Asian culture, aggression and being confrontational
Let's being with some context first. Some white girl slammed her car door against mine while I was in my car and it left a 2 inch black scuff on my door while hers was left undamaged. Naturally, I go out to confront her and she has the audacity to say "I never hit your car, that scratch was there already", proceeds to get back into her car as if literally nothing happened, and literally accuses me of making some stuff up to get her in trouble. For reference, both my mom and I are Chinese, while her bf is white. At this point, my mom gets out of the car and asks why I'm yelling at the girl and telling me to calm down and this is also the same time her bf shows up. Her bf gets caught up with what happened and he also hears what my mom says. Then he says to me "Why don't you take your mom's advice, calm down and we can all part ways. I apologize this happened". I can't believe my mom would tell me to just accept the fact that my property got damaged, so I tell her to get back into the car. At this point, she and her bf actually look like they are just going to leave the scene so I have 911 ready on my phone and I tell both of them if they leave, I'm calling the police and the insurance providers immediately and I'm filing a hit and run with your license plate and all of the photos I took of the damage. Eventually, the bf realizes that I'm not playing around and we exchange insurance and license details. What bothers me the most is that my mom would tell me to not be confrontational and just accept the fact that my property got damaged. Can you just imagine the kind of stuff I would've gotten if I had hit their car while opening my door? They for sure would've said "Learn to drive" with other racial undertones or even slurs thrown in. I know for a fact she and her bf were counting on me just letting it slide based on his comment and the fact that asians aren't known to be confrontational. If I wasn't aggressive from the start, I'm willing to bet both of them wouldn't take me seriously at all. Being aggressive or assertive are things that I've struggled with tremendously and even to this day, I'm still trying to work on it but this experience taught me that maybe I do have what it takes if I need to stand up for myself. Guys, please don't be afraid to speak up when something is wrong or people will have no problems walking all over us.
Esports Fight Club Launches Ultimate Warrior Showdown with Huge Partners
Read full story: medium.com/verasity Esports Fight Club is launching one of the largest Asian PUBG Mobile tournaments, “Ultimate Warrior Showdown”. The tournament has been created in partnership with Tencent Games, OKEx, Athena Gaming and pro teams such as Onic Esports, T1 and NOVA Esports. Verasity’s Esports Fight Club is the owner of all the content rights including broadcast rights and branding rights. Tencent Esports, owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd, approved and supported the Tournament with a format to bring out the best performance of pro teams playing in one of the biggest tournaments in Asia. We also partnered with Athena Gaming, one of the largest media companies in Asia specializing in tournaments and content creation through multiple regional subsidiaries. Athena has a combined reach of five million gamers across their networks of Youtube and Huya. Athena will be live streaming the Tournament on their channels as well as on Esports Fight Club. OKEx, the Tier 1 exchange, is also sponsoring the Tournament in partnership with Verasity. As one of the top digital asset exchanges by trading volume, OKEx serves millions of users in over 100 countries with a large footprint in Asia and will be marketing the campaign to its users. The Ultimate Warrior Showdown PUBGm Tournament will begin on Monday 21st September 2020. Registrations to join the tournament will start immediately on the Esports Fight Club tournament landing page. The Tournament is open to participants from South Asia and boasts some of the top Asian teams playing in the invitationals. The top 10 teams from the Open Qualifiers will face these teams in the Grand Finals for a combined prize pool of $15000. Some of the confirmed players include T1 (South Korea), the most-famous Esports team in the world, Elementrix (Nepal), NOVA Esports (China), Team Secret (Thailand) and XQF (China). Plus we have Onic Esports (Indonesia), one of the biggest Mobile esports teams in the world with multiple tournament titles to their names and endorsed by the Indonesian government. All of these players are PUBG Mobile World League Teams who have been actively participating and winning major tournaments in the region. A major player to watch during the tournament is Paraboy from Nova Esports who has been consistently ranked among the top 10 players globally along with his team-mate, Jimmy, who has been the most consistent fragger for the team during recent games. The Ultimate Warrior Showdown will be broadcast in 3 languages: English, Korean and Chinese. You can follow the tournament at Esports Fight Club. There will be regular updates on the tournament and real-time scores on our dedicated Instagram page. Countries involved include: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The Ultimate Warrior Showdown will have a combined prize pool of $15000 to be distributed as: Other tournament prizes also include:
$2000 given to the Most Valuable Player (MVP). This will be voted by the broadcasting talents for during the tournament.
The open qualifier top 3 placements will receive $500/$300/$200 respectively.
Plus we will also be hosting a giveaway of 200 PUBG Mobile Royale Passes for our Esports Fight Club fans throughout the Tournament via the Esports Fight Club landing page! About Verasity.tv REWARDS BASED PLATFORM FOR ESPORTS, GAMING AND VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT Verasity is a leading company providing proprietary technology, uniquely rewarding gamers, viewers and publishers.
Supports over 2 million video publishers with our SDK products(overlay on video players) to increase engagement and revenues by 35%. See example publishersand videos here.
Over the years, I've been able to make huge amounts of money online (over 40k on etsy alone with no use of social media). I'm always looking for new ways to support myself while I'm travelling as I'm not able to silversmith or to do professional photography which are my main source of income when I'm in the UK. Freelancing If you offer any kind of digital skills then you should look into freelancing! Even if you don't you can find virtual assistant jobs, data entry jobs and more on these sites. You can earn anywhere between £10-200+ a day depending on your skills and other variables. Freelancer - RefNon Ref Freelancer is you guessed it one of the biggest freelancing websites. It has thousands of jobs in all sorts of specialisms. I've both freelanced on here and regularly hire on here. I've been paid as much as £300 for one gig on here, but most paid £30 or less. You are competing with a more affordable Asian/Indian market who are willing to work for much less than you are. Most of the gigs here aren't super well paid and it doesn't have a super high hire rate (as in there are lots of posts advertising to pay $250 for x who never hire anyone = waste of your time). This website used to be run awry with bots (so you were competing with thousands of automatic responses), but they recently got rid this which is great! Get £15 free to use for gigs when you sign up via that link. Pph - Non Ref A much better paid freelancing website! This is a UK based freelancer website, there is less work going but the work going is much higher paid. Gigs often have a £50 or so minimum. I've landed lots of regular graphic design and illustration work here, and it's not very competitive. I randomly got kicked off this site for no reason, and found the new approval process very difficult. You have to get awarded over 5 jobs in 2 months so stay on which is hard with the quantity of jobs going. Upwork - Non Ref A mid range freelancing website. Lots of work going here, and not super competitive either. However, this website used to give you a certain amount of bids for free per month (which was great!) and now no longer offers this. So you have to pay for every bid, which really adds up! Especially as most of the gigs only pay around $15-30. Fiverr - Ref Non Ref The cheapest guy on the market! I've been a part of this network since the beginning, and it's a little different than the rest as you offer your gig (such as logo design) for X and people purchase it. This website used to be really great and non-competitive but it has swung waaay the other way and you get lost in a sea of listings. Get 20% off your first order when you sign up via the link! Micro tasking Microtasking is where you get paid small amounts of money (usually $1 or less) to do things like browse a website or like a facebook page. They are often super quick jobs and can easily add up if you only pursue the better paid gigs and the ones that are quick (such as like 10 facebook pages en masse). Something to be wary of is all of these sites make money from charging you between 5-20% fees when you withdraw your earnings so you have to cater for this when you take on work! You can easily earn £5 or so a day. Micro worker - Non Ref The biggest microtasking site that I know of, a huge variety of work available on here and you will likely find the best paid work due to this. Pico workers - RefNon Ref Another microtasking site I use, slightly less work available but I find being on as many of these sites as possible allows you to earn more. Click worker - RefNon Ref This isn't quite a microtask site, more a microjob site where the gigs pay a little better (often $5-10). Well worth checking out! It has an app too! Survey Sites Survey sites can be a great supplementary income. You're never going to be able to live off it but can easily earn £10 or so a day. Vindale - RefNon Ref One of the biggest survey sites around, most of the surveys pay $1 or more and there is always lots available. They have around a $50 minimum to cash out. Populus live - Non Ref My personal favourite! This is never mentioned on anyone's 'survey sites to join' list as they don't have referral links! They are UK site which pay £1 for 5 minutes. They dish out a £3 survey most working days of the week. They have a £50 minimum 'cash out' (they send a cheque). I've cashed out more than once on this website. Surveybods - Non Ref My next favorite survey site is survey sites is another UK one, they pay around 50-75p per 5 minutes. They send out about 5 surveys per week, and you can cash out at £15. Reward.Land A new one for me, these guys pay straight into your bank account and most of the surveys pay $5. Atta Poll - RefNon Ref An app that sends out frequent surveys and pays alright! Prize rebel - RefNon Ref A big one, similar to swag bucks. Lots of offers available. Lux Surveys RefNon Ref This one is good... Sends out daily surveys that pay £1 or less! Website Testing If you have high speed internet website testing is a great way to earn some spare cash. You have to be quick though! As soon as those emails come in you have to start immediately as they only need a few testers. These pay around $10-15 per website test which only takes 10-15 minutes. Userlytics - Non Ref TrymyUI - Non Ref Cashback All of these are pretty similar, but the idea is great! You basically find a vendor you would like to shop on via the website, shop as you would and you get cash back! Honey and Wildo both have browser extensions which notify you if you can get cashback and Honey even finds you discount codes! Most have a £10 minimum to cash out. I use all of these, but I love Kidstart as it offers cashback for Amazon and Ebay which are the main places I've shopped. I've had over £100 back! Honey - RefNon Ref Grab 500 points when you sign up via this link! Kidstart - RefNon Ref Quidco - RefNon Ref Topcashback - RefNon Ref Differs from other sites as offers free cashback offers which pay pretty quick. Get a £2 bonus when you sign up via that link. Can cash out at £15 and has over £10 worth of free offers. Creative Type? If you are the creative type, there are lots of ways you can either sell products or sell your services. Fiverr was one I previously mentioned but there are a few more below which are great.... Printful - RefNON Ref This website is awesome, if you make graphics/illustrations this is a site you should know about. It's a POD (Print On Demand) company, they basically help you make super realistic mockups and ship out your products as they are ordered. They even make it look like you shipped it! You don't need to hold any stock and don't have to invest a penny! You will need a shop front though, like Etsy - https://etsy.me/3jjSH3W (use that link to sign up for 40 free listings!) or shopify. With no social media, but well optimized etsy listings I easily make about £50 a month (profit) from these products. Tee Spring - Non Ref If you make designs take a look at Tee Spring. I talk about Etsy below, which offers a huge amount of potential free traffic but costs a little per month. If you are looking for a free alternative to sell your designs then teespring is the way to go. You can list as many products as you like, choose your profit margins and voila! You have a working free shop. Creative Market - Non Ref If you make any sort of digital products ... graphics, web design, fonts, or even stock imagery check out creative market. It's a high end website (you have to get approved to sell) where you can sell all sorts of bits and bobs! The website gets reasonable amount of traffic and sales. It doesn't cost a penny to sell, but they take a 50% commission which is huuuuuge. I don't mind though as you can list your products and leave it. I don't make much here, but about $20 a month here for no work isn't so bad. Etsy - RefNON Ref Etsy is my favourite way to make money online. I've been selling on this site for over 10 years! Ive made over 40k in sales to date. You can sell anything handmade on this website, it gets millions of hits per day and almost everyone browsing is looking to buy something. It may