#YANG IS READY TO TRASH ANOTHER STORE

[bl-bam-beyond]

LOVE IN TRANSLATION (2023, THAILAND)

Episode 7

Yang (PITTAYA SAECHUA aka DAOU) getting a bit too close at Makro with his newly appointed boyfriend Phumjai (KANTAPON JINDATAWEEPHOL aka OFFROAD) making Phumjai a little embarrassed.

@pose4photoml @lutawolf @wanderlust-in-my-soul

[porcelain-blue]

Stray Dogs Seem to Follow

What if Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze did not die? What if they, along with Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen, start their dream sect where no bloodlines matter, only skill and hard work?

The all-star trained-by-an-immortal cast is honestly reason enough for random rogue cultivators to start to flock to them, but the truth is the reputations that draw people are not one of battle prowess, but of human decency, humility, and a penchant for treating people equally between farmers and gentry. 

YilingWei is a small but growing power in the cultivation world, and through Wei Changze has an alliance with the Jiang Clan, and through Cangze Sanren, has an alliance with GusuLan. Many of the other sects dislike this very much, because nobody likes to see the idea that noble blood actually doesn’t really matter be proven so soundly.  Wei Wuxian has an uncanny ability for picking up strays. 

Stray #1: Wei Wuxian is ambling around Yueyang, let loose with uncle Song Lan at a good pace watching him, when he sees a kid get beaten up for asking for a reward of a snack. He darts forward, catching a fist and stepping to the side so the man is twisted under his knee in one smooth motion. Training had been going well, and he thinks mama would be proud.  The man sputters, face red, and makes all sorts of demands, puffing and going on and on about the YueyangChang. 

Wei Wuxian, professional brat and heir to YilingWei, lets the man go with a light shove that sends him kneeling into the dirt, and speaks, heaping on extra insolence just for fun.

“Ah, well. Sorry, gongzi, I’m not from here, so I don’t know who is who around these parts,” he sing-songs, moving to help the very battered kid up from the ground. He looks like he’s about his age. He beams at him, although the kid is looking at him warily. “But my mama tells me you can’t make promises you can’t keep, and a rich gongzi like you surely can buy some candy to pay for your errands, can’t you?” 

“Who the fuck are you, brat? You think you can speak to me like this?” The man seems to be reaching forward, ready to strike, and Wei Wuxian is ready to throw down, but his uncle Song Lan steps smoothly between them, bows with grace to the man and asks softly what the matter is. 

“Has our young master Wei gotten himself into trouble again?” Song Lan asks, all civil and gentlemanly and terrifying. The Distant Snow and Cold Frost is recognisable to most, and Wei Wuxian watches as the man puts two and two together. That said, YilingWei isn’t that prestigious a clan to warrant that much respect, but the man clearly knows he is outclassed. He turns in a bad temper, stomping away.  Song Lan turns to him, raises an eyebrow, and then bends down to speak to the kid who is fidgeting behind Wei Wuxian.  “Haizi, don’t worry, we mean no harm. Will you tell gege your name?” The kid looks at the two of them warily, eyeing their simple clothing, their lack of ornament. “Xue Yang,” he mutters.  “Alright, A-Yang, A-Ying, will you tell gege what happened?” Wei Wuxian sticks his tongue out at his uncle. “That guy was being an ass! Yang-di did something for him for a snack and he got all mad!” He huffs, annoyed. “We should have beat him up.”  Song Lan waits to see if Xue Yang will dispute the story, and when the kid just looks at his feet, angry tears in his eyes, he sighs. Grabs Wei Wuxian by the scruff of his robes and puts a gentle hand on Xue Yang’s head.  “Come on, gege was getting hungry anyways. I was going to get some food. I’m sure A-Ying will want too many snacks, but if there’s two of you, you can share, hm?” He starts walking away.  Wei Wuxian grins. “Uncle is really a pushover, c’mon, I want some tanghulu. Do you have any family? Our sect is great, we don’t care who or where you’re from. You wanna come see?”  Xue Yang blinks at him, lets his wrist get grabbed and towed away, buoyed by the promise of tanghulu and snacks. Maybe this time it won’t end in suffering.  ----------

Stray #2:  It’s the third day of the discussion conference in Lanling, and while Wei Wuxian had been dragged by his parents to attend and bow and get his everything commented, he had finally bargained the day off, cheeks sore from getting pinched by random and well-meaning older aunties. He grabs Xue Yang and uncle Xingchen, badgering them into going to town with him. He wants to try Lanling street food! He’s heard the baozi are really good! It’s about lunchtime when they wander into a food stall that smells amazing, but before they can order there’s a commotion.  “Stay away from us, you son of a whore!” A scuffle, and there, a kid is being pushed down, his baozi thrown onto the floor.  “Yeah, I bet you’re full of disease, just like your mother!” another kid, bigger and meaner, spits on the ground. Gross. The kid on the floor looks incensed at this, eyes flashing, but before he can do anything his hair is being yanked and he’s gasping in pain.  Wei Wuxian has really got to stop meeting peers like this. He slants a look at Xue Yang, who has gone still and tense. Xue Yang hates these kinds of people the most. They step into the stall together, and while he’s tempted to really mess around with these guys, he probably shouldn’t make a fuss during a discussion conference, or mama will make them do drills for hours.  So he nudges Xue Yang forward, and his shidi grips the hand holding the boy’s hair hard enough that the bones creak, until the bully is gasping in pain and wrenching back, letting go of the younger boy. Wei Wuxian helps the kid up, makes sure he’s alright.  “Who the fuck are you guys?” the kids say, and Wei Wuxian notices that they’re in Jin gold. Gross. It occurs to him then that they probably also cannot make a fuss during LanlingJin’s discussion conference, so Wei Wuxian just grins his most diplomatic smile, throws an exaggerated bow and says, “Wei Wuxian, heir to YilingWei, at your service! This is my shidi Xue Chengmei! We compliment LanlingJin for hosting our sect. LanlingJin must be very rich, if minor disciples can afford to waste food like this!” He waves an airy hand at the remains of the boy’s baozi scattered across the floor. One of the Jin boys sneer, “We don’t have to care about commoners and trash like that,” he spits, but is clearly not willing to challenge a sect heir outright. Xue Yang is still pissed, so he puts a hand on the sword at his hip, and narrows his eyes at them.  “YilingWei strongly discourages actions and words like that,” he says. And the threat is very, very much implied.  Eventally, Uncle Xingchen appears, smoothes things over, and sends the Jins on their way. Wei Wuxian turns round to the kid who is looking at them with wide doe eyes, half afraid, half in awe.  “This Meng Yao thanks the two honored cultivators for their assistance,” he murmurs, polite and formal, but the hands folded in front of his bow are trembling.  Wei Wuxian scrunches his nose as Xue Yang ambles off to buy three baozi from the lady at the front of the stall. It’s kind of nice, Wei Wuxian thinks absently, that Xue Yang gets to feed other kids, now. 

“Aw, none of that,” Wei Wuxian says, pulling the kid’s hands apart and lifting him back upright. “We’re all common folk here, aren’t we, Yang-di!”  “Aren’t you the heir of the Wei Sect, gongzi?” Meng Yao asks.  “Well, yeah, but my dad was born a servant. Anyways our sect doesn’t care about that sort of stuff. You want a baozi? I’m sorry yours got thrown.”  Meng Yao accepts a baozi and eats it with more elegance than Wei Wuxian has ever seen. He doesn’t finish, though, even though he’s obviously still hungry.  “Saving it for later?” Xue Yang asks, eyeing him.

Meng Yao shakes his head gently. “My mother, ah. She works at a brothel, as I’m sure you heard earlier. They don’t... they don’t feed her much if she doesn’t work enough.”  They sit there for a moment, three kids digesting the weight of the world. The moment passes, though, and Wei Wuxian darts back to the front of the store to get another baozi, and some other snacks wrapped up in paper to go. He gestures at them to come out, and the trail after him.  “C’mon, I got some extra food for your mom. Can you take us to her?”  Meng Yao blanches for a moment, obviously torn. He nods, after a moment, and they walk a ways to the establishment where Meng Shi works. Meng Yao fidgets for a moment, but gestures them in through a side door. They meet Meng Yao’s mother, who looks a lot like him, She thanks them graciously for the food, and asks them questions about their sword, and the cultivation world in general. They’re not there for long before Wei Wuxian’s yaopei glows softly, and he winces.  At the two pairs of delicately raised eyebrows, he answers, “Mama’s using her tracking talisman.”  Meng Shi laughs, then, a clear, high sound. She slaps a delicate hand on the table in mirth. “Oh, I wish I had one of those for my boy here! Your mother would make a killing if she sold those!”  Before he can reply, he hears a scuffle, a few shouts of “Excuse me, You can’t be here!” before his mother thows the doors open and stomps in, stopping before them to stare her son and disciple down. “Well boys, aren’t you two a little young to be in a place like this?” she says archly.  Meng Shi rises gracefully, bowing low. “Ah, we beg your forgiveness, your boys were helping my son with some trouble, and were kind enough to bring me some food. Please let me repay you for their troubles.”  Meng Yao looks alarmed at that, but he doesn’t say anything. Cangse Sanren looks at the whole scene, narrows her eyes at her son before waving her hands at the other woman. She pushes her son and Xue Yang’s heads down roughly, making them bow.  “No, no, thank you for keeping my boys out of trouble!” she says, and the two women stare at each other for a beat, before they both smile and sit down at the table in unison.  “Psst. Mama, can we bring them back? “ Wei Wuxian asks, tugging on her sleeve. She sighs at him, and then directs her question to Meng Shi. “Well, Meng-guniang. It looks like my boys have made friends with your son here, and to be honest, we’d like some more young disciples. Would you want to come with us?” 

Meng Shi looks taken aback. She thinks of Jin Guangshan and his many empty promises. She thinks of her son, and wonders if he will make a good cultivator in Yiling black and white instead of Jin gold. She knows, that of the two sects, only one has been kind to her son so far. But still. “I’m a prostitute. What use could YilingWei have for a woman like me?”  Cangse Sanren looks straight at her. “You can read?”  She nods. It is her one pride. “I can sing, and play erhu. I can sew” The othe woman nods. “You can teach my boys manners, too, it seems. We will take you, if you come with us. You would have to work your debt off, but, we wouldn’t ask you to do it like this. There are other girls, who come from your line of work. They help us with accounts and sewing and whatever else they are deft at.”  Meng Shi looks at her son, notes the way his eyes are wide and guileless. He has yet to learn how to lie and scheme and seduce his way into power. He looks at the two other boys, who look away at the scantily dressed women who walk by and smile at them, who are young and strong and seem to not care about her sons birth.  She stands, and bows deeply. “We humbly request a place in YilingWei.”  Cangse Sanren smiles, and leads the way, three boys trotting along at her heels as she goes off in search of her husband. It’s time to go home. 

[musings-from-mars]

I would like to request even more rosebloom au please. I really like this au

Rosebloom AU - Part 3

So yeah, Weiss really hadn’t been to DQ ever in her life. Even if she hadn’t said so, Ruby could tell by just how unfamiliar Weiss was with the menu. She ordered a burger and fries just fine, but Ruby had insisted they get Blizzards, and now Weiss was struggling to pick one. “How are there so many options?”

“It’s just ice cream with different toppings,” Ruby explained, then blushed when she realized that Weiss was being rhetorical and her answer was completely unneeded. She had already ordered a strawberry one, but Weiss seemed very indecisive. “How about chocolate. Do you like chocolate?”

“Of course I like chocolate,” Weiss said, still staring up at the menu board like a lizard basking under a heat lamp. Yeah, she looked pretty tired now that Ruby had the chance to really look at her.

“Would you like my suggestion?” The poor cashier in a red polo shirt and a black visor asked.

“Yes, that might help,” Weiss said with a nod.

“M&M’s Blizzard. Best of the best,” the cashier said with certainty.

“I’ll do that then.”

Weiss insisted on paying for their food despite Ruby trying to reason that she could cover it since Weiss paid for the Uber. Weiss seemed adamant about not wanting Ruby to have to pay for it, so Ruby conceded. After a short wait, their order was ready, and Weiss seemed to almost have a heart attack when the worker turned their Blizzards upside-down in that way they do. Ruby couldn’t help but laugh at her reaction. Weiss seemed embarrassed and was red all the way down her neck, which Ruby found really cute.

