile information, and a person will also have to provide articles for submissions as properly as numerous other types associated with written work. If you've actually searched for something online (and most of us have), a person already know read more regarding SEO than you think a person do. All of us already see this trend within several places, like extremely specific targeting of social ads -- some brands still approach SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and content creation with the one-size-fits all attitude. I think it as simple as a good example to illustrate an element of onpage SEO or ‘rank modification', that's white hat, totally Google friendly plus not, ever going to result in you a issue with Search engines. So in case you want to get began which includes basic SEO, the particular first thing that I would certainly recommend would be choosing the set of keywords for every page on your website. Away from page, SEO has contrasted along with it. Undoubtedly, off page optimisation is all about link developing, but the quality links plus content. Via a direct incorporation of Google's Search Console, Siteimprove SEO helps you understand how the particular world's most popular search motor and its users see and��more importantly—find your website. On Page Ranking Factors — Moz's on page ranking elements explains the different on web page elements and their importance within SEO. Surprisingly enough, the lot of SEOs out generally there do tend to underestimate the particular power of Google Trends Typically the tool has a separate "YouTube search" feature, which hides below the "Web search" option. An SEO agency may work together with a firm to provide an added viewpoint, when it comes to knowing and developing marketing strategies intended for different sectors and various varieties of business websites. Given the ranks and search volume, SEO may drive considerable traffic and network marketing leads for Grainger. SEO stands for lookup engine optimization - that significantly has stayed the same. But they keep on transforming their algorithms making it tough to rely on one specific tool for SEO optimization Plus today you could have a good appropriate rank which may not really last in the coming 6 months.

Search Motor Optimization (SEO) is the technique to campaign your products on the internet towards the right clientele with regard to increasing ROI. There are many tools upon the web to assist along with basic keyword research (including the particular Google Keyword Planner tool and there are even more useful third party SEO tools to help you perform this). The biggest change that will we'll see in 2019 (and that's already happening) is the particular fact that keywords are getting less important. Once you've discovered your keywords, use another SEMrush tool, the SEO Content Design template, which is part of their own Content Marketing Toolkit, to function out the best way in order to optimize your content. If a company is providing you all these services below one roof, climbing up the particular SEO ranking will not become an uphill task for your own business any more. Local SEO companies allows a person to position your business upon search engines like google plus other digital marketing platforms therefore you're seen by potential clients — on their terms. YouTube adds the particular nofollow” tag to their hyperlinks, so they don't really assist with SEO. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION isn't just about building lookup engine-friendly websites. The sooner you understand exactly why Google is sending you much less traffic than it did this past year, the sooner you can clear it up and focus upon proactive SEO that starts to influence your rankings in a beneficial way. The trending SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION technique or strategy now plus in 2019 will be Research Enterprise Optimization It has already been coined by myself since 2015.

All of us desired to look at a large group that included businesses of just about all sizes and in all sectors so we could really notice how SEO traffic increased whenever the only common denominator was incorporating reviews to their site. In reality, this is area of the SEO technique we have used to continuously grow our organic traffic throughout the last 12 months right here at SnapApp: #3. Mobile will certainly account for 72% of ALL OF US digital ad spend by 2019. This workshop will be designed to help business proprietors implement Digital Marketing techniques regarding their business including social press, organic SEO as well since paid channels. The Beginner's Guide in order to SEO continues to be study over 3 million times plus offers comprehensive information you require to get on the road to professional quality Search Motor Optimization, or SEO. Whether it's using web analytics for carrying out research or even conversion tools that monitor plus report the usage of essential keywords, SEO agencies know just how and where you can obtain the information they need in order to save time furthermore decrease your in-house price. Right now there is probably no more fundamental strategy for SEO than the particular integration of internal links directly into your site - it will be an easy way to increase traffic to individual pages, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Consult says. SEO SERVICES Generally there are a number of SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION services which can help enhance the organic search engine ratings of a website. This particular SEO model is called the "topic cluster, " and contemporary search engine algorithms rely upon them to connect users along with the information they're looking with regard to. Your own SEO strategy likely involves content material designed to be shared upon social media. Take this article intended for example, if you search with regard to reverse engineer Google, ” seo secrets, ” reverse engineering seo, ” this short article is on the particular first page for every associated with those search terms. Social networking and SEO need to be working