#saros blend

[nature-godsgardenofeden]

5 Pesto recipes ❣️💛❤️

Basil Pesto

½ cup toasted pine nuts 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 small garlic clove ¼ teaspoon sea salt freshly ground black pepper 2 cups basil leaves ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for a smoother pesto ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a food processor, combine the pine nuts, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper and pulse until well chopped.

Add the basil and pulse until combined.

With the food processor running, drizzle in the olive oil and pulse until combined. Add the Parmesan cheese, if using, and pulse to briefly combine. For a smoother pesto, add more olive oil.

Mint Pesto

3 cups mint leaves, lightly packed and stems removed ¼ cup cashews or almonds 1 garlic clove, sliced 4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 Tablespoons lemon juice 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese 1/3 lemon, zest 1/4 tsp salt, plus more to taste Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Remove the mint leaves from the stems, wash them and drain them possibly using a salad spinner.

Add the extra virgin olive oil to the food processor first, then add the rest of the ingredients.

Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and blitz to a smooth paste, adding a tablespoon or two of cold water to help it along if necessary. Taste it and season again according to your liking.

Cilantro Pesto

2 cups of cilantro 2 garlic cloves 1/4 cup pine nuts 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 a lemon, juiced 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Pick the cilantro leaves off the stems and set the leaves aside. Peel and mince the garlic. Toast the pine nuts for 1 minute on medium-high heat until browned and set aside. Into a blender, add the olive oil, pine nuts, lemon juice, salt, pepper, minced garlic, and Parmesan cheese. Blend on the lowest setting for 15 seconds. Place the cilantro inside the blender until smooth, about 15 seconds. Transfer the cilantro pesto to a bowl or jar and serve as desired.

Spinach Pesto

3 cups baby spinach lightly packed 1 cup basil leaves lightly packed 3 cloves garlic 1/2 cup walnuts 1/2 teaspoon salt few shakes black pepper 1/2 cup olive oil 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

Add the baby spinach, basil, garlic, walnuts, salt and pepper to a food processor and pulse several times to combine.

While pulsing, drizzle in the olive oil and blend until well incorporated. Add the lemon juice and parmesan, if using. Serve and enjoy!

Arugula Pesto

4 cups Arugula, tightly packed 1 cup Walnuts ½ cup Parmesan Cheese ¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil ½ large Lemon, zested and juiced 2 cloves Garlic, grated Cold Water, as needed Sea Salt and Black Pepper, to taste

Place arugula, walnuts,cheese, olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, and garlic in a food processor fitted with the chopping blade attachment.

Blend until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Add cold water in small amounts to adjust consistency to your liking. Add salt and pepper to taste/ Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to five days or freeze up to 90 days.

Jack Saro

[eclipsedsounds]

A few questions I have about ASTERIAN! I'm looking forward to him! He looks and sounds amazing!

How difficult was it to choose his name and what was the reason for choosing it?

What can you tell us about his design concept and how it came to be today?

Are you able to speak on the choosing of Eric Hollaway as his voicer?

Thank you for your enthusiasm about ASTERIAN, and my apologies for our hiatus from this platform!

ASTERIAN's name choice was quite difficult - we changed it many times over development to try to find a sound that fit! I discussed it more in our response to a previous ask from our hiatus backlog.

As for his design - ASTERIAN went through a few concepts, but we settled on this look fairly quickly! The basic idea was the same as SOLARIA - to create a unique look that (ignoring the cape) has a more modern silhouette but blends in more fantasy aspects as well. While I can't share the early concept art as it was done as an internal paint-over from a non-stock photograph, I can describe the process a bit. His hairstyle was decided immediately to be twists as that is also the signature look of his voice provider, but we gave him long hair to push the design into fantasy a bit more and add another aspect that was the opposite of SOLARIA. We chose to keep the gold alongside his blue color scheme to show that our vocals are equals (rather than "downgrading" the rarity of metal), as well as to warm his overall color scheme to match his voice. A silver metal also washes out his color scheme and makes him far less interesting, so we settled on gold as our standard. Other design aspects we discussed were similar to the hair decision, choosing to do the opposite of what is done in SOLARIA's design. For instance, SOLARIA's metalwork lays on top of her design & is more decorative while ASTERIAN's functions more as the "bones" of his clothing, and the opposite is true of their armor pieces, with SOLARIA's appearing more functional in nature and ASTERIAN's being more decorative & jewelry adjacent.

I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for with regard to our voice selection process - but we knew that Eric Hollaway was perfect after the first time hearing him sing! We scouted across multiple different social media and casting platforms for ASTERIAN's voice, a process that we have continued for projects after him, and when we found Eric we were immediately charmed. We firmly believed that a bass vocal was necessary for this project, as one had not been created before as a commercial synthesized vocal to our knowledge. With the goal of creating voices to fill the gaps in available voices, it was clear that Eric would be the right choice. We are incredibly pleased with how well his unique tone carried into ASTERIAN! It may be interesting to note that SAROS was also in the scouting stages at the same time as ASTERIAN had been! Due to scheduling conflicts, SAROS' voice provider was not able to begin recording until the beginning of this year.

[auralina33]

Eclipse, they barely exist but they're worming through our brains anyway-

Counting the Balloon World thing and also Ruin DLC Sun and Moon too because god knows I won't get questions about them separately.

ECLIPSE

First impression: When we first saw anything about "Eclipse" in the Balloon World minigame I was like "Oh! That's a fucked up thing!" and proceeded to make shit up about it like wildly. When we saw Eclipse in the Ruin DLC teasers I was literally like fingers crossed hoping so fucking hard that they weren't gonna go with "Sun and Moon got blended together" it was bad for me.

Impression now: I LIKE ECLIPSE. I LIKE ECLIPSE A LOT FOR HOW LITTLE I TALK ABOUT THEM. I wasn't expecting for Sun to directly come and ask for help, Moon. Moon. Moving on! And Eclipse themself being so sweet and kind of bringing a balance while also not deleting Sun and Moon caught me off-guard in a good way.

Favorite moment: Sunnydrop was the highlight of the entire Ruin DLC Daycare section for me I'm sorry. My ass literally wanted to tear up hearing them sing to comfort themself that hit so fucking hard with the hearing them cry and having had them just beg for help. Eclipse's reveal definitely had me absolutely jawdrop, and Sun's little "Thank you..." at the end was so. Ough Sun we're taking you for a vacation.