be a little saturated now and hard to have your listings found, but I still think it's the best place to sell just about anything (especially if it's on the more expensive end of things). If you use the link above to open your shop you will get 40 free listings! Other Swagbucks - RefNon Ref A very famous one, but a phone app which enables you to do all sorts of offers, surveys, etc. to earn swag bucks which you can exchange for gift cards. Sometimes has some well paid gigs on here. Qmee - RefNon Ref This is a little browser addon/website which basically pays you to search the web and click their relevant adds. They pay 5 or 10p per add, but it adds up very quickly. You can cash out to paypay immediately which is great. They also offer very badly paid surveys which I wouldn't recommence. Grab a 50p bonus when you sign up via the link! 20cogs - RefNON Ref This is a great UK website I found, you basically complete 20 offers (some are a bit spammy fortunately) which pay about £5-15 each. When you complete 20 offers you can cash out into your bank account. I made £150 but the cashouts average from £150-500. Grab a £10 bonus when you sign up via the link! Oh my dosh - RefNon Ref Similar to 20cogs but pays a little less per offer and you can cash out at £10! Grab a £2 bonus when you sign up via the link Neilsen mobile - NON ref An app I discovered the other day, you install it and it tracks your Internet use in the background. I've made about £10 over 4 months which is fine by me for no work at all! Fatlama - RefNon Ref If you have anything worth renting fatlama is great! From instruments to scanners you can rent all kinds of cool things! It allows you to make money from stuff that you already own and is mainly sat around. I've not had huge success with this but I don't live in London (as everything is pickup), but some people do super well. Matched betting - RefNON ref Something I used to do, You can easily make 2k working through all the joining offers of various gambling companies. However, after this I didn't find it super worth my time. Profit accumulator is a must if you are interested in this! They offer a 14 day free trial if that's ya thing! Sweatco.in - RefNon Ref A new addition of mine... This app tracks your steps and literally pays you to walk. If you excercise lots you can earn over $1 a day passively! This a shortened version of a blog post of mine found here
The Tiger and the Dragon - Exploring the history of Indo-Chinese Relations
A couple of months ago I was watching an anime named Toradora when I heard a certain line
Since ancient times, the dragon has been the only beast to equal the tiger
Immediately my mind jumped not to the romantic relationship between the two main characters of the anime (whom were represented by a Tiger and a Dragon respectively) but rather towards Indo-Chinese relations. I of course wanted to the obvious thing that came to mind and try to create a shitpost "Efortpost" on Indo Chinese relations through the lens of the anime Toradora, but sadly, India isn't a tsundere and China isn't a calm, gentle giant. So said shitpost was scrapped I did however start a draft with some actual research and with recent events, I've decided now is a great time to edumucate this sub on Indo Chinese relations. This post will be focusing upon the problems and conflicts between India and China. Citing things on reddit is an absolute fucking pain in the ass, so citations will be sparse unless I want to link to a specific dataset, map, visual or account. I will however be able to source anything I type here on request. Without further ado, let's jump in
The Ancient Past
India and China have had relations going back to ancient times, including trade, cultural exchange (fun fact: the guy who founded Shaolin was an Indian) and religious exchange (most notably, Buddhism). However, conflict between China and any of the various Indian entities was rare due to a small, little known mountain range known as the "Himalayas". The only notable war I know of was one between the Sikhs and the Qing in the 19th century, which the Sikhs were eager to end because of tensions with another empire, one which would be much more consequential in the modern day relations between India and China
The Lion and the Dragon
That great Empire of course was the British Empire. After the fall of the Marathas the main power in India at the time, the Sikhs remained the last major Indian power not under British control, and they too would eventually fall to the British. I could create a whole other post on the history of the British East India Company and the British Raj but that's not what we're talking about here. India of course, while not ruling itself, was still very consequential to China in this period. The British grew opium in India, which would kick off the Opium Wars, which resulted in the national humiliation of China. Indian troops were used in both the Opium Wars as well as the Boxer Rebellion in China, as well as to guard any concessions. But that's all in the past. What's really consequential is the borders drawn between China and the British.
The Disputes
So there's two separate border disputes between modern day India and China (you can see them on a map here) we need to discuss. The first is a disputed area between Northeastern India, specifically Arunchal Pradesh/Tibet. Arunchal Pradesh is a state of India which is controlled by India, however, China claims that the region is a part of Southern Tibet. This conflict goes back to the McMahon Line, a border agreement to settle the border between Northeast India and Southern Tibet was signed by the British and the Tibetans in 1914. Of course, China today does not recognize Tibetan independence or autonomy, not now or ever, and claim that the Tibetan government had no right to sign such a treaty, as such, they claim the treaty is invalid. The disputed territory of Arunchal Pradesh is populated by a lot of people, almost 1.4 million as of 2011. And while it does have some problems with religious tensions between the Chrisians on one side and the Hindus and Donyi-Poloists on the other, it appears that save for a few insurgents, citizens of the state are generally happy as a part of India. The other major conflict is to the north, near Kashmir in the region compromising Aksai Chin. The borders here are less defined. The British, who had just inherited Ladakh from the Sikhs, met with the Chinese to try to settle the border. There was no real sense of urgency, as Pangong Lake and Karakoram Pass provided good enough natural borders. But of course, just saying "let's use these two natural points as borders" is great and all, but it left a large region undefined, that region of course was Aksai Chin. Two treaties were signed by the British over the area, one with a then rebelling Xinjiang and another with some Chinese official at an embassy which either the Qing either didn't respond to or they did and accepted it? No one really knows, which sets a theme for this region. As for who controls what on the ground here, while India and Pakistan have the Line of Control over Kashmir, India and China have the Line of Actual Control, which despite its name, is fluid and more of an idea than a fact. Yep. There's literally border disputes about where the border of the dispute of the border dispute. To summarize, in Arunchal Pradesh, there is a permanent population and the border is somewhat more stable. No one knows what the fuck is going on in Aksai Chin
A Free TIger and a Red Dragon
On the 15th of August 1947, India would become a free nation once more. They were freed from British imperialism but would immediately be faced with many problems, including improving the conditions of the people of the nation as well as ensuring partition with Pakistan went smoothly (and when it didn't, to make sure Indian interests were secure). Ravaged by colonialism and war, India would begin a long and arduous process of nation building. About 3 years later, the Chinese Civil War drew to a close. Mao Zedong had done it. After temporarily putting the civil war on hold to fight the imperialist Japanese, the Chinese Communists would soon resume their civil war against the Chinese Nationalists. A civil war which would effectively be over by 1950. Ravaged by colonialism and war, China would begin a long and arduous process of nation building. The First Prime Minister of India, Nehru adopted a friendly policy towards China. China, which had concerns about Indian ambitions in Tibet, would see India stand by as China took Tibet by force. India under Nehru would pledge political non interference in Tibet. Instead, Nehru would trade the physical buffer Tibet provided with a "psychological buffer" called the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence", a treaty of cooperation with China. Nehru desired peaceful relations with China as he saw them as fellow Asian nations fighting off colonialism together. This sentiment would become popular as the slogan Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai, which roughly translates to India and China are Brothers would become popular among Indians. However, despite Nehru's desires for a "Indian-Chinese" axis as a third power in the Cold War against the US and USSR and the insistence by Chinese officials that there were no territorial disputes between India and China, China begun to become more and more hostile towards India. This started when India accepted the Dalai Lama as a refugee in 1959, which would enrage Mao. China would proceed to invade India in 1962
The Naive Tiger and the Hungry Dragon
India was completely caught by surprise as they were still largely under the belief of Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai. The unprepared Indians were trounced by the Chinese, who advanced in both disputed regions. The Chinese would withdraw in Arunchal Pradesh but captured Aksai Chin, which the Line of Actual Control comes from. For China, the war achieved all its military objectives but did hurt its international image. For India meanwhile, the war was a major turning point. Nehru was roundly criticized for his diplomatic strategy of "brotherhood" with an aggressive China. Patriotism and military spending would surge and China was, and still is to this day, seen as an enemy who betrayed India's friendly attitude. Heads flew as the defense minister was blamed and forced to resign, the military leadership was shook up and India became hypervigilant on both of its borders. In addition, the war also had some domesitc policy consequences for India. It created a sense of national unity, but racist laws were passed against Chinese Indians who might be "traitors" (these laws were only repealed recently). In addition, the Communist Party were accused of being traitors and they ended up schisming in the war. Lastly, Pakistan would try to attack in 1965 as they thought the Sino Indian war had exposed Indian weakness. The Pakistanis were repelled and Indian pride was restored to an extent.
The Vigilant Tiger and the Greedy Dragon
After getting stabbed in the back, Taiga India had done a total 180 on their China policy. Their military had modernized and was now ever vigilant on the Chinese border, just waiting for when China attacks again. And they did. In 1967, India and China would have a localized dispute over trenches and barbed wire. This post has gone on long enough so I won't go into too much detail, but basically, China dig trench on Indian side, India says fuck off, India builds barbed wire, China says fuck off, India says no this is our side. Repeat On 11 September 1967, the Chinese officer came and once more told the Indians to stop laying wires. The Indians refused. The Chinese then went to their bunkers and began open fire on Indian troops with machine gun fire, as well as starting an artillery barrage on Indian positions. Three days of skirmishes followed in which the Indians managed to destroy many Chinese bunkers. With many PLA fortifications destroyed and the advance of the PLA halted in its tracks, many in India considered this a victory and India in general was greatly pleased with the improvement of their fighting forces.
The Goat and the Dragon
Look at that, it's time for our side story! China and Pakistan! What do they have in common? Well they both hate India of course. To properly understand Indo Chinese relations, it'd be a mistake to leave Pakistan out of it. China and Pakistan had border disputes of their own in Kashmir, however, after China had successfully defeated its archrival in 1963, Pakistan would cede all disputed lands to instead ally Pakistan against India. Pakistan would come to rely on China as it's main ally against India and China would use Pakistan as a counter to India, providing political and economic aid. China was unable to help Pakistan in Indo Pakistani war of 1971 as India deployed troops on its border with China expecting just that possibility, however China and Pakistan's relations have deepened anyways, with Pakistan leaning more and more on China as its relations with the US deteriorate and betting heavily on China's BRI to help boost its economy. Obviously, such close relations to Pakistan would only alienate India from China even more. While previously, the only disputes between India and China were just Arunchal Pradesh and Aksai Chin, which honestly probably were solvable, as China became more and more invested in Pakistan, India and China also started to have opposing views on things like the Kashmir issue, which was much harder to overcome. Thus India's relationship to China will always include Pakistan playing a third wheel
The Tiger and Dragon Practice Restrain
In 1986, India would make Arunchal Pradesh a state. This would result in raising tensions and troops on the border But this time, unlike the others, it was diffused. Not a single life was lost in this conflict and the Indians and Chinese would agree to mutually lessen forces on the border. A breakthrough!
The Tiger and Dragon actually make some progress
Surprise! In the 2000's they actually solved a border dispute! China recognized the Indian State of Sikkim, which was previously claimed by China, as an official part of India. Various roads and borders were opened up to increase trade.