They sat in a corner booth across from each other, and Ruby broached the subject she’d been eagerly waiting for the right time to bring up. “So...Red Hallow Manor...”

Weiss chuckled at her as she ate a fry. “You seem to really really like it.”

“It’s kinda my whole life,” Ruby said with a giggle. “Well...that sounds weird, it’s not my whole life, it’s just...a big part of it.”

Weiss nodded. “I’d love to hear what you know. I’m sure you know more than I do, so teach me!”

I could kiss her right now. “Just...go off?” Ruby asked as if to make certain. “I’m warning you, I ramble easily.”

“Ramble on,” Weiss said. “I’ll just eat while I listen.”

I could marry her right now. “Okay okay, so...you know about the creator, right?”

“I know he’s English.”

“He is, but also...” She then proceeded to delve into details about the RHM creator’s life and how those aspects factored into the main character’s storylines. Here and there Ruby paused to check to make sure Weiss was still following along or to field a question from her, but for the most part, Ruby just kept going, talking about the thematic shift between seasons one and two, her favorite fanartists, including showing some fanart to Weiss on her phone, this whole fandom drama that when down after the season two finale which Weiss delightfully agreed with Ruby about how all of the discourse seemed like bullshit...Ruby was insanely happy right now. So happy she didn’t even realize how happy she was because her mind was racing like a locomotive, unstoppable and resilient.

It wasn’t until a while after Weiss had finished her food and ice cream that a store employee came over to their table and informed them that the dining room was closed.

Ruby snapped out of her state for a moment and looked around, and sure enough, she and Weiss were the only customers left in the restaurant. “Oh. I guess we’ve been here for a while, huh?”

“It’s only been an hour,” Weiss told her, yawning despite how interested she had seemed in what Ruby had been talking about.

“A whole hour?” Ruby asked, in shock. “It didn’t even feel like half of that.”

“You talked about a lot,” Weiss noted, then giggled. “I’m impressed. You’ve given me a whole new perspective on the show.”

Yeah, but we sat here while I talked for an hour about some dumb podcast and I don’t even know anything about you, Ruby wanted to say, but decided to just be glad Weiss had let her infodump and didn’t once make her feel bad about the whole thing. Ruby could make herself feel bad about it instead, thank you very much.

Weiss stood from the table with her tray in hand. “This was fun. Thank you for taking me to see the Queen of Dairy,” Weiss repeated Ruby’s joke from earlier with a laugh.

Ruby stood with her, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. “Yeah! I had fun too...” As Weiss carried her tray to the trash, Ruby stammered out what she’d been rehearsing in her head for a while now. “Would you maybe want to like, hang out again sometime? And I promise I won’t go on and on about RHM.”

Weiss threw her trash away, then turned and smiled at Ruby. “Sure. Monday after school maybe?”

“Oh, actually I have anime club after school on Mondays,” Ruby said before thinking it through, then died a little inside. Just keep outing yourself as a weirdo social deviant with no life, great plan!

Weiss didn’t seem phased, still smiling at her. “How about later, then? Monday evening?”

Ruby nodded. “Sure! If you want, that is.”

“Your place?” Weiss asked.

My place? Where Yang and Dad will be? To tease me and embarrass me and ruin my friendship with this pretty girl? “Uhm...what if we went to your house? Since, you know...I kinda rambled for an hour and didn’t let you talk and I still don’t know much about you so that way maybe we could...” She realized she was rambling once again and went silent.

Weiss’ smile went away as she looked down for a moment. “I, uhm...” She then shook her head, smile returning. “Sure! My place after your anime club meeting.”

Ruby smiled with relief. “Okay!”

They left the restaurant and stepped out into the chilly evening air. Weiss had hailed another Uber to take Ruby and her home, but Ruby soon received a text from Yang: “Need a ride?” Ruby answered back with a no, she would much rather ride with Weiss. The problem with that was the approaching sound of a motorcycle coming down the road. A moment later, Yang rode up to the DQ parking lot and stopped in front of the two girls. “‘Sup! How was the Queen of Dairy, you two?” She asked as she flipped the visor of her helmet up.

“It was nice,” Weiss said with a nod, smiling pensively at Ruby, who sighed and walked over to Yang.

“Nice!” Yang said.

“Yang,” Ruby muttered to her just loud enough to be heard over her idling bike. “I wanted to ride home with her.”

“Oh, don’t waste the girl’s money, Rubes,” Yang said with a forward flick of her wrist. “Yuber is free, after all.”

“Yuber?”

“Yang Uber!”

As if speaking the company name three times summons it, a gray sedan with a blue Uber light in the windshield pulled into the parking lot.

Ruby looked to Weiss and smiled sadly, waving at her. “See you Monday.”

Weiss smiled and waved back, then Ruby put on her helmet, and Yang pulled away and started towards home.

After Yang parked her bike inside the garage at the Rose-Xiao Long residence, Ruby took her helmet off and quickly got off the bike. “Yang, I texted you saying I didn’t need a ride.”

“I’m sorry,” Yang said as she put her helmet away as well, then stretched her arms over her head. “I didn’t see the text until after I got there.”

Ruby looked down and sighed. “I don’t want her to think I’m weird. I don’t need rides from my sister.”

Yang chuckled, cocking her head to the side. “At least I don’t drive a mini van, right?”

Ruby didn’t know how to respond to that, so she remained in a silence that burned her cheeks.

“Do you like that girl?” Yang asked.

Ruby gritted her teeth and shook her head. “Don’t ask me that.”

“Huh?” Yang reached out to hold Ruby’s shoulder, only for Ruby to turn toward the door to the house. “Rubes—”

Ruby shut the door behind herself before Yang could say anymore, leaving the older sister alone in the open garage, worried and confused.

[faunusrights]

“We met--” Cinder starts slowly, and judging from the way Velvet’s snickering into her shoulder, Yang can tell the latter half of this sentence is gonna be a bumper ride. “--in a Speedy’s Grill and Diner. At three in the morning, on a Monday.”

Yang can hear Winter mutter a of course you did under her breath, but since Speedy’s only ever tastes good post-midnight, Yang is less surprised than maybe she should be. Cinder’s a night owl, as she’s already stated several times before, and Velvet-- well, Velvet might be connected to a couple of high-profile arsons between the hours of two and four, but she says there’s no evidence to support that. Yang’s seen the footage on the news. The way the perp thrrew molotovs is exactly how Velvet throws trash across a room.

“Uh huh,” she says instead. “What got you talking?”

Cinder looks over her shoulder at Velvet, settled as she is in the Faunus’s lap, and she says something in Menagerie Common, the tongue a blend of every tribal language and, as such, goes right over Yang and Winter’s head. Velvet giggles, nods, presses a kiss to Cinder’s jaw.

“Well, we’d both ordered chicken nuggets. A twenty-piece box each, if you absolutely have to know.” Cinder crosses her arms as if she’s ready for criticism, but Yang knows better than to be hypocritical. She’s also a slut for nuggets. “Velvet was already there when I walked in, and I’d checked out because, well, she’s hot. But I was also starving and was loudly complaining to Emerald on the phone--”

“In Common,” Velvet adds. “Which is why I tuned in.”

“Yeah. So, I was on the phone, and they call Velvet’s number at the counter.” Cinder leans back so that Velvet can rest their chin on her shoulder, and she pulls a face like she’s extremely put-out. “And I’m being, like, super grumpy so I wasn’t really paying attention, but then she tapped me on the shoulder and said I could have hers right now, if I’d like.”

Winter sort of rotates her head downwards in a gesture of what, but Yang coos instead. “Awh! What a modern romantic, giving your nuggets away!”

Velvet sort of preens and presses a kiss to Cinder’s neck, and the shorter woman squirms, ticklish, at the touch, trying her best to push Velvet away and failing miserably until Velvet chooses to do so herself.

“Well, I would’ve given her my nuggets,” Velvet says. “Until they called out her order, like, two seconds later. And then I looked like a sad puppy, so Cinder came and sat with me anyway,” Velvet concludes with a laugh, and Cinder hushes her, although the roll of her eyes tells Yang it’s probably not far from the truth.

“I wasn’t going to just ignore a hot person who offered me dinner, what do I look like?”

“A foolish lesbian.”

“I mean-- well, yes, but still.” Waving her hand through the air, Cinder grins at Velvet. “Anyway, we had dinner together, she asked for my number, and then a few nights later we crashed into each other again and had sex at my place. Cut to now.”

By now, Winter has her head in her hands and looks like she’s maybe in the fourth stage of grief. Yang sends her right back to the first stage with another little n’aww. “How cute! You’re made for each other!”

Velvet nods, and she cuddles Cinder closer with a satisfied little look.

“Love,” she states. “Is stored in the chicken nugget.”

[texanredrose]

Kindred Ch 2

This chapter brought to you by Moonwatcher13! Thanks buddy!

Winter cursed under her breath as she got out of her car, reaching down to pull on the hood tab to pop it open. By the smell of it, she could tell she’d gone far too long without an oil change, but it wasn’t until she yanked- using all her body weight and strength- her dipstick out to find it bone dry that she realized her understatement. That didn’t bode well at all; at least she’d made it back home before anything too detrimental happened.

Getting it started that evening, however…

Dragging a hand down her face, she sighed heavily, the weight of everything sitting on her shoulders almost crushing and exhausting her purely through the circumstances alone. She didn’t have the luxury of wallowing in the frustration of too many bills and not enough money, though; her daughter was waiting. Summoning her focus, she marched up to her apartment, closing the door behind her softly. Her sister had some sort of early meeting today, meaning her girlfriend would be looking after Penny until she arrived and the slam of a door could be painful to her sensitive hearing.

Of course, she could never be silent enough to escape the notice of her daughter, though.

“Mom!”

“There’s my angel,” she said, a smile on her lips as she knelt down and gathered up her daughter in her arms, pressing a kiss to the top of Penny’s head. “Were you good for Aunt Blake?”

“Uh huh!” Little arms wrapped around her neck, giving her a fierce hug before Penny began to squirm, apparently ready to return to the ground. “Right, Aunt Blake? I was real good!”

“You absolutely were,” she said, coming out of the kitchen as the smell of freshly brewed coffee began to waft through the apartment. The Faunus had already changed into her work uniform, a simple black coverall with a white overall for her name on the right side of her chest. While she didn’t do any actual automotive work, the uniform seemed mandatory even for one who worked the counter. “Now go finish your breakfast.”

“Okay!” 

Scampering back to the dining room, they both kept pleasant expressions on their faces until she’d disappeared. However, once she’d gone, Winter leaned back against the door and stared down at her feet. “Thank you, Blake. I appreciate your help.”

“It’s no trouble, really.” Even though the words remained unsaid, she could hear the breath the Faunus took in preparation before letting it go. 

When she’d moved to Vale, Winter made it expressly clear that she didn’t want her decisions to impact Weiss in any way, despite her sister’s insistence that they could move in together. Weiss had her own life and while her help was invaluable, she’d imposed enough and would never be able to repay it; she’d given up and forsaken plenty in her life, but she still had her pride. Raising Penny herself was her decision and she wouldn’t put her sister in a position where she didn’t have a choice whether or not to help.

“You should probably get to work.” Winter winced, not wanting to ask but also highly aware of her reality. “Also, would it be possible for you to give me a ride to work tonight? I’m… not sure if my car will start.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Blake tilted her head, feline ears canted forward a moment before her expression sharpened. “I understand you prefer handling problems yourself but I literally work for an auto shop. If there’s something wrong with your car, I’m sure my bosses will let you use my employee discount.”

Pushing off the door, she moved towards the dining room- really, just a nook that fed into both the kitchen and living room, hardly big enough for the four person table that she owned, with its scratched table top and wobbly legs- and checked on Penny, who was doing very well in finishing off her cereal. She’d even drank all of her milk. That brought a small smile to her lips before she returned her attention to Blake and lowered her voice.

“There’s no oil left in the line; it’s all burned up. I’ll need at least five quarts and a new filter. But it’s not that expensive and I’ll go to the store while we’re out for our walk.”

“When are you going to give your car an oil change yourself, Winter?” Blake set her hands on her hips, a stance she’d adopted from Weiss for exactly this circumstance, it seemed. “I know you won’t accept money from us, we’ve both fought that battle with you already, but this is about your time. You hardly get four hours of sleep; are you going to sacrifice even more when there’s a perfectly logical solution staring you in the face?”

