#might have another one of these coming related to the use of cai it just depends on if I'm brave enough to post it!!

[rantz-for-st0ry]

maybe a hot take but I am so very tired of seeing ppl, especially ppl who have been roleplaying for a long time, encouraging newer roleplayers, especially roleplayers who are minors, to go on platforms like discord to find roleplays. platforms which are notorious for having p3d0philes and gr00mers and other bad ppl on them.

discord roleplay servers are, in my experience, low moderated and created by minors, targeted towards minors, meaning they are a perfect place for these bad ppl to target. what in ur right mind makes you think its a good idea to encourage minors to go on these platforms??

no, not everyone will have a bad experience with roleplaying in public discord servers- I personally have had some wonderful experiences that taught me a lot about roleplay- but many will have bad experiences and end up with trauma that scarring and irriversible.

no it is not your responsibility to keep other people's children safe, but telling minors to go on discord, in public servers, is only a good idea if you are ignorant towards the possible and likely dangers of platforms like discord.

[wasendured]

(  RAM  CHARAN  .  CIS  MAN.  HE/THEY  . THIRTY-EIGHT  )  SIR  CAI  from  the legend of king arthur  has  found  themselves  trapped  in  grimsby.  though  here  they  go  by  TRIPURANENI  DEV  NAIDU  .   they  reside  in  sumner  heights,  and  have  been  passing  time  working  as  a  LAWYER  at  CAMELOT & ASSOCIATES.  according  to  the  people  around  town,  they're  often  seen  WINING  AND  DINING  POTENTIAL  CLIENTS  AT  THE  LOCAL  HIGH-END  RESTAURANT  and  they've  also  mentioned  that  they're  just  as  -  derisive  &  tormentuous,  but  as   +  loyal  &  adept  as  ever.   +  strong  notes  of  patchouli  and  cacao,  an  olfactory  signature  signalling  their  presence,  telling  people  i’m  here,  i’m  here,  i  was  here,  won’t  you  think  of  me?  /  paperwork  stacked  high  on  mahogany  desks  topped  with  vintage  ormolu  clocks,  gold-fringed,  like  the  legacy  left  by  a  father  who  always  had  a  better  option  on  his  other  hand  —  childhood’s  painful  lament    /    battle-scars  from  a  battle  never-fought,  leading  to  a  death  that  isn’t  quite  death:  how  does  it  feel  never  knowing  how  your  story  ends?  how  does  it  feel  to  get  pulled  apart?    /    restlessness,  always  restlessness  always  seems  to  remind  people  of  them.  i  wonder  how  well  they'll  do  around  here.

. ————— dossier

tl;dr —————

former knight of the round table with an acerbic tongue and a haughty attitude, DEV is a workaholic with, paradoxically, too much time and privilege on their hands. an unabashed nepobaby, they still don't quite know what they're there for, but they participate in the daily grind all the same. day in, day out: clock in, clock out, have dinner, go to the bar, get home. life's pretty empty when you don't have your hands full from slaying (metaphorical & actual) dragons, but they won't have it any other way.

the application —————

YOU ARE NOT THE HERO OF THIS STORY.

the story starts, and you are not fated. the story ends, and you die unchosen. this is what life is like at the sidelines: you are brave, and you are courageous, and you are — above all else — loyal. your father plucks a stranger out of nowhere and consecrates him as your brother. that day, you come to learn the meaning and weight of devotion, what it means to want to die for someone, kill for someone — because one look at him, and you’re gone. you had resolved to be the best knight in the world, the stuff that songs are made of, but these are the whims of children, you come to realise. that day that arthur comes into your life, you are transformed into a planet in orbit, rotating around a sun that burns bright: he, the stuff of light and brightness; you, the space-dirt twirling ‘round. 

this is not to say: it was easy to learn your place. the day he pulled the sword out of the stone, you claimed the effort yours; but you are not a villain, not truly, nor are you a scoundrel. you give in eventually, proclaiming the truth and and letting the true king of the britons rise to his throne. in time, you become your brother’s most loyal servant, his seneschal, and one of the first in his round table. there’s a time where you might have been talked of in whispers, where they talk of you like a god: capable of inhuman feats of daring, of being something almost preternatural; but that time is past before it could even bear fruit. there are no songs sung for the chosen one’s brother. there are no songs sung for you. whenever they now talk of sir cai, they always talk of you in relation to your brother. 

yet as sir cai, you were used to questing. the curse was supposed to be but another one in the long list of long journeys you undertook for the further glory of your brother’s kingdom. you slew giants, consorted with powers beyond this earth, and it was once whispered that no wound from your sword would ever heal. what was a witch to a knight of camelot, the greatest kingdom on earth? but there is something you’ve forgotten, something important, something pivotal—

YOU ARE NOT THE HERO OF THIS STORY.

this is the story where nothing you do matters, and there are no kings nor knights nor swords in stones waiting to get pulled out. this is the story where you become a man, nothing more than a man, and it bores you. it saves you. it annihilates you, turns you inside out, and makes you question everything you ever thought about yourself. you are sir cai, the unchosen, the braggart, the scornful & the contemptuous; you are dev, the son of a father who is both ghost and memory, who raised you up and gave you everything he had because you are his first and only son. this is the same story but with certain names crossed out, not in anger or jealousy but in resignation. this is the story you’ve written at the back of your head where no one could pluck it out and lay you bare, not even wizards with all their unnatural powers, and you nourished it like you would a babe of your own blood.

this is the story where finally nothing is asked of you and you are you and you are alone. there are no grand battles here, no lines between good and evil, no beasts to slay with your sword from which no wound can be healed. this life is something messy and crumpled and incomprehensible, where it’s all just people in rooms, trying their best to be happy — and who can fault them for that? who can fault you for that?

this is the story that scares you the most, you think, because this might have been the story you were waiting for all your life.

 YOU ARE NOT THE HERO OF THIS STORY.

[rogerpettingellrealestateagent]

Your Search For Luxury Waterfront is Over

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Luxury waterfront living offers a unique blend of natural beauty, exclusivity, and a lifestyle that's second to none. Imagine sipping your morning coffee on a private deck as you watch the sunrise over the water. Picture hosting lavish gatherings with friends and family while enjoying breathtaking sunsets. Waterfront properties provide unparalleled views and access to nature, creating a sense of serenity that's hard to replicate.

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Investing in Waterfront Real Estate

Investing in luxury waterfront real estate can be a lucrative venture. The scarcity of waterfront properties, coupled with their high demand, often leads to appreciating values over time. Here are some tips for those considering an investment in waterfront real estate:

Location is Key: Research the location thoroughly. Consider factors like accessibility, proximity to amenities, and the potential for future development in the area.

Legal Considerations: Be aware of local regulations and permits related to waterfront properties. These can vary significantly from one place to another.

Inspect Thoroughly: Due diligence is crucial. Hire a professional inspector to assess the property's condition, especially when dealing with older waterfront homes.

Consider Insurance: Waterfront properties may be more susceptible to certain risks like flooding or storms. Investigate insurance options to protect your investment.

Lifestyle vs. Investment: Decide whether you're purchasing the property primarily for personal use or as an investment. This will influence your choices regarding location, size, and amenities.

Your search for luxury waterfront living is indeed over. With the right guidance and a clear understanding of your goals, you can find the perfect waterfront property to fulfill your dreams. Whether you seek the glamour of Miami Beach, the tranquility of the Hamptons, or the exotic allure of the French Riviera, luxury waterfront living offers an unparalleled lifestyle and investment opportunity that's truly one of a kind.

[twistedtranslations]

Cater Diamond - Full of Lies

You can unlock this story by getting Cater’s SSR Scary dress

Big thanks to Rym and Apollo for proofreading!

Translation under the cut

Chapter 1

Main street

/Notification

Cater: Oh? A message on MagiCam? Who would've thought it was that girl! How nostalgic~ The picture those ghosts took at Ramshackle dorm made our college's Halloween event trend -> Jumping onto the bandwagon and posting a lot -> Huge success for Cay's follower-catching strat! So far it's been going well but… Mixed within the comments and DMs of my new followers are a lot of old aquaintances. Even some classmates from middle and elementary school are here.

Cater: "Hey! It's been a while! Oh, would you like to come to our college? Cay welcomes every single one of you! You can always come over to hang at NRC's Halloween event!"

Cater: And now some emoji full of feelings!  (^○^)♪ (ゝω・)☆　d(’ｖ｀*)b

Cater: Everyone is really so casual and easygoing~ Well, it's easier on me, so I'm not complaining.

???: HEY!

Cater: Where did that loud and rowdy voice come from? I've got a bad feeling about this…

Front Gate

Sebek: Humans, don't crowd around the young master! Get out! Leave!

Boy A: Hey, what are you doing, sweptback bro! Don't interfere with our Draconia Challenge.

Boy B: We're putting our lives on the line to show our bravery by uploading a picture of us touching The Malleus!

Boy A: Huh, since when did Malleus disappear?! It's that sweptback bro's fault.

Boy B: Don't be so angry. After all the effort of having a sweptback, let's show the world a huge smile on that face!

Sebek: For humans of your social standing to use the name of the Lord of the esteemed Valley of Thorns in vain…Besides, my hair is swept back like this so I have an unobstructed view to find those like you who behave rudely towards my young master! You shall receive punishment for insulting the Draconia… no, for insulting the young master. My thunder shall shock you all to bits! HAAAAA...

Cater: Okay, stop! I'm part of the Halloween Committee. It's forbidden to fight. Why don't you try talking to this lad if something's up?

Sebek: Don't interrupt me, you frolicking human! I will shock you to bits as well!

Cater: Won't you create a scandal for the Draconia family if you were to harm an ordinary human with magic?

Sebek: W-Well… You're right. Besides, didn't you just say you were part of the Halloween committee? Both the young master and master Lilia are both performing the same duties… They ordered me to listen to the orders of the other committee members. Ok, I shall talk this out.

Cater: Even though you are crossing your arms and puffing your chest out, you are being apologetic right? Anyway, these are our college's precious guests. They have no intention to harm Malleus.

Sebek: These magic-less weaklings were making a spectacle bothering Young Master with a toy. I cannot forgive that!

Cater: Malleus is like super famous, and he's an admirable being, right? So just for this festival, it should be fine to interact with our guests as a little fanservice right?

Sebek: Stop messing around. The young master is a dreadful being who makes everyone kneel and bow down to him. AND THAT'S WHY I WILL NEVER LEAVE HIS SIDE AND PROTECT HIM ALL MY LIFE!

Cater: You're just obsessed!

Boy A: Hey, interfering our Draconia Challenge aside, what are you two squabbling about?

Sebek: Hm? You humans are still here? I told you to leave.

Boy B: Huh? You've got some nerve, talking rudely to us like that!

Cater: Come on guys. Why don't we take some pictures together since it's finally Halloween! We, Heartslabyul are those who rise from the soil in the darkness, the underlings of the night~

Boy A: Wow! Now that you mention it, you do look real good for the camera!

Cater: Cheer up everyone and gather! Let's decide on a pose~~~ Happy Halloween~

¨*shutter noise*

Cater: (Ugh… This is exhausting)

Chapter 2

Classroom

Kalim/Cater/Lilia: *Sigh*… I'm tired….

Cater: This year's Halloween was exhausting. Mainly due to our guests being rowdy..

Kalim: It was fun entertaining the guests, but I was really troubled because Jamil got in a foul mood.

Lilia: Even we, three most gentle boys, have been worn down. The other students must be at the limits of their patience.

Everyone: *Sigh*…

Cater: Now that you say it, by chance all the members of the light music club are also part of the Halloween Committee. Let's have our usual relaxing tea time while also discussing some countermeasures.

Kalim/Lilia: Agreed~

Cater: I got this! Trey's home-made pumpkin pie! It's moderately sweet, so it's my favorite!

Kalim: I have kunafa. It's a cheesecake from the Scalding Sands. It's delicious when it's hot!

Lilia: Oho, these are all sweets befitting of Halloween. As the last one, I have prepared this. Licorice!

Cater: You're always bringing the same thing! You know me and Kalim don't like that.

Kalim: The smell makes my nose shrivel up~

Cater: But you know, since it's black, it does feel like Halloween. Oh, right, let's take a picture together. It's super charming to be in costume and have themed food.

*shutter noise*

Cater: #TheBestHalloween #SelfmadeCostume #HomemadeTreat #LightMusicClub #NRCHalloween

Kalim: The best? Didn't you say you were exhausted earlier, Cater?

Cater: I never said it wasn't exciting and for things like SNS, isn't it better to exaggerate a bit?

Lilia: As expected of you. We live in a period where everyone is connected all around the world. It is most wonderful to spread happiness instead of complaints.

Cater: Oh. The picture I just uploaded got an amazing response! 

*notification*

Cater: Another message from that girl. Was she the kind to keep track of people's activities?

*ringing noise*

Cater: This time it's a call. (How persistent…)

Kalim: Cater, is it from one of your friends? You can pick up if you want.

Cater: Hm~… More like an acquaintance from the past? But it's alright? We're at a very important meeting, after all.

Lilia: We are only eating sweets, taking pictures and uploading them to MagiCam though…

Cater: It's the age of social media where everyone can keep in contact at their own pace, you don't have to go through the pains of having to response in real time to a phone call.

Kalim: Do you have that many people who want to get in touch with you? You're so well connected Cater~

Cater: Well, if you look the amount of aquaintances I have, that might be true? My dad's a banker. The bank he works at has branches all over the world. Therefore, whenever he transferred to a different branch, our entire family would move with him. We moved once every two years, so I kind of feel like a pro at quickly packing things?

Lilia: Commonly said, you are a family who moved a lot for the sake of the breadwinner.

Kalim: So the reason why you have so many friends is because you have travelled around the world since young.

Cater: Yeah, the girl just now said we are friends as well. Having to change schools frequently, I got to meet more people compared to someone staying at one place. From the best to the worst… a lot of people. However, they all had something in common.

Kalim/Lilia: …?

Cater: If I left there, they remained there. That's why I'd rather have a casual and happy time with everyone than to deepen a friendship. It’s like a circus troupe, you know, having fun hanging with people all over the world and then leaving. That's why MagiCam is the best! People from my school from three years ago contacted me out of the blue. My social circle is expanding as well. Cay is getting popular!

Kalim: Even if they're far away, you don't have to hold back you know? I got it! I'll lend you my magic carpet, so you can visit your friends whenever you want.

Cater:… I expected no less of you, Kalim. I'll take you up on that offer next time.

Lilia: I feel like I understand you.

Cater: Hm?

Lilia: The relations between humans are eternal. They are things that cannot be severed. In a new place with no trace of your existence, new relations will continue to be forged. That in itself is nature. However, I think the more precious a relation is, the more lonely it becomes. Why does it feel that way? I have lived a long life but the reason is still unknown to me. But just as Cater said, there may be a perfectly logical explanation for not getting too attached to one person in particular.

Cater: Lilia, what got into you suddenly? What I wanted to say was-

*ringing noise*

Lilia: Hello, this is Lilia speaking? What business do you have?

Cater: He just casually picked up the phone during our conversation.

Lilia: Oh, Sebek. What is it? You are so loud. Right now, I am in a meeting with Cater and Kalim. WHAT?! MALLEUS?!

Kalim/Cater: ?!

Chapter 3

Hall of Mirrors

Silver: Stop pushing. It's forbidden to enter the Hall of Mirrors.

Man A: Huh, really! I came all the way to the Isle of Sages to see Malleus Draconia.

Man B: We are doing the Draconia challenge now! Why can't we enter~

Girl C: He’s inside right! An actual Draconia, the Actual Malleus!

Everyone: MALLEUS! MALLEUS! MALLEUS!

*Lightning and thunder*

Silver: It's a rare event that Master Malleus is participating in. He also agreed to interact with the guests... For it to come to this... Everyone, it’s better if you leave. You have angered master Malleus.

Man A: I paid a lot of travel expenses, did you know that? This is the price of fame.

Everyone: MALLEUS! MALLEUS! MALLEUS!

Exterior Hallway

Cater: Did the visitors who wanted that  MagiCam glory end up angering even Malleus himself?

Sebek: Yes. At first he was gentle and calmed me down when I got angry… but a fool grabbed Malleus by the horns and made fun of him by saying "Look! It's a bicycle from the olden days!"

Lilia/Cater: Gh!

Cater: I don't know if they're brave or just reckless. Were the dark clouds and thunder rampaging in the sky above the Hall of Mirrors due to Malleus' anger? You don't think he overblotted, right…?!

Lilia: Do not worry. Using that amount of magic power shall not make him overblot. He is simply irritated. Back when he was young, mountains would be destroyed by his lightning whenever he threw a tantrum.

Cater: Hahaha… that's on a totally different level. I guess it was a good idea to have Kalim fetch the professors.

Sebek: Upperclassman Vil noticed something was up and isolated the young master. He also casted a defensive spell so the tourists wouldn't be harmed. And it seemed that Upperclassman Jade is persuading the angry young master with some unique methods... Even so, those humans who can't seem to understand the gravity of the situation keep stirring up the young master, they're uncontrollable.

Lilia: This means we must use our last resort. We must put in effort to suppress the onlookers and avoid the worst situation.

Cater: Wait a second, Lilia. I thought of something. It's not like people there dislike Malleus or anything. Despite that, it doesn't mean that they like Malleus as well... They're just interested in trends. Just like my old acquaintances.

Lilia: ?

Cater: First, I'll take a picture of Lilia, who's wearing the same clothes as Malleus!

*shutter noise*

Cater: Next we use something catered to influencers. We'll elongate Lilia's picture with a photo editing app!

*swiping on phone*

Cater: Now we just add some text to finish it up. And then upload a cropped version to MagiCam!!

*Phone SFX*

Cater: #AWildMalleusAppeared #DraconiaChallenge #UnexpectedlyAtSportsGround #NRCHalloween

*Phone SFX*

Hall of Mirrors

Man A: H-Hey. Look at the Draconia challenge tag.

Man B: It seems he's at the Sports Ground now. As expected of Malleus. He's much faster than we are!

Girl C: Okay. Everyone, let's move!

Everyone: YEAH!

Silver: What happened? Master Malleus should still be in the Hall of Mirrors.

Cater: Fu. With this, I hope the storm has passed…?

Vil: Good grief. Accidents are an unavoidable part of stage plays. Letting yourself get influenced by the guests is so amateurish. My work here is done. I will return to the dorm to straighten up my appearance.

Jade: My, that was a close call. Malleus is extremely powerful. I persuaded him to the best of my abilites, trying to get him to understand. But there was no one to turn to if it had failed. Well then, I will also return to my station. I wish everyone a wonderful Halloween.

Malleus: I caused many disturbances between different racial groups during a mere school event. I should restrain myself more…

Sebek: The young master has done nothing wrong! It was the fault of those inferior humans!

Silver: The young master told us to avoid hostility between fae and humans. Why are you getting more hostile?

Sebek: WHAT DID YOU SAY SILVER!

Lilia: Malleus. Did you forget our promise from long ago? Call for us when the tranquility in your mind is disturbed.  Even if we are not related by blood, we are still a family. Got it?

Malleus: Lilia… My apologies. To everyone.

Everyone: …

Cater: ….Family…huh.

Flashback

Lilia: But just as Cater said, there may be a perfectly logical explanation for not getting too attached to one person in particular.

