#hard contact vs triple zero

[cienie-isengardu]

My RepCom Musing HC vs. TZ [2]??

I’m still trying figure out the differences between Hard Contact and Triple Zero. This time let’s talk about Atin’s hate toward Vau.

It makes sense that in Hard Contact whatever bad stuff went between Atin and his training sergeant, he would rather keep it to himself than share with just-met commandos who were from a totally different (foreign) batch.  As Sev said in Triple Zero, “disagreements stay inside the company” and Atin most likely followed that rule too, at least during the course of the first book. Yet, the first time reading the Hard Contact - and now, rereading the passages I need - there is not much feeling of bad blood between Atin and Vau?

Like, yeah, Atin was closed off then and at first talked about safe things, like the equipment and technology, something he actually enjoyed (and according to Republic Commando Prima Guide, technology was Vau’s obsession shared with Fixer, another tech expert in his respective squad) and it took some time before he warmed up to his new squadmates to joke with them and share stories.

Atin could be just so collected and all, but let me remind that he, like all Vau’s commandos, was pretty confrontational man, even against the potentially stronger opponents (True Colors especially points that out when Omega worked with A’den and it apparently happened more times before, Triple Zero mentions that during training on Kamino having to choose fight against brother or Vau he went against the more experienced and dangerous sergeant and even during Hard Contact, Atin clashed from time to time with other squad members). Triple Zero says that Atin promised himself to kill Vau right after he got out of the bacta tank, so during Hard Contact that promise should be pretty fresh in his mind (unless it was a different beating? I’m a bit confused about that too, as it seems to be two unrelated events? Scar after Geonosis, fighting against armed with sword Vau on Kamino?), which is why it is hard for me to wrap my mind, from where comes the loyalty and calmness toward Walon in the first book when in Triple Zero, one year after Geonosis, the mere mention of the former sergeant was setting him in the wrong way.

 I understand that idea of Vau coming back could be the root of such change but in Hard Contact Atin would need to be freshly after receiving the beating (scar) that happened right away after Geonosis and he officially joined his new squad three months after said battle which time in stasis tube and apparently kept under medic observation, as he needed to argue to be let out on mission, as was mentione in the book itself:

"RC-three-two-two-two, sir," he said. "Apologies for keeping you, sir. The medics didn't want to discharge me."

    No wonder: there was a stripe of raw flesh across his face that started just under his right eye, ran clean across his mouth, and finally ended at the left side of his jaw. He certainly didn't look like any of the other clones now. Darman wondered what level of persuasion it had taken to get the medical staff to skip a course of bacta.

As was said in Imperial Commando: 501st, members of Omega Squad were put in stasis when they got back from Geonosis and revived three months into the war.

"We weren't conscious at the time, sir," Niner said.

Melusar looked up from the holochart. He was moving virtual markers around with a stylus, each green point of light representing the last known whereabouts of an escaped Jedi. The green lights were dwindling in number.

"Sorry?"

"We were put in stasis when we got back from Geonosis, then revived three months into the war," Niner said. "So we didn't see much of Camas. General Zey was our CO for most of the time." And there was something he had to add, because Melusar's observation didn't make sense unless he was stupid-which he clearly wasn't-or trying to entrap them. "Most troops had to take out their own Jedi officers, so it was no harder for us than it was for them. Easier, actually, sir. Camas was firing at us."

In Hard Contact, Darman’s POV also makes it clear he was kept in stasis (there is no information about him between the day(?) after Battle of Geonosis and this current moment, so there is no reason to doubt he was kept in that state  for the whole three months):

Secure briefing room, Fleet Support, Ord Mantell, three standard months after Geonosis 

    Fleet Support Base hadn't been built to accommodate tens of thousands of troops, and it showed. The briefing room was a cold store, and it still smelled of food and spices. Darman could see the loading rails that spanned the ceiling, but he kept his focus on the holoscreen in front of him. 

    It didn't feel so bad to be revived after stasis. He was still a commando. They hadn't reconditioned him. That meant-that meant he'd performed to expected standards at Geonosis. He'd done well. He felt positive.

(And from other sources like Republic comics series we know that ARCs were kept in stasis tubes by Kaminoans who feared the clones were too dangerous to let them walk freely. So it could also happen to commandos who still didn't belong to any squad)

If Atin was kept in a stasis tube like Darman, he would not have a proper time to process his trauma and hateful feelings toward Vau. What makes me wonder why HC!Atin does not match his TZ!version, when in the second book he already had a year to process what happened?

His mere reaction at mention of his former instructor and Fi’s additional insight:

"Yes. We'll keep you posted." Skirata glanced at Ordo as if he'd said something. "Atin, son, you know Vau's back, don't you?"

Atin paused for a second and then carried on tapping a probe on the entrails of a dismantled datapad. He nodded to himself. "Yes, Sarge. I noted that."

"You're coming back to Brigade HQ when we get you out of there, but you steer clear of him, okay? You hear me?"

Fi was riveted. Atin had never said a word about Vau, other than that he was hard, but his reactions were telling.

He didn't even look toward the holoimage. "I promise, Sarge. Don't worry."

"I'll be around to make sure, too."

Atin inhaled audibly, a sign that usually meant he was either exasperated or burying his anger. Fi thought better of asking which. [TZ]

makes me wonder how it supposedly fits HC text like this below since in fact Atin did tell the rest of Omega about Vau’s teaching without mentioning how hard was his instructor:

"Let's go with the dry rats for a change." Yes, Atin was definitely feeling better, and not just physically. "Who used to say that, then?"

"Uh?"

"The dry rations thing."

"Oh. Skirata. Our old instructor sergeant."

Atin took a bite out of the white cube and washed it down with a gulp of water from his bottle. "He never trained us. Heard a lot about him."

"Trained Fi and Darman, too. Our squads were all in the same battalion."

"We had Walon Vau."

"That explains where you get your cheery outlook."

"Sergeant Vau taught us the importance of planning for the worst scenario," Atin said, all loyalty. "And maximizing your tech. Being hard is good, being hard with superior tech is better."

Maybe it is just me, but HC!Atin doesn’t seem to have any special grudge toward Vau and is “all loyalty” and again, if he was kept in statis tubes for three months, there was little to no time to process such strong negative feelings at all and there is like zero implication of the conflict (and the scar was freshly matter) while we know Atin himself is very confrontional type of person.

Also, I still didn’t figure out how Atin’s medic records work as Vau supposedly hurt him right after the commando come back from battle, but his scar wasn’t fully healed and Atin needed to argue with medic to be allowed on first Omega mission? Like what? No one gave the man bacta treatment through the three months?? Why he needed argue with medic, if he supposedly did not suffer any injury through this period of time? Was he put in statis tube without any proper medic treatment first?

[istheresomebodywhocanimagine]

Tomorrow Never Came PT. 11 (TW)

The year is up - tonight is the night, and you do your best to prepare for what is to come, both on this night and after all of it has died down. But because we can never be happy, a wrench is thrown into the works. 

Read PT. 1 here | Read PT. 2 here | Read PT. 3 here | Read PT. 4 here | Read PT. 5 here | Read PT. 6 here | Read PT. 7 here | Read PT. 8 here | Read PT. 9 here | Read PT. 10 here | Read PT. 10.5 here

TRIGGER WARNING: ABUSE, IMPLICATIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT, GENERAL ANGST

You didn’t tell him what day it was. It wouldn’t help him tonight, anyways. He had a gig – ‘a massive one,’ as he had called it, and he was quite sore that you had turned down his invitation to come.

“You never come to any of my good shows,” he complained loudly, his body situated between your legs in front of the couch as you brushed through his hair, helping him decide how to style it for the aforementioned show.

“They’re all good,” you replied absentmindedly, trying to find his part and pursing your lips in concentration. “Besides, what good does a girlfriend at a show do? You’ll get much more attention from the crowd if I’m not there to scare all the groupies off.”

“Fuck that attention. I want you to be there,” he grumbled, leaning his head back so he was looking up at you, making you lose your progress with finding the part in his hair. Frowning a bit at both at your foiled attempt and Roger’s thoroughly upset expression, you caressed his cheek gently and sighed. “Can’t you just ask for the night off?”

Ask off the one night you’d been sent back to this era to fix? “No, sorry bubs,” you answered truthfully, though the word was loaded. But Roger didn’t put 2 and 2 together, so he continued to pout and lifted his head up again to let you continue your magic.

And he hadn’t questioned it again, thank God. He’d simply made sure to see you on his way out, pestering you more than normal while Freddie took a bit longer to get ready.

“Are you going to play loud for me?” you asked as you fixed a stray piece of his hair, marveling at the solid hairstyle you’d chosen for him tonight. “Damn, you look good like this.”