The Tale of the Tiger and The Two Dragons
Bhutan, affectionately known as the "Thunder Dragon Empire", is a small kingdom nestled in between India and China. The nation has traditionally been a part of India but has some border disputes with China of its own. In one of these disputed territories, China wished to build a road. In addition to the altruistic reason of wanting to protect its spherelings territorial integrity, India also wanted to protect its own. While India did not claim the region in question, if China managed to build the road, it would put the Siliguri Corridor, also known as the "Chicken Neck" at risk. Basically, a tiny strip of land which if occupied could effectively split India into two. India obviously did not want China to be able to split India into two. China meanwhile believed that they have sovereign over the area and not Bhutan, and claim they should be allowed to do what they want on their sovereign land. Indian and Chinese troops would gather at the border and face a tense standoff at the region, often being as the Indian media puts it "eyeball to eyeball". No shots were fired and eventually the dispute would end with the two nations deescalating and issuing conflicting claims, possibly in face saving measures. It is unclear if China agreed to halt road construction, though there have not been any further construction on the road so far. Regardless, this became a turn to a more assertive China policy from Indian lawmakers, and it didn't backfire spectacularly, signalling to Indian lawmakers that more aggressive options which would have been avoided in the past would be "on the table" now. This is notable because it is the first conflict between the two which India started
The Current Conflict
An effortpost on current events? What? No one honestly knows everything that's going on in Aksai Chin (where the current conflict is located), however it does seem to be escalating. There are multiple theories to why the conflict is happening, including various government wanting to show strength, China wanting to take advantage of the pandemic or Chinese concerns of an Indian road project on the Indian side of the LAC which would neutralize China's current infrastructure advantage over India in the region The conflict has up until today been tame in nature, though as I'm sure you guys have heard, that is no longer the case. Both Indian and Chinese sources have confirmed there have been fatalities, with only Indian sources providing numbers. The Indian news source ANI has claimed a total of 20 Indian deaths, 34 Indians missing, and 4 injured. It has on the flip side claimed 43 Chinese deaths and 7 injuries. The situation is volatile and I'm not going to claim to know what's happening on the ground.
The Big Picture
The future is honestly, rather pessimistic for these two nations. China continues to build relations with Pakistan as well as attempts to isolate India with its Sea of Pearls strategy. India on the other hand, is becoming closer to the other nations of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, an informal military alliance against China between India, the US, Australia and Japan. Notably, Japan and India are attempting to create an alternative to the BRI, India and Australia agree to use each others bases and Trump invites India to attend the G7 India has begun to move away from focusing solely on Pakistan towards focusing on both China and Pakistan equally. It is even possible, though currently unlikely, that India may abandon its traditional nonaligned position to formalize the Quadraliteral Security Dialogue into a real military alliance China on the other hand will continue to attempt to isolate India and improve its relations with Pakistan, who in addition to a counterweight against India, have become a central part of their BRI plan. Overall, expect India and China to fight more
Highlights for TKNT Foundation AMA with BlockTalks
https://preview.redd.it/hosy2o57o1p51.png?width=1772&format=png&auto=webp&s=d58d88feef4b7119dbbde6d1ffbb2be92dd5062a BehindTKNTFoundation is our CEO and Founder Benjamin Woo. TKNT Foundation is operating a Blockchain Venture Captial supporting, investing, and incubating various blockchain platforms in South Korea. He has worked in this field for the past 5 years and has invested in over 150 projects. What is TKNT? TKNT stands for TKN Token. We are currently in alliance with a gaming platform called TKN.COM, where you can mine TKNT just by betting inside the platform with cryptocurrency. What are the advantages ofTKNTto other alternatives in the Blockchain field? TKNT provides Defi wallet service within its own platform. It will be an optimized platform for users who are looking for any decentralized financial service such as landing, staking, swap, insurance, etc. Originally, there was no concept of returning profits in Defi. However, starting with the Compound platform, they have recently been rewarding their governance tokens. Of course, you can build yield farming within our platform as well. However, while Defi projects use it for promotion to increase their TVL (Total Deposit Volume), TKNT does not require an unreasonable interest payment for it can be simply mined through Bet-Mining at TKN.COM, active within the existing user base. Plus the value of the token continues to rise due to the half-life coming from Bet-Mining. Our major milestones TKNT achieved so far the future pipeline that our technical team will work with UYT to improve the completeness of the platform currently being developed and complete the cross-chain Defi mechanism through an independent blockchain, and the marketing team will secure strong users in Asian markets including China and Korea. After that, we plan to focus on the European and South American markets. Accordingly, after listing BKEX today, we plan to further list on exchanges such as Europe and America. To this end, we plan to publicize the project through offline and online events around the world. Cryptocurrency is volatile. It is for many reasons. But one thing we can make sure is that the TKNT foundation is very transparent. We will announce every single move that we are going to do, and we hope it can bring a successful story for many people. We are holding quite a big event with BKEX this week. 50,000USDT worth of event. In Korea, there is another big event for Korean users. By doing this event, we will communicate with our holders and payback as much as possible to be one of the most successful projects. TKN.COM works with BetProtocol, our service provider. Betprotocol is in charge of our security and development. We will soon implement Sports and Esports betting, live casino to the platform. TKNT will continue to forward to the next level. Please look forward to our progress currently skyrocketing in BKEX. TKNT is currently recording 1300%+ rise in price in BKEX. Stay with us on our wonderful journey. We will soon come back with staking services along with officially launching Defi services in the near future. Official Website — https://www.tknt.io/Medium — https://medium.com/@tkntTwitter — https://twitter.com/tkntfoundationTKNT Global Official Channel:https://t.me/tknt_officialTKNT Official Indonesia:https://t.me/TKNTindonesiaTKNT Official Bangladesh:https://t.me/tknt_bangladesh
News Heading into Thursday August 20th 2020 NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT YOLO THE VARIOUS TICKERS WITHOUT DOING RESEARCH. THE TIME STAMPS ON THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES MAY BE LATER THAN OTHERS ON THE WEB. THE CREATOR OF THIS THREAD COMPILED THE FOLLOWING IN A QUICK MANNER AND DOES NOT ATTEST TO THE VERACITY OF THE INFORMATION BELOW. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR VETTING YOUR OWN SOURCES AND DOING YOUR OWN DD.
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NIO NIO Announces Launch of Battery as a Service and Establishment of Battery Asset Company (Overnihgt News)
RXT Rackspace Technology upgrades Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust’s operations providing essential health services remotely (Overnight News)
WU Western Union Accredited as a New Lender Under the UK Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (Overnight News)
ESGR Enstar Group prices $350M debt offering (Overnight News)
MA TransferWise and Mastercard Expand Their Global Partnership (Overnight News)
FTI ($8.21) TechnipFMC wins Subsea EPCI for the Libra Consortium’s Mero 2 Project, operated by Petrobras in Brazil (Overnight News)
GFI Gold Fields - Results for the six months ended 30 June 2020 (Overnight News)
BA Boeing Gets First Order For The Troubled 737 MAX Aircraft This Year (Overnight News)
CNTG ($12.28) Centogene and Evotec expand collaboration into Gaucher disease (Overnight News)
IAA IAA Enhances Efficiencies With Transportation Management System Investment in the United Kingdom (Overnight News)
FTI TechnipFMC wins Subsea EPCI for the Libra Consortium’s Mero 2 Project, operated by Petrobras in Brazil (Overnight News)
TLSA Tiziana is Pleased to Retain Dr. Napoleone Ferrara to Serve on Its Scientific Advisory Board for an Additional Three-Year Term (Overnight News)
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TMBR ($1.62) Timber Pharmaceuticals Announces Appointment of Dr. David Cohen and Dr. Lubor Gaal to Board of Directors
TMQ ($2.04) Trilogy Metals to Hold Conference Call for the Arctic Feasibility Study (Overnight News)
XLNX Subaru Selects Xilinx to Power New-Generation EyeSight System (Overnight News)
GE GE signs deals to add 1.5 GW to Iraq's power grid
TWI Titan International responds to Trump's suggested Goodyear boycott
REGN New England Journal of Medicine Publishes Positive Phase 3 Evinacumab Results in Patients with Severe Inherited Form of High Cholesterol
ESGR Enstar Group Announces Pricing of $350 Million of 5.750% Fixed-Rate Reset Junior Subordinated Notes Due 2040
NVDA INTC Nvidia beats estimates but data center performance leaves shares flat
XRX Icahn Boosts Stake in Xerox Holdings, Filing Shows
MOBL MobileIron Earns Certification for World-Class Customer Support for Third Consecutive Year
SWX Southwest Gas upped at Wells Fargo on more balanced risk/reward
ADM ADM Announces Pricing of Its Secondary Block Trade of Ordinary Shares of Wilmar International and Concurrent Offering of US$300,000,000 Zero Coupon Exchangeable Bonds Due 2023, Exchangeable For Wilmar Ordinary Shares
AIG AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of American International Group and Most Subsidiaries; Downgrades Issuer Credit Ratings of Life/Health Subsidiaries
GT Trump says 'not happy' with Goodyear; would swap tires on presidential limo
LB L Brands reports surprise profit on demand for soaps, lingerie
LB L Brands Stock Is Rising After Earnings Beat Expectations
LB Bath & Body Works parent reports 63% surge in same-store sales
ED New York's ConEd Faces 'Steep Penalties' for Storm Response
MRNA A 5,000% Surge Makes Medical-Wear Firm Singapore’s Top Stock
CWH Camping World Holder Crestview Offers 6 Million Shares
NVDA Nvidia Is Officially a Data Center Company. Here’s Why.