Idea for a story: I badly need to write my Memento Mori Eclipses. I have like 3 of them and you guys don't know even 1. In MEMO, Ruin DLC Eclipse (Chroma) would be brought in post-canon to try to stabilize Sol and Luna so I'd want to try writing her introduction to them and how their dynamic develops. Also I should write some poetic creepy shit with my Balloon World Eclipses (Umbra and Saros) they're so good for it.

Unpopular opinion: Moondrop is NOT being straight-up evil and doing a "split personality takeover" thing I don't care I do NOT care, I don't care how it's framed and I don't care what the game and books imply. They literally read as being in distress-fueled mental breakdown mode to me I genuinely cannot read them any other way and I could ramble about it.

Favorite relationship: Eclipse, Sun and Moon's relationship has so many chances to be so interesting and sweet. Also I would have loved to see them interacting with Cassie. And it's a bit of a shame that none of the other characters ever talks about or interacts with them.

Favorite headcanon: For canon, the idea that Eclipse was a third AI meant to help, care for or protect Sun, Moon and the kids that got taken out to facilitate hacking Moon and hurting people. Also I made Umbra a woman for Vanny parallels and now when I make Eclipse variants my first thought is to make them women it's a disease.

[accirax]

Thanks! 😁 I've never even heard of your song choice at all 'til now (currently listening to it as I'm typing this out) but, yeah! I see the vision, this one good too; I can hear Alec's lower range & Dan's higher range blending well together through the chorus.

And for the record, there are plenty of vocaloid songs in English that you could pick. ALSO, songs using *other* vocal synth programs besides vocaloid (but I'm guessing you don't really know much about those...). (SynthV is pretty popular right now, to give an example)

If I had to select something from that category, here's one I've listened to recently. It's one of the demo songs for Eclipsed Sounds' newest vocal for Synthesizer V (the final addition to their "Starry Court" series): https://youtu.be/Smk4z2Mcgz8?si=OcOvUjq7l46rIMHJ

(I really hope I got the link right, you'll have to rearrange the I's and L's otherwise.)

But here are some other choices too:

https://youtu.be/N1-Z8usIlsI?si=3QCEO_qm1kjPm_-9

https://youtu.be/HV70kQnDur8?si=kXqvr8wL7h2wsrBa

https://youtu.be/5u1CVs31OYM?si=ybKBR8mgPbH_GNtV

https://youtu.be/-nhwTI1w7cU?si=YJrAxTezqV7HZP4b

https://youtu.be/8M4_BGV9hUg?si=TbN_eXKjxwpUeQ05

(since it's been a hot minute since my last post, here's a link for anyone who doesn't know the context)

you are definitely right about the english vsynth* songs, although comparatively there are far fewer to choose from than japanese songs. i got too distracted by Conquerors and Fake Hearts and other things that (in my opinion) clearly don't work to put together what you proposed in some of your links, which is that Dex and Alec are actually a really good match. although, the Dex songs that i've heard prior probably wouldn't work super well with Dan-- i feel that Dan's nerdy vibes wouldn't mesh super well with something like Honey I'm Home, and his voice is too different from Gumi's to sound natural on A Crow's Trial.

within my limited catalogue, i might choose Pathological Facade? although, i can't deny that i might just be biased by the MV's aesthetic. i like the options you provided, though, especially #2 on your list! and, of course, we always have to stan a RIProducer banger.

*i would say that i both do and don't know a lot about non-vocaloid voice bank-based music. however, what i really don't know is what words to use to describe it. i know that there's a difference between Vocaloid vs SynthV vs CeVIO vs UTAU vs Vocal Synth vs whatever else, but i can't exactly put into words what it is, or which singers go into which categories.

like, i know that the reason why the virtual singers in project sekai are called "virtual singers" and not "vocaloids" was about a brand dispute about the use of the term "vocaloid," but does that make (for example) Miku not a vocaloid anymore? does "vocaloid" then apply to someone like Gumi-- who i thought was a SynthV? i know i saw a clip of Gumi, Una, and Gakupo singing in a concert together, so i assume that whatever they are, it's the same thing, if they can have a concert together like the Crypton 6 do. i think Teto used to be an UTAU, but recently became a SynthV? Solaria/Asterion/Saros/now Nyl are apparently SynthV if their website is anything to go off of. where did all of the voice banks Flavor Foley have been using-- Yi Xi, Hayden, Eleanor Forte, Feng Yi-- come from? i think Kafu is CeVIO; does that make Sekai one too if they're on Sekai-chan to Kafu-chan no Otsukai Gensokyoku together? where does Kaai Yuki go? what about Avanna? what the fuck is a Zundamon??? (/j)

i know that explanations for these terms are out there, i just haven't totally taken the time to sort out who's what and what that means yet. i did at least learn a bit more about UTAUs the other day when i watched VocaStats' video on the top 100 most viewed UTAU songs on youtube the other day, but it's still pretty hazy. hence, i was using "vocaloid" as an umbrella term for any sort of virtual singing software-- possibly a habit i picked up from watching VocaStats' videos. sorry for not being clear. i knew very little about vsynths before december 2021 (when project sekai's EN server came out), and only really started looking into the history of virtual singers in recent months. further apologies in advance if i phrase anything else wrong 😅

[breathofcosmos]

Bullet Laden with Gold - Trigun Verse

Summary: Fenix has developed a name for herself on No Man’s Land, she can fix and or craft any manner of machinery and weaponry she lays deft fingers on. This talent and effort provides funding through her lonely travels and adventures, though with a drink or pleasant company she may just repair something of yours free of charge. It may also result in her needing to avoid a grimy grip of a gang or bandit group who would love a tech genius and repair lady. Far more reserved knowledge is how she handles ancient technology, with unnerving familiarity and quiet apprehension.

If she is human, she’s been around for far too long to be normal, granted most people won’t realize this as she sticks around for at most a month somewhere, fixing vehicles, firearms, plant surrounding machinery- before she’s saved some cash and is moving along. A mystery nobody quite realizes should be solved yet. Detailed info under the cut.

