#XIA!!!! WELCOME BACK MY FRIEND <3 <3 <3

[stillresolved]

continued from here! / @ergebenheit

WELL THAT WAS A LUCKY GUESS ON HIS PART. She just happened to confirm it for him. Call it a sixth sense; cops, retired or not, really don’t know how to conceal themselves in these parts. Or maybe Alfred just got lucky with this one. Either way, he keeps on wiping the cup. “You chose to put the badge on; that’s not discrimination. You said yourself anyways.”

Ever relaxed in the face of confrontation, he is. It’s the main reason he’s made a name for himself as an information broker; he stands his ground and always verifies the customers first, no exceptions made. “Once a cop, always a cop.” Or least her clear aggravation confirms this for him; law enforcers have never been great with accepting a no for an answer in his experience. “How do I know you’re not just here to make trouble for the rest of us, huh?”

[marsrize]

SURPRISE! [Part 2 of 5]

Part 1 : Here | Part 3: Here | Part 4: Here | Part 5: Here.

Summary: Dick and Damian discovered that Marinette Wayne should actually be called Marinette Todd. Let's go back a few years and see what happened!

Jason Todd was the first boyfriend of a certain Xia-Bing. She sincerely loved him with all her heart. How did Jason and Xia-Bing meet? Why did they break up? Why didn't Jason know he had a daughter?

Chapter 2: Crossing paths

 Xia-Bing met Jason when he was still living on the streets of Gotham. She was sad after her parents died. With her sister, she had to live with her aunt and uncle. The couple owns several restaurants. She met Jason, while he was trying to escape from a group of men who were chasing him. Xia-Bing saved him.

She goes to give Jason her snack. At first, he refused. She insisted, saying, "Today it's you, tomorrow it's me”.

Jason accepted the gift, but he was still on his guard.

From that day on, Xia-Bing helped Jason as much as she could. Jason was grateful to her.

"Jay, are you sure just a sandwich is okay?"

" Tell now that you think I'm a glutton!"

"Huh? No! Not at all! It's just... I worry about you, Jay..."

"I told you Xia, I can take care of myself."

"Hm..."

Then one day Jason disappeared.

Xia-Bing was worried, but she couldn't say anything to anyone. Discreetly, several times she escaped from her aunt and uncle's house to try to find Jason on the street, but she never succeeded.

Then, one morning...

"Hello everyone, today we have a new student. Please make him feel welcome. Introduce yourself."

"Jason Todd."

Xia-Bing thought she was going to fall out of her chair. Her eyes met Jason's. He recognized her immediately. A slight smile formed on his lips. Xia-Bing felt her cheeks flush.

Jason is alive, Jason is fine...

After class, the first thing Xia-Bing did was to talk to Jason.

"Jay... How-"

"I’ve been adopted."

"Really? That's... Jay, that's great!"

"Hm...

"I was... I was so worried about you."

Her voice trembled slightly, but she still had a smile on her face. She didn't want to cry in front of him, that would be extremely embarrassing for her. But seeing Jason again, knowing that he was okay, and best of all, that he finally had a place to spend the night, filled her with joy.

Jason looked at her for a moment in silence. He looked away and rose from his chair.

"I...you...should go join your friends."

He got up and left the room in a hurry. Xia-Bing followed him with her eyes. She realized that her friends were waiting for her in front of the room, giving her curious looks. She joined them. Her friend Nadja was the first to speak.

"Do you know this guy?”

"Oh... Uh... Yeah... He... Used to live near my house before he moved out."

"Uh-Uh... Close to your house, huh..."

"What's up Nadja?"

It wasn't Nadja who answered her though, but her second friend Amelie.

"Haven't you heard Xia? This guy is Bruce Wayne's new adopted son!"

"WHAT?!"

Xia-Bing was shocked. Jason had been adopted by the famous Bruce Wayne? That was strange, how could these two meets?

 People can be so cruel sometimes.

 Jason had a hard time fitting in with the class. The reason? He was from the poorest part of Gotham. The other students, all of whom were at least middle-class children, considered Jason to be inferior.

It was simply ridiculous!

Xia-Bing herself was the daughter of a famous Chinese chef and a famous pastry chef. She had been adopted by her uncle, but he was the owner of one of the largest restaurant chains in both America and China. She wasn't what you would call "poor". However, both her parents and her uncle refused to treat anyone differently because of their economic capital.

So, every day she came to talk with Jason. She went to eat with him. She would talk to him when he was in the library. Jason seemed embarrassed every time because of her behavior.

"Xia, you shouldn't talk to me. You'll get in trouble if you stay with me."

"Jason... I'm not going to start ignoring you because of these jerks!"

"Look, I appreciate it but..."

"There's no 'but', Jason. I care about you, we're friends. A couple of rich kids aren't going to change my mind."

" .... You know you're a rich kid too, right?"

"You're one too. Mr. Todd-Wayne."

Jason smiled. He never said anything to her again after that exchange.

 The beautiful thing about youth is that it' s not afraid of anything.

 "What did you just say?"

"A date... Could we... Go somewhere?"

Xia-Bing blinked several times. She was dreaming, wasn't she?

"It's.... You don't have to accept Hmmm... You know what, forget it."

" H-HEY? What? NO! I mean YES!"

"Wait, what?"

"I... I'd like to go on a date with you Jason... I... it would be... cool."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah..."

"Cool."

"Yeah...that's...cool."

They exchanged an awkward smile.

The two of them met at the entrance of the movie theater. Xia-Bing chose her outfit carefully. She wanted to be as pretty as possible to please Jason.

They went to the theater together. They held hands at the exit. Before leaving, Xia-Bing plucked up her courage and placed a kiss on Jason's cheek before heading home, completely flustered.

Jason returned to the Manor; his face completely flushed. Bruce and Alfred teased him for several days.

 Jason and Xia-Bing started dating officially.

 He was her first boyfriend. She was happy with him.

It was an innocent, pure love. They often held hands. Kissing each other on the cheek.

 Then came the school vacations.

Xia-Bing decided to make things official with her family. It was time to introduce Jason to her adoptive parents and her sister. Unfortunately, although her family was very courteous, she knew them well enough to know that her adoptive parents didn't approve of her relationship. After Jason left, her doubts were confirmed.

 "Xia-Bing, we are not going to stop you from seeing this boy. We will respect your choice but know that we do not approve. This boy has questionable origins and lives with an equally questionable man."

"Uncle, it's not Jason's fault that his adoptive father has a bad reputation..."

"I don't doubt that. That's not the problem."

"What is the problem then?"

"You're not from the same world."

 Xia-Bing was more than a little annoyed by this. It was just like the students at his school. The ones who always told her to treat everyone as equals. What a bunch of hypocrites!

Yes, Jason was from a bad part of Gotham, so what? That's not what defined him! Jason was Jason, no matter where he came from!

It was such a contrast to when she met Jason's adopted family. She was welcomed with open arms.

"Xia-Bing I presume? It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Jason talks about you all the time."

"Really?"

"BRUCE!"

She watched with pleasure as her boyfriend was teased all evening by Bruce. Alfred was adorable. Jason also had an older brother who didn't live in Gotham but in Blüdhaven. (She never met him).

 They entered their first year of high school together. Luckily, they were in the same class.

 Everything was going well, but Xia-Bing noticed that Jason sometimes had bruises. She was concerned. Jason told her that he was just in combat sports and that he sometimes got hurt. Xia-Bing was skeptical, but finally decided to trust him.

This wasn't the main problem.

Xia-Bing couldn't help but realize how handsome and hot her boyfriend was. Previously, their classmate had alluded to Jason's background. Since they were in high school, things had changed.

Jason was attracting attention. Several girls in her grade were jealous of their relationship, especially after the first gym session. All the classes had sports at the same time the first year of high school. The sport of the day was soccer. Strangely, after seeing her boyfriend in his gym clothes, he became the center of attention.

"Did you see that boy with black hair? He's super hot!"

"That's Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne's adopted son."

"Seriously?"

"You think he's single?"

"Nope, I think he's dating a girl from 1-A."

"Tss, why are the good-looking guys always taken?"

Xia-Bing couldn't help but have a little satisfied chuckle. Yes, Jason was a good-looking guy. And more importantly, this handsome guy was 100% in love with her. He was HER lover. And she wouldn't share him! EVER!

High school life brings with it many changes.

 Xia-Bing wanted to take the next step in their relationship, but she didn't dare tell Jason. She fantasized about him.

Completely.

But she finally got up the courage to tell him that she thought he was hot.

"Jay... you...you are super hot!"

"Uh, thanks?"

" ... "

" ... "

" So... what are you reading these days?"

It was better to change her strategy.

Xia-Bing started to dress “sexier” on their date, hoping to get a reaction from him, but... Jason seemed.... Jason seemed completely unresponsive.

Finally, one day, as they were returning from a book signing by an author Jason loved, it started to rain. They took refuge together in the entrance of a building. The entrance was very wide and well covered. Xia-Bing was cold and hugged Jason. He wrapped his arms around her to keep her warm. She could hear Jason's heart beating fast. Her heart was beating fast too. She could feel under Jason's wet shirt, his strong body. Her cheeks were burning.

She then pulled away from Jason to look into his eyes.

She realized that he was looking at her intensely.

 They kissed.

 Things started to get out of hand when Jason put his hand under her skirt, and she pressed herself against him. They were forced to separate to catch their breath. Xia-Bing was blushing. It was the first time that she made this kind of thing with somebody. Jason also seemed embarrassed.

After this event, their kiss became more... intense. They began to touch each other. At first it was just petting. Things changed little by little.

Then Xia-Bing saw a golden opportunity when her uncle and aunt announced that they needed to go on a trip. Her older sister had decided to spend those three days at a friend's house. Xia-Bing had the house to herself.

She invited Jason.

She had prepared herself psychologically.

He was her first boyfriend, she wanted to experience something special with him.

Jason agreed to come.

When he joined her, she realized she wasn't the only one who was nervous. He seemed to understand why she had invited him.

They decided to watch a movie, to lighten the weird atmosphere between them.

Xia-Bing finally admitted to him that she had never done anything like this before...

"I love you... I love us... I want... to share something special with you. I... want... to have you... just for me... I'm... a bit selfish, aren't I? But... You... You mean so much to me... If you want... and only if you want... I "

Jason said nothing at first. He looked at her intensely. Then he gently ran his hand over her cheek and kissed her.

The two lost their virginity to each other.

Jason was supposed to stay only that night... He finally stayed the three days. He left the house shortly before the rest of her family arrived. But Xia-Bing was happy. It was the most intense and unforgettable three days of her life.

She and Jason grew closer after that. Afterwards, the two of them did it again two or three times... Sex was not a central part of their relationship. It was kind of a bonus.

Then one night, on the eve of the vacations, Jason told her that he had to go to Ethiopia for a while. He would come back to see her when he returned.

 Jason never came back.

Xia-Bing was completely devastated. She cried for several weeks. Then things started to change. She felt tired and sad all the time.

She could already see herself spending her life with Jason.... She didn't want to think about a world where he wasn't there.

Some of the things she used to love made her want to throw up. She hated the sight of some books. She put it down to her sadness. Her family did the same.

Then one day, about nine months after Jason's death, Xia-Bing was slowly getting over it. She felt a violent pain. At first she thought she had eaten something that she couldn't digest. But as time passed, the pain became more and more unbearable. Her uncle decided to take her to the free clinic in Gotham, which was not far from their home.

Everything happened very quickly.

After a series of examinations, she was taken to a separate room where a woman, Dr. Thompkins, asked her a series of strange questions.

When was the last time she had a period? Had she ever had sex?

That was when the bombshell was dropped: Xia-Bing was pregnant and about to give birth.

She had gone into what was called denial of pregnancy.

She was terrified.

Without any preparation, without understanding what was happening to her, she gave birth to a baby girl.

This baby scared her. She didn't even know she had one!

She felt humiliated.

Her adoptive parents were shocked, as was her sister.

 This baby.... Came out of nowhere....

 She didn't want it!

 Fortunately, her family agreed with her. Dr. Thompkins asked her if she could at least tell her who the father was, so she could make the necessary arrangements. Xia-Bing hesitated, but finally told the doctor that there was only one boy she had ever had sex with, and that boy's name was Jason Todd, her now-deceased ex-boyfriend.

Dr. Thompkins suggested that the child be placed for adoption. That his family didn't have to worry about it and that she would take care of everything. No one would ever know about it.

Her family thanked her and left the hospital, leaving the baby and the whole thing behind.

Everyone collectively decided that the incident never happened.

Three months later, the Cheng couple decided to move to Shanghai, her uncle's hometown.

She left the United States.

Years later, she met her future husband, Thomas Dupain.

 Xia-Bing became Sabine Cheng and later Sabine Dupain-Cheng.

***********

Tag list : @ prettylittlebutterflie, @ ouch-whytho , @ yurijay , @ unoriginalmess , @ vroomtaka , @ khneltea , @ starling218 , @ throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen , @ lunabey2sky

[momentsatmydesk]

‘Flavour: It’s Yours’ Taught Me That Talent & Ego Cannot Go Hand In Hand

Of all the romance C-dramas I've watched over the past year, the story troupes have always been very similar : childhood friends meet as adults, fall in love and help each other become their best selves.

But with 'Flavour: It's Yours' (also known as ‘Instead Of Tipsy Why Not Get Drunk), it was a very welcome change.

First up, I love the idea of a wine critic losing his taste buds after he accidentally kisses a girl who's lost her own since she was 10. What?! Who comes up with concepts like these?! Can I please meet them?

The Story & Its Characters:

Lu Wei Xen is China's top wine critic and he's established himself as one of the pioneer voices in the wine-making industry. Various wineries seek his counsel to determine their latest flavors and marketing strategies. Going against his father's wishes to inherit his family business, Lu Wei Xen is formidable, arrogant and talented.

He Bu Zui is a woman who's lost her taste buds due to a traumatic experience in her childhood. Her father, who was once the owner of a winery decided to shut it down in order to heal Bu Zui's condition. Our heroine is now threatened by a cheap gangster-landlord to repay her  father's debt. Using her loss of taste buds as a weapon, she participates in drinking contests and earns money to get her family by.

Unknown to her, her childhood love's (Yi Nan Ke) brother Yi Be Dao is back in town and he has some serious evilry up his sleeve. Sparked by the desire to avenge his father's death, Yi Be Dao will go to any limit to resolve the mystery behind it and find the murderer. 

What Yi Be Dao doesn't expect is crossing paths with the ambitious, headstrong yet soft Mi Ya. Working as an editor at a reputed wine magazine, Mi Ya is extremely independent. She's smart, sassy and isn't afraid to go after what she desires.

After Lu Wei Xen and He Bu Zui accidentally exchange their taste buds through a kiss, we embark on a journey of how the two try to reverse this ordeal for Wei Xen. How can a wine critic still retain his no.1 spot when he cannot even taste wine anymore?

They decide that they only way to break the curse and help get Lu Wei Xen’s taste buds back is to “exchange saliva” through a lot of kissing (since that’s what triggered the weird condition in the first place). So our hero hires our heroine on a contractual basis to help do just this.🤷🏽‍♀️

Mu Chun Feng poses as Wei Xen's competitor and he does a damn fine job at it. I loved watching the wine battles the two of them hold.

I also have a soft spot for Xia Fan who plays Lu Wei Xun's biggest fan. He's a popular vlogger with a huge fan-following and is known for his live sessions. He's a complete fan-girl when it comes to Wei Xun's talent and addresses him as 'idol' in the cutest way. He's also super loyal and stands by his hero when the latter is going through hard times.

