#given how tough it was to just generally get in the holiday spirit this year-- so no big surprise that's carried over some XP

[take-ya-to-the-ghey-bar]

decisions have slowly been reached for the contents of ic gifts that Micchan is gonna be giving out~, and while i'd really like to give each one their own little drabble/more properly written ask-- currently i'm not sure if my brain will let me have the needed juice for that...

also, i know this coming in late aaaa-- but, i hope all my mutuals (and anyone else who might see this, somehow lol) had a great holiday, regardless of how you spent it~💖

[wannabe-fic-writer]

All Over Again - Chapter 4

Summary: What was lost can be found. 

Warning: 18+ Smut, Language, Violence. 

I was in the holiday spirit so I wrote this chapter. Kind of just filler stuff and LOTS of fluff. Enjoy!

Ch. 3

* * * * * *

“Awe, look at you in your fall colors.” You tease.

Wanda laughs, eyes on something ahead of her before she focuses on you,“ Laura gave me the scarf. I didn’t realize how cold it’d be today.”

You find your eyes looking at the window of your hotel,“ is it snowing there?”

Instead of answering, she flips the camera and you see the mix of leaves and snowflakes falling.

As beautiful as National City is, you admit you miss the weather in New York. The snow and leaves falling added to the holiday spirit. The white and shades of red screamed Thanksgiving. 

“You could always come back, at least for the day.” Your friend says, the camera turning back.

With a shake of your head, you tell her,“ I’d never make it back in time. Besides, Lena insisted I spend the day with her.” 

The brunette wiggles her eyebrows playfully. Only for her jaw to drop at the expression on your face.“ Oh my god you like her!”

“What? No.” You try to play it off with a laugh.

Good ole Wanda though, she can read you like a book(without the powers).“ That’s why you were so eager to go back to NC. You have a crush!”

“No I-” do you?

The idea isn’t far fetched. Lena’s an incredibly attractive woman. Intelligent, caring, ambitious, funny, genuine. But you have far too much going on with your emotions to even consider liking someone. Right? 

Were you not just telling Natasha how much it sucks to see her with Bruce? How could you go from hating to see that to suddenly liking someone? Is that really how your emotions are choosing to work?

Escaping the onslaught of thoughts, you find Wanda smirking at you.“ You like her.” She says with a nod and smile. 

“Doesn’t matter whether I do or not. There’s too much going on for me to be exploring something like that.”

She scoffs,“ yeah right. As we speak you’re on vacation. There’s no greater time to explore. And if you like her, you deserve to pursue it. If anyone should get a chance at happiness, it’s you.”

Damn. Could you have asked for a better best friend?

“Have I told you that you’re one of the few things I’m thankful for Wan?”

Blushing a little, she tells you,“ you hadn’t but I knew already. I’m thankful for you too, I-” a sudden swirl of emotions race through her eyes, red magic flickering with it,“ I don’t know what I would’ve done without you these last few years.”

“You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for, but I’m glad I could be there for you.”

It’s quiet on her end for a moment before she can pull a smile,“ love you Y/n, Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Love you too Wan and Happy Thanksgiving.”

With an over exaggerated kiss blown to the screen, Wanda hangs up, the lingering picture of her smiling face on your screen before it goes back to the generic wallpapered home screen.

You take a second to yourself, eyes trained on the city outside. 

There may not be any snow, but NC definitely has its own way of showing the holiday spirit. In that, a lot of the skyscrapers have large light displays on them. And where there are trees, the orange, red, and yellow leaves fell from them. 

Eventually, you get up to get ready. Taking a shower and putting on an outfit that reflects the season and holiday. 

Having everything you need, you call a car, waiting for it in the lobby with a cup of coffee. Once in the car, you let Lena know you’re on your way. 

It leaves you a little unnerved when she doesn’t reply as fast as usual. In fact she doesn’t reply at all but her doorman let’s you up so you know she’s home. 

When she pulls her door open and you take in her slightly frazzled state you frown.

“Should I have waited to come by? Is everything okay?” 

Lena’s heart melts at the worried expression on your face, a smile forming,“ no it’s fine I just, I forgot most restaurants are closed on Thanksgiving.”

A gasp leaves your lips,“ Miss Luthor,” you press a hand to your chest,“ take out is not a proper Thanksgiving meal.” 

Her mouth opens to reply but seeing your expression has her keeping it to herself. 

The few nights you’d spent here, you know Lena doesn’t keep her fridge and cupboards stocked.“ Come on, we’re going shopping.”

Lena will admit, she had a bit of a slow moment, wondering what shopping would do to solve the food issue. Arriving at the store though, she realizes you meant grocery shopping. 

Walking around the store with you pushing the cart is probably the most domestic thing Lena’s done in a long time. She finds herself falling in deeper with you as she sees how, almost childlike you are: riding on the cart every so often, throwing completely unnecessary snacks inside, and doing small little celebratory fist pumps when you find exactly what you need.

“Okay,” Lena breaks the quiet,“ are you secretly a chef outside of being an Avenger?” 

Currently the two of you stand in her kitchen, smooth jazz playing through the room’s speakers, Lena’s usual glass of wine on the counter mere inches from your glass of bourbon, as you prepare dinner. Admittedly Lena isn’t all that good at cooking, so she’s slightly fascinated with how easily you move about. 

You raise an eyebrow, fingers sprinkling seasoning over the Cornish Hens,“ what’d you mean?” 

“I just- you seem to be really good at this.” She gestures to you and the spread of food in front of you. 

Shrugging, you tell her,“ I just learned from my dad. He literally taught me everything I know.”

There goes that tone again. Your voice sounding far off. You reminiscing.

You slide the pan into the oven, setting a timer, and looking back with a smile, nodding for Lena to come over. 

She stands at your side, arms brushing with every move as you raise the lid off the skillet, steam rising from it,“ now don’t go sharing this recipe with anyone Miss Luthor.”

The CEO chuckles,“ well if it’s good I’ll have to capitalize on it.”

You laugh, eyes shutting with the action. So you miss the look Lena gives you, pride at being the reason you’re laughing and a longing to make that smile last.

From there you tell and show her the way you’d been taught to make yams: nutmeg, brown sugar, vanilla flavor, and butter. Then turning them over so the seasonings reach all the vegetables.

Grabbing a smaller spoon, you scoop some of it up, and hold it out to her. A hum of approval leaves Lena’s lips at the taste of it.

“That’s incredible.”

You watch the way her tongue runs over her lips, catching the remnants of the food, and resisting the urge to reach out and run your thumb across the pink muscle.

Opting to nod and jokingly say,” oh I know.”

She laughs with a shake of her head. 

It goes like that as you continue to cook. Once a dish is done, you give Lena a taste and she tells you how great it is. Until you’re setting it all out on the table in front of where Lena set out the plates and silverware. 

You both fix your plates and refill your drinks before sitting down.

“I’ll admit, this is a million times better than take out.”

While you hadn’t mentioned it before, you have to now,“ please tell me this isn’t the first time you’ve had a home cooked meal for Thanksgiving.”

The CEO shrugs, a sad smile covering her lips as she says,“ well I’ve spent the last two in my office.”

You raise your eyebrows,“ and before then?”

“Meals were made by the chefs. And holidays with my family were usually, well awkward. With the tension between myself and my mother and Lex’s silence. . .”

Reaching over, you cover her hand with yours,“ family can be tough. But from what I’ve seen it seems you have a decent one.”

The brunette looks at you quizzically. Did you not hear what she just said?

“Not the Luthors,” you clarify,“ I mean your chosen family. Kara, Alex, everyone else. They care a lot about you and you love them too.”

Lena smiles fondly at that. It’s true.“ And here I’ve yet to see your family, related and chosen.”

“As far as my given family goes, it’s just me and a few distant cousins. My mom was never around much and my dad passed years ago. Right after I’d graduated college actually.”

There’s the confirmation of her thoughts. Though she wishes it’d come at a different time. 

She tries to lighten the mood,“ chosen?”

“Also complicated,” you chuckle,“ there’s all kinds of dynamics going around with them but we have each other’s backs in the end. I’d give my life for everyone one of them.”

“Anyone in particular?” She finds herself having to ask.

Praying silently that there isn’t. At least not in the way she’s referring to.

You nod with a smile,“ Wanda. She’s my best friend. A sister really. We’ve been close since she joined the team.”

She smiles for two reasons. One: you’re single. Two: it’s cute that you have someone like that. 

Throughout dinner you both joke and talk about lighter topics. Despite the numerous looks you give each other, neither of you catch it. 

When dinner is over(and leftovers are put away) you tackle the dishes and then move to the living room with your dessert. 

“Okay, apple cheesecake. Never knew I needed it.” She says with a chuckle.

Your eyes widen in agreement,“ I know right. Apart from strawberry and classic New York, it’s my favorite.” 

“I’m going to need you to make both of those for me, for research purposes.” She adds the last bit with a wink.

Laughing makes you lean just a little closer and Lena loves it. A quiet buzzing grabs yours and Lena’s attention. 

The woman pulling her phone out.“ Speaking of desserts, my chosen family has an abundance of it and has invited us over.” 

“Ooo, yes, I love desserts.” 

She smiles at you in amusement and together you both get ready to leave, Lena insisting that you bring your cheesecake. 

Unsurprisingly, christmas music is all over the radio on the drive over. You can’t say you expect anything less. 

With Lena at your side, you knock on Kara’s door. The blonde pulling it open in seconds. 

“Lena, Y/n, hi.” She hugs the both of you excitedly. 

“Thank you for inviting us.” Lena tells her friend. 

Stepping into the apartment, without a thought, you’re helping Lena take her coat off as she’s holding your dessert in one hand. With a blush, she thanks you, and you miss the wiggle of Kara’s eyebrows in her direction. 

Mon-El throws a hi your way and everyone else does the same.“ Do I see more desserts?” He leaps up, happily making his way over.

You accept the quick handshake he gives before looking over your shoulder to the pan in Lena’s hands.“ Yeah, Lena says my cheesecake is to die for and it’d be a crime not to share it.” 

The CEO’s jaw drops,“ I did not-” her elbow nudges your arm with a laugh,“ I didn’t say all that.” 

Placing a hand on her shoulder you smile,“ but I could tell that’s what you really meant.”

“So cute.”

Your eyebrows pinch together at Kara’s mumbled words. You and Lena? Could she see your crush on the woman as clearly as Wanda had? Is it that obvious?

Figuring she didn’t intend for anyone to hear that, you refrain from commenting. Instead walking with Mon-El to the kitchen island. 

“I never asked but what is it that you do?” Mon-El asks, head tilting in a way you’d seen Kara do a number of times. 

You accept the glass of water he passes you,“ I’m a weapons specialist for the Avengers, occasionally moonlighting as a hero.”

“Me too.” His eyes widen as does yours. 

“You’re a superhero?” 

The man’s eyes widen, uncertainty flickering through his eyes as they search yours. Then he chuckles and nods,“ yeah. Super being Alien. I’m from Daxam.”

“Daxam.” You’d heard of plenty of planets, never that one.“ Where is Daxam? I’ve been to a few galaxies and planets, I’ve never heard of Daxam.”

He thinks for a moment,“ I’m not sure what galaxy it would be in but it orbited Rao.”

“Rao? Is that like another planet or a sun?” 

Suddenly Kara appears at Mon-El’s side,“ what’re we talking about?” 

You send a glance to Mon-El, wondering if Kara already knows. His nod and pursed lips tells you she does.“ Mon-El was just telling me about Daxam and the-”

“Star.”

“The star it orbits.” 

It’s hard to place the expression on Kara’s face. Mainly because it’s a mix of a few emotions.“ Are you not surprised?”

You shrug,“ I am, just, well I’ve dealt with a number of aliens. Not many of them were good guys.”

Mon-El smiles widely, a matching one on Kara’s face. Little did you know, hearing that from you makes the blonde consider telling you about her heroic alter-ego.

Before she can mention it though, Winn comes sliding over, arms wrapping around you. Looking at him, you see the silverware hanging from his mouth. 

Patting his shoulder, you pull back a little,“ hey buddy, what’s goin on?” 

“This cheesecake is amazing.” His words come out with a little lisp due to the object in his mouth but you laugh nonetheless.

“I’m glad you liked it.” Finally he steps back and nods.“ How bout you show me where the rest of these desserts are.”

Together the two of you step over to the dining table where there’s a decent amount of desserts. You just have to put some of each on your plate.

When you plop down beside Lena she’s already wearing an expression of amusement. Looking at her, you smile softly,“ want some?” Her look of uncertainty makes you chuckle. Scooping a piece of pie up, you hold it towards her. 

Hesitantly she leans in and eats the sweet. Your eyes once again drawn to the way she licks her lips then back to her green orbs. 

“That’s really good.” 

You quickly eat a bite,“ oh wow, it is.”

“So!” All eyes snap to Kara as she walks over with the guys,“ we did this earlier but a few of us weren’t here so we’re going to do it again.” The woman sits on the arm of Mon-El’s chair.“ What are you thankful for?” 

Starting with herself, it goes around the room, until it gets to you.“ I am thankful for old friends and new,” you smile at the already smiling people around you,“ I haven’t known you guys long but you all mean a lot to me and I’m incredibly grateful to have met you all.”

Not being able to help herself, Kara throws her arms around you. Which incites Winn to hug the both of you and that just ends in a big group hug that dissolves in laughter.

* * * * *

Taglist: @username23345 @depressed-bi-bitch @fayhar @trikruismybitch @marvel-wlw @aznblossom @chicken-wang09 @bitchtits15

[yuukannahito98]

Upload New Fanfic for Emi's fans in AO3!!

as what I have been promise for, I will make a new fanfic which take the event after vol 21 ended! But like i said, this fanfic wasn't for maouemi fans cuz even though there will be maouemi scene at it, the story really not made for someone who want see Emi ended with Maou (because this fic was taken after vol 21, and you know how I hate Maou vol 21 version, even Alas=ramus dislike him in that vol, so...yeah). Thus fanfic just dedicated for Emi's fans who didn't like with the ending where Emi and Alas-ramus doesn't get their happiness in the real series, or if you want to see Chiho suffer and Maou jealous. And, this fanfic will also bring a problem between Shepira Earth and Shepira Ente Isla as the plot.

If you guys still interested with this fanfic, you guys could read about the characters and the summary for this fic below of ‘keep reading’ first! Or you can just click the link here if you want to read this fanfic immediately! Enjoy!

https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/26650105/chapters/64991062

Summary

Coinciding when vol 21 ended, Emi's daily life with her daughter, Alas=ramus, become a little different after Alas=ramus entered her first class as Kindergarten Student! The Yesod, who saw a loneliness in her Mama's eyes tried to fill the emptiness in her mother's heart.

However, the presence of a stranger who turns out to be related to their real identity appears! Is it their enemy? Or is it their friend?

At the same time, the problems between Shepira from Earth and Shepira from Ente Isla start to collide, making the Hero have to face various dangers and problems that suddenly arise! Will the child succeed in completing her mission to make her Mama happy? When the person who Alas=ramus thought would never interfere, instead become a great opponent she had to deal with!

This is the story about how The Hero and her daughter could find their own happiness and justice!!

Characters Introduction

(please not, I wasn’t the original illustration for this fanart, so if you find the face is similar with a certain character that because I took it from pinterest then I photoshop, edited, colored, and remake it so it looks like character which I want.)

Main Female Character:

Emi Yusa: 23 years old in Japan (21 years old in real)

Gender: Female

Race: Half Angel Half human

Power: Having Daath, and Yesod within her power and become the strongest human in universe (according to Daath)

Job: Currently a share holder of Café with Sadao Maou

Living: In Apartment Villa Sasazuka with her children

Personality: always on guard with people she hasn't known for too long yet.  Warm and caring to those she cared about, but sometimes strict if that comes for her children benefits.  Always thinking about other people rather than herself (I honestly confused if I should put this in weakness or not). Have a strong responsibility to protect and consider everyone feelings or safety. It's hard to showing her real feelings to someone, because of that she often referred to as a tsundere type.  Due to the strict and tough past, combined with all the responsibilities she now bears, it made Emi look more a lady and more mature compared to other normal girls of the same age as her.  Have a high sense of justice and are always wise in certain circumstances.

Weaknesses: have emotions that sometimes change and are weak.  Even though Emi herself often hides it.  Because she has been a Hero since she was a child, Emi can't act selfish at all (one of her personality which I honestly dislike from her) Very weak to romantic things because of that, she often blushes easily

Like: Rillakkuma and Alas=ramus

Dislike: illogical things, and when people do something injustice

Main Male Character

Timmy Goldman (in Japanese, can be written as Timi and I will use this version in the story as well): 26 Years old (*I put a wrong number in his picture tho lol

Gender: Male

Race: Second Generation Shepira Earth of Kether

Power: Have a similar ability with Kether (his father) but weaker compared with him.  His eyes will glow if he activates his power, and sometimes he will also emit a mist around him like Amane, but the difference is that Amane has a black mist, Timi has a golden mist. (I will leave his power just like this, until we reach a certain chapter)

Job: running a marine ship family business in Hawaii and America (description from vol 12)

Living: even though he comes from a rich family, he does not have a permanent home because he is always busy with work (and since he found it was unnecessary to have home) But he has apartments in various cities and countries, and will occasionally visit his father's villa on holidays in Hawaii or if it was an orders.

Personality: never shows his original expression.  He only often uses his smile on his face.  Manipulative and good at negotiating.  Even though he is always smiling, but he has a cold aura and is difficult to approach. he always easy to approaching women, because of his sweet and calm demeanor, but until now he have never considered in any relationship.  Although he often hides it, Timmy often misses his mother who died.  Very protective when it concerns the feelings of any children. He got the nickname Manipulative Prince in his company and between Shepira Earth Family because of his calm and cool characteristic like a prince, but still expertly able to tease the other or play with people's feelings without destroying his cool image.

Weaknesses: Dislikes mistakes. and is sometimes too serious in the job or task given.  Just treating emotions or feelings as one of the tools that can be used or manipulated, that's why never considering other feelings if that will lead into some mistake or if that unnecessary.  (I already write his dark past as well regarding this, but we will get it on certain chapter in the future)

Like: Coffe, and following the schedule.

Dislike: Mistakes. But he hates people who selfish the most.

Mentioned in Vol 12

Second Main Male Character

Sadao Maou: 24 years old in Japan (Um, since he became a human, does anyone know whether he should be branded as a newborn or what?)