FB Facebook Resists Handing Over Documents in Genocide Probe
AUTO AutoWeb reports preliminary July 2020 results; shares +20%
PCG California grid operator foresees no rolling blackouts
BD Walker and Dunlop Provides Financing for 84-Unit Affordable Housing Development in Sarasota
WGO Winnebago Industries Board of Directors Approves 9% Increase to Quarterly Cash Dividend
GVA Granite Team Installs Log Jam at Derby Dam Fish Screen
SNPS NSITEXE Adopts Synopsys HAPS Prototyping to Validate Data Flow Processor IP
GD US Department of Defense awards new contracts to GD
AMC AMC +7.6% as CEO Aron touts U.S. reopening on CNBC
HBB Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Company Increases Dividend By 6%
NFE New Fortress Energy Announces Pricing of $1,000 Million of Senior Secured Notes
MDT Study Published in The New England Journal of Medicine Demonstrates Patients Experience Fewer Disruptions to Dialysis Therapy When Treated with Medtronic Drug-Coated Balloon
BF Brown-Forman First Quarter Earnings Release and Conference Call Scheduled for September 2, 2020
TPC Tutor Perini announces refinancing and new credit agreement
TPB Turning Point Brands Announces Retirement of General Counsel James Dobbins and Appoints Brittani Cushman as Successor
SPLP Steel Partners Holdings Declares Regular Quarterly Distribution on its Series A Preferred Units
The fed repos are an attempt to prop up the global banking industry
The GitHub repository is here. I need someone to curate it. Feel free to reach out. Respond to the discussion opened by ctabka to be invited as a collaborator. Before people start throwing money at stocks they haven't researched: I am not (yet) prescribing any positions. The stocks I've listed in the edit at the bottom of this thread are what I've collected from the comments and have not been vetted by me. I'm floating the idea of opening a google doc for public collaboration on research into these banks. I don't vouch for any of the tickers I've mentioned in this thread. Yet. I also want to make it clear that I'm not predicting a bunch of US banks to fail. They're better insulated from this than the rest of the world. The vulnerable ones are abroad, and they're the ones with really lazy lending standards. US banks will be hit, but likely won't tank. Also, as stated at the end of this post, please correct me where I'm wrong. Feel free to leave a comment, but definitely reach out to me via chat or DMs so your message doesn't get buried. I would rather prioritize constructive criticism than a bunch of excited assent - if I am wrong, tell me in my DMs, preferably with an explanation rather than just "you're full of shit" Drop me a chat (not a dm, swear to god, reddit doesn't need two different messaging systems) if you'd like to talk about coordinating. I'll get up with you guys tomorrow. I would love to pool information and repost this over the weekend with a more comprehensive picture of what the fuck is going on with the international lending system. Cheers! Jesus, this really blew up. I'm at work right now, so I won't be super available to respond. Suffice it to say, though, that I've received an overwhelming amount of responses indicating interest in collaboration. After work today, (4-5 pm EST) I'll start really going through all the messages you guys have send me and shooting off replies. Mods have approved a Google doc so we can all contribute, and a disc chat might be in order, since there are so many of you fucking autists that have reached out. God bless. I'll be in touch soon. Forgot to put strike/date at the top: I'm in September BAC $18 puts. Banks will start failing later this year. It's hard to tell which ones will fail, due to the shadowy nature of the shadow lending market. That, and the dollar will moon. You want positions spoonfed to you? Fuck off. This post is half food for thought, half explanation. Trying to follow the money here is hard. If you're lazy, just buy puts on indices like $INDA and $EWG and $EWY: any country that's loaded up on eurodollars. Alright, you tards, listen up: this is going to be a long, confusing post. First off, I'd like to say that I'm not smart. But that doesn't concern me, because you're not smart, either. I just began reading about repo operations a few days ago. I've seen a few posts on here lately remarking on the repo ops, and a lot of misconceptions about what they are and what they're intended to do. I've learned all of what I'm going to post here from other users on here and from my own research. The most important thing you need to understand about the repo market is that it's a black box. It's an interbank loan marketwhere securities (ideally bonds) are put up as collateral for short-term cash loans. The transactions are private and the market usually sets the rates. Repurchase agreements are semantically different from fed repos, but operate in the exact same way. This is important. Banks, per federal legislation, are required to keep a minimum amount of cash on hand to prevent liquidity issues. The repo market exists as a way to circumvent these requirements; banks run as close to the reserve requirements as possible to maximize their profitability, and sometimes run below the limit. In this case, the bank posts collateral on the repo market in exchange for liquid cash to meet the requirements again. In September of last year, the fed was forced to offer hundreds of billions of dollars in repo agreements to banks. This is because the interbank repo interest rate had reached 10% due to liquidity problems. I'm still not sure, and I'm not sure that anyone else is sure, why the liquidity shortage arose, but it did. If I were to hazard a guess, it's because big domestic lenders, sensing volatility abroad, started to pull out of the repo market. Since then, the fed has been, on-and-off, offering repo agreements to large banks (designated banks are called Primary Dealer Banks [PDBs]) and they hold a special status and maintain accounts with the fed. Once these PDBs post collateral (again, securities), money (kind of) is transferred temporarily to their fed account. These PDBs then distribute the cash in the interbank repo market (which is anonymous) at a slight profit. The fed repo interest rate was around 1.6%; on Tuesday night, it jumped up to 1.8% because of the emergency demand. The fed had planned to cut repo ops to 0 by April of this year, essentially weaning the US banking system off of liquidity infusions. This didn't happen. Due to supply chain disruptions and market volatility, the fed was forced to offer several hundred billion in overnight repo agreements this week to PDBs in an effort to maintain liquidity. In fact, this month is set to hit record repo lending balances. Furthermore, the fed is expecting another $130b to be repaid in the next three weeks, sucking even more liquidity out of the market. Edit: The fed was also pondering establishing a standing clearing house for fed repos to smaller entities like hedge funds. Hopefully, they're walking that idea back, because it's a fucking terrible one. Now, here's where I learned I was wrong, and this is a point of confusion for some: the banks don't need the liquidity for themselves. They need the liquidity for their borrowers. See, these PDBs float money anonymously in the repo market to lots and lots of entities, both domestic and foreign. This is shadow banking. Remember when I said the repo market is a black box? Right, well, American banks have been lending money to foreign banks that don't have as stringent of regulations as American ones do. In the US, between two US banks, when a loan is written, some percentage of the loan size must be physically transferred over to the borrower (the reserve amount). Between an American bank and a foreign bank, though, no such requirement exists. From this discrepancy in regulation, the eurodollar is born. The eurodollar is imaginary money that is printed by American banks: when they make a loan to a foreign bank, the loan exists only on the balance sheets. There is no physical manifestation of currency transfer. Consequently, eurodollars get leveraged to shit. Instead of the fractional reserve system, the ideal interbank loan system in America, eurodollars can get loaned indefinitely, forever. Eurodollars are paying factory workers, building bridges, and trading as currency. But it's not currency. And because eurodollars are what circulate outside the US, real USD are becoming increasingly rare. You see, the USD has become the de facto global currency. There's a lot of confidence in it. It backs virtually every exchange of goods or services in the world. Right now, though, emerging markets' banks aren't really using it; they're hoarding it. Additionally, they're accepting awful collateral in exchange for eurodollars, because they know the USD has intrinsic value and eurodollars are imaginary. Collateral like subprime loans. Sound familiar? It should, because the 08 crisis was global because of the international monetary system. The mortgage defaults here at home were just the impetus - just like the supply chain disruptions this year might be. The subprime mortgage scandal was just the scapegoat for the underlying fragility of the eurodollar system. Now, PDBs are aware of this. That's one reason they're starting to become stingier with their lending. They know that their borrowers are accepting garbage collateral in exchange for eurodollars. They know that foreign banks are leveraging themselves up to the tits on low-grade collateral, which means, in essence, the fed is, by proxy, making out hundreds of billions in loans to banks in places like India for fucking used car loans instead of treasury bonds. So, say that Shyam over in India can't make his car payments this month because he hasn't worked since the quarantine began. And his neighbors all do the same. Without US liquidity injections, channeled through the PDBs and into the shady repo market, that Indian bank will fail. Now, that's why it matters that US lenders are pulling out of foreign markets: with supply/manufacturing disruptions and increasing volatility all over the world, foreign banks are direly hurting for liquidity so they can make out loans for businesses and manufacturers and individuals and all sorts of entities. If they don't get this liquidity, they're likely to default. And what happens when these capital groups and small banks die? They default on their loans. So on, up the chain. Say JPM takes out $50b against its treasuries from the fed. It then sells that money on the repo market. Eventually, that money finds its way to Yong Jiang over in China, who took out a loan to keep the lights on in the McDonald's Toy factory in Hubei. Well, three months later, sales haven't made up for lost revenue during the quarantine, and Yong Jiang becomes insolvent and defaults on his loan. That default makes its way back up the ladder to JPM. Now, JPM can either default on its loan from the fed (and bonds get dumped on the market) or it can liquidate some of its assets to pay the fed back. JPM has made this calculation and decided, fuck no, it wants none of that. The problem is, though, that the loan has already been taken out by Yong Jiang. Say Yong Jiang's bank needs some liquidity because Yong defaults. Well, JPM has stopped taking fed repos because of the risk, so there's no money to buy on the market, and Yong's bank fails. This happens dozens of times, across dozens of countries. Pretty soon, the international banking industry faces systemic collapse. For reference, the global repo market is valued at $12T USD, and only 3/4 of it is backed by "pristine collateral" - government bonds. That means that $3T of it is in equities or derivatives. The fed's balance sheet is only $4T USD in comparison. Additionally, $.5T is in private capital groups, which are entirely opaque and likely have rotten fucking lending standards. No way to see who they're lending to, or what collateral they're taking. We're already seeing this beginning: India's Yes Bank is about to be nationalized due to, you guessed it, liquidity problems. It's been involved in shadow lending practices, and American liquidity is starting to dry up across the world. China is also heavily dependent on eurodollars, but I'm not sure how that relationship will shake out. Their economy might be so big and so vital that we're forced to prop them up. If not, China's banking system will go tits up, too. The question then becomes, is the fed willing and able to meet global liquidity demands? And beyond this, how do they force PDBs to keep printing eurodollars and continue to assume risk, risk which may violate their fiduciary obligation to shareholders? Trillion-dollar question. So, what does all this mean? Who can we short? Honestly, this is hard to say. Personally, I have september puts on BAC for $18, and I'm still looking for anyone else who might be vulnerable. Any of the PDBs with accounts at the fed might be at risk. I'm going to start hunting for SE Asian, African, and South American banks that've been taking repo money. Those are likely to be the most probable to fail. On top of that, as banks start dropping like flies and the global economy tanks, the USD is going to fucking *moon*. That's a worthwhile bet, too. The issue here is that the repo market is anonymous, so it's hard to follow the money. If anyone has any recommendations for specific banks or lending groups to target or look into more, please feel free to let me know. If the global banking industry started to fail, though, look for it to hit full swing later this year. This is going to be driven by large amounts of defaults that will be spurred by the manufacturing disruptions, the extent of which won't be fully felt until at least midway through this year. Add a few months for missed loan payments, and I'm wagering that you'll see banks start really failing by August or September. There's a lot here I'm going to continue to research, and if there's anything I've gotten wrong or anything you'd like to add, please speak up and correct me/educate me. Special thanks to: u/Psicopro, u/farisbuellerRULES, u/FlexMcgooch, u/meritorius_demotion, and every other fucking angel who answered my stupid goddamn questions and let me bounce ideas off of them This is a good sub, guys; embrace cooperation and weaponize your collective autism Edit: For further reading, check out Jeff Snider. He's a macro economist who's been shrieking about this for years. Edit 2: thanks for the positive responses and the awards, guys! Please, let me know if you find anything related to these repo market participants, either in the comments or (preferably) in a DM. I'll either update this post or write an updated DD. Cheers. Edit 3: list of vulnerable recommended banks from the comments - Bank of East Asia, HDB, IBN (both in India) - keep em coming, guys Edit 4: this blew up even more than I expected. I'm likely going to repost this over the weekend with more information and more citations, and I'm considering the possibility of opening up a google doc to aggregate research into vulnerable banks. Hit me up in my chat if you've got relevant information on this, or if you'd like to talk about the possibility of collaborating. I'm not sure how risky it would be to pool research like this, but I'm fascinated by the idea of crowdsourcing the work to identify the weak points in the international banking system.
Read full story: medium.com/verasity Fantastic news for our Esports platform! In addition to VeraWallet VRA payments, Esportsfightclub.com users will now be able to make subscription and tournament payments using PayPal. By introducing a fiat PayPal payment method to Esports Fight Club, we are enhancing the usability of the platform and making it more accessible to the wider, non-crypto audience. PayPal is considered the leader of the online and mobile payment market in over 200 countries, and this step allows us to scale our Tournament Platform as well as source great Esports games. Having PayPal payments alongside VeraWallet is an important step for Verasity’s Esportsfightclub.com. All fiat PayPal payments will be used to purchase VRA from exchanges and the underlying currency will remain VRA. The addition of PayPal payments system to VeraWallet payments allows greater flexibility and scaling and is a great step for Esports Fight Club in many ways:
For non crypto users
For esports game developers, uncertain about crypto
For brands that wish to advertise
In countries where crypto is not allowed (India, China and others)
How to make Payments using PayPal onEsportsfightclub.com There are two ways to make payments with PayPal. Either via your profile or when you are requested to pay for a tournament.
Login into Esports Fight Club.
Select your namefrom the top right of the screen.
Choose “ACCOUNTS” in your profile or from the dropdown menu.
Select the “TOP UP” button
Here you can choose to top up via your VeraWallet or PayPal
Select to top up via PayPal
Login to your PayPal account and follow the usual PayPal instructions.
Please note, you will be charged a fee for using PayPay to top up. This will be displayed as follows:
Using PayPal to top up via joining a tournament
When you select to joina tournament you will be asked to pay the entry fee. If you do not have enough funds in your account you will be required to top up.
Here you can also choose to top up with your VeraWallet or PayPal in the same way as described above.