What I liked:

What I loved about this show was that while romance was still a big part of it, there was also a murder mystery woven in, in such a seamless, interesting and exciting way. Both the male and female leads were their own persons and were chasing their own individual dreams. The villains' were villain-y enough to make the chase worth it and the side-character narratives were as interesting as those of the leads.

What I didn't like:

~ I'm all in for good kissing but it can't be a forced affair. I thought the show took 'dominant male lead make-out' a bit too far.

~ I also found Yi Be Dao's character too regressive and his vengeance for his twin's death lacking complete knowledge of the situation that caused it.

~ Mi Ya is exceptionally amazing as a woman and I found her too accommodating for a toxic man like Yi Be Dao, even though eventually he does change his ways.

My top 3 learnings:

1. Talent and ego should never go hand in hand.🍜 2. Choose to be seen and loved as you are. 🍜 3. Let that shit go. (It really is too heavy to keep carrying) 🍜

My last thoughts:

In short, I was totally blown away by how unique this drama was and how mature it is compared to its typical, commercial C-Drama cousins. So if you're reading this, I know you're wise enough not to pass this one by.

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GIF Credits: GIF 1: @movielosophy​ | GIF 2: An Asian Drama Vortex | GIF 3: Pi Yanuo | GIF 4: Tumgir | GIF 5 & 9: Foolish Asian Drama Life | GIF 6: The Ofy | GIF 7 & 8: Tumbex 

[jokertrap-ran]

(未定事件簿) 夏彦 SR [忆中人] [Tears of Themis] Xia Yan SR [Reminiscent Person] Card Story Translations (Part 1)

*Tears of Themis Masterlist *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Xia Yan’s personal tag will be #Tears of a PI. Personal master-list under construction!

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / SMS

Location: Shopping Mall

MC: This is the place?

Xia Yan: That's right, this is it, based on the address.

It was a weekend and Xia Yan and I came to an Experience Hall of Tacit Understanding that had recently gained much popularity.

The owner of this Store had specially crafted and designed various questions and levels to test all players that participated in the game. Despite the fact that there were best friends and siblings alike coming to challenge this game, couples still made up a larger portion of the players here.

Speaking of which, the only reason why Xia Yan and I even came here to have fun was because of the commission that he had received last week.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Location: Home

I had only just returned home after a busy day when my phone suddenly vibrated to life.

I picked up my phone, seeing that it was Xia Yan calling.

MC: Hello? Xia Yan? What's up?

Xia Yan: (Y/n), ever heard of the Experience Hall of Tacit Understanding?

MC: The Experience Hall of Tacit Understanding?

Xia Yan: ...They call it an experience, but it's actually something that two people have to get through together.

Xia Yan: You'll have to play some games that test your Tacit Understanding on each and every level or answer a difficult question. You must past the test to proceed onto the next level.

MC: I seem to recall my colleagues talking about something like this...but I've never been there before.

MC: Why are you suddenly asking me this?

Xia Yan's voice paused on the other end of the line.

Xia Yan: Oh...I just accepted a job, and they want me to investigate this particular Store.

MC: Is there something wrong with this Store?

Xia Yan: No, it's just that the Client's girlfriend really wants to try this Store out, but eight or nine out of ten of the friends around him had broken up with their significant others after having participated in it.  

Xia Yan: He's afraid of being used by his girlfriend and not acting up to standard when playing, so he sent me to investigate just what exactly they're going to be playing inside that Store.

MC: But...why not just ask his friends about it then?

Xia Yan: Of course, he did, but the Store had recently changed their running theme and even increased the difficulty.

Xia Yan: He even concealed the fact from his girlfriend that he had gone off and played through it once with a friend of his...acting as a couple...

Xia Yan: But they only managed to survive the first round due to insufficient Tacit Understanding…

Having listened up till this point, I could already guess what Xia Yan was pretty much trying to get at.

MC: So, you're saying that you want me to investigate this Experience Hall with you, right?

Xia Yan: Yes. I can't think of anyone else who'd be my partner besides you.

Xia Yan: Plus, you're also the one who understands me best.

I couldn't do anything to help my slightly reddening face as his gentle voice reached my ears through the phone.

Xia Yan: Unless you're not confident in getting across the hurdles?

MC: Why would I be? We'll definitely clear it all without a hitch!

MC: Don't forget that I'm still your Watson after all!

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Looking at how eager Xia Yan was, I smiled and asked him.

MC: I thought you said that you didn't accept commissions that had anything to do with relationships?

He jolted, his expression looking a little unnatural on his face.

Xia Yan: …Actually, this Client's a relative of a friend of mine, so this can be considered as me doing him a favor.

Xia Yan: And what he asked me to investigate was the content of this game...so strictly speaking, it's not really considered as a commission related to relationships.

MC: This job doesn't look like it has space for development, but yet you're still so actively invested in it...

MC: Are you sure it's really not because you personally want to play this game too?

Xia Yan: How can that be…? I've always been this way towards each and every commission...

Looking at my seemingly smiling, yet un-smiling face, Xia Yan stammered as he tried to come up with an excuse.

But in the end, he only sighed helplessly.

Xia Yan: Alright. You've seen through me… I only agreed to take this job on because I was curious about it.

Xia Yan: But curiosity isn't all there is to it, I also thought that...

MC: What?

His voice gradually faded off and I didn't manage to catch whatever he had said after.

Xia Yan: Nothing, I was just distracted earlier.

Xia Yan: Oh yes, take this. I've installed a miniature camera on it.

I lowered my head, spotting a delicate and exquisite looking bracelet lying on in his hand.

MC: How exquisite. It doesn't look at all like the piece of "Detective Equipment" it is.

Xia Yan laughed, clasping the bracelet onto my wrist.

Xia Yan: Do you like it? You can keep it if you do since it was something made for you to begin with.

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Location: Experience Hall's Front Desk

We walked into the shop entrance after having prepared ourselves, the Front Desk Clerk coming up to greet us with a smile.

Front Desk Clerk: Good afternoon to the both of you; do you have a reservation?

Xia Yan: Yes, my surname's Xia.

Xia Yan whipped out his phone and showed the Clerk his reservation details.

Front Desk Clerk: Mr. Xia, yes? … Here it is. You've made a booking for the Couple's Package with the theme of the "Cursed Castle".

Since this Establishment would slightly adjust the content of the game in regard to the relationship between players, we decided to register as a couple.

Despite knowing that this was all just for work, my heart still skipped a beat when I heard the words "couple".

Discreetly peeking at him, I realized that his ears were a little red.

Xia Yan: Yes… That's right.

Front Desk Clerk: Alright then. Welcome, both of you. Please follow me to get yourself registered.

Front Desk Clerk: You cannot use your mobile phones during the game, so the both of you should go store yours.

Front Desk Clerk: The both of you can go wait in the Rest Area for a bit. Another member of the staff will come look for you later.

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Location: Rest Area

We both walked to the Rest Area and managed to coincidentally catch sight of a couple leaving the Challenge House.

They both had their heads bowed and didn't seem to be in a very good mood, leaving the Experience Hall one after another in silence.

MC: Looks like they weren't successful in clearing it.

Xia Yan: That doesn't seem to be all… looks like they had a fight too.

MC: I actually thought nothing of this at first, but now that I've seen them like that...

MC: I'm actually starting to get a little nervous...

Suddenly, the piercing sound of a quarrel cut me off.

Female Player: You even forgot the place where we had our first date!?

Male Player: I'm sorry, okay? It was so long ago; I really couldn't remember.

Female Player: Long? You think of even such a short period of time long!? Do you think there's no meaning to being together with me!?

Male Player: Can you stop making a big fuss out of nothing!? Didn't you also forget what my favorite ballgame team was!?

Female Player: I don't usually watch ball games. Plus, you were the one who used up all the hints! Yet you still dare to talk back to me!?

Under the watchful and surprised eyes of the people around them, she gave her boyfriend a shove before leaving, never once looking back.

The guy stood there stunned for a moment before walking out of the door, cursing and swearing.

MC: ……

Xia Yan: ……

MC: Looks like the percentage of a successful clear isn't very high...

Staff Member: Both of you, it'll be your turn very soon. Come with me to fill out a questionnaire first.

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Under the guidance of the Staff Member, Xia Yan and I were brought to separate areas to fill in our own questionnaires.

The questions were simple enough and included things like my habits, likes, dislikes, memorable things, etc.; probably information to be used in the game.

I raised my hand to tuck my hair back behind my ear, turning the lens of the hidden camera on the bracelet I wore to face the questionnaire, snapping images of the questions as I filled them in.

After answering the questionnaires, Xia Yan and I were both led away by the Staff Member, officially entering the doors of the “Challenge House”.

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Location: Inside the Challenge House

Behind the door was a dark room that resembled an abandoned residence, it's walls covered in "cobwebs".

???: Welcome to the “Cursed Castle�� experience, I am the Gamemaster of this place.

Gamemaster: Please remember every word I say as you carefully explore the secrets of this Castle.

Another Staff Member appeared beside us. He was dressed in an impeccable black swallowtail coat, elegant and graceful.

Gamemaster: You will now be faced with the first stage of the challenge—— Silent Tacit Understanding. There are three segments to this level…

Gamemaster: You'll have 15 minutes for each segment, and you'll have to answer 10 questions correctly to proceed onto the next segment. I will explain the requirements of each segment in detail to you before the game begins.

Gamemaster: The both of you will only have 3 chances to ask for help throughout this entire game, so please use it wisely.

Gamemaster: That should be all the rules. Do either of you have any questions?

Xia Yan: No problems on my end. How 'bout you? You ready for this?

He looked at me, all smiles.

MC: Of course I am! Let's get this game started!

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Location: Inside the Challenge House

The Tacit Understanding Challenge began after the Gamemaster had explained all the rules.

The first segment was a game of draw and guess. Xia Yan drew, and I guessed 

Xia Yan wasn't good at it by any means, for the horse he had drawn back in Art Class had been recognized as a pig by our fellow classmate… But we'd taken to sending each other Holiday Greeting Cards on a yearly basis ever since we were kids, and there would always be one of his "masterpieces" drawn on it…

So that's why it's easier for me to recognize what exactly he was drawing.

Gamemaster: You have both successfully completed the challenge in 6 minutes.

Xia Yan: This sort of difficulty won't pose a problem for us at all.

Gamemaster: This segment's just a warmup, so don't underestimate it.

Xia Yan: Then, what are we going to be playing in the second segment? Please don't tell me Charades...

Gamemaster: Mngh… That's right. The lady will be the one making the gestures and this time, Mister, you'll be the one guessing.

I took a slip of paper from the wooden box that the Gamemaster held.

MC: (Graceful and slender figure? How very coincidental…)

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Location: Hall Party

Xia Yan and I used to often play Charades with each other in the past.

The first time we played this game was back we were both still in high school, at a party 

MC: (Graceful and slender figure…? Just how am I supposed to act this out?)

MC: Xia Yan, it's an idiom. Four words.

Xia Yan: I know this, I know! It's "To dance for joy"!

Xia Yan: Ah? That's "To act in confusion!"

Xia Yan: Uh... “To make threatening gestures”...?

MC: ……

Xia Yan had his back turned to the projector screen and was thus unable to see the answer being projected onto it, but all our other classmates could…

At this point, everyone was already breathless with laughter.

Classmate A: (Y/n), he thinks you've gone bonkers!

Classmate B: Hahahaha! To make threatening gestures…? Pft— heh, it's getting more outrageous by the minute...hahaha…!!

My face flushed in front of the entire class, and I ended up darting out of the door to make my speedy escape.

Xia Yan freaked out, immediately running out after me to apologize, even reciting "graceful and slender figure" ten times over.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

I couldn't help but to smile as I recalled that one embarrassing experience of ours.

Xia Yan became a little suspicious when he saw how I was barely able to hold back my smile.

I winked at him before imitating my actions from back then, awkwardly twisting my body twice.

Xia Yan, who was at the side, blurted out the four words:

Xia Yan: Graceful and slender figure!

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

After successfully answering a couple more questions in succession, Xia Yan and I eventually reached the last segment of the first stage.

The Staff Member led us to a table where various food items were laid out along with some exquisite ornaments.

Gamemaster: In this segment, one of you will have to guess the word whilst blindfolded.

Gamemaster: The answer spans across books, people, film and television works, and more, but they can all be derived through inference all the same.

Gamemaster: Now, I will blindfold this man here and give the lady the answer to this puzzle.

The Gamemaster turned to face me.

Gamemaster: You can choose to use anything in this room here that's related to the answer to convey what it is to this man here.

MC: But he's blindfolded, so just how will I...

MC: I get it now! He has to guess what I'm holding before he can try making inferences as to what the answer to the puzzle really is!

Gamemaster: Correct.

Xia Yan: Can she describe how it looks to me?

Gamemaster: No. Please keep in mind that you cannot use words to hint the other.

After saying so, the Gamemaster pulled out a black handkerchief and handed it to me.

I took the handkerchief from him, tying it securely around Xia Yan's head.

MC: Is it too tight? Is it constricting your eyes?

Xia Yan's soft hair slid between my fingers, a faint fragrance wafting from his locks.

Xia Yan: Nope, just nice.

I took his hand and helped him seat himself onto the chair.

MC: I'll go look for something so stay put and wait for me!

I opened up the small slip of paper that the Gamemaster handed me. The answer to the puzzle was none other than "Sherlock Holmes".

MC: It's the name of a book… Just what can be related to the name of this book?

I looked to the lavishly arranged assortment of food on the table, feeling a little at a loss. Suddenly, peanut candy entered my field of vision.

MC: (Peanut… Watson…)

MC: (I'm sure he'll be able to guess the wordplay if I use this.)

Picking up the peanut sweet, I walked back to him.

MC: Xia Yan… Open your mouth.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Xia Yan was sitting quietly on the chair, startling slightly upon hearing my voice. But he opened his mouth slightly without a moment's hesitation.

This was the first time that I've ever really looked at his lips. They were thin, but were absolutely soft-looking.

MC: ……

Xia Yan: What's wrong?

His voice of suspicion snapped me out of my thoughts, and I hurriedly moved to place the peanut sweet into his mouth.

His lips were as warm and soft as I'd imagined, not doing anything to help my reddening face. Feeling the sensation of food between his lips and teeth, Xia Yan instinctively dove at it with his mouth.

My fingers registered the fleeting feeling of something warm and wet, which was probably his tongue.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

MC: Ah…

I jerked backwards, as if I had just received an electric shock, causing the peanut candy to also slip from his mouth, following my abrupt retreat.

MC: S-Sorry…! I'll go get another!

Xia Yan: No worries… I'll wait for you...

His voice turned a little hoarse.

I turned around, only to see the Gamemaster watching the both of us with interest.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

(CG)

I darted out of his line of side and hurriedly went to fetch another piece of candy.

⊳  Select blindfold

Xia Yan's eyes were tightly bound by the pitch-black cloth. Under the dim light, I could see the hints of a blush dusting his features.

MC: (I really wanna run my hands through his hair…)

MC: (Wait, no! What did I just think of!?)

⊳ Select collarbone

Standing in front of him, I could see his collarbone peeking out of his shirt upon lowering my head.

MC: (Not bad at all.)

MC: (Why oh why am I focusing weirder and weirder things now…?)

⊳  Select hand

Xia Yan: You're… you're back?

MC: Yup… Now open up.

Looking at his slightly parted lips, that soft and wet feeling that I had experienced earlier floated back into the surface of my mind yet again.