“Thanks, my girlfriend did it for me,” he schmoozed, making you laugh, and his arms wrapped around your waist as he pulled you onto his lap, laying back a bit against the couch. “Of course I’ll play loud for you. I want you to hear it even if you’re across the city.”

“Wish I could be there,” you murmured, a bit wistful, but gravely aware of the reason you couldn’t be. Tonight was the night. At an ungodly hour of night, your mom would stop in to pick up some materials and be ambushed on the way out. It was your job to stop this ambush. There was a lot resting on this night, and to say you were anxious would be an understatement.

Roger felt the anxiety in the way your hands shook as you traced shapes into his chest, staring off at seemingly nothing, and his eyebrows furrowed. “It’s okay, babe, really. There’s one at the end of the week, you can just come then. I know work’s been busy.”

God, it made you smile a bit at how ignorant he was right now. He knew it was happening soon, but in his panicking about this gig, he’d forgotten the exact date, and you were so thankful it wasn’t weighing on him anymore. It was nice to not have his worries on top of yours, to have your boyfriend just as whacked out about you saving your mom as you were. It was calming. And he was right – you could just come Friday.

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right,” you agreed, raising your head and slowly sitting up as your other roommate walked in, fixing his sleeves.

“Ready, Rog?” an ever-impatient Freddie asked, raising an eyebrow as you climbed up off the couch, stretching before walking over to the entryway while Roger took a bit longer. “We’ve got to be off in a few or we’ll be late for the show. Brian won’t let us hear the end of it.”

“Coming, coming,” Roger grumbled playfully, and the pair of them approached together, but Freddie’s arms extended first, roping you into a big hug as he pressed a kiss to the top of your head. “Unfair. I believe that’s my girlfriend, Fred.”

“Well, she was my roommate first,” Freddie retorted, mussing your hair before putting you at arm’s length. “Scrabble tomorrow night? You’re off, right?”

Roger began to protest, as he’d wanted to take you out, but you talked over your boyfriend with a wide smile and genuine agreeance in your voice. “Absolutely. Don’t think I won’t kick your ass if you try to pull the triple vs. double square thing on me again, though.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it. Cheers!” And with that, he was off, leaving you to a disgruntled Roger that still pulled you in for warm, prolonged hug. You didn’t want to leave the security of his arms, almost whining as he pulled back for a moment, but your whine was quickly silenced by his lips pressing against yours, distracting you immediately as you kissed back eagerly, bringing a hand up to his arm and pressing close. Every time he kissed you was like the first time, and a dizzy feeling edged into your brain as he pulled away slowly, kissing your nose.

“Go on now,” you urged quietly, although there was zero conviction in your voice to match the words, and Roger smiled knowingly before giving you one last, quick kiss before heading to the door.

“We’re staying at Bri’s, I’ll be home in the morning to wake you up at the asscrack of dawn!” Giving him a playful warning look, you followed him down the entryway and held the door open for him, leaning your head against it. He paused for a moment as he exited, his captivating blue eyes searching your face for a moment before a wider smile graced his peachy lips.

“Alright. See you tomorrow, bubs.” With that, you started to close the door, watching him the entire time you closed it. And he matched your intensity with the same gaze, the contact not breaking until you finally shut the door, sighing and leaning your forehead against it. You had maybe a few hours to prepare. It was go time now.

Weaving your way through the flat, you gathered a few things – your notebook, a hat, and some sunglasses. Though it was a poor disguise, you couldn’t be too careful about your mom seeing you and throwing all kinds of things extremely off balance in the future. Even though you weren’t going back, you were terrified of what the consequences of her own recognition would be, so you decided to play on the safe side.

Looking behind you and staring at the door for a minute to make sure the boys wouldn’t pop back in, you then made your way into Roger’s room where you knew there was a pocket knife. You’d seen it in Kensington Market and mentioned it once as a joke for protection against your coworker – a day later, he came home with the exact thing, complete with your initials crudely engraved on the handle on one side, and his on the other. RMT.

Entering Roger’s room, you beelined for the desk, opening the top drawer and pulling it out. Flipping it over in your hands, you ran your thumb over the bumpy initialing on the handle, smiling at the sentiment of his own initials on there. It was corny, sure, but the fact that he’d remembered and went out of his way to bring back this gift was a reminder of how devoted Roger was. As much as Freddie tried to pass him off as the ladies man with a short attention span, you knew there were far too many layers to your dirty-blonde boyfriend for that simple of a characterization to ever have merit.

With a quick sigh, you pocketed the knife and turned to his mirror, pulling up your hair into a tight bun before pulling the cap up over it and letting the bun stick out of the back. After that, you quickly slid the sunglasses on and stared at your own reflection, shaded by the lenses of the glasses you’d brought with you from 2018. Now, all there was left to do was wait.

And that was the worst part – sitting out on the street in Roger’s car, just staring at the church. You didn’t know what time it happened. Your uncle never gave you a specific time, just a general idea that it was later at night than she usually came. So, you sat there for hours, distracting yourself only with your notebook and staring at the pocket knife, hoping desperately that you wouldn’t have to use it but dreading the very likely possibility that you would.

And then, there she was. It was hard to tell it was her at first – the streetlights on your block were admittedly running on their last legs, so the dimly lit sidewalks almost concealed the younger version of your mother, confidently approaching the church without a single care in the world. God, if only she knew.

You checked the clock for a brief moment. Damn. You’d been here for almost 3 hours. Sitting up in the driver’s seat, you stretched and observed warily as William and Ted came to greet her on the front steps, ushering her inside. Taking a shaky breath, you realized this was it. You fix this, and everything would be alright again. You could be with Roger, your mother could be safe from those bastards, and life would go on, as fucked as the space-time continuum probably was. Or whatever they’d called it in those bullshit time travel movies. You supposed Roger wouldn’t even know – Christ, you were so far back in time that Back To The Future wasn’t even a fucking thing.

Shit. There she was again, arms full of teaching materials and books. She exited without even a hint of being troubled, turning down the alleyway and marching straight towards her inevitable attack. Shoving the knife in your pocket, you unlocked the car door and crawled out, looking around to see if there were any cars coming before you shut the door quietly and crossed the street. And as you got halfway across, you heard it – the shriek of a helpless woman, quickly muffled by a strong hand.

Adrenaline kicked in as you raced across the other half of the road, blood rushing in your ears so violently that you could barely hear your own voice as you shouted down the dark, incredibly terrifying alleyway. “Hey! Stop it!” The tone of your voice betrayed you, more shaky than anything, and you quietly cursed at yourself for being so out of your element. But right now, there was no time to be scared and back out – this was it.

Sucking in a deep breath, you felt your heart rate spike even more as you started sprinting down the narrow passageway, quickly gaining on the trio. And what you saw was horrific – William, towering over the two of them while Ted had her pinned to the ground, her skirt in the process of being torn to shreds while William had frozen in reaching down to clamp a hand over her mouth. And she looked so terrified, so dazed, like she had no idea what had hit her, probably because she really didn’t – not yet.

They knew they’d been caught in a compromising position, but William and Ted were frozen in place, unsure how they were supposed to talk their way out of this. William was breathing heavily, obviously already riled up over the entire 30 second experience, and Ted was a bit wide-eyed, looking frantic and caged and pathetic as he stared at you. His eyes followed your trembling hand as it dove into your pocket, pulling out the knife and flicking it open. This was not what you’d expected - somehow, you expected it to be less animalistic and more civilized, but all of your expectations were shattered with this horribly indicative display of male entitlement and pure lechery. It was simply horrrific, not a grandiose display of disgusting matter but rather a raw, unfiltered one. Whatever they had to say, they could shove it up their asses.

“Get the fuck off of her. Now.” That was all you had to demand, coupled with a lift of the knife into an offensive stance, ready to go if need be. They were gone in a heartbeat, running off down the alley away from the church, and you realized they were attempting to cover up the fact that it was them. But it was already too late. The look in your mom’s eyes was full of betrayal, of knowledge that her closest friends had planned her degradation/assault. That’s when you realized she was bleeding from the lip, her lower lip busted and bruised, possibly from a slap or a hit from William and his tarnished, false purity ring. “Oh shit, m- you’re bleeding, let me help you.”

Hurrying to her side, you helped her up from where she was still laying, wrapping an arm around her waist and helping her across the empty street to your flat building, opting to use the bathroom in the lobby instead of revealing your home base. It was poorly lit, unbelievably grimy, but it looked like she wouldn’t even have noticed if she’d tried. She had the thousand-yard stare, one you’d already seen far too often in 2018, symptoms of PTSD that would go undiagnosed for over 20 years. God, this was your mom right in front of you. Flesh and bone.