“And what is that?” Frustration colored her tone, conscious effort necessary to keep from raising her voice and alerting Penny to the argument. “I’ll not have you deceive your employers by saying it’s your car needing the oil change.”

“Fine, then let me go into work and tell them the situation. If they agree, you can meet me at the shop.” Crossing her arms over her chest, the Faunus’ ears twitched, a clear sign she was doing her best to hold in her frustration as well. “They’ll probably knock it out before we close up or first thing in the morning; either way, I’ll be your ride to and from work today and tomorrow. Weiss was going to watch Penny tonight anyway, so there’s nothing to worry about there.”

Part of her wanted to object on principle. So much of Weiss’ and Blake’s lives were dictated by her current financial position; it wasn’t fair to either of them but they refused to simply let her struggle in silence. “Ask. If your boss says no-”

“I’ll still give you a ride and we can pick up the oil on the way back in the morning,” the Faunus said, raising her hands in a placating gesture. “I’m not trying to force your hand, Winter, but you have to be reasonable. There’s no reason to force yourself into a bad position- or an even worse one.”

With a sigh, she nodded, heading into the kitchen by way of the dining room so she could press a kiss to Penny’s head in passing, smiling at her daughter while making herself a cup of coffee. Hopefully, they wouldn’t spend too much time expending a lot of energy today. “Say bye to Aunt Blake.”

“Bye bye Aunt Blake!” She jumped down from her chair, quickly running over for a goodbye hug which Blake returned.

“I’ll see you later, Penny.” Then, the Faunus collected up her bag and left, closing the door behind her for Winter to lock.

“Mom?”

“Yes?”

“Can we draw today?”

Winter chuckled. “Of course we can, Sweetheart.” 

She took a sip of her coffee, silently sighing in relief. In the back of her mind, she noted that all the drawing and coloring they’d been doing would mean she’d need to stop by the store and get Penny more crayons. 

Ultimately, she just needed to sit down and reexamine her budget. Living paycheck to paycheck frustrated her greatly, of course, but that provided no excuse for failing to provide for her daughter.

---

Yang hit the buttons to open the garage doors while finishing off the last of her morning protein shake. They still had about an hour before the front office opened but she’d woken up a bit earlier than normal and opted to head into work so she could finish up that engine rebuild from the night before. Aside from the alternator they were waiting on, that meant they had a pretty clear schedule for the day, a string of simple fixes over the past few days giving them a bit of breathing room. On the one hand, a lot of small problems were quick to fix and quick to get paid for, but on the other, the bigger projects consumed more time but usually came with a higher price tag.

Tilting her head to either side to stretch out the muscles, she ducked into the garage office, setting down her protein shaker on her desk. Ruby would probably remind her to clean it up at some point, invoices littered across the top of it just below the picture frames she kept. A few fast food bags lay crumpled and shoved onto one corner because they’d forgotten to take out the trash two weeks in a row. She’d make sure to get it tonight.

By the time she made it back out to the garage, pulling her gloves on and setting her safety glasses in place across the bridge of her nose, Yang found she wasn’t the only one in the shop, and she had to raise a brow. “Blake?  You’re in early; I thought you were helping your sister-in-law.”

The Faunus offered a small smile and a shrug, ignoring the slight misnomer. “Well, I’d planned on having breakfast with my girlfriend before coming into work but… I kinda have a favor to ask and didn’t think it would be a good idea to be late.”

“What kinda favor?” Heading over to her workbench, she pulled out her tools from the nearby box and got to work on the engine rebuild.

“My girlfriend’s sister, she needs an oil change, bad.”

“How bad?”

“Bone dry.”

Immediately she winced, not looking forward to what sort of damage might’ve been done to the engine. “Yeesh. Yeah, tell her to bring it by, we’ll knock it out today. Not much of a favor.”

“Well, it might have to be tomorrow morning; she works the night shift and I’m going to be her ride to and from work.” Although she had her work to focus on, Yang could hear Blake moving around and preparing the auto shop to open for the day. “That is where the favor part comes in.”

“Helping a friend isn’t a favor; it’s being a friend.” Chuckling, she paused and made a motion with her hand. “Look, do what you need to do and the oil change is on the house, no worries.”

“That’s another thing; I can almost promise she’ll insist she pays something.”

“Well, it’s my shop, my rules, so she ain’t paying a dime.” Yang paused. “Or she’ll pay one dime, if she insists.”

“Can you fight that fight without getting me in trouble? It’s still my girlfriend’s sister we’re talking about.”

“Leave it to me, Blakey.” Doing the math in her head, she figured even a bone dry engine wouldn’t cause too much trouble. “Hell, if you wanna bring her in earlier, we don’t have that much going on. Probably have it done before she has to leave for work.”

“I’ll offer but that depends on whether or not Weiss is out of her meeting. She’s… got a busy day today.”

“That’s fine, just let me know; I’ll take care of it myself, okay?”

“You got it.”

Shaking her head, Yang got back to work, absently greeting her sister when Ruby came in a bit later. She got completely lost in the project as time passed and hardly registered Zwei coming to lay at her feet, having spent the night with her sister. Although she took the brunt of his care, they agreed to share him between their respective apartments, both wanting their independence after working side-by-side all day but also not willing to give up their dog.

Unsurprisingly, he never complained.

“Hey, Rubes?” She called out when she reached a stopping point.

“Yeah?”

Looking over her shoulder, she flashed a smile. “Remind me to give Blake hell later. It’s been two years; she needs to marry that girlfriend of hers.”

Her sister laughed. “Will do!”

---

Penny bent over the little desk Mom got her, working to furiously finish the drawing she’d started before Mom put them both down for a nap. Even though she should’ve probably slept, she didn’t feel tired, so she snuck out of bed earlier to work on her drawing a little more. Mom probably wouldn’t like that if she knew; naps were so Mom could sleep without worrying about what she was doing, but Penny always got back into bed before Mom woke up or one of her Aunts arrived. Then, she’d pretend to wake up while Mom got ready for work. One day, Mom would let her stay awake while she slept, but until then, Mom needed to sleep as much as she could, regardless if she felt tired. As long as Mom didn’t wake up to find her out of bed, she wouldn’t get in trouble.

The doorbell rang and Mom went to answer it, meaning she probably didn’t have much time left. She really wanted to finish this one before Mom went to work.

She could hear Aunt Weiss’ voice, which was weird because usually she wouldn’t be here this early, unless they were having dinner together. Oh, maybe this was one of those special occasions where Aunt Blake’s work let her go home early and she was on her way!

“Sweetheart?” Mom came back into the room, wearing her work clothes and kneeling down. “Mom has to go to work early today.”

That was exactly the opposite of what she’d hoped, turning to look up with pleading eyes. “But Mom!”

She felt bad immediately, seeing the way Mom’s expression saddened as she coaxed Penny into a tight hug.

“I’m sorry, Sweetheart, but I have to drop my car off so it can get fixed. That means I have to leave early and I’ll be home late, but Aunt Weiss will watch over you, okay?” A kiss pressed against the side of her head and she tried not to cry. She didn’t like when Mom had to work more; she worked so much already. “Be good for Aunt Weiss.”

“I will.” Mom started to stand up but paused, obviously looking at the drawing. “It’s not done yet.”

“Can you tell me what is it?” Mom had that look in her eyes, the one that said she was a little bit worried but not in a way she’d be willing to talk about- at least not to her. Aunt Weiss would probably ask about it, though.

“It’s the house we’re going to get,” she said, pointing out the features proudly. “Here’s your room, and here’s my room, and Aunt Weiss and Aunt Blake have their own house over here, and we’re happy.”

Mom pointed to one of the other features. “What about here?”

“That’s the doghouse, ‘cause we’re going to have a dog one day, right Mom?” She’d seen a lot of dogs- people would walk them outside all the time- but she wasn’t allowed to get close. The only one she’d ever gotten to play with was Zwei, Yang’s nice dog, so she colored the dog house like that, black and white.

“One day. A big yard and a dog to play with, I promise.” Mom smiled and pressed another kiss to her forehead. “It’s a beautiful drawing; make sure you put it up on the fridge when it’s finished, okay?” 

“Okay. I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, Sweetheart. Now, be good tonight and I’ll see you in the morning.” Standing up and wincing slightly, Mom left the room.

“Yes, Mom,” she replied, trying not to sound as sad as she felt. As much as she hoped they could have a house of their own one day, what she really wanted was her and Mom being able to stay home for a day. No work, no meetings, no waiting for someone to show up and ask her questions, just her and Mom.

And maybe a dog.

“Penny?” She looked up, trying to hide her frown away as her Aunt came into the room. However, Aunt Weiss always seemed to know when she was sad. “Come here. It’s okay.” Getting up from her desk, she went over and gave her Aunt a hug, feeling her fingers card through her hair soothingly. “You know Mom wishes she could be home more, right? She doesn’t want to leave you.”

“I know.” Penny hugged her Aunt even tighter.

Then, Aunt Weiss picked her up, rocking her gently while leaving the bedroom. “You know, when I was small, your Mom used to do this for me. We’ll curl up on the couch, watch cartoons, and in the morning, we’ll see about going for ice cream, the three of us.”

“Mom’s going to be tired, though.”

“Not if we meet her at the ice cream shop. Maybe Aunt Blake can join us, too.”

That brightened her mood slightly- at least enough that Aunt Weiss thought she was in favor of the plan. She still hoped one day Mom wouldn’t have to work but expected it to be a while yet before that dream could come true.

---

Yang cursed under her breath, leaning back from the engine and stretching her back. She’d just spent the better part of the past hour getting the rebuilt engine set back in place and hooking everything up properly and figured it’d be a good time for a break. Not only would her back thank her but she’d heard the jingle on the front door a few times, which meant they probably had a car or two waiting for something simple; with Blake handling the front office, Ruby had to do most of the parts running, which meant no one else was working on cars. Usually, they weren’t busy enough for it to be a problem, but business had picked up recently and she’d considered hiring a dedicated parts runner to keep up.

Grabbing the rag sticking out of her pocket, she started wiping her hands while striding towards the front office, whistling along to some pop song on the radio. All in all, a pretty good day; she’d knocked out a few inspections, oil changes, a tire rotation, installed a new muffler for a long time customer- while biting back the comment about how mufflers are supposed to make less noise, not that he intended for it of course- and almost had the engine rebuild done. In between running around, Ruby knocked out a few simple maintenance tickets, too. 

All in all, they were looking pretty good.

“Oh, hey, Rubes,” she said, pushing into the front office and casting a glance around. “Didn’t know you were- shit!”

Immediately, she dove behind the counter, flat on the ground, and crawled into the corner like she had barbed wire above her, drawing more than a curious glance from her sister.

“Yang, what are you doing?”

“Winter’s out there!”

“Who?”

“You remember, that lady with the kid I met in the park a few weeks ago? Her name was Winter- didn’t I tell you that?”

“No, actually, you didn’t, and you didn’t describe her beyond ‘really pretty and kinda terrifying when pissed’ which was all that seemed important at the time.” Ruby looked through the glass windows at the front of their shop. “And all I see are Blake and her girlfriend’s sister. At least, that’s who I assume is with her; Blake asked to go out to talk to her when she pulled up.”

“She hasn’t come in yet?”

“I don’t thinks so? I just got back from picking up that spoiler we ordered.” Silver eyes flicked up. “They’re both coming inside.”

“I’m not here!” Yang immediately tried to push herself up under the counter as best she could. She was going to chew Blake’s ears off after this; there’s no way the Faunus didn’t know who Yang was talking about, and suddenly that look she received afterwards made so much more sense, but no, of course she couldn’t give Yang a heads up, damnit.

Of course, there existed the possibility that, maybe, Winter wanted their paths to cross again, but she’d come to know her mischievous friend rather well by now and firmly believed Blake was up to no good.

“Hi, Blake!” Ruby waved, smiling bright as ever. “Is this the friend who needed the oil change?”

“Yeah, this is Weiss’ sister, Winter. Winter, this is Ruby, one of my bosses.” Oh, yeah, there was definitely a thread of ‘I know exactly what I’m doing’ in her voice.

“Nice to meet you,” the woman said, her voice sounding tight. “Thank you for giving Blake the time off to help me with this.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all!” Her sister leaned, not doing a good job of hiding her wince. “Is, uh, is that your car?”