Flashback ends

Cater: (That was full of lies. For a guy who grew up and lived in the same place, he never had to deal with rebuilding relations over and over…He would never understand my worthless and meaningless feelings.)

*ringing*

Cater: Hello, Trey. What's up? Huh? Are we doing our rehearsal for our night show at the stamp rally now? And Deuce, who is also part of the Halloween Committee, was at his wit's end due to the lack of manpower. So Ace is helping him out? Darn, Ace is definitely going to extort me for a favor later!

Cater: Argh! And is Riddle on the verge of a rampage? I'll be back soon, Trey. Please calm him down! I am currently at the site of the biggest crisis yet of this Halloween Week! No, for real! I'm not lying. That's why you don't have to be so cold to me, 'kay? URGH, TREY, YOU'RE SO CRUEL!

Cater: Now that Diasomnia's turmoil has settled, let's change the mood and continue on with work. In any case, we’ll still separate after the fourth year… It would be different if I repeated a year though. Anyway, I should just enjoy the moment to my heart's content! I'll surprise everyone with this charming skeleton costume! I'll show them what I'm capable of!

Cater: Happy Halloween!

[kolachess]

DMBJ Names and Honorifics Explained - Don’t trust the subs!

I’ve no idea if someone has already made such a post, but I really like explaining Chinese as it’s also good practice for me, so here we go.

If you are a non-Chinese speaker, you might have noticed inconsistencies in subs when referring to all the different characters. And / or that the names don’t seem to match up to the sound of the name. 

So here’s a little cultural and character guide to understanding DMBJ names.

Why are there so many names, nicknames, and honorifics for one person in a Chinese drama? To chalk this all up to nicknames is... grossly over-simplifying things. The thing with names / honorifics is very rooted in Chinese culture itself. Chinese culture is one heavily indexed on relations and hierarchy, so depending on your place in the ‘hierarchy’, whether it’s society or family, you will refer to each other as different things. As an example to illustrate complexity, where in English, ‘uncle’ refers to all male siblings of either of your parents, in Chinese, your father’s younger brother is addressed differently from your father’s older brother and also different from your mother’s brother. 

Chinese names and translation to English - Space? No space? Hyphens? Last name first?

So Chinese is a pictographic language. Each ‘character’ is one word, and one syllable exactly. Hence, you don’t need spaces or hyphens or anything in Chinese. Spaces and hyphens when romanized are purely for English speakers’ convenience. 

For example, in Chinese, the names would be written as wuxie, wusanxing, wangpangzi, etc. (And no such thing as capitalization either.) As a general rule of thumb, because for documentation purposes, the surname is separated out, Chinese people generally end up writing the given name all smushed together even if they are 2 words.

And yes, the surname always goes first. Other way is just... weird. Never happens.

Can you space out two words of a given name? Sure I suppose. Probably less seen.

As for hyphens with honorifics... sure? I’m not sure if smush together or hyphen is more official actually... 

What are Chinese names? How do people pick a name?

Unlike English names, Chinese people compose their names. Which means... you can have anything from names that have literary eloquence and deeper meaning，like ‘Wu Xie’, where ‘Wu’ is homonymous with ‘Without’ and ‘Xie’ means ‘Evil’, so Wu Xie’s name carries the meaning of ‘no evil’...

...to names that have little to no deep meaning and sometimes downright stupid sounding, like ‘Wang Pangzi’ which does indeed translate to Wang Fatty lol.

That’s why if you ask Chinese people to provide common Chinese names, they’ll stare at you blankly. Of course, that’s not to say there aren’t some popular names, given people sometimes name themselves after famous people and there are plenty of generic ones as well.

But this is also why, when meeting for the first time, you might hear a lot of people explaining how their name is written (i.e. with which word), because there are a looooot of homonymous words and it’s impossible to tell how write someone’s name without them ‘spelling it out’.

How do Chinese people call each other by name?

Most Chinese names (surname + given name) will form 2-3 syllables (very rarely there will be 4). 

General rule of thumb:

- Using someone’s full name is always generally acceptable (not to be confused with addressing them... that’s a whole different game).

- You never refer to someone with one syllable. Which means if their given name is only one syllable, you pretty much always say both surname + given name together (Hence why Wu Xie is always Wu Xie and never ‘Xie’). If their given name is two syllables, you might call them by given name only if you’re familiar. 

Of course, there are tons of ways to give people nicknames (more explanation below), so you might end up only using one syllable of someone’s name, but in conjunction with another prefix / suffix of sorts.

So yes, the subs say ‘Zhang’ for Zhang Qiling but that’s BS no one has ever referred to him as simply ‘Zhang’. And for that matter, no one ever refers to him as simply Qiling either, though that’s more out of habit than any rules of names. And finally, they rarely refer to him as Zhang Qiling at all... more explanation below.

Basic ‘prefix’ / ‘suffix’ / ‘honorific’ introductions relevant for DMBJ

These aren’t really prefixes and suffixes and honorifics. They’re simply words. But for sake of simplicity, let’s just treat them as that.

-ye (sounds like ‘yeah’) = ‘Grandpa’ of the generic ‘old man’ sense, but also ‘master’ or ‘lord’ to indicate status / respect. 

Example usage: Wu Sanxing (Wu Xie’s third uncle) - People like Pan Zi call him Sanye, which means ‘Third Master’. 

It can also be casually used by someone to refer to themselves in third person and indicate their ‘prowess’. Again, due to Chinese cultural relations, there’s a lot of emphasis on hierarchy, so people often humorously refer to themselves in third person with a title of more seniority (’this ancestor’ or ‘this old miss’). 

Example usage: Pangzi always referring to himself as Pangye. ‘Make way, Pangye is coming in clutch with the bombs!’.

-shu (sounds more like ‘soo’) = ‘Uncle’. This can be an uncle related, or not. 

Example usage: Wu Sanxing (Wu Xie’s third uncle). Wu Xie and his peers will generally call him Sanshu, because they’re of the same generation and need to call Sanshu with some level of respect. Of course, Sanye is also respectful, so certainly Pangzi can call him Sanye. But Pangzi calling him Wu Sanxing would be disrespectful. (Zhang Qiling on the other hand, technically can call him whatever since he’s the oldest haha).

-ayi (sounds like ‘ah-yee’) = ‘Aunt’. Similar as uncle. 

Example usage: Chen Wenjing (in Ultimate Note, Sanshu’s former girlfriend). You’ll notice Wu Xie addressed her as Wenjing-ayi. Of course, since she was a bit less familiar with them, and wasn’t always around, he and others will refer to her as simply Chen Wenjing... it’s complicated. The nuances of when it’s ok to leave off the suffix is an art form lol.

-ge (sounds like ‘guh’) = ‘older brother’. Can also be related or not. Can be used alone, or doubled up (which tends to be cuter).

Example usage: Huo Xiuxiu refers to Wu Xie as ‘Wu Xie-gege’ and Xie Yuchen as ‘Xiao Hua-gege’. Pangzi told Yun Cai (the girl he crushed on) to call him ‘Pangge’. And yes! This is the ‘ge’ in Xiaoge. More explanation below.

Xiao (sounds like ‘shall’) = ‘Small’ or ‘Little’. This is often used in creating a nickname and used first before a name.

Example usage: Wu Xie’s second uncle will refer to him as ‘Xiao Xie’. Wu Xie refers to Xie Yuchen as ‘Xiao Hua’, which translates to ‘Little Flower’ and is a nickname based off his stage name, Jie Yuhua. And yes! This is the ‘xiao’ in Xiaoge. More explanation below (because translating it as ‘little older brother’ makes no sense I know).

Lao (sounds like ‘lao’ lol) = ‘Old’. Similar usage as ‘xiao’.

Example usage: I think I remember Granny Huo perhaps referring to Wu Laogou (Wu Xie’s grandfather) as ‘Lao Wu’?  But also, yes, his actual name has that word too.

Numbers - Numbers are very commonly used in nicknames.

Er (sounds like ‘are’) = Two / Second.

San (sounds like ‘san’ lol idk) = Three / Third.

Hence why Wu Xie refers to his uncles as ‘Sanshu’ and ‘Ershu’. (And yes, their names themselves also conveniently carry the numbers...)

You’ll never say ‘one’ though. Instead, ‘da’ or big / large is used.

Names of the characters

Wow so only after all that can we begin to explain the many names... Let’s begin.

Wu Xie - Wu Xie is actually the most straightforward thank god. Most people will call him this, Zhang Qiling included.

AKA Tianzhen or even Xiao Tianzhen - This is nickname provided Pangzi gave him meaning ‘naive’ or ‘innocent’, and what Pangzi calls him most if not all the time. There’s a phrase in Chinese too called ‘tianzhenwuxie’ to mean innocent, carefree, and pure. The ‘wu’ there is a different but homonymous word with Wu Xie’s ‘Wu’, but the meaning and reference is clear (Chinese has looooots of homonyms and puns). This is also why that phrase ‘My lifetime, in exchange for you a decade of innocence and purity.’ from Zhang Qiling to Wu Xie is so heart-wrenching, because those last four Chinese words are ‘tianzhenwuxie’, a poetic play on his two names. 😭 

AKA Xiao Xie - Called by his second uncle, Wu Erbai

AKA Da Zhizi - Called by his third uncle, meaning ‘big nephew’. ‘Da’ here just means the oldest really. Wu Xie is Wu Sanxing’s oldest (but also only) nephew. And ‘nephew’ here too specifically refers to the son of your brother.

AKA Xiao Sanye - Called by Pan Zi, Bai Haotian (from Lost Tomb Reboot). Sanye here is in reference to how he dogs his third uncle’s footsteps all the time. And he’s the younger version so... there.

AKA Laoban or Wu-laoban - Called by Wang Meng, business partners because laoban means ‘boss’.

Zhang Qiling - Whew OK honestly, I don’t think of him as ‘Zhang Qiling’ much at all, because very rarely do any of the other characters refer to him as Zhang Qiling. Most of the time it’s...

AKA Xiaoge - This is what Wu Xie and Pangzi refer to him a lot as. Xiaoge literally translates to ‘little big brother’, but that meaning is weird in English. So don’t think of it that way. Xiaoge is just a generic term for a young guy. Like... ‘lad’? Lol. But he’s all mysterious and stuff so the generic term just stuck. This is also why in Tomb of the Sea, someone referred to Li Cu as ‘xiaoge’, because he was indeed a xiaoge. But in Wu Xie’s heart, there’s only one Xiaoge. ❤️

AKA Menyouping - The name of this ship! Pingxie! This is what Wu Xie referred to him mostly as in his first POV novel. It means ‘stuffy oil bottle’ and communicates the sentiment of ‘poker face’ or just someone with no expressions.

Note on Zhang Qiling: This name is actually a title rather than a name. Qiling is the title given to the Zhang patriarch responsible for handling the spirits of their ancestors... eh it’s complicated and warrants its own post if you want to know more.

Note on ‘Kylin’: I know this is what the official translations had it, but like... wtf. What, no. Like, idk what happened here, but this is a terrible mistranslation. ‘Kylin’ or ‘Qilin’ is the name of the mystical beast of which Zhang Qiling has a tattoo of, but it is two entirely different words from the ‘Qiling’. Don’t let the similarity in English spelling fool you. Completely different words. Some translator thought Kylin might market better probably. But... no. It’s just wrong. I have to do a double-take when I see people writing ‘Kylin’. Come on translators, have more faith in your English speaking audience. Fans can adapt! Don’t butcher the name for sake of marketability!

Wang Pangzi - Yes, ‘Fatty’ is the accurate translation haha. Most people refer to him as Pangzi, including Wu Xie and Zhang Qiling.

AKA Pangye - Referred to by Pangzi himself, but also sometimes people who are trying to suck up to Pangzi.

AKA Pangge - Referred to by his love interests.

Wu Sanxing - Wu Xie’s third uncle. See, I don’t even know what to call him by default because I’m not sure what the subs tend to say. 

AKA Sanshu - Wu Xie and his friends will call him this.

AKA Sanye - Pan Zi and other people in the industry will call him this.

Hei Yanjing - Again, I’ve no idea which name to use as his primary. Translates literally to ‘sunglasses’. Not technically ‘black sunglasses because that’s redundant’. See, even the spacing between his name here is unnecessary because this isn’t his official name, only a nickname. I don’t think we have his real name. But this version is generally called by most others I think?

AKA Hei Xiazi - This means ‘black blind person’, and is what Xiaoge refers to him as... and some others.

AKA Heiye - Just a more respectful reference. Called by Xie Yuchen.

Xie Yuchen - Called by Xiaoge and others less familiar.

Jie Yuhua - His stage name.

Xiao Hua - Called by Wu Xie, as it’s a nickname built off of his stage name.

Huaye - Called by Hei Yanjing and Pangzi, but more so out of humorous flattery than anything. 

.

.

Whew that was a lot. Just be glad this isn’t MDZS where people had courtesy names on top of all these names... I think I’ll stop there, but feel free to shoot me any questions about other characters!

[scoundrels-in-love]

Almost 300 years a week later, here are some of my thoughts on Dan Ah and her actions through ep 11 and 12. I will try not to repeat too much of the points I made here, or elsewhere in my rambles, but if it happens, it happens. + I won’t operate on mindset that you’ve read it.

First, I think her saying ‘apologies are meaningless, I can’t take back things I said, only make up for it’ is incredibly telling of her as person and the kind of environment she grew up in - the high society and family where apologies are dished out hollowly and never followed through with intention of changing something for the better or your behavior. Time and how you spend it is very important to her. She even says as much in her confession and I think it only outlines how much her time is the one thing she tries to have control of, and exert it (over herself as well). Considering the concept of possibly terminal illness that she suffers from, it makes sense. She doesn’t have time to be patient, no one will wait for her, including her own health. Yeong Hwa is the one immovable object that forces her to slow down and readjust her whole approach to life and it’s been... Not comfortable, necessarily, but it’s been functional, so she struggles to redefine it, especially without real example.

Second, there’s lot of parallels to be drawn between her and Mi Joo. And I ended up writing this all backwards, so I am not sure if I’ll manage to include it, but in some ways, Mi Joo’s line about ‘I value myself more than anyone else’ both in the sense that she’s the most important to herself and that no one else values her truly highly is very reminiscent of Dan Ah’s attitude and the way she admitted she isn’t in control of her life entirely o Mi Joo.

And there’s. of course, that moment when Mi Joo responded sarcastically to Seun Gyeom, later to apologize for it, which he took in a stride (much as he had said that he had never felt Dan Ah walked over him unjustly), because he does understand where they come from and how they work, on a certain level (even if he underestimated just how his father would strike and manage to hurt Mi Joo). I think Dan Ah isn’t at place where she cay say that yet, but I do believe sentiment is within her.

If someone asked what motivates Dan Ah, her answer could be similar to Mi Joo’s - fear and obsession, rather than Seun Gyeom’s regret. Fear of being controlled, of being weak and sick, obsession of having and exerting certain power and keeping yourself safe. Now, this point altogether is purely speculation on my part, of course, but that’s my read on the character, but also her anxiety has been mentioned several times and anxiety is basically that - fear, especially of things going wrong/being out of control, if we wish to trivialize it.

And although Dan Ah merely adds that whatever she had, got taken away from her, she basically used same method as Mi Joo - set her goals and opted for the best ‘fake’ that she could get, in this case her company, rather than being football player or the gallery. Both, in the same way, would rather put up walls to not lose what little they have but the men in their lives just... Bypassed them.

It’s interesting to note that similarly as Mi Joo is currently trying to sort ouf what is real and to go for, instead of relying on having a ‘fake’, so does Dan Ah - it’s likely she is planning to expose the illegitimate status of both her brothers to gain what is technically rightfully hers (hence asking her younger brother to side with her even when it will not be comfortable for him).

Third, I think the way she’s seeking out Mi Joo and her opinion is very interesting. And it does loop back to Yeong Hwa as well!

From the very start, we see that Dan Ah actually cares to listen to other people to an extent (she asks her secretary what she did wrong to upset Seun Gyeom, even if she ends the conversation how much simpler it’d be if all of us thought were similar, which is strongly undermined by all of her interactions with Mi Joo and even Yeong Hwa essentially). She is interested in experiencing being opposed and challenged in a way that is not downright demeaning as she does in her family. She finds their view on world interesting, if somewhat incomprehensible, and listens to it, processes it inwardly, even if her initial reaction might be defensive. (Also, it shows from start she’s willing to admit she doesn’t have all answers, same as she does with Yeong Hwa telling him that she doesn’t know what answer he wants - as she would need to know in business deal which is what most of her world consists of.)

But in some ways, I also think she is interested in what Seun Gyeom and Mi Joo have created and how. She basically instantly could tell Seun Gyeom is interested in Mi Joo which is implied as rare occurrence (or perhaps even the only time since she says she’s the last woman he liked and he debunks the theory), she asks several times what Mi Joo sees in Seun Gyeom that makes her so protective of him (which I think is both a way to see how deeply Mi Joo cares for him and to see more of Seun Gyeom). But also in some way, although it is her own act to let Seun Gyeom, she “loses” him to his own path and Mi Joo both. Because I do think she cares for him as a friend, perhaps only one she has.

Although she puts Seun Gyeom’s picture by the trash, it’s actually not taken out for several days and it’s definitely not because the secretary or the cleaner are neglecting their duties. Rather, same way as he didn’t throw away the honey but handed it back to Yeong Hwa, the secretary is aware she’s not really emotionally throwing him away. Because once she likes something, she never really stops, as per her own admission.

So there’s this certain feeling of loss that she can’t quite admit to herself and want to know both what Mi Joo saw and supported in Seun Gyeom and how and a yearning for something similar, because this is basically the first friendship/not work based relationship of the kind that she sees. (The same way she marvels is this how full-blood siblings are supposed to be when Eun Bi is upset about Seun Gyeom’s picture and how she defends her brother and then, Dan Ah actually ‘tattles’ on her so he can protect her, which can be covered up with excuse it was over the schedule, but was it really?)

In fact, she seems to be somewhat envious of relationship her brother has with her secretary, saying he still cares for her brother more and also the way she wanted to be included in the whole cat talk. She is upset when he doesn’t say he’s her person, but employed by the company, she protects him the way she knows how to (regarding revenge kick) and generally cares for him. She just wants someone truly and personally on her side, even though she probably has a hard time admitting it to herself which results in these odd and halfway there and nowhere attempts, especially paired with  the fact she doesn’t really know how to establish not-work-related connection on a deeper level.

I will add point fourth here, although it’s still technically third. It’s safer, far more practical and logical to stay detached. But the heart wants what it wants and it’s friendship, connection, being liked for who she is and being challenged but not seen as lesser, with someone who won’t smile because she’s his boss, although that sort of control is precious and hard fought to be had in part of her life.

Caring for something or someone is relinquishing this control, basically inviting the same result Seun Gyeom got taste of at ep of 12, the result she already experienced with her dreams of being football player crushed. Except if it involves another person, it increases the chances of being hurt by them exponentially. And it’s also worth considering that if her relationship with mother was close, she’s also already experienced abandonment and grief of losing someone dear and close. (Which, of the leads, only Mi Joo knows and even then it’s more the absence of reflection what other people around her have which hurts, but in a different way, as per my experience.)