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There's a seeking alpha article I think is good (not allowed to link on this sub) that makes some articles I make- they basically go through the holdings and debt and compare it to the market cap to figure out how discounted it is, the number they arrived at a few months ago was a 35% discount. The crown jewel of Softbank Group is obviously Alibaba, which they own about 22% of. Then they own a big chunk (just sold down to around 40% I believe) of Softbank Corp, a major Japanese telecom company, and a chunk of TMobil. That article is a little old and there has been some stuff sold, I also think they're a little pessimistic on some of the valuations of some of the privately held stuff. Softbank Group themselves estimates the value per share (of the shares traded in Tokyo) are 12,973 yen per share, currently traded at 6,521 yen, so just about half what the underlying value is. The truth of the privately-held valuations is probably somewhere inbetween the two estimates, but you can go line by line and evaluate for yourselves. https://group.softbank/en/istock/sotp Obviously worth addressing is the conventional argument for why it's so low- which is that Masayoshi Son makes apparently insane decisions sometimes. Which I won't dispute but I think the stories that make the headlines have a disproportionate impact on the market cap relative to the actual exposure that the decisions have on shareholders. For example the WeWork issues were really bad, but this was all in the Vision Fund which was only 30% or so funded by Softbank Group and the shareholders, the rest was Arab oil money with Softbank managing it. In Softbank's own shareholder value estimates the entire Vision Fund was 1,458 yen/share or 11%. But it seemed to me to cause a disproportionate drag on the stock price for months, and probably still is. The other obvious example is when people found out that Softbank was doing massive derivatives trades the share price dropped and they lost 9 billion in market cap over 4 billion in trades. I guess it's higher risk that what most companies do with their extra cash but when you have 10s of billions of liquid assets you have to do something with it, buying stocks of desirable companies seems like a reasonable way to keep it liquid to me. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-06/softbank-s-4-billion-trading-gains-on-u-s-stock-option-bet-ft But onto some other stuff that I like about the company. If it goes through the Arm sale is solid and Softbank would get a roughly $21.5 billion stake in NVIDIA, which is a nice asset to sit on. A minor footnote that might turn out to be a bigger deal is that Softbank is keeping an IoT company Arm had acquired. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-13/nvidia-buys-softbank-s-arm-for-40-billion-in-biggest-chip-deal https://www.adexchanger.com/data-exchanges/softbank-owned-treasure-data-on-the-nascent-but-growing-opportunity-of-iot/ A couple of other less talked about assets that I think are worth noting for their growth potential are Softbank's near-50% stake in Yahoo Japan, which is the most commonly used search engine in Japan (still the world's 3rd largest economy) and it's actually powered by google. Another is Paypay, competing to be the fintech app in Japan and currently has the highest marketshare. The other is that they own Boston Dynamics (as I understand outright), hard to say how near they are to producing significant revenue but they're still a world leader in robotics technology, it could just be a matter of time before they find the right partners and applications and it becomes huge. As part of Vision Fund there are a number of high-growth companies that took a real hit due to coronavirus but with the cash to weather the storm I still think will turn out to be solid in a few years. Including Uber (15% stake), Oyo (hotels), Grab (SE asian "superapp" multiple partners) and Paytm (Indian fintech, 20%) among lots of others. I actually think the biggest danger with these is giving up too soon on companies that are in the process of capturing marketshare, and Softbank has a ton of cash for continuing. Vision Fund 2 is starting up with all the cash from recent asset sales and seems focused on higher tech, smaller companies. Which I think is a good strategy considering there are no partners. Recently including Biofurmis (digital therapeutics), Shipbob (warehouse/shipping for vendors listing on multiple websites) and XtalPi (AI in medecine). And the guy that manages it just announced today that they're starting a special acquisitions company. Furthermore there's an activist investor hedgefund (Eliott Management) involved as a watchdog, pushing for share buybacks and oversight. tl;dr the fuckups are sort of priced in and there's a lot to like.
Cover Art Teaser: Where Frances and her friends plan to take Freeburg and run into immediate complications involving her bullies. Story Summary: After years of beatings and neglect from her parents, 13-year old Frances was summoned with her entire class to the fantastical world of Durannon to fight the monsters invading the human kingdoms and defeat the "Demon King." If she succeeds, she might have the home she never had. But if she can't overcome the trauma and self-loathing inflicted on her by her abusive parents, Frances will die, and be summoned back to the home she escaped, on the day that she left. [The Beginning] [<=Chapter 49] [Chapter Index and Blurb] [Chapter 51=>] [Map of Durannon] This chapter was pre-read byu/totallyundescript. Birds-eye view of Freeburg Fortress. The next morning, Igraine assembled Frances, Martin, Elizabeth, and the forty-five Otherworlders that were to be part of their force on a field beside their camp. There, Igraine introduced Frances and Martin, informed the gathering that they were in command, and then left to arrange her own forces. This left, forty-five pairs of eyes settling on Frances and Martin, only one pair of which—Elizabeth’s—was not judging. Frances knew she was going to be tempted to freeze, and so before they had assembled, had discussed the situation with her friends, and proposed a solution. Except, it got shot down. Martin had looked extremely perplexed. “You want me to explain that to them?” “I might fumble over my own tongue, Martin. You are a knight, commanding, shining example of chivalry—” “No. You need to talk to them, Frances. If you don’t, they will have no confidence in your abilities, and that will become a problem in battle.” He smiled and pointed at Frances. “Besides, your approach is sound, you just need to explain it.” Elizabeth, arms crossed, mirrored Martin’s nod. “They also don’t know you, Frances. Well, know-know you. They’ll be quiet for the moment. You have nothing to be afraid of.” Unable to convince her friends this was a bad idea, Frances had swallowed, and now, raised her chin as high as she could, and coughed. “Hello everybody. We are going to divide everybody into four squads, with the remaining six to stay with me as a reserve. To do that, I am going to assess your skills and abilities with the help of Sir Martin, and Elizabeth, whose abilities I am familiar with thanks to the previous missions.” Hoping she didn’t sound too mechanic in her explanation, but seeing nobody interject, Frances continued. “Melee specialists are to follow Elizabeth and Martin. As for the mages, I will assess your magical ability, so stay with me please.” And, like that, the classmates split, about thirty of them following Elizabeth and Martin, and the last fifteen following Frances. That last fifteen included Leila, who was glaring daggers at Frances, and Jessica, who had schooled her expression into an aloof grimace. Frances forced herself to ignore the both of them. “Right if you could all take a seat. I would like to see you try to break several targets I’m going to set up.” Pointing her wand to a spot about a hundred yards away, Frances sang a spell. Five mounds of earth rose. Each was larger than the next. The smallest was as high as a person. The largest was about the size of four carts. When she was done, Frances turned back to the group. “I’ll call on you one by one, at which are going to blast every mound to smithereens with your strongest spell, as fast as you can.” She smiled, in what she hoped was a confident manner, and pulled out a notebook and stick of charcoal. “Who would like to go first?” The girls and boys in front of her exchanged looks. They didn’t whisper at each other, but Frances could see the wordless language of glances, flinches and gestures that communicated dare, question, and suspicion. “Um, I’ll go.” The group parted to let a lanky Asian teen holding a staff walk forward. He wore brown robes and his eyes were looking up, even though his head was bowed. Frances however, recognized him, and she blinked. “Jim?” Jim scratched the back of his head. “Hey, Frances. It’s been a while.” Frances nodded and smiled. Jim wasn’t exactly a friend of hers, more of an acquaintance. They sometimes compared notes and homework and would work together if there were any group projects. Sometimes, he’d let her play with his handheld game console. Most importantly, he hadn’t asked any uncomfortable questions. “Which target would you like to start with first, Jim?” Jim indicated the mid-sized target, and after pointing with his staff, and crying out a word of power, a bolt of purple magic slammed into the mound of earth. But while dirt went flying, most of the mound was still there. He groaned, his brown eyes downcast. “Uhh I can do better, and I know other spells. I’m quite good at scrying.” Frances nodded, examining the mound. It wasn’t a particularly good result, and Jim seemed to know it. However… “I would love to ask you about your other spells Jim, and about my plan to take Freeburg. I remember you were quite a game and history nerd, right? You might have some insights.” Jim blinked. “Oh. Um, thanks. It’s good to see you, Frances.” “You too. Uh, do you mind sitting over there?” After Jim took a seat away from the main group, a few more people raised their hands. After resetting the targets first, Frances picked the Otherwolder mages one by one, assessed them, took their names and noted down the results. Slowly, they wound down the list with Frances recalling a few familiar faces and names. Once in a while, especially for those who could only disperse the smaller mounds, Frances documented things they specialized in. Healing, mists, and other details that Frances carefully documented. All the while, her classmates watched her, muttering or whispering to each other under their breath. That changed after Nicole stepped up to do her test. Before Frances could ask her to choose a target, she quipped: “So what’s the point of all of this, Frances? I mean aren’t we supposed to be planning to retake Freeburg?” Taking in Nicole’s tone and her hands on her hips, Frances’s small smile vanished. “I am making a plan, and to do so I need to know what magic you are all good at.” Nicole groaned, running a hand through her hair, not that there was much of it. Hers was cut so short her ears weren’t even covered. “You’re making a plan? Don’t you think you ought to consult with all of your classmates? Or I dunno, tell us what you’re going to try?” There were several ways Frances knew she could answer Nicole, but none of them seemed perfect. On one hand, she could explain her thought process, but she hesitated, unsure if it would be a good idea to air her entire plan before she had actually decided to commit to it. Yet, neither did she feel confident in just telling Nicole to sit down. One thing was for sure, she did not want to consult with all of her classmates. That didn’t seem what Edana, General Forowena, or even General Darius would do. Then again… Lady Igraine hadn’t told her classmates that they were only part of the attacking force. She closed her notebook. “We’re part of two attacking groups, the one that is going to attack Freeburg from the southern gate. I plan for the mages will blast a hole in the walls and pin the defends down whilst our fighters breach them. But I need to determine what are our best strengths first. I promise that I’ll present the complete plan to you all when I’m ready.” Nicole’s brow was furrowed, but her eyes were now looking up towards the distant Freeburg rather than glaring at Frances. “Alright. But I’ll hold you to that.” She gestured to the second-largest target and after an aria that took several seconds, she unleashed a bolt of force that blasted the target apart. Frances nodded, somewhat impressed, and made her notes. She continued to call more of her classmates up until she got to— “Leila.” Her former bully stood up, and stomped towards Frances, but instead of stopping at a respectable distance, Leila kept marching on. Frances’s fist clenched around her wand as her broad-shouldered came to a