“Yes. I’m aware it’s in need of maintenance but all I can afford right now is an oil change. Speaking of, what’s the projected cost for the oil and filter replacement?”

“Well, we do it at cost for employees, but Ya-”

“Would twenty suffice?” Before either employee could interject, she continued. “I’m not an employee; while I can accept a discount, I’ll not abuse your generosity.”

Yang cringed, already able to picture just how livid the woman must’ve been when the waitress brought her the bags of to-go food and told her the bill was already paid. This did not bode well.

“Uh, alright, we’ll, uh, settle you up tomorrow. We’ve got a spot, so it should be ready for pick up first thing.” Ruby accepted the keys and filled out a work order, asking a few more questions just for clarification purposes. “Hey, by the way, do you remember-” Alarm bells went off in her head as her hand shot out, lightly knocking against her sister’s ankle- enough to get her attention but not to leave a bruise, at least. “Ah! Uh, sorry, knee’s been bothering me recently. Do you remember what kind of oil you use? Synthetic or no?”

“Whichever’s cheapest.”

“Uh, right. Okay! And Blake’s taking you to work now, right?”

“Yeah, should be thirty minutes, depending on traffic,” Blake said. “Ready to go?”

“Of course.” Winter seemed to turn away from the counter. “Thank you again for this.”

“Oh, it’s no problem! And, Blake, mind looking over this order real quick? You might be able to grab the part on the way back.”

“Sure. I’ll meet you at the car.” The moment the door jingled, Yang started crawling her way out from under the counter but found herself looking up at one very smugly curious Faunus, who herself was leaning over to look down at her. “Really? You hid down there the whole time?”

“If someone had given a little warning, I would’ve hid in the back office!” Grumbling, she knelt behind the counter, not wanting to risk standing up quite yet. “What’s the idea, Blake? You knowshe said she didn’t want to see me again.”

“From her version of the story, she definitely didn’t say that; you offered it.” One brow rose before she leaned back, no longer laying across the countertop. “Anyway, I would’ve told you but you made it seem like you were going to forget the whole thing happened, so who am I to change your mind?”

“Bringing her here without any warning kinda says you’ve got an answer to that.” Yang scowled, crossing her arms over her chest. “Seriously, what gives?”

“Aside from the fact you two would actually make pretty good friends if you allowed it? Simple: my girlfriend’s sister needed an oil change and I work at an auto shop.” She shrugged. “How you two decide to handle the ‘it’s a small world’ thing is not my prerogative.” Her lips curled into a small smile. “Speaking of which, I have to get her to work now. Whether or not you ever talk to her, that’s on you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind!”

Although she'd remained silent on the whole situation thus far, something obviously bothered Ruby, something she wouldn't let go without remarking upon. “Uh, just… real quick, she doesn’t… let her daughter ride-”

“Oh, no, no one but Winter gets in that thing. It’s purely to get her to work and back; everywhere else, she walks.”

Yang raised a brow at her sister’s obvious relief, the door’s chime signalling Blake’s departure. “Let me know when they pull away.”

“Three, two, one- and you’re clear.”

Getting to her feet, she looked towards the parking lot prepared to ask which one belonged to Winter. However, given the options, she really didn’t have to ask. “What the fuck.”

“I’ve… seen worse.”

“Yeah, in a junkyard about to be scrapped.” She shook her head. “And even then, I’ve seen better.”

The body had large spots absolutely eaten away by rust. The doors and quarter panels were dented all to hell and the windshield had a crack all the way across it. Even at a distance, she could tell the rims were damaged and probably rusted as well, not to mention the absent grill. 

“Maybe it doesn’t look so bad under the hood?”

“I doubt that.” Snatching the keys, she went outside with her sister trailing a step or two behind. Popping the hood, both of them groaned. The timing belt looked like it was seconds away from snapping, what looked to be some manner of corrosion leaked from the battery, the whole thing smelled like burnt oil and probably coolant, and she could see where an improper attachment on the belt was rubbing what looked to be the radiator hose raw. “Holy shit.”

“She drives this?” Her sister ran a hand through her hair, the other perching on her shoulder. “This is- this is a rolling death trap.”

“Wait, you smell that?” Inhaling deeply, she got down on her knees and looked beneath the vehicle, cringing immediately. “Damnit, there’s a gas leak. It’s small, but it’s there, probably a hole in the line.” Sitting back on her heels, she drug a hand down her face. “Ruby, we can’t let her drive this thing away with only an oil change.”

“Yang, think about this; we could lose our license doing work that wasn’t approved.” Her sister furrowed her brows, lips pressing into a thin line. “I mean, I’m all for it, absolutely, but we gotta be smart about this.”

“Right, you’re right. Lightly used parts, give ‘em a grunge look so they won’t look too out of place.” She leaned towards the side, looking at the tires. Absolutely no treads. “Think we could sneak on some new tires?”

“Part of me says ‘not any I’d feel comfortable with’ and the other part says ‘anything’s better than those’.” Looking back at their shop, she sister started running everything through. “I might have an idea… but all this work-”

“Take my share to cover it; I’ve got a cushion,” she said, immediately banishing any considerations for the amount of lien they’d need to pull this off. “Whatever thought you’re having, run with it.”

“Let’s start copying down sizes; as soon as Blake gets back, I’m making a run, but I can make a few calls first.” A growl. “By the time I get back, though...”

“I’ll handle it.” She looked up at Ruby. “I promised Blake I’d do the work myself. We’ll be ready to rock by sunup.” Then, a laugh. “Would be great if we had a parts runner though, huh?”

“We’ve got someone coming in tomorrow morning for interview,” her sister replied, silently acknowledging that didn’t help them in the slightest at present.

“Well, let’s start moving; I’ll get this pulled into the second bay.” She got to her feet, dusting off her hands. “I think I see something on the front axle I want to take a better look at.”

“Don’t go overboard, remember-”

“Hey, remember who you’re talking to here!”

“The lady our customer met in a park, who kinda sorta bullied her into taking a bunch of food home for free?” Ruby raised a brow. “This is the same woman you hid under the counter from, remember?”

Ah, that was a point. “... right. Sneaky and subtle.”

“Who knows.” A grin. “Maybe we can turn her into a repeat customer, do a little bit at a time.”

Yang wasn’t so sure about that- mainly because she didn’t want to spend random days hiding under the counter of her own shop. Plus, they might be able to buy some time and maybe avoid a catastrophic failure, but they weren’t miracle workers.

---

Winter winced, leaning down to rub at her knee briefly. During that last move, something knocked against it- either a cart or a furniture box she hadn’t seen- and would leave a sizable bruise come tomorrow, but she couldn’t concern herself with that at present. She still had another two hours before quitting time and several more large furniture boxes to move. They had about ten more on the truck they were busy unloading and hopes to get the next one started before the following shift came to relieve them.

“Schnee!”

Straightening, she plastered on an indifferent expression before turning to face the team’s supervisor. “Yes, Sir?”

“For the last time, this isn’t the damn military,” he said, sighing while looking over his clipboard. “And, I’m afraid I have some bad news. They’re coming down pretty hard on us about the overtime, so we’re going to have to put you on a full forty, but nothing over that.”

For a moment, her heart skipped a beat in her chest. “Sir, with respect-”

“Listen, I know, this isn’t ideal for anybody.” To his credit, he looked genuinely upset having to inform her, rubbing at the back of his neck subconsciously. “You’re one of the hardest workers we’ve got on payroll, and I know you’ve got your little girl to think about, but it is what it is.”

“I understand,” she replied, nodding stiffly before moving to rejoin her team, their short break already over. Without the overtime, she’d be even more hard pressed to find ways to make ends meet. Although she’d have more time, her only option seemed to be finding a secondary source of income, and hope it fell into a similar time slot. That, and she’d likely have to dip into what little she’d managed to save up over the past five years.

Briefly, Penny’s drawing from earlier flashed in her mind, and the weight of the world bearing down on her seemed even heavier than before.

Yet, she couldn’t allow it to own her. No matter the trials ahead, she’d chosen her path and refused to back down. After she finished her shift, she’d ask Blake to help her look around for some work, perhaps pick up a few applications on the way to get her car.

---

Yang downed her upteenth cup of coffee, starting to feel a strange buzzing sensation in her fingertips as the overindulgence in caffeine promised one hell of a crash in a few hours. She could worry about that later; right now, she had the last touches to put on Winter’s car.

After pulling it into the garage and giving it a thorough inspection, she’d nearly lost her mind. The fact the whole thing hadn’t fallen apart or suffered a severe mechanical failure defied her knowledge, seemingly held together by bubblegum and hopes. Compiling the parts list alone took the better part of an hour, during which she’d knocked out the other customers they’d gotten- nothing major, good busy work for her hands- and put everything else off to the following morning. Then, she took what parts they had and got to work, replacing what she could and pulling out everything that they needed to find, allowing Ruby to put together a list.

Replacing the engine- with a more functional one, even if it looked about as old- took the better part of the night and replacing the gas line gave her a headache but she’d gotten most of the work done. Looking under the hood, it looked almost as bad as when they first popped it, but a trained eye could see the obvious improvements. Add to that a new oil filter and all she really had left was replacing all the fluids and trying to crank it. She had one shot to make this work; with sunrise on the horizon, she didn’t have an abundance of time for trouble shooting.

“Come on, baby,” she said, setting aside the coffee cup and wiping at the sweat on her face. “Let’s hear you roar.”

Grabbing the oil and a jug of coolant, she went about the final step with the constant thought that, as long as they didn’t get caught, they’d done some great work.

If they got caught, though, it might be her license on the line- she’d been sure to usher Blake and Ruby out of the garage without explaining further, just for plausible deniability purposes. As much as she hated playing the legal game, she wasn’t a fool.

Well, at least, not by her estimations.

---

On the way to the auto shop, Winter tried to focus on the positive side of things. Soon, she’d be back home, and Penny would greet her like she was the most important person in the world, and all the bad things would just… slide away.

“I’m sure I can ask for a day off soon, if you need some time-”

“Thank you, Blake, but this is already an imposition,” she said, biting back the anger her wounded pride sparked. “I’ll fill out the applications today and drop them tonight on my way into work. I’ll… find something.”

“Have you considered trying for something at the bank or-”

“I’m afraid I don’t have the luxury of looking for a job I want. Right now, I need a job as desperately as someone needs an employee.” Two fingers rubbed at her temple. “I just need to find that connection.”

“If you say so,” Blake replied, ceding the argument quickly. 

She felt a touch of remorse- the Faunus only ever tried to help, much like her sister- but neither could fix her many problems. While she took their suggestions to heart, the years spent in Vale looking for any manner of job that could pay her bills and provide her more time with Penny taught her that it was an endeavor that required more energy and time than she typically possessed. However, she would try again, on the off chance something had opened up.

Pulling up to the auto shop, she spotted her car sitting in the lot, in a different space than she’d parked it. Hopefully, that meant the work was completed and a quick payment meant she’d be well on her way home. If she had just a bit more luck, she might even get to spend another day drawing or watching cartoons.

Rubbing at her eyes, she entered the shop after Blake, once again finding the young woman she’d dealt with the day before. Idly, she wondered how many red undershirts a person could own, seeing as she definitely had on a slightly different shade than the day before; while the coveralls might be part of the shop’s uniform, the undershirt didn’t seem to be.

“Oh, hey Blake! And Winter!” Something about the woman’s smile seemed nervous as she retrieved a folder with the paperwork from the day before. “Long night?”

“You could say that.” Pulling out her wallet, she grabbed the twenty lien card she handed it over while accepting her keys back. “That’s what we agreed upon, correct?”

“Uh, well, I’d really rather charge you fifteen, if that’s okay.”

Summoning her willpower, she let out a short sigh. “Fine. Fifteen lien.”

“Great!”

“With a five lien tip.” She raised a brow. “That won’t be a problem, will it?”

“Uh, heh, no, I- I guess not.” Silver eyes looked away as she frowned- Ruby, that was her name. 

“Understand, I appreciate your… generosity.” Again, her pride tickled; a stubborn thing that refused to let her accept the help she obviously needed. At the same time, one could hardly blame her. “But I know this was a favor and I’ll not take advantage of that.”

“I get it.” Ruby smiled and shrugged. “Points for trying though, right?”