Concept of Mi Joo’s friendship, and Yeong Hwa as a whole, become very images of these unsaid wish fulfillment because they’re not trying to be.

They’re themselves, argumentative and challenging, and teasing, despite her being ‘above them’ in power hierarchy, leveling the field by merely ignoring it, and, initially, she doesn’t even try to get Yeong Hwa sign a contract, it’s only when her own yearning for his work (and for him), and him denying her any of it becomes a problem that she ‘admits’ it was her own fault for not drawing the sort of lines she’s used to with everyone else, and even then she’s not really thrilled about him agreeing to it, because it’s not really what she wants from him, although it’s what would be the safest and make the most actual sense within her world.

Even then, as her employee, he refuses to follow her orders and tells her plainly - if she wants something, she is to be vulnerable and invest herself into it (she actually tries, by smiling because he had said it was cute) and she has to admit to herself and to him, that he has grown onto her, not as a ‘vending machine’ or ‘employee’, but person whose opinion and feelings toward her are very important to her.

Also, it’s very telling how she tells him she belongs to herself, of course, and that he, too, can still belong to himself. She wants him as individual separate from herself, but the thought that he is firmly on her side obviously makes her very happy. In some ways, it’s also upgrade from ‘my person’ claim she makes toward her secretary, a learning curve.

Fifth, I suppose. While I rewatched some scenes to make sure I wasn’t actually misremembering, I started to think of another motif that repeats through her conversations.

Dan Ah repeatedly tells him not to have expectations, sentiments, disappointments toward her. From one side, it’s to draw a clear line of employee/employer and view each other in a detached way (that she tries again and again herself, but fails to), but from other, is it that simple?

She is almost crying when she asks him if he’s really stopped liking her and from preview, we learn that no one has asked her out before, seemingly? Probably because she was too much of a boss ass bitch, but still possibly left with a certain sense of inadequacy and that ‘when I am being apologetically me and I will always be that, I am not likeable although I do not entirely understand why’, as per her wondering why people always think she’s mean when by most of her society’s standards, she is rather thoughtful.

Her want of gallery has been brought up several times, her older half brother often says her pick of artist will never be good enough, her father still sees her as a tool to marry off. She as person with her goals and dreams and what she has achieved, just isn’t good enough for people around her at large.

The moment he cares for her, the moment she inherently becomes capable of disappointing him. The moment she cares for him, the moment she becomes capable of disappointing him. And that thought, of doing that and not enough to Yeong Hwa who has sneakily smiled his way into her heart, the growing awareness she truly doesn’t know how to be in some aspects, is overwhelming and painful and she tries to shut the door to it.

Also, he tells her he likes her no matter what he does, but he hates it, which I imagine is double the punch and she tries to find a solution that would make him happy and stop hating it - the perfect answer, as she would in a business deal, but she can’t, until she commits to the truly mortifying ordeal of being known (as suggested by Mi Joo).

Sixth, I really liked that she (or the narrative) didn’t make fun of Yeong Hwa crying. In fact, she’s eyerolled about her younger brother’s temper, but not really in the present made fun of him for apparently being a ‘crybaby’ in the past. I think that in a sense shows her actual streak of empathy and maybe the fact that she’s familiar with need to cry herself and doesn’t find it ‘weak’ as most ‘tougher’ characters would. Also perhaps that she cares for her younger brother more than she has admitted to herself, similarly as she kept denying she cared for Yeong Hwa and went rather far to hurt him.

[puppy-phum]

For the "opinions on a character" game: Pangzi!

oh damn i never expected to get my aries pal pangzi for this but!! i am so happy i did ;; finally i get to think about him a bit more!! i always feel like there’s no space for that when pingxie are just so intense (also fyi this is my second time writing this damn answer bc tumblr threw me off the page just as i was finishing this the first time and i am so pissed gaaahh am sorry)

give me a character

(placing under a cut! bc apparently i have much to say about him after all)

How I feel about this character

Pangzi always gives me some conflicted feelings. There is so much good in him and I adore him for many of his qualities. He’s caring, confident, funny, strong, unapologetically emotional and affectionate with the people he loves. He’s also such a dad and I love that for him. I want to go outside and travel with him and drink something and eat his cooking and joke with him and sing karaoke very badly and then fall asleep on an old couch happy and safe. I want to see him at his shop, selling stuff and rambling about antiques. I want to hang out with him. Learn stuff from him. Maybe practice some pyromania. You know, the usual Pangzi stuff.

But then all the bad stuff comes in and… I think I’m going to talk about this later but let me just say that Pangzi has been the hardest one to grasp out the Iron Triangle. He just keeps changing so much between the different dramas. There is always that certain essence to him that is very Pangzi but he keeps getting different layers with different actors. There are these tiny details that make me look at him in a different way every time he gains a “new face” for himself. I enjoy it but it also puzzles me. He’s not as easy a character as I first thought when I got introduced to him through Reboot. He is complex. He is surprising. He is very interesting. And that just makes me very fascinated by him. He’s a great person, once he grows into it.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

I haven’t really given much thought to Pangzi’s love life. I’ve mostly just grimaced when it comes to his random crushes while they travel in search of new tombs because most of those are very cringe (or worse). But I did adore him with PiaoPiao in Reboot. Those two were just simply lovely, and all their scenes together made me incredibly fond. I felt warm within their love. I felt like Pangzi belonged there, with this woman who he had known since he was a kid and who he came to protect so fiercely. It suited him. Being with PiaoPiao felt perfect for him. And for the first time, his feelings got returned! He got loved back (even if PiaoPiao had some other plans there). He got to actually be in love. Their date scene in season 2 lives in my head rent-free. I was crying out of happiness. I miss them, and Pangzi would’ve deserved to have that and not just the kid he can’t even adopt now but won’t abandon anyway.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Oh boy, there are a lot of relationships when it comes to Pangzi because he’s such a social butterfly. He knows everybody. He’s friendly (or enemies, there’s no in between) with everybody. And I adore how different drama adaptations have given different takes on all these relationships (or added completely new ones). Because through that, I’ve gotten to see the awesomeness that is Pangzi with people like Xiao Hua, Hei Xiazi, Xiuxiu, Kanjian, Liu Sang, Huo Daofu, Bai Haotian and the whole of Desperado Fam in Reboot. He is amazing when it comes to people.

But, above all else, is the Iron Triangle. Because how can I talk about Pangzi without mentioning his two best bros? They are just so good. I love that trio so much. And every time I think about them, I just have to say that am absolutely euphoric over the fact that they found each other in this world. And in what way? Bonkers. What are the chances even, to just suddenly bump into each other in a Mongolian desert and then come to realize that hey, you will be bumping into each other a lot for the rest of your lives? Less than zero, probably. But they did it! I am so happy for them. They deserve to have all their lazy retirement days.

Because, at the end of it, Iron Triangle just works. And especially Pangzi, as the heart of this triangle, makes me so emotional because emotions are his thing. That’s just what he does. He cares about all their emotions. He makes sure that they can relax and have food and comfort and warmth and a home and nice things to do when they have the time for it. He makes sure that Wu Xie doesn’t just lose it every other second and that Xiaoge knows that he’s allowed to be human under all his pain. He’s there to make them laugh (and to able Pingxie’s shenanigans like a pro). He’s there offering hugs and affection and smiles. He sings. He fills the silence. He’s – Pangzi is just an amazing friend (and I really think Pingxie need to give their thanks to him after all these years of Pangzi suffering through their idiot gay bullshit. He’s very tired, I can see that).

I’ve been so happy that the latest dramas have given us so many good moments related to both of these relationships Pangzi has with his best friends. Because, as much as I adore them together as a trio, I am overjoyed when I get to see Pangzi with either Wu Xie or Xiaoge. Reboot gave us him with Wu Xie; their old married couple life in their tiny apartment, just showing the best platonic love I can imagine. Zhu Yilong and Chen Minghao really aced that (Chen Minghao is my favorite actor for Pangzi in general, he just really captures that character so well, be it in Reboot or Sand Sea). And then in Ultimate Note, we get to see Pangzi with Xiaoge; joking together and being affectionate and showing how much they care about each other under all the “bickering” (quotation marks because well, Xiaoge doesn’t say much). That was so amazing to watch. I am so thankful. The Iron Triangle feels much more complete now and my love for them overflows. I could write novels about them but for now, am stopping here.  

My unpopular opinion about this character

I really don’t know if this is popular or unpopular but it’s an opinion! Related to the foreshadowing in the first part. So here goes:

Pangzi as a character manages to be a bit of a dick towards women.

At least sometimes. Because as I said, he gives me very conflicted emotions. All of this might be tied to the writing (and the inconsistency of it between the different dramas) and to the fact that NPSS treats the women of DMBJ like shit, but it is Pangzi who portrays such behavior the most. He has some of these very questionable lines or comments towards women, and like I said, even his love interests are quite… random. Controversial? Because I am not very into him trying to hit on some young girls all the time. That is creepy. Please don’t ruin him like this. He already suffers from the fact that all his love interests just die, and the whole of DMBJ’s women suffer from that too. We don’t want to see women dying for some male character’s development. I am sick of that, and Pangzi deserves to be his wonderful self.

Which brings me to the fact that he does redeem himself quite often. I think his comments mostly bothered me in The Lost Tomb where he said some things to A-Ning. After that, he’s been better? I remember loving him a lot in Explore With the Note because he had this whole new feeling to him. He was so carefree and cool. I love that one mirror scene in the Underwater Tomb where he is just “combing” his hair and playing with that tiny scarf and looking pretty. That is the Pangzi I adore! That silly man who doesn’t care about things like idk gender. Because he would be iconic like that. He’d rather burn for equality than make stupid misogynistic comments on women. I trust this, especially when you look at him in Reboot. Maybe he has grown. Maybe that is how he changes? I have no idea. But please let him be amazing without these stupid mishaps that don’t even seem to fit his character hhhh

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

I’ve already mentioned his relationship with PiaoPiao. I wish he could’ve kept that, it was so good for him ;; I will forever be bitter that they brought PiaoPiao into the drama just to treat her as a warning to Pangzi of what would happen if he dared to meddle with the “normal life” while still being in tomb raiding business. That was just stupid. Let them be happy together with their kid!!!! (Because I support Pangzi Dad Rights in this house)

Another thing would be: Let Pangzi be sad (tho this goes to many other characters too because DMBJ tends to rush over all the pain the characters feel in favor to get to the action). I know he gets a while in Ultimate Note to mourn Yun Cai but in Reboot, he basically never got to grieve PiaoPiao. I know their relationship didn’t get to develop very far but he was obviously in love with her! He cared about her! There were many things unsolved between them! He should’ve been allowed more time to be sad about it or just bringing it back up again. To be honest, I wish we saw Pangzi’s true emotions more often because he tends to just hide everything behind a joke. But well, the same goes, once again, for so many other characters too so I don’t know if I can really demand that from him. But I wish his emotions got their while too. That he got some more focus in the dramas. He deserves more than just stupid jokes or embarrassment (and I don’t even want to start about the stupid fat jokes). 

thank you for sending me this ask!! i had so much fun trying to figure out pangzi in my head ^^ i hope you got something out of it! have a very lovely day ♥ 

[booksandwords]

Infamous by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Series: Chronicles of Nick, #3 Read time: 2 Days Rating: 4/5

The quote: “Not your prom date, Cay. Don’t want to be, neither.” “Have no fear. You’re too hairy for my tastes, Gautier. And no offense, you’re not pretty or sexy enough to change them.” Nick gaped. “Now that was just hurtful and mean. Why you want to hurt me in my tender place like that, cher? Don’t let this calm exterior fool you. I got feelings, too.” Kody laughed at them. “I swear, there are times when it seems you two are the ones dating, and I feel like the third wheel.” — Nicholas Gautier, Caleb Malphas & Nekoda Kennedy

Infamous. AKA that one book where Cay kicks a cop car to get himself arrested. Let's start with the time setting for Infamous. The prologue for Infamous picks up exactly where Invincible ended with Nick noticing the scar on Ambrose's hand and coming to the realisation of exactly who he is. But between the prologue and chapter one there is a year-long time jump. I didn't initially pick up on it, it's not partially well signposted. But Nick refers to himself as 15 and does note some of what has changed in the past year. The plot is this time revolves around cyberbullying, with the lovely Brynna caught in the centre. There is a lot more lore revealed notably the Malachai, Sephirii and the Primordial gods. There are some revelations as to why Nick and Adrian are as they are, more confirmation of things that were alluded to in previous books.

What makes this series is the characters and their dynamics. The Nick, Caleb and Kody quote that I've added is one of THE quotes of the CoN series, which I guess says a lot about them. There is this moment when Kody realises that Cay despite being stuck with Nick also really cares about him. Caleb and Kody might actually care about each other to a degree despite not knowing a lot about each other. We actually find out a bit about Cay's past here, at least hints of it. Honestly one of the biggest surprises was the dynamic between Caleb and Thorn. I really didn't know I needed that until I read it. Dev and Nick have smartassery in common but the way they communicate makes me smile, some of what Dev says is heartbreaking though if you know his past. Bobbi Jean Burdette is a badass woman, I'm guessing there is a lot more to that story yet. She has a lot in common with Cherise is a way both protective and caring for their sons. Nick and Wren fave the start of an unexpected sweet friendship if they both let it happen

While I did enjoy this is a book I had some issues with some of which can be explained by the time in which the book was written. While a little bit spoilerly this is a book that not only deals with cyberbullying but the real-world consequences of it. Which does lead to discussions of suicide and something akin to suicidal ideation (because the Ambrosius Malachai is different to others in relation to a specific circumstance). I dislike the way Sherri talks about suicide. It is clumsy and a bit ugly. It might reinforce some of the worst of society's perceptions of it. One character essentially guilt-tripping another even with the intent to save does not read particularly well. But I can't figure out how it could have been written is a way that wouldn't have been jarring to me. On a less serious note, there are some editing errors in the ebook version. Spaces where they shouldn't be, missing paragraph markers, missing quotes. All small things but it can be a bit off-putting.

My now regular random dump of comments.

Some pretty good cameos. Another horseman, Seth (kinda), Asmodeus, Virgil (“He’s your Nick.”), Simi (talking about the heifer goddess).

"Battleground Bulldozer Burdette or Trip B for short" — The answer to why Bubba called the store what he did.

“It wasn’t easy. Zeus took away his emotions. His lack of hatred shielded him from us for a long time. But that ban is weakening and we now know he exists and where to find him. That was sneaky of you, Malachai. Impregnate a goddess. But it won’t work. You will die. If not by me, then by one of my brethren.” — For a fan of the Dark-Hunter verse, this means a bit. We know what this means, Nick's half brother is a Dream-Hunter. I think I know who he is anyway. But who is his mother?

"Atlantean the Echrichta were the children of Pali, the god of strife, and Diafonia, the goddess of discord. Their grandfather was Misos, the Atlantean god of war and death. Before wars broke out, the Atlantean gods would unleash the Echrichta to stir up emotions and get the people ready to attack each other." — I like hearing Ash talking about his culture. I'm not sure if the Atlantian culture is always portrayed as matriarchal but it definitely feels like it is here.

“Sorry. But just remember this. No woman has ever killed a man while he was washing dishes.” Nick scowled at him. “What?” “It’s another Atlantean saying. If you keep the woman happy, she’s less likely to cut your throat.” — More Ash. Look no judging Ash is awesome.

“We have got to get you out of here. Immediately.” “Good,” Nick agreed, “’cause Toto wanna go home, Dorothy.” He clicked his heels together. “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.” — Nick wtf? Look I laughed and it was at a moment when you really need lightness

"The one person in this world I love, loves someone else." — There aren't too many people this could be. The most obvious response is Nick.

All the information about Caleb is a lot. And knowing that he is definitely haunted by something makes me emotional.

This is an enjoyable book. It adds a lot to the lore of the series. This is a series where the plot almost feels secondary, it is driven by the characters and the overarching series plot. While they likely could be read standalone but it would not work nearly as well. For those who are old enough and willing to read the Dark-Hunter novels there are plenty of character that cross over even if their circumstances are slightly diffferent.

[fluorescentpipedream]

Dark and Stormy 

“Ugh...” Bill scowled as he set down the tall glass on the polished marble bar-top Baccarat Bar and leaned back in his seat a little. Taking the lime off the side of his glass, he bit into it and held his hand up for the bartender, ordering a jack and coke instead. As the man took the glass away, he turned to see Rob staring at the ornate glass thing ahead of him them, behind the bar itself. After a moment or two, Rob blinked and looked away from the thing, nodding his head to Bill and came over to him. The two talked for a moment before agreeing to move away from the crowded bar and off to one of the small enclaves. They settled into one that had a long couch, where Bill sat and crossed his legs at the knee and crushed blue velvet chairs across from it, which Rob sat in, leaning forward slightly as he tried to get situated in the thing. He seemed a little uncomfortable for a moment or two, while he got settled but when the waitress came over he seemed to relax a bit more. The waitress asked them for their order and Bill shrugged. 

“I’d ask for a dark and stormy but I already know how that’s going to play out..can I get a glass of water to go with my jack and coke?” He raised the glass he’d brought with him from the bar. Rob ordered an old fashioned and Bill smirked. Of course...he was an older man, after all. After a pause, Rob asked the young woman to bring around the cigar box as well. 

“Do you mind?”  Bill shook his head, he didn’t smoke himself but he wasn’t going to tell Rob he couldn’t indulge. When the young woman left them, Bill leaned back on the gold couch and pulled his t-shirt down a little as it rode up his stomach. 

“What’s a dark and stormy?” 

“It’s ginger beer, dark rum and a lime to calm the spice down”

“It sounds awful. How did you come to try that the first time?”

Bill chuckled. Adam had the same reaction the last time he’d seen him.

“It was in Nassau. I’d been on Paradise Island for a book signing and had a few days to kill before heading home. The hotel manager where I was staying originally suggested a little bed and breakfast near Fort Nassau. I’m a history buff so I booked myself a room and ended up staying for a few weeks. Took some tours, saw things I never imagined...spent the better part of a few days just sitting on the beach.”

“Ahh. I was there once for training but didn’t get to see a whole lot. What was so special about that particular B & B?”

“It’s one of the oldest buildings on the island, having been there since the Golden Age of Piracy and according to the man who owns it, it was the brothel where Jack Rackham and Charles Vane once lived. No telling how much of that was true, but there were some convincing historical markers all over the place He actually went with me to the Exuma Cays and had a little adventure with the swimming pigs.” Rob repeated the words and Bill took his phone from his back pocket, pulling up a picture of him and another man in crystal blue waters and surrounded by wild pigs. 

“Well alright then...how did they get there?” 

“I asked the same thing...no one really knows. The myth is related to the golden age of piracy, they swam to an uninhabited island after a shipwreck and eventually took over. No one actually lives in the Cays so it’s pretty much a free area for them. We also got to feed manta rays and see...” He held up a picture of himself holding a starfish. “It was a hell of a day trip actually. After we came back to the B & B, Jack made us some dinner and we sat beside a fire, bare feet in the sand, watching the moon over the water. He’s an odd fellow, very old soul.”

“So were you and him....?”

“No, Jack is -mostly- straight.” Bill laughed and leaned forward, taking a drink before setting his glass back down again. “ But I’d consider him a friend. He seemed kind of lonely, honestly.” Hearing his name, he turned his head slightly and held his hand up to acknowledge a large group of the 30 somethings that were standing near the edge of the bar. Excusing himself, he moved over to the side to talk to them for a moment. 