I took in a deep breath, stuffing the peanut candy into his mouth.

It was super quiet within the room, with only the sound of Xia Yan’s chewing of the candy and the rapid yet fierce beating of my heart.

Gamemaster: The answer is a title of a novelized series; you may begin guessing now.

Swallowing the sweet in his mouth, Xia Yan grinned.

Xia Yan: I know. The answer is "Sherlock Holmes".

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Gamemaster: That is the correct answer.

He religiously glanced at the watch sitting stop his wrist, sighing.

Xia Yan only smiled cheekily at him upon hearing the grudgeful undertone of his voice.

Xia Yan: That sort of question ain't too hard for me!

Gamemaster: You still have to answer 9 more questions correctly, so don’t let your guard down..

After saying so, the Gamemaster placed another one of the puzzle answers into the palm of my hand.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

This segment was harder compared to the previous two, and it was very hard to find the corresponding items of relation for certain answers.

Fortunately, all answers could be attained through inference, so Xia Yan and I managed to get through it smoothly.

Gamemaster: Congratulations to the two of you for having passed stage one.

Xia Yan: See? Didn’t I tell you? It’s no problem for us at all!

Gamemaster: I have a question for this lady here. Do you like deducing things? You seem to have a really good grasp on it.

Gamemaster: But… you didn’t seem to have written it in the questionnaire.

The Staff Member who’d been in charge of guiding us looked at me in puzzlement.

Xia Yan: So, you’re really picking things that I like, but she doesn’t understand.

Xia Yan: Only that you never thought that she’d have an excellent grasp of it either.

Gamemaster: Not purposely. But it’s a test of Tacit Understanding, so it’ll obviously be tailored to both your individual preferences, of course.

Gamemaster: The first two segments aren’t hard, but most players usually choose to use up one of their chances of asking for help on the last segment...

Gamemaster: So, I really wasn’t expecting the two of you to get through this so smoothly.

MC: I actually like it quite a bit, but my understanding of this is mainly influenced by him, for better or for worse.

MC: Especially since said someone has been a big fan of detectives ever since he was a kid!

MC: (Not to mention that he’s even working as a part-time detective. And oh yes, his real job’s a secret agent...)

But I could only voice all these complaints inwardly to myself.

I looked at Xia Yan and gave him a wink, to which he only smiled helplessly at.

Gamemaster: But the two of you shouldn’t be taking this lightly either; there are much bigger and harder puzzles waiting for the both of you.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Xia Yan and I progressed through a couple of stages which were mostly just testing our ability to work together.

He was much more highly skilled than ordinary folk, so things that were supposedly hard like retrieving something from a high place or even the laser array, weren’t even worth mentioning to someone like him.

We soon found ourselves arriving at the second last segment of it all.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Location: Outside the Maze

Gamemaster: This stage is called the “Memory Maze”; you both have to answer questions while trying to find your way out of the maze.

Gamemaster: The both of you will be separated in this stage and will be entering the maze from different entry points. You have to find each other within the maze and make it out together for you to successfully pass the stage.

Gamemaster: You have to answer the questions on your own. Take note, you’ll lose the moment you ask your partner for help!

Xia Yan: There are two of us, who are you going to follow this time round?

Gamemaster: I won’t be following any of you. The two of you will have to explore the rest of the way yourself.

Xia Yan: How would we be able to tell how much time has passed without you around?

Gamemaster: You guys will have a total of 20 minutes and reminders will sound when you have 10, 5- and 1-minute left respectively.

MC: Let’s see each other in a while then, Xia Yan!

Xia Yan: Don’t worry, I’ll definitely find you in a jiffy.

Heading in the direction where the Staff Member pointed out, Xia Yan and I split up at the fork in the corridor, entering the maze from two separate entrances, each on one side of the room.

───⋅𝕿𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖓𝖊𝖝𝖙 𝖙𝖎𝖒𝖊…⋆⋅☆

[tiramisiyu]

【未定事件簿】 Tears of Themis: “Romantic Rail Getaway” Xia Yan Route, Day 2

Translation Masterlist | Event Masterlist

Xia Yan Route: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

Videos, where applicable, are hyperlinked on the headings in the post.

See under cut!

Part 1: Animal Protected Area - “The Charm of the Savannah”

People’s Customs Street

On the second day, the train arrived at the Anma Great Savannah stop.

Xia Yan and I headed straight for the animal protected area, riding the sightseeing vehicle as we listened to the guide introduce the various situations of the savannah’s animals.

The savannah that sprawled as far as the eye could see, the continuous, limitless mountain ranges, and all the sorts of wild animals immediately subdued me, who had grown up in the city.

After appreciating the animals’ great migration, Xia Yan and I arrived at the indigenous village near the savannah to tour around.

When we had just walked into the village, the guide in charge of taking over for visitors greeted us warmly.

Guide: Welcome to the indigenous village. If there’s anything you need, you can find me whenever.

MC: Okay, thank you for your trouble.

[INTERROGATION START]

Events to Enjoy

MC: Do you have any enjoyable events to recommend?

Guide: Our indigenous village’s main hit is the ecological green tour event.

Guide: Things like the cross-country Jeeps and the grass-weaving craft experiences have all received good comments from visitors.

Guide: Right, our indigenous village’s clay crafts are also very popular.

Guide: If the two of you want to buy souvenirs to take back, you can consider that.

Clay Crafts

MC: Mhmm, the crafts here are very famous! When I was looking up the guides online, I also saw lots of people recommend this.

Guide: Yes, the Tambuyani indigenous people will melt their desire and passion for a good life into the crafts they produce.

Guide: So, their works are not simply just crafts. They’re even more of a way to pass on and express their spirit!

Guide: I’m sure you both will like it.

MC: Xia Yan, how about we go see in a moment?

Xia Yan: Mhmm, we’ll choose some pretty crafts to take home as souvenirs.

Cross-Country Jeep

Xia Yan: Could you introduce us to the cross-country Jeep?

Guide: Of course I can.

Guide: We provide visitors with a Jeep-renting service, letting visitors who want to drive on the savannah experience the feeling of being fast as lightning.

Guide: There are no road-indicating lines, traffic lights, or those crazy, messy signs on the savannah. You can drive as you wish without limit.

Guide: We guarantee that each visitor will be able to enjoy the joy of street racing.

Xia Yan: It sounds pretty decent.

MC: (Xia Yan seems interested. Let’s try it with him in a moment.)

Grass-weaving Craft Experience

MC: Is the grass-weaving craft experience… an activity to experience making handicraft accessories yourself?

Guide: The grass-weaving craft will weave highly-tough grass into all sorts of accessories. It’s a traditional craft of Tambuyani.

Guide: We’ve invited a craft-making teacher to explain weaving methods to visitors.

Guide: Guests who are interested can learn right here, and make an accessory that they like.

MC: Will it be very hard?

Guide: They’re things like straw hats, bracelets, waistbelts – very simple. It’ll be very easy for guests to learn.

[INTERROGATION COMPLETE]

Guide: Do the two of you have any other questions?

MC: None left, thank you.

Guide: Then, I hope you two have fun! Please experience the charm of our Anma Great Savannah well.

 Part 2: Anma Indigenous Village

[Gameplay]

Part 3: Jeep Cross-Country Activity

[Gameplay]

Part 4: Grass-weaving Crafts Area - “Rumours of the Mine”

After experiencing the lightning-fast cross-country Jeep, I tugged Xia Yan to the grass-weaving crafts area, preparing to challenge our handicraft skills.

Under the double assistance of the craft-making teacher’s patient explanations and Xia Yan’s supreme hands-on capability…

After half an hour, a grass-woven necklace that looked pretty exquisite was created in my hands.

MC: Xia Yan, Xia Yan, look, how’s my weaving?

Xia Yan: Beautiful – grass-woven necklaces are indeed really special, and it fits particularly well with the savannah atmosphere.

Xia Yan: Eh, how about you put it on, and I’ll take some photos for you?

I was just planning to agree when the craft-making teacher on the side shook her head.

Craft-making Teacher: Do the two of you want to choose a gem pendant to go with the necklace?

Craft-making Teacher: Our Tambuyani gems are all personally dug out by the indigenous people from the mines personally – a cheap price for a beautiful object.

Actually, without an accompanying pendant, the grass-woven necklace was already sufficiently beautiful.

The craft-making teacher probably was saying this to earn some more material fees.

MC: Thank you, I think I’ll instead…

I was just planning to decline her recommendation when I suddenly remembered something.

A person like her, who interacts with accessories every day, probably would have a good understanding on information regarding gems, right?

Maybe she would know some information related to the “golden gem”.

Xia Yan: Hello, could I ask you a few questions?

Sure enough, Xia Yan also thought about this, even asking the question a step ahead of me.

Craft-making Teacher: Of course you can, go ahead and ask.

[INTERROGATION START]

Golden Gem

Xia Yan: You just said that the gems in Tambuyani were all personally dug out by the indigenous people from the mines…

Xia Yan: Then… have they dug up a very large golden gem?

Xia Yan used his fingers to approximately indicate the size of the gem. The craft-making teacher revealed a surprised expression.

Craft-making Teacher: How could there be such a large gem – you must be joking?

Looks like she doesn’t know about the golden gem… I thought a bit and changed the topic.

MC: How many fairly large gem mines are there in Tambuyani?

Craft-making Teacher: Only one. The largest mine in Tambuyani is on the north side of Anma Great Savannah. It’s called Kuru Mine.

Craft-making Teacher: These gems we use to make pendants were all bought from Kuru Mine’s mine factory.

Mine Factory

MC: Then… the scale of Kuru Mine’s factory must be very large?

Craft-making Teacher: Yeah, that mine factory is our largest mine factory in Tambuyani.

Craft-making Teacher: Many indigenous people on Anma Great Savannah are miners at the mine factory, and they rely on the factory to live.

Craft-making Teacher: To be honest, mine factory work… is quite harsh…

Craft-making Teacher: Ugh, no way around it. If not to live, who would do such wretched work…

MC: Wretched?

Miners

MC: Why would the work of the miners be wretched?

Craft-making Teacher: Hmph, it’s because of the mine factory’s black heart, having the miners work overtime and work more from day to night…

Craft-making Teacher: I’ve got a friend who works there, and I heard from him that recently there was even a riot there.

Riot Matter

MC: Why did a riot occur?

Craft-making Teacher: I’m not to clear on the detailed situation. I’m guessing that it’s because of money…

Craft-making Teacher: Ugh, that mine factory is frequently deducting the miners’ wages, so the miners definitely wouldn’t be willing.

Miners’ Recent Circumstances

MC: How is your friend – he wasn’t affected, was he?

Craft-making Teacher: He was also pretty unlucky – seems like he received a few wounds. Recently, he’s been recuperating at home.

MC: Is your friend also an indigenous person?

Craft-making Teacher: Yeah, he’s called Jerry. He lives at an indigenous village near Tambuyani National Park.

Craft-making Teacher: If you check out Tambuyani National Park, you might run into him.

Gem Sale

MC: The mine factory directly sells the gems outwards?

Craft-making Teacher: Mhmm, Kuru Mine’s factory has its own channels.

Craft-making Teacher: It’s pretty easy for a scenic spot like us to obtain goods from them mine.

[INTERROGATION COMPLETE]

 Craft-making Teacher: Alright, you both have asked this much. Want to choose a gem pendant?

MC: Mhmm, let me choose…

The craft-making teacher was visibly unwilling to reveal more, so she forced away the topic.

I thus chose a simple-styled little pendant at random, then left with Xia Yan from the grass-weaving craft experience area.

 Part 5: Anma Wilderness Park

[Gameplay]

Part 6: Haze of the Mine

Anma Great Savannah

The savannah’s stunning, magnificent scenery compelled us to remain and forget about returning home, but the things that the villagers said also made me particularly concerned.

The trip I’d originally imagined to be brisk increased somewhat in heaviness after we’d finished hearing about what the villagers told us.

Everything that was happening on this piece of land, everything that I still didn’t understand… it seemed like it exceeded my imagination by far.

MC: Xia Yan, isn’t the train going to the Tambuyani National Park stop tomorrow?

Xia Yan: Yeah, there’s a very large wild animal protected area over there. Oh right… seems like there’s also an elephant orphanage nearby.

Xia Yan: I want to take you to the animal protected area to walk around, and if there’s time, we can also ride horses together.

MC: That side… about how far away is it from the indigenous village that the villagers mentioned?

Xia Yan: Hmm… I’ve looked it up. The indigenous village isn’t too far from the national park; it’s just that the road is slightly winding.

Xia Yan: The indigenous village is on the north side of the train station, and the protected area and park are in the south area… if we walk through both sides, we might waste a lot of time.

MC: It is a little troublesome… but I still want to go see the indigenous village.

MC: We might be able to find that injured miner and ask him about Kuru Mine’s exact situation.

Xia Yan: Sorry…

Xia Yan’s expression became heavy.

MC: We were perfectly fine, so why’d you apologize?

Xia Yan: After chatting with those villagers, you’ve had your brows furrowed the whole time… you must have been thinking about the Kuru Mine situation.

Xia Yan: I originally took you out to relax, but I didn’t think… I still made you worry.

Gazed at by Xia Yan’s deep eyes, my heart shook with a sort of aching warmth.

He was worrying again.

He was like a firm and secure, reliable and steady wall, trying to block all wind and rain for me.

I felt at ease being protected by him, yet I also feared letting this wall stand alone.

I thought maybe I should say something to express what I was thinking…

>Earnestly explain to Xia Yan >Tease Xia Yan a bit

MC: I’m not worried. It’s exactly the opposite… I’m pretty happy.

MC: The point of coming with you on a trip was to relax, yes, but I also really want to solve hard issues with you.

Xia Yan: But…

Xia Yan’s expression was still heavy, seeming like he was thinking about how to refute me. I rushed to continue in my efforts.

MC: Right now, Great Detective Xia’s commission is already no longer as simple as looking for a gem.

MC: If there are miners who’ve been receiving unfair treatment the whole time, we have a responsibility to investigate this.

MC: You definitely also want me to accompany you in solving this matter, right?

Xia Yan: I do want that… I’m just afraid that it’ll affect your traveling mood.

Xia Yan: A perfectly fine trip, suddenly becoming an investigation again – I keep feeling it’s somewhat…

MC: It won’t, we just need to check out the circumstances on the way. It won’t hold us up for too long.

MC: After the investigating ends, we have lots of time to have fun everywhere.

Xia Yan: Ugh, I’m never able to beat you when it comes to words…

Xia Yan: Alright, let’s go to the indigenous tribe first tomorrow to walk around.

MC: Mhmm, now that’s right!

  >Earnestly explain to Xia Yan >Tease Xia Yan a bit

MC: Aiya, I see someone whose brow is so furrowed that it could hold a dried fig between them.

Xia Yan: Who?

MC: You.

I reached out and stroked Xia Yan’s brow, and he widened his eyes, dumbfounded.

Xia Yan: !!!

MC: To me, the one who’s worrying is you.

MC: You’re trying to think of a way to secretly investigate on your own without impeding our trip, aren’t you?

Xia Yan: I…

Seeing Xia Yan’s expression, I knew my guess had hit the mark.

MC: That won’t do. Since I’m following my great detective out on this trip, of course I need to try my hand at some high-difficulty tasks.

MC: I’ve already decided – for the commission this time, I’m doing it with you.

Xia Yan: I’m afraid if there’s danger…

MC: I’ve still got you. I believe that with you here, any danger won’t be an issue.