Hands shaking, you wetted down a paper towel and started dabbing at her lip, hoping that she couldn’t see how wide your eyes were behind the sunglasses. Even though they hindered your vision quite a bit, you kept them on as you cleaned her up, a deafening silence surrounding the two of you until you’d thrown away the last paper towel. When your back was turned, she finally spoke, her voice ringing out clear as day and making you shiver.

“Thank you so much.” Turning around slowly, you saw that she was now looking directly at you, and you held back a gasp as you saw a bit of life in her eyes again, something you hadn’t seen in so long it almost seemed to be fake. “I don’t know what I would have done if-“

“You’re welcome.” You again sounded so unsure, you wanted to smack yourself, but you cleared your throat and ran a hand over the back of your head, swallowing hard. “Fuck those guys.”

“Yeah.” She paused for a moment, then laughed sadly, letting her gaze drop down for a moment as she leaned back against the sink, wincing a bit at the cold. “Yeah, fuck those guys. I just can’t believe… I don’t know. I think I’m just going to go back to my brother’s flat. I can’t think straight for the life of me.”

“I’ll walk with you,” you offered, shoving your hands in your pocket before giving her a questioning look. There was so much of you in her, it made you feel a bit sick, but you pushed the queasy feeling in your stomach down and watched as she raised an eyebrow, her face of contemplation mirroring your own before she nodded. A sigh of relief left your lips and you opened the door for her, leading her back out to the sidewalk on the other side of the building so she wouldn’t have to see the church again. Not right now.

“I really can’t thank you enough,” she mumbled softly as she started off in the direction of Dan’s apartment, walking side by side with you down the sidewalk and sending you glances every once in a while. The sunglasses seemed to be making her curious, but you ignored the glances in favor of remaining more of a mystery to her. “What’s your name?”

And damn your mind, because for a moment, you slipped. “Y/N.” You immediately tensed, closing your eyes for a second as you mentally slapped yourself, but then you returned to normal, trying not to raise any more alarms for her than she’d already had tonight. “What’s yours?”

“Y/M/N.” Nodding, you kept your gaze straight ahead and let her lead the two of you, fiddling with the buckle on the back of your hat. “I like your name. Y/N. Very pretty.”

“Thank you,” you almost whispered, feeling tears start to well up in your eyes, but you forced them to go away, sniffling once and pursing your lips. Not now. Don’t cry in front of her. This is about her, not you. “You know, those guys are a bunch of assholes. I live across the street and they’re seriously the biggest pair of hypocrites I’ve ever seen.”

“A week ago, I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me that, but now…” she trailed off again, looking up to the sky as if she was forcing some tears to roll back in her head. She probably was, and you sucked in a harsh breath as you realized that there was no way to guarantee she wouldn’t be just as fucked up from this as she was from the last time it’d happened. “I guess I just don’t know who to trust anymore. It’s a scary world.”

“Hey, it’s not all that bad,” you assured, trying to remain positive as you looked over at her, seeing the glistening wetness of her eyes. “Just… don’t be afraid to ask for help about this. Shit like this can really mess you up in the head, and I guess…. I wouldn’t want someone as nice as you all screwed up because two assholes couldn’t keep their hands off.”

She was slowing, indicating that you were nearing the building, and you came to a stop with her in front of a building you’d remembered your uncle mentioning once or twice. Your mom put her hand on the door handle, hesitating a moment before glancing across the street and squinting a bit, then looking back to you. “Do you want to come in? I’m sure my brother would love to meet you.”

“No! No, it’s okay, I, uh…” You trailed off, looking across the street to stall a bit when you saw him. Weston, standing on the other side of the road, leaning up against the bonnet of one of the cars and smoking nonchalantly. It was a dim resemblance in the shitty night light, but it was definitely him, and you felt your heart drop into your stomach as you looked back to your mom, smiling weakly. “It was nice meeting you, but my boyfriend’s probably expecting me. Listen, just, uh… stay safe, alright? The world’s not as bad as those guys make it seem.”

Looking down at her skirt, your mom seemed to weigh both sides of the argument before nodding, still a bit unconvinced but giving you a satisfied enough smile to set your mind at ease. “Well, goodnight, Y/N. Thank you for everything. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, maybe,” you agreed, though you knew you’d be avoiding her at all costs. You’d gotten lucky enough not nearly getting killed for being around her this long. It would be suicide to go out of your way to see her any more. “Good night.”

With one last smile and nod, she retreated inside of the building, clutching at the ripped ends of her skirt as she disappeared up the staircase. Watching her until she was out of view, you got a moment of peace before you felt his presence slowly emerge, coming to rest right beside you. “Need a pal to walk back with?” The smell of smoke invaded your nostrils, and you could hear him stomping out the cigarette as you closed your eyes, trying not to blow up on this stupid salt-and-pepper haired man.

“God, I thought I’d get lucky enough to never see your stupid ass again,” you muttered, turning on your heel and huffing a bit as you started to quickly walk back to your flat. You were not in the mood, but Weston very much was, easily catching up and matching your pace as you crossed the street. “Could you seriously just fuck off? I don’t need your lofty opinion of what I choose to do about my future. Tonight has been enough already.”

“It’s never going to work. You and that scruffy drummer.”

“Oh, please enlighten me. I’d love to hear all about how you think I don’t belong here and that I shouldn’t spend the rest of my life with someone I love now that I know I’ve fixed things for my mom,” you spit, so much sarcasm dripping from your words Weston would have been an idiot not to catch even a drop of it. And he did, chuckling while rubbing his 5 o’clock shadow and falling into step with you.

“Are you really going to make me spell it out for you? Don’t go back to him. Leave while you can. He’s not home right now, is he?”

“I’m not answering that,” you replied simply, crossing over another street and getting thoroughly annoyed at the fact that there was no way to shake him. He was persistent, his strides matching yours and locking you into pace that was frustratingly in sync. “I’m not leaving him. Why should I?”

You meant it more as a rhetorical question, but Weston did not take it that way, sighing as he followed you down the last block of walking, your flat building in view. “Because I know exactly how you feel. I was there once.”

“What?” you asked suddenly, so floored that you stopped abruptly. He didn’t anticipate the stop, walking forward a few steps before skidding to a stop and coming back to stand in front of you. “What do you mean you were here once? You were in love with Roger Taylor?”

Weston burst out laughing, moving his hands to his jacket pockets as he shook his head, acting as if the thought was absurd. “God, no. I don’t even know who he is besides the fact that he’s Queen’s drummer. I meant, I’ve been in your position before. In love with someone who I belonged with so much that it was never meant to actually be in a world that was fair.”

“I-“ You were at a loss for words, standing there listless for a moment before slowly starting to advance past him towards your building, barely noticing him trailing you as you muttered, “How could you ever know how I really feel?”

“I don’t,” he replied simply, looking up at the balcony that was roughly in the vicinity of your flat, just outside Roger’s window. “I just see you two up there a lot. Looks a hell of a lot like love. Like true love.”

“It is,” you murmured softly, your heart simultaneously swelling and contracting at the thought of Roger and leaving him. “I love him so much. I could never leave him. Not like this. Never.”

When you reached the building, Weston walked around you to grab the door, holding it open as you passed through like a ghost, not really seeing where you were going but going through the motions – up the stairs, down the hallway, unlock the door, go into your flat. Weston talked the whole way up, the words hardly registering in your ear but drilling into your brain as you pictured Roger, probably having the time of his life at his gig right now. “I had that once with a girl just down the road from here. It was beautiful – she loved me and I loved her, and I couldn’t imagine being anywhere but here with her, even if I didn’t belong here like that. She was the reason I wanted to stay. But I couldn’t.”

When it got quiet, you sat down on the couch, not really inviting Weston to sit but not protesting when he took the chair adjacent, and you frowned. “Couldn’t what?”

“Couldn’t stay. Not when the universe was doing everything to prevent it. It wasn’t meant to be. I couldn’t keep putting her in danger like that. She deserved so much better.”

“But….” You trailed off, your heart shattering as you remembered all the tiny ways the universe had threatened you and Roger. Nearly getting hit by a car, your run-ins with the creepy coworker, a few close calls with Roger and the train that he’d written off as being a klutz. 

There were so many more that popped up as red flags now. A cut from a dropped knife that ended up in stitches, Roger nearly catching on fire after a show, all small things you’d chalked up to insignificant blunders that now painted a bigger picture. The world would really try until the very end to break you two apart or kill one or the other, as long as it ended your bond. That was the end goal – the termination of you and Roger. You didn’t belong here. Weston was right.