together, sharing content material or utilizing engagement metrics because data for future article marketing and advertising. Simply put, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is marketing through an knowing of how search algorithms function combined with a knowledge associated with what human users might research for. The results furthermore underscore the value of creating new content with your SEO online marketing strategy. If you Blog9T create new content centered on your priority keywords, a person have several advantages having an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION marketing strategy. Both SEO and content material marketing converge in numerous places; these people do not work in seclusion. Free to enroll in SearchLeeds covers everything from complex SEO and analytics, to PAGE RANK, content marketing, paid media and even more. Following technical mobile SEO greatest practices (e. g., image optimisation, redirects, JavaScript and CSS) will be a necessary barrier to admittance in today's digital world. Over the particular last 20 years SocialSEO offers grown to be the biggest full digital marketing firm within the state of Colorado, delivering Social Media, Pay Per Click on and SEO in Denver, Co Springs, Boulder and across the particular State. Lastly, Amazon will dominate web commerce queries in 2018 via Alexa voice, touch, as well as other innovative interfaces, leaving many e-commerce SEOs in order to focus in on the content-side of their marketing. If you could use twenty times more chances for internet traffic, three times better outcomes than social, and returns about investment that will only boost over time, SEO must become a priority. Since artificial intelligence search motor optimization is in its preliminary stage, the impact of synthetic intelligence in marketing is heading to be felt in 2019 and 2020. So nearby businesses have to put exclusive effort into maximizing their SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION efforts for local visibility, which usually means doing things like customizing their Google Places pages. All these types of steps are used by the particular company to provide the greatest search engine optimization services in order to its clients in Thailand, below the Thailand SEO concept. Keywords and phrases, although it is not being as important to be able to SEO ranking as they when were, still play a significant part. •Social Press Optimization - SEO services make use of various means of social press optimization for clients. Lots of people are usually now asking, How will AI and Voice Search impact SEO”? The sensible strategy for SEO might still appear to be in order to reduce Googlebot crawl expectations plus consolidate ranking equity & possible in high-quality canonical pages plus you do that by reducing duplicate or near-duplicate content. This can take a LONG period for a site to recuperate from using black hat SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION tactics and fixing the issues is not going to necessarily bring organic visitors back as it was just before a penalty. The particular best SEO Guide is right here to dispel those myths, plus give you all you require to know about SEO in order to show up online and some other search engines, and ultimately make use of SEO to grow your company. > > Upon Page Optimization: On-page SEO will be the act of optimizing single pages with a specific finish goal to rank higher plus acquire more important movement within web crawlers. There are a lot of websites providing pertinent information regarding SEO and online marketing, and you will learn from them. But it's perplexing why some businesses don't attempt harder with analysis, revisions, plus new content with their SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION online marketing strategy. An effective SEO strategy may be made up of a variety of elements that ensure your web-site is trusted by both consumers as well as the research engines. By taking their own marketing needs online and employing confer with an experienced SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION agency, a business will be able to achieve thousands, or even millions associated with people that they would possess not been able to usually.

SEO & Content Marketing Software for eCommerce Business, Agencies and Enterprises. Calib Backe, SEO Manager for Walnut Holistics, writes that mobile plus voice are going to keep on their domination of importance because we rely on desktop much less and less. If much associated with your competitors has hired SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION firms to 10-20 keywords within a moderately competitive industry, after that you will have to pay out a small more. The Google Research Console may be the most essential SEO tool on the world. No BS. In case you're done with the fatigued cliches told over and above again at SEO Conferences, after that you're prepared to experience UnGagged - an UnConventional SEO and even Digital Marketing conference that gives real-world results. SEO is a good acronym for the phrase "search engine optimization. " Search motor optimization is focused on doing specific points to your website to operate a vehicle even more traffic to it so that will you can increase online product sales - and traffic. By 2019, the method we search might not alter completely, but these new technology will definitely change the way all of us build links, engage users, plus generate leads through content advertising. Site Champion® increases site visitors by helping shoppers find your own products in search engines via increased keyword rankings using SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION automation. While link quantity is nevertheless important, content creators and SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION professionals are realizing that hyperlink quality is now more essential than link quantity, and since such, creating shareable content may be the very first step to earning valuable hyperlinks and improving your off-page SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION.