MC: Peanut, do you also think this?

The myna bird Peanut spread its wings and beat them a few times on a tree branch, calling out quietly, seeming to be responding to my words.

MC: See, Peanut’s saying “That is how it is”.

Xia Yan: I really can’t do anything against you. Alright…

Xia Yan: My Watson, let’s undo the mystery that’s entangled on this savannah together!

MC: Mhmm, now that’s right!

[anxiety-trademark]

The week in review:

Raw 11/09 NXT 11/11 NXT UK 11/12 Smackdown 11/13

Raw:

Shayna vs Lana?? God poor Lana. Preemptive “rip”

Lmfao Lana is so damn extra.

Okay but WHY is Asuka facing Nia later? And where has Asuka even been the past few weeks?

Yikes. Lana is so friggin useless in kf.

Rofl Nia mocking Dana’s voice, I cannot with her.

Did Dana and Mandy actually save Lana from #8?? They got half a point. I get why they’re reluctant to help Lana, but they’re nearly coming off as the mean, popular girls, and I know that’s not their personas. I get she fucked them over, but it was inadvertent. Buy some goodwill guys.

Are they the Gucci girls now? Honestly flashforward to current times, Charlotte fits right in with them. If you were gonna have Charlotte head a stable, Dana and Mandy are the perfect people to put with her.

“We totally saved your butts... Lana.” :/ Dana. Dana plz. With all the work you put into your craft, HOW are you still the weakest promo in the division?

“Okay listen, thank you, you’re welcome,” just let Mandy and Dana practice wrestling cuz their promos are fucking painful.

Lana No-Friends.

Why is Alexa happily destroying flowers??

Lol has no memory of seeing Nikki the week prior. Yikes. Are we still sure it’s not drugs???

“Lexi I’m not playing.” “That’s too bad, Nikki.” What she means, Nikki, is there are 2 options: play or pain. You should just play. Actually side note; wasn’t that Nikki’s whole damn character when she debuted? ‘Nikki wants to play’? ‘Play with Nikki’??

Omfg Alexa is god damn stellar. Nikki tells her to choose either Fiend/Bray or [Nikki]. Alexa thinks about it for a moment, “okay. I choose... *blows the flower petals in Nikki’s face* him!” Then fucking claps, giggles and walks away. Imagine if you had a whole damn roster that could be this entertaining.

Also Nikki is really talented in her own right. Working with Alexa did wonders as far as promos and acting go.

Survivor Series team is supposedly at ringside because Asuka is about to go one on one with Nia. I’m not seeing the correlation.

Shayna officially playing the role of henchman now, I see. That’s interesting.

Asuka does a lot of things worth praising. Her Octopus is not one of them.

It’s always nice seeing Nia bump like she does for Asuka.

Oh that kickout into an armbar by Asuka was BEAUTIFUL.

Asuka said “fuck all y’all we’re busy rn”

I hate Shayna’s hammerfists SO much.

This Survivor Series team is a fucking disaster in kf.

aaaaand there’s number 8. Jeeeeze. “You don’t belong here, you’re gonna drag us down. Just quit.” This is a bullying story done right tbh. No personal petty bs insults, no body shaming. Just straight up physically assaulting the weakest link that has zero friends. It’s a good story. I feel sympathy for sure.

Highlight: Alexa & Nikki backstage segment

---

NXT:

See I don’t mind Shotzi’s backstage promos at all. She exudes passion. I can feel her emotions. But 9 times out of 10 she ends it in a howl and I want to scream.

Weak final thought though. There was really nothing better you could end it on? Okay.

So Xia calls out Raquel and then doesn’t show. Not sure if it’s for kf or meta reasons.

I like Raquel speaking Spanish while brawling. She should incorporate that more, especially with Zelina gone. We need more Latina talent (no disrespect to Bayley or Sasha, if they wanna start speaking Spanish then good on them)

“Everybody better take their-- my name out of their mouth.” SIGH can I get a non-awkward speaker that isn’t Nia? Anyone? Anywhere? Hello??

What the hell does any of this Xia stuff mean? Fine I’ll be patient.

So is Toni a face? I thought she was a heel. Did I misinterpret the heel turn pre-covid era? That’s even worse, she’s even more the same now.

Ugh rough day when I’m here cheering for Toni. God I hate Candice.

Do you really have the right to call anyone a ‘punk rock poser’ Candice? I mean... REALLY?

It’s not that I hate Toni’s headbutt, I just hate it when people take themselves out delivering a headbutt.

Anticlimactic sequence. Toni says fuck your second rope neckbreaker to Candice, then Candice says fuck your second rope leg drop to Toni, just to follow up with a mere kick to the jaw and a pinfall attempt. Missed opportunity to really get something going.

Sad attempt at putting her feet on the ropes by Candice.

Good let Toni be a “sore loser” fuck Candice.

So the masked figure is Indi, right? Why are they keeping her masked? What’s the purpose? Yeahhh that’s really not a surprise. Anyway.

It’s a damn shame what happened in 2020, the whole world has felt it. And it’s a damn shame that you didn’t get to show out in front of 80k people. I truly feel for you. Your loss, however? In kf I can’t feel bad because you sought HER out on HER show. In a meta sense? She did you a favor taking that title. You were 5 seconds from being called Charlotte 2.0, and you deserve better. You deserve the opportunity to grow and make a name for yourself without being handed everything before the age of 25, and you’re SO much better off for it.

The downfall of “nxt’s hottest new act” was a great story. It sucks to be her, but it was a great story. Rhea’s gonna be a fucking STAR on the main roster. She will thrive. She will exceed expectations. She will make a name for herself. She had to eat that humble pie first, though. Obviously I know how this match ends already, and rightfully so. 

Highlight: I guess the Io/Rhea Prime Target

---

NXT UK:

Kind of a bummer that there’s only ever one women’s match/segment every week on UK. I want to ponder whether it’d be different sans a pandemic, but I’m not certain it would be.

Xia Brookside is too animated in her moves, and her moves are always too slow for it to mesh well.

They compliment Xia’s “technical work” but she just comes off as someone who has learned the absolute basics and has no idea how to utilize them in a match.

Interesting to note that they seem to be building up 2 heels in Nina and Jinny, yet the champ herself is a heel. Not quite making me believe either of them have a chance at defeating her in the future.

Nice I always love a good codebreaker. Points to Xia.

That was a nice cartwheel off the turnbuckle using the ropes. One would assume the tweak to the knee was a farce.

Stupid small package. Stupid result. At least Nina got some heat back, but she should’ve won, lesbireal.

Side note: I see UK does in fact have a pc. No excuse for these women to get gassed so quickly then, get it together.

Highlight: The network exclusive video package for KLR vs Piper

---

Smackdown:

What a racy outfit. I don’t hate it, Sasha wears it well.

There’s like a million things you can do with Sasha that doesn’t involve a live promo in the middle of the ring. Explore them plz.

Carmella’s not a technical master by any means, but having her superkick and then finish with a facebuster is super weak.

What’s also weak: where the fuck did Bayley go?

What’s even weaker than that: Carmella had like the best theme music and now it’s gone. Tragic.

Lol why is Nattie stomping her feet like she’s throwing a tantrum? She’s hilarious tbh.

“If team Smackdown is going to win,” lmao let me cut you off right there. Imagine the SD women actually winning at SvS. Good joke.

Omg Chelsea is alive? We gave her a tag match in nxt with the women’s champion Charlotte Flair... Charlotte fucking Flair... and then kept her off tv for like 6 months for this? Is this her grand debut?? Is she even ready for the main roster???

Wait hold on. Back up. So Chelsea touched Adam’s shoulder and had some off camera conversation to make her way into this triple threat match? *sigh* okay.

I don’t quite remember who this team consisted of, but if I had to guess, I’d assume Liv wins this match since Ruby is already on the team.

Love Chelsea’s theme music, love that a giant picture of herself is no longer her titantron... HATE the flowy wedding dress veil that she wears on the bottom half of her outfit.

Should stick Chelsea with Nattie tbh.

What the hell was that by Liv? A fake out standing crucifix turned into a ddt? Fucking beautiful.

Nattie and Liv work together nicely ngl. Liv really does have a lot of potential, but she’s god awful on the mic. Tag team wrestling is best for her for the foreseeable future.

“This is a fatal 4way,” Cole reminds us, because Chelsea and Tamina have seemingly died.

Should’ve just made this a singles match between Liv and Nattie, jesus.

Lmfao Liv pinned Tamina. What took Chelsea out? A dropkick off the apron. A dropkick off the apron took Chelsea out for 3 minutes, and she got maybe 3 moves of offense. Yikes, what a debut.

So when does Bayley get added as captain?

Highlight: The match that totally wasn’t a singles match between Liv & Nattie

---

*Bad week in wrestling, but yet again, Raw shines the brightest because as small as their roster may be, they’re being utilized decently well.

[bookofjin]

Biography of Tao Kan, Part 3

[From JS066.]

Wang Dun deeply envied Kan's achievements. When he was about to [?] to turn back to Jianglinag, he desired to pay visit to Dun to separate [?]. Huangfu Fanghui, Zhu Si, and others, remonstrated, considering it impossible. Kan did not accept. Dun as a result detained Kan and did not dispatch him. He moved him left to Inspector of Guang province and Commander of the Palace Gentlemen who Pacifies the Yue, and used Wang Yi [JS076] in Jing province.

Kan's subordinates magistrates, officers and men paid visit to Dun requesting to detain Kan. Dun was angry and did not allow it. Kan's generals Zheng Pan, Su Wen, Ma Jun and others did not journey south, and thereupon went west to welcome Du Zeng [JS100] to thereby resist Yi. Dun thought Pan was carrying out Kan's intentions. He donned armour and grasped a spear, and wanted to kill Kan, he set out and then turned around again four times. Kan with a stern face said:

To cause you Lord's valour be cut off will diminish Under Heaven. Why this indecisiveness!

Following that he stood up and went to the privy.

The Consultant Army Advisor Mei Tao and the Senior Clerk Chen Ban talked to Dun, saying:

Zhou Fang and Kan are friends and relatives by marriage, and are like the left and right hands. How to have cut off a person's left hand and yet the right hand is not obedient! [?]

Dun's thoughts thereupon loosened, hence he prepared abundant fine food, to thereby send them off. Kan expediently went out at night, Dun pulled in his son Zhan to be Army Advisor. When Kan had reached Yuzhang, he saw Zhou Fang, and with flowing tears said:

Without Sir's outside aide, my peril [would be] unavoidable.

Kan following that advanced to arrive in Shixing.

Before this, the people of Guang province betrayed the Inspector, Guo Ne, and welcomed a native of Changsha, Wang Ji [JS100] as Inspector. Ji then dispatched envoys to pay visit to Wang Dun, requesting to be [Inspector of] Jiao province. Dun accepted it, but Ji had not yet gone out. It happened that Du Hong occupied Linhe, and because of that Ji requested to surrender, urging Hong to capture Guang province. Hong thereupon together with Wen Shao and the Flowering Talent of Guang province Liu Chen, planned rebellion.

Some recommended Kan moreover to stay in Shixing, to observer and examine the circumstances. Kan did not listen and straight-away arrived in Guang province. Hong dispatched envoys to pretend to surrender. Kan perceived their lies, and first at Fengkou erected stone catapults. Shortly after Hong then arrived leading light troops. He realized Kan was prepared and therefore withdrew. Kan pursued, struck and routed him, and captured Liu Chen at Xiaogui. He also dispatched his section general Xu Gao to punish Ji, beheaded him, and transmitted his head to the Imperial Capital. The various generals all requested to exploit the victory and strike Wen Shao. Kan laughed and said:

My power and fame is already visible, why engage in dispatching troops. Only a single sealed paper is sufficient for myself, that is all.

Hence he sent down a document to notify it. Shao was afraid and ran, [they] chased and captured [him] in Shixing. Due to his merits he was enfeoffed Marquis of Chaisang, with a revenue estate of 4 000 households.

Kan was in the province with nothing going on. Every morning he moved a hundred bricks to the outside of [his] study. At dusk [he] moved [them] to the inside of [his] study. People asked about his reasons. He replied, saying:

I am just making effort for the Central Plain. [If I] go beyond these comfortable indulgences, [I] fear [I] will not be capable of affairs.

His strive and aspirations for diligent vigour was always of this kind.

At the beginning of Taixing [318 – 321], he was advanced in title to General who Calms the South, and made additionally Commander-in-Chief of the Army Affairs of Jiao province. When Wang Dun raised troops in rebellion, there was decree for Kan to use his original office to act as Inspector of Jiang province, and made to move to Commander-in-Chief and Inspector of Xiang province. Dun obtained his ambitions, and sent up for Kan to return to his original duty, additionally Cavalier in Regular Attendance.

At the time the Inspector of Jiao province, Wang Liang, was captured by the traitor Liang Shuo. Kan dispatched general Gao Bao to advance, strike and pacify him. Used Kan to act as Inspector of Jiao province. For a record of merits from beginning to end [?], enfeoffed his second son Xia as Marquis of Duting, and he was advanced in title to Great General who Conquers the South, Opening Office with the Same Ceremonies as the Three Ministers.

When Wang Dun was pacified, he transferred to Commander-in-Chief of All Army Affairs of Jing, Yong, Yi and Liang# provinces, acting Colonel who Protects the Southern Man, Great General who Conquers the West, and Inspector of Jing province; the remainder like before. In Chu and Ying the gentlemen and women could not but congratulate each other.

Kan was by nature intelligent and smart, and diligent at his official duties. He was respectful yet with simple manners, he was fond of human relations. The whole day he would pull back his knees and sit upright. Outside the threshold there were many affairs, a thousand thread-ends and ten thousand sprouts, never was he neglectful in keeping track [?]. Near and far wrote missives, he could not but reply in his own hand. His writing brush was like a current, not once stopping still. He drew forth and received missives from far away, the gates never delayed guests. He often told people, saying:

Yu the Great was a sage and therefore regretted a cun's shadow [on the sundial]. Reaching [us] people of the multitudes, [we] must regret a fen's shadow. How can we indulge in roaming about desolate and drunk. While living to make no improvments to the times, and when dead there beings nothing to ask about to the descendants, this is to abandon one-selves.

[1 cun = 10 fen]

Of the various advisors and assistants there were some who due to talk and play abandoned affairs. He therefore instructed to take their alcohol vessels and implements for dice games, and thoroughly throw them into the Jiang. The magistrates and generals he then additionally whipped and beat, saying:

Chaupar is a game for pig shepherds [?] and slaves, that is all. The Lao and Zhuang are frivolous and superficial, not the model words of former kings, and cannot be acted on. The lordly man will make proper in his clothes and cap, and manage his imposing manners. How can he make disordered hair support his expectations and speak of himself as vastly unimpeded!

When he was offered supplies [?], he always asked about their actions. If [they] had made efforts to make what was delivered [?], even if it was little he was surely pleased, he placated and bestowed, taking part multiple times. If not managed to obtain it [?], then he cuttingly and sharply scolded and abused, turning back their supplies [?].

He once set out to travel, and saw a person hold a single uprooted unripe rice plant. Kan asked:

Why have you done this?

The person told him:

What seen by the road will be taken, that is all [?]

Kan greatly angered said:

You have not farmed, yet for sport spoil people's rice plants.

He held and whipped him. Thus accordingly the hundred families were diligent in farming and rearing, families were well provided and people had sufficient.