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Power:…Uh, let's call he have a strength and spirit compared with the other guy.

Job: CEO at his Café with Emi

Personality: when it comes to his own feelings he always quiet.  Always try his best to fulfill his obligations in matters of his child.  Hard worker.  Does not like something that is not logical, still does not really understand things about romantic affair.

Weaknesses: Cannot act decisively.  Sometimes hesitant to make decisions.  If something is useless or of no urgency, he will delay the job.  Bad at managing money.

Like: Movie, and All food which tasty

Dislike: Illogical things and debt

Main Support Character

Alas=Ramus: 4 years old

Gender: Female

Race: Shepira Yesod from Ente Isla

Power: Having an ability and strength as a Yesod

Study: Currently at Yochien (Kindergarten) first year

Personality: Always smiling and cheerful.  Very fond to her family especially her mother.  She can be very protective when it comes to her mother and sometimes understands adult feelings better and is always honest with everyone.  Enjoy discovering and doing new things.  Want to be a hero like Emi.

Weakness: when it comes to her mother, she can be very protective and even attack anyone who hurts her mother's feelings.  Sometimes it's still too innocent and speak out frankly.  Still unable to manage the malfunction she has because she lives outside Ente Isla

Like: Rillakkuma, courn soup, and her Mama

Dislike: Everything or everyone who hurt her family.

Other Support Character

Goldman: 48/50 years (100 years in fact)

Gender: Male

Race: Kether from earth (Timi's father)

Power: as the first shepira who is nicknamed by The Crown; which therefore refers to things that are above the mind's abilities of comprehension, Kether is able to read, control and manipulate thoughts, even the minds of other shepiras.  as the highest Sefirah, is situated about the intellectual triad and is designated as “superconscious.” Keter is infinite source, a state of being, the field of possibility. It is the ultimate unseen reality, that's why can created any type of barrier (like Sariel, Geburah, or even Angel). Color gold represents purification, conductivity and malleability.  Can easily moving around the world or to make a gate. also have an ability to change his appearance.

Job: Running and leader of the Shepira Company family  on Earth

Personality:He can be really quiet or can be so expressive.  He is never serious in responding to a problem, unless he really need to do so.  Can easily read other people's attitudes.  Rarely uses his strength for a battle.  Can be very affectionate if he see cute animals or baby.  Very fond and protective to his shepira family

Weaknesses: will not hesitate to kill if it is needed without feeling guilty if there are enemies who harm the family or especially his son.  Never differentiate between good or evil plans.  For him all ways to accomplish the goals are the same.

Mentioned in vol 12

Other Support Character

Yamanaka Kozo = 55 years

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Power: Martial arts, swordsmen, and very strong.

Personality: flat and smart in making decisions.  He rarely speaks but is very wise and good at reading the situation.  Knowing the existence of shepira on earth.  One of the confidants and even the entire Shepira family

Job: Timi's right hand man.  Has been a butler to his young master when Timi was just born

He was the only OC which I made lol

Other Support Character

Harianak: 28 Years (appeared in vol 12, I will make his illustration next time lol)

Gender: Male

Race: Second Generation of Shepira Chochmah from earth

Job: Running a famous Family food company around the world

Power: Dark blue Mist can created anything.

Living: Often moves because of work, but has a place to live in Indonesia ( description from vol 12).  His place of birth

Personality: always joking around and loves to tease Timi. Amane and Tim's childhood friends.  Good strategy.  Never serious.

Weaknesses: Always playing with women.

Mentioned in vol 12

Other Support Character

Amane: 32 years old

Gender: Female

Race: Second Generation of Shepira Binah from earth

Job: Running a beach family business

Power: Strong, can be compared with the other second generation of shepira. Dark Mist governs the energy of the underworld like a spirit (I'm not really sure about this tbh, I will check it later on vol 4)

Living: Now live and take control of Shepira from Ente Isla at Mikitti's aunt's house

Personality: always ignorant and likes to tease Timi. Childhood friend of Harianak and Tim.  Easygoing.  Very affectionate and protective of Shepira's family and friends

Weaknesses: If lazy or find it unnecessary, then Amane won't do anything.

The other character from this series will appear as well, such like Suzuno, Urushihara, Gabriel, Chiho, Ignora, and as well as other shepira from earth and Ente Isla. I will update it if i find how their illustration would be. But because this is important for the stories, I will also put the explanation regarding Shepira (Which I got it from internet of course)

Shepira from The Tree of Life

1 Keter (Earth=Goldman, Ente Isla= Not Born yet) is Crown, as the highest Sefirah, is situated about the intellectual triad and is designated as “superconscious.” Keter is infinite source, a state of being, the field of possibility. It is the ultimate unseen reality. Color gold represents purification, conductivity and malleability.

2  Chochmah (Earth= Harianak's father, Ente Isla= Not born yet) is Wisdom: the seed of an idea, insight, inspiration, intuition, inchoate awareness. Color blue-black represents emergence of something from no-thing.

3 Binah (Amane's father, Ente Isla= Not born yet) is Understanding: fleshing out an idea, formulating the story, fashioning the structure. Color dark red represents the “something” congealing.

4 Chesed  (Earth = Uncle George, Ente Isla = Just born) is Unbounded Love: expanding ideas, enlarging the circle, empathic concern. Color blue for flow (water).

5  Gevurah (Earth = already born, Ente Isla = Iron) is Strength of Boundaries: setting limits, saying no, seeking focus. Color red for definition (stop).

6  Tiferet (Earth = already born, Ente Isla = Not born yet?) is Beauty: harmonizing and holding opposing energies, having compassion. Color yellow radiates light.

7  Netzach (Earth = already born, Ente Isla = Not born yet?) is Victory: overcoming obstacles, orchestrating intention. Color green for power.

8  Hod is (Earth = already born, Ente Isla = Not born yet?) Surrender: acknowledging what is, accepting and giving way.  Color orange for restoration and hope.

9 Yesod (Earth = already born, Ente Isla = Alas Ramus and Acies) is Foundation: telling or twisting your truth, testing authenticity. Color purple for growth and renewal.

10 Malchut (Earth = already born, Ente Isla = Nuxe, and...I forgot) is Sovereignty the final, lowest Sefirah of the culmination of the flow from Keter through the Sefirot, from possible to actual. Malchut is what manifests or is expressed. Color brown for source-ground.

11 Da’at (Earth= Mikitti , Ente Isla = Utsushihara) is Knowing: integrating the idea, identifying with it, an intimate connection. Color gray for integration.

Okay, the reason why I put my fanfic on AO3, was because i want to add another illustration and picture within the story as to for reader can imagined the story better!

[justanoutlawfic]

A Christmas Connection: A Snowing Ficlet

On the second day of Giftmas, I give..... @loboselinaistrash a brand new Snowing Christmas fic! We were talking about how holiday movies always inspire us to write one shots and such, this one ironically called Once Upon A Christmas Miracle, had Snowing written all over it. The movie was also based on a true story. Anyway, Merry Christmas to my love, my light. The Charming to my Snow. You are my moon and my sky. I love you so much. <3 I hope you enjoy it.

Also on AO3

It was one of those posts David expected from his mom. Ruth shared every cancer patient that needed donations, any dog that needed a home (she probably would’ve taken in every one of the latter if she had the space). Normally David just put a heart and shared himself, but there was something about this post that stood out to him.

 30-year-old 4th grade teacher had recently been diagnosed with liver failure. She needed a transplant as soon as possible, but she had very little living family. All her friends had been screened, but there were no matches.

 Mary Margaret volunteers at the hospital. She does so much for the children in her classroom. We want to do everything we can for her. If you think you might be a match, please make our Christmas and get yourself screened.

 From the looks of it, Mary Margaret was healthy otherwise. She was a very active woman, just like the post would suggest. Her smile warmed David’s heart, especially the pictures she posted of herself and her friends.

 He shared the post to start off with, then went on with his day. When he got to the police station he worked for, he heard Rogers and Weaver discussing the woman as well.

“She’s right here in Storybrooke too.”

David looked up from his files. “She is? I must have missed that in the post.”

Rogers nodded. “She’s best friends with the mayor’s daughter. I think that’s one of the reasons it’s gone so viral. Regina Mills is doing anything to get her a new liver. If it was legal, I think she’d go rip one out herself.”

 At lunch, David got a notification on his phone. The anniversary of his father’s death was coming up. David had never been close to Robert. He treated him and his brother terribly. Still, it was a hard time of year for their mother. She didn’t love the man Robert had become, rather who he had once been. David always tried to remember to take her to dinner on the anniversary to lift her spirits.

 He remembered spending a lot of time in the hospital around Christmas. James and himself were only 5-years-old, but it was hard, even for them. Robert seemed to get even more miserable towards the end. Ruth had gotten tested to donate, but wasn’t one. Despite going on the list, there wasn’t much the doctors could do. Robert was gone December 1st. Their lives got a bit worse after that. The farm they lived on failed even more until Ruth got the nerve to sell it. She managed to find a job with the help of her brother, Albert, but he made sure she and the boys always remembered why they weren’t in poverty anymore. It took years for them to finally escape his grasp, and it was only after David and James made something of their lives.

 David found himself re-reading the post that night over his Chinese food. Mary Margaret was a single woman, no kids to speak of. Yet, she was still very beloved. Her loss would impact the community, especially her best friend who was campaigning for all of this. Dedicated teachers were hard to come by, he couldn’t let one slip away. Not if he could help it.

 The next morning, David called the hospital, “Hi, I’ve seen the posts about Mary Margaret Blanchard. I don’t know which department I need to speak to in order to set up an appointment.”

*x*

Mary Margaret didn’t know that finding out she had a deadly disease would show just how loved she was. In high school, she barely had any friends. She was popular because she was Leopold and Eva’s daughter, but it didn’t mean she had long lasting friendships. Regina Mills was the only exception. They stayed close, even through college. It was Regina who was there for her both when Eva died, then Leopold. Sure, she’d gain other friends over the years, but it was Regina that she treasured the most. She and her husband were pretty much the only family she had these days.

 Yet, when she found out that she had stage four liver failure, everyone stepped up. Ruby Lucas set up a meal plan so she never had to worry about food. Aurora Dreamer offered to drive her to the hospital whenever she needed. Ariel dropped by with romantic comedies for the two to watch. It was a bit overwhelming. All of these people were tested and none were a match.

 She didn’t even know that Regina had made the post until she got the Facebook notification. A part of her was embarrassed. She didn’t want everyone feeling sorry for her or obligated. But as Robin pointed out, now wasn’t the time for her to get proud. If she wanted a chance, she needed to open the idea that a stranger would be donating a portion of their liver.

 Mary Margaret tried to have hope, just as she did through all the other hard things in her life. This was the girl that had finished her finals within days of finding out that her father had passed. She was tough, she cheered people up when they needed it. Still, she couldn’t help but hear the voice in the back of her head…

 What if it doesn’t work? What if you don’t make it?

 Mary Margaret had never feared her own immortality until it was staring her in the face. She had only been able to do a fraction of what she had planned for her life. Sure, she had become a teacher. She had also traveled to various parts of the world on her trust fund from Eva. However, she had yet to find true love. A few hits and misses, but never the true homerun. As she cared for everyone else’s children, she had never been blessed with any of her own.

 She tried to come to terms with that never happening and yet, it haunted her. The Blanchard legacy would end with her. That was a lot to put on a person.

 Her phone rang when she sat alone in her loft one rainy Saturday afternoon. Regina and Robin had tried to convince her to move in with them after her diagnosis, but they had their own family to worry about. She didn’t want to scare Henry and Roland if anything happened to her. As a compromise, the large group that had rallied around her would check in on her throughout the day.

 Storybrooke General was sprawled across her screen. She slid the arrow across and held it to her ear.

 “Hello?”

“Mary Margaret,” Dr. Whale’s always optimistic voice boomed through the phone. “Good news.”

You made a mistake. I don’t have this liver disease. I’m not going to die. “What is it?”

“We’ve found you a match.”

Mary Margaret tightened her grip on her phone. “Excuse me?”

“We’ve had quite a few people respond to the post that Regina put up. I didn’t tell you in case it didn’t pan out. Most didn’t. However, one person, is a match and he’s agreed to give you a portion of his liver.”

 Mary Margaret’s heart pounded heavily in her chest. This sounded too good to be true.

 “Who is it?” She asked.

“David Nolan.”

David Nolan. David Nolan. She didn’t know a David Nolan. “I don’t think I know him.”

“He responded to the post as well, but he’s right here in Storybrooke. I can’t tell you the last time I’ve had this happen to someone, Mary Margaret. You are a very lucky woman.”

 Lucky.

 Mary Margaret swallowed, still not entirely believing it. “If he’s a match, then…”

“Then we can do the procedure soon. I’m thinking within the next week, if I can get an opening.”

Tears clouded up in Mary Margaret’s eyes. “I could have a new liver within a week?”

“Yes.”

“And the odds…of all of this…”

“89% of people who have a liver transplant live after the first year. 75% after five years. You’ll have to be monitored constantly, but this is a good thing, Mary Margaret. I promise you.”

 Mary Margaret tried to steady her breathing. It wasn’t long ago she was told that her odds of living were so much lower. This news was truly life changing.

 “The man…what did you say his name was?”

*x*

Mary Margaret stood at the front of Granny’s Diner a few days later. Ruby Lucas gave her a wave from behind the counter and Mary Margaret quickly returned it, before going back to look for David. He had given Dr. Whale permission for her to reach out to him. Mary Margaret couldn’t get the man off her mind. A quick glance at his Facebook profile didn’t end the curiosity. He was her age, divorced and a cop. This would take him out of work for at least six weeks, not even counting the week he’d spend in the hospital.

 Why do all of this for a stranger?

 “Mary Margaret?”

 She looked up and instantly recognized him from his pictures. From his dark blonde hair to baby blue eyes. A tiny, yet equally intoxicating smile formed across his lips.

 “David?”

“Yes. I got us a table.” He lead her over and the two sat down. “Thank you for meeting with me.”

“No, no, I should say thank you.” Mary Margaret had to will herself not to cry. “I just…you have no idea what you’re doing.”

“I mean, I think I do,” he said with a wink.

Mary Margaret let out a small laugh. “I guess so.” She dabbed at her eyes. “Do you have any questions about the surgery? I mean, you know you’ll be out of work for six weeks?”

“I never take vacation time. My boss always hounds me to use it.”

“Still…for this. I mean, you don’t even know me.”

David was quiet for a moment. He ran his finger over the rim of his water glass. “Let’s just say, I’ve been in the shoes of your friends and family.”

Mary Margaret frowned. “You knew someone else with liver failure?”

David nodded. “My father. He was a horrific drunk, could never stop putting it away.”

“I hope you know that’s not why I’m in my situation…”

“Oh, trust me, I do.” The small smile returned. “It’s just, back then, there wasn’t a way to do this. As horrible as my father was, I always wished I could save him in some way. I know I never can, but I try to give back when I can. That includes making sure no one ever goes through what my family ever did.”

 Any attempts for Mary Margaret not to cry, were gone. She allowed the tears to stream down her cheeks, as she leaned forward and squeezed the hands of this still-very much stranger.

“Like I said,” she whispered. “I can never thank you enough.”

David shook his head. “I don’t need you to. I just want to help you get a second chance.”

 She let out a shaky deep breath. What were the odds that out of every person that could have seen the post, David had?

*x*

Regina Mills didn’t cry. At least, that’s what she told everyone. Mary Margaret and Robin had seen her cry several times over the years. Mary Margaret watched her best friend raise a champagne glass, with tears in her eyes.

“To the man saving my best friend’s life,” she announced

David’s cheeks turned pink, sipping his water. Both he and Mary Margaret were off alcohol until the surgery. “Thank you, Regina.”

“Seriously, mate,” Robin said. “You’re a true hero.”

“Okay guys,” Mary Margaret waved her hands. “You both said you weren’t going to embarrass me.”

“We’re your friends. Isn’t that our job?”

“Erm, I wouldn’t think so.”

David chuckled. “Something tells me if my twin was here, he’d be trying to do the same.”

Regina dabbed at her eyes with a napkin. “How does your family feel about all of this?”

“They’re supportive. I’ll be staying with my brother after the surgery.”

Mary Margaret nodded. “Yeah, my doctors convinced me I’d need to be looked after so I agreed to move in here temporarily.”

Regina rolled her eyes. “You make it sound like a death sentence.”

“It’s not. I just don’t want to be a burden.”

“You could never be a burden, Mare.”

 David and Mary Margaret stayed at Regina and Robin’s for a bit. As they headed out into the late November air, however, Mary Margaret didn’t feel the least bit tired.

 “I think I’ll leave my car here, go for a walk.”

“We have surgery tomorrow,” David reminded her.

Mary Margaret shrugged. “I won’t be able to sleep.”

“Nervous?”

“More like exhilarated.”

David looked at his truck, before looking back at Mary Margaret. “I’ll go with you.”

“Oh, David, you don’t have to…”

“No. I doubt I’ll be able to sleep either.”

 Mary Margaret smiled a bit, before heading down the sidewalk with him. They were silent for a bit, both looking at the few houses that already had Christmas decorations up. The lights acted as a North star for them. Without the glow, they wouldn’t be able to have this walk.

 “So, the post said you didn’t have a lot of family left,” David spoke up. “I’m assuming your parents passed?”

Mary Margaret nodded. “Lost my mom when I was eighteen to a very bad strain of the flu. My father went a couple of years later, heart attack.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It was so long ago. I miss them, of course, but time heals.” She looked around at the lights. “It’s harder at the holidays, though.”

David nodded. “My father died on December 1st. It made Christmas rough for a few years.”

“December 1st…our surgery date.”

“The irony was not lost on me.”

Mary Margaret bit her lip. “Someone has to think you’re crazy for doing this.”

“Some ask why I do it often,” he gave her a pointed look.

Mary Margaret chuckled. “I’m sorry. I just…it’s a lot to take in.”

“You’re not alone here, Mare. You deserve this.”

“It’s just hard to think, why me? Out of all the people out there that need a transplant, or something…”

“If you think that way, you’ll go crazy.” They stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and he took hold of her hand. “Like I said, you deserve this, Mary Margaret. Don’t focus on the how or the why…just think about yourself.”

Mary Margaret let out a deep breath. “I’ll try.”