stop, her nose mere inches from her face. Leila sneered. “Sup.” Frances stepped back and gestured to the targets. “Please pick a target—” She was cut off by Leila crying out a word of power. The fireball she summoned whooshed over Frances’s shoulder and obliterated the middle target. With the heat of the spell still warming her cheeks, Frances had to bite down the wellspring of anger that had once again been reignited. “There. How did I do? Commandah?” Leila’s lilting tone and taunting words broke Frances’s stoic mask. Scowling at her former bully, Frances hissed, “Very well. However, you showed a total disregard for safety.” Smiling smugly, Leila cooed, “Aw, sorry, commander,” and sauntered off to join the others. It took all her willpower to rip her eyes away from Leila to glare at the last person she had to assess. “Jessica.” The statuesque blonde stood up and walked over, but unlike her friend, she didn’t violate Frances’s personal space. Her crossed arms and narrowed eyes, however, were not giving Frances a comforting feeling. But she didn’t seem to be hostile at first. She demolished the second-largest target without incident, and after that, informed Frances that she was most familiar with earth spells. Then she said, in her haughty tone, “May I ask you a few questions, Fo—Frances?” Every instinct on guard, but because she had no reason to deny the request, Frances gave a short nod. Jessica smiled, but to Frances,, it looked like a shark’s bloodthirsty grin. “So like, why did Lady Igraine assign you to be our commander? I mean, yeah, you did a few good missions, but it’s not like you did anything special.” The words stung, and old, dark thoughts whispered in the background as Frances tried to think of an answer. “Lady Igraine trusts me as do other members of the War Council including Earl Forowena and my master, Edana. If you have questions as to why I was appointed, please talk to them.” “But you have no command experience?” “No.” Frances crossed her arms. “Where are you going with this line of questioning, Jessica?” “Jeez. Why so uptight? I bet your parents must have hated having you around the house.” Frances froze, the whispers in her head crying out: Worthless waste of space. Whiny crybaby twerp. Stupid sister. Foul Frances Jessica rolled her eyes. “Oi, what’s wrong? Come on don’t tell me your parents actually hit you as a kid.” Ivy’s Sting hummed in her hand and this time, she wasn’t holding Frances back. Except, both knew that if Frances blasted her bullies right now, she’d get in trouble. She had to be smarter about this, use what she had. Hold on, she was their commander... “That’s it. Jessica, Leila, you’re assigned to the mess tent!” Jessica blinked and Leila leapt to her feet. “Excuse me?” the blonde spat. Even as spittle shot past her cheek, Frances retorted, “You heard me! Report to the mess tent and speak to the mess captain! Tell them that your commander has assigned you to wash dishes, and carry out menial tasks alike, and don’t you dare think about shirking this. I will be checking with the cooks tonight!” Leila spluttered, “For what reason—” “Insubordination. Endangering your commanding officer. Challenging your commanding officer’s authority. Now carry those orders out or I will report to Lady Igraine that you are disobeying my commands.” “You can’t do this—” “Oh I definitely can. I don’t want to, but your behaviour leaves me no choice,” Frances hissed. All the while, her wand trembled in her hand ready for a challenge. Leila and Jessica, shaking with fury, stormed off in the direction of the mess tent, leaving whispering, awestruck teenagers. They were so infuriated they paid no attention to the very sweaty Elizabeth and Martin who stared at the pair’s departure. “So… didn’t go quite to plan?” Martin asked. Frances shook her head. “No. But no matter. I’ve made it clear as I can to them that they have to respect me.” Rubbing her hands, she turned back to her classmates. “Sorry everybody, I will… I will speak to those who I told I promised to speak with. Um, who was first?” After assessing the Otherworlders and conferring to discuss the results, the three friends enjoyed a hearty meal and washed up for the evening. There was, of course, no way to actually have a shower, but some nearby streams had been designated for bathing. They were cold, but none of the friends were complaining about the water temperature after a long day of labour. Martin found his two friends after he’d finished, sitting on the grass in casual dresses, with Frances standing behind Elizabeth, comb in hand. A roaring campfire had been set, with a kettle filled with what seemed to be Hearthsange sitting to one side, along with some yams. “Evening snack?” Martin asked. Straining at a particularly annoying knot in her friend’s black hair, Frances muttered, “Yup. Ugh, I wish we had some conditioner and shampoo.” “Oh God I know right? I think I miss that the most. And hot showers, flushing toilets being commonplace, and toilet paper. Don’t get me wrong, using leaves or old rags is better than nothing, but they’re nowhere near as comfortable.” Martin pinched himself. “You used paper. Expensive paper, to wipe yourselves after going to the toilet?” Elizabeth frowned, making a face. Frances thought for a moment, before her lips formed an “O.” “Paper is much cheaper where we come from, Martin, and toilet paper, isn’t the same as writing paper.” “Ah, that explains it.” Martin dug into his pack, pulling out a small wooden box. “Want some chocolate?” Frances and Elizabeth nodded eagerly, and so Martin shared his sweets and the three just started to chat, talking about nothing really, but anything. At least, until a hesitant voice called out. “Um, may I join you?” Jim asked stepping into the fire’s glow. “I have some fruit if you’d like some.” “Of course. We have some yams and Hearthsange. They’re not smores, but it should taste good.” Taking in Martin’s confused look, Frances added, “Smores are made by putting chocolate and marshmallows—a kind of fluffy sweet—between two crackers.” “Oh, I miss those! My mom used to make them whenever we went out for barbeque. She’d get the cook on them just right!” Jim sighed and handed his fruits, crisp Dale apples, to the group. “That’s definitely the first thing I’m going to have when I get back.” “You mean you aren’t going to go on the internet first, Jim?” Frances turned to see Nicole strolling into the firelight. “Yo, Frances. Do you mind if I join?” She raised the bag over her shoulder. “I brought some scones.” Although she was wondering where exactly were all these classmates coming from, Frances gave a short nod and was surprised when Nicole waltzed passed her and took a seat right next to Jim. “Hey Nicole—” Jim fell into a splutter as the taller girl kissed his cheek and leaned against his shoulder. “Not too uncomfortable are you? Good, stay there.” She said several words of power and levitated the scones by the fire to warm them up. Frances stared at the pair, even as she freed her comb from Elizabeth’s now presentable hair and took a seat next to the fire. Shy, nerdy Jim and brusque, tomboyish Nicole, were dating? Jim was bullied by Jessica and Leila quite frequently, and wasn’t Nicole Jessica’s and Leila’s friend? Yet, Elizabeth only smirked at the sight. “About time. When did you ask Jim out?” Nicole yawned, and closed her eyes, a content smile spreading on her face. “Actually he asked me out.” Stunned, Frances nearly dropped the kettle of Hearthsange she was pulling out of the fire. “Wait, Jim, Nicole’s Leila’s and Jessica’s friend. Why would you ask her out?” As the question left her lips she winced. She had not intended to ask in such a blunt fashion. However, while Nicole’s eyes opened, she didn’t move from where she lay against Jim. “Oh… that. Yeah, no. I’m not Jessica and Leila’s friend anymore. Do I prefer nothing bad happens to them? Oh yeah. We Otherworlders need to look out for each other, but no, we’re not friends anymore.” Jim nodded, scratching the back of his head. “I probably would still have a hopeless crush on you, though.” Nicole snorted. “You flatterer. I wonder how surprised our teachers are going to be when we go back and we’re all friendly with one another.” “They’d probably be more surprised as to why two thirteen-year-olds are that friendly with one another. You know we revert to the ages we leave when we go home, right?” Elizabeth asked. That got a chuckle out of everybody, which allowed Frances to distribute the snacks. The conversation then turned to the other things they all missed about Earth with Martin asking polite questions about what they meant. Yet, while the knight was entranced with the stories and technology of her classmates, Frances noticed herself speaking less and less. There was a cold weight in her chest that dragged her shoulders down and shivered her fingers, even though they were wrapped around a steaming mug. The weight—no, the pain was becoming unbearable, as the conversation returned to the topic of what was the first thing they were going to do when they got back to Earth. Elizabeth was telling Nicole of how she was missing going to church. As her friend finished her story, Frances suddenly realized why she was feeling this way. But it was too late to stop Jim from asking, “Hey, Frances, what’s the first thing you’re going to do when you get back by the way?” The question sounded like it was coming through a tunnel and Frances felt herself fall through the ground, even though she was sitting perfectly still. The truth was, she missed Earth. She missed the skyscrapers of the city, the growl of car engines, the hustle and bustle of people in the supermarkets. She wanted to roam in sturdy, air-conditioned concrete and plaster buildings once again, instead of drafty castles. She yearned for a peaceful, sometimes directionless, always busy world without war. But she couldn’t. Everybody else but she could return to Earth, to… to home. With all those fond memories, came nightmares that underlined her need to stay in Durannon. What she’d do if she died and returned to Earth was not a wishlist. It was a list of steps that she and Edana had worked out to preserve her life. It was a last resort plan based on everything they knew about the summoning system and the modern world. Run from home and tell my teachers about what my parents were doing to me. If they don’t believe me, run away, draw the attention of the authorities, or get somewhere where you can make a living. Steal or beg the gold from your classmates that did succeed if necessary to do so. That was the plan, a simple, vague plan. She had no luxury to think about what she wanted to do if she was sent home because if she did… Gentle hands were pulling her up onto her feet, but she barely noticed. She could already hear her mother screaming at her. See her hitting her. Hold on, her mother didn’t speak in a kind tone to her. She wouldn’t say, “Frances, it’s alright. You’re not on Earth.” Blinking, Frances found herself held up by Elizabeth, her friend’s features mere inches away. Behind her, were Martin, looking concerned, and a perplexed Nicole and Jim. Seeing the looks of her classmates Frances groaned, “I did it again didn’t I?” “Yes, but don’t worry about that. Why don’t we sit down in your tent for a bit?” Elizabeth smiled. “It’s been a long day, you’re tired.” Sighing, Frances allowed her friend to lead her away into the privacy of her tent. Just before she left, she looked up to examine Nicole and Jim’s expressions. “Frances, are you alright? Is there anything we can do to help?” Jim asked, standing to his feet. Frances tried to form words, but she didn’t know what to say. She knew what she felt, but it see-sawed between anger and sorrow. “There’s nothing you can do, Jim. Not right now. Just… respect her privacy, don’t mention this to anybody, and that’ll be enough,” Martin gave Frances a sympathetic look. “Go. I won’t tell them. I know what to say.” Her tongue was numb, but she managed to force herself to give Martin a grateful nod and smile, before letting Elizabeth half-drag, half-carry her back to her tent. Author’s Note: So normally I recommend you check outTalesByOpheliaCyanide's Geela, but this time I'm recommending her shorter, but highly touching work Let the Little Children Come to Me. Which is also about an abused child. Just read it and weep. For today's update question: I have a thing for ships. LikeRMS Titanic, HMS Warspite, Queen Mary, Aquitania... yeah I have a thing for ships and liners and warships. What's your favorite ship in real life and fiction? I have so many I can't choose. Oh and I'm including Spaceships and airships for this question. Saying NCC 1701 Enterprise (Refit) is pretty is tots cool... mostly because I dig that ship so hard. To further discuss the update of the week, join the discord server :)https://discord.gg/un5uEntwhere we hang out and people interrogate me on my story.