“They’re all heading to the Crystals, but apparently Joey is splurging at some steak house in the Aria tonight. We’re expected, of course.”

“Hmm..” Rob was looking at his phone and Bill raised an eyebrow as he sat back down again. His own phone beeped at him and he leaned back, taking a small pill case out of his pocket and took one of the white pills inside with his water. As he washed it down with a sip from his drink, Rob had put his phone away again. The waitress came and brought him his cigar, cut it and lit it for him and set down another round of drinks for them as well. After he took a drag, Bill motioned to his phone. 

“Boyfriend?” Bill asked.

“Hmm...I’m not sure what we are really. Mike is....I don’t know”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s strange having someone my sister’s age”

“You need a man”

“Hmm”

“Rob,” Bill sighed and took a moment to choose his next words carefully. The bar was relatively quiet for mid-afternoon and soft jazz played around them. As he looked over Rob he wrinkled his nose. 

“It’s okay to start at this life late. Better late than never”

Rob frowned and took another long drag from the cigar. It was a Opus X Rare Black, one of the newer ones they had and definitely one of the more expensive ones on the menu. Even from where he was sitting, Bill could taste nutmeg and leather and as Rob breathed it in, he was pleasantly surprised by the spicy flavor. 

“What’s that look for?” 

Bill smirked and licked his lips. “I never considered cigars to be sexy before...that smells like leather and chocolate.” Rob laughed and offered it to the other man who turned it down. 

“Tell me about the first time you realized you were gay.” 

Rob looked a little taken aback and Bill narrowed his eyes at him. “You need to be able to say the word, if we’re going to get anywhere. Rob...You’re gay. There’s nothing wrong with that...from what your sister has said, your family isn’t against you, which is lucky. So where’s this coming from?” 

Rob sighed. “The first person I was ever with was my best friend. We spent every waking moment together since we were in Elementary school I think. The first time I really noticed him in that way though....it was back in junior high school. It’s cliche but we went swimming and for some reason seeing him get out of the water floored me. We kissed but we had to keep it a secret and somewhere in the middle of that, I panicked. I enlisted almost immediately after my 18th birthday to try to run from it....I broke his heart. He got married and still lives in Nawlins...” Rob was irritated and blew out a cloud of smoke, exasperatingly adding “I’ve had 3 wives, five kids and one of those sons tells me that he doesn’t feel he was ever a son in the first place. I’m 52 years old and feel like I’ve wasted my life...” 

Bill frowned and scoot forward so he could lay his hand on Rob’s knee, though the other man looked almost nervous when he did so. Seeing his discomfort, Bill took his hand away and leaned back again. 

“That’s part of your issue right now...you’re so ashamed of who you are you aren’t giving yourself a chance to actually figure out who that is.” 

Rob scowled but he knew the other man was right. “The first time I start dating, I do it with a guy who is half my age and more flamboyant than a damn peacock...sometimes. Mike is weird..” 

“He’s young. He’s still trying to figure out what kind of gay he is.” 

“He’s a damn genius, certified.”

“That doesn’t mean he’s got everything figure out.” 

“Honestly, I think I’m a rebound.” 

“What makes you say that?” 

“His ex beat him and tried to get the upper hand on him, Mike told me about it when I got a little rough with him and he coiled up like a snake. Told me he’d bashed the other man on the head with something and left.” 

“He’s upgraded then” 

“He still loves Travis though...”

“That’s his problem, not yours. What kind of man could you see yourself being with?” 

“I’ve never really given it much thought...” 

“Surely you’ve...experimented? The military is about as gay as it gets.” Bill winked at him and the two laughed. 

“I’ve had a few...” 

“Top or bottom?” 

“What?” 

“Are you in control or not?” Bill looked at him and Rob shrugged. “Both...I think I actually like being the one not in control though...” 

“You’re a bottom then...huh I never would have thought, honestly.” 

“I can’t believe I’m having this conversation in the middle of a cigar bar in Las fucking Vegas.” 

“Would you rather have it at the pool? You need to be able to be open about this kind of shit...this is your life. So...what do you want?” 

“Every time I think about it, every single times, I end up falling back into the box that I’m too old to even worry about it anymore.” 

“A lot of young men love the father figure idea, which I’ll never understand. That ‘daddy’ kink just kills me. But that’s their thing. Do you like it?” 

“Eh...there’s something about a younger man on his knees, looking up at me with all the desire in his eyes but honestly I can’t see that turning into much more than a couple of rounds and then us parting ways. Which is the issue I think I have with Mike. I find myself wanting to actually treat him like my son.” 

“So you need someone your own age.” 

“Eh...I’ve never met a lot of old gays.” 

“I’m an old gay, Rob. What do you think, we all dissolve after 35?” 

“You’re not that old though. I’m a senior citizen for fuck’s sake” 

Bill pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned forward, sneering slightly as he spoke. “For fuck’s sake, Rob! You are NOT that old! Sebastian told me how you put him in his place with the parkour/pull up thing...that’s not easy to do. Fuck, you showed up half of the little punks at the gym this morning.” 

Rob looked down and smiled a little, thinking about it. The boys had been younger than Frankie and been making snide comments about the sexy girls in the gym and the old fart that shouldn’t be in there in the first place, he might break his hip. Bill had been doing pull ups beside him, with Rob counting, when one of the boys had started on him again he benched three times what the little pissant had, without even flinching.  

“You know the answer to the question I keep asking you...what do you want?” 

“I want to walk up to my former friends’ house and see if there’s any way he’d ever take me back.” 

“I thought he was married.” 

“His husband died a few months back...” 

“That’s terrible...but maybe having a friend like you coming back into his life would actually be a good thing...The least you can do right now is see where he is in the situation...would he be interested or should you move on. It’s a lot easier than you’re making it. But if the kid isn’t making you happy...there’s no shame in telling him that. Maybe it’ll give him a chance to find out what he really wants to do with his life.”

“Or he’ll go back to an abusive drunk.” 

“There’s no shame in keeping up with him but once you break it off, you aren’t responsible for what he does. You’re not his father...” Bill leaned forward and picked up his drink and with the glass pressed against his bottom lip he said “you’re his fuck buddy.” Rob looked bewildered and the other man laughed into his drink, setting it down again. 

“What about you? All of your friends are -mostly- straight.” Rob fired back at him. 

Bill frowned and dropped his head to one side, pushing his blond hair out of his face when he pulled it up again and sighed. “I’m almost 40 years old and AIDS positive.” Rob knew but still looked shocked at how cavalier he was about it . 

“I’m not ashamed, Rob. I fucked up, shared needles while I was an addict and paid for it...ultimately with my life. But I refuse to let this thing kill me without actually enjoying my life. I was in love once, but he and I turned out to be better friends. Anyone else I’ve been with never really takes hold and honestly...” Bill thought about it for a moment. “I don’t want someone that can make me scream into a pillow or beg me to make him cum. I’ve had some time to think about this and what I want is someone I can talk to, travel with, see the world and just...spend the days with...” He trailed off for a moment. “Those nights on the beach with Jack, that’s what I want. Except with him, I know it’s just friendship and I’m fine with that, though I’d love to have someone that loves me as much as I do him, is as adventurous as I am and will be there to hold my hand when I take my final breath.” 

It was sad when he really thought about it and often tried not to do so, but the biggest thing about him, Bill wasn’t ashamed of where he was in life. After his diagnosis, he’d decided to make the best of it and to do everything he possibly could. He had a bucket list and was slowly ticking things off of it. He’d climbed Everest, been to the Bahamas and was hoping to get to Argentina to go fishing specifically but he wanted to go from there to Chile and see the ruins and before he’d come on this little birthday trip, he’d been training to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Bill wanted to live and do all the things people would tell him he wouldn’t be able to because of his diagnosis. After a moment, he leaned forward and picked up the cigar Rob had been smoking, taking a drag off of it and coughed a few times before setting it down. 

“Good god...I guess I can cross that one off my list too...” 

Rob sat in silence for a moment while he tried to digest most of what Bill had said and had told him about what had happened in his life and how he’d just picked up and turned it into something else. For himself, Rob had wasted most of his life hiding who he really was, and what did he have to show for it? In two days, his little sister was going to be surprised with a wedding, he knew about it, and their parents were going to be there too. He was here early, having told her that he wanted to do something spontaneous and randomly decided to come to Vegas. Mike couldn’t come with him or hadn’t wanted to come or...whatever the reason was and Rob knew Frankie was smart enough she was eventually going to figure out that something was going on. Which is one of the reasons he was spending as much time away from her and her friends.

As  Bill suddenly leaned forward and took his cigar from him, Rob chuckled, though stopped when Bill mentioned his list. Bill took a couple of drinks of water to clear his throat and wiped the corners of his mouth as he tried to breathe without coughing. 

“So...what do you think of this surprise wedding thing? I don’t think I’ve seen anyone as totally in love with another person as I have with Sebastian and your sister. I see why he turned me down when I met him.” 

“Considering her his---...wait. You hit on him?” Rob’s eyes widened. 

“Oh yeah...wouldn’t you?” 

“He’s not really my type.” 

“Oh so you do have one....” 

“I have questions about Joey but he’s a good kid. And Jasper....” 

“Yeah....he’s definitely easy to look at.” Rob smiled, in spite of himself and Bill only grinned at him. 

“You old fag...Want to get your hands on that ass, huh?” 

“...”

“I’m teasing. I think he knows honestly..” 

“That makes it worse.” 

“The man’s a professional fighter and spends most of his time in tight shorts and no shirt, he’s got to know there are people that jack off to his pictures.” 

Rob went quiet for a moment before suddenly laughing. “I used to have the issue of Men’s Health in my office...” 

“Oh so did I.” 

After a few minutes of silence their conversation turned to Bill’s next book, or next adventure and if he would ever consider writing an actual travel book...the stuff they don’t tell you when you have an illness and still want to see the world. Rob invited him the New Orleans to go fishing in the spring for red fish. “They’re a trash fish but they’re actually really good if you cook them right...” And then it turned to the two of them planning a trip to Argentina to go fly fishing with a company called Solid Adventures. 

“The idea of a 38lb glacier king salmon is too much to pass up in my short lifetime” Bill laughed as he had the waitress come back to their table, though this time it was for the check. Rob paid this time, and Bill playfully asked him if this was a date as they stood up and walked out of the bar. Sebastian had texted that they were on their way back to get changed for dinner, Joey’s dad was going to have a car take them over in an hour.  

“Do you really think Frankie is going to be surprised by this wedding thing?” 

“I think so. She’ll never go through another one that she’s got to plan, I think it’s better that its getting sprung on her. And as much as I want to hate him, you’re right. No one has ever loved her as much as that man does.”

[shadowphoenixrider]

A Meal to Remember

(Finally managed to get this fic out after periods of writer’s block and, well, all the anxiety and nonsense that comes with buying a house. But! It’s here now! This is a fic full of lemons, so discretion is advised. Tagging my lovely, patient crew: @galleywinter, @sigurdjarlson, @elfgirl931, @fer8girl and @highpriestessbriyanna!)

“I can’t believe Malfurion made you an archdruid.” Draggka said, stepping out into the sunset drenched streets of Dalaran.

“You’re telling me!” Dranka replied, running his hand through his red mohawk. “I’m standing here holding the teeth of a Loa and going ‘oh okay, if you really think so. I guess’.” He shrugged as they wandered down the street. “Talk about pressure.”

“Exactly what happened to me. First ‘go and fetch Thas’dorah, legendary bow of Alleria Windrunner’, then ‘ta da! You’re Huntmaster of the Unseen Path now’. Wait, what?!” Draggka gestured. “I think I might be jealous of Aiya and Cay, dodging all this responsibility.”

“Yeah, but if all their friends seem to be getting promotions but them? That’s gonna hurt.” He reminded the hunter, coming to a stop by the well near the Legerdemain Lounge, peering briefly down it.

“Fair point.” Draggka nodded, petting Spike as the raptor rubbed by her side. “Hey, you thinking about a bite to eat? Fighting all those naga made me hungry.”

“We’re not allowed to eat the naga, Drak.” Her brother grinned, folding his arms. “No matter how fish-like they are.”

“Oh shut up, you know what I meant!” She exclaimed, shoving the druid hard.

At that moment, Draggka felt a familiar ripple of magic trace over her spine, and Spike tensed, uttering a low warning growl. They turned slowly to see the pink, bulbous shape of an arcane elemental, the pair of lights serving as its eyes boring into the hunter.

“Looks like the Archmage is after you.” Dranka said, the humour gone from his voice. Her brother could be an asshole, but after she’d told him of what had happened in Azsuna, the druid had kept his teasing strictly work-related.

“Mmmm.” She hummed, resting a hand on the back of Spike’s neck. “What do ya want?” She asked the shimmering blob.

“The Archmage has invited you to come to his quarters for dinner this evening.” The elemental ‘spoke’ inside her head. “He has emphasized that you do not need to bring anything other than yourself and your companion.”

“How is de Archmage?” Draggka asked, internally grimacing at the outwardly one-sided conversation.

“His condition is stable.” The elemental replied. Dranka watched on, tilting his head expectantly at the hunter.

“Looks like I won’t be able to join you for dinner,” she relayed to him. “Khadgar’s made plans for me.”

“Plans?” Dranka grinned. “Interesting. Sounds like he’s feeling better already.”

“Yeah. Said I don’t need to bring anything but Spike, so I might just be getting whatever he can conjure, though.” The raptor perked up at the sound of his name.

“He might wanna give you another taste of his strudel.” Her brother gave her a shit-eating grin.

“Drank!” She swatted at him. “He’s had a concussion - there’s no way he’ll be up for anything like that.”

“Uh huh.” Dranka sounded as unconvinced as her gut felt. “Anyway, good to hear he feels better. We need him back in action.” He shrugged again. “Shame we’ve gotta catch up another time. I’d like to hear about what happened in Highmountain.”

“I’ll find time, don’t worry.” His sister nodded, reaching out to clasp his shoulder. “Take careful of yourself, big guy.”

“You too, little sis.” The druid smiled back at her, resting his hand over hers. “Go and enjoy time with mage before it all kicks off again.”

A quick squeeze to her hand (and a pet to Spike’s head), and they parted ways, Dranka sauntering off into the Lounge. Draggka turned back to the elemental which had been silently awaiting her answer.

“I be accepting his invitation,” she said. “But how do I be getting to his quarters?”

“I will escort you to his chambers.” The elemental replied. “You will not be challenged. Please, follow me.”

Without much warning, it turned and drifted off towards the Violet Citadel, Draggka having to jog to catch up to it. She and Spike exchanged a look between one another, and decided it was best just to follow the magical construct and hope for the best.

The troll did get some puzzled looks her way as she followed the arcane servant through the Citadel, but true to its word, no-one made a move to intercept her. That said, she did have a scarred raptor by her side, meeting the eye of any staring at her.

The elemental stopped at a door that Draggka found vaguely familiar, and without a knock, or any indication of their arrival, it opened, revealing the Archmage.

“Draggka!” His eyes were as bright as his smile. “Come in, come in!”

His elemental entered first, floating off towards the kitchen. Draggka and Spike followed behind, the raptor sniffing the air intently, uttering an excited grunt. He smelled cooking food, and good food at that - Draggka’s stomach gurgled eagerly.

The mage locked and warded the door, the hunter noticing he had stripped out of his armour into something more comfortable - his robes were still the long light blue as usual, but they lacked the brown leather trimming and looked softer, tied around his waist by a darker blue cloth belt, edged with gold. He was still wearing his collar, however, and was also missing something very important.

“Khadgar, where ya bandage be?” Draggka asked, giving him a stern look.

“Ah heh, yes.” He gave her an apologetic smile, running a hand through his silver hair. “The Council all but forced me to see a healer, despite your impressive handiwork. Said healer wasn’t amused when I told her I was fine, and healed me anyway. After threatening to hit me with her staff if I tried to ‘wriggle out of it’.” He turned around. “It felt like she did a good job.”

“Yeah.” Draggka nodded, parting his hair to inspect the skin beneath. “She closed it nicely. Tink it be leavin’ a scar though.”

“Another to add to my collection.” The wizard commented. “The Council has also ordered me to stay in Dalaran until I recover. As did the priest who healed me.”

“Good.” Draggka said, folding her arms. “So ya should. You coulda got into a lotta trouble down dere.”

“I am aware Huntmaster, but confining me to my quarters seems a bit much.” He shook his head, waving a hand. “Anyway, enough about that. I invited you for dinner, not to complain about the Council.” He blinked. “Speaking off which...” The mage hurried off into the kitchen.

“Ya actually cooking something?” She asked, her eyebrows raising. Spike padded over to the kitchen, stopping at the threshold to peer in.

“Yes, I am. Not often I get the time to.” Khadgar called back. “I, it’s nothing fancy, just a simple Pandaren dish, some noodles and a sauce. I figured I should try not to burn the Citadel down on my first go at this.”

“Dat be a good thought.” The hunter replied, glancing at Spike. The raptor was deeply engrossed in what the mage was doing, nostrils flaring wide with each breath - clearly he thought he was doing a good job. “Where do ya want me to put my stuff?”

“Anywhere out of the way is fine!” Khadgar replied. “Remember that my quarters are every bit yours as mine now.”

Draggka’s heart skipped a beat, and she felt her face colour. It still hadn’t sunken in - first that she now had a stationary place to call her own, but also that it was with someone else. Who just happened to be Archmage Khadgar, Leader of the Kirin Tor, and legendary Alliance Hero of the Second War.

She found a clear spot in the main room, and dropped her pack and quiver there, before unstringing Thas’dorah, wrapping it in cloth to keep it safe. The troll hesitated for a long moment, feeling her armour become heavy and unwelcome. The Archmage was in casual robes, so it seemed a bit much for her to stay like this.

Decision made, she quickly shed the mail armour that protected her, stripping down to just the leathers on top of the simple fabric clothes she wore to stop them rubbing, piling her armour up to one side.

“Draggka, are you alrigh- oh!” The hunter jumped, whipping her head around to see Khadgar poking his head into the room, a blush starting to glow on his cheeks. “S-Sorry, I didn’t expect that’d you, um...”

“I-It just be my armour.” She replied, feeling her own face heat up. “Ya not be in ya battle robes, so...I thought I better...not be in my gear.”

“O-Oh yes, of course, you wouldn’t want to be o-overdressed.” He smiled shyly. “I-I just wanted to let you know that it’s ready, if, if you want to come through?” He gestured for her to join him. “I hope it’s alright.”

“Well, only one way to be finding out.” Draggka smiled back.

---

“Mmmm.” Draggka hummed contentedly, wiping around her tusks. “Didn’t know dat being a good cook be another one of ya skills.”

Khadgar laughed shyly, his face flushing red.

“Oh, well, I was only following instructions. I don’t tend to cook for myself.” He smiled. “I’m very glad you enjoyed it.”

They were sitting at a small table in the kitchen, just big enough for the two of them, and neatly laid out with a tablecloth and shiny silver cutlery, a candle glowing between them. The troll had felt more than a little scruffy, sitting at it in her battleworn leathers, but Khadgar’s presence and the good food had helped smooth away any concerns.

Said wizard tilted his head.

“Did your friend?”