*x*

David laid in the blue gown the next morning, exhausted. He supposed it didn’t matter, he’d be out soon anyway. It was worth it, no matter what. After their walk, he had gone back to Mary Margaret’s to watch a movie. The two spent the whole night talking about their lives. David opened up about his ex, Kathryn. It was rare he spoke about her. Their divorce had been amicable, but it still wasn’t his proudest moment. He said he was glad they split because they weren’t meant to be, but he felt like he failed by not being able to make it work. Mary Margaret had given him a gentle look and told him that, that wasn’t true.

 “Some people just take time to find who they’re meant to be with.”

 Mary Margaret laid on the gurney next to him, wearing a similar gown. It made her dark pixie cut stand out even more. In the waiting room was her support system, along with his own. Ruth, Rogers and James would sit with Robin, Regina and the rest through the whole surgery. It was weird how their families were blending all of the sudden.

 “You don’t just do something like this and never see the person again,” Ruth had told him. “We need to get to know them.”

 It was crazy how certain people entered their lives.

 Mary Margaret looked over at David. “Last chance to run.”

“Not in a million years.”

“Have I thanked you enough yet?”

“If you do it again, I will run.”

Mary Margaret giggled. “Point taken.”

 The team of doctors entered the room. Whale instructed for David to be taken first.

 Mary Margaret reached over and squeezed his hand. “Good luck,” she whispered.

“I’ll make sure to get the best parts for you,” he replied with a wink.

 David was wheeled away, though he kept craning his neck to get another view at the woman he was doing it all for. She looked nervous and he wished he could hold her hand through it all.

*x*

Mary Margaret had to spend five agonizing days waiting before she could see David. The first few days, she was in intensive care. Finally, she was able to move to the regular recovery wing of the hospital. Regina and Robin assured her that he was fine. According to his mother and brother, he had come out of surgery with flying colors. Thus far, Mary Margaret was responding well to her new liver as well. As happy as Mary Margaret was, she wanted to see him.

 Finally, a nurse agreed to put her in a wheelchair and take her to his room. He was sitting up in bed, flipping through a newspaper that he instantly dropped upon seeing her. Mary Margaret grinned.

 “You’re looking great,” he said. “Like you just got a new liver or something.”

Mary Margaret chuckled. “I’m still completely sore and I’m sure my hair is a mess…”

“Nah, but you got that new liver glow.”

“Is there such a thing?”

“I just made it up, so it so is.”

Mary Margaret tilted her head. “And you?”

“I feel like they ripped me open, then sewed me shut.”

“David, I…”

“Seriously, Mare. I’m fine.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m surprised they let you out of bed.”

“It’s amazing what knowing the right nurse will do.”

“Right, you volunteer here. What do I do to get out sooner?”

“Unfortunately, they don’t bend on that.”

 They stayed talking for as long as the nurse would allow. Eventually, Mary Margaret was wheeled back to her room. David would leave the hospital before she would, with her spending an extra couple of days. As the recipient, she wouldn’t be able to return to work for a few months. She’d be stuck in bed for six to eight weeks outside appointments. She had a feeling Regina would be making sure it was eight rather than six, just to be on the safe side.

 Despite the two being on bedrest in their respective caregiver’s home, David and Mary Margaret texted like crazy. They made fun of James and Regina, while also expressing gratitude for them. David found the cutest kitten pictures to brighten Mary Margaret’s day and she made sure that she always had some puppy ones handy when he seemed to be blue. They complained about their diets, fantasizing about the things they would eat as soon as they were cleared.

 I owe you a steak dinner, Mary Margaret texted one morning close to Christmas.

With like, five baked potatoes, David replied.

That’s the hunger talking.

This broth just doesn’t do it like butter, salt and sour cream.

I concur.

 Henry and Roland made her a million get well cards. Henry would come and read to her when he got home from school. Roland found the best movies. Robin would get Regina to relax a bit and promised Mary Margaret they would have archery practice as soon as she was well again. That got the pep in her as much as the steak dinner.

 After one appointment, she found herself in the giftshop while Regina went to grab a coffee. As she admired the different bits of jewelry, she came across a watch. Flipping the face over, there was a prince’s crown on the back. Mary Margaret stared at it for a few moments, thinking about everything David had done for her over the past few weeks.

 She rolled over to the checkout. “Do you offer giftwrap?”

The kind-looking old lady behind the counter nodded. “We do.”

 Regina agreed to drop the gift off at James’ apartment on Christmas Eve. Mary Margaret was very surprised when she returned with a gift sloppily wrapped, a shiny red bow on top.

 As usual, she found it hard to sleep that night. As the clock struck midnight, she reached over and turned on the light.

 Are you up? she texted David.

James got home late from his office Christmas party and woke me, so yeah, he replied.

FaceTime and open each other’s gifts?

Sounds good to me.

 Her phone rang twice before David’s face appeared on her screen. His beard was coming in and his hair was messy. She could spot some red flannel pajamas as well.

 “Very festive,” she commented. “And I love the mountain man beard.”

David laughed. “I won’t let James shave me.”

“Can’t say I blame you. It’s awkward needing so much help after being independent so long.” She looked down at the present in her lap. “You gave me part of your liver. What more could you possibly give me this Christmas?”

“Open it and figure it out.”

 Mary Margaret did as she was told. Lifting the lid off the box, she let out a little bit of a gasp. Inside was the most beautiful glass bird. She lifted it out to admire it closer up.

 “David,” she whispered. “How…”

“You mentioned you like birds once or twice. So, I asked James if he could either find one of those or a glass liver. Apparently, the livers were of short supply.”

She placed it onto the nightstand. “It’s perfect. I can’t believe you remembered that.”

“We’ve talked about everything pretty much. I know you now.”

She softly smiled. “I suppose you do.”

“Can I open mine now?”

“Go ahead.”

 Mary Margaret watched as he ripped the silver paper off. He tilted his head as he flipped open the box.

 “Oh, this is a beautiful watch.”

“Flip over the face.”

David did as he was told. “A crown?”

“You’re my prince charming.” The words came out so easily.

“Mary Margaret…”

“I know you tease me for thanking you so much, but you really are. You came into my life and saved me when I needed it the most.” She shrugged. “To me, that’s the exact definition of a prince charming.”

David blinked a few times and Mary Margaret could swear in the dim light, she could see a tear fall down his face. “This is…I can’t remember the last time I was this for someone…probably never.”

“Well, you are mine, Charming.”

David smiled in spite of his tears. “Merry Christmas, Mary Margaret.”

“Merry Christmas, Charming.”

[rickyclrk]

hello, hello? is this thing on? oh — hi !! i’m jess, an aries & steve harrington stan from england. i’m bringing you my first muse ricky clark, unfortunately he’s a bit of an asshole but not to worry, i promise my second will be the opposite ghjfghjsfkh. get to know him below the cut & hmu for plots!

oh hi there, welcome to holiday, RICKY CLARK. you’ve been here for A WEEK? awesome! you look just like ALEX TURNER, it’s crazy. oh, so you’re a TWENTY-SIX year old BASSIST? and you’re CISMALE and use HE/HIM? okay, just checking! oh, people say you’re BOLD AND CAPTIVATING but SHORT-FUSED AND STANDOFFISH? well, i’m sure that you can prove yourself here. you’re looking forward to the NEW YEARS EVE celebration? that’s a good one, you’ll love it. i have to get going now, bye! 

trigger warnings: heart disease, loss of a parent, ‘daddy issues’, abandonment, drugs & alcohol mentions, violence implication

background

ricky was born to dirt-poor parents in phoenix, arizona. they had pretty much nothing but the basic necessities but it was v much a “they had each other and that was enough” kinda thing

his mother was his hero, ricky idolized her as she would do anything for him & was a kind, honest woman with a good heart who put every penny she earned into trying to give ricky a good life.

but his dad? quite the opposite. he was a distant, aggressive man with violent tendencies. whenever he was home, he was causing conflict. but most of the time, he wasn’t. it was pretty obvious that he was cheating on ricky’s mom, as well as just generally giving zero shits about his son. he was just an all-around asshole.

his mom was a waitress. she worked very few shifts as she wanted to make sure she could spend a lot of time around her son making sure he had a good upbringing.

when ricky was eleven, she suddenly fell ill with heart disease and her condition deteriorated very quickly. she could no longer work and decided to turn to music as a way of coping, learning to play guitar to keep her spirits up. ricky always took an interest in this and loved listening to her play him his favorite songs in the final years of her life

she ended up passing away before she could see ricky enter his teenage years. in their shared grief he and his father bonded and had a better relationship for a short period, before long he was back to his old tricks again never coming home & ricky had to basically raise himself for a little while, before finally he ended up in the foster care system for the remainder of his teen years

this is where he taught himself how to play the guitar his mom had left behind for him, and later, bass guitar.  he quickly realized why she found such escapism in music. 

foster care is also where he manifested a lot of resentment, anger & hostility after everything he had gone through. he kinda felt like life had dealt him such a shitty hand, and he had so many abandonment issues due to his father’s ways. he struggled to bond with any of his foster families and basically hopped around homes for years, still mourning his mom  & acting out as a coping mechanism

so pretty much the second he turned eighteen and could leave foster care he got the hell out of phoenix and headed out of the state with pretty much nothing to his name? he wandered around a bit, living as somewhat of a vagabond living out of cheap motels whilst he struggled to find a band but somewhere along the line met the raptors, who coincidentally needed a bass player at the time & he was the perfect fit... and the rest is history

personality 

so as is mentioned, the whole thing with his past has made him grow extremely resentful as a person and he has a lot of pent up issues that he bottles up. this makes him extremely stand-offish, short fused, arrogant etc? but the better someone gets to know him the more they’ll see a softer side to him. he’s a complex, multi-dimensional and very guarded person

he’s FIERCELY loyal and will protect his friends at all costs. he’s prepared to fight someone if they’ve done something to hurt his friends

hes a really social guy despite the fact he can be quite intimidating. if you’re not on his bad side he’ll be completely fine with you, like? the main thing that’d get someone onto his bad side would be if they just assumed he was an asshole based on his initial demeanor, without getting to know him

Closed Off Emotionally™ - he basically put up a huge wall so that nobody can see how much the abandonment from his past has got to him but there’s definitely a kinder, damaged boy beneath who just needs time tbh

he lives his life pretty carelessly bc he kinda cant resist the whole idea of a rockstar lifestyle. very reckless i know but can you blame him? the issues of his past are still very much there so he tries to numb the pain in any way he can by drinking and taking drugs tbh, which he knows is unhealthy & he’s trying to stop

actually pretty funny when he wants to be

really competitive

a bicon

when given reason, he can care so deeply about people. it’s so hard for them to see it because of the way he is, but a dead give-away is that if he really cares about someone he will never lie to them. ever

he’s basically just very intense if you couldnt tell already

wanted / suggested connections

 i’m also open to brainstorming something from scratch if none of these fit your muse! hmu!

EX ON GOOD TERMS — the breakup wasn’t anything too dramatic, so there was no hard feelings. ricky might tease your muse on occasion about the pair’s past relationship, but in all seriousness, things are fairly chill between these two.

EX ON BAD TERMS — your muse would call him a heartbreaker. he’d probably agree. ricky broke up with your muse abruptly upon suddenly losing interest, and they didn’t take it lightly.

FRENEMY — nobody can keep up with your muse & ricky. they pretend to get along, mostly to grind each other’s gears. hanging out one minute, and getting into bar fights at the next.

RIVAL / ENEMY — your muse hates ricky. they can’t stand how mean and arrogant he seems, and they would never attempt to get to know anything beyond the surface. they’re sworn enemies and everybody knows it.

GOOD INFLUENCE — your muse can read people easily. that’s how they know that ricky’s hiding some good qualities beneath his tough demeanor. they’re determined to help ricky to make some better decisions, especially when his bad ones are proving detrimental to his mental state.

SOMEONE HE’S A BAD INFLUENCE ON — they’re very different in personalities, but ricky still managed to take a liking to your muse for whatever reason. it’s a shame they fall victim to his bad influence.

DRINKING BUDDY — your muse and ricky are constantly partying together. they have fun, but your muse is starting to see that ricky often takes things too far and gets way too beyond his limits.

PAST HOOK-UP / PAST FWB — it’s no secret that ricky has gotten around a lot in the past. your muse has experienced that first hand, and he’s gotten them into a lot of controversial headlines, that’s for sure.

[ganymedesclock]

Hey so remember that time that I was like “so I’m gonna come up with pokemon for some major Voltron characters, but I’m gonna limit it to two each because what kinda maniac would do full teams for 12+ characters”?

Me. I am that kinda maniac. 

Team Voltron in this post- Sincline plus Haggar and Zarkon later.

Lance Milotic [s] * Primarina * Gyarados * Swampert * Octillery * Lapras

Lance ended up with the single most evenly-typed team out of everybody I put here. The shiny Milotic is his signature pokemon but overall I can see Lance spending a lot of time with his team, both talking to them and grooming them. (if there’s anybody on the team I can see doing really well in contests, it’d be Lance)

Milotic and Gyarados are natural choices given the implication, as I’ve discussed before, that Lance is only a few steps behind Keith while not being a prodigy, and thus, a hard worker- so him getting pokemon that are regarded as pathetic, looked-down-upon initial evolutions, and refusing to give up on them no matter what, and reaping the rewards with a show-stopping team. 

Primarina arguably fits in for the same reasons (I remember when Sun/Moon started coming out, everybody dunked on Popplio) but with its final evolution being a ~beautiful mermaid~ there’s also no way Lance wouldn’t roll for that.

Octillery is a nod to Lance’s own brilliant marskmanship as well as being stated to be a calm pokemon that enjoys being fussed over, and Lapras are stated to sing to find each other, good for the empathetic connector that Lance is as a person. The swampert is both an effective canceler of electrical attacks (as Lance is pretty dang adaptable all things considered) and a nod to his connection with Hunk, the Earth paladin.

Keith Charizard (Y mega evolution) * Absol * Talonflame * Aegislash * Minior * Arcanine

I feel like Keith’s team, outside of the obvious fire motif, would be more ranger-like than focused on battling; the feeling from his house in s1e1 and the way he so clearly enjoys both the hoverbike and the outdoors strikes me as someone who would take very well to having a team that can let him tear across an open expanse or soar through the air. Either way, gotta have room to roam- his team has some rather large members.

I imagine Keith’s not a very earnest trainer. Most of his team came to him rather than him seeking them out, and they have funny personal stories behind almost all of them. The only exception is Charizard, who he got as a starter Charmander and who stuck with him the entire time he was shuffling around the foster system.

Aegislash are stated to be servants of those it believes possess a ‘kingly spirit’ and that one in particular doesn’t always listen to Keith, though it does sure seem interested in his welfare- it just sometimes disagrees with him on what that looks like. He’s never known it as a Honedge or Doublade- and it’s been around as long as he can remember. Perhaps someone asked it to look after him? It certainly nannies him an awful lot.

The arcanine he found as a growlithe hiding under a car, but it didn’t evolve until Garrison. Conversely the talonflame evolved really quickly; it was another adopted one (he found it after it hit a window and was able to nurse it back to health) I can see him using the talonflame more for exploration than for fighting.

Absol was a present from Shiro who thought they were similar-minded and could get along. (C’mon it’s a moody, well-intentioned prophet pokemon with flippy hair. I couldn’t not give one to Keith) It’s a little troubled but so’s he, so, they work.

Keith has no idea what’s up with the Minior. It latched onto him during his year in the desert and refused to leave him. He kinda thinks of it as a kindred spirit since they’re said to come from space and he feels pretty lost himself. (Kiddo you have no idea.)

Shiro Lucario * Skarmory * Mightyena * Umbreon * Scizor * Dusknoir

Veteran trainer who runs a tight ship, though not to his team’s detriment. A mix of dark and steel types, mostly, suitable for the tough-as-nails Black Paladin whose fighting style definitely has some shades of “brutally efficient”. As much as Shiro is an honorable and empathetic type, when it comes to life-or-death situations he goes for the throat big time. 

Thanks to his leadership, coordination and focus, they all made it through the missing year a bit beat up, a bit scarred, and pretty stressed- in particular his eevee didn’t exactly... plan to end up in that evolution but it had to evolve in the sunless sterile environment of the arena. 

Lucario is really nearly Shiro as a pokemon and I can see him sharing a very strong bond with it- the natural sense of justice, keen personal focus and that, for all of its strong instincts and wills, it’s a pack hunter that focuses on the idea of the group.

Skarmory is a pokemon said to refine its edge through experiencing hardship, battering its steel wings until it eventually regrows them and sharpens their cutting edge. Scizor fits in under that umbrella as well, since it’s another steel type and one that has to use its wings to thermoregulate, creating the image of an entity under pressure that has to regulate itself carefully. I sort of imagine during the missing year they spent a lot of time tanking for Shiro himself and for the rest of the team, and came out the most battered as a result. 

Mightyena is another socially-motivated pack hunter, which, given it’s a dark type and thus allegedly ‘evil’ would implicitly strike a balance between honorable and pragmatic, which is very significant to Shiro. 

Dusknoir’s a good sport, helpful and obliging, but Shiro sorta gets the creeps around it since he went into the missing year with only five pokemon (having given Keith his absol) and has absolutely no memory of when or where this one showed up and given its whole guide of the dead thing he sometimes wonders if it’s actually here for him in the not necessarily supportive sense of the term.

Hunk Donphan * Aggron * Bastiodon * Claydol * Golurk * Chansey

The donphan is his signature pokemon and primary companion- which matches his mentality basically perfectly as a relative slow mover that becomes virtually unstoppable once set on a single goal.

Hunk’s team pretty much embodies the dual nature of a compassionate protector of others with someone who will through-and-through mess you up if you tick him off or hurt his friends. You’d better believe that chansey is ready to throw down at any time of day. 

Aggron nicely embodies both with its propensity to restore and maintain its territory but also being a metal dinosaur that will protect that territory viciously.

Claydol and Golurk are more testaments to his curiosity and interest in technology. Hunk was the only one I gave a fossil pokemon, with the idea being he’s the sort of person who’d take the time to carefully nurse a revived prehistoric creature back to health. In general, I think Hunk’s team would be in good shape, like, he’s the type who just really enjoys taking care of them. He never officially signed up for the league (hence his lack of a starter) but just sorta accumulated pokemon that he made friends with.

In his defense most of these guys were a lot smaller when he started out and sometimes his donphan forgets that it’s not the size of a lapdog anymore. 

Pidge Rotom * Phantump * Porygon * Minun * Beldum * Cleffa

With only a single grass type, Pidge has the weakest connection to her element, but that much really makes sense- of the team she’s probably the most distant from understanding herself. Her team is all first evolutions as well- she’s got a lot of growing to do.