At the time when building ships, the sawdust and bamboo butt ends he thoroughly ordered to begin managing them [?]. Nobody understood what for. Later at the New Year's Assembly, there piled up snow and only then the weather cleared. In front of the audience hall it was still wet from the remaining snow. Hence they used the sawdust to spread out on the ground. And when Huan Wen invaded Shu, they again used the bamboo butt heads stockpiled by Kan to make nails to outfit the boats. His arrangements and management of the small and circumstantial [?] was always of this kind.

[placetobenation]

Needless to say, after nearly 7 months of a Worldwide pandemic, the COVID-19 virus isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Before we got news that President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the virus, we got 14 positive tests from the Tennessee Titans forcing them to postpone this weekend’s game with the Pittsburgh Steelers. And before then, we got news that coronavirus may have played a hand in the WWE’s Clash of Champions PPV. Before the event itself, reports spread that Shayna Baszler, Nia Jax and Nikki Cross were being pulled from card due to not being medically cleared. That news came on the heels of many at the Performance Center and NXT superstars were exposed to the virus after a party that some attended. Of course, since it is the WWE, we get no confirmation of any of this. They’re perfectly fine just throwing it to a fake storyline rather than get more of it by exposing the truth. Wrestling is always better when there’s an ounce of realism to it. Just ask Jey Uso and Roman Reigns, right?!

We’ll get into show recaps in a bit, but damn, kudos to SmackDown! They are cranking out quality shows week after week after week while their counterparts on Monday night seem to be struggling. They’ve got it all going on these days!

Clash of Champions PPV

All in all, a very good PPV IMHO. Aside from the COVID-19 changes, which we’ve already addressed, it was a solid card from start to finish with some awesome storytelling. We got Sami Zayn’s ingenious and creative way to lock up the Undisputed Intercontinental Title by handcuffing Jeff Hardy to a ladder with his own earlobe and AJ Styles to the ladder itself. We got Shawn Michaels, Big Show and Ric Flair showing up in different variations to exact revenge on Randy Orton and see Drew McIntyre retain his WWE Championship in a physically brutal match. Roman Reigns and The USOs took their Samoan Dynasty feud to a new level. And we got another chapter to the Bayley vs. Sasha Banks rivalry. Along the way, very solid in-ring performances all night long and yes, a tidy 3-hour evening is always welcomed!

NXT: TakeOver 31 – UPDATED CARD

NXT Championship – Finn Balor vs. Kyle O’Reilly

NXT Women’s Championship – Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae

NXT North American Championship – Damien Priest vs. Johnny Gargano

NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match: Santos Escobar vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott

KUSHIDA vs. The Velveteen Dream

The Insurgent returns

Star of the Week:

"You think I'm proud of what I did? Clash of Champions was the worst night of my career." – @WWERomanReigns to Jey @WWEUsos #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/JLYDUy7Iq5

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) October 3, 2020

Roman Reigns – Sure, it’s easy to give it to the guy at the top of the food chain on SmackDown, but Reigns is doing everything right these days. Randy Orton’s a close second this week along with Alexa Bliss. But I’ll do what Jey Uso couldn’t, give the Tribal Chiefs his props!

RAW

RESULTS

RAW Women’s Championship Match: Asuka defeated Zelina Vega

Keith Lee defeated Andrade

Mandy Rose & Dana Brooke defeated Natalya & Lana

Kevin Owens defeated Aleister Black by DQ

24/7 Triple Threat Championship Match: R-Truth defeated Drew Gulak & Akira Tozawa

Murphy defeated Dominik Mysterio

Mustafa Ali, Apollo Crews & Ricochet defeated The Hurt Business

WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre defeated Robert Roode

LOVED IT:

What wasn’t there – Whether it be COVID-19 related or not, the absence of RAW Underground and RETRIBUTION (aside from a logo splashed around the ring during the six-man tag team match) made for a cleaner, more enjoyable Monday night. It wasn’t so disjointed which is good for all of us watching at home. It will be interesting to see how the WWE handles it going forward.

THE LEGEND KILLER STRIKES AGAIN!@RandyOrton just unleashed a vicious steel chair assault!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/pcFacxaMUS

— WWE (@WWE) September 29, 2020

Randy, the janitor – What better way exact revenge and reclaim your Legend Killer moniker than to don night vision glasses and take out Shawn Michaels, Big Show, Ric Flair and Christian! The seeds were planted early in the night with Orton leaving the building, but not before he laid the groundwork for a Hell in the Cell match against Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship in October. We’ll get that soon enough! Orton just keeps getting better with age.

Welcome back:

#WWERaw just became…….GLORIOUS! They battled at #NXTTakeOver for the #NXTChampionship, but tonight…@RealRobertRoode is the one to challenge @DMcIntyreWWE for the #WWEChampionship! pic.twitter.com/qlZDx5c6ew

— WWE (@WWE) September 29, 2020

Glorious – It’s good to see The Glorious one Bobby Roode back on WWE TV. Plus, it was nice to see them not forget the Dolph Ziggler-Roode connection as well as Roode accepted Drew McIntyre’s open challenge Monday night. Both guys came out strong for this one to make for one of the bright spots Monday night.

Twin tribute:

Mandy Night RAW – Mandy Rose, complete with her new blonde partner Dana Brooke, gave a cute nod to Trish Tribute. Will the Beautiful Blondes be wearing Glittery Gold soon?

Hitting the road:

"You are NOTHING without me!" Hey, not cool, @AndradeCienWWE.#WWERaw @Zelina_VegaWWE pic.twitter.com/B4puiCWFi2

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) September 29, 2020

Andrade & Zelina – Tough night all around for Zelina Vega and Andrade. First, they publicly dismiss each other. Then, the both lose to Keith Lee and Asuka respectively. It would be nice to see Vega start to bring guys along to fight Andrade and get revenge, no?

We told you son:

TROUBLE continues for the Mysterio family on #WWERaw! pic.twitter.com/mYOb7Cw9v3

— WWE (@WWE) September 29, 2020

Murphy & Aalyah – We told you to watch for it and we’re getting it – a blossoming romance between Dominik Mysterio’s sister Aalyah and Mysterio’s bitter rival Murphy. The ring does make for such interesting bedfellows doesn’t it?

Makes no sense:

The Hurt Business – So one week, Bobby Lashley, MVP, Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander are there to take out everyone including RETRIBUTION. Then, this week, they can’t even beat Apollo Crews, Mustafa Ali and Ricochet. Either they are the best and prove it, or they’re no better than the 50-50 booking that the WWE is handing them week after week. They deserve better.

NXT

RESULTS

Shotzi Blackheart defeated Dakota Kai

Cameron Grimes defeated Joey Pistachio

Cameron Grimes defeated Ridge Holland via DQ

KUSHIDA defeated Tony Nese

Adam Cole defeated Austin Theory

Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae defeated Damian Priest & Io Shirai

LOVED IT:

Like REALLY had it.

#WWENXT #NXTTakeOver @shirai_io @JohnnyGargano pic.twitter.com/vB78a9hNl5

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 1, 2020

Main Event – Now that was one SICK main event! Io Shirai flying everywhere, including off of Damien Priest’s shoulders, moonsaulting on to Johnny Gargano and yet still not coming out on top. The Gargano Way reigns supreme at the end getting over on their champion counterparts setting up what should be a fun-filled NXT:TakeOver 31 Sunday night!

"Even if I never made it to #WWENXT, even if I was still wrestling for 5 dollars every other weekend, I would still be doing it with everything I 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 and everything I 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯." – @KORcombat

pic.twitter.com/EqK8DGx6GV

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) October 1, 2020

Kyle O’Reilly – Between the backstory, profile and face-to-face with Finn Balor, we got some needed insight as to who Kyle O’Reilly is beyond The Undisputed Era. It gives us a reason to want to see him fight Finn at NXT:TakeOver.

"You're so good…at stroking your own ego." – @KORcombat to @FinnBalor #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/gnHn572jts

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) October 1, 2020

RESPECT – The face-to-face with Finn Balor, Kyle O’Reilly and Shawn Michaels was downright civil and respectful. A good conversation without the yelling, screaming and fisticuffs that we normally see in these types of affairs. Balor’s first title defense should be a good one.

Who is it? Who’s coming home to NXT: TakeOver 31?

The build-up to NXT:TakeOver – All the pre-produced pieces led some credibility and interest into the matches and that’s exactly what a go-home show is supposed to do! Give me a reason to watch the PPV this Sunday night. Scott vs. Escobar. Kushida. Kyle O’Reilly. As usual, the WWE does production like no other.

Sad:

"She breaks my TV, you tear her ACL." – @JohnnyGargano on @TeganNoxWWE_'s recent injury. Yep. Makes sense.

#WWENXT @CandiceLeRae pic.twitter.com/44jiuyUblE

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) October 1, 2020

Tegan Nox injury – Tough news for Tegan Nox as she’s out for a while with a torn ACL. That Candice LeRae feud will have to be put on the backburner for now.

No friend of mine:

Xia Li – No handshake. No respect. Again. This time, Li spurs both Kayden Carter after her victory and her BFF Kacy Catanzaro.

Could do without:

Cameron Grimes Invitational – Why? What the hell was that? A squash win followed by a squash DQ finish with Ridge Holland. Why waste even that little time! Give that time to highlight KUSHIDA more than his 2-minute match with Tony Nese. Lovin’ that new attitude for KUSHIDA so give him more of a spotlight. Hopefully, we’ll see it unfold vs. The Velveteen Dream this Sunday. And oh yeah, back to Grimes. He should want no part of Dexter Loomis!

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

Jey Uso defeated AJ Styles

Otis defeated John Morrison

Sheamus defeated Shorty G

Matt Riddle & Lucha House Party defeated King Corbin, Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura

Intercontinental Championship Match: Sami Zayn defeated Jeff Hardy

LOVED IT:

OH MY GOD! The Fiend just attacked @FightOwensFight #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/W73cLKNCAb

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) October 3, 2020

Bliss-mate – At last, we get the on-camera pairing of Alexa Bliss and The Fiend. Using the KO Show with Kevin Owens looking for answers from little Miss Bliss so it can help him against Aleister Black is a creative way to bridge RAW and SmackDown storylines. Having The Fiend take out Owens with the mandible claw is equally intriguing.

What does @WWERomanReigns mean by this?!? #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/UHh49ZTUFE

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) October 3, 2020

The Tribal Chief – Starting the night with the family feud of Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso after their epic battle at Clash of Champions makes sense. I didn’t expect Reigns, our star of the week, to go down the road of professing his love for Jey Uso and giving him one more match at Hell in the Cell, but I’ll take it. The personal side to their drama is gripping and we just want more. They are doing all the little things right, including have Reigns stop Paul Heyman mid-sentence to show just who wields the power in that relationship. Reigns isn’t going to stop until he makes Uso tell him he is the one and only Tribal Chief. 

.@SamiZayn just had to be extra. #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/yikPhHY036

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) October 3, 2020

Sami vs. Jeff – Nice Medusa moment for Mr. Zayn as he throws Jeff Hardy’s version of the Intercontinental Championship into the trash. Then, they go out and delivery an enjoyable main event with the right guy going over. Zayn’s got great heel heat right now and they are right to ride it!

BREAKING NEWS:@SashaBanksWWE has challenged @ItsBayleyWWE for the SmackDown Women's Champion on NEXT WEEK'S @WWE Friday Night SmackDown! #WWEDraft pic.twitter.com/AMbLoruEMU

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) October 3, 2020

It’s Banks Bitch – Succinct and perfectly pointed. Sasha Banks is coming for Bayley’s SmackDown Title next week. This one’s going to end in the main event at Hell in the Cell PPV!

Necessary evils:

Squash me, squash you – Otis and Sheamus delivering one-sided victories over John Morrison and Shorty G wasn’t competitive, but it did move the storyline forward. Next week, we get Otis in court vs. The Miz in what should be a Cousin Vinny-like moment. Sheamus is ready for a street fight against Big E and I can’t wait for a new day of whooping!

U N T O U C H A B L E C A R M E L L A @CarmellaWWE #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/rB3CjDjtKB

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) October 3, 2020

Carmella revealed – So what exactly does Untouchable mean? What’s up with the polaroid camera?

Parting shots:

It’ll be interesting how the WWE handles the pre-emptions of SmackDown during the MLB Playoffs and World Series. SmackDown has some serious momentum going and with Hell in the Cell and Survivor Series PPV’s coming up, I hope they get creative and don’t just waste shows on FS1. Out of sight sometimes means out of mind, so the WWE and FOX will have to be careful and creative with the product and the schedule. It’ll also be interesting to see how they handle the two-night Superstar Draft. I hope they don’t raid SmackDown to help RAW because Friday nights need to keep on track to keep FOX happy. All RAW needs is some TLC (no, not tables, ladders and chairs) and some creative, fresh ideas and they’ll be fine. It’s the little things that will help it rebound. I do expect Charlotte Flair to be part of Monday night’s future. I’d pair Flair and Andrade to build a stable to get back at Zelina Vega.

Coming up this week:

RAW Randy Orton’s ambush reaction

NXT NXT:TakeOver 31 fallout

JUST ANNOUNCED. The Fiend @WWEBrayWyatt will battle @FightOwensFight on next week's #SmackDown! pic.twitter.com/aJutwqDnYm

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) October 3, 2020

SMACKDOWN Night 1 – WWE Superstar DraftKevin Owens vs. The FiendFalls Count Anywhere Match: Big E vs. SheamusSmackDown Women’s Championship Match: Bayley vs. Sasha Banks

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND

[galaxygirlsofficial]

I just realized I missed Maka’s birthday by a few weeks! Oops. To be fair, I had major surgery a month ago and I’ve been busy trying to catch up on work. No matter! I did a creative writing exercise with a superhero AU for the gals. It’s Maka-centric so here it is! 2k words of character exploration and gay subtext. Happy belated to my favorite make believe gal! 

“You’re late.”

Maka flinched, slowly turning to face the inevitable cold eyes and crossed arms. Delphi usually wasn’t one to be mad about curfew; it was usually Maka who got worried when Delphi didn’t come home. However, she couldn’t blame her for being mad. Who wouldn’t be mad when their best friend kept fighting crime even when she was supposed to be relaxing in their joint apartment?

“You are supposed to be taking a break from being a superhero to focus on your mental health,” Delphi sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between two fingers. “What good is Andromeda to the city when she hasn’t had enough sleep to fly properly?”

“It’s not that late,” Maka argued weakly.

“It’s 2:30 am.”

Her words died in her throat. The only sound was the distant honking of the city from the window in between them.

Delphi slowly uncrossed her arms and stepped closer to Maka. “You need to trust that the others will watch the city for a few days without you. We’re a team for a reason-”

“And I’m the leader!” Maka cried, beginning to pace back and forth. “What good is a leader if she’s not there?” Delphi put her arm out to halt the pacing. “She’s a leader who trusts her teammates,” She answered. Maka froze, before tilting her head down.

“...Get some rest.” Delphi finally said, gently leading Maka to her bed. “You can rejoin the group tomorrow night, if you sleep now.”

-

“You didn’t get enough sleep, did you?”

Maka grumpily tossed off her coat. Whose idea was it to have buttons on her uniform? Oh right, hers. She fumbled for a few moments before looking up at the disapproving face of Delphi’s alter ego, The Oracle.

“You ready to be back in the field? It’s been a whole 24 hours,” Delphi joked, bumping Maka on the hip as she finally got her uniform on.

“Definitely. I feel bad sitting around not doing anything,” Maka answered, zipping up her boots, grabbing her bo staff, and climbing up the fire escape to the roof of their apartment complex. “Anything on the itinerary or is this just a routine watch?”