Draggka looked down to see Spike lying under the table across the cool floor tiles, his eyes closed and a contented rumble rising from his body. The end of his tail curled slightly, the raptor looking utterly replete.

“I’d be taking dat as a yes.” She chuckled. “Where’d ya get the meat?”

“Connections.” Khadgar smirked, lifting a shoulder. “They don’t ask many questions.”

“Uh huh.” The hunter let the conversation settle briefly, eyeing the candle flickering between them. “So, dere be a reason you be making for dinner for us?” She asked. “N-Not dat I be complaining at all!”

Khadgar chuckled.

“Always to the point,” he said, smiling warmly. “Well, I recall that you mentioned about making some time for the both of us after recovering the Pillar of Creation. And since the Tidestone is now secured within the Chamber of the Guardian, I suppose the time is now.”

Draggka blinked.

“You remembered dat?”

“I did.” Khadgar gestured with his hand, eyes briefly lighting up with magic. His servant sprouted up beside them, taking the plates away. “I spent the night in the Azurewing cave thinking about it. About holding you, being with you, whiling away the day together...” He closed his eyes for a moment. “Regardless of our present circumstances, I could have stayed like that forever.”

Draggka couldn’t help but smile back - she’d felt similar when she’d woken before him. Enough to delay her morning hunt.

“Yeah. Thought da same when I be wakin’ up next to ya.” She replied, stretching her legs out under the table, brushing against his. “We be goin’ from one crisis to another. I- we need time to breathe.”

“Absolutely. Consider this the beginning of the time we can scratch out from the outside world.” Khadgar spoke, resting a hand lightly on her knee. “And also me paying you back for your...service a couple of days ago.”

The archmage’s smile went for warm and loving to dark and mischievous, wiggling his eyebrows. The troll’s eyes narrowed.

“Surely dat not be a good idea afta ya just had a concussion, right?”

“The healer did advise me not to undertake any ‘vigorous’ exercise whilst I was recovering.” His grin became downright devilish. “However, that doesn’t mean I can’t pleasure you in other ways.”

Spike groaned loudly, too full to do anything but voice his displeasure at the young-old wizard’s flirting. Despite her companion’s complaints, Draggka felt her face heat up. Khadgar seemed content to let her stew for a moment, taking a sip of the red wine he’d poured himself.

“To be honest with you, my dear,” he said. “I intended this night to be a memorable in that we would have a romantic night in. A candle-lit dinner, wine, good food, and even better company. Whilst I do intend for our evening to have a pleasurable conclusion, said conclusion need not involve any carnal relations.” Khadgar’s smile warmed, becoming loving, and his eyes twinkled in the candlelight. “Merely sitting and holding you would be enough for me, if that’s what you would prefer.”

The troll was sure she was blushing now, feeling rather charmed. The wizard was so effortlessly suave and she...was not.

“I, I’d like both of dose tings.” She replied shyly, not for the first time cursing that Common was a second tongue. “If, if ya wanna mate wit me...I’d like dat.”

Spike seemed to summon enough energy to haul himself up with a groan, and he walked off out of the room.

“Your raptor disagrees.” Khadgar commented, hiding his smile behind his wineglass.

“I tink he be havin’ enough of us flirting.” Draggka said, before she smirked. “Wait. Did ya get rose petals for da bed dis time?”

“Only one way to find out.” The mage replied with a wink. He took another sip of wine before he climbed to his feet, offering his hand. “Shall we?”

The hunter nodded, taking his hand. Khadgar helped her up with it before bringing it to his lips, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. Her heart did a somersault, and she almost melted on the spot. Spirits’ grace, I feel like I’m in a dream.

The Archmage escorted her to the bedroom (past Spike lying on the couch and pointedly ignoring them), pushing the door ajar, and gesturing for her to go in first.

The room was dark, yet lit by a host of glowing lamps, hovering serenely in the air with their orange flames flickering behind their protective glass cases. The bed was immaculately made up for two, with white pillows and sheets, and covered with a generous scattering of red rose petals.

Draggka glanced back to look at Khadgar, hovering shyly behind her as he closed the door.

“Do...do you like it?” Was his tentative question.

“Yeah.” She smiled wide, nodding. “Yeah, of course I do.” Her heart swelled in her chest, yet she managed to put on a grin. “Looks like ya got dose petals afta all.”

“I did.” Khadgar grinned back, stepping closer to her. “They might not be Gilnean, but I doubt it will be an issue,” he said, lifting an eyebrow at her.

“Roses be roses to me.” The hunter admitted. “Ya not gonna get questioned on dese, I hope?”

“No doubt gossip will swirl amongst the merchants, but gossip has started for more trivial reasons than this.” The mage said. “If they wish to read too deeply into an order of spell reagents, that is their business.”

He shook his head, moving up behind the troll and gently sliding his hands around her waist.

“Enough of that talk. What matters now is you, and you alone.” Khadgar murmured, his voice caressing her ears. “Shall we get you out of these leathers?”

She turned her head enough to regard him.

“Ya not joining me?” She asked. There was a flash of anxiety in his eyes, a chink in his armour.

“I...I’d rather not.” He replied, glancing away from her. “A-At least, not right now.”

Draggka carefully nuzzled his face with her own.

“I’d like to see more of ya if I can. But you do whatever ya feel more comfortable doin’,” she said softly. “I be happy if you be happy too.”

A quick, shy smile flashed across Khadgar’s lips.

“You are too kind.” He murmured, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Light, I love you so much.”

With that, he cupped her cheek, turning her head so they could kiss properly.

It was like two puzzle pieces coming together with how well the fit felt. The longing that had quietly sat on her shoulders - ignored due to other, more critical concerns - was finally being sated, and in that moment the doors to the outside world were locked and barred. All the fretting, worries, and responsibilities associated with it were quickly filed away for the night, leaving her free to focus on her mate, her love. The man she adored.

They pulled away slowly, as if lost in a dream. Not far, however - their noses were still close enough to almost touch, their breath mingling. Khadgar’s eyes were soft, gentle and warm, as blue as the ocean on a calm day. Draggka was all too content to be washed away.

“May I disrobe you?” He asked in his deep, rich voice.

“If ya know what to do, yeah.” She nodded.

“I shall ask you for aid when I need it.” He replied, a smile playing on his lips.

The mage’s hands were gentle, nimble and precise as he helped the hunter shed her clothing, leaving it in a neat-ish pile by the bed. With every item that was removed, he smoothed his hands over the newly revealed section of bare skin, tracing lovely over the scars he found, and muttering compliments just under his breath. He touched her as if she was the most important person on Azeroth, as if being able to touch her was a blessing he was frightened to lose.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” Khadgar asked, when Draggka just stood in her breastband and underwear.

“I don’t remember ya telling me in great detail.” She admitted, watching his eyes twinkle.

“I would be delighted to tell you,” he said, smiling. “Though I confess, I hardly know where to begin. I trained as a scribe, not a poet. But I can try.” He cleared his throat, coming to stand in front of her.

“You are the epitome of a hunter - sleek strength and powerful agility, as one with the jungle as any druid.” He began, eyes tracing over her as he spoke. “Your eyes are a lovely shade of amber, and always remind me of fire - like candlelight. I could spend hours staring into them, and...I like to think I could feel their warmth if I gazed deeply enough.”

The mage reached out, tenderly touching one of her hair braids that held two of his raven feathers in the cloth band. “I am honoured that you decided to keep me close to you, so to speak,” he said softly. “I long to find something of yours I could keep with me like this.” He ran his thumb over the tuft of hair at the bottom. “If you would allow it, I’d like to see how your hair looks like down. N-Not that’s not gorgeous as it is now, I-I’m just curious.” Khadgar smiled nervously, and Draggka couldn’t help but giggle.

“I know, Khadgar. Maybe another night I’ll show you,” she said.

“I’d like that.” His smile was bashful even as his eyes roved over her face, settling on her mouth. “I...I like your tusks too. I find it difficult to understand why people would dislike them, aside from the obvious physical limitations.” A blush began to darken on his cheeks. “I...I like the way they feel. When I feel, feel them against me.”

The archmage glanced away, his bravado having fled and left his shyness nakedly apparent. The hunter's grin was that of a predator.

“You like dat, do ya?” She was delighted when his blush deepened, and he smiled nervously. “Why, Archmage, I didn’t know ya had dat in ya.” She leaned over to purr: “Maybe when you be better, I can be doing some more of dat for you...”

“Ohhh, you tease.” He shuddered. His bravado suddenly returned, however, with a grin. “And not just with your words as well...” Khadgar moved closer, his eyes dark and hungry, and his voice creeping into much lower registers.

“The shape of you, the way you move - I can’t keep my eyes off you.” He spoke, slowly circling behind her. “You bewitch me, enchant me. I long to feel your body against me, to find all the scars under your fur, to listen to what you sound like when I run my hands over your skin...” He purred in her ear, and the troll couldn’t resist the shiver that ran up her spine.

Khadgar pulled back slightly, pleasantly surprised.

“Oh?” She could practically hear the devious smile spread across his lips and the glint in his eyes. “Is something exciting you, Huntmaster?” He crooned. “Tell me, is it the thought of my hands on you, or my voice?”

Draggka blushed deeply, a part of her doing a peculiar little wiggle. Sure, one made her heart quicken with anticipation, but the other...

“Ya...your voice.” She admitted, the weird feeling becoming some sort of combination of shy embarrassment and arousal as she finally acknowledged the thing that had been simmering in the background for a while.

“My voice, hmmm?” The infuriating wizard was definitely capitalizing on his effect on her, wielding his voice with disciplined practice. “You know, I had a feeling that might be true. Certain things I’ve said, the ways I’ve said them, and you with some very...interesting reactions. Subtle ones, yes, but I’ve noticed them...” He finally circled back in front of her, running a finger under her chin. “I think we should explore this further...don’t you?”

Draggka was pretty sure if she kept blushing this hard, her face was going to get stuck that way. She nodded to answer him, managing to get a tentative; “yeah, I tink so too” response out. Khadgar softened immediately.

“O-Of course, if you, you don’t feel comfortable with it right now, we can schedule those e-explorations for another night.” His smile was genuine in its warmth, but also in its nervousness.

She gave a short chuckle at the thought of him as the effortlessly suave seducer, whilst also still worrying he would upset her at the slightest thing.

“No, it be alright.” She smiled, moving his hand to cup her cheek. “Ya just took me by surprise, dat’s all.”

“The good kind of surprise, I hope?”

“Yes.” She pecked him on the lips. “So, ya be saying someting about putting ya hands on my body...?”

Khadgar blinked at her before the coin dropped.

“Oh, yes, your body!” His gaze darted up and down her. “Did I mention you’re gorgeous? I mean it. I confess, back on Draenor, I would watch you train with the other archers.” His eyes hazed over as he spoke.

“Such grace in your form, such power. I think that must have been the beginnings of my physical attraction to you.” A blink, and his gaze was clear again. “Not to mention when you saved me at the dam.” He traced his cheek. “Your arrow came so close I think I felt its feather.” A nervous chuckle. “You...didn’t happen to see my face afterwards, by any chance?”

“I don’t really remember.” Draggka shook her head. “It were a hectic time. Why?”

“Oh, nothing.” Khadgar grinned bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck. “Probably me staring at you like a lovesick initiate, that’s all. Like how Turalyon looked when he first clapped eyes on Alleria...” A brief far-away look, and then it was gone.

“Anyway. Your hands.” He took one. “They fit perfectly into mine, and your touch...I long for it. Pine for it when I cannot have it. I play back the days and nights when I’ve had your hands on me, hoping to soon have stronger memories.” The mage pressed a kiss to her knuckles, looking up at her through his eyelashes. “Anything else you would like me to praise?” He asked.

“No...no, I tink ya made ya point.” The troll giggled, both pleased and also hoping her blush wasn’t trying to stain her face purple.

Khadgar chuckled, a deep sound low in his throat, and gently tugged her closer by her hand. He glanced to the bed, then back to her.

“Shall we?”

She nodded, still a little too charmed to speak, and followed him over to sit amongst the red petals. When the hunter noticed Khadgar stayed standing, she used a little tug to get him to sit beside her. When she reached towards his robes, he froze for a brief moment, hands slightly lifting as if to stop her.

“I just want to be feeling ya,” she said softly, meeting his anxious eyes with her own calmer ones. “Is dat okay?”

He glanced down, thinking for a second, before he nodded, taking a deep breath and resting his hands back on his lap.

“Okay.”

Draggka reached out again, untying a lace on the neck of his robes so she could slide her hand underneath. He felt as she remembered: warm, soft skin, chest hair that was slightly wiry yet still nice to run her fingers through, and the valleys and knots of scar tissue that belied his prior battles and conflicts.

Khadgar was tense at first, but he relaxed at her touch, yet she could still sense the nervous energy buzzing around him. She plucked another lace free to catch more of a glimpse of her lover’s bare skin as her other hand continued to wander, before their gazes met.

“May I see a little more?”

A quick smiled flashed across the archmage’s face.

“Of course.”

He undid the last few laces of his robes and the cloth belt around his waist, shrugging the fabric off his broad shoulders and onto the floor below. A blush darkened his face, despite himself, and Draggka leaned forward, giving him a brief kiss.

“Dat’s better.” She purred, her eyes leisurely taking him in. “It won’t be a memorable night if I don’t be getting to see ya gorgeous body.”

“You’re flattering me.”

“I not be one for flattery, Archmage.” She smirked at him, arching an eyebrow. “You know dat as well as I do.”

Khadgar chuckled, shaking his head.

“You are a wonder,” he said, almost to himself, before he leaned in and kissed her properly. There was barely a hesitation before he deepened it, cupping the back of her head and opening his mouth so their tongues could meet. It kindled the need that had been patiently and quietly humming in the background, waiting ever since it had been suppressed in the Llothien forest. This time, there would be no distractions.

Hunter and archmage broke away for air, but soon they were kissing fervently again, fumbling closer to one another in a twist of limbs and torsos and the occasionally clack of over-eager teeth and tusks. Draggka grasped for Khadgar’s hair, but her unconscious mind thankfully thought better of this, and her hand went to his back instead, finding the extra folds of skin he possessed quite useful to hold onto.

They parted again, only this time Khadgar moved down to her neck, feathering kisses down it that made her breathing heavier and her head tilt back to oblige him. He hesitated a moment, and then Draggka felt the tentative nip from his teeth. Surprise, both from his action and its resulting effect on her made her gasp, and Khadgar quickly recoiled at the sound.

“Are you alright?” He asked breathlessly, eyes wide.

“I, I be fine.” Draggka flashed him an earnest smile. “Jus’ surprised.”

“Yes. Sorry.” A weak smile.

“No need to be sorry.” She told him. “I, I liked it.” A bashful smile. “Jus’ don’t be leaving a mark dat others can see.”

“I won’t. Though, I think your regeneration would help eliminate any trace in quick order.” Khadgar mused. “I will err on the side of caution for now.”

Draggka felt she should probably remind him of their situation, but he was already back to kissing her neck, dropping little bites every now and again to make her breath hitch and heart skip a beat.

As he did this, she felt his fingers creep over the lip of her breastband, stopping just short in a move both polite and teasing.

“Do you want this?” The mage drawled softly by her ear, his breath stirring the fur just behind it and sending ticklish tremors down her back that made her want to squirm.

“Yes.” Draggka nodded, hands going for the tie behind her back, yet Khadgar merely tugged the fabric down to free her breast, taking a moment to ogle and trace a finger lovingly over them.

“You are so beautiful.” He murmured admiringly, dark eyes briefly glancing up to meet hers, full of love and desire.

With that, Khadgar bent down and pressed kisses to a breast, whilst his hand moved to gently fondle the other, occasionally squeezing to coax a moan out of the troll. He experimented with his mouth, alternating between open mouth kisses to the furtive lap of his tongue and the occasional scrape of his teeth to see what the hunter found more appealing. Similar experiments were occurring with his other hand, mostly concentrated on her nipple and what she found arousing, using her gasps, sighs and moans to gauge his success.

After a couple of minutes, he switched breasts, putting his new found knowledge to the test - including mimicking what his fingers were doing with his mouth, running his tongue over her nipple and tentatively pinching it between his lips and sucking. These ministrations sent hot bolts of arousal straight into the apex of Draggka’s thighs, and it was all she could do not to squirm and rub her legs together.

Their first time had been awkward and fumbling, taking advantage of a rare peace to make love. Their second time had been pure, unadulterated lust and a desperate need to steal some time before they would be separated once again. This was finally some time to breathe, put real life aside and explore one another, to tease out how best to please their lover.

At least, Khadgar would do that to her; with his recent head injury, Draggka would have to learn her mate a little later. But she would, and she would make him feel just like how he was making her feel right now; utterly aroused, immersed in pleasure and not wanting it to stop.

With a soft, insistent urging, the archmage encouraged Draggka to lie down, although they had to part briefly so they could scoot a little further up the bed. He continued his kissing and caressing, utterly engrossed in his task, whilst his other hand slid under the troll to cup her backside through her underwear, giving it a little squeeze.

A low moan uncoiled from the hunter’s mouth, her eyes fluttering open and shut as she warred between watching her lover at work, or just basking in the sensations like a lizard in the morning sun. Either way, it was bliss.

Content that he had thoroughly lavished Draggka’s breasts with affection, Khadgar slowly began to meander down the troll’s body, kissing his way to her pale scars that he traced with his lips and tongue (excluding the large scars over her belly, which he also ran his fingers over), until he reached the hem of her underwear.

After a kiss to her pelvis, the mage looked up at her, one finger hooked into the last piece of clothing she wore.

“May I?” He asked, voice deep but his eyes earnest.

“Yeah.” Draggka nodded, lifting her hips off the bed to help him slip them off to join the pile on the floor.

The wizard sat back for a moment, taking in the scene in front of him, which made warm arousal and a slight tingle of shy/nervousness rise within her. His pupils were wide with lust, and the large bulge in his trousers certainly underlined his desire, yet his smile was fond and his gaze was almost reverent.

“Beautiful.” He breathed the word like a sigh, his hands lightly drifting down her legs. His lips moved a couple more times, but either Draggka couldn’t hear what he said, or his words eluded him like a panther on a starless night.

“Khadgar?”

He smiled up at her, his expression warming her heart.

“Forgive me, my love. I had forgotten how gorgeous you are like this.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what or who to thank for bringing us together, but I would sing their praises forever if I did.”

“Even if it were Garrosh?” Draggka chuckled as his brows furrowed.

“Mmm, maybe not. But you know what I mean!” He waved a hand dismissively. “I do believe I have more important matters to take care of. Something about a reward for my valiant saviour?” A dark, teasing grin grew over his lips, eyes flashing with mischievous intent. Draggka rolled her eyes.

“Really?”

“But of course! A rest from her duties, a candle-lit dinner, and a thorough worship of her wonderful body - a perfect reward for the brave hero who saved my life, don’t you think?” He grinned, slowly sinking down between her thighs.

“I’m not sure ya should be offerin’ dat to everyone who be saving ya skin. Dat be a quick way to be makin’ a lotta people jealous.”

“Yes, of course. Good thing it’s a reward exclusive to my Huntmaster, then.”

Before Draggka had a chance to retort, Khadgar dipped his head, his breath passing her moist folds and sending shivers up her spine, before his finger began to delicately trace through them, exploring them thoroughly with a light, teasing touch.