Name: Fenix Dahana Age: Likely around 160 -180 years of age depending Height: 4′11″ Weight: Generally around 100-145 lbs, changes easily/drastically Build: Athletic/slim designed for running Eyes: Golden green with a narrow pupil. The more energy she has/food she’s eaten makes for more gold color. Lacking energy has the leafy green color taking over. Hair: Long, reddish brown strands with iridescent undersides, blue in undertone. Her hair is an oddity of actual human hair meshed with long, flexible feathers in design. Due to how unpredictable/volatile early humans could be on the planet she developed a habit of shredding her hair in a way to make it look more human and blend in. Career: Traveling as a vehicle, weapon, and plant technician/repairman. Has been for decades.

Timeline and Bio: 

Born on Earth to a Saros Dahana. Likely lived on a facility located in the ocean between where Ireland and Portugal might have once been found.

Spent the first six years of her life watching then learning from her mother to work with plants and animal life for preservation and potential transfer/survivability.

A moving order/emergency forced Saros and Fenix to leave the facility.

Fenix’s biological father came and took Fenix to a different facility upon Saros’ failing health and assigned her to an experimentation group with several dozen other young kids to young adults.

Fenix doesn’t remember a lot of details of her time there. Some manner of animal and spatial experiments for various DNA and survivability tests and more.

More advanced testing permanently altered appearance, biology, physical abilities, etc. Didn’t fare well initially before taking to the change.

The need for more food and other qualifications labeled her a failed experiment. Knowledge of her physical inability to handle cold temperature had her being boarded onto a SEEDS ship with other kids with the intention of cryo-sleep being fatal for her.

Each ship had a caretaker and the one on Fenix’s ship discovered her on a stroke of good luck with a routine check and pulled her out, finding her pod tampered with to not notify of fading vital signs.

Fenix’s inhuman appearance and need for substantial amounts of food was unnerving and off-putting but despite being distant to her, the caretaker did provide what sustenance she could.

SEEDS ships crash to desert planet surface

Fenix survived due to a combination of getting pushed into an escape pod and her own abilities under a panicked reaction, taking on some temporary form change when her little ship hit the sands.

However she couldn't quite shake off her animalistic features for awhile after, many surviving humans mistaking her for a wild creature native to the planet and chasing her out.

WIP

[coldwellbankerswap]

LAUNCHING SOON!✨ 🚨LAST PHASE in Masaar ⭐SARO PHASE⭐ The seventh and final phase of Masaar, Saro is an idyllic retreat that will offers an upgraded lifestyle. Choose from a range of well-appointed homes, from two-bedroom townhouses to six-bedroom signature villas. Every residence at Saro blends nature-inspired design and features with the latest smart home technology, bringing you environmentally friendly convenience and comfort. Facilities : ✓Smart A/C and lighting controls ✓Garden ✓Balcony ✓Covered parking ✓Living and dining area ✓Laundry room ✓Under-stairs and storage room ✓Guest bathroom ✓Maid’s bedroom and bathroom ✓Spacious master suite . . .📞 Call us at 800 CBSWAP / 058 900 9747 to know more details! 📱 WhatsApp : https://wa.me/971589009747 🔗 Link in bio . . . #coldwellbankerswap #coldwellbanker #coldwellbankeruae #arada #saro #masaar #newlaunchindubai #launchingsoon #comingsoon #dubai2023 #propertyinvestment #investnow #dubailuxury #dubailiving #luxuryliving #realestate #launchingsoon #contactus #reservenow #townhouseforsale #villaforsale #forsale #latestlaunch

[teck-zilla]

Gangster! Fela Anikolapo kuti is gangster Gangster! Ken Saro wiwa is gangster Gangster! Dele Giwa is gangster What kind of man you kill with a letter bomb if Not a gangster

‘Enter The Double Dragon II’ by rapper Psalmurai and producer/dj Teck-Zilla is a 7 track project that fuses profound songwriting and deft lyrical display over hard-hitting soulful beats. It's a beautiful blend of martial arts flicks, comics, pop culture and hip-hop.

Out on All DSPs here: https://lnk.to/ETDD2

[cokicenbilirmis]

ah vedat abi yaktın bizi.

metrodan vedat milor seçkileri arasında yer alması ve orada çalışan adamın yoğun ısrarlarıyla aldık ama beklediğimizi bulamadık.

içtikçe damakta kekremsi bir tat bırakıyor.

[cosmic-whorror]

Some scent ideas for my OCs ( I love hand blended oil perfumes )

Saros - galbanum, incense, Egyptian musk, sandalwood, and peppercorn

August - leather, tobacco flower, opium, bergamot

Jiang - iris, labdenum, chypre, vanilla

Zev - vetiver, cream, moss, tonka, cedar

[wanderinginksplot]

Warriors in Red Armor

Previous | Next | Masterlist

Chapter Five

Kai II

"Does everyone understand the mission?" Ransom stared hard in Kai's direction.

Kai scoffed. Just because her attention had drifted off a time or four didn't mean that she was going to be totally lost. "Who needs a debriefing? We're going to do the same thing we always do. I'm going to flirt with everyone until they give me information or get distracted. Ark will slice into their systems and get hard copies of the information we need. You'll be here, masterminding the whole thing."

Ransom stared at her hard for a moment, but Kai met her gaze with ease. Eventually, Ransom gave a little sigh and said, "Yeah, that's pretty much it. But be careful. We've got to get this job right. The merchant's guild has paid us a lot of credits for the information we need. Plus we stand to double our profit if we complete the mission on time. Maybe we should go over the plan again."

"Nah, I've got it," Kai assured her.

Ransom's eyes were like a med-scanner as she used her gift. Kai had always said that Ransom could spot a lie from five klicks with strangers and twice that with friends. Eventually, Ransom must have decided that Kai was telling the truth and nodded. "Fine, but be careful. Are you sure these layout schematics are up-to-date?"

"I'm insulted," Kai jokingly scowled. "Are my schematics ever outdated?"

"No," Ransom begrudgingly admitted. "Even I don't know how you find some of that information."

Kai beamed at the rare praise from her boss.

"You know," Ark started. Kai tensed - there was only one subject that could put that tone in Ark's voice. "We could really use you out in the field on this one, Ransom."

In half a heartbeat, Ransom was as on-edge as both of the other women. "You know that's not an option, Ark." She gave a forced-looking smile and shook her head. "Besides, you don't need me. You're both the best in your respective fields. This mission will be a total success."