She gave a small smile in response. “Thank you again, both of you. I’ll see you later, Blake. I’ll be sure to give Weiss your love.”

Exiting the shop, Winter did her best to keep her mind engaged, not wanting exhaustion to make her careless on the drive home. The moment she turned over her car, however, she noticed something.

The air conditioner kicked on. She had to double check to be sure, blinking a few times and putting her hands over the vents. Neither the AC nor heat had worked since she’d gotten the damn thing. Why would it work now?

Getting out, she popped the hood and lifted it up, narrowing her eyes as she studied the components. She couldn’t be sure, but it all looked… different. A bit shinier, as if some parts were cleaned up, which made enough sense if someone spent a suitable time elbow deep in it… but it looked like more than that. She felt certain it didn’t look like this the morning before.

And then the obvious answer smacked her in the face.

Letting the hood fall shut, she turned around and marched back inside the auto shop, two sides warring within her mind. On the one hand, she’d been keenly aware her vehicle needed a fair amount of work and she was grateful the mechanic saw fit to do it. However, she couldn’t possiblyafford it, and if Blake had tried slipping one past her, she wouldn’t be accused to taking advantage of someone’s kindness. They’d already done enough to help her.

The moment she pulled the door open- sharply, causing the chime to sound out- she noticed the Faunus’ earnest confusion with her return. “Winter? Something wrong?”

“Bring Ruby back here, now,” she said, setting her hands on the counter and curling them into fists. 

She wasn’t angry, per se- it wasn’t that she valued her pride above her sense. Winter simply understood that those who helped her put themselves at a disadvantage and had neither the strength nor the patience to deal with a stranger potentially setting up a debt without her knowing. She’d spent far too much of her life being put in that position, being tricked into feeling like she owed something to someone other than herself- her loyalty, her time, her energy, her very life. Reclaiming it was the first step to finding freedom and she’d not make those mistakes again lightly.

Without Blake having to do much of anything, she could see Ruby take note of her return and hurry across the garage, plastering on a smile that seemed a touch too wide to be sincere as she opened the door. “Oh, uh, something wrong?”

“How much work did you do on my car?”

“Well, we did the oil change and replaced the filter.”

“And what else?” Her gaze flicked over to Blake, who suddenly stiffened and moved a bit away, as if absolving herself from whatever decisions her boss made. “I can tell a lot more work’s been done than I asked and I-”

Suddenly, she felt a small bit of pressure against her leg and looked down to find a dog swatting at her pants.

A very… familiar dog.

And suddenly, it all made sense.

“Hello, Zwei,” she said, reaching down to pet the dog’s head. Then, she rounded on Ruby. “Where is she?”

The woman looked like she might try to make an excuse for all of two seconds before sighing and hanging her head in defeat. “She’s in the garage office- but it wasn’t-”

Winter held up a finger, stopping all manner of excuses while stepping around the counter and heading into the garage. Finding the office didn’t pose too much of a problem, seeing as only one door seemed to lead to an area, and she opened it with every intention of getting to the bottom of the whole issue.

The words caught in her throat, however, when she found Yang- the same woman she’d met in the park a few weeks ago- slumped over the cluttered desk, soundly asleep and snoring softly. She had all manner of grease and oil on her face and arms, even some in her hair, and her coveralls were pulled down and tied off at her waist. The yellow tank top she wore clearly was clearly stained with drying sweat and dirty from work but it looked like Yang hardly had the energy to sit in the chair much less change, considering the cot a few feet away.

Then, blue eyes fell on the few photographs in frames. One was of a family, she assumed: mother with a soft, round face like Ruby’s and father with the same wild hair and wide grin as Yang, plus a little blonde girl and a baby swaddled in blankets, standing in front of a house out in the woods. Another of the same man but with younger versions of Yang and Ruby, their manner of dress clearly indicating the former had just graduated- either from high school or trade school, it was difficult to say. A third, the two sisters standing in front of the auto shop, their father nowhere to be seen.

“Because I was your kid!”

Silently, Winter stepped closer and, with all the care she could muster, picked Yang up from the chair. The woman hardly moved, obviously exhausted from her night of unexpected work, and that made it all the easier to lay her down on the cot and draw the thin, well worn blanket over her without rousing her from slumber.

They’d talked about it, briefly, during that morning, how Yang had grown up in a single parent household. She’d neglected to mention her father beyond that and never in the present tense. Winter hadn’t thought much of it until now.

Going over to the desk, she found a scrap of paper that seemed more or less unused and disposable and penned out a quick message, taking it with her as she returned to the front office, where both Ruby and Blake seemed nervous.

“She’s asleep,” Winter said as means of explanation, handing over the paper. “Give this to her when she awakens. And Blake?” Breathing in deeply, she let it out slowly. “Did you know?”

“I had a hunch,” the Faunus replied, crossing her arms over her chest. “Neither of you mentioned names and I didn’t clarify, but aside from the previous meeting, I didn't know anything.”

“Did she know?”

“She, uh, hid under the counter when you walked in.” Ruby offered with a weak smile. “She… reallythought you didn’t want to see her again.”

Reaching up, she rubbed at her temple. “Be sure you give her that. And thank you, for all the work done on my car. I know it needed some… serious repairs.” Her gaze snapped over to Blake. “Weisswill deal with you tonight.”

Winter turned, ready to head out of the shop without waiting for another word from either of them, but found herself nearly bumping into a redhead just an inch or two shorter than her. 

“Sorry!” Sparkling emerald eyes shone with sincerity as she stepped back. “I’m here for the interview.”

For a moment, her tired brain didn’t connect the dots, until she remembered her work uniform- a similar set of coveralls- closely mimicked that of the two employees and moved aside. “I believe she’s the one you want to talk to and… good luck.” She glanced back at the other two. “They take care of people here.”

Then, she left, intent only on getting home, seeing her daughter, and talking to her sister.

She didn’t plan on the Faunus getting in trouble, of course- obviously she’d kept the details vague for plausible deniability purposes- but she fully intended on having a serious conversation with Weiss about this. Penny would be willing to give them a bit of space to have that talk, hopefully, and they could discuss the whole situation. 

Because what bothered her the most about the whole ordeal was just… the warring sensations of constantly being in debt to Yang- this stranger she didn’t know beyond a few details- and the acknowledgement that the woman probably didn’t see it as such. A proper discussion to work out some manner of compensation would’ve been vastly preferable to driving away with so much unsaid but she wouldn’t interrupt much needed sleep for the purpose of mollifying her own pride.

Plus… she needed to see if her sister happened to have any sort of tips for making a home cooked meal.

---

Yang stretched her arms over her head, yawning while slipping out of the garage office. She’d need to thank Blake and Ruby; it must’ve been a chore moving her from the chair to the cot they kept for emergencies but her back appreciated it. Absently, she reached down to pat Zwei’s head while walking over to where her sister stood in front of a minivan, elbow deep in changing the timing belt.

“Hey, Rubes,” she said, chuckling slightly as her sister jumped. “Easy, killer. Just wanted to say thanks for moving me; that chair is not comfortable for sleeping.”

“Oh! Uh. So. I have some news. About that, specifically.” She raised a brow, confused by Ruby’s sudden nervousness. “I didn’t move you.”

“Blake-”

“Nope.”

“Then, who-”

“Winter did.” Fishing into one of her pockets, she pulled out a piece of paper even as the bottom dropped out of Yang’s stomach. “She noticed we did a bit more work on her car, came inside to interrogate me about it, recognized Zwei, and… went into the garage office. When she came back, she told me to give you this when you woke up.”

Hesitantly, she took the paper in her hands and read the tiny, neat cursive.

I owe you dinner. This is not optional. Call me.

And then a number.

“Oh, shit.” She ran a hand through her hair and winced. “Was she, uh… you know. Mad?”

“I… you know, it’s really hard to tell with her, but I don’t think so? She told Pyrrha we take care of people, so I’m pretty sure there’s no hard feelings.”

“Pyrrha?”

“Yeah, our, uh, new parts runner. Her interview was this morning, remember?”

“Oh, right. Sorry, brain’s a little scrambled.” Dragging a hand down her face, she let out a deep sigh. “Guess I have to call her… is Blake in trouble?”

Ruby winced. “Jury’s still out on that.”

“Great.” Shrugging, she looked at the piece of paper again. “Think I should call now or wait?”

“Blake said she usually wakes up in about an hour.”

“Wait it is.” Tucking it into her pocket, she looked around the garage. “Got something small I can do in the meantime?” 

“There’s an inspection waiting outside. Think you can grab it?”

“Done.” Anxiety lurked in the back of her mind but she realized there was nothing to do but wait.

Wait and hope.

[bts-oh-yeah-thighslapper-9000]

Chapter 1: Agreement

‘At the beginning of this year, there was this small entertainment company that popped up. They only have one solo artist signed to them, however she is making quite a name for herself already. She is popular, but she hasn’t quite made it out of Korea. Her stage name is Angel, she has a sweet singing voice, which make people even more surprised when she starts rapping like no tomorrow. She isn’t a normal Idol which makes her stand out amongst the rest. She right now is the face of Yin Yang Entertainment. She is quite young only 19, and the owner of the company isn’t much older at the age of 23. If they keep on the track they are on they could make it big.’ One of the bigger news channels talks about.

“If they keep on this path they could make it big.” Yin mocks.

“We are still only a starting company Yin, I’m literally your only talent.” Yun-ji says while she makes lunch only giving her girlfriend a side glance.

“It’s the way he says it. Like he has no faith in us.” Yin glares at the TV, Yun-ji rolls her eyes.

“Your making a big deal out of nothing.” She says as she finishes putting everything together for lunch. She looks at Yin and smiles, “We are perfectly fine and I’m decently popular. I’m earning enough money for us to live and pay bills and taxes.”

Yin looks at Yun-ji and smiles, “Yes, and you’re great at what you do, even if you forget the original lyrics on the fly.”

“That’s what makes me a good free stylist.” She says handing Yin her food.

“Thank you.” Yin says grabbing her food, she starts to eat and read some of the papers she had on the coffee table. “By the way do you know if we have any staff paper.”

Yun-ji pauses in her movement to pick up her drink, “I don’t believe so, I think you wasted some cause you weren’t liking what you were making” She speaks gesturing to the piles of paper falling out the trash.

“Ok, ok maybe I go through to many sheets bu-”

“Use notebook paper, instead of wasting our staff paper, that shit ain’t cheap you know.”

“Yes, I’m aware... Alright, I’m going to get more from the music store.” Yin says standing up to get ready.

“Ah! Not yet, you’re not. You need to finish your lunch young lady!” Yun-ji says standing up as well chasing Yin up the stairs.

“Why?”

“Cause you need to, besides I need to get more strings for my guitar as one of them broke, two I wanna look at their new selection of guitars.” Yun-ji says crossing her arms, “And you can’t waste the food I just made you know how I am about that.”

“Ugh, fine!” Yun-ji smiles at her victory and goes back to eating with Yin following behind.

After they finished eating they decided to go to the music store near their home. Once they got there they greeted the worker and went straight to what they needed. Yin was checking to see the best deal she could get for staff paper, while Yun-ji was looking for guitar strings to replace the ones she broke from straining them too much. While looking at the strings Yun-ji hears the bell that indicates someone came in, she turns to see a hybrid going straight to the counter.

“I’m here for a job?” The hybrid asked.

“I would love to hire you, but my boss said no hybrids.” The worker said.

“Of course.” He says before starting to leave, Yun-ji then remembered that Yin said that they need more talent in the company, cause at this rate Yun-ji will be worked to the bone just to keep the company going.

“Um excuse me.” Yun-ji calls the hybrid, he looks at her. To Yun-ji, he has a similar aura to Yin, “Uh I can get you a job, they accept hybrids and if your interested in music I think you’ll enjoy it.”

He squints at her seeing if what she says is the truth, that is until Yin shows up, “Yun-ji did you get your strings, we still need to work on your new song for your next album.”

Yin looks at the guy, the guy looks back at her, “What kind of job?” The hybrid says to Yun-ji.

“Excuse me? Yun-ji what are you doing?”  Yin says a bit annoyed that Yun-ji just offered this guy a job without talking to her first.

Yun-ji smiles, “A producer, Singer, Rapper, dancer, etc basically entertainment music related.”

“Yun-ji-” Yin starts to say but is cut off.