“I know, it’s a lot.” Weston’s voice called you back out of your thoughts, a small tear coming to the corner of your eye as you looked up at him, searching his face for any hint that he was joking. Finding nothing but a stony-faced middle aged man, you broke down into crushing sobs, the weight of everything falling on you all at once, shattering your ribcage, piercing your heart. You couldn’t stay.

“I told Roger I’d see him tomorrow, in the morning. I wanted to wake up to him coming home.”

But tomorrow never came.

(a/n: this is not the end! There are a few more parts left, so keep your eyes peeled. Also here’s some tissues if ur upset srry jk i dont have any)

PT. 1 PT. 2 PT. 3 PT. 4 PT. 5 PT. 6 PT. 7 PT. 8 PT. 9 PT. 10 PT. 10.5

taglist - @crosmopolitan @just-ladyme @rogerfxckingtaylor @fourmisfitz@shae-is-not-ok @moreinfinite @fruityfreddie @poachedhazontoast@strawberryfields-forever @imladrs @psychoticobsession @killer-queen-xo@rebelrebelyourefaceisamess @destiel-stucky4ever-loki-queen@brownhardyho @stardvstial @iminlovewith-rogers-car @benyeehawdy@mercurys-bike @mazzelloplots @beaaatle @sunshine112 @wonderless-screwup @rogers-sweatbands @whowaits4everanyway @sunflower-borhap-boys @bitemerog @sitonmyhot-seatoflove @siriusly-a-nerd @rockerchic93@darkangel711 @jennyggggrrr @bensrhapsody @xiaoqueencava

[anxiety-trademark]

The week in review:

Raw 11/02 NXT 11/04 NXT UK 11/05 Smackdown 11/06

Raw:

Alexa just says, “he could be here,” then starts laughing. She’s like a walking red flag.

Love the difference in ‘play’ and ‘pain’, and I love how she’ll wave with either one depending on her intentions. Interesting to note that she’s left-handed, so every time she uses her right for ‘play’ it is absolutely a conscious decision.

Great editing to have Alexa disappear.

Randy’s got a hard life rn lmao.

Mandy and Dana’s gear looks fantastic.

Wow Lana is hella ballsy coming out there during their tag match.

Mandy Rose trying to use Octopus stretch? What an interesting world we live in.

I understand that Dana and Mandy might want the tag titles, I’m just not sure it’s wise to be fighting your future teammates ahead of SvS :/

Dana and Mandy do good team work, I just wish they’d work on the timing for their synchronized cartwheel + kick combo.

Pretty suplex, Shayna. Shayna’s probably the nicest most harmless bull you’ve ever seen. I become more and more of a fan every week.

Damn Mandy plays perfect defense but Shayna kicked out. Good teamwork though.

So Lana’s a face now because Nia and Shayna are assholes who have been tormenting her for like 7ish weeks? Do I have that right?

Oh sad, Lana accidentally screwed Dana and Mandy out of winning the titles. Ahhhh this is why Lana has no friends.

Lmfaooo. “What cuz [Lana’s] a little butthurt that I put her through a table?” “You put Lana through six tabl--” “I TOLD you NOT to say her name in my presence.” pffftt bye.

Weak finish to that promo. Hella rude to threaten to end someone’s career though, Nia. Hella rude.

I love Alexa’s enthusiasm when she’s the Firefly Funhouse version of herself.

Bro what the fuck. Christ these always have so much to digest.

I don’t... I don’t know what exactly her trick is... was that blood? Are we going for blood? That didn’t look like blood. It looked like melted fucking organs or something (or melted down candy/licorice/gelatin but let’s not get meta and ruin the fun)

I love the contacts. That’s an interesting look that I wish she’d carry on in her present day matches once she transforms into her evil, alternate self. Also noted that he used his ‘heal’ hand to turn her into the blood spitting, warped version... and I think it was the same last time, right? Was it his ‘heal’ hand last time? What does that mean in his eyes??

These are such a mindfuck ever since she joined his Funhouse. That’s not a complaint.

Why are they having Nia fight in 2 matches tonight? Why couldn’t they push this off a week?

First off, I really don’t like Lacey and Peyton together, and I’m actually quite fond of Lacey. She’s not the best worker, but she’s a fantastic entertainer, and that deserves much more respect than a random tag team with Peyton Royce.

Second, LOL at Shayna immediately clearing off the announce table. This is gonna be tragic and unfair. If I’m Lana, why the hell would I accept this match? Ego? WHAT EGO DOES LANA HAVE lol. This should be pointless in her eyes.

Lana your bravery isn’t gonna get you shit. Is Asuka gonna come out? Cuz that’s the only way you survive this.

Normally you won’t hear me cry about no selling like the dumbass iwc, but Lana did a pretty fucking high worked kick and should’ve nailed Nia in the side of the head/neck. Why wasn’t there a reaction to that? Lame. That should’ve stunned Nia at the very least. Made her flinch? Anything??

LMAO Nia just called her a pathetic piece of crap. Rolling.

Nia breaks up the pinfall attempt on Lana herself x2. Fantastic heel work. Don’t see that enough.

Peep the red marks on Lana’s back. Sad.

Fuck man, table number 7. That’s... that’s sad. Pretty bummed that NOBODY will come help her. 7 fucking times, whew.

Having a lot of the women appear multiple times tonight. Looking at how the Raw women’s division is being booked, I gotta say, SD is kinda over-bloated.

Oh cool I can actually see Alexa’s white tattoo on her shoulder blade in this lighting.

Nikki I’d advise you to not speak ill of the fiend. Also lesbireal, you iced her out the second you didn’t win the title against Bayley all those months ago.

Fucking LOVE those contacts why weren’t they a permanent part of her look as this version???

Highlight: Firefly Funhouse

---

NXT:

Ahh I love Dakota and Raquel’s matching colors.

Tbf, Dakota is a stepping stone, she just SHOULDN’T be cuz she’s way too good for that.

Dakota is so fucking scrawny. I really hope she isn’t just deemed a jobber on the MR. She needs to keep that speed up or bulk up a little.

lolol you know what Ember, you fucked around and ate a ringpost. Serves you right.

Nice armbar, Dakota. Now sit up and lock in the dis-arm-her (she won’t)

Dakota’s leading this match, peeped that call.

Ember’s suicide dive is so vicious. Like a missile straight up impaling her opponent.

LOL Dakota dodged the second. Again serves you right, the double suicide dive is Seth’s move.

Damn Dakota fucking NAILED her with that kick upside the head. You seeing stars Ember? Cuz you should be seeing stars. That was NOT a thigh slapper, that had an audible pop.

Yeahhh Dakota is absolutely the face in this match and you cannot tell me different. Ember’s arrogance is infuriating. Girl legit failed on the MR and she comes down there with an ego (in kf) tf outta here.

Love how people in nxt are constantly trying to use the Bank Statement but it NEVER looks as good as Sasha’s. Take a hint.

Love how Dakota utilizes these arm bars, that’s so random to me, has she always used submissions? Probably.

Why are we showing Ember dramatically hulk up like I care?

“This is Ember’s law” WHAT IS EMBER’S LAW FFS

HAHA atta girl Dakota, atta girl. That’s the homie, good for you. Fuck Ember’s law.

Shotzi PLEASE I could actually like you if you didn’t make me want to punch my 27″ monitor every time you fucking howled.

Also why you’d ever choose to face Toni over Rhea is beyond me but whatever.

This is not a whole new Toni Storm. You’re the friggin same. Ember has changed more than you and she didn’t even have a heel turn.

And why is the term ‘stepping stone’ being shoved down my throat this week?

Interesting that Io has chosen to tie things up with Rhea, but that’s to be expected. See now, if I was wwe, I would’ve called up Rhea immediately after this title match took place, but I already know that doesn’t happen.

Odd that they never show footage of Charlotte when they play back clips of In Your House. Triple h really that salty that she beat Rhea? Fuck man, Rhea needed that loss. Did her good.

Io: “I’m not afraid of Nightmare” I liked that.

“2020 has been complete trash,” what a babyface line by Rhea tbh.

Rhea idk when you’ll get to hold the gold again, but it’s not gonna be anytime soon. Your best hope is that you’ll win the Royal Rumble. Your second best hope is that they’ll move you to Raw and at some point in 2021, you can potentially make the Raw women’s championship meaningful again... what with it being devalued to hell since Becky left. Your realistic hope says maybe you can hold it by the time SummerSlam 2022 rolls around.

oof Shotzi’s big mad lmao. At least we skipped her lengthy entrance and that stupid howl.

Ohhhh nooooo Shotzi botched a vault like 20 seconds in. Oh man that wasn’t even just ugly, she fucking wiped out. Yikes. Yikes. Go back to the pc hun, practice that a couple dozen times more, cuz that’s the type of shit that’s gonna keep you down in nxt.