The drastic change in mission outlook warned Kai that Ransom was ready to snap. All antics should be cut off immediately.

"Ark and I better go get ready, huh?" Kai said. "Sounds like we need to look the part."

"Comm me when you're ready and I'll activate your earpieces," Ransom said. She always could snap back into professionalism as naturally as taking a breath.

"We will," Kai promised, pulling Ark toward the door. "Ark, bring your outfit to my apartment, would you? You're better at doing hair than I am and I could use your help getting mine to look right."

As soon as they were in the turbolift, Kai puffed out a breath, trying to sound as non-judgmental as possible. "I don't know why you bothered asking her. She never reacts well to it."

Ark looked a little embarrassed. "I was going back over some of her old case files and I just- I got carried away. She was a legend. An actual one. There were stories about how good she was, and she didn't need to divide jobs like we do. She could flirt, slice, get everything she needed, and get out before anyone even realized there was a breach."

"I know, I've read the files, too," Kai reminded her friend. Ransom had been incredible back in the day. Granted, she was impressive now, but before she had stopped going out on jobs? She could have easily run Red Squad alone and made ten times what they were earning now... And then she would have no one to split profits with. "But you're starting to be a bit of a legend yourself… Ghost."

Ark's pale cheeks reddened with the compliment. "I don't even know how that one got started. And it's not good that people know about me at all."

Kai huffed out a breath at her friend. Ark was slender, pale in every sense of the word, and silent. She was also one of the fastest slicers Kai had ever seen… the fastest if they weren't counting Ransom. 'Ghost' was a natural nickname for her. Kai was only jealous that the nature of her designated task meant that she could never get notorious enough for a nickname. Being recognized would be the end of Kai's usefulness to Red Squad.

"Enjoy it, Ark!" Kai encouraged, squashing her own jealousy. "It's a compliment. Speaking of compliments, how is your trooper?"

"You mean Thire?" Ark asked, blushing a bit darker.

Kai chuckled. "Do you have another?"

"No!" Ark shook her head, smiling despite her apparent exasperation. "We talk a lot. Thire is a great guy."

"Are you going to see him again?"

"I'd like to," Ark admitted. "What about you and Thorn?"

"Thorn?" Kai asked, a bit taken aback. "No, nothing going on there. I had fun with him - you know, drinking, watching people on the dance floor, so on - but I don't think there's much of a future in it."

"That's disappointing," Ark said with a frown.

"No, 'disappointing' will be when we aren't ready on time and Ransom kills us both."

A little less than two hours later, both women were ready to go. There was a strange sort of line they had to toe in order to do their job well. Ark had to be dressed to blend in while Kai worked to stand out. All the attention had to be on Kai so that Ark could get in and do her job before anyone noticed what was happening. They had to arrive separately as well. Kai called two different speeders to her apartment, scheduling the second to arrive later than the first.

"So, who hired us again?" Kai asked when she was ensconced in a droid-piloted speeder.

Ransom sighed heavily through the earpiece. "Seriously, Kai? This is why you need to pay attention during briefings."

"The Bespin merchant's guild hired us to find out if the Felucian merchant's guild is spying on them," Ark informed her. Judging by the muted background noise from Ark's earpiece, she was just leaving Kai's apartment.

"They hired spies to see if the other guild hired spies?" Kai asked, chuckling.

"Merchants," Ransom said simply, sounding as if the word had been accompanied by a shrug.

"Arriving at location now," Kai reported. "Estimated entrance: two minutes."

"Two minutes, mark," Ransom replied.

Kai straightened her clothes and took a deep breath before she stepped into the guild hall. It was ornate and overdone, but that was fine: it matched everything she had done with her appearance.

There was a noticeable lull in conversation when Kai stepped inside. She wrestled her smirk into a pleasant smile as she accepted a glass of expensive wine from a serving droid. The form-fitting, low-cut dress floated around her, revealing shapely legs and the most delicate high heels she owned. Her versatile hair was done in a flattering updo. While her makeup was bold, it was tasteful enough that it didn't look overdone.

If Kai was honest, the hardest part of every mission was the pretending. She had to avoid all of the things she actually enjoyed in favor of appealing to onlookers as a sexual fantasy. She had to sip delicately at wine rather than guzzle hard spirits, she could only eat small bits of food that would be sure not to stick in her teeth or ruin her lipstick, and the tightness of her dress meant that she couldn't take a full step… or a full breath.

Being the bait was a nice ego boost, but everything else about it was kind of awful.

Even as Kai mentally tallied the negative aspects of her task, an older, orange-skinned Felucian gentleman sidled up to her. Kai vaguely recognized him as Ollo Set, the head of the Felucian merchant's guild. She continued giving her pasted-on smile.

"Good evening." Considering the height of Kai's towering heels, Set only just reached her chest. Undaunted, the Felucian put on a smile he clearly meant to be charming. "How can such a lovely woman be here alone?"

"Oh, I'm here with someone," she said, doing her best to sound both flirtatious and confused. "He was supposed to meet me here, but I haven't seen him yet."

"Well, whoever the lucky man is, he's a fool to miss even a moment of your radiant company," Set oozed. He took her hand so he could bow - very shallowly - and kiss the back of it.

Kai felt a rush of revulsion. She hated when they touched her. Still, she was a rather incredible actress, if she did say so herself, so she pasted a delicate smile on her lips. "Thank you, sir. It is comforting to find such kindness here, even if my date is later than I would have hoped."

Set patted her hand in a way that managed to be both fatherly and lecherous. "If he does not arrive shortly, I shall show you around myself. Your careless date should not cause you to miss meeting these incredible people."

"I may take you up on that offer! I'm Saro," Kai lied.

"Ollo Set," he returned, adjusting the jeweled cuffs of his jacket. "Leader of the Felucian Merchant's Guild. Pleasure to meet you, Saro. I must leave for a moment, but ask anyone to point you in my direction and you'll have no trouble finding me."

"Oh," she murmured, trying to sound impressed as she fluttered her eyelashes at him. Set watched her for a moment, looking stunned, then turned to meet with a group of well-dressed Felucians. The whole gathering shut themselves in a side room, leaving the party raging on without them.

Under the pretence of adjusting an earring, Kai activated her earpiece. "Meeting of the big guys - metaphorically big, anyway. Ark, what's your ETA?"

"Speeder trouble," Ark said, sounding irritated. "ETA: four minutes."