“I think the others spotted Sagittaria having a meeting with her second-in-command. We should go check it out.” Delphi grabbed Maka’s hand as Maka took flight. While it was not Maka’s only power, flight was more convenient than taking an Uber, and Maka was grateful she had it.

As the two approached the warehouse, Maka set Delphi down and surveyed the scene. “We shouldn’t make a move just yet. There could be more than just her higher ups, and you could get hurt.”

“Me? What about you?”

“I can defend myself. I have actual fighting powers.”

Delphi whipped her face around, expression contorted into anger. “That’s a stupid excuse and you know it!”

“Listen, we only know that they’re in there, and nothing else. I’m just saying if we’re going to act we should be on the defensive.”

“We have the element of surprise, you ding dong! We could just--”

A stray bullet ricocheted off the wall less than a foot away from her. The two looked up, only to see the wicked grin of Sagittaria, their most prominent foe with the ability to kill anything she touched.

“Well, isn’t this interesting. Two of the Galaxy Girls, all by themselves. Where’s the rest of your little clique?” the villainess drawled, slowly walking towards them.

“We don’t need them,” Maka responded, ignoring the glare Delphi gave her. “We can take you on by ourselves!”

“Can you?” Sagittaria sneered, snapping her fingers. Two large and imposing men, one wearing a leather jacket and the other in glasses, stepped out from behind her, preparing for a fight.

“Oh great,” Delphi muttered, crouching into a fighting pose and pulling out her stun gun, while Maka tightened her grip on the staff. “Just follow my lead,” Delphi murmured to her partner, before ducking under the legs of the man with glasses, despite Maka’s call of “Wait a second!”

Maka cursed under her breath, then charged the second guard. Per their usual tactics, since Delphi used her speed to take out less powerful enemies while Maka would tackle the bigger and tougher foes, thus allowing them to do more work in less time. The jacketed man blocked her first strike with his forearm, before she swung back around and used the bo staff as a pole vault to get behind him. The staff clearly wasn’t going to hurt him, so Maka switched tactics, kicking him in the face. However, Maka realized, she was not feeling well enough to properly fend him off. She hadn’t gotten enough sleep after all. And she was so engrossed in her problem that she didn’t hear the cry of alarm before it was too late.

By the time Maka had looked over her shoulder, Delphi had been pinned down by the other man. Maka sprinted over and threw a punch, but she quickly realized she was too weak to get him off of Delphi.

If only she had worried about what could go wrong even when she was there.

In her moment of shock, the leather jacket man Maka knocked her aside, sending her into a nearby wall. She got back up, ready to fight, only to see Delphi’s pleading eyes.

“Go!” she cried. “I’ll be okay, just go get help!”

Maka shook her head. “I can’t leave you! Not when I know I can help!”

“Listen!” Delphi called. “Listen to me. I will be ok. Go!”

With one last look, she turned around, used her staff to break open a nearby window, and left the warehouse, tears flowing down her cheeks.

-

“And now you’re here,” Ruby finished. She, along with the other 4 that made up their team, were sitting around Maka’s couch back at her apartment after Maka had abruptly called an emergency meeting to explain the situation.

“Sagittaria can kill anything she touches. Delphi could be dead for all I know!” Maka was pacing around the room. “I need to go after her as soon as possible.”

“What you need is more rest,” said Alina. She was gently maneuvering water around the kitchen, preparing tea for the stressed leader. “You can’t help anyone without proper sleep.”

“I can’t help Delphi while I’m asleep either!” Maka cried, dropping her head into her hands. “I can’t take it, I’m going after her.”

“And what will happen if you go in? You get caught too?” Visala replied, beginning to don her Sunset Rose uniform. “Why don’t you let us handle this?”

“Because it’s my fault!”

The other girls in the room stopped, slowly turning to Maka.

“It’s my fault she was captured. I wasn’t strong or fast enough. I didn’t listen to her plan. I just did what I thought was right -And look where it got me.”

“So… your plan is to do the exact same thing again?” Xia piped up, not looking away from her phone.

“No, my plan is to do what Delphi initially suggested: Use the element of surprise.”

The girls shared a glance between one another, before Jalene, the quietest of the group, spoke up.

“Stealth missions are best with only one or two people, but we’ll wait for you on the outside in case you get spotted. I’m glad you’re going to try to listen to other people for once instead of getting your butt kicked in order to prevent the rest of us from getting hurt.”

“Thanks,” Maka replied sarcastically, picking her bo staff off the ground and turning towards the fire escape. “Let’s go save our friend.”

-

“This is Jalene, I have visual on the facility. Maka? Can you hear me?”

“Copy.”

“Go left, the building is a circle and there’s fewer guards there.”

“Got it.”

Maka had to admit: This was a lot easier when you had 5 people out front helping you.

After Jalene had managed to locate the floor plan by hacking into the computers at Sagittaria’s base, she brought her computer so they could help Maka track down where Delphi was probably being kept. It was unlikely Sagittaria would pass up an opportunity to use Delphi as a hostage.

Maka carefully walked down the corridor, making sure to avoid running, as her boots would cause too much sound. After a few minutes, she came across a set of doors guarded by 3 men. “Now what?” She whispered into her mouthpiece.

“I think that’s the holding cell, give me a minute. I’m gonna try something.”

Maka heard a few clicks on Jalene’s computer, before her voice was heard over a nearby loudspeaker. “Oi, you three, the boss wants you to help unload some cargo.”

“And who is this?” One of the guards asked.

“Uh….” Maka could hear Jalene freeze up. She wasn’t good with improvising.

Luckily, Ruby had picked up the microphone. “This is Mrs. Natas, secretary to Sagitarria. If you want to not die, I suggest you do as we say. Thank you!”

Ruby hung up (probably to hide her laughter), and the guards slowly shuffled off, muttering to each other “Is she new?”

When the men had cleared, Maka ran up to the abandoned gate, where Delphi was quietly giggling. “Sevil Natas? Really?”

“You know that’s Ruby’s favorite pseudonym,” Maka laughed, striking her bo staff down on the lock, shattering it. Delphi stepped out of the cell, before hugging Maka fiercely.

“Thanks for coming back,” She muttered, burying her face into Maka’s arms.

“Did you think I wasn’t going to?” Maka asked, wrapping tighter around the shorter girl.

“No, but I expected you to come alone and get your butt kicked.”

“Gee, thanks, I’m glad my team has a love of roasting me in common.”

“You’re welcome!” Delphi chirped, letting go of Maka and turning around to survey the surroundings. “So, which way?”

“Back into your cell.”

The two whipped around, seeing Sagittaria standing behind them, murder on her face.

“I’m getting a sense of deja vu,” Maka muttered.

Sagittaria motioned to the various guards surrounding her, who formed a circle around the two. “I had planned on holding you ransom, but it seems that your presence here gave me exactly what I needed!” she cackled.

Delphi and Maka stood back to back; Maka had her staff raised, while Delphi kept her hands at her sides.

“Lower your weapon,” said Delphi.

Maka flipped her head around. “What?”

“Lower your weapon; we’re outnumbered.”

Maka slowly met Delphi’s eyes, noticing a familiar glint in her eyes.

“Trust me,” Delphi said, her voice calm and firm.

Maka knew that the plan Delphi had was much better than fighting. It was a plan Maka had suggested when they first worked together, all those years ago. Back when they trusted each other. Back when their relationship wasn’t so lopsided.

Maybe it’s time to go back to that, she mused.

Slowly, Maka lowered her weapon, to the delight of Sagittaria. However, before she or her men could act, Delphi raised her arms, a faint purple hue emanating from her fingertips. A familiar feeling washed over Maka, prickling her nerves, as time slowed to an immediate halt for all but the two of them. Her hair began to defy gravity as Delphi strained under the immense effort her power forced from her.

While Delphi did not have powers that helped in a fight, that didn’t mean her powers weren’t awesome.

Letting her flying powers kick in, Maka grabbed Delphi by the shoulders, and floated the two of them further down the hallway, until the supervillain was out of sight, when the two dropped their powers simultaneously.

“Run!” Delphi harshly whispered, and the two bolted out the building while Sagittaria called from behind them, “Where are they!? Where did they go!?”

The two girls began to giggle, their laughs of delight following them out the building where the others were waiting.

“There you are! We thought something happened when Maka stopped responding,” Alina said, jogging over to hug Delphi. “Welcome back!”

“Thanks, guys. I couldn’t have done it without you. All of you,” Maka said, turning to the team.

“Especially me,” Delphi muttered.

Maka coughed. “Yes, especially you.” The others laughed.

“So now what, team leader? We gonna go in and finish the job?” Xia asked, cracking her knuckles, clearly anticipating an affirmative.

Instead, Maka turned back to the building, sighing, and shaking her head.

“I think I should get some proper sleep first.”

[apersonalinjurylawyernewsst-blog]

Personal Injury Attorney Phoenix Arizona

Are all personal injury lawyers the same? It's not too hard to wonder that when you take your first looks at a telephone listing and try to find someone to represent you in a legal matter. The truth is that there are lawyers of all educational and experience levels just like any other profession. For personal injury attorney Phoenix Arizona follow the guide below.

If you want to do some initial work on your own first, that's certainly worth trying; so we'll cover a few tips that might help you out. Keep in mind we are assuming you are not at fault in the car wreck. If you have any doubts about liability and how it is apportioned, this is the time to call an auto accident attorney.

Personal Injury Attorney Phoenix Arizona

An accident report should be completed at the time of the incident noting what happened, who witnessed both the accident and the conditions that caused the fall along with any other relevant information such as lighting, weather (if accident occurred outdoors) or hidden hazards. The requirement for a report is generally a store or business policy, rather than mandated by law. However, the timely reporting of the accident is most beneficial for all involved parties.

His widow, Liu Xia, had been held a virtual prisoner in her Beijing home throughout Liu's sentence, despite never being charged. Since his death, she's had virtually no contact with friends or family and the authorities will not say where she is currently being held.

Often our investigators will return to the scene with you to recreate the incident. Our team will contact any witnesses and take the case from there. Your next job is to get better. If you need to see a doctor, follow the treatment plan until you are at 100 percent health.

The opposite essential thing to handle fully assure you do have a powerful circumstance for big injuries is documents of your incident. If yourrrve been at work, there needs to be an automobile accident record. Lots of private and public complexes and rooms also complete collision records. If this won't transpire, the next most convenient thing can be a enjoy towards automobile accident, somebody that will back again your narrative up. A personal injury law firm might also want reports and witnesses to show the pain emereged as the result of neglect or lack of security precautions. Should you fall in a very keep high wasn't warning to notify shoppers, this is a lead infringement from the laws. Every bit can help if you should build a instance. To get the desired benefits, you need a personal injury attorney who knows the needs you have. A good doing the job romantic relationship and powerful communicating are tips for solving legal issues.

The penalty for leaving the scene of an accident with property damage is a second degree misdemeanor charge, including the possibility of sixty days in prison and a $500 fine. If there are injury's involved, than the charges can be trumped up to a second or third degree felony, including a suspension of license for at least 3 years, up to five years in prison, and a $5,000 fine. Lastly, if there has been a fatality due to the accident, then it's considered a first degree felony, involving a revoked license for up to three years, and a mandatory minimum of four years in jail, and a $10,000 fine.

Another unfortunate circumstance that arises from motorcycle driving is the misconception about the drivers. Many people feel motorcycle drivers are irresponsible or reckless drivers, and since many injury cases are decided by a jury, this bias can lead to decisions that leave motorcyclists without the compensation they need and the justice they deserve—all based on a simple but pervasive stereotype.

So lets talk about personal injury attorney Phoenix Arizona and what can be verified. I have read the bible cover to cover several times. I have looked into the proofs of scripture. I read books for and against the bible (that way SH is laughable many times, his arguments are so shallow and stupid) I researched did what the bible say actually happen? In most cases, you can find today where those events happened and proof outside the bible the events happened. Then there are bible prophecies that have been fullfilled. Unlike soothsayers of today, they are very specific. Many of them have been fullfilled. Then there is the way the bible is written. People are described are real. You see their warts, their failings. No other history book shows people as they really are. If you can prove to me that Jesus did not rise, I would become a Jew.

Ginsburg said that while 26 states oppose the expansion, other states welcome it. Scalia asked the politics of the states for and against the federal healthcare funds, to which Clement acknowledged the Republican-led states were against it and Democratic-led states favored it.

There are typically no up-front legal fees for a personal injury or wrongful death suit. Instead, like many law firms we charge a ‘contingency fee,' which is a percentage of the monies obtained. Because attorneys charge similar fees, your focus should be finding the best injury lawyers you can to maximize the potential settlement or award.

Skultch had the best question that required the most thought. Even though it looks like he MAY not be a free thinker, at least he thought up a good question. So Skultch any other good questions? Please let them be orignial and not as easily dismissed as SH and Otto's rages, misquotes, distortions, lies, and Jesus Seminar garbage.

Lohan's attorney entered pleas of no contest to charges of driving with a blood alcohol level over the limit of08 percent, being under the influence of cocaine and reckless driving. In exchange, two counts of driving under the influence were dropped. A no contest plea is neither an admission of guilt, nor a denial.

If a person becomes the victim of a hit and run accident, having uninsured motorist coverage (UM) will cover the victim's damages. This is particularly helpful since in the event that a person is injured and the hit-and-run driver isn't caught, this coverage will cover just like if the person didn't have insurance at all.

The number of years a patient who suffers from a spinal cord injury will expect to live, will be of paramount interest to the families and loved ones of the SCI victim in seeking compensation for a spine injury lawsuit resulting from a motor vehicle accident, act of violence, and slip and fall accidents due to unsafe or negligent conditions. A spine injury attorney is qualified to assist families in estimating the lifetime cost a spinal cord injury patient will need for optimal care for the remainder of their life.

If the arrest warrant is in direct result of a court violation you will need to surrrender yourself to the sheriffs office or wait to be picked up. Either way you will be taken in front of the magistrate if there is no bail set or you may bond if bail is available.

The other driver needs to respond to what you are doing and not what they think or believe you might do or ought to do. You have the right of way. They can't prove you were in a turning lane (even if you are does mean you are turning?). Whether the lights were green or red wont be taken into consideration however as it cannot be proved what colour they were. But if the other driver was turning across your path (across on coming traffic) they need to be sure it is safe for them to do so. The fact you had an accident shows it wasn't.

Her temper id explosive and at any conversation will blow up at me to the point where we have not spoken to one another for over 2 months. in her last episode she screamed at me how she doesn't care about me at all and the threatened to punch the lights out of my lady friend. It scared us so bad that we both vacated the house for over 6 weeks. I asked her to get out via email, she's refussed.

What that means is for a personal injury attorney Phoenix Arizona, without more facts, if all you know is that there's a rear-end collision, that doesn't mean the driver in the back is to blame for it. That doesn't mean that the driver in the front is to blame for it. In each and every time when there's a rear-end collision, it depends on what happened to cause that collision to figure out which driver is to blame.

Jason Epstein is the founder of Straight Talk Law. For more free Straight Talk Law” information, please visit the website at where you can order free books on personal injury lawyers, Washington auto accidents, auto insurance and other valuable legal information, offered as a public service by Jason and his law practice in Seattle, Washington.

There are other options open to divorced parents when it comes to the right of recovery in a wrongful death suit. Either parent has the right to file a motion before trial requesting that the judge apportion any judgment awarded in the case. Doing so will require a hearing in which each parent will have the opportunity to show evidence of their relationship with the deceased child. The judge will use this hearing to determine the percentage of the judgment to be awarded to each parent based on the parent's relationship with the child, considering such issues as permanent custody and support, as well as any other factors he or she finds significant.