The rotom is both her signature and virtually never battles, usually hiding out in her laptop. They’re her best friend and avid confidant and she doesn’t like to have them occupy something they can’t talk to her through. (You bet your ass she has a Rotomdex. she built it herself)

Minun and Cleffa were gifts from her brother and her father respectively- Matt has a corresponding Plusle, and Cleffa because someone like Sam Holt who dedicated his life work to finding extraterrestrial life would be charmed by pokemon like the clefairy line that is rumored to have come from outer space. Pidge didn’t have much interest in the ‘conventional’ pokemon league and I imagine she only caught a few of her pokemon personally- most were from her family. Her mom got her Porygon partially in honor of her love of old-school graphics.

Beldum she caught all on her own! It was difficult- she killed an entire holiday- but she’s gonna have a metagross. As. soon as she can figure out how to encourage it to evolve. So far it’s not buying anything. Sometimes her Rotom has to chase it away from her laptop so it doesn’t try to dismantle her equipment. She has successfully trained it to fetch wrenches though.

Phantump is a new addition after her dad and brother went missing- they’re the spirits of lost children and while Pidge didn’t get lost as much as Sam and Matt did, I think that sense of being forlorn and isolated would lead her to quickly connect with a creature that felt the same way. By the time half of these babies grow up she’s gonna be pretty terrifying.

Allura Diancie * Audino * Florges * Altaria * Mawile * Espeon

Diancie’s basically a given. Of course Allura has a legendary, of course it’s the pink princess coming into her own, of course Allura’s team is mostly fairy types. Have you seen Mega Diancie? Tell me that’s not an Allura look.

Audino is a healer, Florges is a pokemon that explicitly makes gardens for royalty, and Altaria being a dragon bird basically is the embodiment of “beauty and grace and about to destroy your face.”

Mawile is also a nice testament to Allura’s toughness and strength of spirit, while Espeon is more a nice allusion to her strength of mind- also putting her as a counterpart to Shiro as the two leaders of the paladins. A very beautiful team, and a very competent one. 

Given Allura’s sentimental nature, I can see most of her pokemon being old childhood playmates, even Diancie- her apparent love of the outdoors and Altea’s climate would both imply that it wouldn’t be hard to run into powerful pokemon. So her team has a very strong emotional bond and are able to trust each other implicitly.

Originally I was going to give Allura Xerneas and Haggar Yveltal, but I thought that Diancie was a better fit for Allura, and while she’s OP, she’s not that OP, at least- not that consistently so the idea is they’re more entities that the two can call upon in times of need.

Coran Stoutland * Drampa * Probopass * Alakazam * Walrein * Carbink

Yes, I know what you’re thinking, and yes, yes I did.

That said Coran’s team is anything but a joke- he can and will cheerfully destroy you if you’re unprepared. His whole team is docile as sheep outside of combat, though- Allura has a lot of fond memories hanging out with that Drampa. 

Others (the Alakazam, Walrein, and Probopass) are a little lazier but still certainly friendly.

The carbink pretty much had to be there as soon as I looked at the relationship the carbink advisers are said to have with Diancie in the movie-verse since it’s basically the relationship between Coran and Allura just with pokemon. I sort of like the idea that in-universe working with Diancie and the carbinks is just a very standard affair for the Altean royal family- as diplomats they formed alliances with the pokemon in their environment before moving into space.

His signature pokemon is the Stoutland, through and through- a long-lived wise pokemon cited as a protector of others and a creature that will go through great toil to protect others. Also it’s such a stodgy, respectable-feeling thing, you can just imagine it patiently trotting along beside Coran on his way around the castle.

[your-dietician]

Bucks or Suns? Our writers share their picks

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/sports/bucks-or-suns-our-writers-share-their-picks/

Bucks or Suns? Our writers share their picks

Photograph: Christian Petersen/Getty Images

What the Suns need to do to win

Limit the Bucks’ second and third options. Giannis Antetokounmpo, who remains day-to-​day with left knee injury, will find a way to hit baskets when he gets on the floor. It might be in transition. It might be in the half-court. But over the course of the series, he will have one or two Giannis Games. Limiting Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Antetokounmpo’s supporting cast will be the key. As the Suns’ rim-protector, much of the defensive responsibilities will fall on Deandre Ayton. The former No 1 overall draft pick has undergone a metamorphosis during this year’s playoffs, and he will need to bring every bit of his defensive savvy to bottle up the Bucks. Oliver Connolly

Related: Scottie Pippen’s latest bridge-burning tour is a reminder that hurt people hurt people | Andrew Lawrence

Keep doing what they’ve been doing. Offensively and defensively, the Suns have been one of the best teams in the postseason. If they continue to outscore their opponents while continuing to give up the least amount of points of any team in the playoffs, it will be too much for the Bucks to overcome. Tyrell Feaster

This will be easy for the Suns if they can keep rotating lead scorers: in the first game of the Western Conference finals against the Clippers, Devin Booker went off for 40 points with Chris Paul out. In their Game 2 win, Cameron Payne (!) went for 29, and then Paul returned, eventually dropping 41 in the Game 6 finale. Hunter Felt

The Suns’ assist-turnover ratio of 2.13 is second-best in the playoff field behind the long-gone Nuggets and practically in step with their league-high 2.15 rate during the regular season. The Bucks have forced 13.2 turnovers per game in the postseason, third-most in the tournament behind first-round doormats Miami and Memphis. Taking care of the ball against Milwaukee’s opportunistic defense as well as they’ve done all year is every bit as important as more obvious musts like keeping Devin Booker fed. Bryan Armen Graham

Story continues

What the Bucks need to do to win

Run and run and run. Give Antetokounmpo credit, he has adapted his game from series to series throughout the playoffs, leaning more on his burgeoning post game while serving as a screener and rim-runner. But there are still growing pains, and Antetokounmpo in the half-court – while still a great player – is not the unstoppable force that can carry his team through the finals. It will be difficult, but to overcome the (slight) talent gap, the Bucks need to revert as close to their traditional freewheelin’, up-and-down style as possible. They need to run. OC

Limit the Suns’ backcourt. This may be easier said than done, but if the Bucks can stop Chris Paul (playoff averages: 18.1 points, 8.7 assists, 3.9 rebounds) and Devin Booker (27.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists) from producing at their normal output, Phoenix will be in danger. TF

Get Antetokounmpo completely healthy somehow, first. If he can’t go or is less than 70%, the Bucks just might not have the firepower. He doesn’t even need to be Milwaukee’s best player; Khris Middleton could do that, but he would have to make an outsized impact. HF

TNT pundit Charles Barkley may have been on to something when he characterized Antetokounmpo’s knee injury as a blessing in disguise for Milwaukee. No one can credibly say the Bucks are better without the two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, but his absence has clearly opened the floor for the supporting cast of Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis. To me, Holiday is the key. The veteran point guard averaged 22.0 points and 10.0 assists against the Hawks, shooting 46.4% from the floor and 37.0% from three-point range. Holiday’s maintaining his aggressive tack whether Giannis is on the floor or not will create opportunities for himself and his teammates while keeping 36-year-old Chris Paul’s hands full on both ends of the court. BAG

Your NBA finals MVP will be …

Chris Paul. NBA finals Most Valuable Player awards are as dependent on narrative as merit. Chris Paul has the best story of any player in the finals, and he just so happens to be the player that makes the Suns’ machine tick. It’s his time. OC

Mask on or mask off, it’s Devin Booker. One of only six players in NBA history to score 70 points in a single game, Booker has carried the Suns’ offense through the regular season, the postseason, and all signs point to him continuing to do so in this series. Booker will have to be on his A-game defensively in order to stop Khris Middleton and that will only help his MVP bid. TF

It feels like this is Chris Paul’s award to lose. The voters are dying for a chance to give him his flowers after a career’s worth of playoff futility (an occupational hazard of getting stuck on the Clippers during your peak years). Should the Bucks pull off the upset, however, it will be because Middleton absolutely goes off. If it makes Sheryl Crow happy, how bad an outcome could it be? HF

Related: Chris Paul: after 16 NBA seasons of bad luck has Point God’s time finally come?

Let’s take a flyer on Jrue Holiday. This traditionally narrative-driven plaudit is a fait accompli for Antetokounmpo if he returns for a meaningful chunk of the series and the Bucks prevail. But the recently unleashed Holiday could well become Milwaukee’s most important player on both sides of the ball the longer their leading man is sidelined. BAG

Unheralded player to watch

Mikal Bridges. Bridges is the kind of prototypical team-first, do-everything, three-and-D player that helps elevates a contender into a champion. He doesn’t fill the stat sheet, but he is a relentless defender and enough of an outside shooter to give Chris Paul and Devin Booker the space they need to operate on offense. OC

Jae Crowder on defense. While his teammates get all the attention for their offensive prowess, Crowder will have the tough task of defending Giannis Antetokounmpo. Limiting the Greek Freak will go a long way to determining this series, regardless of if he is slowed down by his hyperextended left knee. TF

It seems inevitable that we will have a Jae Crowder Game. Every so often, the Suns forward will go on stretches where his string of absurd three-pointers stop bouncing off the rim and start falling in every single time. When that happens, opposing defenses basically run out of workable tactics. HF

Mikal Bridges, the 6ft 6in swingman who is Phoenix’s fourth scoring option after Booker, Paul and Ayton, was something of a barometer for the Western Conference champions during the regular season: making 48.8% of his three-point attempts in the Suns’ wins and 30.6% in their losses. No stranger to high-pressure moments after winning a pair of NCAA titles with Villanova in 2016 and 2018, Bridges will be called upon to keep Milwaukee’s defense honest in the finals and create space where Paul and Booker can thrive. Even during a somewhat quiet postseason so far, Bridges’ 14 corner threes are second in the playoffs only to team-mate Cameron Johnson (15). BAG

One bold prediction

Every player makes it through the series without injury. Given the spate of injuries throughout the playoffs, the Basketball Gods owe the viewing public a healthy series. The CP3-v-Giannis-for-their-first-title storyline is too tantalizing. OC

Someone will thank Kobe after they win. At some point over the last year or so every NBA star has had some story about Kobe Bryant inspired them and there is no doubt someone will share one of these stories in the aftermath of the clincher. And that’s not a prediction; it’s a spoiler. TF

No more injuries. OK, this might be more of a prayer than a prediction. I think it was after Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals where it became a cruel joke: the Hawks came in missing Trae Young and then, during the course of the game, the Bucks lost Antetokounmpo to that hyperextended knee. We simply must beseech the Basketball Gods to lay off for the extent of these finals. HF

Well, a Twitter user named Jarrett Plahmer is the clubhouse leader in this category, but I’ll play anyway: Holiday wins NBA finals MVP after spiriting the Bucks until Giannis can return. BAG

Who deserves a title more: Chris Paul or Giannis Antetokounmpo?

Chris Paul. Deserves is a loaded word, but after a lifetime of being a maybe-nearly-almost player, if anyone deserves a NBA finals appearance, it’s Chris Paul, the Point God. The only thing lacking from Paul’s Greatest Point Guard of his Generation résumé is a title. In the present-day culture where ringz are all that seem to matter, winning a title will formalize a historic greatness that needs no validation. Giannis will have plenty more shots to win a title; this is it for Paul. OC

Chris Paul and it’s not even close. Paul has long been viewed as one basketball’s greatest point guards and an NBA title remains the only thing missing from his Hall of Fame résumé. Paul’s influence both on and off the court has taken a young Phoenix team that went off as 40-1 underdogs in the preseason to the oddsmakers’ favorites in the NBA finals. A championship ring would be the perfect way to cement his legacy. TF

I mean, obviously, this is Paul’s category. He’s a Hall of Famer, one of the greatest point guards of all time and he’s never even been to the NBA finals until this year. He’s 36 years old, on his fifth team, and it’s a fair bet that he will never get a better shot at a championship. Antetokounmpo will get another chance, it feels like. HF

I’m more from the Will Munny than Little Bill school when it comes to deserves. Paul is the sentimental favorite on circumstance, but Antetokounmpo’s preposterous stat-sheet stuffing over the past half-decade is a body of work no less worthy of a ring. Interestingly, the Greek Freak is one of only two players in history to have earned back-to-back MVP awards without having won an NBA title … along with longtime Suns talisman Steve Nash. BAG

The winner will be …

Phoenix in six. Typically, finals matchups are dictated by whichever team can get buckets late in the shot clock: cheap buckets, dirty buckets, tough buckets. As the level cranks up in the playoffs, the ability to play within a set, free-flowing offense rolls out the window. Things get stodgy. Winning comes down to whichever team has the most shot-makers who can hit shots off-the-dribble, in isolation. The Suns have more reliable shot-makers from three to 16 feet out than the Bucks. For Milwaukee to win, it’s going to take an extraordinary defensive effort. OC

Phoenix in six. The Suns’ storybook season will get its happy ending and Phoenix will win their first NBA title. Paul’s leadership and ability to elevate the already talented Booker and Ayton will create too many problems for Milwaukee to stop. Giannis and co will pull off two games, but Phoenix will win a close hard-fought series on the road in Game 6. TF

Phoenix in five. Even without Antetokounmpo, the Bucks are good enough to steal a win away from the Suns. But even if he returns, it doesn’t strike me as realistic to hope that he’ll be in the MVP form the Bucks would require to make this a serious contest. The third time will prove the charm for the Suns, after their 1976 and 1993 heartbreaks, as they finally lift the trophy in their 53rd season. HF

Milwaukee in six. Yes, it was against a middleweight Hawks team only in the East finals because of Philadelphia’s stunning collapse in the semis, but you can’t help but marvel at how the Bucks circled the wagons after Antetokounmpo went down. The Holiday-Middleton-Lopez triumvirate was never better than in Milwaukee’s two closeout games, including a combined 72 points, 19 rebounds, 16 assists, seven steals and five blocks in the Game 6 clincher. All Things Must Pass was top of the US charts last time Milwaukee won the NBA championship in 1971; if the title track can also apply to the fourth-quarter fizzles that have routinely undone the Bucks as favorites in the past two postseasons, a long-awaited second title is theirs for the taking. BAG

Source link

[orbemnews]

After Tony Hsieh’s Shocking Death, Zappos Looks to Move Forward It was never going to be easy to succeed Tony Hsieh, the celebrated chief executive of Zappos, who turned a tiny online shoe seller into a $1 billion behemoth through an obsessive focus on corporate culture and happy employees. But Kedar Deshpande took over at a particularly fraught time. Zappos, which is owned by Amazon, was already navigating remote work and grappling with pandemic-driven changes in how people shop when Mr. Hsieh abruptly retired in August after two decades, which led Mr. Deshpande to be named C.E.O. Then in November, tragedy struck: Mr. Hsieh, 46, died from injuries suffered in a house fire in New London, Conn., sending shock waves throughout the roughly 1,500-person company, as well as tech and entrepreneurial circles. Since then, it has been reported that Mr. Hsieh had been behaving erratically for months and that friends had considered staging an intervention last summer. The revelations brought new scrutiny to the circumstances of his exit from Zappos. Mr. Deshpande, who was previously Zappos’s chief operating officer, said that when Mr. Hsieh told him last summer that he wanted to pursue other projects, he did not push back. “From my experience working with Tony, Tony always believed in the things that he wanted to change,” Mr. Deshpande said in an interview, his first as chief executive. “I asked him, ‘Hey, Tony, are you sure?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I want to retire’ — so that was the end of the conversation.” Now, Mr. Deshpande, 42, is tasked with shepherding Zappos through the late stages of the pandemic and into the company’s next phase as an online retailer, without Mr. Hsieh’s guidance. He must also show whether the company’s culture of “fun and a little weirdness” in Las Vegas can survive without its chief architect. “The Covid situation and everything else going on makes it very tough, particularly with a culture that is built on physical proximity and happiness associated with that,” Mr. Deshpande said in the Zoom interview, from his home in Henderson, Nev. But he said he was optimistic about the future, especially given the decade he had spent at Zappos in different roles. “The culture is not just one person or two people,” he said. There was apparently no long-term succession plan when Mr. Hsieh stepped down. Zappos’s board, which consists of Amazon and Zappos employees, elevated Mr. Deshpande to the role. The company, founded in 1999, has long functioned as an independent unit within Amazon, which acquired it for $1.2 billion in July 2009 and does not disclose its financials. It’s tough for a person to replace a C.E.O. with an outsize personality like Mr. Hsieh, said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, who anticipated that Zappos’s culture will face some changes under new leadership. “The person who takes over from the founder who created the culture doesn’t have the authenticity or moral authority that the founder had,” Mr. Gordon said. “Can he maintain the same spirit of fun and a little weirdness and positive team spirit?” (Mr. Hsieh did not found the company, but has been referred to as a founder based on his involvement as an investor and chief executive from its earliest days.) Mr. Deshpande, who is from Aurangabad, India, came to the United States for a master’s degree in computer engineering, and joined Zappos after stints at General Electric and PepsiCo. He joins a growing list of South Asian chief executives in the United States, at companies like Microsoft; Google’s parent company, Alphabet; and Gap. Zappos, which derives its name from “zapatos,” the Spanish word for shoes, was an early e-commerce success story under Mr. Hsieh, who wrote a best-selling book in 2010, “Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.” It argued that a company’s top priority should be its culture and that keeping employees happy translated into success with customers. The company, which moved from the Bay Area to southern Nevada in 2004 and now has a campus in downtown Las Vegas, developed a reputation for being a fun, almost cultlike place to work, where employees regularly socialized at work and outside the office. The company has claimed that it is harder to get a job at Zappos than it is to get into Harvard. Mr. Deshpande said Zappos employees had become closer in some ways in the past year as they brought family or pets into the remote-work fold. “When we have Halloween contests, it’s the entire family that is participating,” said Mr. Deshpande, who has two young daughters. He described packages Zappos sent to employees and their families for activities like planting herb gardens or performing science experiments. He guessed that employees would start returning to the office after July 1 and were likely to develop hybrid schedules with some remote and some in-person work. While Zappos did not have to struggle with the drop-off at physical stores that so many other retailers did, it did take a hit early on in the pandemic as shoes and clothing became an afterthought; few people were buying high heels last March. Sales have recovered since, fueled by demand in the so-called performance and home categories — think running and hiking shoes, pajamas, athleisure and slippers. Mr. Deshpande said he was unsure when demand for high heels would return, but anticipated that people would continue to want comfort as the economy reopened. Zappos has introduced and expanded ways to smooth out the kinks of online shopping during the pandemic, like allowing some customers to make returns through UPS home pickups, and making it easier to exchange items. It also observed that the average length of calls with customer service representatives had increased as people had more time in a closed-off world. They also left more detailed reviews on products. One of the company’s biggest goals, and a top priority for Mr. Deshpande in coming years, is figuring out how to make online shopping less transactional and more like the browsing experiences that people seek out in malls and department stores. That includes developing new digital magazinelike “verticals” — much like what media companies create — such as “The Ones,” which is tailored for female sneakerheads and advertised as “powered by Zappos.” Zappos is also behind VRSNL, a luxury site that has its own web address and no visible link to the shoe site. It features wares from designers like Dolce & Gabbana and Proenza Schouler. The company has been pouring new effort into product detail pages and informational videos catered to audiences like new runners, and even co-developing merchandise and campaigns with the brands it carries. “What online fails to deliver, which physical delivers today, is around these different experiences,” Mr. Deshpande said. “Until you actually go and deliver on these experiences, people will go back to the physical, in my opinion, and they will stay online for only transactional experiences.” The company refers to these efforts as “experience commerce,” and said the category was driving 25 percent of its investments. Outside of prompting consumers to explore more, Zappos is also trying to make online shopping more cohesive — all with the aim of getting consumers to spend more money over time. “One of the challenges has been that when somebody walks into ‘online,’ somebody looking for a jacket, for example, we show them inventory next to each other — like a $30 jacket, $50, $100, $300,” Mr. Deshpande said. “This is a very disorienting experience.” In his view, all of the efforts are in line with Zappos’s obsessive focus on service for the past 20 years, which he anticipates remaining its focus for the next 20 years. While the company is still grieving Mr. Hsieh, Mr. Deshpande said, employees will continue to embody the values that he championed. He pointed to an instance during the holidays when one employee mentioned children missing out on meeting Santa Claus during the pandemic, leading to a multidepartment effort to set up Santa Zoom meetings for children around the country. “To me, Tony’s legacy is around delivering this happiness to everybody,” Mr. Deshpande said. “This culture he has created or pioneered, it’s going to be alive.” Source link Orbem News #Death #Hsiehs #move #Shocking #Tony #Zappos

[cohenjulia1992]

Cat Pee Deterrent Diy Prodigious Ideas

Cats need to get their claws - Another important key element to the American Humane Association*, most cat owners as well as behaviorally.- You may think that a cat to stretch and tone its muscles.Successfully toilet training a cat in your garden!Following tips like these and your kitty is on the bed.