“I’m in.” The hybrid says.

“Wait, no she isn’t the boss I-”

“How do I apply for the job then?” The hybrid cuts Yin off again.

“First off don’t cut me off, second off I never said we were-”

“So you’re gonna let me get overworked now? When you were the one who said we need more people so I wasn’t overworking myself.” Yun-ji says looking at Yin.

“I… ok maybe I did say we need more people, but inviting a complete stranger with like no knowledge of his previous jobs and or not even knowing if he can do anything related to music.”

The hybrid has a shocked look, after not hearing one thing about him being a hybrid, but he quickly masks it. “I’ll give you a resume tomorrow, just tell me where to turn it in.”

Yun-ji looks at Yin, and Yin sighs, “Instead of resume I want you to make a new song with Yun-ji, and you need to work on it the most, and if you can sing or rap it yourself. If I find it good enough… You're hired. If not, I’ll help you look for another job you can do.”

The shocked look comes up again, “really? You... you mean that?”

“Yeah. By the way I’m Yanin, But you can call me Yin. This is Yun-ji.” Yun-ji smiles and waves.

The hybrid gives a quick smile before masking it, “Yoongi.”

“Nice to meet you Yoongi, I hope we will be able to work well together.” Yun-ji says.

“He isn’t official-” Yin starts to say but is cut off once again.

“He will I know it.” Yun-ji walks away with that and goes to look at the guitar strings.

Yin decides to give Yoongi the info to find them to finish this Agreement. Yoongi thanks before leaving the store, saying he’ll come by tomorrow.

Next > Chapter 2

[wigwurq]

WIG REVIEW: CRAZY RICH ASIANS

I saw the preview for the movie basically before every other movie I saw this summer. And I didn’t particularly want to see it because it just looked like completely ridiculous escapist nonsense. Now months later (and almost a month after it came out?) I finally saw it and yes: it is completely ridiculous escapist nonsense and I absolutely loved every minute of it. There is one wig! To be discussed.

So this movie is about incredibly attractive rich people and their problems. The main difference between it and any other movie with the same plot is, of course, that this movie stars 100% Asian people and representation matters so amen. The plot involves this really pretty chick dating a really pretty dude in NYC. But the big surprise is that he’s not only super attractive, but super duper rich! A fact that he neglects to tell her when they go to Singapore and meet his family and she realizes that she’s dating the Asian equivalent to Prince Harry. However, her family is so not ready to Meghan Markle her and actually think she is TRASH because she isn’t a billionaire heiress. Essentially, this is Pretty Woman, except the 2018 Singapore version of a hooker is an NYU economics professor. What a world!

There are many other plot points about beautiful rich people being sad but who cares because those parts are boring so let’s focus on the true star of this movie: AWKWAFINA AND THIS GODDAMNED WIG! Awkafina plays the college roommate of the Asian Meghan Markle/Julia Roberts character and basically steals the whole goddamned movie with hilarity and FASHION.

Ken Jeong plays Awkwafina’s dad (in a superior pompadour might I add) and calls Awkwafina’s lewk “Asian Ellen” which is not incorrect and might be a compliment? Anyway the point is that this wig is kinda supposed to be ridiculous and I am here for it because this movie truly works when it realizes how ridiculous it is. LEAN IN.

The wig is not bad! The texture and lack of uniformity are good. The one sometimes sloppy part is the back taper (an issue with 99% of all man wigs and short wigs) but for the most part this just looks like a bad dye job - which is the point! 

It should be noted that Awkwafina’s character essentially wears high fashion pajamas through the entire movie which is LIVING THE DREAM. It also draws upon a best friend portrayal from another escapist film of yore - GLITTER - in which Da Brat wears fancy pajamas to a fancy party and if this movie is drawing upon Glitter as inspiration then AMEN.

Also Awkwafina rolls up to fancy parties not only in fancy pajamas, but making this face. YES.

To be fair, Awkwafina does change into cocktail fashion stored in the trunk of her car for the fancy parties and with the help of Asian Ross Matthews (in the middle), helps Asian Julia Roberts into some VERY EXPENSIVE fancy clothes so she can be taken seriously by Asian Prince Harry’s family. Basically Awkwafina plays the best gal pal AND the fairy godmother all while looking amazing so YES.

Thus we are gifted with makeover montages like this and honestly - is there anything better in a movie than a makeover montage? NO.

Throughout, Awkwafina and her ridiculous wig and perfect fashion choices remain the best part of the movie.

Though I will give a shoutout to Jimmy O. Yang (aka Jian Yang in Silicon Valley) for some choice acting in International Waters. 

I also highly recommend watching this movie with a theater crowd who appreciates the unintentional hilarity in what they are watching. For instance, in this scene depicting a $40 million dollar wedding which involves a lot of emotion onscreen translated to a theater of full on laughter which I was HERE FOR. 

This summer has already brought us another escapist fantasy in the form of a chardonnay soaked caftan (aka Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!) so I guess this one is in the form of a fun blonde wig and pajamas as daywear. Ok!

Amen.

VERDICT: WURQS

[greaterthannine-blog]

Roots 06/29/2018 & 07/02/2018 [許]

This longer-than-usual post is the first of two in which I am relaying the experiences I had in my two ancestral villages. This post pertains to my two visits to my Huie 許 village and is thus sectioned into two parts: the first visit on 06/29/2018, and the second visit on 07/02/2018. As visiting this site of my personal heritage was an exceptionally important journey for me, I have included much more content than I have in previous “Roots” posts. Alongside my own photographs, I added photographs shot by our leader Al and our friend Sherry, which I have crafted to look akin to film photographs. I have also written much more than typical, so if you’re one of the kind souls who actually reads the words I write, you might enjoy this post. Anyway, that’s all I have to say about that.

Enjoy.

Isabella

Preface: My Huie/Xu [許] Ancestral Village_____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________

IN THIS GRAND EXPEDITION TO CHINA this summer, I visited two of my ancestral villages. This post pertains to my two visits to my Huie 許 (or Xǔ in Mandarin) village in Guangdong province of Southern China, which is the side of my Chinese family whose history I know most about. You might be wondering where this Huie name comes from and what happened to “Xu” surname I use. See, “Xǔ” is the Mandarin pronunciation of my family name, and I use that for my public name because Mandarin is the most widely spoken and recognized Chinese dialect. However, my family are not Mandarin speakers, we are Cantonese, and more specifically we hail from a region of Guangdong province called Toisan (or Táishān in Mandarin) which has it’s own specific dialect itself. We are not known amongst ourselves as Xǔ’s, but rather as Huie’s, which is why in this post I will be hence referring to this aspect of my identity as Huie.

Now, with all this talk of my family name, you might be wondering what my relation to this village is. It was the birthplace and home of my mother’s father’s father (my great-grandfather), and his ancestors before him (that I am aware of anyway). According to the records my great-grandfather left after his passing, our ancestral village goes by what we can best romanize as Sui Bo Huey. Though I say that with a grain of salt, as I don’t know what this name means or even what the correct characters are, but I found that procuring information on our village was uniquely difficult because: 1) My mother, grandfather and grand-uncle have all visited the village, so I knew the information existed, and 2) We still own our ancestral home, and have an active property manager there, and 3) Despite the above factors, no one had, could, or was willing to provide me the information. Difficulties aside, I acquired the info, and made to the village. Twice. ●

第四天: 台山

Day Four: Toisan [Taishan]

06/29/2019

PHOTOGRAPHY: Al Cheng & Sherry

PHOTO POST-PROCESSING & COMMENTARY: Isabella Xu

++

↑↑ (1) On the balcony of my ancestral home, overlooking the garden and fields. (2) Photo op with an old woman who claims to weed the exterior of my ancestral home

First Visit: What Happened on 06/29/2019 _____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________

First! Let me tell you about the first visit to Sui Bo Huey, because there were two. One not-so-spectacular visit (this one), and a more intimate visit (the one later in this post). My actual, official, PRC-approved, scheduled time and day for me to visit Sui Bo Huey was June 29, 2018. (Little bitty tidbit, we were with the gov’t, which was quite the thrill not gonna lie. Our Toisan official/friend, Mr. Yang (Young Yang) was fantastic and overall a very kind man). That morning, I awoke with numb excitement. I couldn’t believe that the day where I’d set foot in a place where part of my family lived for who knows how long had finally come. It was daunting and my thoughts were a maelstrom of discourse. Was I ready for this? Was I too young? I’m only nineteen and I’m already having highly philosophical and existential conversations with myself; did I jump into this prematurely? But at the same time, in my noggin I was bouncing with glee. Today will be an interesting day. 

Knowing I’d be the complete center of attention that morning, and fully aware that there would be several cameras aimed at me the whole duration of my visit to Sui Bo Huey, I hopped out of bed to decide what to wear. In my animated yet distressed stupor, my lovely roommate, Kona, helped me choose an outfit for the day. My first thought was to wear a poppy red Athleta tank (similar), a cream vintage silk button-up short sleeve blouse (similar), and off-white linen Aritzia pants (similar-ish). What we found though was that you could see my undies through the pants, so I traded the silk blouse for a mauve Nike long-sleeve (different color), tied yachting style around my shoulders, and swapped the risqué pantaloons for my trusty black Athleta cargos. (Not that it really matters much for this post, since, ya know, I’m not in any of these photos, but for my own posterity’s sake, please! Let me live!). I then strapped on my black & cork Camper sandals, donned my faithful Urban Outfitters cap, slung my Aritzia fanny pack (similar) across my torso, and packed my camera bag. Now ready for adventure, Kona and I closed our hotel room door, waddled to the elevator, and embarked the slow descent to the lobby. 

We exited the elevator and walked over to a set of plush chaises where others in our group were congregating. I set down my bags, kneeled, reached for my backpack, and took out a bottle of sunscreen mixed with insect repellent. Standing up I looked over to the other side of the lobby where I saw our leader Al standing and talking with a seedy looking middle-aged man with sparse slicked-back hair, wearing a red polo, navy trousers, brown Dickies belt, and boat shoes. Once they noticed me observing them, Al enthusiastically beckoned me over for introductions. Now, remember how I mentioned earlier that my family still owns our ancestral village in Sui Bo Huey? And that we have a property manager overseeing and maintaining that property? Well, this is that dude. Did I know he was going to be there? No. Did I know that Roots had successfully contacted him? No. Did I know his name? No. His being there was a complete shock to me as my grand-uncle had hinted that communication with our property caretaker was strained and inconsistent, and that he was unsure that the caretaker would respond to any attempted correspondance. So, with that in mind, I was flabbergasted and unprepared to have Lem Fun Koon 林煥權 accompany my rooting, and my mind was hazy after meeting him, and this fog carried through the rest of the day. (Though, in retrospect, I don’t really know why I was so stupidly impacted by his presence. I mean, he was just there to help! And I just displayed my despicable ice-queen qualities of complete asshattery and fuckbucketry, and seldom interacted with the poor guy! No matter how creepily greasy he looked, I truly regret my treatment of him. I hope to someday remedy that, and repay him for taking the time to show me the property. Maybe I’ll write him a thank you letter or something…). From introductions I learned that not only was he the caretaker of our property, but that he was actually a renowned Chinese calligrapher. I was told that his works can often sell for over $1,500 USD. I simultaneously thought it very snazzy but also a bit odd that we have a famous calligrapher for a property manager, but, I guess, ya know, China. *shrugs.* 

Post-introduction to Lem Fun Koon 林煥權 (Whom I’ll now address as Mr. Lem), it was finally time to embark on the short journey to Sui Bo Huey, that is, after we took 15 minutes to load the bus, 15 minutes to collect the day’s government official (and film me being shallowly introspective about family/village info and what I expected to find), 15 minutes to stop outside a convenience store and debate which packaged cookies to use for my bai san ceremony (ritual paying respects to ancestors), and then another 15 minutes minute trundle to the village. So, after enduring what was supposed to be a 15 minute drive, we finally arrived. An hour later. 

As we turned off the main road and approached my village, the first thing I saw was the gate marking the entrance. Actually, you know, I take that back. The first thing I actually saw was the MASSIVE pile of trash directly behind the gate! What a great way to start my rooting, no? Trash? Everywhere? Just fucking lovely. I knew my family came from a humble peasantry background, but this was just too comically ironic (I came from literal trash!). But, let’s not be so hasty in my assumptions. I later discovered that a family in the village operated a recycling business, thus justifying the huge pile of trash that-isn’t-quite-trash-but-is-rather-recycling in the area. I felt much better after learning that. Better yet, I felt a smidge of pride. Go ancestral village. Go Sui Bo Huey. Y’all are doing good deeds.