"Four minutes, mark," Ransom confirmed.

Kai circled through the room, chatting and picking at morsels of food while she kept an eye on the entrance. At least she didn't have to be subtle about it - her cover story allowed her to openly watch the new arrivals without looking suspicious.

"I'm right outside," Ark's voice crackled through the earpiece. "Are they still in the meeting?"

"Yes," Kai breathed, managing to work her answer into the conversation she was having with a drunk Felucian female.

Ark made her entrance seconds later. She wore a mousy brown wig and a tan dress tailored to disguise her slender figure. Carefully applied makeup had lent her colorless skin the appearance of more life. As a result, she didn't stand out overly much from the other humans in the room. Ark glanced at Kai, who subtly tilted her head toward the still-closed door.

With that, Ark made her way toward a hallway. According to the detailed schematics Kai had provided, the hall held both the refreshers and several data access points. At the last moment, a serving droid moved into Ark's way, intending to offer her a glass of wine. Ark, busy double-checking the door, tripped on the droid and flailed to recover her balance. Her small bag fell to the floor, spilling her slicing materials onto the carpet as the service droid beeped around frantically, trying to offer help. Kai watched with more than a little horror as the door to the guild meeting swung open. Ollo Set stepped out first, then paused and frowned over at the commotion caused by the serving droid.

Kai rushed over toward him. "Mr. Set!"

His pale orange gaze swung toward her instead, for which Kai was forever thankful. She had seen Ark starting to gather her tools, any one of which was recognizable as being part of a slicing project. Now, Kai simply had to hold the attention of Set and the other guild members, and she knew exactly how to do it.

Tugging at her dress in apparent distress, Kai revealed a bit more of her chest than she had previously been showing and forced tears to well in her eyes. When she reached Set and the accompanying guild members, she leaned down to speak with him. Her posture allowed the best vantage point for Set to see both the tears and the cleavage.

"What's wrong, my dear?" Set asked, looking first at her chest, then the tears, then her chest again.

"I just received word that my date isn't coming after all. He's stood me up!" she told him, letting one of the tears slip down her cheek. "Is there any chance you're still willing to accompany me this evening?"

"Why, Saro," he oozed, "I would be absolutely delighted. May I introduce the other leaders of the Felucian Merchant's Guild?"

Kai chanced a glance backward as she straightened up once more - leaning down in such a tight dress was killing her spine - and was pleased to watch Ark disappear safely down the hallway. Kai relaxed slightly and put a tearful smile on as she turned to be introduced to the other Felucians.

"Wait, I- I recognize you," one of the Felucians, this one a yellow-skinned female, said haltingly.

The smile slipped from Kai's face, but she had rekindled it a moment later. "Are you sure? I don't think we've ever met."

"I've seen your face somewhere before," the female insisted.

"What are you prattling on about, Ethoda?" Set asked, striving for a tone of boredom and achieving one of irritation.

"She's someone I know, and not in a good way," Ethoda insisted. Kai's stomach gave an odd little twist at the thought that someone had finally recognized her. The Felucian female at last said, "I'm fairly certain she's a prostitute!"

Well, that was unexpected. Kai gaped. "What? I'm not a- I am not a prostitute!"

"That's just what a prostitute would say," one of the other males muttered.

"Which is more likely: a beautiful human woman being interested in Ollo or that she's a prostitute?"

"That makes more sense than anything else I've heard tonight."

"I'll notify the Coruscant Guard," Ethoda offered, rushing away.

And that was that. Admittedly, the mission had been to keep attention away from Ark in whatever way was necessary, but Kai had never expected this to be the outcome. It wasn't the proudest moment of her life, but Kai sat quietly and waited for the Coruscant Guard. The only move she made was to 'fix her hair' and activate the earpiece.

"I can't believe I'm getting arrested for prostitution," she muttered. Ark and Ransom's frantic questions and sounds of outrage provided entertainment until the Coruscant Guard arrived.

A clone trooper in red and white armor marched into the room. "Commander Thorn. What's going on here?"

---

Thorn I

"This woman is a prostitute!"

Thorn was always the first to admit that he wasn't a lighthearted trooper. The laughter and jokes that came easy to his brothers weren't part of his repertoire. Still, even Thorn had gotten a kick out of the accusations that were being thrown Kai's way. It had taken him a minute or so to recognize her - especially with a group of Felucians insisting that her name was Saro - but her look of dread at his entrance had been a solid clue.

He had taken down the eyewitness details of the incident with care. Keeping his voice level was tricky, but no one could hear the mocking he knew was clear in his expression. When the long-winded Felucians finished talking, Thorn closed the document so he could place binders on Kai's wrists and lead her to his cruiser.

"I'll take her to the precinct," he told the Felucians.

He had to shut down the external speakers on his helmet when the leader of the group - an orange-skinned male who had introduced himself as 'Ollo Set', followed them outside. As he fixed Kai with a stern gaze and he said, "Let this be a lesson to you, young lady: there is no substitute for an honest day's work", Thorn laughed aloud.

Rather than risk reactivating his speaking and giving away the game, Thorn had nodded to acknowledge Set's thanks. He steered Kai into the back of the cruiser as soon as he could and settled into the front seat himself. They were in the air waiting to enter traffic when he finally thought it was safe to remove his bucket.

As he reached for the familiar plastoid curves, Kai snapped, "This is ridiculous. You know I'm not a prostitute."

Thorn broke the seal that had formed between his blacks and his helmet before answering. "Of course I know that. Do you think I leave the code to my binders in the backseat with every perp?"

"Oh," she said, ire deflating as she grabbed the scrap of flimsi and awkwardly typed the written code into the binders. "Then why-?"

"If I hadn't brought you in for a false claim like prostitution, they may have come up with something more difficult to fight." He met Kai's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Like industrial espionage."

There was no answer from the backseat and Thorn abruptly found the whole situation less amusing than he had previously. Industrial espionage was a nasty business, and he wasn't thrilled to find that Kai was wrapped up in it.

"Care to explain what you were doing at the headquarters for the Felucian merchant's guild?" he asked.

She sighed, looking conflicted. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything. As long as it's the truth. I don't like listening to lies."

"Hey," she said, leaning forward with an offended look on her face. "I don't lie."

Thorn snorted. "You want to try feeding that line to the crowd of civvies back there who told me all about 'Saro'?"