Many cases do not make it to court. That is okay. If you are dealing with a wrongful death attorney, he or she will likely encourage you to settle the matter out of court. However, that doesn't mean you have to reduce what you can obtain from such a settlement. Settlements provide for the compensation that you deserve and for what will help you to sustain your lifestyle after such a tragic accident.

Hello, i was in a custody battle in 2008 for my son, his grandparents had an emergency order of protection put against me using false accusations , they were able to take temporary custody of my son and i could not see or contact him. it took me one month to obtain a lawyer to have it dismissed and some form of visitation established, i then filed to get my custody back Feb 18, a deposition was set for the following April 24 and our actual court date for may 8th but at the desposition there whole case fell apart and they wanted to settle everything and not have the court date so i agreed that they could have visitation every weekend and a few weeks in the summer, I was awarded with sole custody care control and education of my child. i fear they will try and do this again, are they able to do such things and what can i do to stop them.

According to Florida state law, a person can be convicted for DUI if: the state can prove that the accused was driving while their faculties were impaired OR the state can prove that the accuse was operating a motor vehicle with a Blood or Breath Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or higher.

If the doctor asks you what you were doing and answer that you were playing golf or basketball, was jogging, etc. after the car accident.” The insurance adjuster can use that against your claim by saying that your injuries were not very serious if you were able to engage in such strenuous activities.

The Personal Injury Attorney and How a Case Is Won

Personal Injury Attorney - Top Questions to Ask

Since accidents can be due to the entire recklessness and negligence of some other individual, you should look for the help of a personal injury attorney right away

This way you can be informed of your respective rights and get the guidance that is essential to direct you towards trial or settlement settings

Traumatic Brain Injuries inside the Military

These factors could potentially cause fatality or property damage or economic loss or might be just an injury

The injury caused by dog bite is traumatic and requirements serious investigation

There may be other cases like wrongful death or any dangerous exposure like lead poisoning and other toxic exposure

The defective drugs may also result in severe damage that the manufacturer must compensate the harm caused on the victim

If the accident is situated work, the person deserves workers' compensation, since these injuries can leave him helpless and frustrated

When an Accident Causes Catastrophic Injuries

In the recent case of Sgt

Jeremy Ricketts, even shopping at Walmart can present a problem because of TBI

Due to his symptoms, people blocking aisles and upsetting his "mission" may make shopping a nightmare

Fortunately, his wife understands and frequently continues ahead while he waits, or agrees to search on a later date if it is less busy

 Another soldier diagnosed with TBI, Sgt

Michael Darby, struggles with memory and anger problems, as well as headaches, tinnitus, and sensitivity to light

With aid from the clinic, these two soldiers' symptoms are improving, as do most of the 100-plus cases the clinic sees every day

In most circumstances, patients in the clinic come back to duty within 2 or 3 months

Ricketts' case, he's willing to jump back to duty as soon as it is said "go”

If you are in a very predicament in places you were injured and want the compensation, however are too embarrassed, you should get over this, and look for a personal injury attorney. If you have a legitimate problem as a result of negligence of a company you then likely have an excellent case. The right law professional are able to help you to get the thing you need.

You should immediately remain visible by the personal injury attorney Phoenix Arizona and doctor to own your injuries evaluated and treated. Whether you'll need an ambulance to handle that you an area hospital depends on the nature of one's injuries, but even if you do not use ambulance, it is important that you see a health care provider as soon as possible. Many injuries could be exacerbated by being left untreated. Additionally, some injuries is probably not evident to get a week following accident.

Resources:

Kester Law Group | Attorney At Work

How to Choose a Personal Injury Lawyer: 14 Steps

Personal injury attorney Phoenix Arizona - Weebly

[setaripendragon]

Like Fire and Water - Part 1

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 So, someone recced an Ursa/Hakoda fic, and I read it, and fell down the rabbithole into rarepair hell. There is so very little for this ship on Ao3, that I decided I needed to write my own fic. I spent the last week writing this pretty much non-stop, and it's basically already finished, so I’m going to post the six parts here as I double (and triple) check them for typos and shit, then throw them at Ao3 once I’m sure it’s presentable.

Katara and Toph had lost their escort somewhere around the spa, and Toph was adamant about taking the opportunity to explore the city a little. Katara wasn’t really sure what she thought they’d gain by that, but Toph had convinced her by suggesting they take a train out from the lower ring to see what the Ba Sing Se docks were like. A chance to do some actual water-bending was a chance too good to pass up, so there they were, waiting in the station for the next train heading to the outer wall.

“There’s so many people here.” Katara murmured, watching the ebb and flow of people with fascination. “I never thought there could be this many people in the world, never mind in one city.” Toph snorted, more in response to Katara’s tone than her words, she thought. Katara found the city amazing, if somewhat unnerving, but Toph hated it here, and made no effort to hide her contempt.

“Ba Sing Se is a marvel.” The woman seated on the next bench along remarked, offering Katara a kind smile. She was pretty, despite looking vaguely worn, worry lines beginning to make their home around her eyes. Her dress was a dark green, and well fitting, although it too looked a bit worn around the edges, and her dark brown hair was up in one of those practical buns at the nape of her neck that Katara saw all over the place in the lower ring, and never once saw anywhere in the upper rings.

“It’s something, but I wouldn’t call it a marvel.” Toph groused. “More like a deathtrap.”

Katara elbowed her friend, but thankfully the woman didn’t seem offended, only amused and faintly indulgent. “You can marvel at a landslide or a sandstorm, it doesn’t make it any less dangerous.” She pointed out.

Toph’s eyebrows flew up, but she was smiling. “Heh, yeah. Alright.” She capitulated.

“Besides,” the woman went on, “it must be quite a shock to a young woman from the Water Tribe. I hear even their capital city in the north is smaller than one of the Earth Kingdom’s cities, and Ba Sing Se is several times the size of places like Omashu.”

Katara was a little surprised that this woman seemed to know even that much about the Tribes, but she supposed she shouldn’t be. It was, after all, only the war that people weren’t allowed to talk about. And they did have a university here. “I’m from the Southern Tribe, anyway.” She said with a rueful smile. “Cities at all came as a pretty big shock to me.”

“The Southern Tribe?” The woman asked, startled. Katara blinked at her, surprised by her surprise. Then she shocked Katara further by smiling wryly and asking. “Which one?”

No one outside of the Southern Tribes ever seemed to remember that there was more than one. There were at least six, and though they had been united against the Fire Nation since before Katara had been born, they were certainly nothing like the unified Tribe of the North. “The Whale-shark Tribe.” She said, and it felt so strange, to identify herself that way, when for most of her life, it hadn’t mattered if she was Whale-shark or Tiger-seal or Arctic Wolf-fox, because she was Southern Water Tribe.

“Hakoda’s Tribe?” The woman asked.

Katara straightened, every part of her coming to attention at hearing her father’s name. “Yes. You know my dad?” She asked intently, and saw the woman’s eyes – an amber-brown so light they were almost gold, and that sent an instinctive chill down Katara’s spine – go wide as her mouth dropped open.

After a long moment, in which Katara thought she was going to vibrate out of her own skin, the woman pulled herself together, and nodded. “You must be Katara, then.” She said, sounding dazed. Katara nodded, feeling equally out of sorts. “I-”

In that moment, the grinding screech of stone on stone announced the arrival of the train, cutting off anything else the woman might say. It was followed by a noisy rush of people that made picking up their conversation difficult. The woman got to her feet, craning her head to see over the crowd, but she didn’t go far, and she kept glancing at Katara, as if to make sure she was still there.

And then Katara realised why.

“Hakoda!” The woman called, with a surprisingly elegant wave. Katara got to see her father’s expression light up as they landed on her, then watched his gaze follow that motion down and sideways, until it landed on Katara. He stumbled, shock giving way to a smile as he shoved his way through the crowd. Katara jumped to her feet as he cleared the bustling mob, and all but fell into her dad’s welcoming arms.

“Dad!” She gasped out, bewildered, but too happy to care in that moment.

“Katara.” Hakoda breathed, awe and confusion and delight in every syllable. “What are you doing here?” He asked as he drew back, holding her by the shoulders to stare at her. He glanced at the woman, as if she might have an answer for him, but she only shrugged.

“Did Bato tell you-”

“That you’re travelling with the Avatar?” Hakoda finished for her. “Yes, he mentioned it.”

Katara nodded. “Well-” She began, then shook her head. “No, wait, what are you doing here?” She echoed, frowning.

“Our fleet has been helping protect the waters around Ba Sing Se, keeping the Fire Nation away from the refugees as they make their way into the city.” Hakoda explained with a wry smile. “Is Sokka with you?” He asked, hopeful.

“Not right now.” Katara admitted. “He’s in the Upper Ring with Aang. But he’ll be so happy to see you, Dad, we can get there in a few minutes, the trains here are so fast, and you have to meet Aang, he’s amazing, and- Oh! Oh, I’m sorry. Dad, this is Toph, she’s Aang’s earth-bending teacher.”

Hakoda smiled, and stepped back enough to face Toph and nod respectfully. “Nice to meet you, Toph.” He greeted.

“Yeah, you too.” Toph replied, and she sounded sincere.

Then the woman stepped up by Hakoda’s side and touched his arm lightly. When he glanced at her, she gave him a prompting look that was more amused than chiding. Toph whistled under her breath, the one that meant ‘oh boy, you’re in trouble’. She usually used it when Sokka had done something stupid and Katara was about to tell him off, but Sokka wasn’t here, so…

“Ah, right.” Hakoda said, with a hint of a playful grimace. “Obviously, you’ve realised this is my daughter, Katara.” He said to the woman, who nodded, and Hakoda cleared his throat. Distantly, as if through a fog, Katara realised that her dad was nervous. “Katara, this is, ah… Xia.” He said, and stopped, suddenly enough that Katara knew he’d been about to say more.

“Xia.” Katara repeated, her tone flat. Because there was a horrible suspicion growing in the back of her mind, but… no. No. It couldn’t be, it just couldn’t, because that would mean that- that Dad had forgotten about Mum, and he wouldn’t. He would never, because Mum had been the heart of their family, the centre of their world, and to just throw that away was impossible.

Hakoda nodded. “Your step-mother.” He added finally.

There was a strange buzzing noise in Katara’s ears, and the world suddenly felt very far away. “My what?” She asked, in a voice that sounded remarkably calm to her own ears. There must have been something of the howling storm that had taken up residence in her chest in it, though, because Hakoda winced. Xia just looked sad.

“Your step-mother.” Hakoda said again.

“No.” Katara said, before she was fully aware of opening her mouth. Her father had the nerve to look a little taken aback. Rage bubbled up in her like acid, searing through her and spilling out of her in an uncontrollable wave. “She isn’t anything to me, and she certainly isn’t my mother! How dare you?! You were supposed to be out here fighting the people that killed my mother, not replacing her with some dirt-stomping floozie!”

Hakoda’s jaw went tight, and his brown furrowed. “Katara!” He snapped. The fact that he only reacted to an insult to his brand new wife instead of any sort of grief for Kya or apology to Katara or anything made her blood boil.

“It’s alright, Hakoda.” Xia interrupted, before Katara could start yelling again. “I’m sorry, Katara. We never meant to spring this on you like this, and I would never want to replace your mother-”

“Except you have.” Katara spat before she could finish, not wanting to hear the rest of her kind, pretty words when she made clear lie of them by standing at her father’s side when that’s where Katara’s mother should be. “You’ve just swooped in and erased her, like she didn’t even matter!” She rounded on her dad again. “And you let her! How could you?! Didn’t you love Mum at all?!”

“Of course I did, Katara.” Hakoda sighed. “And I still do.”

“Then how could you betray her like this?!” Katara demanded.

And there, finally, was the reaction Katara had been looking for. Pain and grief and guilt clear as day on her dad’s face. Seeing it didn’t bring the satisfaction she expected, though. It only made her fury twist inwards. Because she wanted him to hurt like she hurt, but she didn’t want to hurt him, and it didn’t make any sense, and she didn’t know how to make it right.

“Kya is dead.” Hakoda said, solemn and sad, but that didn’t stop the words hitting Katara like a physical blow. She reeled, not because it was news, or because she didn’t think the same thing often enough herself, but because her dad was saying it like it was an answer, like it was an explanation. “It is not a betrayal to find ways to keep living and loving despite that loss.”

“You-” Katara tried to speak, but that was all she managed before her throat closed up. Tears stung her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “You can’t just say that like it-” There were words, to express what she meant, how she was feeling, she knew there were, but she couldn’t find them.

“Okay!” Toph said loudly. “I think we could all use a time out, here.”

Hakoda sighed, and nodded. “I think you’re right.”

“Of course I am.” Toph stated boldly. “So, where can we find you, once we’ve calmed down and told Sokka you’re here?” Hakoda gave her an address, one that Katara knew was in the lower ring, and part of her wanted to take him with her when they went back to the upper ring, because he was her dad, part of her tribe, and tribe belonged together. But Xia wasn’t tribe, couldn’t be, and if Dad came with her now, so would she, and Katara didn’t think she could stand that. “Alright. We’ll see you soon. Come on, Sugar Queen.” Toph caught her arm and towed her away.

Katara went only reluctantly. Part of her wanted to stay because she’d missed her dad, but part of her hated that she wanted that, and part of her wanted to stay just to yell at him some more, but part of her just wanted to curl up and cry. She couldn’t quite bring herself to look away from her father, even as Toph dragged her out of the exit. Just before they were lost to sight, she saw her dad turn and pull Xia into an embrace, the way she could remember him holding Mum after a long day.

It hurt. It hurt like losing her mother all over again. And she wanted to hate her dad for that, but she couldn’t, quite, because she’d missed him so much, and now he was finally here.

She barely noticed the journey back to the upper ring, only realised where they were when Toph opened the door to the house where they’d been staying and all of a sudden, Sokka was right in front of her, a worried frown on his face as he asked “Katara? What’s wrong?”

Katara swallowed. “Dad’s here.” She said.

Sokka brightened for half a heartbeat, then immediately sobered, worry outweighing everything. “So what’s wrong?” He pressed.

“Dad’s here,” Katara said again, and as she thought it, all her fury came rushing back and filled her next words with venom, “with his new wife.”

Sokka stared at her. Blinked. Stared some more. “His what?” He finally squeaked, voice going almost comically high in his shock. He didn’t wait for an answer though, just cleared his throat, and asked another question. “How… how did that happen?”

“I don’t know.” Katara admitted through gritted teeth. “I was a bit too busy yelling at him to bother asking how he found his replacement for Mum.”

Sokka flinched. That surprised Katara enough to shake her out of her anger for a moment. “That’s not fair, Katara.” Sokka said softly, frowning like she’d hurt him by saying that. Guilt and confusion and righteousness warred inside her, and only made her angrier.

“Not fair?!” She echoed incredulously.

“Yeah.” Sokka confirmed, in that quiet-but-sure way he had when he was really, genuinely serious about something, not just fighting with her because that’s what siblings did. “Not fair. Okay, so I don’t know this lady, and that’s…” He swallowed again, and shook his head. “That’s pretty weird, and unnerving, but… if Dad’s… if he’s sure enough about her that he- Huh, wait, do they even have the Marriage Dance in the Earth Kingdom?”