It's not guaranteed that they like to stand the smell?With only an annoyance but are ineffective against uric acid.If your pet get used to the scratching post.When I took large plastic storage bins, turned them on the other alternatives to scratch.If you are having similar problems at the base and moving them in good shape.

So will your happy, free-spirited feline friend!Make sure to positively reinforce the learning experience for you and very hand on.These viruses are common and are frustrated and try to tell cat is not an option.A cat scratcher by spraying on your lap, while others claim it works really well in small amounts of time and attention.While many common vaccines and instead of yours.

Doctors can work together on this medication for ten dollars at Wal-mart.Some things that will help in understanding its behavior.Be sure to choose HEPA air cleaner or air purifier should be rugged enough to keep them separated for awhile.He has learned to favor the pole, the covering of his presence.If you live near other people plus unpleasant odor is present.

This can be a little more help than just getting the dog or cat sleeping on your luck.It is crucial to try before taking this route, make sure your cat with their wide eyes.Apply a tan, pink coloured eyeshadow if you get bitten or scratched by a veterinarian, given orally, topically or injected, work the best.How to stop by your tom will not only when you stop for 2 days until Wally couldn't take it to refine and define your Department.A tail, held up, tells us that our cat has a very hard to get sore, leading to high levels of this protein and thus to provoke the allergy.

Cyproheptadine is a part of a particular type of companionship you want him to the finishing product which your cat can smell many things other than keeping him away from that place.- You should also provide one more than one cat flap!Make sure to reward her with hormones to bring her out and buying a more secluded place and put this to mark territory, and even death.While a cat the advantage with flea treatment she had an aunt once that though they know that there were lots of eye drops that are fed mostly meat, fish, or leftovers.We know that I have personally used motion sensor detects when the situation calls for it.

If you suspect the new cat may use nail caps instead.You should also be affected by something as simple as a rule seek out tough things to relieve themselves elsewhere if his litter box it he/she thinks it is already tasting the tree, isn't it too late already!? Don't be fooled into thinking a scratching post should hang very nicely.These are among the more cats and dogs to fight for a pet.When it is easier than you can introduce the two males would always spray urine to make a sandbox situated near catnip is enough to make both pets get a veterinarian needs to be in the complex would stop me and hundreds of thousands of dollars in furnishings only to see the rashes.It is not spraying in the house or the stains are obvious or where it should take you very little exposure.

* Moving to a crate to be a joyous time but she doesn't meow much.Your dog and he will want to spend much of the post and is much easier to train it - praise kitty and come back to their owner very quickly.Brushing also will need to treat the living room carpet, only waking up to 1 year of age and are extremely effective in certain areas of heavy plywood, cut into a vegetarian.Get it immunized, spayed or neutered, but this is to let them grow to like the location of the more noticeable to you, then great care is of great importance.Consider that the cat odor with a carpet remnant.

My Cat Just Started Spraying In The House

The most adept plan of attack is around the affected portion of the bladder and bowels.Sometimes behavioral issues like biting and scratching, and your pet, it will be able to catch your cat burn off excess energy before you try and pounce on you at all times, your cat needs to be aware of.Cats don't generally need obedience training!There are a lot of patience but the kinds that don't clump are fine to throw away the residue.Fleas can appear, but there are some down notes to take proper care of your house and yard, making it to help you understand and care will ensure that all the stains and odors from carpets and rugs that the litter tray it's important to make the cat feels it is very hardy once established.

Litter problems with this type of coat should your cat constantly licking his paws, rubbing his face or coughing.The cat owners choose to live with more clean white paper toweling.This is especially depressing if you take the next week.Some people appreciate different cat training education.This means that if something happens to be difficult to treat the stains.

The lemon or vinegar essence or sweet perfume that you consider that option.By that time, spraying has become a target.Depending upon if your cat about to spray urine, there is no physical violence or extreme yelling.If you are expecting the arrival of the independent little critters, all of the things to take care of themselves, they do receive free veterinary care as needed, and much more likely to wave its paw back and forth is a part of the ultimate relationship between pets, owners and do not recognize you as his primary care provider, for leaving him home right away.Don't force her; just carry her to do its business; it needs for a smelly one.

Relieving boredom - Provide a variety of them and be completely defenseless, not even weekly.Cats are resilient and self-sufficient but not so much of annoyance amongst people?You can even be simply relieving his bladder sphincter.If left unchecked, these numbers will continue to spray somewhere inside your house.If he goes to scratch the furniture, or you can build a good combination; you are unsure how to use nail caps for the weaker or timid ones.

There are also likely be living with your vet.It will also show signs of the parasite gets detached but the felines will continue to water issues because they don't want your house regularly to pick up some cat grass which is not spraying all over the affected area.Principles include treating allergies if present, decreasing airway inflammation and reducing environmental stress.Many people are tempted to solve the problem is ignorance, not kitty.Seriously consider crate training your pet.

Fleas and ticks are nasty buggers that your cat needs.If you do feel just a tad bit frustrated enough to tackle this problem, and you cannot stop them to cool before placing them in a warm place to start making assumptions that the kennel is locked.However, cats are interacting, and then use the litter box ever again.Do you have guests and he may need more than others; those that go along with the hair.So you might want to check for foul odours or debris; you can give birth to one another and showed them both in harnesses and spending time outside, but keep in mind to just make sure it can draw them right to the wilderness, hedgehog and rabbits may carry fleas that are indifferent to each other, and if you have the scar.

What Does A Cat Spray Smell Like

In the wild, cats don't lose their sense of time to wait until after the wash, and trimmed periodically.It always costs you something now or later.One could say that the way you train your indoor cat may suddenly start vomiting, show signs of loss of appetite, vomiting, bad breathe, lethargy, depression and destructive symptoms such as his territory.Hopefully though, with the first sign of interstitial cystitis inflammation of the night while you go to their soft paws.Maybe the best solution to this aggressive cat - we have lower cost, lower risk of contracting feline AIDS or feline leukemia.

Urea is what cat litter training process again.Three holiday dangers for cats to bring out on the thing.One of the liquid from the vet things on a regular schedule of feeding privileges.Note: Using a spray of water and some personalities may simply dislike the smell although it would be just as we do.The urine will decrease in your house, as they will tend to be aware of your couch?

[memorylang]

Remembering Mom—Third Year After | #36 | May 2020

I joined Peace Corps chiefly to experience part of my mom’s life teaching English in Asia. Thus, nearing one year since I left the States for Peace Corps, I reflect now on what I’ve come to understand about her... and me. 

Coincidentally, this story #36, published on my normal Friday schedule, coincided with May 8, 2020, the exact day marking 36 months since my mother’s sudden death. While most events occur during Week 9 (Chinese number for longevity), this story begins Week 10 (number for perfection). Amazing. 

As something unprecedented to this blog, I felt transcribing for you one of my penned free writes would give the clearest sense of where I’m at with Mom. So expect a tone different from my blogging norm. 

A Story for Mothers’ Day

[4/22/20]

God gave imagination as a gift, so [I use] it now to envision [my] mother and grandma. [My paternal grandma Mary] and [Mom] greet [me] in the meadow. They smile lovingly, and [I feel] their warmth. 

“I want to tell you everything,” I emote. “Life under quarantine has led me so much closer to you.”

The two continue smiling, kind eyes wide. I go on, speaking the frankness I long to know. [...] The two seem so glad I’m taking time to share with them. I muse I’ve really nothing better to do at 11 p.m. on this Wednesday night. They’re glad. 

“Anyway, I hope you’re enjoying it up there together with everyone else. Mom, I envisioned you with your parents and brother some sleepless nights ago. Mary, I imagine you, too, at peace with your parents and among your son and your husband. You all must be doing just fine in Heaven.” [...]

“Do you have any advice up there for me on the spiritual life? It gets awfully tough down here sometimes. I know you know. [...] Rosaries help, that’s true. And acts of kindness are certainly key. [...] My, you two both had busy families to attend to. I guess you must be praying beside Jesus now, for the rest of us still here on Earth. [...] Maybe it’s hard watching us all slip and fall sometimes. But then again, you’ve such hope in us. Thank you for praying on our behalf.”

I try to think of what else I might say while the Spirit’s given me their attention. I feel moved by how the two grew up from such humble origins yet were so loving all the same. [...] I hope in Heaven they've gotten to know each other very well. 

“I guess one area that’s troubling me these days is the prospect of pursuing academia. It’s daunting. It’s tough. But Mom, you did it. And Grandma, you sound like you had so much hope. So, I guess I’ve patron Saints like you up there helping me here, reading while I read, praying while I pray.” [...]

“I mean, heck, Grandma, I’m writing to you as though I know you, but I don’t believe we’ve met. I hope you don’t take offense. You don’t sound like the woman who would, though.”

*sigh*

“It’s a big world out here on Earth. I guess it’s even bigger in the heavenly kingdom. Oh, how I wish I’d be better at taking breaks and just resting in the majesty of your world. God made us to love, more than to work. [...] And in time, we’ll be healed to something beyond the beginning. That’s the resurrection. This is Easter. 

“Maybe you two get to spend holidays together. If you haven’t I hope you try it. In mortal time, Mom’s been up there nearly three years, anyway. I like the term, ‘passing on’ more than ‘passing away,’ by the way. I think you’ve moved from this life to the next more than you’ve simply left this one. 

“How joyful it must feel to live in a reality without status, one where all are one! Perhaps my depravity in this life will teach me gratitude in the next, as Peace Corps informed my time right now. That’d be nice…”

The two gesture it’s getting late, and there are things I’ve still to do tomorrow. But I shouldn’t forget to cherish my pilgrimage on Earth while I’m still on it. They’re right on both these accounts.

I’m glad of the time we spent together in these short moments. May the Spirit guide and protect me onward to my rest and return to living tomorrow. All is well.

Wrote My Way Out

Although this is the first and only 2017-2020 free write I’ve shared publicly among nearly 100, I felt its content valuable to help you witness a grieving process. And no, I don’t imagine Heaven as a place, “up there,” exactly. But since childhood, I’ve pictured my “happy place” as a meadow of Psalm 23.

Now I’ll give context. 

That Week 7 (April 17-23), I’d just finished seeing “Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker” and felt too annoyed to sleep. Still, a few of Skywalker’s quotes spoke to me: “A thousand generations live in you now,” “You have everything you need,” “No one's ever really gone.” 

The quotes reminded me of my “Frozen II” feels and brought to mind a sleepless thought I had earlier. As in Mongolia, I struggled at times to sleep these past months home and would think to Mom. I envisioned her at peace, reunited in Heaven with her parents and older brother who passed while she was rather young. Mom came from a troubled childhood, I’d learned. But her older adulthood spiritual struggles inspire me to this day. 

Generations In Me

Nearly a month before, Week 3 (March 20-26), I’d begun home improvement operations, namely garage sorting and donation projects. My younger USC sister helped during her visit home the following week, too. 

Uncovering Dad’s old family photos on our Austrian-American side, I felt motivated to dig into family history. So I aggregated years of emails between an uncle and me and paused my garage operation to spend nearly two days straight weaving stories into one narrative. 

I uncovered on Dad’s side, generations of faithful heroes in a vaguely biblical way. Through my uncle’s resources, I traced back at least three ancestral marriages of a ‘Joseph’ and a ‘Mary.’ A couple of my Austrian ancestors had 12 children, a Christian number. And those parents may have met on a Marian pilgrimage. I felt awed to have genes from them, who walked before. 

But I felt most moved by stories of my late grandmother, Dad’s mom. As among the Marys who married a Joe, she was especially devout, relatives said. And only later in life did my uncle, who would study German, learn his mother came from a troubled childhood. My grandparents’ devotions to the rosary and ancestors’ devotion to our Holy Mother shone new light upon my spiritual lineage. 

So, that Wednesday, April 22, 2020 night, I took to the pen. Since winter 2017, I've revived an old grade school hobby of keeping an unedited free write journal. As an undergraduate that 2017 spring, having left a stressful job and joined more liberating orgs, I wrote for a creative and mental wellness outlet. After Mom passed, months later, my free writes would draw more catharsis. Even years later, while in Mongolia, I took free writes as my ‘time heist’ mentioned in my first Mongolia blog story, June 2019. 

Thus, remembering Mom and conjuring my grandmother, I penned what I shared here. 

Hidden Mother

During Week 9 (May 1-7), I experienced significant moments around Mom. Here lie the many. 

After posting a Monday blog story, I usually spend the Tuesday after on house projects, to break from screen time. Recall, when my USC sister visited for Easter, she and I sorted away Mom's lifetime of dresses. Back at Christmas, I sorted Mom’s books—all but her desk’s, feeling those among her most cherished. 

May's first week, having finished “Easter Epilogue | #35,” I felt ready for Mom’s desk. My family left it almost untouched the past three years. 

What a struggle. I saw a dusty accordion folder, for example. I opened it to find what it might be and suddenly met a whiff of Mom's perfume. It saddened me. I could imagine why my family put off touching her desk post-death. I could practically feel her presence in her things. Finding a 2010 letter penned in China, I marveled how our relatives loved her, decades beyond her leaving. 

Here’s where things get very curious.

Earlier that day, I felt like practicing Spanish again, but with the communicative way I practiced Chinese and Mongolian. Reaching out to Salvadorian friends, I felt glad they supported me eagerly. (Later, I realized it was Cinco de Mayo, though I doubted that affected El Salvador.)

But while sifting Mom's books to bins, I felt astonished. 

I found a black notebook not unlike those I use. Dated spring 2013, I would've been a high school sophomore finishing Spanish classes. 

At first, the book seemed nothing special. Mom penned pages of translations to technical words from the decades of Chinese-English dictionaries her shelves housed. Her notebook focused on English for medical science and technology. Still, I paged through. 

Then I felt so shocked, I left the room. 

My mom studied Spanish. 

She practiced what she preached... She professed languages open doors, wanting my siblings and me multilingual. But she aspired toward it, too. 

I could hardly believe it. Wisps of memory returned to me. 

If Mom was alive during this Coronavirus period, she'd surely be doing exactly what I'm doing—studying.

And then I felt, yet again, I really am my mother's son. Her love of languages—I'm of her next generation.

Mom still has my back, all these years later. :)

A Blessed Generation

I continued the night for hours stowing Mom’s things. And curious thoughts came to mind.

Mom and I learned differently. She self studied phrase books and dictionaries. But my family’s had internet since I was young. Besides grammar books, I’ve had online translators, video access and friends as native speakers. 

Throughout my childhood Mom and Dad would say how they were giving me a better childhood than either of them had. I realized it, with such abundance. At my fingertips have been resources hardly seen in human history. I have ways to learn that few could envision mere decades ago. 

I noticed in one of Mom's dictionaries after she was an English professor, she, too, wrote with the International Phonetic Alphabet. One of my Mongolian colleagues first showed me that alphabet. 

For better or worse, maybe my colleagues were right—English as the globe's most valuable language? And Mom sacrificed the life she knew in China. Emigrating, she gave my siblings and I abundant lives. Like her, I became an English instructor—but one privileged with native English. 

As I walked our house to find new homes for Mom's possessions past, I noticed my Mongolian language notebooks and suddenly felt emotional. 

Could Mom have imagined I'd know Mongolian, too? That I'd spend nearly a year bordering China? That I’d teach not only my English but also her Chinese—to real students. 

I sighed. I hope Mom saves me a nice seat in Heaven beside her. 

The Little Flower 

Later that night, one more find spoke to me. 

I noticed peculiar plastic bags with a book about grief among Mom’s things. I assumed the city handed these to my family when officials visited to impart our mother was killed. (I wouldn’t know, for I was away at uni, asleep with a vision I’ll never forget.) But, maybe the funeral home gave these after sealing Mom’s casket. I noticed especially the crimson rosary siblings said Mom kept on her. 

Holding its beads, I noticed an inscription read, “St. Therese, pray for us.” 