"I lie at work because it's literally my job," Kai snapped. "I don't have a choice there, but I do everywhere else. I am not a liar."

"So your job is to lie and you wear revealing clothing while you do so," Thorn mused. "Are you sure you're not a prostitute?"

"I'm on an information securities team called Red Squad," she told him irritably. "We were hired to get intelligence from the Felucian merchant's guild."

"And they sent you in alone?" Thorn asked with an unfortunate chuckle.

"No, I wasn't there by myself," Kai admitted. "But I couldn't stay, not after having attracted that much attention. I don't even know if the mission was a success or not."

"Another private sector success, then," he said, sarcasm thick in his voice. "I take it that jobs don't always end this way?"

She snorted. "Believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever been arrested under suspicion of being a prostitute."

"It's a small and glorious club," he said. "It also signals the need for a career change. Ever thought about doing anything else? This espionage thing may not be your strong suit."

She grew quiet and Thorn saw her turn to stare out of the window. His heart skipped a beat. Stars, don't let her start crying... He felt an unusual wave of pity wash over him. Kai's day had clearly gone wrong and here she was being taken away from a formal event in the back of a police cruiser. Plus, Thorn's vode had always told him he could be abrasive, so chances were good that he wasn't helping matters.

"Hey, I'm not going to charge you with anything. Why don't you give me your address and I'll drive you home?"

"You can just drop me off here," she said frostily. "I can find my own way home."

"The kriff you will," he shut down immediately. "It's almost midnight. Coruscant isn't safe for civvies dressed like you are at this time of night."

"Maybe at the next intersection," Kai suggested, pretending she hadn't heard him.

"Maybe I'll take you to the precinct after all," Thorn threatened. "That way, I won't be responsible if you end up attacked or killed for walking through dangerous parts of the planet at night, looking like a-"

He cut himself off and Kai leaned forward, a challenging look on her pretty face. "Like a prostitute?"

Actually, he had been about to say that she looked like royalty, but her tart response knocked some sense back into him. "Yeah," he agreed instead. "Something like that."

"You're impossible," she told him, sounding tired. "Just… take me home."

She gave him the address, but Thorn could hardly hear it over the pounding of his heart. Kai probably hadn't meant for her words to sound inviting - far from it - but they had caused a pang of something long-buried in his memory. The feeling of home hadn't been one emphasized in flash training or any day since, but he had always imagined it would be the way he felt when he had heard Kai's request.

Still, he forced his mind back to his duty and plugged Kai's address into the navicomputer on his cruiser. Shortly afterward, they had arrived at a plain-looking building. Kai still hadn't said another word to him, which frustrated Thorn for some reason. They may not have exchanged comlink info like Thire and his girl had, but Thorn and Kai had gotten along at 79's. He couldn't remember a time he had laughed harder than when she drunkenly told an equally drunken Nikto that he had "scored a perfect 30" on the dance floor.

Deciding to make things right once and for all, Thorn shut off the cruiser and got out to open Kai's door.

"Thank you, Commander," she said stiffly. "Drive safe on your way back to the precinct."

"Hold on, let me walk you inside," he offered, injecting enough suffering into his tone that she would think it was a punishment. She didn't say anything to encourage him, but she didn't say he couldn't accompany her, either.

So Thorn found himself following Kai down two flights of narrow stairs to her housing unit. When they arrived at the door, he noted an odd lock keeping it closed. Still, he thought little of it until Kai also frowned and made a confused little sound.

Every instinct Thorn had demanded that he act. In half a second, he had grasped Kai around the waist, spun to place her behind him, and drawn one of his blaster pistols. He ignored Kai's questions and focused on the area, but his HUD wasn't showing any signs of potentially hostile lifeforms. More importantly, the strange lock wasn't bringing up any warnings.

"What's on your door?" he demanded, still scanning their surroundings.

"It's a lock," Kai explained slowly.

"I figured that," Thorn's response was dry. "What kind of lock and who put it there?"

"How do you know I didn't?"

"Body language, tension, and observation, now focus," Thorn commanded. "Who put that lock on your door?"

"Probably Ark," Kai admitted with a sigh. "It's for me to practice slicing."

The answer was so far beyond anything Thorn had been expecting that he actually let the barrel of his blaster drop toward the floor as he turned to face her. He repeated, "Slicing?"

"Yeah, I'm over-" Kai stopped her sentence halfway through. "You know what? I don't want to explain this to you."

"Do it anyway," Thorn advised. "Because I'm not leaving, otherwise."

She crossed her arms, kicking up her chin. Right as Thorn thought he would have to press her again, Kai said quietly, "I'm sick of being the bait. I want to do something useful, like slicing, but I'm not very good at it. Ark is trying to teach me and she's big on practice. She bought me this lock and said it would give me motivation to learn."

"So, she put a practice slicing lock on the door to your apartment. You would have to use your new skill to get inside," Thorn summarized. It sounded like something that his vode would do. He silently supported the endeavor even as he mentally noted the implication that Kai and Ark worked as some kind of team.

Still, Thorn holstered his blaster and gestured at the door. He took a step to the side so she could access the lock. "Well, go ahead. Slice."

Kai looked at him, eyes severe. "I'm not any good at it and I'm tired. Do you know anything about slicing?"

"Not a thing," said Commander Thorn of the GAR, official head of the department overseeing arrests and difficult extractions that often included slicing.

"I could get a hotel room for tonight…" she mused.

Thorn rolled his eyes. She was as dramatic as Hound. "Or you could just try it. Your friend wouldn't put an unsliceable lock on your door, would she?"

"Probably not," Kai agreed with palpable reluctance. She sighed and pulled a small set of tools out from behind a potted plant in the hallway as Thorn watched with growing amusement.

Kai placed the scramble key on the back of the lock, but it was backwards and wouldn't work. "What are you doing?"

"Unlocking the door? I'm pretty sure," Kai told him, poking at the lock. "I don't know why the key isn't registering, though."

"Explain the process to me," he invited.

She turned to stare at him, seeming shocked. "You want me to teach you how to slice?"

"Why not?" Thorn asked. "Teaching a skill is one of the best ways to see if you've learned it."

"Fine," Kai huffed. "First, you attach the scramble key to the back of the lock… oops. That's definitely backwards. Anyway! Once the system has registered the key, it can start running possible combinations. Then your only job is to keep the security systems from booting you out."