“you gotta wonder where [Shotzi’s] mind is” sure... sure...

Oh the tank’s a nod to her cousin in the military, interesting.

That cannonball was way too high anyway, Shotzi. You were never gonna make impact with that.

Holy shit Shotzi looks sloppy as fuck tonight. Usually it’s her ring work that I compliment, but good lord. Out here looking like the low card.

“Shotzi Blackheart just has not been herself so far in this one,” no this is practically a carry.

Yikes these restholds. Awful match. Do a Storm Zero and call it a night.

Christ and Shotzi fumbles on Toni’s Northern Lights Suplex. Mk.

“This match has certainly lived up to the hype” wow then y’all have LOW expectations.

No she didn’t get all of the ddt, and she could’ve ended her damn career with a dumb move like that for some throwaway tv match. Holy shit she’s such an extreme indie performer.

WOW so we sit through this long ass dreadful fuck up of a match, do a potential career ending move, then the ref just... stops counting cuz ???? and Candice pops up on screen just to get Shotzi’s attention. Hello? WHAT IS THIS TRAINWRECK. Negative 8 points to Shotzi and Candice (just because I don’t like Candice) and plus 3 to Toni for having to deal with this bullshit on her second match in nxt.

Dumb. Toni should’ve been counted out, and she should’ve been allowed to hit Shotzi with a finisher. Dumb.

lmao fuck that tank. I don’t even like Candice, either. gg. Plus 2 points.

I thought Toni was a heel? Lame. Negative 2 points for continuity.

If Xia says the letters from her family are personal, then they’re personal. Leave her the fuck alone, tmz.

Xia vs Raquel?? Lol good luck man.

Highlight: Dakota vs Ember

---

NXT UK:

Ah a squash match for Jinny, mk.

This girl looks ridiculous.

Nice impact on the Irish Whip into the corner.

Lol no selling Jinny’s stomps, ooookay.

Jinny has this aggressive wrestling style, but I feel like Bayley could toss her around lmao.

Someone give me a dollar every time Jinny calls her ‘stupid’ so I can buy a new car.

Kay so this James girl is hella athletic, that’s nice.

Rolling lightning kick? That’s your finish?? A recklessly blind heel kick while somersaulting??? Alllright, anyway.

lol plz, you’re no queen.

Ah yes a match I have ZERO interest in: Piper vs Jinny. Give KLR a squash match, I’m bored.

SPEAKING OF MY UK QUEEN

Jeeze look at KLR’s arms. Whew.

She’s so much more entertaining than the rest of the division, holy hell.

LOL KLR. Look at her sell that fear. What a fucking performer, goodbye. All the points to KLR.

Piper, KLR’s hair is way too fucking gorgeous for you to be pulling her around by it. The blatant disrespect. And you dare touch her title? Rude. RUDE.

Highlight: KLR existing

---

Smackdown:

Great video package but I have to highlight the way Sasha just sat there against the ropes staring at Bayley for what, 2 minutes? Before even acknowledging she had won the title. That was fantastic.

What’s funny is I watched their hiac match live cuz I wasn’t sure Sasha would actually win, but I never bothered with this one, because I KNEW Sasha’s curse had been broken. I knew it’d be against Bayley that she’d retain her title for the first time.

kekekek Bayley’s so fucking obnoxious.

Beautiful opening sequences. Not often can people do that particular sequence with Sasha, I think I’ve only seen Becky do it on the MR (could be mistaken)

Nice baseball slide while pulling Bayley’s ankle off the apron. Smooth af.

Jeeesus Bayley launched Sasha into the air just for Sasha to smack the apron and crash hard on the floor. Points to everyone.

Bayley playing gassed as if she’s actually tired, when we all know this girl’s stamina is aces above the rest.

Beautiful elbow drop to Bayley as she’s hanging off the apron.

Bayley sort of no sells the backstabber and goes for a messy Bayley to belly as Sasha counters into her Bank Statement. The idea for that sequence was there, the execution was not.

Oh shit Bayley hit her with the Eddie Guerrero swerve that didn’t pan out, and then popped a backstabber on her. Lmao nice.

Sasha kicks out of a Bayley to belly and flying elbow. Guess we’re showcasing her resilience as a champion. Solid.

Bayley’s so fucking fast. I love watching her wrestle when she’s not spending all of her time on the defense, holy shit.

Lmao now Bayley has her in the Bank Statement. Nobody does it like Sasha though, and there’s why.

Great match, great match. Real treat. Le curse is finally broken.

Peeped Sasha kicked her in the face on the apron, just as Bayley did when she turned on her. Nice storytelling. I enjoyed the in ring stuff with these 2, but holy shit I’m glad this feud’s over.

Man oh man do I hate Mella’s lipstick lol. I do, however, like her as Sasha’s first opponent.

Nattie: “I shouldn’t have been put in that triple threat match,” Also Nattie: “I think we should do a triple threat match,” Is ‘crazy cat lady’ ALWAYS going to be Nattie’s gimmick?

I really hate seeing other women besides Charlotte wearing Gucci, and I know that’s fucking insane but it is what it is.

This should’ve been on the show, wtf wwe. 

Do the commentators not know what’s fucking happening lol?

The speed of this is as if they were told they have 3 mins, make everyone shine.

Just watched a match where Charlotte hit a Natural Selection on Nattie while Nattie had the Sharpshooter applied to someone, and she bumped it perfectly. Why that Running Bulldog looked atrocious, I’ll never know.

Should’ve given me the video explaining why this match is happening. Did Sasha and Bayley go over time? Dumb that this was so rushed.

hahaha Nattie got fucked out of 2 svs team qualifying matches in a row. That’s hilarious.

Highlight: Bayley vs Sasha

---

*Raw shined the brightest as a whole, but Bayley vs Sasha was the star segment of the week.

[coopdigitalnewsletter]

17 Jun 2019: The struggle for collection and delivery, and capturing all of the spend

Hello, this is the Co-op Digital newsletter - it looks at what's happening in the internet/digital world and how it's relevant to the Co-op, to retail businesses, and most importantly to people, communities and society. Thank you for reading - send ideas and feedback to @rod on Twitter. Please tell a friend about it!

[Image: Andreas Gursky, Amazon, 2016]

The struggle for collection and delivery

FedEx is to end its US express business With Amazon (and surprisingly Amazon is only 1.3% of FedEx revenue). The problem with being both vertically and horizontally integrated is that eventually your partners feel like you’re competing too directly with them. You’d imagine that retailers using AWS sometimes have similar concerns.

Click and collect is becoming increasingly important for physical retail. In the US they call it BOPIS/BOSS - buy online pickup in-store/buy online ship-to-store.

Walmart offers fewer items for next-day delivery compared to Amazon because it’s expensive - 200k items vs 10m. And Target is expanding same-day delivery options - 65k items (it bought deliveryco Shipt in 2017). From that last link:

“Ironically, same-day delivery is somewhat easier for retailers to achieve than one-day shipping since same-day services generally rely on couriers and the gig economy to move orders - through providers like Shipt, Deliv, Roadie, Instacart and the like - and not traditional 3PLs.”

That said, delivery remains a hard business, particularly if it’s meals and fresh food: there’s plenty of competition - Deliveroo and JustEat lead in EU, and Uber, Grubhub and fast-growing DoorDash in US. And Amazon’s Restaurants food delivery service being switched off in the US, and it was shuttered in London in late 2018. (Amazon recently invested in Deliveroo, so that looks like its plan B for the meal delivery market.)

The interesting thing here is Amazon’s endless willingness to experiment and invest further if it works or kill it off if it isn’t - a practice all retailers should keep an eye on in an era of rapid technology change.

Capturing all of the spend

You’ll remember all of those “1 in 8 pounds is spent in Tescos” stories of a few years ago [1]. Anyway: GlobalData reckons Amazon will have 20% of all UK online spend in 2024 (also 19.4% of UK online shoppers are now Prime subscribers).

Walmart Grocery is now offering a $98 per year ‘Delivery Unlimited’ subscription - which will compete head-on with Amazon Prime Now, Instacart and others.

In the meantime, this fight between Walmart and Amazon is creating collateral damage for smaller retailers. That piece says that retailers in differentiated product categories (like dollar stores) or “perfected business models” (such as Best Buy and Costco) are doing OK but retailers with shakier finances "have ever-diminishing control over their destiny [...] for the many other retailers, the best strategy could be to try and stay out of the way of this bigger battle."

[1] Even though those stories have receded a bit in the last decade as supermarkets became more competitive and new, low-cost entrants thrived in the UK, Tesco still seems to take 1 in 6.66 of the UK’s retail pounds: 63.9bn in sales in 12 month to end Feb 19 vs ONS estimate of total retail Mar 18 - Feb 19 of 425.9bn.