“Well, we dance at weddings, but the way you said that, I’m thinking no.” Toph interjected, like any of this was important at all. “It’s not required for a marriage to be legally binding. That’s the contracts and the brideprice. We celebrate with flowers and food and dancing, but it’s not necessary. How does it work in your tribe?”

“Huh. We just have the Marriage Dance. That’s… pretty much it. You dance it together, in front of the rest of the tribe, and then you’re married. Some people don’t even do that. I mean, if you’re living together, most of the tribe will count you as married. Some people court with hand-made gifts and stuff, but…” Sokka trailed off with a shrug.

“Oh, don’t even get me started on courting.” Toph announced with a dramatic shudder. “Although, maybe it’s different if you’re not noble. I heard some stuff at the rumbles that made me think it was only my parents and the other nobles that were like that.”

“Like how the Northern Tribe has different customs to us?” Sokka wondered.

“Maybe.” Toph agreed.

“And I guess Air Nomads didn’t do marriages, huh?” Sokka mused “Since you were all monks and nuns and stuff.”

“Not really? I don’t know much about it, cause that was grown-up stuff.” Aang replied. Then he cast a look over at Katara. “Uh… Katara? Are you okay?”

“No! I don’t understand how you can be talking about- about marriage customs, when Dad’s gone and just forgotten about Mum so he could shack up with some- some Earth Kingdom waster!” Katara burst out. “And you’re just okay with that?! You’re more worried about the fact that she doesn’t know the Marriage Dance than that Dad’s betraying Mum’s memory?! Just because she’s dead then it’s fine to act like she was never there in the first place?! Well, I’m not going to let some interloper steal Mum’s place, even if you don’t seem to give a damn that she’s-”

“You’re not the only one who loved Mum!” Sokka yelled.

The whole house went deadly silent. Katara stared at her brother, shocked, and hurt. All her rage seemed to fall away from her, replaced with an ache that just wouldn’t stop. “I’m not- I didn’t say-” She tried, but Sokka cut her off with a slash of his hand through the air.

“Yes, you did. That’s exactly what you said! You said the only way Dad could have married this woman was if he didn’t care about Mum, that the only way I could be okay with it was if I didn’t care about Mum! Well, you’re wrong. You know you’re wrong, because you know just how much Dad loved Mum, you know-” Sokka’s voice broke, and he stopped to breathe for a moment before he pressed on. “We love her just as much as you do. But, damn it, Katara, do you think Mum would want us to be miserable with missing her for the rest of our lives? After all the effort she put into keeping Lusa from throwing herself off an iceberg after Ao died? Do you remember some of the stuff she said then, because I do!”

“Grief is important, but when life moves on, you have to move with it, or it’ll strand you on the ice for the polar leopards’ breakfast.” Katara quoted from memory, her voice sounding hollow and empty even to her own ears.

“Yeah.” Sokka confirmed.

“But-” Katara began, and couldn’t find words through the sobs that were suddenly wracking her frame. Sokka wrapped her in a tight hug, the sort of hug that felt like warm furs and a fire during the long summer night. “I just… I don’t understand.” Katara sobbed.

“I guess we never did give you a chance to grieve properly, did we?” Sokka asked softly. Katara sniffed and pulled back to stare at him in confusion. “Me and Dad, we were wretched those first couple of years without Mum, but you… you picked yourself up and kept moving. You and Gran-Gran, you took care of us after Mum died, gave us space to just miss her lots, but… who was taking care of you, so that you could be a wreck with missing Mum?”

“I-…” Katara began, then stopped. Sokka grimaced knowingly, and pulled her back into the hug. Katara allowed herself a few minutes to accept the comfort and cry, but then she pulled herself together. “I supposed you’ll want to go and see Dad now, huh?” She asked Sokka.

“Well, yeah.” Sokka agreed, then hesitated. “But, I mean, you probably don’t want to right now, do you?” He asked shrewdly.

Katara smiled tiredly at him. “Not now. Maybe tomorrow, or… I think I need some time to… figure this out.” She admitted.

“Well, why don’t you and Aang stay here, and me and Snoozles can go to that address your dad gave us?” Toph suggested. “Before that Joo Dee comes back and starts following us around everywhere again.” She added with a sneer.

“Yeah! We can practice our waterbending out in the back garden.” Aang enthused, looking at Katara eagerly. It made her smile despite herself.

“Good plan, guys.” Sokka agreed. “Come on, Toph.”

“Right behind you.”

[subtletyislost]

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1. Tell us about your WIP!Currently I’m working on a lesbian romance novel about two girls in college,one is a double majoring in business and english education, the other doublemajors in computer science and astrophysics (the college she goes to doesn’t do“rocket science” or aeronautical engineering, so this is probably as close asshe’s going to get for programing rockets and theoretical space flightpaths/devices). The other major part of the story is that the MC (the rocketscientist) is searching for her missing brother at the same time.

3. What is your favorite/least favorite part aboutwriting?My favorite part about writing is that moment hen someone tells me eitherthat they like my writing or gives me some kind of critique/encouragement (yes,I actually like receiving constructive criticism). My least favorite part aboutwriting is trying find people to give that critique/trying to stay focusedenough to actually finish a story.

5. Top five formative books?I don’t know what this means but the books I read as a child that made mewant to write were: 1. The Magic Treehouse Series 2. Molly Moon’s IncredibleBook of Hypnotism 3. Bloody Jack 4. The Tale-Tell Heart (and other Edgar AllenPoe things) 5. The Little Princebooks that shaped my writing style/preferences though were 1. Molly Moon’sIncredible Book of Hypnotism 2. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witchof the West 3. Welcome to Night Vale: The Novel 4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide tothe Galaxy 5. Martin the Warrior

6. Favorite character you’ve written?Fandom: Sera, Leliana, Josephine, Cole (Dragon Age), Jack, Liara, Peebee (MassEffect), Pharah (overwatch), Raven (Teen Titans), Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)Original: Cassandra Tesla (the MC of the wip from question 1), Scion, Xia,Sage, Ruka, and Nvros

8. Do you have anywriting buddies or critique partners? yes! @wardenpharah @snowstorm-thirteen @uswhovianswillholdasiton and acouple others who I mostly talk to on discord

9. Favorite/leastfavorite tropes? Favorite: I don’t know trope names, but there’s trope that I didn’t know was atrope until I came across it in a few fics and a podcast where basicallysomeone is separated from their spouse and when they meet back up with themthey’re like “I missed you so much! Btw I kind of accidentally adopted thiskid/[wayward character]”; that trope “remove your weapons” *pulls a ridiculousamount of weapons out of nowhere* “ALL of them” *reluctantly hands over one ortwo more*; “will this work?” “I have no idea” *thing explodes* “was it supposedto do that?” “I don’t know but it was awesome!”Least favorite: that trope where they destroy the MCs hometown/house/familyjust so the MC has nothing tying them back to where they began and then proceedto do absolutely nothing with that plotwise and it affects nothing but gettingthe MC to actually leave their town

10. Pick an author(or writing friend) to co-write a book with@snowstorm-thirteen or @wardenpharah or one of my new friends from discordwhose tumblr I’ve forgotten

12. Which story ofyours do you like best? why? Original Works: either Light in the Dark or The Forgotten Realm of Dreams orThe Invisibles, because they’re all really really gay and really really nerdyFanfic: Is This Home Yet is without a doubt my best work ever. I’m consideringrewriting it as a novel. Wouldn’t be hard because the only thing making it afanfic and not an original work is that I used the two mcs to basically justget more attention.

13. Describe yourwriting processIt tends to be: sit down, open a notebook/grab paper/open scrivener/word/googledocs, stare at the page, start writing, erase things, write different things,listen to music, check tumblr, write more, somehow things get done or they don’tget done.

15. How do you dealwith self-doubt when writing? look at paper, say “I hate this”, cry, complain to anyone who will listen,stop writing for however long that takes, go back to writing, say “this is bad”,complain more, talk shit out, then it branches: if feel better, keep writing! Ifnot, stop writing and play video games then come back to writing two or threedays later!

16. Cover love/dreamcovers? I love me some good book covers, but professional ones are expensive orrequire talent that I do not have. Light in the Dark would be good with eithera mysterious cover, cover with a bunch of letters and envelopes, a soft gaycover with two girls that fit Cass and Ruka’s descriptions, or a cover that’s likethe soft gay cover but with space and video games/a computer incorporated intoit.

17. What things(scenes/topics/character types) are you most comfortable writing? scenes: anything not smut or fightingtopics: I’m comfortable writing about anything except incest/ddlg|mmlb/anythingthat falls in the realm of ‘not my thing to talk about’ (ie. I will write transcharacters, but not specifically about trans issues—nonbinary/agender issuesthough I will; I’ll write mlm characters but not specifically about theirissues; I’ll write poc or religious characters but I won’t write specificallyabout the issues that they face-without a lot of research and talking to peopleand such—because it’s just not my place. To explain a bit, I mean that I’llwrite characters that are not like me, and will do research to make sure I don’taccidentally do that in an offensive manner, but I won’t tell their stories forthem because I am not them. I hope this makes sense.)character types: women or nonbinary individuals, rebels, nerds, autistics,abuse victims/survivors, lesbians, ace people, the secretly nerdy femme, thesecretly nerdy butch, the secretly nerdy anyone,the tough girl who likes soft things, the soft girl who will kick your ass, thereptile person (person who likes reptiles), pirate, scientist, explorer, ectthere’s a lot of character types I love to write

25. What’s yourworldbuilding process like? this deserves its own post

21. What aspect ofyour writing are you most proud of? characterization

22. Tell us about thebooks on your “to write” listmost of them are in some way all part of the same series, but not necessarilyconnected, and not necessarily linearly or direct successors. Some/most can be stand-alonethat just happen to take place in the same universe as the others

27. Every writer’sleast favorite question - where does your inspiration come from? Do you docertain things to make yourself more inspired? Is it easy for you to come upwith story ideas?Dreams. Most if not all my story inspiration and ideas come from dreams, therest come from songs or random thoughts that just get stuck in my head. To getmore inspired I play games, bounce ideas off my friends, listen to music, orsleep. It’s fairly easy for me to come up with ideas, almost as easy as comingup with characters *shoves my like 300 ocs into the closet*

28. How do you stayfocused on your own work and how do you deal with comparison?I don’t focus, that’s the problem that’s why there’s so much unfinished shit onmy ao3. Tbh I’m usually the one doing the comparing and I deal with it bylearning from the work I’m comparing mine to and improving.

30. Do you like toread books similar to your project while you’re drafting or do you stick tonon-fiction/un-similar works?I don’t read. I can’t focus long enough to read. Instead I play video games inthe same genre or daydream or occasionally relisten to the Welcome To NightVale novel audiobook. I’m starting to branch out and try to find otheraudiobooks to listen to, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a pretty goodone on Audio.

33. What’s yourrevision/rewriting process like?draft one on one side of the screen, draft two on the other side of thescreen and literally rewriting draft one in draft 2. Sometimes I’ll rewrite onthe same document using markups like strikethrough instead of deleting thingsand other colors for the new additions, also lots and lots of sleeping andcrying, and soda (I don’t drink coffee).

34. Unpopular writingthoughts/opinions? Ernest Hemmingway sucks. He’s a terrible writer and you should not aspire towrite like him nor should you look up to him. Said is a perfectly valid word.The Oxford Comma is required not optional. Adverbs are not bad, use them if youwant. First person is a valid form to write in. Parenthetical asides (likethis) are just as valid as hyphenated asides—like this—and should be used if itfits the story/narration style. If your pov character doesn’t understand theforeign language the other character is speaking, putting the words in theother language in the text with a footnote translation is just as valid as “hesaid something in [language] but MC didn’t understand it.” Stalking is notromantic. Unhappy endings do not belong in the romance genre. Your charactercan be gay without complaining about it or it making their life hard. You canhave more than one minority character! You characters never going to thebathroom is unrealistic. Mosquitoes are a thing and if your character isoutside in the summer they had better damn well be protecting themselvesagainst them or slapping at at least one. A romance story with a character whowon’t take no for an answer, who isn’tthe antagonist/big (or little) bad, is not romantic. A romance story where thecharacters kiss or have sex when one of them clearly doesn’t want to, is notromantic. BOTH characters in your romance story need to change by the end ofthe story, that’s just good characterization. You can have polyamorouscharacters, but we are not a kink/fetish, if you don’t actually support actualpolyamorous people in real life don’t write about us in your fiction it’sdisrespectful and you’re probably going to do it wrong. Cheating is notromantic. Asexuals exist, Aromantics exist, Bisexuals exist. Romance doesn’tneed sex. … I’ll stop now, I have a lot of things I could say here.

35. Post the lastsentence you wroteShe blinked them back, willing herself not to cry.

36. Post a snippetCassandra had never been one for plans, if she had she might have actuallytalked with her roommate before move-inday. Even so, despite not planning things much, she did have goals. Her goal onmove-in day was simple: move in, preferably alone. She’d been under theimpression that she was the first one to arrive and that her roommate wouldn’tbe coming until later in the day. So, it was a shock to her when she arrived ather dorm room and found it was already open. She tapped her foot against the doorto get the attention of whoever was inside the room. She couldn’t quite see whomight be in there through the boxes that she was carrying.

“I hope you don’t mind,” a soft voice from inside the roomsaid, “it’s just that it was easier to leave the door open than to have to keepunlocking it.”

Cassandra tilted her head as she walked into the room,lowering the boxes just enough to see over them as she did so. “It’s notrouble,” she replied. “Who are you?”

The girl she was addressing, that she assumed was herroommate, was probably the most delicate looking girl she’d ever seen—wearing alight blue sundress with a ribbon around her waist and matching Mary Janes. Inher mind, the girl gave the impression of the enchanted rose from Beauty and the Beast; almost more likean idea than a person. She had long dark blonde—or was it light brown—hair withfaint, but still visible, red and dark brown streaks running through it, asthough it contained a fire within its French braid. Her smile was soft, barelyeven visible, and she looked like she might have played a sport in highschool—probably archery or fencing. Her brown eyes sparkled in the light fromthe window, like a stone of topaz against a blanket of snow. Never in her life,had Cassandra ever seen a girl that made her wonder if she was staring, but shehad now.

37. Do you ever writelong handed or do you prefer to type everything?100% depends on the story, and the day, and whether or not my eyes hurt.Sometimes ideas flow better on paper, sometimes typed, sometimes they flowbetter when I talk them out those days are bad for writing but good for gettingideas.

42. How many draftsdo you usually write before you feel satisfied? 100% depends on if it’s original work or fanfiction. Original works I’m usuallynot satisfied even after 6, 7, or even 10 drafts. Fanfiction, sometimes I justpost up the first draft without caring, sometimes I’m more satisfied with a seconddraft. It usually doesn’t go beyond that.

48. Do you prefer towrite skimpy drafts and flesh them out later, or write too much and cut itback?I just write. Usually my second draft is longer and more detailed than thefirst, and by the 5th or 6th everything has changedbecause of added or removed details.

51. Are you asecretive writer or do you talk with your friends about your books?I don’t shut up about my writing, not with my friends.

52. Who do you writefor? Myself., or anyone who pays me.

54. Favorite firstline/opening you’ve written? Absolutely nothing could go wrong, she thought just exactly as everythingwent wrong.

50. Do you share yourrough drafts or do you wait until everything is all polished?I share them, if I waited until they were polished no one would ever get toread them

55. How do you manageyour time/make time for writing? (do you set aside time to write every day ordo you only write when you have a lot of free time?) I have no job and no life. 0/10 do not recommend my method of having writingtime