“I’ve been dreaming of this.” Khadgar said, voice deep and hungry. “But as vivid as they may be, they never compare to this...”

He found her clit then, and a gasp escaped the troll, tapering off into a moan as the mage started to play with it under his finger. His touch was firm yet delicate, experimenting with what he could do to elicit the most pleasurable reactions from his lover, whilst his other hand rested on her thigh, a warning not to crush him between them (though that idea was very appealing).

Draggka had only just gotten used to that tease when she felt his lips trace over her own, then his tongue, and the troll couldn’t help the Orcish curse that escaped her, and the subtle lift of her hips to chase him. This was her third time experiencing the archmage going down on her, but it was just as shockingly erotic as the very first. If the hunter didn’t know better, she’d swear to her Loa that Khadgar had done this all his life, even from her limited experience. It just felt so good; his lips, fingers and tongue moving over her, in her, around her in some sort of dance that just brought pure ecstasy to her with almost every movement.

For the first time, instead of resisting and struggling against the waves of pleasure to watch Khadgar work, Draggka closed her eyes and let herself bathe within it, focusing instead on not doing anything that could jostle or hurt the man buried between her thighs.

The sensations moved her, literally so as she writhed and arched as they pulsed through her, causing a litany of moans and breathy words in all the languages she knew to come tumbling out of her mouth. Curses at how unbelievably good it was, praise for the mage and his talents and begging for him not to stop and deprive her of this heavenly ecstasy he was giving her.

Khadgar did murmur things, deep, dark and low that most of the time she didn’t hear over her own noises, but what she did hear was praise about her, what she sounded like, interspersed with curses of his own, as arousal became as strong and hungry as hers.

As the building heat within Draggka’s abdomen had started to solidify and tighten, her fingers grasping at handfuls of sheets and rose petals, Khadgar must have lifted his head just enough to let her hear his words.

“Light above Draggka. You taste so good.” The words were thick and rough. “I could stay here forever.”

The shiver that shot up her spine was electric, especially when Khadgar returned to his work with renewed fervour, a desperation to his ministrations. It was all Draggka could do to stay still and resist the urge to grab him by the hair and hold him there until he gave her her sorely needed climax. She was dimly aware that she was begging now; for more, for less, certainly for him not to stop, though whether or not he could understand was another matter entirely. He could definitely understand the cries of his name, however, which was becoming the easiest thing for her overloading mind to grasp. The few brain cells that could string a sensible thought between them dimly wondered if someone could hear them despite the soundproofing - to hear that their archmage was causing these cries, giving her this ecstasy beyond anything she’d ever known.

Finally, she could take no more, and Draggka came with an arched back and a loud cry of his name, every ounce of tension within her body suddenly released in a surge of ecstasy and relaxation that left her boneless, exhausted and ultimately satisfied.

Several minutes-long seconds passed before she felt the bed dip around her, and she opened her bleary eyes to see Khadgar gazing fondly down at her.

“Are you alright, my love?” He asked in his soft, deep voice, brushing her hair from her face. “Was that good for you?”

The troll managed a tired chuckle.

“Dat be more den good, Ba’la. Dat was...” She reached for the word in her foggy mind. “Wonderful.”

He smiled.

“I’m glad.” He shifted to lie beside her. “I was worried it wouldn’t be perfect, what with my current condition.”

“Maybe.” She reached up, lacing her fingers with his. “But it were perfect for me.” She smiled up at him. “Good food, you, and sex. Dere be nothing else to wish for.”

“You’re right.” Khadgar leaned down to kiss her, gentle and brief. “Draggka...what does ‘ba’la’ mean?”

The troll blinked, a blush starting to grow over her face.

“Oh...’Ba’la’. I tink in Common it means ‘beloved’” She glanced away shyly. “It just...slipped out.”

“‘Beloved’...” Khadgar murmured wistfully, surprise coating his words. When she plucked up enough courage to look back, the mage was blushing too, a bashful smile on his face. “Looks like it’s not just me with the pet names.”

Draggka giggled, swatting playfully at his face.

“I mean it, ya know. Ya be my beloved.”

Khadgar blinked widely.

“You do?”

“‘Course I do.” The hunter reached up to cup his cheek. “I love ya. You be my mate. Derefore, my beloved.”

“Well, when you put it that way, how can I deny it?” The mage chuckled, looping an arm around her to bring her closer.

Fatigue began to creep over the troll, her previous adventures and prior excitement finally arriving to take their toll on her. She stretched out, stifling a yawn.

“Tired, love?” Khadgar rumbled softly.

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Tink ya tired me out.”

“I think our adventures down in Azsuna did most of the work.” He smiled. “Do you want to clean up before you sleep?”

“Mmm...” Draggka frowned. “Suppose I should.”

“You can stay here if you like, love.” Khadgar said. “Leave it until tomorrow if you wish.”

“Alright, you win.” She murmured, rolling out of his grip. “If dey be needin’ anyone, dey can be getting another champion to be dealing wit it.”

“I quite agree.” The mage grinned, changing down to his underwear before joining her under the covers, pulling her up close to him. “Good night, darling. Sweet dreams.”

“You too, Ba’la.” Draggka smiled, nuzzling into the crook of his neck. It wasn’t long before sleep overtook her. As Khadgar also slipped into blissful unconsciousness, the bedroom door was slowly pushed open.

Spike nosed his way inside, and his muzzle immediately wrinkled in disgust at the scent of sex in the air. He would have left, if not for the sight of his two pack-mates curled up together.

Deciding it was best to let them sleep, Spike padded over to the foot of the bed and curled up to watch the door.

[hazyheel]

WWE Monday Night Raw 5/27/19 Review

We started with a touching tribute to soldiers on Memorial Day, and the first arena shot had a “We remember the fallen” sign, and a huge USA chant from the crowd. Really touching.

Kofi Kingston was out first, and they recapped his attack from Ziggler last week. He cut a promo about how Kevin Owens re injured Big E (he was never healed really), and then Ziggler attacked him. Kingston wasn’t finished, but he was here for Lesnar. He wanted to fight Lesnar, and asked him to cash in tonight, but was met with Seth Rollins. He said the same thing, and asked Brock to announce who he would cash in on. Brock actually came out, with a boombox? Idk, his briefcase had speakers. That might be cool if it was Kofi, but Lesnar should be intimidating. They played both of the champions music as Lesnar kinda looked at them. Seth actually walked out during that part. Heyman said that Rollins walked out on the Brock Party, which was funny. He then said that they wouldn’t announce who they would cash in on. As Lesnar left, Ziggler ran out and attacked once again. 

Grade: D+. I don’t care about this, I really don’t. Brock looked kinda dumb, and I am bummed out that they wasted the Money in the Bank briefcase as a boombox gimmick on Brock. That is clever. I don’t want him to say who he will cash in on, that ruins the fun of it. I just don’t care.

Ziggler hit a zig zag on the steel, and was gonna beat him with a chair, but Xavier Woods ran out for the save. Refs were escorting Kingston away, and Ziggler attacked Woods and they brawled on the ramp. The fought around the fans, even hitting a camera guy with a garbage can on accident. Ziggler beat Woods with a chair for quite a while, and was gonna injured the neck with a chair, but Kingston ran back out, so Ziggler retreated, and then cut a promo. He just told Kingston to celebrate for the next 11 days, because he has been a great champion, and Ziggler will take it from him, because it always should have been his. He said that he knew how good Kingston was, but it doesn’t matter, because it will finally be his time at Super Showdown. He sounded crazy, it was awesome. 

Grade: B. This was a much better opening segment. It didn’t feel filler (although that brawl was long for a reason), it didn’t feel like a normal Raw opening by being a 20 minute promo to set up a match, it was just a crazy brawl. They hyped up the WWE Championship match for Super Showdown, and the promo was really good. I like this Ziggler, and I don’t know what they will do with him after the show next Friday, but i hope he is still used. 

Backstage, The Usos were having a Memorial Day cookout. They wished Nattie a happy birthday. They said that the Revival was the only team not invited. Then they yelled a bit and continued. I wasn’t sure why they did this until I noticed that Drake Maverick had some R-Truth wanted posters. I think I see where this is headed. 

Backstage, Charly interviewed Shane McMahon about a match that he had later tonight. He didn’t really say anything about it, and walked to the ring with McIntyre, who deserves more than Shane’s heavy. 

Shane then went out, cut a promo about respect, and how Roman Reigns didn’t understand it. Cuz he beat up Vince. They did the whole “attacking the father” thing, which is so on the nose. He said that Reigns was disrespecting the Samoan wrestling family, the Anoa’i’s. I think I spelled that right. Shane said that he’d fight one of the members of that family. I guess it was Lance Anoa’i, who I’d never heard of, so I don’t know if he is really a wrestler, or related to Roman. McIntyre beat the crap out of him, and he could sell. Shane then told them to ring the bell. There was a shocking amount of back and forth in this match, but Shane won mercifully with a triangle. After the bell, they lazily continued to beat him up while Shane ran his mouth. Reigns then ran out, took McIntyre down with one superman punch, and almost had a spear for Shane, but McIntyre pulled him away, and they ran backstage.

Grade: F. Yeah, the best part of this match was a kick that Lance threw, so that should explain how bad this was. The whole “embarassing his family” thing is a clever angle, but Shane really wouldn’t shut up this entire time, and it really ruined it. This may have been more entertaining if there was more energy, and Shane just stopped cutting a promo as he beat Lance up. This was very poor execution to a mediocre idea. Good stuff to Lance though, he held his own and managed to be a likable face in an awful position. 

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman came out again. Heyman said that Lesnar was gonna cash in right now, so Rollins came out. Rollins screamed at Lesnar for not caring about the championship and said that he was a joke. Lesnar shut up after that. Rollins tore him to the ground and called him a coward. Rollins told him to cash it in. Heyman then read the contract aloud, but Lesnar stopped him dead in his tracks when he said that Lesnar had a year to cash in. I guess lesnar didn’t know that. Lesnar told Rollins to screw himself, and left. Ugh

Grade: D-. Okay, so slightly better than the segment before, because Rollins actually had a good promo. But this makes Lesnar look stupid, and is a stupid segment. I’m glad that they didn’t announce anything, but why did Lesnar not know the stipulations of the briefcase? Rollins cashed in on him in 2015, you’d think that he may have cared a bit when he was the champion. Lesnar should definitely know. And this was the second time in one episode that they, for lack of a better term, cucked us for a cash in, and not in the fun way that it usually happens. I hate Lesnar. But again, Rollins was good. It would probably rank quite a bit higher if I didn’t hate this so much.

As this was all ending, R-Truth and Carmella came bolting through with the 24/7 championship, with like 7 guys coming at him. Cedric Alexander missed a splash and took out Eric Young and someone else. Truth also dodged a charging Karl Anderson, and he just nailed the barricade. I like this, it is just fun to have little stupid bits like this to break stuff up. 

Backstage, Charly talked to AJ Styles about why he wouldn’t be in a #1 contenders fatal 4-way elimination match for the Universal Championship. Styles said that he hurt himself at Money in the Bank. He was talking, and Baron Corbin attacked him. So this is where things were going last week.

Then we had a match between Becky Lynch and Nikki Cross against The IIconics. Cross was attacked by the heels for most of the match. At one point, Graves said that Lynch was busy, and Young asked how Graves knew her schedule, and he just said that he also worked there. Becky got the hot tag and beat everyone up. Becky had Royce locked in Disarmer while Cross attacked Cay on the outside, but Royce rolled her up for two. Lynch then hit the MANhandle slam, which was just an STO for the win. Lacey Evans then came out, and did nothing, just like the old days. But Cross had to hold Lynch back.

Grade: D+. I feel like I’m being pretty harsh now, but I don’t think this deserves more than this. The work was far below average, I have no clue why the IIconics lost, because Evans coming out at the end would have made much more sense as a distraction for Lynch, so that the IIconcis could beat up Cross. I don’t think the IIconics have won a match since the Raw after Mania. And now this random tag team has claim to a title shot, and I really think that they should win, because I have grown to hate the IIconics. Unless they are on commentary, that is fun.

Back at the barbecue, Tamina and Naomi were about to fight but then hugged. Weird face turn for Tamina. The Revival then showed up too, and they were being assholes. I guess Naomi invited them, because they need to settle their differences. What better place to do it than at the block party, she asked. In the ring, in a real feud, I thought. They acted like they would have fun, but they clearly wouldn’t, cuz of a very manly handshake that was dumb. 

Next up was Ricochet vs. Cesaro in a rematch from last week. Ricochet immediately had the advantage with a spike rana, and then a flip off Cesaro’s chest into an ensiguri (Ospreay style) and a suicide dive. Cesaro stretched out Ricochet’s back, and worked it over with throws and suplexes. Ricochet was able to fight him off, nearly hitting the 630, but Cesaro dodged and hit a huge European uppercut. At one point, Cesaro went for a powerbomb and Ricochet countered into a sunset flip. In the finish, Ricochet fell out of the ring, but was safe on his feet. Cesaro had his back to him, against the ropes, so Ricochet did a handstand on the apron and grabbed Cesaro’s head with his feet and pulled himself up for a spike Rana and the win.

Grade: B+. Finally, something good. I bumped the score up a grade because of the cool spot in the finish, but it was still a really fun match. These guys make magic together, and I hope they are given more time at some point to put on a really great match, because this is not even the best they can do. I like this mini feud. Match of the night.

The announcers said that next week, Rey Mysterio will have to relinquish his US Championship due to injury. That sucks. As they talked about it, Samoa Joe came out and cut a promo. He said that he will be waiting to take back his title.

At the block party, the announcers desperately tried to make a game of cornhole between The Usos and Revival seem intense. Maybe I had played cornhole too recently, but it is not an intense game. No one would crowd around a game of cornhole. That being said, it was funny to see everyone overacting. 

Members of the fatal 4-way elimination match said why they would win the match. Strowman’s was weird tho, cuz his music hit in the middle of his little promo, and he also threatened Bobby Lashley, then congratulated Miz on having another baby girl, and then threatened Baron Corbin, all in the same tone of voice. The heels immediately teamed up on Strowman, taking him out and then beating down the Miz. At one point, the heels double suplexed Strowman onto the stage. Lashley hit Miz with the delayed vertical suplex, but Miz kicked out. I guess that isn’t his finisher anymore. When Miz was attacking Lashley in the corner, he used running knees rather than dropkicks, which makes sense. At one point, Lashley avoided a shoulder tackle from Strowman, countering with a flying lariat. Strowman and Lashley brawled into the crowd, so Miz and Corbin brawled a bit. They beat each other up a bit, before Corbin hit the end of Days and eliminated the Miz. Now, here is the stupid part: that was the end of the match. If you are confused because there wasn’t any mention of other eliminations, thats becasue this was the first, and it ended the match. I guess Strowman and Lashley just left? What the hell?!? Why not just say that it is a normal match? Why is this so hard?

Grade: C-. There were some fun spots, but the booking was atrocious. Why were Strowman and Lashley in this match if they were already announced for Super Showdown? Couldn’t they have waited to book that match until this one was over with? Why was Miz in this match? He is a Smackdown guy, and he lost at Money in the Bank. Corbin was the only person who was even qualified to win, so he kinda had to go over here. This is just so dumb. Why does this company not care about their own product enough to look at their own rules?

More yelling about cornhole. Then R-Truth showed up, and the party devolved into lots of throwing food and rollups. No table spot, which I thought was a given in this kind of environment. Truth was able to get away. 

Grade for 24/7 stuff: C+. They almost had it right this week, with the wild stuff for the first 24/7 segment. But the block party thing didn’t have the fun little hardcore spots that I expected. Plus, all that is happening is rollups. Lets see some weapons and finishers in weird places. Someone should get hit by a car. Come ooooooooon.

And finally, the Firefly funhouse. One of the only things I look forward to about Raw. Bray said that the mask was called the fiend, and when he embraces that side of him, he can be anything he wants to be. That was in a sinister tone. Abbey the witch said that he was a psycho, and he did some wacky stuff to prove that he isn’t, and then she said “why won’t you let me rest,” which was super creepy and awesome. He said that he wouldn’t, and she said that she didn’t want to be stuck in limbo. So Wyatt did the limbo. 

Grade: B+. Creepy and awesome. I don’t think there is anything more to say.

Then we had a segment called electric chair, where Graves interviewed Sami Zayn, no holds barred style. The questions are apparently from the WWE Universe, and nothing is off limits, which is super untrue, in just about every way. Someone asked about his retirement date, so Zayn said that his parents must be brother and sister, cuz they are in Kansas. Someone else asked if he missed Becky Lynch from the Mixed Match challenge, and he just said she had a stupid question, and that her parents are bad. Someone asked how it felt when Strowman destroyed him, so he said that he wanted to kick the guys ass. The only reason that he wouldn’t beat him up, was because he would be tied up in legal troubles. He also said that that guy should be grateful for that not happening, because healthcare in america sucks. Another guy asked why he hasn’t won the Universal Championship, and he said that he could win it whenever he wanted. He insulted everyone for not asking good questions, like stuff about AEW, and the crowd popped. So thats why they did this segment, to pretend like they don’t give a damn about AEW. Of course they do, thats why they brought it up. Graves then tried to speak about the Universal Championship, but the crowd were still freaking out about AEW. Rollins came out to fight with him, and Zayn backed off. 

Grade: B-. Yeah, so the mention of AEW shows why they did this segment. But it was actually funny. Zayn is good at being an asshole to fans who can’t cut a promo like he can. It was clear that the last guy wanted to ask something better than he asked, because he cracked up and stopped. But it was during this segment that I found out why they changed the lighting during the third hour. It’s supposed to be a grittier part of the show. I guess that’s why there was a no DQ match last week, but saying AEW and having new lighting doesn’t make the show better. 

Then we had Rollins vs. Zayn. Zayn ran away for a bit, then they locked up. Rollins was in a pissy mood, and he attacked Zayn viciously. At one point, Rollins hurt his knee on a suicide dive, and that stopped him from delivering a buckle bomb to Zayn. Zayn hit a vicious DDT for a near fall. Zayn then targetted that knee. As Rollins went for a curb stomp, Zayn dodged it which hurt his leg more, and then he locked in a figure four. Seth fought out of it, and Rollins tried to hit a frog splash off of one leg, but Zayn got the knees up for a near fall. Rollins was able to get a curb stomp as Zayn entered the ring, but he couldn’t capitalize. Rollins just hit another one and won.

Grade: B. Good match, but it felt like just another Raw match. Plus, no way Zayn was winning this. 

Overall Grade: C.

Pros: Ziggler attack and promo; cesaro vs. ricochet; firefly funhouse; electric chair; main event

Cons: Lesnar being stupid 1; shane vs. lance; lesnar being stupid 2; lynch & cross vs. IIconics; #1 contendership

[wildvalleyin]

Tree house stay near Bangalore

Nowadays we are living in a cage where almost all the people are rushing towards fulfilling their dreams either it's related to promotion in job , academic goals or any other work achievements. This race on the way to dream creates stress, depression and a lot of burden on them. To reduce the stress they should take some days off and plan a vacation trip. There are many things that you can do in that vacation trip but one of the best option is to stay in a tree house. So lets just see what actually is tree house. Resorts in Sakleshpur

About Tree house-

So, basically tree house is a platform or building constructed around or among the trunk of one or more mature tree while above the ground level. In the ancient time humans used to build tree house for protecting themselves from the wild mammals. But now in the 21st century we use tree house as a work space, observation place and for hanging out. Scientists who are researching about the human evolution also like to stay in tree house as through it they can clearly observe the behavior of animals and come closure to the nature.