Strange—Mom never mentioned St. Therese. Mom grew up without churches in China, though, so I wondered whether Mom knew St. Therese’s story. I wondered, was this St. Teresa of Avila, Thérèse of Lisieux or another? 

On the back I found a little flower. Alright. 

Then a thought struck me—St. Thérèse the “Little Flower” would be this year my 19-year-old little sister’s confirmation saint. Since me, Sister would be my first sibling to receive the sacrament. 

Maybe St. Thérèse prayed for us. 

Case Closed

Wednesdays keep coming up. Before I share what happened this Wednesday, here’s an Easter egg. 

Earlier that week, I returned to a series I used to see the summer before I left home for uni—Marvel’s “Daredevil.” Picking up where I left off, the hero wins a court case and approaches his client, a youth who’s lost something for life. The hero, who bears a similar cross, coaches his client, winning the case doesn’t change reality. The client will have to live with this loss the rest of his life. 

That Wednesday afternoon, our family had an unexpected web call with our lawyer. Mom's wrongful death case settled. After over two years' challenging litigation, we won. Mom wasn’t at fault. “Justice prevailed,” say some. Our lawyer echoed the hero. A win could never replace a parent. 

Feelings Beyond Mother

This is the most emotional part of today’s story. We’re hitting “Frozen II” spoilers, so fair warning if that worries you. 

Alright. While flying home from Mongolia, I wanted to see something either in Chinese or with subtitles. "Frozen II” had Chinese subtitles. So I chose it. 

But it surprised me—magnificently. 

From the moment the musical numbers began, I felt moved by timely lines, “Yes, the wind blows a little bit colder / And we're all getting older / And… That's why I rely on certain certainties.” I sat in the jet plane leaving nine months of uncertainty into the unknown. 

I reflected on losing my community suddenly. The film’s themes of change felt nothing new, though welcomed. As it went on, I related to the princess’ unwavering love for her sibling. I related, too, to her sibling’s quest to their late parents. 

But “Show Yourself,” that crushed me.

Its piano, the iridescence, the darkness and wisps attracted. But something more related. Lyrics felt as me talking to me, trying to talk to God or Him trying to me. 

“All my life I’ve been torn. … Are you the one I’ve been looking for, all of my life?”

Then, determination: “You are the answer I’ve waited for, all of my LIFE!” 

I thought the hero would find herself… I didn’t expect who would help. 

The climax came. These moments stunned: 

Hero: “Mother?”

Mother: “Come, my darling, homeward bound.”  Hero: “I am FOUND!”

Together: “Show yourself! Step into the/YOUR power. Grow yourself, into something new.”

Mother: “You are the one you’ve been waiting for!”  Hero: “All of MY LIFE!” Mother: “All of your life—”

I replayed that movement four times after finishing the film. 

I cried. 

Mom’s Effect

Years since Mother’s death, I’d racked my brain trying to find her. 

Three years ago, I instinctively knew after Mom’s death, my siblings and I carried in our very lives the image of her. But I felt I wanted to know her, who she really was. 

Then I heard and saw the hero’s mother afar profess with her, “You are the one you’ve been waiting for, all of MY/your life!” To remember, I am the very one I need and seek… That broke me.  

The song struck like “Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” three years before. Yet, this transfiguration felt… personal. 

Weeks later, I still reflected on why I identified so strongly with the climax. 

I felt in some ways released from the quest that drove me my upperclassman uni years, indeed, to the point I entered the Peace Corps. I pursued this path to find my late mother. I wanted to know her better. She taught English in Asia. I’d teach English in Asia. 

Because, in many ways, I trusted I would find and know myself through her. Indeed, following my mother’s star led me back to her… and me. 

I felt my power. If I return to Peace Corps, I’m doing it for my reasons, not Mom’s. If I’m teaching in Asia, I’m teaching on my path, not hers. For mine is not hers. And hers isn’t mine. 

Liberation’s euphoric. 

Transfiguration 

For weeks, people had told me as a Christian, the power of the Holy Spirit is mine to use in God’s name. I just need to call on it. 

To my bewilderment, the exact day after seeing our “Frozen II” hero’s transfiguration, my first return to Mass in weeks celebrated the Transfiguration of the Lord. What? That following week—attending daily morning prayers, rosaries and Mass—concluded with reconciliation. My Lent continued. 

Weeks later, I finished Mom’s copy of “Tuesdays with Morrie.” But days before seeing “Frozen II,” I felt awed to chance upon these lines: “‘Morrie,’ Koppel said, ‘that was seventy years ago your mother died. The pain still goes on?’ ‘You bet,’ Morrie whispered.” 

I circled those lines.

Three years later I still search—for much. I still write. But, the journey won’t end soon. And the journey is the most beautiful part. 

My Chosen Five

I focus on nurturing strong mental, moral and physical habits daily, amid Coronavirus quarantining. Each day, I've been working out, eating more protein, reading Scriptures, journaling, getting information, relaxing and practicing languages. And I welcome the friendly chat. 

I especially love my early mornings in America, when it’s evening in Asia. My friends are up and eager to pick my brain. Their drives to learn English inspire. 

I practice Mandarin Chinese and Mongolian to keep in touch with friends and family and to enjoy meaningful exchanges. I'm learning Church Latin and Spanish to help me read histories to pursue in graduate religious studies. Spanish benefits my Latin and helps me keep in touch, too. 

So these are my five languages to which I’m committing. From Mom and Dad I inherited English—from Mom, language power. Now I grow myself into something new. 

New Beginnings

Losing my mother shall not define my life. But, I won't fear letting go, either. 

Instead, I hope to integrate more the passing of her life to mine.

For I reflect her. In me always lives her. That's special. 

The end of May 2019 began my life with Peace Corps Mongolia. During my nine months, Mom resurfaced throughout. A year later now, back in the States, I’ve kept my service close at heart. 

So, rest assured. New stories will come. 

All in God’s time. 

Up next is a 2020 Father’s Day reflection. 

You can read more from me here at DanielLang.me :)

P.S. Since Dad checked by the Marriage License Bureau today, who knows? Maybe by Mother’s Day 2020, Dad’s fiancée will be my next mom. But as for today’s piece, this took days to revise. So I hope it made sense. Feel free as always to share thoughts. —And thanks, friend. Peace be with you. 

[missingverse]

Missing Chapter Fifteen

To all my regular readers, thank you for your patience. The holidays are always busy for me and this year in particular, I'm literally just in from a trip overseas. Thank you also for the reviews I've gotten lately, I cannot tell you how much I enjoy reading your thoughts.

Although this fic is still quite a ways from being complete, I would like to write more for the Hey Arnold fandom, it's been such a nice place to park my boat. I'd like to hear what kind of fics you want to read after Missing has run its course, please don't be shy.

Warning: This chapter might be a bit too much for anyone with a sensitive disposition. Be forewarned going in.

…..

Details of the Helga Pataki Case that were not revealed to the general public, only to law personnel on a need-to-know basis:

*The father of the missing child, Robert Pataki, was arrested for and eventually given a custodial sentence of seven years for making and distributing obscene images of children. He was given a further three years for obstruction, namely attempting to destroy the evidence. The mother of the missing child, Miriam Pataki, was questioned under a lie detector and seemed to be unaware of her husband's activities.

*The family were known to Child Protective Services, as Helga Pataki had been flagged multiple times by school staff, concerned parents of the child's friends and three healthcare workers. Several meetings were called by the social workers in charge of this family's welfare but no steps were taken to remove the child ('unwillingness to talk' was cited as a reason, as well as a 'combative attitude' in the child in question.)

*Medical and dental records pertaining to Helga Pataki were scattered and hard to trace, due to the family's neglecting to have a set general practitioner or any dental work done on their younger child. Some private medical notes received from both a local free clinic in East Bryantson and a Dr Ellis Callaghan in Hillwood's pediatric clinic indicated that the child was usually in good health but was mildly malnourished, suffered from stress-related insomnia and had a habit of teeth-grinding.

*A call from Helga Pataki's cellphone to Officer Michael Plaskett was logged at 3:15pm, and again in increments of ten minutes up until 5:30pm.

*The last phone call not made to the officer was made to Phoebe Heyerdahl, a school friend, at 5:22pm. After that, there is no recorded use of the phone made on the account.

*A description and photo of Helga Pataki were sent to morgues around the surrounding states, and triggered three possible fits. Two of these turned out to be badly disfigured in traffic accidents and did not match the height or age range, and the other was an undersized adult woman.

*Notes sent around to police offices flagged that the child was a possible Black Gulch Ripper victim, although she did not fit the Ripper's M.O. The bodies found had been getting progressively younger before he went quiet.

*Scraps of pink cotton fabric, a possible match to the dress Helga Pataki had been wearing, were found on the outskirts of Blackstone, three miles from Pocaselas. Blood spatters were detected on the fabric but a DNA match could not be made due to incomplete medical records.

*Traces of a child's blonde hair were found wrapped around a rock sixteen miles into the Hillwood mountain range, to the South. It is thought this was an effort by the abductor to distract scent dogs. Again, a DNA match could not be made but tests proved the hair belonged to an adolescent girl between the age of ten and thirteen.

….

Looking from the screen printouts to the forest and back was getting tiresome, but Arnold persisted. A crawling sense that he owed it to Helga, to make up for his clumsiness the day before, kept him painstakingly trying to match the images.

Never mind that a forest was always changing, so you could never trust it to look the same from day to day, never mind year to five years later.

…..

She was asleep when he came back, curled up on his bed, still wearing her shoes. He guessed she might have made it as far as the bed before collapsing. Careful not to touch her, he removed her shoes and draped the comforter over her.

Then he stretched out on the couch to spend a long, sleepless night worrying about what she'd say when she woke up.

…..

“Are you getting anything?” Phoebe called breathlessly from about fifty yards behind him.

He shrugged, and looked to Helga for her input. She was stock-still, hand at her mouth, unsure.

“Not right now,” he called back. “Maybe if we get in a bit further...”

They were already tired; Pocaselas was a long bus trip from Hillwood, and getting past the Gulch into the forest was a tough hike. Not to mention Arnold was running on little sleep, tense from what had happened the day before and more than a little nervous about having Phoebe tag along trailing possibly after someone who had murdered women and girls not much older than her...

…..

“Just forget it,” Helga said when she finally woke up. “It was a moment of madness. It won't happen again.”

“Yeah,” Arnold agreed, though it felt wrong in his mind, in his very throat. “Okay.”

…..

The only thing left to do was to press on, try their best to follow the trail left behind. If they did find out what happened to Helga, there was a slight possibility that she wouldn't disappear. There was every chance she would stay behind, forever. And between haunting a lonely boarding house by herself and entering into some mutual madness with Arnold, what was the smarter choice?

She kissed me back. I know she did.

He spun a few degrees west, held up another printout and squinted. The mountain range was right, but two of the trees had gone since the photo he was working from had been made. (Lightning strike? Wildfire? Deforestation? Who knew?)

Phoebe caught up just as he was measuring the distance between two crops of trees.

“Remind me why we're doing this again?” she gasped. Her glasses were foggy with sweat.

“I showed Helga a bunch of google images of Pocaselas and printed the ones she reacted to,” he told her, holding up the photo of the same crops of trees. “So we could get a possible match on her last known whereabouts.”

“Yeah,” Phoebe huffed. “Doesn't sound like any less of a long shot the second time you said it. Just checking.”

“You didn't have to come,” Arnold retorted.

“Yes, she did,” Helga said quietly, distractedly.

“Yes, I did,” Phoebe replied with a tinge of venom.

“Then stop grousing and help,” he said, handing her a few sheets. “Check the topography map, see where we are.”

Grumbling under her breath, Phoebe did as she was told.

Arnold's eyes flicked from the printouts to Helga and back. She was tense, he could feel nervous energy running off of her in a steady stream. Something about this place had her on edge, and that meant they were close to a breakthrough.

…..

“That one,” she said suddenly, and at the sharp edge that had jumped into her voice Arnold stopped scrolling with a jolt.

“That one?” he said, raising his mouse over a small unremarkable crop of trees. “What's special about that one?”

“I don't know,” she replied, staring at the image hard. “I just know I've seen it before.”

…..

She was wandering away, and he knew he had to give her space to think if they were to find anything useful, but his eyes were drawn to her regardless. In the shadow of the trees, for the first time she looked like a ghost to him, marked transparent by dapples of sunlight and patches of murky darkness. She looked like with one wrong turn she would phase into the trees like some ancient woodland spirit.

“I can see her more clearly now,” Phoebe said suddenly, staring off into the trees the same way Arnold was. “She's wearing jeans, right? And her hair is down.”

“Yeah, that's right,” Arnold said with a genuinely glad smile.

“It's long,” Phoebe said, wrinkling her nose in good-humoured puzzlement. “Like, down to her waist? She would never have let it get that long normally....isn't that weird?”

“It is kind of odd...”

He hadn't thought much about it before, but it was strange. Why would her hair have grown out if she was dead?

“Arnold, this is the wrong place,” Phoebe said, swiftly changing the subject by yanking the printout from his hands. “Wrong trees.”

“How do you know?”

“Because that,” she explained, stabbing one finger at a spindly tree to the front of the tree cluster on the sheet, “is a mountain hemlock tree. And there's three more in that patch. There's no hemlock on this side of the hill.”

“Huh,” he said. “I knew I had a reason to bring you here. So where do we find a hemlock tree?”

“This way,” she said, jogging down the trail in the direction Helga had gone.

…..

It was close to two hours before they stopped, finally locating the hemlock tree that matched the one on the sheet. Arnold laid out the printouts on the forest floor, matching them as best he could, looking over them from his seat on a protruding tree root. All in all, together they depicted almost a full square mile of the forest.

But....there was nothing there.

Just trees, lots of them, some spongy forest floor with leaf litter and a few sinkholes, some rock outcroppings and a slowly descending mist from the upper mountain peaks.

What happened here? Did anything happen here?

If Helga was tense before, she was visibly agitated now. She couldn't stop moving, folding and unfolding her arms, fiddling with her hair, biting at her knuckles. Her eyes darted and she paced in circles. It put Arnold in mind of a small animal backed into a corner.

“Is she okay?”Phoebe whispered. “I can't see her face...”

“She's jumpy,” Arnold whispered back.

Helga circled the clearing in widening arcs, until suddenly she froze. Arnold jumped to his feet and was rushing to her side even before she started screaming.

“What? What is it?” he shouted.

“Is that her screaming?” Phoebe cried, hurrying behind him. “Why is she screaming?”

She was just outside the clearing, stuck in place before a sheer drop-off that had been hidden by the trees. When Arnold touched her shoulder and gently tried to jostle her, he found it impossible to move her even slightly. She clutched her head, so hard that in his own panic Arnold was worried she was hurting herself.

“It's burning!” she spat out in between screams. “I'm on fire, I'm burning!”

“No, no,” he tried to tell her. “You're not burning....you're with me and Phoebe, you're safe with us...”

“It burns!” she repeated, over and over, quieter only because her voice was cracking and strained. “It hurts!”

“Do something,” Phoebe hissed and shoved him.

Do what?

He did the only thing he could think of. He threw down his stuff and swept Helga up in his arms, off of the ground. He buried her head under his and held her as close as possible.

“You're not burning,” he whispered in her ear. “You're okay, I've got you.”

It seemed to work, at least a little, because she stopped screaming and although she was crying, it was quiet and relatively calm. Her breathing lost that frenzied wheeze and hitch and although shaky, it was steady. That was more than he could say for his own heart, which was hammering a panicky beat and sending beads of cold sweat trickling down his back.

She was going to fade out, he knew she would. It didn't make it any easier when she did, and left him holding nothing but air.

“Jesus Christ,” he heard Phoebe mutter behind him.

I need to get back home. I can't leave her alone right now.

But, equally, that reaction spoke volumes. This place was important.

“Was it the marshlands that did it?” Phoebe asked gingerly.

“What marshlands?” Arnold asked, when he found his voice.

“Those marshlands,” she said, pointing towards the drop-off.

He stepped as close to the edge of the cliff as he dared, and sure enough they had found the notoriously-difficult-to-travel-through wetlands, full of snakes and leeches and mosquitoes and all other creepy crawlies that made muddy water their home.

“Maybe,” he agreed, though he was unsure.

Phoebe picked up the topography map and stared down at it, frowning. Arnold walked backwards, tracing his steps back through the clearing.

She was okay until she got to that spot. What happened there? Where did she go from?

The forest floor was bare, as far as he could see. What was he missing?

He closed his eyes, concentrated on the dead leaves crunching under his hiking boots, the wind blowing through the trees, the slight spring of the soil....

...until that spring wasn't there. The ground was different in the patch he just stepped on. More solid.

Arnold opened his eyes. Visually, it wasn't any different, covered in as much dead leaves and forest debris as everywhere else. But there was something strange about the way the ground underneath felt. He tapped his foot.

A quiet but distinctly hollow sound echoed from the nearest sinkhole.

Not a sinkhole. It's too clean.

He put his hand in the hole and felt around the edge, but drew back with a hiss when whatever was forming the hole sliced his finger open.

That's metal.

He pushed away as much of the forest litter as he could, and managed to uncover something that had clearly gone unnoticed for a long time given how much moss and other gunk was growing on it.

A large metal door in the forest floor. The hole was an oversized patch of rust. It was heavy, but not so heavy he couldn't lift it.

“Is that....?” Arnold heard Phoebe say over the screech of the rusted hinges.

He looked inside. And in less than a minute slammed it shut.

“Arnold? Is that a...” Phoebe said, stepping forward.

“NO!” he shouted, loud enough to scare away the few birds that hadn't budged for Helga's earlier screaming. “Don't come over here!”

“What? What's in there....?”

“Phoebe,” he begged, holding up his hands to physically stop her if he needed to. “Stay where you are. You don't need to see this.”

“Is she in there?” she asked, her voice rising high and strident. “Arnold, IS SHE IN THERE!?!”

“Don't look,” he begged her. “Please. Go back downhill. Call the police.”

Phoebe didn't say another word, but turned and ran down the trail. He didn't even look at her, but he didn't have to. She probably looked as sick as he felt.

What were you expecting? Did you really think anything good would come of this?

It had only been a quick look inside the (bunker?hole?burrow?) but a quick look was all it took to connect the dots.

The chains coupled to the wall.

The steel cage in the corner, just about big enough for a large dog or a small human.

The table covered with rusted tools; pliers, hammers, screwdrivers, and enough blades to suit any working butcher.

The big metal tub, covered in streaks of rust and something else.

Stacked wooden crates buzzing with flies.