Thorn watched the process, trying not to smile as Kai clumsily shut down security checks and shutdown attempts. Her methods weren't pretty, but they were effective, and the lock dropped from the door after a few minutes of work.

He retrieved the lock and the scramble key for her, taking a moment to study the key close-up. Thorn hadn't seen anything like it before. That was impressive, considering how much of his job revolved around slicing attempts. The key was homemade, like all the best scramble keys were, but on a level that told him how well the maker understood the process of slicing.

"Interesting key," he commented, hiding his interest. "Where did you get it?"

Kai glanced at it, unimpressed. "Ark gave it to me. She said it was trustworthy."

So Ark was a slicer. If she had been the one who made that key, she was kriffing good at it, too. Thorn made a mental note to ask Thire about the woman he had been spending so much time talking to. A moment later, that and all other coherent thoughts left his mind as Kai turned back and asked, "Do you want to come inside?"

He stared at her, dark brows furrowed. "You don't like me."

"I don't like when you mock me," she corrected. "But I like you just fine. Plus, you aren't arresting me when we both know you could. I think that's worth a cup of caf. Maybe even a cookie."

"Maybe even two cookies," he joked, following her into the apartment.

Kai gave a teasing scoff over her shoulder. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

---

A/N - Poor Kai. That would have to be a pretty hefty blow to your ego! Good thing Thorn was the one to respond - even if he did lie about knowing how to slice. On that note, do you know who knows nothing about slicing? Me. So if anyone is an expert about the process and this reads poorly, I'm sorry! I just started playing Republic Commando and did a lengthy skim on the Wikipedia page about slicing, but that's the extent of my knowledge.

[cosmosfated]

A lone figure in a space once overrun with vibrant magic stands at the entryway to a home well loved and well protected, wearing furs and heavy fabrics to shield from the cold weather. Carefully, fingers remove themselves from pockets of a coat, removing a couple of items from inside and placing them at floor level in a box. A small purple tinted terrarium of forget me nots and gladiolus on a chain, and a pair of nice gloves. ['To: The Guardian. For Yuletide.'] A knock, then they're gone.

A knock at the door rouses the attention of a yokai, a father sitting on one of the couches while his daughter and youngest child open their gifts. Strange, they weren’t expecting visitors. Possibly Melanie and Trey were stopping by to have Christmas dinner with them─ oh that would be lovely… but they tend to call a day ahead of time so they all know what they’re doing.

“one moment, i’ll be right back.”

There’s a hum from Saros as they fiddle with one of their gifts, a bubbly smile on their face as they go back and forth with Pacifica about their joke gifts to one another. It’s a tradition after all to get these sorts of gifts! …they don’t quite recall who started it…

Whisper opens the door, starting to greet who’s at it, only to find an empty entryway. He blinks, blinks again, adjusting his glasses and catching a glimpse of a box at his feet. Strange gets stranger… an odd box out of nowhere after an unexpected knock. Worry gnaws at him for a moment before there’s a complaint about the cold being let inside from a young star-child, whined out and pleading.

He chuckles, apologizes, and picks up the box to take inside and shut the door. Wait, there’s a tag on this… The Guardian? Who is that referring to?

“Daddy, what’s that?” Saros speaks up as they toy with the space themed tangle puzzle in their hands. They could always use another space oriented fidget item, it keeps them from running around wildly without any care for anything else! Or stuck in their room sniffling from either understimulation or thinking too much about things they can’t bring up to anyone but Captain Dad, who seems to be busy with both Code stuff and Mister Shane.

“ah… i don’t, know actually.” He leans in towards the box, hearing nothing but the slight shift of chain like that you’d hear from a necklace. “it’s addressed to the guardian, but i don’t know if they delivered it to the right house or not.”

“I dunno, maybe they were being real cryptic and vague but referring to you, faushar.” Pacifica pipes up while smoothing out the terribly ugly but somehow fitting sweater that reads ‘merry christmas motherfuckers’ on the front with several patterns of bells and reindeer in alternating rows. “What’s it say it is?”

“it just says “to the guardian, for yuletide.” as far as i know, none of us celebrate yuletide.” 

Saros looks down at the gifts to their side, conveniently placed where they aren’t looking at their adoptive dad and sister. “Huh, that’s pretty weird. Maybe that’s just their way of saying Merry Christmas, or Gyftmas.”

“maybe…”

“I swear I’ve heard of Yuletide before…”

“it’s a pagan holiday that’s celebrated at the same time as christmas, or gyftmas, but without the christian undertones. because christianity is like that.”

“Oh, welp. Yeah, that sounds fair. Could be their way of wishing us a good holiday!”

Saros nods in agreement as the other two go into the kitchen, leaving the odd and strangely plain box on the coffee table. They look up, say they’ll go organize their stuff in their room… and take the box with them as they go. 

Their door closes, and they let out a shaky breath of relief… or is it pain? They look towards the small hidden portion of their bookshelf that their brother had made for them. He made it with that hidden spot in case they want to hide snacks, or toys, or money they earn. He understands the need to hide, though they wish he didn’t have to understand it. Right now, though, that understanding helps.

They huff, place their toys and clothes and other gifts on their bed, and then take the small box to the hidden area in their bookshelf, placing it alongside a few other personal gifts. Most of the gifts are for their brother when he gets back, not if─ he’s coming back, he promised he wouldn’t leave them alone. But a couple of them are for their brother’s big brother. Ian, that was his name. 

They nod, proud of their work and ready to go down and pretend as if everything is alright.

Pretend. Right. They can pretend. They used to be good at pretending.

They pause at the door, glancing back to the once again blended in portion of the bookshelf. “…y’come back to us, okay? Safe and sound. We’ll be waitin’ for you to come home, big brother. Always.”

And then they head downstairs with a cheery fall of footsteps upon hardwood.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Book Roundup April/May 2019

This spring has been exceptionally difficult and busy for me on both a personal and professional level.  I really haven’t had the time to read as I’d like--so I’m combining April and May.  With that being said, there were some good books within the past couple of months--Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan was DEFINITELY a huge highlight.