China news

Why Chinese shoppers buy fresh groceries online: convenience and comfort.

Alipay (Alibaba’s payment platform) has tripled its number of merchant customers in Europe - largely driven by Chinese tourism? Alipay says it has about 1bn active users worldwide now.

As the trade conflict between China and the United States escalates, there are signals that China might restrict the export of rare earth minerals to the US. (Rare earths are used in electronics.)

Tencent invests in UK fintech TrueLayer, which provides banking APIs etc.

Stats

Mary Meeker’s annual internet trends presentation is always a beast of a read - chock full of numbers. Maybe the meta-trend is that as software gets into everything, and nearly everything gets internet connected, it becomes clearer how the internet amplifies everything. The good and the bad. Technology is never neutral, but it is frequently indifferent.

More than a fifth of smart speaker owners have made a purchase online, only 13% would class themselves as regular users - trying it out once?

Only 17% of UK shoppers have used social media buy buttons and a third claim they never will - trying it out never?

Other news

Consequence scanning looks interesting: “a way for organisations to consider the potential consequences of their product or service on people and society and provides an opportunity to mitigate or address potential harms or disasters before they happen”.

Neobank Monzo is launching in the US.

Co-op Bank (which is no longer part of the Co-op Group) is hiring 100 IT/digital staff.

Should Alexa give evidence in German courts? - obvious law enforcement vs privacy tradeoffs.

A grocer designed embarrassing plastic bags to shame shoppers into bringing reusable ones, but they were an unexpected hit.

Co-op Digital news

What to do after a death: how we used service mapping to understand our clients.

Home of Co-op Digital The Federation has friendly, affordable and flexible co-working space available at the moment.

Most opened newsletter in the last month: like a vending machine. Most clicked story: Inside Amazon’s Manchester pop-up shop.

Events

Public events:

Federation friend and social enterprise Amity CIC are offering free coaching sessions - you can book some time with Maria or Katie.

Monzo’s Manchester show & tell - Tue, 18 Jun 6.30pm at Colony Jactin House, 24 Hood St M4 6WX

Ladies that UX - Tue 18 Jun 6.30pm at Federation house.

Northern Azure user group - Tue 18 Jun 6pm at Federation house.

Manchester WordPress User group - Wed 19 Jun 6.30pm at Federation House.

Freetrade (zero-commission stock investing) crowdfunding roadshow - Wed 19 Jun 6.30pm at Workplace, 4th Floor Churchgate House, 56 Oxford Street, M1 6EU.

Mind the Gap: will AI and Digital create a more inclusive health system? - Thu 20 Jun 6.30pm at Auto Trader UK, First St, M15 4FN.

Python NW: monitoring - Thu 20 Jun 6.30pm at Federation House.

NUX Leeds: empathy, product design and being a good human - Mon 24 Jun 6pm at Platform, New Station St, Leeds LS1 4JB

The Human Hiring Hack - how to improve workforce diversity and inclusion - Mon 1 Jul 6pm at Northcoders, Federation Street, M4 2AH.

Internal events:

Funeralcare show & tell - Tue 18 Jun 1pm at Angel Square 12th floor breakout area.

CMO CRM show & tell - Tue 18 Jun 2pm at Angel Square 13th floor communal area.

Co-operate show & tell - Wed 19 Jun 10am at Fed House 6th floor.

Engineering community of practice - Wed 19 Jun 1pm at Fed House Defiant.

PowerBI dataflows - Thu 20 Jun 10am at Fed House 6th floor.

Data management show & tell - Thu 20 Jun 3pm at Angel Square 13th floor breakout area.

Membership show & tell - Fri 21 Jun 3pm at Fed House 6th floor kitchen.

More events at Federation House - and you can contact the events team at  federation.events@coopdigital.co.uk. And TechNW has a useful calendar of events happening in the North West.

Thank you for reading

Thank you, clever and considerate readers and contributors. Please continue to send ideas, questions, corrections, improvements, etc to the newsletterbot’s trained link-clicker @rod on Twitter. If you have enjoyed reading, please tell a friend!

If you want to find out more about Co-op Digital, follow us @CoopDigital on Twitter and read the Co-op Digital Blog. Previous newsletters.

[rollinbrigittenv8]

Overtourism Remains a Concern in Jeju Island Even as Chinese Travel Drops

Visitors are shown on Jeju Island in South Korea. Justin De La Ornellas / Flickr

Skift Take: Like destinations around the world, South Korea is trying to figure out the best way to manage tourism. In the case of Jeju Island, local residents and government leaders have different priorities.

— Hannah Sampson

Jeju Island attracts a massive number of tourists annually. Currently, this number stands at about 15 million a year, with Chinese tourists accounting for 80 percent of international arrivals. However, Jeju has also become a reminder that destinations have to manage the social and financial costs of tourism effectively.

The South Korean government wants to boost the number of arrivals to 45 million by 2035 by constructing a new international airport. The plans have been protested by residents, with one activist leader quoted by the South China Morning Post as saying residents were “glad” that the ongoing tour group ban had reduced the number of tourists to Jeju.

Many Jeju Residents Are “Glad” There Aren’t Many Chinese Tourists Anymore

The resistance to increasing the number of international arrivals in general, and Chinese tourists specifically, hinges on the substantial costs Jeju residents believe that such tourists bring to the island. Chinese tourists have a reputation for being “badly behaved,” with numerous stories in destinations around the world of inconsiderate Chinese travelers damaging tourist sites and littering.

But regardless of whether Chinese tourists are more badly behaved than tourists from other source markets, it’s hard to deny that a large number of international arrivals from any country will strain the infrastructure and environment of destinations. This holds especially true for smaller destinations. Jeju Island has a population of about 660,000 and is only 714 square miles. 15 million tourists is already a huge number of tourists, tripling that would only make the traffic congestion, litter, and crowds that much worse for locals.

A Large Number of Tourists From any Source Market Can Result in Substantial Social Costs for a Destination’s Residents

Jeju residents are also frustrated because they believe they are not getting a fair share of the profits. Many argue that the Chinese tour groups, who no longer come to Jeju, only bring tourists to Chinese owned restaurants and shops, and stay at international hotel chains, leaving natives to shoulder the burden of the arrivals without profiting. This is a hard claim to judge. But considering that Chinese tour companies may find it easier to contact and deal with Chinese business or international chains on Jeju, it’s certainly possible that a large chunk of the revenue derived from Chinese tourists never reaches locals.

Perhaps most significantly, resistance on the part of locals to efforts to attract more Chinese tourists by the South Korean government has remained strong, despite the huge drop in Chinese arrivals because of the ban on the sale tour packages by the Chinese government in the wake of the THAAD conflict. The implication is that the incentive of more tourist revenue isn’t likely to sway protesters.

Destinations Around the World Are Struggling to Manage the Heavv Environmental and Social Challenges of Global Chinese Travel

This clash between the government’s hope for more Chinese tourism revenue and the concerns of locals is by no means unique to Jeju or South Korea. It’s a problem that’s affecting destinations around the world, but particularly in Asia where middle-class Chinese tourists are more likely to travel around via tour groups. Approaching the issue of encouraging Chinese tourism must take into account all costs and benefits, beyond a simple understanding of revenue vs. financial costs. A rapid rise in tourism brings about a whole host of negative externalities for communities.

Bali is another stark example, with the Indonesian government desperate for Chinese tourism revenue. The new ambitious luxury tourism project at Benoa Bay has ignited protests against the environmental and social costs of tourism for the small island. While this is not strictly a response to Chinese tourism, Chinese travelers make up the largest and fastest growing tourist demographic for both Indonesia and Bali. Fundamentally, the most significant new strains upon Bali’s environment and infrastructure for the next decades will likely come from Chinese travel, assuming that trends hold.

Thailand Has Opted To Crack Down on Exploitative Tour Groups That Don’t Benefit Locals

Laos and Thailand are two other examples of destinations that are struggling with this issue. The Laotian government, for example, has been warning tour agencies arranging groups to come to the country that they must cooperate with local tour operators, or they could face legal consequences. Thailand too has had a similar issue. In response, the Thai government cracked down on so-called “zero-dollar tours,” which leverage overpriced shopping experiences to make up for discounted transportation and accommodation. These types of tours notoriously only make stops at Chinese-owned restaurants and shops. The hope, of course, is that these destinations will encourage a larger number higher-quality (and higher-revenue) travelers.

All of these examples should encourage destinations to have a more robust and comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of tourism. It’s challenging to adequately measure the amount of revenue that goes to Chinese firms over local firms, and social costs are often impossible to quantify. Regardless, there are steps that destinations can take.