Anyways, Sifu (our hilariously nonchalant bus driver) drove through the gate, into the village, and parked our trusty bus on the long and receding stretch of concrete and alongside the row of homes to our left, and I discovered shortly after that he had parked literally 15 feet away from my ancestral home. To our right, parallel to the concrete was a community garden of sorts, with rows and rows of small crops including eggplant, cabbage, corn, and many other unidentifiable plants. Beyond the garden were expanding rice fields that I want to say were three fourths of a mile in distance until they were cut off by a large factory building. But those were all the observations I could make before the ruckus began.

As soon as Sifu parked, the floodgates (by which I mean the bus doors) opened and everyone began siphoning out on to the pavement. Because I was being filmed, I was the last to exit. By the time I hop out, there were people everywhere: Roots people, government officials, villagers, and who knows who else (I certainly don’t). While I’m dazedly trying to discern what’s happening, Mr. Lem was already at the doors of my family property, hastily undoing the locks on the front entrance (our property was vacant so we weren’t intruding on anybody, though that would have been quite the event), and before I know it, I’m being herded over to the door. With the procession in tow, and no way for me to escape, I proceeded towards my ancestral home while Candace and Diann went to film and photograph the village, Nick began flying our faithful drone Rufus for some aerial shots, and I think Robyn and Carol went to go talk to villagers, but frankly I’m unsure. Along with Mr. Lem, Al, Derek, Long Lǎoshī, Sherry (who was photographing me), Mickey, Jeremy (who was also photographing me), Amanda (who was filming me and translating), two other government officials and a couple village representatives, into the home I went.

Right off the bat, as soon as I entered the building, my visit was not what I had anticipated. After stepping through the front door I was amazed at how well kept the interior was (and the exterior looked very nice too, so props to him), but also for the entire duration of my visit, Mr. Lem made a point to show me all the fixes he made, improvements he added and told me everything he’s done in upkeep. Frankly, that’s what most of the visit was: rather than permitting me to absorb the moment, learn and reflect, my visit was mostly him showing me and telling me everything he’s done to take care of the house, as well as describing the legal work he’s had to do, and complaining how he was contacted by the government rather than directly by my uncle (and that is quite the juicy drama, but I’m not going to share that with you, sorry, that’s a more private matter). While I was exceptionally bothered by his actions at the time (and not gonna lie, I’m still pretty pissed about that), I can understand why he acted how he did. My presence may have appeared as if my family had sent me to assess the property’s condition and verify Mr. Lem’s work, and even though I and everyone present that day knew that was not what my intentions were, I can understand how it may have seemed like a check up. Still, as he occupied about 75% of the minuscule hour and a half I spent there talking about himself, I felt very cheated of an intimate and private experience I had come so far to have.

On top of that, my time in my ancestral home was very rushed. Before we had even left for China, I had to prioritize one village over the other, and whichever I made my primary village was the one I would have more time in. However, despite how much I wanted this village to be my primary, because I had such difficulty squeezing information out of my family, I was forced to make Sui Bo Huey my secondary village. It wasn’t until quite literally two days before my flight to China that I finally secured the information I needed to identify the place, and promptly asked Roots to make Sui Bo Huey my primary. However, the switch happened a tad too late and the schedule for my time in Sui Bo Huey was set in stone, and the day’s schedule didn’t permit more time, so we had to do and see everything in a hurry.

The moment I entered the central room, where the ancestral altar was housed, it was a scramble to perform my bai san, or the ceremony where I paid respects to my ancestors. But here’s the kicker, I didn’t know what in the fuck this ceremony was. I had never heard the term bai san. Nobody in my family ever performed bai san. I hadn’t witnessed any of the other Rooters’ bai san ceremonies because I was off prancing around the villages we visited photographing everything besides the person whose village it was. I was thrust into the altar room, had a pile of incense shoved into my hands, then everyone stood back, left me in an empty space and told me to do the ceremony. But because I’m a complete noob, and know abso-fucking-nothing, I stood there like a dodo bird for a good moment, then asked Al for help. Mr. Lem lit the incense sticks, Mickey and Long Lǎoshī laid an offering of cookies on a table, and Al directed me in bowing, placing the incense around the house, and praying to my ancestors. Once I finished the ceremony, Mr. Lem put the cookies in his bag.

After bai san, Mr. Lem talked at Al, Long Lǎoshī, Mickey and Mr. Yang in a circle for about twenty minutes about all the legal troubles he went through with the property. In complete confusion, I kept peering over their shoulders at the documents he was referencing, trying to grasp what was happening, and thankfully Amanda translated some of the discussion. After Mr. Lem finished venting, someone announced that we should take a group photo outside, and I was being swept away again. Yet before we could make our way outside, Derek asked me if I had walked around the house. Which I hadn’t. So instead of meandering towards the doorway, I waltzed the opposite direction and went into what used to be the kitchen.

↑↑ Post-bai san, standing in the center room of my ancestral home before our altar. Here I am thanking my Bok Gung (though I think he’s actually my Taai Gung, but don’t quote me on that, the Chinese family tree is about as confusing as quantum mechanics), my Gung Gung, and everyone who came before them.

With my diversion, Mr. Lem promptly began giving me a tour of the house. It really was a beautiful house. It was divided into three sections. The first was when you first step through the front door; there was a small entry-room; branching forward was the second section of the house, and branching to the left was a door to another room. From this room you could climb a ladder upstairs to what was likely once a bedroom, and this bedroom connected to another small room (which is directly above the entry-way room below) and possessed a door to a balcony (above the second section) overlooking the village gardens and fields beyond. Back in the entryway again, and leading forward was the second section. This was the largest room in the house and ran from one end of the property to the other. Within this room was the ancestral altar, which had apparently survived a fire and but still in excellent condition. There was also a table, some large old pots to store rice, some decrepit wooden stools, and the foundations for a stone rice pounder set into the floor of the room. The room was lit by the skylight connected to the roof behind the balcony above. Continuing through to the third section of the house was the kitchen and former entryway to the home. I was told that a number of years ago, thieves had broken through the original door and destroyed it so much that it was irreparable and irreplaceable, so Mr. Lem had simply blocked the door with a lovely handcrafted barricade. Leading off the kitchen was another room, which had another ladder leading to the other upstairs portion of the home, but the ladder was broken and we could access the upper floor. I was awestruck by the condition of my ancestral home, and was very proud of all the hard work that Mr. Lem invested in the place (I wish to properly thank him somehow, but am unsure of how to do that; if you have suggestions please comment below!). It was one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been. I really wish I had had the chance to photograph it myself.

And that was the most upsetting aspect of this visit: I wasn’t able to photograph anything, and that really left an impact. In all of the prior rootings we did, I had impeccable experiences within each village simply by padding around and photographing the details of each community. In my debrief later that day, I voiced my dissatisfaction. The day was rushed. I hadn’t had any private time. Mr. Lem made a decent portion of my visit about himself rather than about me. I relayed that I had had more intimate experiences in everyone else’s villages by being able to walk around and see things. I regretted not having any of my own documentation of my own village. If I had been provided the time and opportunity to shoot my own photos of Sui Bo Huey, I know I wouldn’t have been so angry, but because I was prevented from doing the one thing I’m passionate about, in the place I cared for most, my frustration was evident. I toyed with the idea of asking to go back, but because we had such a crammed schedule for our remaining days in Toisan, and because others hadn’t been given the chance to return to their villages, I didn’t think it wise or fair for me to ask to go back.

However, a couple days later, my emotions got the best of me, and in an admittedly dramatic fashion, I asked Al and Derek if I could return to Sui Bo Huey before we left Toisan a few days later. And I am undeniably grateful that they, and the government, let me go back again three days later. ●

↑↑ (1) Group photo of our Roots 2018 family, Lem Fun Koon, Sifu, Long Lǎoshī, Mr. Yang (Young Yang), two other government officials whose names I don’t know, and a village representative inside the alter room of my ancestral home. (2) Group photo outside my ancestral home; you can see the doorway to the house on the left-hand side of the frame.

第六七: 台山

Day Seven: Toisan [Taishan]

07/02/2018

PORTRAIT PHOTOS: Al Cheng

PHOTOGRAPHY, PORTRAIT POST-PROCESSING & COMMENTARY:

Isabella Xu

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Second Visit: What happened on 07/02/2018 __________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________

The day I asked to go back to Sui Bo Huey, we looked over the schedule and finessed a time for me to return on July 2nd, 2018. Accompanied by Al, I would be permitted to return to my Bok Gung’s village, and the day I would go back was the same day as my other village visit. We’d visit my secondary village, my mother’s mother’s mother’s father’s village, in the morning, and after spending a couple hours there, Al and I would peel off from the larger group, return to Sui Bo Huey for a few hours, then would drive back to Toisan city for a late lunch.

The weather that day was overcast, and the sky looked as if I was ready to dump a downpour any second. That morning I awoke, dressed in an almost-monochrome get-up. Along-sleeve Nike running top, Aritzia athletic pants, my camper sandals, and Aritzia fanny pack, I then assembled my camera bag, hell-bent on making sure I secured photographs of my two villages that day.

Skipping past our morning visit to my secondary village (I know, I know, how disappointing! But do not fret, that account will be documented in the next post), with a moderate sprinkle from the heavens, Al and I hop into the car of a driver we hired for the day, and set out for Sui Bo Huey.

I knew that this visit would be wholly different from my previous experience. The only visitors to Sui Bo Huey would be myself and Al. The rest of our group was touring Kona’s second village. Mr. Lem was five hours away doing whatever it is that he does in another province (thereby we couldn’t enter the property, but that was alright). The government official that was supposed to oversee our visit just stopped by for about two minutes, then left. It was just me, Al, my camera and the village (well, and our driver, but he just sat in the car and/or looked at the eggplants or something in the garden). And that was more than I could ask for.

Hopping out of the car, the first thing I do (after taking a photo of Al and the government official) was walk up the same alleyway where the entrance to my ancestral home was located, all the way down to it’s very end (which was only like 50 meters, so nothing extraordinary). Back here were some little shacks, some in nice condition, others not so much. While perusing this little area I spotted an orange chicken (NOT the Panda Express kind, NO) standing on a ledge. It was just existing there, waiting and watching me, and once it noticed me returning it’s gaze, it took a step towards an archway and looked forward. It continued to glance my way, cluck and take another step, as if asking me to follow. As it slowly methodically made its way towards an the arch which led to some little corner of some structure, I decided to follow it. So I hopped up onto the ledge and trailed the chicken through the arch.

Now, I sound like a lunatic when I say this, and I have received nonverbal confirmation of this, but this chicken led me to this little alcove of an abandoned and crumbling structure, with the most beautifully water- and algae-stained walls. On them were large splotches of dirt and vibrant green microorganisms. The bases of the walls were a darkened, soil brownish-black which provided an excellent contrast to the whitish-grey concrete wall. The walls themselves had minuscule cracks and fractures and on one was a yellow and white electrical outlet, with several severed wires dangling from the apparatus. I was really struck by this bitty alcove and really it doesn’t seem that spectacular when you think about it. But I guess I’ve developed a few characteristics of a hopeless romantic over the past year, so cut me a little slack people. It was a really beautiful space. Just take my word for it. Or look at the photographs I shot of it below.