Call Me Evie by J.P. Pomare.  2/5.  Kate is held in a remote cabin by Ben--who holds her captive while claiming to protect her from the fallout of something terrible that she did.  The trouble is that Kate can’t remember the night that terrible thing happened.  As she struggles to piece together her memories, what Bill tells her isn’t matching up--and she must reconcile who she is with what she did.  I’m sure that lots of people would love this book, but the pacing was thrown off for me by all of the flashbacks.  It’s not you, it’s me.

Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan.  5/5.  Nadya is a Kalyazi cleric, and as such she can commune with--and draw supernatural power from--a pantheon of gods.  She’s spent her life in a monastery; however, a looming threat finally materializes in the form of Tranavian invaders, heretics that send Nadya on the run.  Falling in with Malachiasz, a Tranavian defector, she sets out to end the war she only way she knows how: by killing the Tranavian king.  Meanwhile, Serefin, the heir to the throne, is summoned home from the front--only to discover that he’s in more danger at home than abroad.  This is a wonderfully atmospheric and delightful novel.  Emily never holds back--you get monsters, you get royal politics, you get alcoholic princes and questions of theology.  And there is a romance that I’m absolutely obsessed with, which is always major for me.  I loved this book to death, and there is one bit at the very end that just got at my soul.  I can’t wait for the next installment!

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.  3/5.  Kya is a young child when her mother walks out on the family; it isn’t long before her brother and father follow suit, leaving Kya as the borderline-feral Marsh Girl.  At first, she’s dependent on the kindness of strangers.  But gradually--with the help of friends and Tate, a boy who will become her first love--she becomes independent, if never truly accepted by the nearby townspeople.  Her way of life is shattered when a young man shows up dead--and she is accused of murder.  On the plus side, this book was very engaging, and some the descriptions were at times beautiful.  If you’re from the South, some things will indeed ring true.  It’s not perfect, but it is engaging, and a fun if predictable read... until the last third or so, when everything kind of collapses and the book’s flaws are emphasized in a big way.  I really, really disliked how much Owens went in on the “untouched wild beauty” thing with Kya.  It felt very fetishistic.  She’s this beautiful poor white girl living feral in the marsh... learning everything she knows from black people, by the way.  And all the men love her and want to have sex with her.  I’m honestly just torn about this one; I feel like I would have given it a lower rating if not for how much I did enjoy the first chunk.

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang.  4/5.  Khai is accomplished and handsome; however, he’s never had a girlfriend.  On the autism spectrum, he’s convinced himself that he’s incapable of love.  His mother has other ideas--and while visiting her homeland in Vietnam, she meets Esme.  She offers the single mother a golden opportunity: visit America for the summer and convince Khai to marry her.  If he refuses, she can go home, no strings attached.  It’s too much for Esme to possibly turn down--but making Khai fall in love with her is a much more difficult task than she first imagined.  This wasn’t quite up to par with Hoang’s debut (the delightful Kiss Quotient) but I did really, really like it.  Her trademark humor is there, as is her sensitivity and knack for sweet romance.  Khai and Esme’s story is just kind of lovely.  (And sexy.)  I did feel like the ending was a bit rushed--I wanted more.  But I’d recommend it any day, and can’t wait for Hoang’s next book.

Little Darlings by Melanie Golding.  2/5.  Following the birth of her twins, Morgan and Riley, young mother Lauren is exhausted.  Therefore, few believe her when she says that she saw a woman slip into her hospital room and attempt to replace her babies with strange creatures.  A month later, the boys briefly go missing in the park--and when they’re found, Lauren insists that the things that have been returned to her are not her children.  This may have been a bad fit for me--I love magical realism and changelings, but the overwhelming depressing darkness of this book was just... not even vaguely enjoyable.  And it did help put me off of having children for a looong time, if ever.  I couldn’t focus on the writing quality; it was just so dour.

From Scratch by Tembi Locke.  5/5.  This memoir tracks the first few years following the death of Tembi’s husband, Saro, following a long battle with cancer.  As she visits his Sicilian family each summer with their daughter, she flashes back to the early days of their courtship and marriage--as well as her in-law’s initial struggles over the fact that their Italian chef son married an African-American actress.  “From Scratch” is LOVINGLY written and painfully beautiful.  It made me want to be more open to falling in love, as cheesy as that sounds--what Tembi and Saro shared was clearly worth all of the pain she’d feel after seeing him slowly deteriorate and ultimately losing him... which is saying something.  Locke also has a talent for writing in general, but especially about food.  I appreciated her human examination of the prejudice she faced; it’s really obviously on her to decide whether or not to reconcile with people who treated her with clear racism, but...  She also clearly loves and is loved by her mother-in-law now.  The honest complexity in that relationship is refreshing.  I don’t usually love memoirs, but this one was fantastic.

The Unlikely Adventures of the Chergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal.  4/5.  Rajni, Jezmeen, and Shirina aren’t estranged, exactly, but they don’t have much in common either.  But after their mother’s death, it’s revealed that she charged them with a journey through their ancestral homeland of India.  With each sister carrying secret struggles, they unite in an attempt to fulfill their mother’s wishes--and come to terms with their relationships with not only her, but each other.  Balli Kaur Jaswal is so good.  And even if I didn’t love this quite as much as Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, it’s still quite good.  She’s a rare author who can blend genuinely funny moments with high drama (that is often socially aware).  There is one subplot that I didn’t super love due to its implications, but otherwise I really enjoyed the book and the sisters.

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev.  3/5.  Trisha Raje is a successful surgeon--who is nonetheless alienated by her blue-blooded family due to her history.  When she meets DJ Caine, a high-profile chef in the running to cook for the prestigious fundraisers supporting her brother’s political campaign, it’s dislike at first sight.  He can’t stand her snobbish bossiness; she finds his assumptions about her frustrating and demeaning.  But even if DJ didn’t need the job, they can’t avoid each other--because Trisha is the only person who can save DJ’s terminally ill sister.  So: Dev says that this is very loosely inspired by Pride and Prejudice, but as the title suggests it’s VERY inspired by Pride and Prejudice.  Points for the genders being swapped here--though DJ does stand in part for Darcy, he’s the Lizzie of this story--and Dev does a great job of bringing cultural backgrounds and social issues into the forefront without beating us over the head with it.  But for whatever reason, I never really clicked with Trisha and DJ’s romance, and the Wickham side of this was... not great.  Still, it’s a fun read and it made me very hungry.  Not bad for a day by the pool!