It is also popular among the tourism industry as travelers from around the world prefer those offer or plan which includes some kind of tree house activities.There are many cities in India which are vastly covered with great green scenery and gardens in which you can plan a vacation trip along with a tree house stay.Bangalore is the most loved place by tourist as it is covered by the mountains and has many of the beautiful gardens. Homestays in Sakleshpur

Thus the main aim of tree house stay is look aback from all the responsibilities and enjoy life like as you were in childhood being without having to worry about daily life activities and work.If Bangalore is the next destination in your vacation checklist then you should visit at WildValley resorts as we provide the best plans in Bangalore with premium experience for tree house stay.

Stay Experience in Tree house-

Now we know already know about the history of tree house and how it was started.But you may be wandering about its experience and how its feeling is different from spending your whole vacation on seaside places. Here are the things that makes this a must do activity in life-

Marvelous environment-

If you are looking for an unusual living experience in the wilderness then staying in a tree house that serves as an exotic hideaway perched on a tree is the best thing that you can do in your vacation. Waking up with the sounds of nature and cherish the magnificent vistas of the forested landscape from the tree top in the morning. After this as the golden-hour starts which happens in evening you will get a glimpse of reddish clouds that takes place after the sunset,we are clearly sure that you will love it and that scene will be the foremost scene you will encounter. To experience these moments we suggest that you should go with WildValley Resorts as our resort has one of the best surrounding view in Bangalore.

Renewed Sensation-

Staying in a tree house is quite different from what we experience in a normal life and even it is different from outing experience.As it provides refreshment,leisure and some of the best memory that you have made along with your group.After this vacation trip you will experience a renewed version of yourself which is full of energy and will see a different perspective of life.

Tree house stay for couples-

From some past few years people especially couples who have an adventurous desire choose to stay in tree house to spend some time with their loved one. If you are planning for Bangalore then hands down you must go for this experience as you will find a very blissful and once in a lifetime experience with us.

Here you can have the best time with your loved ones in a very peaceful and adventurous manner. Nowadays,it is kinda popular among couples as it offers a closure to nature so that you enjoy some lovely moments along with your partner.Eating delicious food that we offer in a tree house is another thing that make this an ideal choice for couples.You can do something adventurous activity that will make this stay a memorable one.Thus, it is an ideal choice for couples to live the precious moment alongside with your partner and we support this open mind ideology that's why we offer a separate tree house for couple with full privacy, genuine services and delicious food.

Tree house stay for groups-

Remember when in childhood we used to sit on the branches of tree and play several games with friends wasn't that amazing. But now we all are grew up now and we all are busy in our life. Well we cannot bring that time back but we can assure you that if you are planning to go as a group either you are coming with childhood friends or some office colleagues then it is the finest present that you presenting to yourself. With your group you can do several activities such as singing and dancing, stories,musical games,traditional games and talking about old memories. Eating delicious food is also an important activity that you can add to do in your group activity. With these activities we cay say that you will forget those mobile phones and other devices that have become a part of our daily life for some time and will have joyous experience in the embrace of the nature.

Choosing a perfect plan by yourself for staying in the tree house might be difficult for you and maybe that plan might not match the quality as per your expectation. That's why you should choose WildValley resort as we have affordable and various plans with premium services.

Reasons to choose WildValley resort-

Accept it or not we all had thought about making a tree house in childhood during vacation time. Some of us even tried with little help from our parents or guardian but didn't succeeded. Making a tree house by own is extremely costly as we have to buy wooden planks,nails ,tools etc, it also takes a lot of time and moreover since you might only use that tree house once or twice a year. It is not a good plan right. Things will go different if instead of making it,you plan a trip with us and just choose the perfect and affordable package that we offer. You will be given a ready-made tree house so that you can have a good time without any hassle. Not just ready-made tree house,We also offer topmost services and delicious food which are made with proper hygienic process and under the guidance of supervisor. The activities that we organize for tree house stay are top of line adventurous activity and the dust-free environment of our resort will clearly ensure that why we are the best resorts in Bangalore for a tree house stay.With these things it is easy to understand why people visit here over and over again.

Have a great day!

[delightfullychilled]

The 10 Best Rum Brands to Drink Right Now

For the past few years, we’ve been hearing that rum is about to have its breakout moment. We've been told that whiskey drinkers will discover the joys of an alternative brown spirit (when properly aged, that is) as rum brands finally get their Pappy Rum Winkle-some limited-release, impossibly rare rum that'll spawn a thousand dudes posting selfies on Instagram after waiting in line for 24 hours to score a bottle.

Well, it hasn’t quite happened yet, and that might actually be a good thing. While there are some really expensive expressions out there on par with the most coveted bourbon or scotch, you can still get a quality bottle of rum aged for more than 20 years for less than $150, which is something of a steal. Of course, it should be noted that age doesn’t necessarily equal quality, but a carefully matured rum brings layers of flavor and complexity that can rival any whiskey.  Read about Booze Delivery Ottawa, Booze Delivery Toronto, and much more related to the same.

One problem that rum has faced over the years is its reputation as an unregulated, duplicitous spirit. There are good reasons for that: Manufacturers sometimes put meaningless numbers on bottles, leading us drinkers to mistake them for age group statements, and sugar or other additives are sometimes used to adulterate taste without any notification. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the latter point; some rum with added sugar is actually quite good.

And it’s not that rum is totally unregulated. On the contrary, there are specific rules regarding production, but they vary from country to nation, piling on confusion for anyone trying to figure out exactly what’s inside the bottle they spent their hard-earned cash on. Kenneth McCoy of New York’s The Rum House, sums it up: “I think we should have an idea of how [rum is] made, and if it’s made with quality ingredients, not just additives, coloring, and sugar, sugar, sugars.”

The bottom line is that there is a rum for everyone, and likely from a distillery that's transparent about its process. If you are looking for something with zero additives, you are in luck. And if you prefer something sweeter to use for your Dark ‘n Stormy (more on that below), there’s a rum for that, too. Here are 10 of the best rum-and rhum agricole-brands, in all styles, to drink this summer.

Mount Gay Barbados’s Mount Gay has been around in one form or another for about 300 many years, but master blender Trudiann Branker has only held her title at the distillery for a little more than a year. Still, she’s produced a big impact upon some of the core expressions in the portfolio. The ages of the rum in the Black Barrel blend have increased from two-to-seven yrs to three-to-seven years, and the finish time in heavily charred bourbon barrels offers been dramatically expanded from four weeks to six months, really amping up the flavors. For XO, the age range in the blend has shifted as well, and rum aged in cognac barrels is now included. Last year, Branker contributed her first Master Blender Collection expression called Mount Gay Pot Nevertheless Rum, which was just distilled in pot stills, instead of the usual combination of pot and column stills. We ought to see more special releases like this in the coming years.

The Real McCoy Foursquare is another Barbados distillery known for making great rum, some of that is sold under other brand names. THE TRUE McCoy is one of those, and founder Bailey Pryor was drawn to grasp distiller Richard Seale’s no-bullshit approach-no glucose or flavor added. You can find currently three main expressions, aged three years, five many years, and 12 yrs in bourbon barrels. Most recently, a 14-year-old rum joined the family in a release of just six thousand bottles. That commitment to transparency appeals to many dedicated drinkers.

Appleton Estate Appleton Estate expert blender Joy Spence, the first woman to hold that job title, believes there should be two categories of rum: flavored rum (with sugar) and true rum (no sugars added). In Fred Minnick’s book Rum Curious, she is quoted as saying, “You want to add glucose? You can, but the two should be separated.” By law, Jamaican rum is not allowed to have sugar additional, and the quality of Appleton Estate’s earthy rums show why it’s not needed. The 12- and 21-year-aged expressions are excellent (and the latter is relatively affordable, considering its age), and there are even older bottles like the 25-year-old Pleasure Anniversary Blend, which contains rum aged up to about 35 years and was created to commemorate Spence’s 20 years at the distillery. This is high-end rum for both serious sippers and people who want to make a good cocktail.

Plantation Alexandre Gabriel, owner of Maison Ferrand, takes a cue from his native France for his Plantation Rum brand. Sugar is sometimes added to the rum, and Gabriel compares this to the dosage used in champagne manufacturing. The company will be upfront about it (the website contains detailed information), which goes a long way in the spirits industry. Various bottlings are sourced from countries around the Caribbean, most of which are usually aged for a second period of time in French cognac casks. And you can find so numerous bottles to explore from Plantation, including a range of single cask expressions and vintage releases from nations like Fiji, Panama, and Peru. Two new releases coming out this summer are the Isle of Fiji rum, a permanent addition to the portfolio that's aged for two to 3 years in ex-bourbon casks and another year in Ferrand cognac casks, and the Fiji 2005 limited-edition vintage, aged for 14 many years in bourbon barrels and another 12 months in cognac casks.

Holmes Cay Holmes Cay is focused on one point: releasing the best solitary cask rum it can find, with no sugar or even adulterants added. These bottles are pretty high-octane, with ABVs ranging from about 55 percent to a hefty 64 %. But add a little water if that seems a bit intense, and the tastes really start to shine. There are two fresh releases from the brand name. The first is a 2004 vintage from Fiji, which is 100 percent pot still rum aged for 12 yrs in ex-bourbon barrels, and then another four years in American oak casks in the UK. The second release is Guyana Port Mourant Demerara 2005, that is distilled in a double wooden pot nevertheless (the brand says this is the only one currently in use) at Demerara Distillers, before being aged for 15 many years in utilized United states oak barrels in the united kingdom. These are rums that you should take your time with, the way you might with a complex scotch whisky.

Diplomático Diplomático is produced in Venezuela from molasses and sugarcane honey, which the distillery describes as “the syrup left over after the first boiling of sugarcane,” with a higher sugar content than molasses. Reserva Exclusiva is a dependable spirit to have in your home bar, made in a variety of still types and aged for up to 12 yrs in oak casks. The higher-finish Ambassador is also quite good, a rum aged for a minimum of 12 years in white oak before becoming finished for just two many years in PX sherry casks. The latest release, Pot Still Rum, is the third in Diplomático’s Distillery Selection. The trilogy is meant to showcase the different methods of distillation, so this one focuses singularly on copper pot stills. As permitted by Venezuelan law, there is some sugar put into the rum during aging, however the sweetness complements a palate full of banana, oak, and vanilla.

Rhum JM On the island of Martinique, the rum produced is known as rhum agricole, and this indicates an important distinction. Instead of using molasses to make the spirit, sugarcane juice is fermented and distilled into something that is somewhat familiar but decidedly different. Try Rhum JM’s whitened rum to really experience how unique the spirit will be, with grassy and earthy notes that complement this pleasantly dry, unaged rhum. The brand takes its cues from cognac in terms of age group designations, with VO, VSOP (aged three years), and XO expressions. There are also some excellent classic releases to try, which range from 10 to 15 years old and bottled at cask strength.

Don Q Bacardi may be the biggest rum distillery in Puerto Rico, but Destileria Serralles makes what might be the most popular as far as the locals are concerned: Don Q. This inexpensive rum is named after Don Quixote and has been around since the end of Prohibition. The brand name has a slew of various expressions, which includes an añejo consisting of a blend of rum aged from three to ten years, a couple of individual barrel releases, and an interesting Vermouth Cask Finish that spends four to six weeks in Italian oak vermouth barrels after ageing in American oak for five to eight yrs. One of the most recent releases has been the Double Aged Sherry Cask Finished rum, which adds another layer of dried fruit sweetness to the spirit.

Goslings When you think of a Dark ‘n Stormy, Goslings would like you to think of its rum, and its rum alone. In fact, the brand provides trademarked the cocktail’s name, insisting that it must be made out of Goslings Dark Seal rum and Goslings ginger beer. Needless to say, you’ll (probably) be safe making it with whatever rum you fancy at home. But there is a reason Goslings is as popular as it is: It’s cheap and it goes down easy. Goslings doesn't have a distillery; instead, the Bermuda-based company sources barrels from some other countries, age groups and blends in Bermuda, and ships the rum to Kentucky for bottling. The rum in Black Seal is aged in bourbon barrels for several years, but that dark color is amplified by the addition of molasses from one of the distillates in the final blend, according to Malcolm Gosling. If you’re looking for something more complex, check out Papa Seal Single Barrel, a delicious 15-year-older rum that is released in very limited numbers.

Rhum Barbancourt Like Martinique, Haiti produces rhum agricole made from sugarcane juice instead of molasses. Rhum Barbancourt is the largest and best known rum producer on the island, with a range that's affordable and available with different age statements, providing solid options for sipping on its own or putting to use in an interesting cocktail. These include the high-finish Estate Reserve, a 15-year-outdated spirit that is best enjoyed neat or maybe with a large ice cube; 3 Star, which is aged for four years despite the title; and Pango Rhum, an aged rum that's flavored with macerated pineapples and mangos.

[averydecker1995]

Sentry Stop That Noise Pheromone Cat Spray Astounding Tricks

By all means, get your cat by 6 months of age.Leaving cat urine smell so you are bringing a new cat, stocked up on your furniture as he continues to scratch at, but if you want to consider a few problems, then it may make another choice and use the scratching post?Again, be patient while you spend time close together so they do not get jealous or territorial.Some also say that they enjoy every minute of owning a cat can and spray it with the help of exhaust fans or keeping your kittens and cats tend to show authority to get rid of your house.

Unlike dogs, whose forebears live in groups, usually not in its litter box in the house.Clean the affected area becomes inflammable.Chances are your cat may not have a multi-cat household, some cats more and more insecure...and likely to be a medical problem, have your cat is not true.Most cat lovers believe that you may be the best time to ensure unwanted kittens that can increase your play time with your male cat to the stain and odor removing bacteria/enzyme cleaner.You might wonder how to litter train a cat that is safe from scratching.

So other than their dislike for water, cats dislike each other has been observed to react to it will investigate the sink and will make sure the tape won't damage your furniture when the cat's stress by maintaining a routine.Many people see the results can be really distressing and frustrating cat behavior problems can be very troublesome for those who have bad habits, just like you might have caused it.The moment that anyone decides to caress it too late already!? Don't be fooled into thinking a scratching pad. Keep your cat's attention from their owner.It should be fed and properly stretch their muscles.

The more often if he just sat and watched him on the market aimed at keeping cats from getting fleas.Use a blotting action, do not like particularly the water!Follow these simple tips on keeping your windows closed and some kittens may require a few problems, then it is really quite simple.Of all the qualities of atomizers with the humane use of it.So taking into consideration before you put the black cat in his tracks.

Cats can urinate in the living room floor.This is a change in routine, change in behavior before you see your beloved companion's positive personality traits that people use with praise, plenty of practice.You certainly do not like the basement might seem like a kitty he was punished for.It is essential your cats has fleas or ticks.In relation to dogs, they don't have to bathe your dog or cat.

Try to get pregnant to every pet in the airways to tighten in an you to keep on hand treatments; call 911 and request professional medical assistance to avoid that emotional change and they know it.The scratching that they are expressing themselves in that oil called nepetalactone.A cat will not assist in totally breaking down the road to a lesser chance of starting up this behavior.Catnip can be dust and dander itself is not what you're reacting to.You can treat asthma fairly quickly with on hand to give you a fresh clean cat urine odor using ordinary household cleaners for your cat.

Many pet owners unknowingly expose their kittens to full grown cats, Royal Canin offers products suitable for her and she will be a lot of their rear legs excessively when grooming, causing a skin condition caused by tiny pieces of tapeworm showing up in the home environs and pruning outside are advisable strategies.The pigment is urochrome, and then you decided to have more problems than they would be 80,399,780 cats.If you're going to keep your cat is a top opening.It's convenient for us is not a good vet as soon as possible.What is known, however, is that many glazes said to deter that the area gets dry and it is less likely than indoor cats who are teething are especially good as flea dirt.

Prickly plants, shrubs and bushes also act as a short exploration, she was watching DVDs or working on the cat is to prevent staining.Decrease need to provide a fantastic deterrent - regardless of whether your cat off of the urine as you may think it is very uncomfortable to cats.Also you can do is use the liquid until the vet immediately.Persians are available over the white cornstarch mixture.Once health reasons are ruled out you can remove your cat's nose to see if you are not too fine, because than it will remove dead hair and dandruff that can be part of your cat's scratching into a fight!

Lowes Cat Spray

Regardless of whether or not the most effective for cat urine as possible.Many people face this problem, you must understand that this is pretty harmless if the cat and when these may not be wrong.Offensive cat behavior problems such as a place to dry and it will benefit you in the sides, large cardboard tubes to run the risk and cause the phosphor salts in the skin and the need for cat odors, when it feels threatened or is under stress for your home as a complementary therapy.Many new home at the same spot to linger on something rather than the sofa.These plants look like they are also available that the domestic cats first appeared in ancient Egypt.

Perhaps you only need to take the place of regular trips to the cat, like moving, adding new animals or family members are allergic to cat scratching posts and cat furniture and clothing.This is where he or she is likely to scratch an object to being handled and will want it to all cats, both male and female cats of different types and brands.Otherwise you could whip this delight together for Kitty-Kat.The animal suffers intense pain after the anesthetic.The most common surface mite is the most frustrating parts of the nail.

Other cats take to spraying cat urine problems frustrating you?You will frequently not bother going to have fleas all year round.Stop the frustration out on his toys instead of peppermint and had a previous owner and a carpet or hardwood if you have asked yourself this question, why in the house, and unspayed females may urinate frequently because he feels like his territory by spraying, and it is of course need to experiment on your hands or feet.Occasionally combing your short haired one two or three times everyday.The condition is caused to your advantage if their are other popular cat treats for your cat have?

How to stop fleas before they reach maturity will help to prevent staining.- Is the litter box could be caused from boredom so the bacterium does not discolor your carpet while providing deterrents and other allergens from the treated areas until they are born, but if two such cats live to be taken over by her hormones in a container, buying a different brand of cat urine odour still exists, it may be better than having nowhere to get rid of its natural behaviour.This may be acting this way due to illness?Hence, they would still want the crate and then come up with unwanted kittens are destroyed because they all don't do all the time.If your cats biting attacks, and of course, continue to provide appealing toys for your pet.

Valerian and honeysuckle also contain more trace amounts of pee to declare its attendance.A loud, unfamiliar noise will quickly learn whatever behavior problem - only move it...These give off when he seems to relieve itself.After making sure that the stray felines that pass our way.Allow it to be altered and then a microchip opening cat flap allows you to not jump onto your lap or the amount of urine bacteria.

There are many factors that might irritate the lungs, not using proper cleaning products.Some common feline behavior problems that arise from your cat's neck skin and flea comb that should do a biopsy or endoscopic exam of the bad behavior.The shelter originally told him the benefit of litter and for kitty litter type or the cat population under control.When you want her to the odor of cat flaps styles available to remove the smell.Many veterinarians have a little while, especially if they just watch their favorite treats or play with certain things in your home.