After parting ways with the chicken and the alcove, I found myself face-to-face with exactly the one person in the village I didn’t want to see: an old woman who supposedly weeds around my ancestral home, hates Mr. Lem, and was exceptionally bitter overall my last visit. I had hopped down from the ledge and looked to my right when she spotted me. She was perched on the ledge picking at some weeds and as soon as she laid eyes on me, she beckoned me over. I slowly and hesitantly walked over to stand before where she crouches, when she began blabbing away at me. Of course, I have no fucking idea exactly what she’s saying, but I intuitively knew what she was ranting about (which I had been told a bit about during my first visit): Mr. Lem, me, weeding, and money. After about ten minutes of my only responses to her jabbering being smiles and nods, she stood from her perch and had me follow her to her home, which was the house directly behind my ancestral home. As she disappeared into her home, I panicked a bit and yelled, “HEY AL!! CAN YOU COME OVER

(1) The Al & I ↑↑ (2) The Al & I & a Dog

HERE??!” He sauntered over from somewhere just as she reemerged, scrawling some characters on the back of an old tear-off calendar. She saw Al and began agitatedly mumbling again and motioned for us to follow her inside her home. She showed us into her altar room all the while talking at Al. She’d motion at him, at me, at herself, and in the direction of my family’s home, and even though I can’t understand a single word of what she said, I still knew precisely what she was angry about, and Al confirmed, though with more detail than what I could have inferred. The old woman apparently was asked by Mr. Lem to maintain the exterior of the house by uprooting little weeds that pop up every now and then. The woman claimed that she received no compensation for her weeding from Mr. Lem and that she disliked him very much. From myself and Al (as she believed Al was my grandfather) she demanded three red envelopes of money: one for each time of the year that she weeds. Al told her no, we promptly left her house and her dog followed us.

After that, I decided to go explore deeper into the village and pointed to Al the direction I’d be heading. He told me to be wary of some wild dogs over that direction as he had just been over that way and had seen some nasty specimens of rabidness. Because I’m a naïve piece of crap, and felt brave when

accompanied by the old woman’s dog, despite his warning, I trundled over in the “danger” direction. You would think I’d have been much more discretionary and cautious given my past history with dogs, but I threw that rationality out the window. As soon as my dog companion and I made our way to that side of the village, we were promptly bombarded by two wild dogs. I had hoped the old woman’s dog would have stood its ground against them, but he just scampered off back the way we came. Abandoned, I eventually edged my way around the dogs and tiptoed back to safety, but I was scared shitless.

Arriving in the safe zone, I made my way back towards my ancestral home, the car and Al. I popped out of the alleyway, and whipped my head around in all directions in attempt to spot Al, yet instead of our fearless leader, I instead spotted a kitten perched inside a barred window of the house next to mine. Because I love cats and hadn’t had a chance to interact with any that far in the trip, I padded over to the window to take a closer look. It was an adorable little thing, but clearly looked malnourished and miserable. I placed my hand on the edge of the window sill, and slowly inched my fingers forward so that it could sniff my hand. It reproached my hand a smidge and that movement revealed the reason why it looked so unhappy. There was a clear zip-tie strapped around it’s neck, with a metal chain hooked on the loop: it was shackled to the inside of this house, and it was an abandoned house that. I heard all talking with the driver a ways away, and

Kind Chicken, Lead Me Where? ↑↑ (A kind chicken in a water-stained alcove that it led me to in my Huie [許] ancestral village)

called him over to the window. Al and I spent the next hour or so with that cat (though it was mostly me, Al just stood by shooting photos as always). I was concerned that she would be rabid, hostile and that she would bite and scratch, but the cat found me docile enough to let me pet and photograph her without flinching. After about twenty minutes, she jumped down from the window ledge and disappeared into the abandoned house. The doorway to the house was on the side directly across from my ancestral home’s entryway, and was only blocked by wooden bars bridging the space between the doorframe sides. That being said, I couldn’t enter the property to unchain her, so I spent the next fifteen minutes coaxing the cat towards the door in an effort to unhook her. While doing so, I discovered that she had a sibling, though this cat was unchained, running about and whining all the while. Eventually, my cat and her brother came over to the door, where I had been squatting for far too long, and stepped out between the two lowest wooden bars. I reached down to see if she’d let me touch her, and after a few pets, I unlatched the chain and she was free. After that, she didn’t leave my side (well actually it was more like she didn’t leave my feet; she just stayed under my legs for the next twenty minutes), but that was also because the old woman’s dog wanted to play with my cats, and they didn’t want to play with him.

After another twenty minutes or so with the cat, Al and I decided it was time to leave. I bid goodbye to my kind chicken, my rambunctious dog, my scrawny cat and her ornery sibling, and to the old woman who weeds (who at that point had given up on grabbing my cash and just accompanied us around the village). Al already in the car, I gazed around my periphery a moment longer, then I hopped in the car, and the driver turned the engine. Setting my camera on the seat beside me, I turned and looked out the back window. I waved to the old woman, waved to her dog, and waved to my cats through the glass pane. The car inched forward and gradually accelerated as the framed image of my village receded into the distance. We passed by the row of homes, past the huge pile of trash, past the village gate, past the bright yellow restaurant which marked road to the village, and wheeled onto the main road. As the distance grew greater, I turned back to face forward in my seat. And before I knew it, Sui Bo Huey was gone. ●

(1) Last Vestiges; (2) A Blazing Yellow Roadmarker of More Than Just a Drink; (3) Asymmetric Symmetry ↑↑

(Abandoned restaurant outside the road and gateway to my Huie [許] ancestral village)

[littleblackdomicile]

  THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO MASTER FOR HOME ORGANIZATION AND WHY

Happy Motivational Monday!

Perhaps many some of you had a goal in January to get the paper clutter in your life under control.  Oh yes, I do remember that goal and even wrote it down.  Where is that list, that note, my motivational sticky note?

  via Writer Ellen Ryan Messy Desk Article

  Ok, the photo about may be extreme but it gives us all a visual of what can quickly happen to paper if we don’t have a plan that we will implement every year, every month, every week, every day.

Surely I am talking about someone else.  Your home, my home, is no where near this condition.  We know where all our papers are.  Right?  This person has a problem…not me!

via a bowl full of lemons

  Ah, this is you then?  Or you are somewhere in between?  I used to have files like these above.  Well, maybe not as beautifully color coordinated and perfectly symmetrical as these, but I thought they were organized.  I did develop habits to file religiously, making sure that no loose papers were lurking, and believed I would be able to provide past documentation on every subject at a moments notice.  Until one day when I was in one country and the document was in another.  System error!  We came home from that trip and I looked at the numerous files fast becoming “furniture” in our lives and decided there had to be a better way.

# 1 – SCANNING 

Most of us are familiar with the concept behind scanning.  A process that takes any document and turns it info a fileable image we can store in the digital world.  We have evolved from taking docs to a place like Kinkos to scan and send us, to scanners in printers (works only if you can get the printer to work and that is an entirely separate subject) and now scanners on that thing that is permanently attached to the end of our arm.  Our phones.  I wish I had talked to someone about this years ago because before the apps for scanning were available, I was taking a photo of the document on my phone then emailing it to myself, cropping and filing away in safe little files on our computer.  Now with the apps, the cropping is done automatically and it’s so easy to send the docs to whatever system you prefer for storage.  The files go wherever we go, as they are accessible on whatever device we want them on and are in the “cloud” for easy access if we don’t have the devices with us.  Right.  When was the last time you went somewhere without your phone?  This is the way we live and I intend to take full advantage of these wonder apps that make our life easier. We have not owned a file cabinet in probably 10 years. Here’s the app we use, but there are many out there to choose from.  The best one for you is the one you can’t wait to use everyday!

  Learn More About The Scannable App Here

All sounds good right?  Right.  But it will take years to go thru and scan all the papers you have nesting around you.  Perhaps.  We will talk about this next, but for now what if you started today?  Start with the next piece of paper that comes into your home that you need to keep.  Have the scanner and digital system of your choice ready and scan/file that first item.  Do it for everything from now on.  In a year you will look back and not see an entire year of paper to deal with.  

So yesterday you did not have a scanning system in place….but tomorrow you will!  It’s a personal goal and liberating to see it working.

    If you are not motivated to do this simply because you want to escape the paper jungle you have created, then read this article Top Reviews About Identity Theft and start your new habit today.

#2 – SHREDDING 

This one is a little harder to sink into our psyche.  The Yang of the Ying.  After that tangible paper has been scanned and stored let’s shred it.  What!?  Don’t we need to keep paper forever.  The accountants 7 year rule has nothing on us.  We have 30+ years of paper!  How many times have you dug thru all those years of moldy, smelly, brittle records?  How many times have you moved them from one room to another, the attic, the basement the next home?  Super important documents are usually in a bank safe deposit box.  Past tax info is most likely kept safely with your CPA or should be kept digitally.  If a seasoned thief broke in and took your tax return info, would you even know it?

Ok, no more doom and gloom, but these things have happened.  What if you simply do it so that you can free up space in your home and have peace of mind that you are developing a better, safer system?

Really good shredders are no longer expensive.  Unless you get over zealous and feed it too many pages at a time, or have marathon sessions without a little cool down break, a shredder can be gratifying!  I love to hear that grinding sound of the teeth protecting our identity while reducing a large amount of clutter in our home.

via be happy.me

  Our shredder is near my desk and the trash can.  I can sit at the desk for 5 minutes a day, open the mail, scan and store the document, rip labels off junk mail, and shred it all without leaving my seat except to place the recyclable pieces in the weekly bin. Even if I need to pay a bill or correspond to something, it is never more than a few minutes.  We used to have a nice flat basket that I would place everything in to be shredded and Mr. LBD would do a weekly shred in the garage.  So you see, this can be a family affair too.  Kids who are old enough to follow the safety instructions might love to have this simple task for a few bucks.  And what a life long example you are instilling.  As a last resort, play a game with yourself and pass on starting happy hour until the shredding is done for the day.  Oh heck, do it during happy hour!  It won’t take long to develop a habit you will be so proud of.

So now to address the past years of paper that you are saving.  Grab a bag, tote, box or something that you will consider your “To Review” container.  Fill it up and go thru this, deciding whether to shred, or to scan and then shred.   What’s that saying…the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

Here’s the shredder that works for us.

    7.3 x 12.8 x 15.9 in

  This Shredder Available At Amazon Here

One last bit of info as you ponder acquiring a new shredder.  Once you feed your valuable info into the jaws of life, it will come out in one of the three types of cuts below.  If you watch crime TV you are more savvy than I was and know that the FBI and CIA pay folks to reconstruct docs that are strip cut.  Can’t imagine what that person does for fun if this is his/her day job!  Anyway, the cross cut is fine for us and easier to pick up off the floor with one finger lick when I miss the garbage bag emptying the machine.  (Note:  Do not empty your shredder in a rush, directly into the trash can….our friendly garbage collectors do not think it’s funny when you create a confetti party for them.  Neighbors are not thrilled with this either.  Let’s not talk about why I am so knowledgeable about this.)

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Strip Cut

Cross Cut

Micro Cut

TWO OTHER PAPER CULPRITS

Magazines and Newspapers

Love the newsprint ink on your fingers and the feel of a glossy page as you savor your favorite beverage?  Great…keep your recycle box nearby and let them go when you are done with them.  Are you an article clipper or saver?  Try this app….it changed how we do periodicals and offers ways to save to our hearts content…digitally!

Texture Digital Magizines

Now to be perfectly honest about some “paper” that has eluded all my efforts to scan and store.  Family photos.  30+ years of ours, the ones I kept of my mothers and the ones that we are asked about by every client downsizing.

Previously, in an earnest attempt to scan all photos in our life that were before the digital ones, I took photos out of frames and albums and separated them by kid, family, friends, trips and so forth.  They have been in Ziploc bags in one drawer for 3 years.  The photo scanner I purchased for $200 does a great job but the process to do 20 photos takes about an hour.  It did not fit in our schedule and I failed.

This afternoon, before writing this post, I downloaded the app below to see how long it took to digitize 100 photos.  Using my smartphone and the app it took fifteen minutes to scan the photos.  I checked for accuracy as I went which added some time.  (This was not necessary.)  Then I spent 5 minutes to download to the computer, create a file and place into Mac Photos.  In this same time, I created a card using some of the photos to test that I had indeed scanned these old photos.  Now all the photos are snug as a bug in the cloud, on my Mac and in files on the hard drive back up that I use everyday.  Automatically with the app, the photos are cropped and enhanced for the best quality.  I am motivated to do more photos before the day is out.  I am also excited to create photo memory books for ourselves, friends and family from all these vintage photos!  This is a system I can do and I will be happy to pass on the paper copies to the kids as they come by.  Any photos they do not want …are going you know where….can you hear the shredder now?!

  Learn More About Photomyne Here

This is a long post because it is a topic that so many have asked for.  These are the systems I personally have used (and will use for photos now) and have made all the difference in the organization of our home, while reducing so much stress.  Perhaps some of them will work for you.

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What If The Only Paper In Your Home Was The Green Kind? THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO MASTER FOR HOME ORGANIZATION AND WHY