One method is to attract more high-income travelers and reduce the number of total arrivals. Even if locals have little opportunity to benefit from tourism, at least costs will be mitigated.

Naturally, not every destination can become a high-end travel spot. Governments may have to consider means of forcing foreign tour operators to cooperate with local firms or consider direct compensation for locals, perhaps through lowered taxes, subsidies, or dividends. The U.S. state of Alaska, for example, gives each of its residents a dividend from the oil industry. Even if a resident isn’t employed by the oil and natural gas industry, they still directly benefit from the state’s natural resources. Perhaps it’s time for locals across Chinese tourism hotspots to benefit from this booming industry as well?

This story originally appeared on Jing Travel, a Skift content partner.

Additional links from Jing Travel:

Chinese Travel is Transforming Consumer Technology Around the World

Priceline Doubles Down on China Under CEO Glenn Fogel

Are Cruises Already Falling Out of Favor with Chinese Tourists?

[junker-town]

The Fiesta Bowl live blog: Penn State beats Washington in thriller

Trace McSorley led a huge win for the Nittany Lions.

Postgame

Some stats:

The most important stats:

Hard to beat a team when they’re going 13-for-17 on third downs. Barkley’s 92-yard score was the attention getter, but McSorley (32-for-41, 342 yards, 12-for-12 on third downs) was by far the most valuable player in this game. He’ll enter 2018 as a preseason Heisman favorite.

Fourth Quarter

0:00. Victory formation. Penn State is your Fiesta Bowl champ. Wild finish.

0:05. TRICKERATION. Hook-and-ladder from Fuller to Pettis. It works, and Pettis gets to the PSU 30, but he’s by the sideline and has to blindly throw the ball backwards. It’s picked off by Brandon Smith.

Pettis could have simply run out of bounds, but there wasn’t really any way for him to know there were still a few seconds on the clock.

0:15. Browning overshoots Dissly. Fourth down. Watch the trickeration.

0:20. Browning escapes pressure but can’t quite connect with Fuller. Third down.

0:26. McElroy brings up what was just crossing my mind: this is Boise State hook-and-ladder territory. Browning throws the ball away on first down.

0:34. MISSED FIELD GOAL. The most important drive of the game for Penn State:

First-and-10 from the 25: McSorley two-yard keeper.

Second-and-8 from the 27: Shovel pass to Gesicki for one yard.

Third-and-7 from the 28: Rollout pass to Johnson for 12 yards and a first down. Clock moves under five minutes.

First-and-10 from the 40: McSorley dumps to Barkley on the left sideline for five yards.

Second-and-5 from the 45: Barkley bounces to the left for four yards.

Third-and-1 from the 49: Barkley powers ahead for three yards with minimal blocking.

First-and-10 from the UW 48: Sanders up the middle for one yard. Washington calls its first timeout with 3:02 left.

Second-and-9 from the 47: Barkley bounces to the right but gains only one yard.

Third-and-8 from the 46: With color commentator Greg McElroy saying “I’d run it,” McSorley moves to 12-for-12 passing on third downs, finding Hamilton for 14 yards and yet another first down.

First-and-10 from the 32: Sanders up the middle for three yards. Washington calls its second timeout with 1:39 left. Last set of downs for the Huskies.

Second-and-7 from the 29: Sanders up the middle for five yards. Washington calls its final timeout with 1:34 left.

Third-and-2 from the 24: Barkley bounces off left tackle but comes up about a half-yard short. PSU runs the clock down to 38 seconds left and calls timeout. The Nittany Lions will go for it.

Fourth-and-1 from the 23: FALSE START by Brendan Mahon. Ouch.

Fourth-and-6 from the 28: Tyler Davis’ 45-yard attempt is wide right.

6:52. PENN STATE 35, WASHINGTON 28. The most important drive of the game for Washington:

First-and-10 from the 22: Yetur Gross-Matos sacks Browning for a loss of two.

Second-and-12 from the 20: Browning to Ty Jones for 11 yards.

Third-and-1 from the 31: Hello, Myles Gaskin. Sixty-nine yards straight up the middle for a touchdown.

Nice.

Gaskin had 13 carries for 29 yards. Now he’s got 14 for 98. Seven-point game.

http://pic.twitter.com/QlvW4xnv49

— SB Nation CFB (@SBNationCFB) December 31, 2017

8:06. Nice stand by the UW defense. Two Barkley carries gain zero yards (in Barkley fashion, he gains three, then loses three), and the Huskies finally stop McSorley on a third-and-long. He has to dump the ball to Barkley, who comes up well short of the sticks. UW is running out of time but has escaped the dagger once more. The Huskies will start from their 22.

10:11. Six-and-out for Washington. A Browning-to-Ahmed sidearmer moves the chains once, but Browning can’t find anyone open on the following third-and-9. Whitford outkicks his coverage a bit on a 54-yarder, and Thompkins returns it 20 yards. PSU will start at its 34. Once again, PSU will attempt to apply the dagger. The Lions haven’t been able to yet.

13:05. INTERCEPTION. Pretty crafty by Washington: To cut down on McSorley’s third-down success, Washington set up a third-and-short. Barkley is stuffed for a big loss to set up fourth-and-6 from the 30 ... which PSU converts when McSorley throws to Barkley on the sideline and he hurdles a defender to the 23.

After another short pass to Barkley, however, McSorley is picked off again. Ben Burr-Kirven bats an over-the-middle pass at the line, and it’s picked off by Austin Joyner. Washington is still somehow within two possessions and will start at its 19.

Third Quarter

0:00. With passes to Gesicki and Hamilton, McSorley’s able to work the Nittany Lions past midfield, and he once again throws a perfect ball on third down, this time on third-and-8 to Johnson.

It’ll be third-and-2 from the Washington 26 when the fourth quarter begins. PSU has the dagger in hand.

4:00. Huge three-and-out. Browning finds Drew Sample for six yards, but he can’t find anyone open on third-and-4, and Shareef Miller trips him up as he’s trying to leave the pocket. PSU has a chance to go back up three scores as we reach the back end of the third quarter.

5:59. PENN STATE 35, WASHINGTON 21. Goodness, PSU’s been good on third downs. McSorley finds an opening and sprints for 24 yards to get the Nittany Lions near midfield, then continues his third-down clinic: he finds Johnson for 11 yards on third-and-7, then lobs to Hamilton for a 24-yard score on third-and-4.

McSorley on third downs: 8-for-8 for 152 yards and two touchdowns.

9:57. PENN STATE 28, WASHINGTON 21. Washington comes out with a different plan of attack. Browning throws short repeatedly, and the Huskies attempt to employ a little tempo. He completes passes to Ty Jones and Fuller for first downs, and Gaskin runs for two more, and UW is to the Penn State 31.

On third-and-7 from the 28, Browning finds no pressure in the pocket and is able to wait for Fuller to come open in the end zone. Thirteen plays, 80 yards, five minutes, touchdown. Absolutely perfect drive from UW, and it’s a one-score game.

Halftime

Some stats:

When you’ve nearly tripled your opponent’s yardage, you expect to be winning by more than 14 points, but Washington bought itself some margin for error with those two turnovers. One prevented a PSU score, and the other created one for the Huskies.

Despite pretty equal to-go yardage, PSU is 6-for-7 on third downs, and UW is 3-for-7.

Penn State RB Saquon Barkley ripped off 71 rushing yards after contact on just 9 carries in the first half of the Fiesta Bowl. http://pic.twitter.com/F2OeNLSds9

— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) December 30, 2017

Second Quarter

0:00. Two Gaskin rushes and a Browning scramble run out the clock.

0:55. Sanders nearly makes another huge mistake. He lets the kickoff bounce in front of him, and he’s barely able to fall on it at the PSU 12 before the coverage unit gets there. Three Barkley carries move the chains, then McSorley finds Johnson on a post route for an 18-yard gain.

PSU shows extreme confidence, calling timeout before a third-and-9 with 1:09 left, but McSorley can only find Thompkins for a five-yarder, and PSU punts for the first time of the day. The timeout doesn’t backfire, though: Blake Gillikin’s punt travels 47 yards and is downed at the 6.

4:15. PENN STATE 28, WASHINGTON 14. Finally, Gaskin finds some room. After Browning completes short passes to Fuller, Ahmed, and Baccellia, Gaskin takes a Wildcat snap, waits for his blocks, and scores from 13 yards out. The Huskies took full advantage of the turnover. Needed that desperately.

6:41. FUMBLE. Washington catches a break. McSorley pitches the ball to Sanders on an option, but Sanders isn’t looking for the ball for some reason. Ryan Bowman recovers at the PSU 33. UW has a plus-2 turnover margin, and it’s the only reason the Huskies aren’t down at least 28.