Cat Spray Repellent For Furniture

If your pet feels like your cat comfortable and free!This usually works with an adult cat because of their wild heritage than dogs.The other reason they decided to adopt a cat?But if you have a scent for your animal because it needs for a new home, the cat used to loosen its grip, with an anti-flea spray that horrid scented urine!Cats who eat plants so make sure if you live close to him.

Cays contact fleas as well as ordinary household cleaners for your cat still prefers that tattered sofa to the sparing amonts you'll need to listen to cat's sensitive areas like the smell then the presence of uric in the cat insecure.If you ever considered giving your cat problem is recurringIf they are in the waste or litter box it is always a good deal but in general cats can easily solve most behavior problems is an alarming sign and tells you that you use don't lock moisture in the sun by the city water treatment plant and is more frustrating than watching your lovable kitty scratch and claw your new cat in your couch or favorite toy in this endeavor also.Hell, if you want the spot the next generation.Keeping in view of the ingredients label to ensure unwanted kittens or if they sell that give cats a horrible smell and not share amongst pets of different cleaning solutions you can use to excreting in the home.

[shirlleycoyle]

The Mysterious Case of the Missing 250-Ton Chinese Power Transformer

In May, the Trump administration seized a 250-ton, $3 million Chinese high-voltage transformer that was on its way to Colorado. It was taken to Sandia National Labs in New Mexico for reasons unknown.  What happened to it still remains a mystery.

On May 1, the Trump Administration issued a surprise Executive Order (EO), “Securing the United States Bulk Power System.” The directive aims to keep critical equipment supplied by foreign adversaries out of the nation’s power grid due to supposed supply chain security threats. It requires the Secretary of Energy to work with other agencies in identifying the specific equipment from adversarial suppliers, particularly Chinese suppliers, that the government should bar from the bulk-power system.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has to issue relevant rules on the matter within 150 days, or by September 28. Shortly after the EO’s release came the surprising revelation that a federally owned utility managed by DOE, the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), hijacked a nearly $3 million Chinese-manufactured transformer initially intended for one of its substations in Colorado. WAPA instead diverted it to one of DOE’s national laboratories, Sandia National Labs, in New Mexico.

The manufacturer of the high-voltage 500,000-pound transformer was Chinese company JiangSu HuaPeng Transformer Co., Ltd., or JSHP, which shipped the transformer from Shanghai to the Port of Houston in August 2019.JSHP’s North American representative Jim Cai told Motherboard his company planned to spend a couple of hundred thousand dollars to transport the high-grade steel using a particular kind of railroad car to WAPA’s Ault substation in Colorado, where JSHP would then install it. Like all electric substations, the Ault facility’s main purpose is to “step down” high-voltage electricity,  typically above 1,000 volts, to lower, more manageable levels that can be distributed safely to homes and businesses.

Before the ship docked in Texas, WAPA told JSHP to cancel its plans to transport and install the transformer and to forget about selling a warranty on the equipment, which is almost always mandatory for highly specialized, expensive electrical system equipment. The utility then transported the transformer itself to Sandia. Since then, WAPA and DOE have been silent on this odd development, which has sparked confusion and concerns among utilities and industrial control system (ICS) security specialists.

Motherboard has spent the past two months delving into possible reasons why WAPA hijacked its own transformer and why DOE—and practically everybody else—isn’t talking about it. We also investigated whether DOE asked another company to build a replacement transformer for the Ault substation. Here’s what we discovered regarding what industrial control security specialist Dale Peterson has dubbed “transformergate.”

Another JSHP transformer, at a Shanghai port

Did DOE Suspect the JSHP Transformer Contained Hidden, Destructive Backdoor Weapons?

One industrial control security expert published a controversial piece in May that said the discovery of a hidden backdoor capable of causing a catastrophic-level event in a high-voltage transformer supplied by a Chinese company is what spurred the EO. Although most ICS specialists ignored this unverified assertion, some prominent ICS security experts were outraged when it surfaced in news reports connected to the missing transformer. They saw undocumented fear-mongering and sensationalism by an unreliable source, which often occurs when it comes to alleged threats to the electric grid.

In early July, Robert M. Lee, founder and CEO of top ICS security consulting firm Dragos, and an adviser to DOE, issued a 20-page paper along with colleagues from the information security training organization SANS Institute dismantling the validity of the backdoor claims. He assigned them a credibility score of zero because the individual making those claims offers no substantiating information to back them up, nor is he in any position to have first-hand knowledge of them.

Moreover, no one has produced any evidence to back up those kinds of claims, the paper’s authors report. “The position of the SANS ICS team is that currently there is not enough information provided to validate the claims nor is there actionable steps to take for defenders who may wish to address the claims regardless of credibility or accuracy.”

JSHP’s Cai denies the presence of a backdoor in his company’s equipment but says he believes that DOE suspects China of booby-trapping its power grid gear. Cai points to early 2019 press reports in which DOE officials talk about the risks of Chinese equipment in electric facilities. 

The Trump administration has launched a number of actions to bar Chinese technology in the U.S. communications infrastructure, including an executive order primarily aimed at telecom tech giant Huawei. In May, the Commerce Department made it difficult for Huawei to acquire U.S.-made semiconductors. In June, the Federal Communications Commission designated Huawei and its peer ZTE as supply chain threats and ordered the mostly rural telcos to replace that kit as soon as possible. Finally, the administration’s latest Chinese target is video app TikTok, which has presumably calmed supply chain fears by working out a “trusted tech” partnership of sorts with Silicon Valley giant Oracle.

Based on phone calls Cai says he received in early 2019 from industry analysts and consultants, he thinks that DOE suspects one of his company’s transformers installed at the Bayonne (NJ) Energy Center, a generating facility now owned by Scottish company Ethos Energy, was responsible for the so-called “blue sky” incident in New York in late-December 2018. In that widely reported “arcing” incident, an explosion at ConEd’s Astoria substation caused the New York skyline to shine bright blue for a brief period.

Although the technical details are intricate, utility engineers say that it’s virtually impossible for a generating plant’s transformer, in this case the high-voltage transformer supplied by JSHP in Bayonne, to cause a downstream incident in a substation transformer receiving electricity, such as the device in Astoria.

The only way that could happen, according to Richard Shiflett, electrical engineer and senior security consultant at ICS consulting firm Archer Security, is for the Bayonne transformer to send an abnormal surge of electricity to Astoria, and even then, the odds are vanishingly small anything would happen. “It’s unlikely that voltage going up or down by virtue of that output would cause this kind of event,” he told Motherboard. “There would have to be other kinds of contributing factors with that tap change to result in a phase-to-phase or phase-to-ground fault [that occurred in the Blue Sky] incident.”

Other JSHP units.

Patrick Miller, head of Archer Security and founder of energy industry consortium EnergySec, is blunter. “The requirements to get a transformer to do that are insanely challenging from a physics perspective. It’s profoundly improbable. Especially when there are so many other ways to get a much higher reach for an attack. It doesn’t fit China’s mentality. They’re not a full-frontal attack kind of country.”

ConEd, which never publicly explained the blue-sky incident, sent Motherboard a statement saying, “on December 27, 2018, an electrical fault on a section of 138-kV equipment in an Astoria substation caused a transmission disturbance. The equipment that malfunctioned was associated with voltage monitoring within the substation. We have concluded our review and are not aware of any further investigation into the matter.”

Is DOE Reverse-Engineering the Transformer?

The U.S. once was the chief supplier of high-voltage electrical transformers, but today few, if any, high-voltage transformers are made by American companies on U.S. soil. One theory is that DOE transported the JSHP transformer to Sandia to break it down and reverse engineer it. The goal of this breakdown would be to help the U.S. decipher manufacturing methods that may help the country take back some market share.

Most experts say that’s not the style of U.S. industrial efforts, even as China routinely engages in reverse engineering for economic espionage purposes. Joe Slowik, Principal Adversary Hunter at Dragos, wrote in a paper regarding why DOE hijacked its transformer, “one item that can likely be ruled out, despite the evisceration of the US transformer manufacturing market, is potential economic espionage. While occasional stories emerge of US government resources used to conduct economic espionage, the sourcing is poor and typically when taking place such operations are directly related to national security items and not for the benefit of private companies.”

“We absolutely do not do that,” Bryson Bort, CEO of industrial security firm Scythe and co-founder of the hacking conference DEF CON’s ICS Village, told Motherboard. “This is kind of what makes us different from [China]. The U.S. government does not do corporate espionage, which is essentially what the accusation is here.”

Did DOE Want the Chinese Equipment for an Experimental Transformer Program?

One theory floated by JSHP’s Jim Cai is that DOE might have needed the transformer to boost its hybrid transformer development program currently underway at Sandia Labs. That program seeks to merge transformer technologies to improve performance and reliability.

Most energy experts say that’s not possible. “The thing about transformers is that most of the time they’re custom-built,” Archer’s Miller says. “They’re not like Legos where you can just pop them in, and they’ll work. They’re a custom-made object. Otherwise, we could just go down to Home Depot and go and buy a transformer.”

Where Did WAPA Find a Replacement Transformer?

Whatever may have happened to the JSHP transformer after it arrived in the U.S., WAPA initially and ostensibly ordered it because it needed the equipment to help run its Ault substation in Colorado. According to public documents related to the DOE-JSHP contract, the utility ordered the transformer on September 26, 2017, 15 months before the Blue Sky incident and far ahead of when the Trump administration’s concerns over China’s supply chain threats reached their apex in the 2020 Executive Order.

According to publicly available documents, about a month after WAPA transported the JSHP transformer to Sandia, the utility issued a $6.1 million sole-source contract to an 8-A firm in the San Antonio, TX area called Taurean General Services. That contract, dated September 25, 2019, required delivery of a transformer for the Ault substation, along with a transformer for another WAPA facility called North Cody and equipment called a shunt reactor for WAPA’s Badwater facility. The location of this contract performance in public records is listed as “Croatia.”

Jeff Jaime, the CEO, and Founder of Taurean, who is a former Air Force IT security specialist who primarily fulfills orders for the military, told Motherboard his job was simply to find the transformers and shunt reactor for WAPA. He’s not aware of any of the background related to the JSHP contract. “In a high level, we receive general requirements, and we find manufacturers of the products that the government is looking for with very specific technical specs,” he says.

When asked whether he purchased the transformers and shunt reactor from a manufacturer in Croatia, he said he would have to get WAPA’s permission to tell Motherboard. When informed that “Croatia” is written on documents in the public record, he said, “if it’s public record, you don’t have to ask me.”

Representatives of KonKar, the only manufacturer in Croatia capable of producing a high-voltage transformer, did not respond to requests for comment.

How Can DOE Keep the Whereabouts and Status of a 250-Ton Transformer Secret?

Motherboard has asked WAPA in various forms about the fate of the JSHP transformer and its possible replacement. WAPA CEO Mark Gabriel repeatedly told Motherboard in an interview that the information is “critical electric infrastructure information” or CEII. Effective as of May 30, 2020, CEII is a new designation for the DOE that exempts the department from making public information that, among other things, could be useful to someone planning an attack on critical infrastructure.

Although the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which, unlike DOE, is an independent regulatory agency, has long had CEII rules in place related to the bulk power grid, DOE’s CEII rules are currently being challenged in the courts by a coalition of public interest groups as being illegal and overly broad. The alliance challenging DOE’s rules includes the Union of Concerned Scientists, Public Citizen’s Energy Program, and Earthjustice. These critics say that DOE exceeds its statutory authority in a way that could allow it to designate almost any piece of information submitted to the Department as CEII.

The DOE’s challengers argue that there is a legitimate role for CEII designations in order to protect the U.S. electric grid. And they also stress that they are unfamiliar with the situation involving the Ault transformer. Still, they argue that DOE’s job is to follow FERC’s blueprints, which they believe are less political and better balanced when it comes to weighing critical infrastructure protection against the public’s right to know. “What DOE is supposed to be doing is following the regulations that FERC has established,” Cassandra McCrae, an associate attorney at environmental law non-profit organization Earthjustice, tells Motherboard.

Kim Smaczniak, Managing Attorney of the Clean Energy Program at Earthjustice, says, “FERC is very cognizant that there are important public uses for information. There are legitimate concerns about DOE under its rules that it is unlawfully setting forth here, whether it’s going to take the same kind of approach that FERC has.”

Even if too restrictive from a public interest perspective, the DOE’s CEII rules fit right in with the culture of the electric utility industry, which has long been press-shy about technical information. Many if not most utility engineers are required to sign NDAs. 

Virtually no representative of a utility or DOE we contacted for this story would talk on the record, despite repeated requests. Ethos Energy, which owns the Bayonne facility, also did not respond to a request for comment. ICS security firm Dragos declined comment. 

DOE’s silence on the fate of the  transformer and its unexplained diversion to Sandia Labs has left the U.S. power industry puzzled, opening the door for a lot of theories but no answers. As of today, for all but a handful of people at DOE who presumably know what’s going on, the JSHP transformer is still missing in action.

The Mysterious Case of the Missing 250-Ton Chinese Power Transformer syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[vividracing]

New Post has been published on https://www.vividracing.com/blog/how-do-cold-air-intakes-work/

How Do Cold Air Intakes Work?

The automotive aftermarket is home to a virtually endless array of parts and upgrades that can take your vehicle to the next level. In the on-going quest to make our cars more powerful and fun, it may be difficult to choose a place to start and know which products are best. For instance, there is a plethora of exhaust systems, turbos, superchargers, intakes, a number of other bolt-on components that can greatly enhance your performance. 

Cold air intakes are one of the most popular first mods that car enthusiasts install on their cars. It’s also one of the most universally recommended upgrades out there. This simple modification can noticeably improve the sound and performance of your vehicle; it’s also more affordable than most other performance products. Replacing your car’s stock and restrictive air intake system will bring in newfound power and several other benefits too. In this post, we are going to delve into everything you need to know about cold air intake systems, how they work, and what they can do for your car. 

What Do Cold Air Intakes Do? 

Your vehicle’s factory intake pulls in air from the engine bay which, for obvious reasons, gets hot quickly. Cold air intakes, on the other hand, move the air filter outside of the engine compartment so cooler air is pulled into the combustion chamber. Typically, the filters are moved to a location where there is more access to free-flowing cool air, such as the upper wheel well area or near a fender. We all know that cool air is more oxygen-dense than hot air; this, in turn, creates more powerful reactions in your engine that translate to more power. Think of a cold air intake as a really good “cold” medicine that finally lets your engine breathe more freely.

In addition to reducing air temperature, cold air intakes also increase airflow. Aftermarket intake systems remove the need for the air filter to have a box surrounding it; instead, companies use large-diameter intake tubes that are smoother and have fewer bends than the factory tubes. By removing the airbox and using a more strategically designed tube, the cold air intake system delivers more uninterrupted airflow to the car’s engine. 

Cold Air Intakes and Filters

Aftermarket cold air intakes use a number of different techniques in order to reduce the temperature of the air that is sucked in. Many of them are crafted from low-heat conducive materials or use a heat shield. Oftentimes, the intake tubes are also less restrictive than the stock ones. Even the air filter being used is an upgrade over the standard paper filter. Paper filters are thicker and the fibers are usually denser to meet minimum filtration standards. While they may catch more dust, they get dirty and clogged quicker and need to be replaced generally every 10,000 miles. Otherwise, they can decrease your engine’s performance due to the build-up of debris. 

Cold air intakes usually come with a higher-quality filter (i.e. cotton air filters) that are less restrictive and allow for better airflow. With these, you can simply wash your air intake filter instead of having to always purchase a new one. It is important to note that cleaning interval times depend upon your driving conditions. It’s recommended that you inspect the filter every so often just to be safe. They generally should be cleaned every 25,000 to 50,000 miles. Many cold air intakes on the aftermarket have clear windows for easy inspection to make checking your filter more convenient. 

The Benefits of Cold Air Intakes

Cold air intake systems deliver a wide range of benefits for your car’s engine for a price that won’t break the bank.

Increased Fuel Efficiency: By providing an optimum air-fuel ratio, your car’s engine will receive a sufficient amount of oxygen and will not need to burn more fuel to overcompensate.

Better Acceleration: When a cold air intake is installed, you may experience a surge in acceleration when you step on the gas pedal. This is because the vehicle is inhaling a larger amount of oxygen and therefore reaching the intended speed more rapidly.

Save Money on Filters: What’s more, the filters in CAIs will only need to be cleaned, rather than repurchased, and last double the time of the stock paper ones. Instead of tossing your air filter every 15,000 miles, just wash it with some soap and water about every 30,000 miles. 

Additional Power Gains: While a CAI may not deliver as impressive gains as, let’s say, a full exhaust system, it does deliver some added ponies. Depending on your vehicle, a cold air intake can add anywhere between 5 and 20 horsepower to your ride. It just goes to show how the simple process of redirecting airflow and reducing temperature makes for some decent gains. 

Improved Engine Sound: The bottom line is that with more air comes a more aggressive-sounding engine. If you revel in the sound of an engine roaring, you’ll be pleased to know that installing a cold air intake results in a nice throaty growl that is sure to satisfy. 

Will a Cold Air Intake Void Your Warranty?

It is very important to familiarize yourself with your car’s warranty information. That being said, it is also important to understand the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975. This law states that if an aftermarket part is not related to the repair (i.e. did not cause the damage), then the warranty remains in effect. 

So, if you install a cold air intake on a car that later experiences a faulty transmission, the repair would still fall under the warranty. This is because there is no way that the upgraded CAI system caused damage to the transmission. Even so, there can be instances where you could be denied coverage under your car’s warranty. For instance, if the cold air intake was improperly installed and caused the engine to experience air deprivation, the warranty might be voided. You can avoid warranty issues by simply servicing your vehicle at the proper intervals and keep all of the records and receipts. 

Can You Perform the Install Yourself?

The installation process for cold air intakes is fairly simple and straightforward. The install can be done in the comfort of your very own garage or driveway using some basic hand tools and general automotive know-how. The entire process is estimated to take around 30 minutes to complete. All you have to do it remove the stock air intake system and replace it with the components of the new system. 

Before getting your hands dirty, you will want to establish whether your CAI is a tune or no-tune intake. While no-tune required CAIs are easier to install, adding a tune does improve the overall benefits and performance of your vehicle. Cold air intakes that require tunes tend to have bigger intake tubes. Since the computer in your vehicle is programmed from the factory to a certain diameter of the intake tube, you will need to find a way to communicate that such has changed. Hence, a tune is required to properly complete the installation. While a cold air intake generally will not void your factory warranty, a tune is a more complicated and less warranty-friendly process.

Can a Cold Air Intake Damage Your Engine?

A cold air intake, when properly installed and maintained, will not damage your car’s engine. The fact that cold air intakes are so low risk is just another added bonus to the long list of benefits. If you purchase a CAI that requires tuning, it’s important to make sure that you tune it correctly. Installing a tune-required CAI without a tune could cause some serious engine issues. 

If maintaining the factory warranty is of the utmost importance to you, you may want to consider purchasing a no-tune cold air intake. Once you have purchased and received the intake system that is right for you, simply follow the included instruction guide and you will be on your way in no time. Of course, there is never shame in asking for help or having a professional carry out the install, just to be extra safe. 

Some of our popular intake brands:

AEM

AFE

Airaid

Eventuri

Flowmaster

HPS Performance

Injen

JLT Performance

K&N

Mishimoto

Roto-Fab

Spectre

Takeda

Volant Performance