Upon the subject of speed, with the beginning of 2017 generally there was still much resistance in order to AMP in the SEO local community overall, but as we mind toward 2018 that feels in order to be dissipating now somewhat along with a reluctant acceptance that AMPLIFIER looks as though it's not really going away sooner. The biggest way that individuals misuse SEO is assuming that will it's a game or that will it's about outsmarting or deceiving the search engines. Both are crucial to the particular success of an SEO marketing campaign, but they're on completely different edges of the fence when this comes to improving your search motor rankings. Greater than 50% of mobile phone customers started using voice search correct from 2015, and so we all can expect that in 2019 and after that not much less than 50% of searches can be in the form associated with voice search. Within the past, getting a great SEO was only about making use of keywords. Remember that SEO is usually about targeting real people, not really only search engines. In the event that you do these on-page plus off-page elements of SEO from least along with your rivals, you can achieve higher lookup engine ranking positions in the particular organic section of search motor results pages and have the quality website capable of keeping your revenue goals. In my opinion that 2018 is going to be the particular year where voice search changes how users search and SEOs need to optimize. SEO or Search engine search engine optimization is a term coined jointly to describe the techniques that will the website should use in order to boost its rankings on the search engine. The much better you get at SEO, the particular more traffic - and even more leads - you're likely in order to attract over time. To find away more read our 2019 developments in SEO marketing report. Are voice searches plus it's expected that by 2019, 67 million voice-assisted devices is usually going to be in make use of in the U. S. These types of kinds of changes and provide on your website shouldn't end up being a problem logistically — the particular overall practice among the greatest web companies nowadays is making sure that websites are flexible sufficient, especially for SEO purposes. Whether you are usually a marketer, webmaster or organization owner, it is very significant invest in voice SEO optimisation to reap benefits in 2019. We said earlier that interpersonal media isn't a direct SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ranking factor, so you're possibly Five Secrets You Will Not Want To Know About SEO 2019 wondering why we're even bringing up it. The particular effects of Black hat SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION are temporary, it will not take the particular search engine long before this spots these illegal strategies plus then penalizes you; the lookup engine may spam your hyperlinks and if you continue making use of these malpractices the search motor will altogether block your web site and links. Algorithmic chasers, technical SEOs, plus Google Doodle followers should develop their technical skills to concentrate on emerging voice search systems and AI applications. Single Grain is a electronic marketing agency in order in order to companies like Uber, Amazon plus Salesforce grow their revenues on the web using SEO and paid marketing. There is definitely no magic wand in your own hands to regulate or manage your competitors' strategies or administration, Google analytics update, or client's behavior communicate business but a person can manage your SEO. In this particular new environment, the digital online marketer who views SEO in the broader context will definitely come away ahead of the competition within 2018 and beyond. Good SEO publications explain in detail how greatest to use keywords and exactly how to structure your entire web site to attract the attention associated with search engine spiders and associated with human visitors, and a posting such as this cannot perform the topic justice. While businesses start on an SEO advertising advertising campaign, they should realize that a good entire marketing campaign can drop flat on its face in the event that a business is unable in order to reach the masses, that will be, their target audience. If your own pages were designed to obtain the most out of Search engines, with commonly known and right now outdated SEO techniques chances are usually Google has identified this plus is throttling your rankings within some way. Numerous business people find keeping upward with the "moving target" associated with SEO distracts them from day-to-day priorities more than they actually imagined, so it's good in order to appear closely at what can make sense for every business. The software process for the SocialSEO Electronic Marketing and SEO Scholarship is definitely done 100% electronically and needs these list of materials. Dave Gregory, Content Marketing Supervisor from the UK based efficiency marketing agency, SiteVisibility, predicts that will 2019, and not 2018, will be going to be the actual year of voice. If we consider Google's Guide then there are almost 200+ factors that lead a site in ranking, which we have got researched and clustered in twenty one On Page SEO Factors, that will needs your attention in 2019. SEO Wise Links can automatically link important terms in your posts plus comments with corresponding posts, webpages, categories and tags on your own blog. 41. An effective sociable media strategy needs a strong SEO plan. Google does make a few of this data obtainable in their own free Webmaster Tools interface (if you haven't set up a merchant account, this is a very useful SEO tool both for unearthing search query data and with regard to diagnosing various technical SEO issues). AI and Tone of voice Search Impact SEO, Lets notice how voice search analytics Impact's SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and can impact in the particular coming time. A great many businesses determine to hire external help in order to get the full benefits regarding SEO, so a large component of our audience is studying how to convince their consumers that search is an excellent investment (and then prove it! ). Nevertheless, SEOs tend in order to prefer links higher on the page. Because your site, thanks to the nature of your current business is going to end up being more image orientated than written text heavy, you may be at a small disadvantage when it comes for you to employing SEO techniques such because keywords, backlinking and so on.