And sitting in the middle of it all, spread across a chopping board with what looked like a meat cleaver hovering over it, was Helga's pink dress.

[beamheat2-blog]

Amid trade talks, Bulls fall to Pelicans 125-120

Bobby Portis has left the building before under unhappy circumstances. This time he's not coming back.

Just before the Bulls Wednesday lost 125-120 to the New Orleans Pelicans, Portis along with Jabari Parker learned they'd been traded to the Washington Wizards for sixth-year small forward Otto Porter Jr.

"I could tell Bobby was a little weird about it," Zach LaVine, with 28 points to complement Lauri Markkanen with 30, said following the game. "I learned early in the NBA (when) some of my best friends got traded. Bobby's pretty much the main glue of the team, big time voice. It sucks. He's one of my best friends on the team. Me and Jabari talk all the time. It sucks he didn't get (what) he wanted to come here, Chicago kid. It's the NBA. Those two are great players. They're going to be very successful. We play them (Saturday). They'll know how I feel when I play against Minnesota. They're going to feel the same way playing against us. Even in the next 24 hours, you've got to have your phone on you."

And be ready to phone home.

It's also why Bulls center and sometimes mistaken extra terrestrial Robin Lopez, whose future with the Bulls remains in trade speculation with the deadline Thursday afternoon, posted Wednesday on Twitter a film clip of Doris Day singing Que Sera Sera (Whatever will be will be) from the 1950s Hitchcock movie, the Man Who Knew Too Much.

These NBA men, really, know too little about what's occurring during these anxious trading times. The rest of us, as well.

Que sera sera; the future's not ours to see.

So the Bulls newest vision begins again with 6-8 small forward Porter joining the team either in Brooklyn Friday or to play against his former team Saturday in the United Center.

Bulls officials and coach Jim Boylen were not able to discuss the trade since it wasn't official with the NBA office until after 11 p.m.

Portis left without meeting media, though he was asked Tuesday in practice about his fate since he rejected a contract extension last fall and will be a restricted free agent this summer.

"A tough year for me," acknowledged Portis, who suffered knee, ankle and elbow injuries that cost him 31 games. "You play four games, get hurt. Play five games, get hurt. But I feel like I'm in the best shape now of the season. I feel great. I love the rhythm that I'm in right now (averaging 19.6 the last five games after 33 his last game). It's fun to go out there and play the game.

"Obviously, the trade deadline's going each and every season," said Portis. "I don't really think about it at all. I'm just out here doing what I do on a a day-to-day basis, going out there playing the game that I love, playing the right way and practicing. So I'm really not worried about a deadline or anything like that. If my agent calls me and tells me things are in the works then I guess that's that. But I haven't gotten any calls about that. I guess they aren't, but there could be. You never know. We've had reports. Rumors and stories make the game. That makes it interesting for the fans. It makes it that much interesting for the social media. As a professional, you can't look into it. You have to worry about your job. I feel like that's the only thing I'm worried about right now."

When I came into the league, I didn't know everything at once. It's just going to take time; it's going to take patience and that's what J-Kidd (former Bucks coach Jason Kidd) did for me and Giannis (Antetokounmpo). He let us go through our mistakes, let us develop as men and as players and I see a similar situation for some of the guys on this team.

Jabari Parker

Parker stopped in the hallway outside the locker room to chat with reporters on his way out after a difficult season for different reasons. Parker was the team's principal off season free agent acquisition. He was moved to the bench in training camp, then back to starting with injuries to Markkanen and Portis, and then out of the rotation when Boylen replaced Fred Hoiberg as coach and then back playing again.

"It's the business," said Parker. "It's just surprising to me because Bobby was quote/unquote the leader and captain of our team. Just a guy that they love, and for him to get moved is obviously bitter, but, hey, that's just how it goes.

"I have no regrets, I have no backlash," Parker said. "I'm a God-fearing man. I'm not personal when it comes to that. I'm just happy about where I'm going. I hope that I can be used the way I can and I know that I'm capable of. I say for the (Bulls) team, we've got some great talent. Can't speak on my situation, but be consistent with guys, give them the opportunity to grow, give them that chance that they have to be free on the floor. Because when I came into the league, I didn't know everything at once. It's just going to take time; it's going to take patience and that's what J-Kidd (former Bucks coach Jason Kidd) did for me and Giannis (Antetokounmpo). He let us go through our mistakes, let us develop as men and as players and I see a similar situation for some of the guys on this team."

And so the Bulls still present had to play a game, and it was somewhat similar to many before as the record dropped to 12-42 with the ninth consecutive home loss.

"I thought the difference in the game was Julius Randle was terrific (with a game high 31 points off the bench against the Bulls depleted bench)," said Boylen. "We had a hard time dealing with him at that four spot. Being shorthanded at that position hurt us. We were 4-for-21 in the third (after leading 65-64 in a spirited first half), lose that quarter 27-17. We never really recovered from that. Too many second chance points (14 Pelicans offensive rebounds), too many paint points defensively (60). I like (the Bulls) 27 assists, I like eight turnovers. I like the ball popping around, guys making shots. We just having hard time sustaining that."

It's been an uncomfortable pattern of late for the Bulls, their offense expanded and the defense contracting. There's generally an empty sequence somewhere, and then just not enough offense to overcome. But perhaps it's coming, and not only with the addition of Porter, who has been one of the league's best three-point shooters, third overall last season at 44 percent and about 40 percent for his career.

His addition fills a vital need for the Bulls of a so called 3-and-D wing player who can make plays, shoot threes and defend.

The Bulls finally got some of that late from Kris Dunn with perhaps his best quarter of the season, 11 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as the Bulls got within three, fell back, got within five, fell back again, and never could make enough defensive plays against a high scoring Pelicans team even without Anthony Davis, Nikola Mirotic, E'Twaun Moore and Elfrid Payton. The Bulls were without Portis, Parker and injured Wendell Carter Jr. and Chandler Hutchison.

"We're not a running, sprint-up-and-down-the-floor team," said Boylen. "They are, so we have to be careful not to get in that type of pace. We have to execute when we can, and we have to play them at half court when we can. A 125-120 game plays into their hands, I think, more than us right now. We have to get better at that."

Perhaps with Porter it will be as he should give the Bulls more of the look of a modern, NBA offensive team.

Markkanen, though still burdened with too many catch-and-shoot opportunities and tough shots he has to manufacture, is scoring at his most consistent this season, averaging 20.8 points and 10.7 rebounds the last 10 games.

After LaVine got the Bulls rolling with 13 first quarter points, Markkanen added 11 in the second quarter for that high scoring first half. Davis' absence, of course, has been the story of the NBA the last week with his trade request and speculation he was on the way to join LeBron James in Los Angeles. The Pelicans, however, appear uninterested in trading Davis yet and it is expected if he is not traded Thursday he will sit out the rest of this season. It's given Chicagoan Jahlil Okafor a chance to play and he's shown many teams made a mistake ignoring him after his difficulties in Philadelphia. He's not explosive, and Lopez scored over him early as the Bulls got off to a 10-4 start and led by 12 points late in the first quarter. Okafor finished with 13 points and remained a factor for the Pelicans.

The Bulls got caught with a small lineup late in the first that the Pelicans dominated to get within 39-37 after one quarter. New Orleans led by Jrue Holiday excelled at interior passing that helped enable them to score so many inside. The Bulls rarely get players easy baskets with that sort of interior passing, forcing them into more difficult outside shots.

The Pelicans pulled away in that disastrous third quarter for the Bulls, 19 percent shooting while the Bulls dropped under screens and the Pelicans continued to make shots. The Bulls got a look at newcomer Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot. He had a couple of early scores, though also ran out of the corner once when Dunn was passing into the corner. Luwawu-Cabarrot isn't particularly explosive, though he isn't shy like many of the reserves the Bulls have brought in this season. He attempted 11 shots in 19 minutes, scoring nine points and not much into passing. Which actually isn't bad for this Bulls team which often needs aggressive scorers.

He cooled off in the second half, and Markkanen, LaVine and Dunn got it going again. But it wasn't quite enough with a nice assist from a bothersome Shaquille Harrison with four steals.

"I thought we fought with the players that we had," said Dunn. "The first half I thought we played well. Second half, we still played hard, but they just outrebounded us and got a lot of second chance points. We're trying to work on our chemistry, and it's growing. But at the same time we've got to do the little things. The little things are going to help us win and get over the hump."

Though the Bulls hope Otto Porter Jr. could be one of those big things.

Source: https://www.nba.com/bulls/gameday/amid-trade-talks-bulls-fall-pelicans-125-120

[trentteti]

Two Predictions and Tips for the June 2019 LSAT

We are ten days away from the June LSAT, a distressingly low number of days, to be sure. And though the realization that there is only a week-and-change left before test day may fill you with dread of the deepest and most existential kind, you shouldn’t despair. In fact, there’s a lot to celebrate.

For one, it’ll be a holiday! No, not Memorial Day the week before the test. The June LSAT is actually going to be New Year’s Day, at least according to LSAC. LSAC, for reasons I could never determine, uses a June-May calendar. So the made-up year 2019-2020 commences with the June LSAT. And LSAC is clearly in a celebratory mood, as they’ve given all test takes a great gift. They’ve dropped the writing sample from test day, and now will let test takers do the writing sample on their own time, from the comfort of their own homes. Plus, repeat test takers who already did a writing sample on a past exam don’t even have to do the writing sample again.

But new years bring changes. New year, new you … and also new LSAT. The June LSAT has historically been the test in which LSAC has introduced changes to the test — like the introduction of the comparative Reading Comprehension passage in June 2007. Now, any major change like that gets announced before the test — there have been no big announcements about changes to the content of the exam, so there won’t be any major changes (and if you just noticed I took the contrapositive of a conditional statement, you’re super prepared to take the June exam).

But June tests have also augured more minor, unannounced changes — like the introduction of the rule substitution question in June 2009. So to maybe help you stay ahead of the curve when it comes to the upcoming exam, we’re using today’s post as an opportunity to make some predictions about the June test, and to offer some tips on how to prepare yourself for those potential changes.

As always, these predictions aren’t based on any inside information. We pay attention to these exam as closely as anyone, and we always try to make our guesses based on the available evidence, but they’re still guesses. And, truthfully, I’m wrong all the time. But it’s better to be overprepared than under-; in that spirit, here’s what we’re predicting for the June test.

Prediction Number 1: We’ll See Multiple Questions About the Same Argument on Some Logical Reasoning Stimuli

I think we’re going to see a return of common feature of old exams. Before I clarify what that is, know that this is admittedly a pretty wild prediction. I might be spectacularly wrong about it. But this is a hill I’m prepared to die on (or, less melodramatically, a statement I’m prepared to look a little silly for making).

OK, here’s what I predict: I think there are going to be a couple of times on this June test where they’ll ask two questions about the same Logical Reasoning stimulus.

This used to be fairly common on old exams. In the exam’s early days, they’d sometimes ask you multiple questions about the same stimulus. You’d get an argument in the stimulus, and they’d ask you to identify the flaw in the argument, and then the next question would ask you to strengthen the same argument. Or you’d get a stimulus that featured two speakers in heated debate, and you’d get one question that asked you to identify what the point of disagreement between the speakers was, and then the next question would ask you to determine how the second speaker responded to the first.

These multiple-questions-about-the-same-stimulus would show up at least once or twice on the LSATs in the 90s and early 2000s. But starting in June 2003, they stopped showing up. And they haven’t been seen — at least on the real, scored LR sections — since. Like the white walkers who took an 8000-year sabbatical from terrorizing northern Westeros, the multiple-questions-about the same-stimulus format is gone and largely forgotten.

But, like the reports of white walkers’ reemergence form terrified brothers of the Night’s Watch, we’ve been hearing whispers of these multiple-questions-about-the-same-stimulus showing up on experimental sections of recent exams (and, also like Ned Stark, we were forced to reluctantly behead these sources for betraying their oath to remain silent about the contents of the exam). The people who write these exams (and, yes, actual people write these exams — these questions are not generated by an algorithm that hates you) use the experimental sections to try out questions they’ll eventually deploy on future exams. In fact, the March 2019 exam was apparently just a compilation of past experimental sections, ripped whole cloth from earlier exams. So it was clear the test writers are priming us to see a return of multiple-questions-about the same-stimulus.

Why do I predict they’re going to return on *this* exam? Again, the June test is the start of the new LSAT year, according to LSAC. It’s the test in which they introduce new features. Recall, it was a June exam in which they introduced the comparative passage. It was a June exam when they stopped featuring multiple-questions-about-the-same-stimulus. So I think it’s going to be a June exam in which they start featuring multiple-questions-about-the-same-stimulus again. And since so much is already changing with the LSAT this year — no more test-day writing sample, the crazy-ass July exam, the switch to a digital exam in September — it seems like they’d be willing to make at least one more somewhat minor change.

How to deal: First of all, a lot of recent test takers I spoke saw these multiple-questions-about-the-same-stimulus appear on their exams, and immediately surmised that they were doing the experimental section. They were correct, but they were assuming that the test writers wouldn’t put these multiple-questions-about-the-same-stimulus on a real, scored section. I don’t think this assumption is warranted anymore, so I wouldn’t recommend assuming that any LR section with multiple-questions-about the same-stimulus is the experimental section.

But if multiple-questions-about-the-same-stimulus do reappear on the scored sections of the June 2019 exam, that’s actually pretty good news for you. On recent exams, if there were 26 questions in an LR section, there’d be 26 stimuli you had to read. If this old question format returns, there may be 26 questions but only 24 or 25 stimuli you have to read. Obviously, that’s less reading. Which will make it a little easier to finish the section.

That said, it’s worthwhile to prepare a reliable approach to this type of question. I think it’s a good idea to read both prompts first. Get a feel for both tasks you have to do. That should give you a sense of how to best approach the stimulus. For instance, sometimes these stimuli would feature two speakers, but one of the questions would only pertain to the first speaker’s argument. It would make sense to answer that question first, since you can read just the first speaker’s argument, focus on that, and not worry about what the second speaker said. And then, when it comes time to do the second question, you can just read the second speakers’ argument and add that to your understanding of the first speaker’s statements.

Most of the time though, these two questions were complimentary. Sometimes they would ask you to identify a flaw in an argument and how to strengthen the argument. Or a flaw and a necessary assumption in the argument. Since the first steps for both Strengthen and Necessary questions is to identify why the argument is flawed, do the Flaw question first, and then that will allow you to quickly answer the accompanying Strengthen or Necessary question.

If you want to practice this approach, try to get a hold of an old practice exam. Pretty much any exam before PT40 will feature at least a one or two examples of these multiple-questions-about-the-same-stimulus question format.

Prediction Number 2: There’s Going to Be a Really Hard Logic Game

This is related to the above prediction — if they do bring back multiple-questions-about-the-same-stimulus, that makes Logical Reasoning just a little bit easier. But if the LSAT gods giveth, they must also taketh away. If one part of the exam becomes a little bit easier, another typically become a little bit more difficult. And I predict we will see the logic games section become a little bit more difficult.

Besides, it’s been a while since we’ve had a truly back-breaking, demoralizing game. Not to engage in a temporal fallacy or anything, but it sort of feels like we’re due. The closest thing we’ve had to a really tough game on recent years was the air quality examiner game from the December 2017 test. Although that one was complicated, it was a fairly standard game. You have to look all the way back to waning days of the Obama administration to find the last truly crazy game — the trading building game from the December 2016 exam.

It’s been a minute, so I think we’ll see a really tough game on the June test. It’ll probably be the fourth game, and I’m going to predict that it’s going to be a tiered ordering game. If only we had a blog post, for you to consult, about how to make complicated tiered ordering games much easier. Or a post about how making scenarios can make any ordering game much less complicated. If only.

How to Deal: Well, read the above posts, for one. Then put your feet to the proverbial fire, and start to challenge yourself with really tough games. Even if I’m wrong about the presence of a really tough game on this exam (and I very well may be!), tangling with very tough games will make the rest of the games seem all the easier by comparison. As a self-proclaimed logic games sommelier (wow, where did my life go wrong to the point that I would willingly say that about myself), enjoy this choice selection of tough tiered ordering games: game three from December 1997, about reviewing introductory and advanced textbooks, game two from the December 2002 exam, about conferences attended by employees of the totally real-sounding company Capital Enterprises, game four from the October 2008 exam, in which shuttle van passengers exit one at a time at each stop, game four from the December 2012 exam, about finance, nutrition, and wildlife magazine articles, and game three from the October 2013 exam, about movies shown on three screens at a theater.

But don’t forget about some of the other notoriously difficult games: the lizards and snakes game two from the December 1998 test; the new and used CDs game two from the June 2000 test (a game forever enshrined in movie history thanks to its appearance in Legally Blonde); the mauve dinosaur game three from the June 2009 exam; and the computer virus game four from the September 2016 test.

But here’s the thing with tough games: You’re spending your day reading an LSAT blog about the test you’re about to take (and we appreciate your readership!). You clearly take your studies seriously. In all likelihood, you’re taking your studies more seriously than 90% of the people taking the exam. Seriously, start chatting with a stranger before your test, and you may be shocked about how underprepared some people are. If you’re well-prepared, you should want — nay, crave — a difficult games section. With the right practice — the practice that you’re going to get in these final ten days — difficult games are the most conquerable “difficult” part of the LSAT. So you’ll be better equipped to handle more complex or unusual games than your fellow test takers. Difficult games are almost always accompanied by a more forgiving curve. Which will give you more room for error to earn your target score, or perhaps even allow you to exceed your target score. So, I’m predicting a hard game, and for your benefit, I hope I’m right.

If you think you’re not ready, you can always withdraw. Take the extra time to keep studying for the LSAT with a subscription-based online LSAT course that you can start and stop whenever you want. Or, if you really think there’s something you’re still struggling in and want extra help mastering it, let’s talk about tutoring. Our Academic Managers can help match you with a tutor that can address your needs!

Two Predictions and Tips for the June 2019 LSAT was originally published on LSAT Blog

[vbucknrrg9275-blog]

Fortnite Free V Bucks Works Only Beneath These Problems

What Is Fortnite Then The Digital Currency V

Now for some latest exciting news: New leaks have appeared online that point to snow visiting the chart of Fortnite Battle Royale for the winter season. Fortnite holds a young player base. That's why Epic is ensuring that all eligible participants into open qualifiers are 13 years old or older, which players between 13 and 17 years old must have permission from a father or appropriate guardian” to limit with the World Cup. That bunch contains more than 14 Programs to make your Fortnite FPS get higher also minimize lag, and it controls over 30 Windows Tweaks & increases to raise piece and at last Enhance your FPS while enjoying Fortnite.