6:47. Massive danger time for UW. Gaskin is stopped for a gain of one, Browning is sacked by about eight different guys at once, and the Huskies go three-and-out. Whitford’s punt is a good one, but PSU will start at its 40 with plenty of time left in the half.

9:01. PENN STATE 28, WASHINGTON 7. College football is going to miss Saquon Barkley. So much. Penn State’s offensive line creates a lovely hole for No. 26, he outraces a safety to the sideline, and he’s gone. Ninety-two yards.

Power to Austin Joyner, No. 4, for busting his tail trying to catch him.

Washington's defense in regular season: Allowed 92 rushing yards per game, best in FBS Washington's defense vs. Saquon Barkley: Allowed 92 rushing yards on one play

— Matt Hinton (@MattRHinton) December 30, 2017

Penn State has 339 yards 20 minutes into the game. Against an excellent defense.

9:45. Dante Pettis sighting! Browning fakes left and hits Pettis on a screen. He uses his blockers and bursts upfield for 26 yards to the UW 46. But that’s as far as the Huskies get. Gaskin has been completely hemmed in — he gains just two yards on a carry and four yards on a screen — and a Browning pooch kick gets a nice roll inside the PSU 10.

Four Gaskin touches have gained a combined two yards. The Huskies gained 52 yards on the trick play pass, and their other 13 snaps have gained 41. The solution, obviously: more trick plays!

11:59. PENN STATE 21, WASHINGTON 7. PSU continues to try to spread the ball to just about everybody on the depth chart, but short passes to Tommy Stevens and Brandon Polk combine to gain just four yards. No worries — on third-and-6, McSorley fires an outright dart to Gesicki for 26 yards. He finds Johnson for 11 yards to the UW 35, and it’s scoring opportunity No. 4.

PSU dodges a major bullet when McSorley misfires and misses Stevens on a shovel pass. It’s batted around by defenders and just barely hits the ground. Given second life, McSorley lobs to Thompkins for 34 yards down to the 1. Sanders plunges into the end zone, and PSU’s back up 14.

McSorley has played with fire a couple of times, but he’s 16-for-21 for 196 yards and a touchdown, and he’s rushed four times for 26 yards. PSU is 6-for-6 on third downs. Damn.

14:57. PENN STATE 14, WASHINGTON 7. Browning sneaks into the end zone for a touchdown on the quarter’s first play. UW is alive.

First Quarter

0:00. UW’s first first down of the game comes via roughing-the-passer penalty, and then it’s TRICK PLAY TIME. This is Chris Petersen in the Fiesta Bowl, after all. Browning fires a lateral to Andre Baccellia, who finds tight end Will Dissly open deep for a 52-yard gain.

Either Boise State or Washington should play in the Fiesta Bowl every year.

The first quarter ends with Salvon Ahmed catching a short pass and rumbling down to the 1.

1:34. PENN STATE 14, WASHINGTON 0. Washington gets lucky; a McSorley keeper gains 12 yards, but a Washington defender leads with his head and makes contact with McSorley’s helmet as the QB is sliding. Textbook personal foul, but no call. But it just delays an eventual score all the same.

On the ensuing third-and-8, McSorley fires a slant to Hamilton for a first down, then hits Saaed Blacknall for 20 yards to the UW 20. Barkley gets to the left edge and gains eight yards, then Gesicki catches a short pass and gets to the 5. On third-and-goal from the 2, Barkley leaps into the end zone.

Nobody has averaged more than 5.7 yards per play against Washington all year. PSU is currently averaging 7.1. Current total yardage: PSU 171, UW 1.

6:46. Browning is unsettled. He throws a dangerous pass to Drew Sample, and it’s broken up. After Gaskin is stuffed again (this time by Jason Cabinda and Brandon Smith for a loss of one), he can’t escape PSU’s pass rush. He dodges two tacklers but eventually gets wrapped up by Tyrell Chavis. PSU runs into Whitford, but he gets off an unreturnable 53-yarder all the same. Damn.

8:23. INTERCEPTION. PSU opens another drive with a shovel pass, this one to Miles Sanders, and it gains four yards. After an incompletion, McSorley does a lovely job of scrambling from pressure, threatening to run, and finding tight end Mike Gesicki downfield for 17 yards. Washington is called for defensive holding on the next play, and it’s another scoring opportunity for the Nittany Lions.

Apparently that means it’s time to go deep again. But he lobs it too far for Gesicki (hard to do), and Byron Murphy makes an outstanding interception, dragging a toe inbounds on his way out.

Touchback. Bullet dodged.

9:46. After a short return and an illegal block penalty, Washington starts from its own 7 and quickly goes three-and-out. A Jake Browning pass to Aaron Fuller gains eight yards, but Ryan Buchholz stuffs Myles Gaskin on second down, and Browning can’t hit Fuller on a fade route on third.

Deandre Thompkins mishandles a nice Joel Whitford punt and just barely recovers it at his 34. #FumblesLuck

11:10. PENN STATE 7, WASHINGTON 0. Penn State is going to struggle against Washington’s dynamite defensive front, and one of the most interesting things about the early going is going to be how the Nittany Lions choose to attack it.

They start with a shovel pass to Saquon Barkley, but it loses a yard. Juwan Johnson drops a hurried pass by Trace McSorley on second down, but Barkley shakes free on third-and-11, taking a short pass 12 yards to move the chains.

That seems to relax PSU. The Nittany Lions enter UW territory with a nine-yard zone-read keeper by McSorley and a 15-yarder from Barkley, and after a couple of short passes lose yardage, McSorley finds DaeSean Hamilton open deep for a 48-yard score.

Teams don’t break off 48-yarders on Washington — the Huskies had allowed just one pass of 40-plus yards all year. Make it two. Tremendous start for PSU.

Preview by Alexis Chassen

Two high-octane offenses will face off in this year’s Fiesta Bowl, when the Washington Huskies take on the Penn State Nittany Lions, on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN (live stream).

This marks the third time in program history these two teams will meet, with Penn State holding the overall series lead, 2-0. The last meeting was in 1983, in the Aloha Bowl, when the Nittany Lions won 13-10 over the Huskies. In the time since, Penn State is heading to its 11th bowl game in 13 years, and Washington will be competing in its eighth bowl game in a row.

Time, TV channel, and streaming info

Time: 4 p.m. ET

Location: University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz.

TV: ESPN

Streaming: WatchESPN

Odds: Penn State opened as 4.5-point favorites.

Washington vs. Penn State news:

Penn State’s depth chart looks a bit different, with some returning from injuries and others not listed after having announced their intentions to transfer.

While both teams boost similar resumes, Washington could make a run in the second half if Penn State’s defense gets winded.

If UW is close going into the fourth, they will definitely have a depth advantage. This could well translate into anywhere between a 3- and 10-point net scoring advantage, assuming UW makes the requisite investments in the rushing attack early in the game. The key for UW will be to make this a physical game in order to test that Penn State depth.

On paper, the matchup seems pretty even, but with coordinator changes and injuries, the Nittany Lions will need to rely on some of the veteran, established players.

PSU will face the nation’s statistical best run defense - albeit one that faced one of the easiest schedules in FBS for the second year in a row - so this may be another game in which Trace McSorley will have to use the pass game in order to get Saquon Barkley going in likely his last game in the Basic Blues.

Running backs will rule the day

Both the Huskies and the Nittany Lions feature dominant running backs who are among the top of the FBS. Penn State’s Saquon Barkley didn’t quite finish as high as anticipated in the Heisman Trophy voting, but he’s still a dynamic rusher -- and return specialist — and will give the Huskies top-rated rush defense a tough task.

On the other side of the field is Washington running back Myles Gaskin. The Husky might not have the breakout numbers to match that of Barkley, but his consistency has kept him in line with the Big Ten rusher on the stat sheet.

While Barkley gets the check mark over Gaskin on the eye test, he can’t compare as a pure runner. Gaskin’s vision is absolutely phenomenal. You can’t put together a highlight package that is going to truly capture his brilliance. His dominance is in the ability to turn a 2-yard gain into 6 yards rather than a 10-yard gain into 80 yards.

With this being the last collegiate game for both Barkley and Gaskin, it’s fitting that they finally face each other on the gridiron for title supreme.

Washington vs. Penn State prediction:

Having its 2016 season ending in a CFP snub, and a 2017 season that was derailed by a stunning loss to Ohio State, Penn State is out for blood. James Franklin needs a way to keep his team motivated heading into the offseason — especially losing some big-time contributors to the NFL — and he’ll look to make a point against the Huskies.

Be sure to check out all our bowl predictions here.

College football's first bowl game was almost its last