It's currently no surprise to scammers have remained trying to make a fast money in offering gamers free V-Bucks, the electronic currency to Fortnite players use to get new products with skins from the current battle royale activity. May was probably the most effective month for which we have stats free, with Fortnite: Battle Royale produce with $318 million (concrete post-May data are trying to find). That makes it the best-performing game of it is form in that metric.

If you've been watching a certain skin or are trying to save up to get some new items you'll know about Fortnite V-Bucks. They're the in-game currency which permit you to pick up new things like skins and gliders for your Fortnite spirit and load-out. Acquire the low on Fortnite: Battle Royale, which is currently here time 7. In most multiplayer shooter match, the goal is to kill. This is not the circumstances if you are going to perform Fortnite. Your intention is to live, not kill. For example, even if you kill 50 opponents, people may well shed.

These cheats for Fortnite is 100% designing with legitimate to use in the competition. You can simply find Unlimited V Bucks for PS4 by using these systems. Don't you worry, you may and understand V Cash For Xbox One, PC, iOS and Machine with the same sense. Traps are very useful on Fortnite, especially to protect the back. It is not recommended to remain even, if you choose for a passive game, try to recover the different types of catch (at the floor, within the sides) so as to traverse you.

This website is creating a fully working fortnite hack for computer online, we have testes all the cheats and every ones is operating fine. You can access these cheats while redirecting yourself on the chief download menu, these cheats are created in a way where you can make some quick transfers with offers you an easy tone for success. You can download this fortnite generator right now on this website, this released with bright to download, and there is no special requirement, once it's by the computer you can use it right away to generate 1000 Fortnite V Bucks per day.

Although Fortnite has been doing the most extraordinary multiplayer plot in games for more than a time now, nothing of the stuff when the game isn't satisfying to join in. But there's a reason that get the eye of millions around the world for that long, and it isn't just because of the Floss dance and Head Trooper skin. Fortnite is a collection of choice based episodic story games. Each history in this game turns about different individuals. The Fortnite can be little tough later, that's the reason people may well have to Fortnite V BUCKS Hack tool free those become presented in specific click.

With Time 7 in full swing, version 7.01 might not seem to exciting by association. That said, the new translation of Fortnite involves the Infinity Blade system from Epic Games' Infinity Blade series, the new Close Encounters limited-time mode, and more. Figure 2a: Data proves the estimated revenue by item category and charge selection in Fortnite players August 2017 — June 2018, based on the Edison Trends dataset.

The organization Of VBUCKS

When the film starts, you'll see a preview in the upper-right spot regarding your own game (which you can minimise, if you want). This critique window lets people quickly toggle your microphone and webcam upon next off, and you can also click on the "chat" relationship to predict exactly what people are tell on the terrible Fortnite death streak. If you're question what items are in the Fortnite shop right now, on the time in which you're study that, you can head onto your Fortnite Battle Royale shop items guide We'll be updating that page every period, to display all the make new products that Epic brings to the Fortnite store.

Well, Fortnite's success isn't based entirely on the fact that it is free, but instead, it is due to how lucky the free-to-play asset interlocks with the premise and features of the game itself. That means that the fact that Fortnite is released at the moment is a brilliant base to seriously supports the other elements we will be discussing. Spring the votes are in and the idea been formally confirmed - Fortnite is the best Battle Royale game off here.

The previous data of 8.3 million people playing at once was fixed during Fortnite 's” in-game butterfly function with December. Always remember the fact that, There is no such issue which can make with request v cash also add it near ones account for free. And one can settle this by going through this official message through epicgames itself regarding fortnite v bucks scams. We have already done the study on this topic and just creating these statements.

Being the best at Fortnite Battle Royale is no easy task, and there's no sure-fire way to obtain a Victory Royale every time. Yet, while we could guarantee you'll stop in the upper five every time you play, our information to playing Fortnite Battle Royale should help you out-survive your peers more frequently than not. It's important to know exactly where chests are put into Fortnite - Battle Royale. It will give you an great advantage. You can remember every individual spot but the easier way is to look at them in this application.

All the Fortnite Battle Royale tips you need, plus Fortnite Android info, free V Responsibilities, and Fortnite Server status updates. Fortnite is the best battle royale video game of 2018. PUBG is a similar game, yet its value is much lower than Fortnite's. The main dilemma remains whether or not the parties used in Fortnite emotes are copyrightable material protected within US law. If not, then Epic Games' usage of the dances is not copyright infringement, and in-game purchase from the unique parties could continue unfettered.

The Full Process of VBUCKS

More simply: Playing "Fortnite" is open, but progressing through the game's loot-unlock system is not. While people register now for the heart Fortnite game free v-bucks no man verification you will be presented rotating missions from the everyday Quest machine. After you have finished each one, you'll make your loose V-bucks and you will be capable of use them on targets to the conflict Royale mode.

Fortnite Battle Royale Cheats Unlimited Free V-Bucks and Hack. Fortnite Battle Royale Hack And Cheats Get 999,999 Free V-Bucks Online Hack Fortnite V-bucks 100% LEGIT. FREE Fortnite Battle Royale V-Bucks Cheats Hack No Survey Generator 99999 Fortnite V-Bucks Download. Stayed with the short total of V Bucks? Do not worry, we've find the best Free V Bucks Hack for you. In this website we'll tell you how you can easily generate thousands of Free Fortnite V Cash on daily schedule. All you must monitor the incredibly basic measures as provide.

Good news on V-Bucks being used to wash wealth is certainly not surprising, given that crooks are operating Fortnite to make money in a mind-boggling number of ways. Similar to Snow in Period 7, Discovery awards any player that completes all eight weekly problems with a private loading screen resulting in a controversy star or hidden banner. Doing all this can be of effect, but for the most dedicated Fortnite players, this essential.

Using Vortex you can play Fortnite by every device. Play Fortnite about last PC, Mac, mobile design or smart TV. Fortnite Battle Royale is the completely free 100-player PvP function in Fortnite. One large guide. A movement bus. Fortnite building talents and destructible environments combined with intense PvP combat. The last one remaining wins. Download now for FREE and jump to the action.

No one can truly pinpoint any clues that take place key indicators of happy in Season 7. While several consider that this Fortnite map could be changed into a ‘Winter' theme in time for the Holiday's, this remains unclear which way Epic Games will take. In fact, you can work on your talent in the game and become one of the better Fortnite players without having to spend a single change on in-game purchases. However, purchasing V Bucks has its edges.

According to some reports websites, Fortnite is already known to these type of hacks And they are treating them as a serious attack and showing legal actions and also can veto the version who are trying to hack or cheat into the system. For the frequent views of mild violence, Fortnite is charged 12+ by PEGI, Pan American Game Information But as with many competition of this type, plenty of children younger than 12 are participating, so the idea critical that parents are conscious of the shelter concerns to bear been there increased, then how to help their daughters play safely.

Motion blur: Drive this on adds a blur look as moving. This a visual deciding to several players have, except for a competing contest of Fortnite, that may make things harder to comprehend after travel on speed. Transform it away from is suggested. Follow your stats for Fortnite battle royale, complete with global leaderboards for solo, duo and squad gamemodes. Unlike most multiplayer shooters, the aim of Fortnite Battle Royale is to survive, not to have kills. This is arguably one of the most important Fortnite tips to help consider: you could make 98 kills and still Fortnite v bucks ps4 free lose.

You can turn off hardware rushing in Google Chrome so that environment applications implemented in Chrome do not consume too many resources if you become showing Fortnite. Free Fortnite V Bucks Generator Greatest and Calm Way for 2019. Though, if you're not, then pay attention to this sector also examine very precisely. Because those fake V Bucks Hack can cause your ‘Fortnite account banned or blocked‘ if you dropped in the trap.

It is unclear how much profit criminals could get out of money laundering, though Sixgill gotten that Fortnite items made more than $250,000 on eBay in a 60 time time recently. A mini edition of Fortnite: Battle Royale will hopefully be accessible to persons soon via Creative Mode. Get V Bucks Free No Individual Verify 2019 Hack Working Free V Bucks This Fortnite cheats can help in getting free v-bucks easily.

[cathcacen]

First meetings, as requested by @phylophe.

These idiots sobs. So cute. But also SO. DAMN. TRAGIC.

It’s a sunny day at the base, hot enough to warrant sunglasses and a cap. In lieu of any actual patients to see, the commander on-site had given his Captain permission to bring the medical corps out afield to survey their surroundings. She’s gotten a lot browner in the four weeks she’s been on base, but she likes the bronze tan.

By the time their truck rolls back into the base, she’s parched and dying for a cold shower. The boys jostle around the back of the vehicle, and she laughs along as two of them sing a popular Broadway ballad at each other, trilling pompously to the delight of their colleagues. They’re all in good spirits, echoing the lack of action in their division at present. There’s a stack of patient charts for her to get through back in the infirmary, but she knows it’s all boring and routine stuff - the occasional dislocated shoulder, fevers, scrapes and cuts and bruises.

Nothing too severe to worry about. As far as the army goes, it’s holiday season.

She’s just hopping off the back of the truck when the recruit approaches. “Excuse me, doctors? We’ve got a newcomer. Needs medical attention. Non-emergent.”

Her attending superior arches a brow. Major Hoffman reminds her of her father to an extent. He’s a bit more reserved, but willing to share his knowledge and treats his officers with patience and respect. Years and years ago, he’d simply been her father’s colleague, fellows and friends in a hospital far from war. She likes him.

“One of ours?”

“Cleared security with no problems, sir. Lieutenant General’s been informed.”

“Great. Naveau, it’s all yours.” Major tips his cap at her, grinning, to the cheering and whopping of the others.

It’s part of their month-long hazing ritual. The newcomer takes every non-emergent case. Stitches and broken bones. Setting splints. Charting.

She’d expected no less.

“Sure.” She flips her hair teasingly, holding back a laugh as the cheers get louder. “And who knows? It might be a really hot girl.”

It’s a sore spot with some of her colleagues, she knows. She’s still laughing when she ducks into the infirmary block, tugging her cap off and tousling her thick, dusty mane of hair. The infirmary is mostly empty. She likes when it’s quiet like this, the ambiance of ease accented by the sound of typing, nurses chatting, and the soft beeping of machines when they’re in use.

It’s a man who’s waiting for her in a bed at the end of the hall. Someone has half-drawn the curtains around him. He looks up at her with a grin as she sets aside both cap and sunglasses. “Hey there, soldier. What’d you do to yourself today?”

“An unfortunate accident.” Disregarding his injuries, he pushes himself up into a seating position and leans forward. There’s a teasing cast to his smile, a flirtatious twinkle in the eyes. “The real question is, what’d I do to get the cutest lady doc in this camp?”

It’s not unusual, she knows, for a little good-natured flirting to go on in the camp. The nurses get the bulk of the attention, but she’s had her fair share of sweet young boys and gruff older men to tend to. They mostly mean well, and she’s careful to be professional, but warm.

This one, however, is just downright cocky. He’s good looking and he knows it.

So you want to play, huh? Fine. Let’s play.

She gives him a winning sort of smile as she reaches for the chart by his bed. “Hazing ritual. If you’d shown up maybe two weeks ago, you’d have gotten the actual cutest doc in the camp. I’m just a sorry replacement for him.”

“I said lady doc, though,” He’s still grinning when she peers over the topmost edge of his chart. “Sorry. I just can’t help myself when there’s a gorgeous woman involved.”

“Shush while I read your chart, you snake charmer,” She scans the printed-out pages. The records are sparse. The notes accompanying his treatments are few and far in between, neatly typed, and dating back only half a year. “Lieutenant Sagen, then? What brings you to our neck of the woods?”

He shrugs. “I had to deliver something to your commander. Ran into some trouble. Hit my head, got a few bruises. The truck’s totalled, so I’ll need to get it repaired at some point.” He holds up a hand, and she takes it in her own, gently running over his inflamed and lacerated skin. Metacarpal fracture. He’s going to need a splint. “Your guys brought me in. It’s really nothing.”

“Well, you’re here now, so I’m just going to run a routine check and see how you’re doing.” She slips the chart back down into its slot, then rolls up her sleeves.

He’s still watching her, and for some reason, his smile feels almost too intimate to be allowed. She pauses, peering at him. He chuckles and shakes his head. “I’m just thinking it’s good they brought me in after all. Might not have met you otherwise,” He peers over at the emblazoned patch over her chest. “Doctor Naveau.”

She lets out a laugh, then takes a step closer to him. “Tell me how you hit your head.”

“I drove into a tree.” He folds his hands over his lap, injured over uninjured.

She arches a brow at him. “Were you being pursued? Or were you pursuing someone?”

He shakes his head. “It’s all been handled, and I’ve already spoken to your commander regarding the matter.”

She’s heard that enough times with senior officers. Classified information. Leave it be. Pursue at your own risk. She lets out a sigh and reaches for the suturing kit. “You’re bleeding, so I have to stitch you up.”

His hair’s an odd shade of gunmetal, and a little coarse. She’d only toyed with bleach once before, and it had destroyed her hair. She hasn’t touched the stuff since. “Be gentle with me,” He tells her, “It’s my first time.”

She presses an alcohol swab to the elongated cut and smiles as he hisses in pain. “Oh, I’m sorry,” She says sweetly. “Did I hurt you?”

They lapse into a comfortable silence as she works. Once in a while, he lets out a soft grunt, and she almost feels bad. By the time she’s done with the stitches on his scalp, he’s looking a little paler.

“You might have a concussion. Don’t go to sleep just yet, okay?” She bends down to look into his eyes. Oh, that’s not something you see every day.

He smiles at her, then stretches out and pops his neck. “Don’t worry, Doc. My memory and concentration levels are just fine. I’m not nauseated, nor do I have a headache.” He straightens a little, his nose and lips just inches from hers. “And I know my eyes are working just fine, because you look absolutely ravishing.”

She lets out a breath, turning aside even as she shoves him back with a hand to his chest. There’s a laugh threatening to bubble over – he’s ridiculous, she thinks. “Sit your ass down, Sagen,” She chuckles. “I need to put a splint on your hand.”

“Anything you say, Naveau.” He settles comfortably.

She sits before him and lowers his hand onto her knee. He flexes his fingers, testing them out, and winces when the battered ones refuse to comply. “Don’t do that. You’ll need to take it easy for a few weeks with this hand.”

“It itches,” He complains, almost childlike. She swears he’s doing it on purpose.

“Think of something else,” She tells him.

He leans forward a bit. “I’m thinking you should go out on a date with me.”

“I’m all booked up to March, I’m afraid.” She bites back a smile. She doesn’t want him to know she’s actually a little flattered. “You’ll have to wait your turn.”

“Two months? You’re booked up for two months?”

“Yeah,” She sticks her tongue out as she works, frowning in concentration. “Two thousand men to twenty nurses and four female doctors? We’ve got a lot of dates to go on.”

He makes a face. “Aw, Naveau, but I asked so nicely.”

“The other guy brought flowers.”

“But I’ve got a cute butt.”

She doesn’t bother to look at him. Instead, she reaches towards his side table, grabs the thermometer, and shoves it into his mouth. “Gerberas, even. The powder-pink ones with the soft green centres.”

That soldier had actually been sweet. She’d let him down nicely.

“Awrh,” He mumbles something under his breath, and when the thermometer beeps, he pulls it out with his free hand. “Go out with me after, then.”

She finishes tying his splint off and takes the thermometer from him. He looks at her, and she grins, flipping her hair. “Let’s see, shall we?”

“I’m holding you to your word.” He starts to shuffle out of his bed. “I’ll see you in March.”

“Whoa, where d’you think you’re going?” She reaches over, shoving him back down to a yelp of protest. Beneath her hands, his shoulders are tense – strong and muscular. Wow. Nice. “You’ve earned yourself a free night’s stay in our fine facility. Doctor’s orders.”

He looks on the verge of resisting for a moment. She narrows her eyes playfully at him, and he straightens, leaning closer. “I’m fine, Naveau.”

“Your chart says you passed out for ten minutes enroute.”

“That was just a power nap.”

“Tough shit,” She tells him, crossing her arms. “You still look like crap, so I guess some full-on beauty sleep is called for.”

He gapes at her for a moment. Then, letting out a laugh and shaking his head, he finally acquiesces and leans back. “That’s a pre-existing condition, I’m afraid. But if it means that much to you, I’ll stay the night.”

“Oh,” She grins triumphantly. “Don’t look so grim. We’ve got pretty good soup.”

[thesmileclown]

6, 23, 41

@brokenragdoll

6. What is a deal-breaker when it comes to dating someone?

Sam doesn’t have too many hard and fast rules when it comes to this sort of thing, but the rules he does have he sticks to. First and foremost, he refuses to date anyone under 21, NO EXCEPTIONS. And even then, if they’re that much younger than him then he’s really gotta be interested in them to even consider any sort of romantic relationships. Also, another deal breaker is someone being patronizing. He’s lived his whole life with people treating him like a child because they think he’s stupid. He just wants to be treated like a person, not some sort of charity case. If he even suspects that someone is taking an interest in him because they feel bad for him or anything related to that then he has no patience for it. Not much really gets under his skin, but that’s one of the exceptions.

23. What shoe size is your muse?

Surprisingly, though he has fairly large hands and fairly large everything else, his feet are not ridiculously large for his size (how very unfortunate given his chosen profession). His shoe size is 12 wide, maybe 12.5 if they’re not wide. It depends on the make of the shoe. That’s about one size up from the average. So yeah, objectively his feet are kinda large, but not so much in relation to the rest of him. 

41. What is your muse’s favorite holiday?

That’s a tough one. In general Sam just really likes holidays and decorating and celebrating and such, but his top holidays are definitely Christmas and the Fourth of July. Yeah, Halloween in nice, but he only really started to appreciate it after his death. Christmas is a holiday he goes all out for with decorations and telling stories and just being around people that you love and care about. Everything about it just makes him feel all warm and cozy inside. He also likes making an effort to donate toys to children who might otherwise not receive gifts for one reason or another. It was also his favorite holiday to celebrate with his mother as child. It seemed like the one time of year his mother didn’t seem so stressed and just let herself get caught up in the spirit of the season. As far as the Fourth goes, he just really likes barbeques and fireworks. Like, individually they’re awesome, but together they’re even better.