Wednesday, August 26th, 2020 After a ten-day cheese binge, Gigi had gained ten pounds. That didn’t stop Frank, the Italian Stallion, from picking her up and pinning her to the dorm room wall. They began making out in their underwear for the first time. “Um...do you have a condom?” Gigi whispered as Frank lifted her up. “But soft, my dear! Why, I carry the finest lambskins in the land. Made from the intestines of the most supple virgin sheep.” Frank squeezed her thighs while sliding his tongue down her throat. But after holding her up for so long, his arms began to tremble. “Maybe we can take it on the bed?” Gigi laughed nervously. “I guess I’m well on the way to the Freshman 15. Woo-hoo!” Frank tossed the 130-pound Gigi onto the beanbag chair. He straddled her, reaching behind her back to unclasp her bra. “On second thought, maybe not,” Gigi mouthed, gently pushing his hands away. “But ask you did - did you not?” “I...I like you, Frank,” Gigi admitted. “But on a sweaty bean bag chair in a dorm room? It’s...not what I have in mind for my first time!” “Woe is me! Alas, my sexual and culinary advances remain unrequited.” Sure enough, Frank was supposed to have cooked dinner for Gigi that previous Friday. But once she’d found out lasagna was on the menu, Gigi had promptly faked the flu. Following her secret cheese dinner with Winston, she had secretly sampled nearly every type of cheese in Buncombe County. And cottage cheese, an ingredient in Frank’s lasagna, was her least favorite. Hard pass. Gigi slipped into her tight blue jeans and white Beavers hoodie. “Um...looks like I shall depart for class!” “Next time, shall I conduct myself differently?” Gigi smiled meekly. “Come as you are, Frank. We’ll try sex again in three months!” On the 300 Hall, a naked Claire stood handcuffed to the top bunk from behind. She bit her shoulder to muffle her moan as a shiver rattled her body. An also-naked Winston stood up from his knees. “Mmm...let’s, like, totally do it already!” Claire panted, sweat dripping down her bangs. It would be Winston’s and Claire’s first time. And he had planned ahead with the help of a little blue pill. “Ah, right,” he grunted. “I reckon I’ll go get a Jimmy hat.” Winston opened his desk drawer, reminded that his prized fake ID collection was missing. Whoever took it, your ass is grass, Winston thought. Then, while Claire wasn’t looking, he popped a Cialis in his mouth - his second pill in an hour. For good measure, he cracked open a can of Red Bull and chugged. “Wow,” Claire cooed, looking down at it. “You must be, like, getting ready for a bonafide marathon with me!” “Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed or your money back, ma’am.” But as soon as Winston opened Claire’s legs, it happened. A metric fuck-ton of caffeine and testosterone coursed through his veins. His pulse sank from one head to another. Target locked: Claire. She gasped in surprise. And Winston’s fragile ego, along with something else, deflated. “Hashtag OMG,” Claire whispered, more embarrassed than Winston. “It’s, like, totally okay! It looks like we, like, had a little too much foreplay.” Winston, dead-eyed and stone-faced, put on an old pair of Wrangler jeans and a red flannel. “I...need to give a presentation for class.” “Oh! Like, good luck! Do you think you can, like, get me a towel?” Winston grabbed his damp, musky shaving towel and tossed it to Claire. “Wait!” Claire called out as Winston stepped into the hallway. “You forget the-” The door slammed. “-Handcuff key.” Alone in Winston’s room, she stared at the key on his desk. “Hey, Siri!” she called out to her iPhone. “Call the Italian Stallion on speaker.” Frank answered. “Ah, Claire: the woman with fire in thy loins. Shan’t you be in class at this time?” “You’re, like, too silly! Mornings are for sobering up, not classing. Anywho, Winston I and totally ended our morning...prematurely.” “Methinks you and Winston hath made more progress than Gigi and yours truly.” “Aw, you poor thing!” Claire teased, sticking out her lower lip. “Tell you what. My hands are, like, tied right now. Hashtag literally! Wanna come up to Winston’s room and take advantage of me?” *** At 8 AM Econ class, Jacky, Tai, Sarah, and Evelyn sat in the back of the massive lecture hall. While the professor rambled on about exponential growth, Jacky flipped through the binder of fake IDs. “On the real, we’re not selling fake IDs,” Jacky declared, pulling out an one that favored the Latina teaching assistant. “We’re selling freedom, the way God always intended it.” “Well put, Cali,” said Sarah. “Looks like you’ve dethroned Frank as the poet in our posse.” “Whoa, let’s not get crazy,” Tai chuckled. “Unlike us peasants, Francisco is a Sicilian king.” “If you love him so much, why don’t you just marry him, broseph,” Jacky snapped. Tai looked down like a shameful dog. Jacky held his grey-eyed stare like an Olympian. Finally, he burst out into laughter. “I’m just dogging you, scaredy-cat! Gotta keep you on your toes or this college junk will get stale.” “College fucking sucks,” Evelyn chimed in, cranking the volume on her Mickey Avalon song. “It’s all a scam.” The charismatic Jacky swiped an ID of a girl who looked like a preppy version of Evelyn. “Sounds like you need a new perspective, dudette. In college, you can be anybody you want to be. On the real, that’s why in the past 10 days, I’ve sold 25 IDs alone.” Tai raised his eyebrows. “Twenty-fucking five? Not too shabby.” “Oh, did I say 25? I meant that I sold 25 IDs to people in this room alone. Heck, the real total is somewhere around...200.” Their jaws were on the floor. Jacky pulled out a roll of 100-dollar bills from his cargo shorts. He fanned the cash, then divvied a few bills to each of them. “That’s 500 apiece each,” Jacky declared. “Just as a show of good faith that this operation won’t be a waste of our time.” “Holy shit,” Sarah whispered, stuffing the money in her purse. “That’s almost enough goddamn cash for...half a textbook!” “True that, but God’s last name is not damn,” Jacky hissed. “Wait, how much money have you made so far?” Tai asked, reaching down and holding Jacky’s hand. “Plenty more,” Jacky whispered, inviting them to get close. “Look at all of God’s lost sheep in this room. Investing all this time and money to make this kind of money appear. Heck, we can do it much faster, dude and dudettes. We can take our operation straight to Beleavers.” Jacky was referring to the Methodist youth group that met in the Chadwick Learning Center each Wednesday. Students of all faiths, colors, creeds, and M.O.’s were welcome - if only for the campus-renowned free popcorn. “Ugh, organized religion is a farce,” Evelyn groaned, putting her headphones back in. “Then you should have no problem taking their money,” Sarah said, yanking her earbud out. “Exactamundo,” Jacky declared as the professor dismissed class. “Just picture all those students walking around with Mommy and Daddy’s tithe money. All we need to do is earn their business. Let’s get there early tonight and set up a vendor table. Sarah, Evelyn: we need a front. What can you sell?” “I can sell my collection of human bones from my graveyard raids,” Evelyn offered casually. They all stared at Evelyn in silence. “H-how about we make homemade bath bombs instead?” Sarah suggested casually. “Perfect,” Jacky declared. “Tai and I will go to the dorm kitchen and whip up some baked goods. They’ll come for the snacks and leave with new identities.” “Gravy,” Sarah said, flashing a peace sign. “Now, Evelyn and I have a rematch to settle.” “Mario Kart?” Tai asked. “Nah, grappling on the quad.” Sarah snatched Evelyn in a headlock and tickled her stomach. Evelyn burst out laughing, then tapped out. The two friends left the lecture hall. “On the real, your hippie friend has a lot of nerve leading her on like that,” Jacky said, packing up his books. “Eh, Sarah’s made it clear that she doesn’t like girls. Or...anybody for that matter.” “Well, from one gay to another: Sarah’s full of horse crap.” “Dude, they’re friends! And Evelyn’s not holding out for anything more.” Jacky cocked his head as the last few students left the lecture hall. “What about us, Tai? Are we just friends?” Tai leaned in to kiss him. Jacky kissed back harder, slipping his hand beneath Tai’s nylon shorts. Tai tossed his head back, pacing his breaths. “Try to hold out as long as you can,” Jacky whispered, nibbling his neck. “I don’t want this to end…prematurely.” “Hold out, huh?” Tai moaned between breaths. “Fuck...guess I gotta...uh, think about Evelyn the demon or something. That’s a turnoff...uh, am I right?” “Seriously?” Jacky mumbled. “I’m trying to please you, and you’re gonna talk about another woman? Just stop talking.” My boyfriend’s a hard nut to crack, Tai thought. Yes, it was true that Jacky had been a cocky, jealous, holier-than-thou douche during the whole class. He’s shallow. But God, his hand feels so good. So Tai let Jacky California finish. And afterward, Tai felt like the shallow one. For letting somebody kiss, caress, and fondle him when he knew for damn sure that they had nothing in common. *** “And in conclusion,” said a female brunette. “That’s why multicultural cuisine is integral to improving the health of obese Americans in our nation. Thank you!” “Delightful,” exclaimed Dr. Cartwright: Winston’s female Public Speaking professor. The student thanked her, then returned to her desk in the small Learning Center classroom. Today’s topic: Describe how multiculturalism has changed your life. “Next up: Winston Beavers,” Dr. Cartwright announced. “Ah, quite a fitting last name, if I do say so myself.” “Much obliged, ma’am.” Winston tipped his cowboy hat. “No one liked my last name until I became a student at South App.” He walked to the front of the classroom carrying two large foam boards. “Oh! Somebody chose to use props, I see.” “I was always a visual learner myself.” Winston set the foam boards up on tripods. “Ever since I was a little shit...um, I mean child, I always had a knack for pictures instead of words. I reckon ain’t much changed since then.” “That’s very...insightful, Winston. Please begin whenever you’re ready.” Two huge images were printed on the foam boards. One was a high-res photo of a revolver. The other was a simple stock photo of a 3-ring binder. “Ladies and gents, when I enrolled last month, two precious items were stolen from me.” Winston pulled out a cigarette and pointed at each of the photos. “Exhibit A: my Colt Single Action Army revolver, gifted to me by my daddy. And Exhibit B: a top-secret binder, gifted to me by the fine folks from Beta Delta Epsilon.” “Who’s got big dicks? We’ve got big dicks!” chanted a few BDE pledges in the back of the class. “Don’t you forget it. Uh, anyway, I say all this to say: multiculturalism has impacted my life because it was statistically somebody of a certain race who stole these items from me.” “Mister Beavers, I must stop you as this is highly inappropriate!” blurted out the professor’s teaching assistant. “Let...let him continue,” Dr. Cartwright muttered, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Mister Beavers, I do presume you have...dare I say, a valuable theme in your speech?” “I humbly assure you, I do,” replied Winston tipping his cowboy hat. “I reckon you’re gonna wanna listen to what I’m fixin’ to say.” *** Down at the other end of the Student Center, Gigi donned goggles and rubber gloves while she weighed silver nitrate powder on a scale. “Everybody make sure that your scale is switched to grams!” cautioned Dr. Spivey: a wild white-haired mad scientist. “And before anybody asks: no, I will not help you cook meth in an RV! I will, however, give you a list of Asheville’s finest marijuana dealers...for a price.” Gigi added the powder to a volumetric flask. Then, she unzipped her bookbag and grabbed a bottle of distilled water. She slowly poured the water into the flask, swirling the mixture around. “Smart, smart, smart!” Dr. Spivey praised Gigi. “Why, I see somebody brought their own water. Now, I think I know why. But please humor me.” “Gladly!” Gigi obliged, swirling the flask until the silver nitrate dissolved completely. “Well, Professor, I opted to access my personal inventory in hopes of bypassing a lengthy dihydrogen monoxide queue! Translation: look at that line!” Sure enough, a long line of students stood with flasks in hand, waiting to use the tap of distilled water. Dr. Spivey flipped through his attendance roster. “Ah, you’re my pre-dental student: Ji-hye.” He pronounced it incorrectly as Gee-Hi. “Oh, it’s actually pronounced Gee-Hey. But my real name’s caused so much...um, confusion that most people call me Gigi now.” “I see. That’s quite unfortunate. Having to change your name all because of someone else.” Before Gigi could respond, a frat boy called out to the professor. “Hey, Walter White! I’ll pay ya a hundred bucks for a list of all your dealers. Come on, bubba, that’s like half your salary!” Dr. Spivey sighed and feigned annoyance. “Ah, these kids and their shrewd business exchanges. Guess I better entertain their shenanigans. Keep up the diligence, Ji-hye.” That time, he pronounced it correctly. After Dr. Spivey left, a nerdy hipster girl tapped Gigi’s shoulder. “Hey, check this out.” The girl raised her cardigan sleeve to reveal a dark silver nitrate tattoo. Fuck Landsharks. It was the South App Beavers’ rival mascot. “I...fully approve this message!” “Here, try one on you before the professor gets back.” The girl handed Gigi a paintbrush. “Neat!” Gigi replied as if accepting party pills for the first time. “But what to write?” She stared at her class schedule, where her name was also listed as “Ji-hye Moon.” Maybe...I should get used to using my real name again. Gigi pulled up her hoodie sleeve and dipped the brush into the silver nitrate solution. Just then, the professor summoned everybody back to their desks for discussion. “Ji-hye, Ji-hye, Ji-hye,” she repeated, quickly painting a tattoo on the inside of her left hand. Gigi rushed back to her desk. Dr. Spivey laughed at the class, his white hair sprawling in all directions. “Fools! I saw what you did. Now, let this be a lesson in commitment. Because silver nitrate tattoos take a week to fade. Now...who wants to show me theirs? Or shall I start calling names?” Goosebumps rose on the back of Gigi’s neck. Not because her tattoo was semi-permanent, but because she was surely about to be the center of attention. But after a moment of tension, the professor simply dismissed class. Gigi bolted out the door. “So long, Ji-hye!” his voice echoed down the hall. Shit, did he see my tattoo? Gigi picked up the pace, bumping into students who filed out of the Learning Center classrooms. Around the corner, she heard the grinding of coffee beans and frothing of whole milk. She would soon reach safety at Doppio Coffee Shop... “Whaaa-oomph!” Gigi gasped, slipping on a banana peel. She landed flat on her back, sending her notebook and loose papers flying. “Whoa, are you okay?” asked a short Indian guy as he rushed to Gigi’s aid. He helped her to her feet. “Yo, did you get that on video?” he asked another Indian, who ran up with a video camera. “Hey, Miss, it was just a social experiment! See, we’re from the South App Social Club. Hey, are you listening? It was just a prank, bro!” A mentally-drained Gigi kneeled down to collect her supplies. It was only when Gigi reached down to collect her papers that she read the tattoo on her hand. And it did not read Ji-hye... “WINSTON?!” her voice cracked. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” mumbled a young cowboy, hunched over a large caramel frappuccino. “Are ya that surprised to find me here?” Winston was sitting at Doppio Coffee Shop. Gigi hurriedly pulled down her hoodie sleeves past her fingertips. She balled the draping sleeves over her fists, concealing the palms of her hands. Then, she walked over to Winston as if she didn’t look like a complete- “You look like a complete dork!” Winston chuckled. “Oh! I was...uh, cold,” Gigi lied. She held up her balled-up fists like a panda bear. “See, I made my own gloves!” Winston snatched her right wrist, then placed it palm-down on the counter. He reached into his pocket for a dull, rusty Swiss Army Knife. “So what we wanna do is make a quick little incision where the thumb is right here.” Winston cut a small hole in the sleeve. Carefully, he guided her thumb through the hole to create a mitten of sorts for her small hand. “Now, let’s do your left hand.” Gigi’s heart skipped a beat as he grabbed her tattooed left hand and lay her palm on the table. Don’t look at my tattoo, don’t look at it, don’t look at it! “Ugh, damn blade’s straight-up fucked,” Winston scoffed. “Must’ve been that buck I skinned.” “Eek! That’s so gross! Have you at least washed it?” Don’t look at it, don’t look at it, don’t look at it! Winston ignored her question. “Here, let me see your palm so I can-” For the love of all that is sacred and holy, don’t look at it, don’t look at it, DON’T LOOK AT IT! “I have to poop!” Gigi blurted out. Winstons let go of Gigi’s hand. He and everybody else stared in disbelief. Of course, she was lying. It’s not even what she meant to say. But Gigi took that baton and ran a country mile. “Um...it appears that most sharp cheeses give me constipation. But ever since I ate all those mozzarella sticks, I have major runs!” Gigi stood up, crossed her arms, and bowed. Then, she skittered off to the restroom - her secret safe in her left hand. A preppy guy and girl walked up behind the dumbfounded Winston. “Yo, country boy needs to teach his lady friend some manners, am I right?” The guy looked around, trying to rally the cafe customers for support. “That’s one thing I hate about this liberal town. What a fuckin’ dyke.” A storm brewed in Winston’s head. But he kept it bottled up inside. He chuckled instead, placing a hand on the guy’s shoulder. A pause. Suddenly, Winston yanked him into a headlock, holding the pocket knife to his crotch. His girlfriend shrieked like a mouse, while the young man raised his trembling hands. “Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck!” the guy yelled.“T-take it easy, man! I was just-” “Now listen here, partner.” Winston applied pressure with his blade. “I’ve had my share of good days. Matter fact, they’ve been a dime a dozen. But I reckon I’ve had my share of bad days too. And this right here is one of them bad days.” Winston motioned at the paper next to his drink. “See that-there paper over there? That’s the speech I just gave in front of a crowd of SJWs. And you wanna know what the teacher gave me? D-fuckin’-minus.” “I’m...s-s-sorry,” the preppy guy whimpered. “Yeah, me too,” Winston grumbled, using his knife to flick off the button on the guy’s board shorts. “Somebody, do something!” the guy’s air-headed girlfriend cried. And on cue, a thin brown liquid ran down the preppy guy’s legs. It seeped into his white Champion socks and stained his off-brand boat shoes. The putrid smell hit the gasping, coughing patrons. Satisfied, Winston shoved the guy into his girlfriend’s arms. “I reckon you best wash up, partner.” Whispers and murmurs in the crowd while the preppy boy limped toward the men’s bathroom. “Hol’ up. I reckon you best make your way to the female bathroom. Matter fact, all bathrooms are gender-neutral around these parts. And while you’re in there, you can apologize to that so-called dyke from earlier. Tell her Winston Motherfucking Beavers sent you.” With anguish and defeat in his eyes, the lady entered the female bathroom. Satisfied, Winston gathered his things and decided that it was time to get the fuck out of there. But when he turned around to leave, a thunderous applause erupted behind him like an action movie explosion. Winston smiled mischievously. For the first time since he enrolled, he finally belonged. Suddenly, Winston slipped on the banana feel and landed square on his elbow. “Oh, shit!” exclaimed the Indian student, running to his side. “Are you okay, man?” *** Frank shivered on top of Claire as she dug her nails into his back. He lay there for a moment, his breath ragged. Then, he rolled off, breathing heavily on Winston’s top bunk. He slipped off the latex condom and tossed it into an empty cheese ball can on Winston’s bunk. “Alas, thou hadst sucketh the chi from my body and-” “Remember, like, no talking!” Claire reminded him condescendingly. She pulled the covers over her breasts, opened Instagram, and took a duck-face selfie. “Ah, perhaps you didn’t get a chance to c-” “Like, no.” Claire casually added a rabbit-ear filter and snapped a pic. “But that’s, like, totally okay...I guess.” Frank transformed from Shakespeare to Sherlock, scanning Winston’s filthy bachelor bedspread for something. Anything. There were cigarette butts, saltine crumbs, half a stick of butter, Fun Dip packages with only the dip missing, a whole uneaten chicken wing, piss in a Sprite bottle, a Happy Meal box with a dead rat inside, three leaking D Batteries, and Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Finally, Frank grabbed a nearly-empty can of whipped cream. He yanked the covers off the naked Claire and sprayed a line from her collarbone to navel. Now, he had Claire’s full, undivided attention. She slowly looked down at the runny mess that pooled into her belly button. Then, she gave him the hungriest bedroom eyes Frank had ever seen. “If you’re, like, going to play with your food, then you better totally clean up after yourself.” Frank and Claire proceeded to do unthinkable things in that bed. And Winston’s top bunk held on by faith and faith alone. Finally, they collapsed next to one another. Two sweaty messes bathing in afterglow. Afterward, they snuck into the men’s shower where they agreed on two things. One: they were going to burn that mattress out of respect for Winston. And two: they were going to have sex at Beleavers that night. *** “Look here, you little bitch!” Evelyn grabbed the young, black cheerleader’s collar and pulled her across the table, showing her fangs. “W-whoa!” the cheerleader stammered. “Chill out! I’m...sorry.” “Sorry about what?” The girl panned from Evelyn to Sarah, Tai, and Jacky. “I’m...uh, sorry for asking you if you were selling tickets to a Marilyn Manson concert.” “Apology accepted!” Sarah cheered on Evelyn’s behalf. She pointed at the assorted bath bombs for sale in the Learning Center Ballroom. “Everything you see here is between 10 and 15. If you have a sweet tooth, the fine gents to my right are selling yummy cookies and banana bread. Or…” Sarah pulled out the sacred BDE binder and placed it on the table. “Between you and me, we’re selling fake IDs.” “Yeah!” Tai said. “There’s a few young ladies in there who have a mocha complexion almost as rich as yours!” Jacky elbowed Tai in the ribs. Tai sucked in a breath, while his boyfriend acted as nothing had just happened. My boyfriend is jealous over fuckin’ everything. The cheerleader looked over her shoulder to make sure the coast was clear. Then, she flipped through the pages as if she was dress shopping. “They contain the new state watermark and everything!” Sarah informed her customer. “We accept only cash at the moment. They cost-” “A hundred, dudette,” Jacky interjected. Sarah gave him a worrisome side-eye at the exorbitant price. But as expected, the rich cheerleader pulled out the bills and handed them over. “Oh, that makeup actually makes your eyes pop - no cap,” the cheerleader told Evelyn, before disappearing into the Beleavers crowd with her fake ID. “Mission accomplished!” Jacky cheered. They had managed to pull off just over 100 sales: 7500 bucks split four ways. Now, it was time to close up shop for the night. Soon, the Christian rock band would take the stage to celebrate God in a room full of students with brand new identities. “Come on, Tai,” Jacky said, smiling warmly. “Let’s grab some popcorn. I have somebody I want you to meet.” Tai waved at the girls as they watched them leave. “I...really don’t know what to make of Jacky,” Sarah admitted. “A few weeks ago, I tracked him down across campus because I thought he was smoking hot. I mean, he still is. But still…” “He’s a fucking fake,” Evelyn fumed. “That holier-than-thou douchelord can sit on a tack.” “Whoa, sounds like you need to relieve some stress,” Sarah chuckled, punching Evelyn’s arm. “Why don’t we head to the quad and settle our tie-breaker?” At that, Sarah and Evelyn left for one last grappling match to end them all. *** Winston and Gigi approached the Ballroom entrance, where thumping Christian rock rattled the door. “So...are you a Christian or are you here for the popcorn?” Winston asked. “A little bird told me that it is pretty tasty!” Gigi admitted sheepishly. “And I reckon that little bird was Frankie?” “Yes, actually! He’s supposed to meet me here. But...I haven’t heard from him in a few hours.” “Ah. Same with Claire.” Just like last week’s restaurant date, Gigi and Winston had been once again ghosted by their lovers. It had become a running meme at this point. “M-maybe their bus is running late?” Gigi suggested, failing to convince even herself. “Hey, while we’re meddlin’ in conspiracy theories, I’ve got one too. See, Frankie likes to cook. And I’mma bet he’s with Claire, baking her a fresh, homemade cream-” Gigi clamped her hand over Winston’s mouth. Gigi’s pupils said it all. So he opted to lay off the jokes. Neither either of them really believed their lovers were sneaking around with each other. Winston opened the ballroom door and promptly caught an elbow to the temple. “Oomph!” Winston groaned. Gigi slouched against the wall for safety. The scene was no Sunday morning gospel band. This was a Christian hardcore band. And they had just walked into a mosh pit. “W-Winston!” Gigi yelled over the screamo vocals. But among the flurry of flailing super-Christians, Winston had vanished. Gigi bent her knees and jumped as high as she could, searching for his cowboy hat in the crowd. Suddenly, a punk-rock girl came up from behind and lifted her into the air. “She’s tryin’ to go surfing!” the girl yelled, heaving her into the crowd like a FedEx package. Gigi gasped before landing into a sea of open hands. This “wave” slowly guided her through the spazzing strobe lights and fog. Suddenly, an anonymous hand grazed her breast, then very deliberately squeezed it. “W-whaaa!?” Gigi pulled her knee to her stomach, then kicked the culprit square in the face. “You bitch!” the fondler yelled psychotically, cupping a hand over his bleeding nose. “Throw this fucking slut overboard!” And, in unison, the moshers raised and lowered her body in their hands. “One, two, three!” Gigi flew into the air - falling, falling, falling until she crashed into a table of baked goods and bath bombs. Winded, she slipped behind the tablecloth and curled up under the table. The mob raged outside. “Animals,” Gigi whispered, rubbing her sore breast. Alone in the dark under that table, she wanted to cry. She could only imagine what Winston would have done if she caught that pervert red-handed. Maybe I should have let him keep his gun. Gigi turned on her phone’s flashlight and looked around. Under the table were several cardboard boxes. One, in particular, was labeled Sarah’s Box O’Fun. Gigi recognized it immediately. On move-in day, she’d watched Sarah unpack a huge bong from that very box. Then, Sarah had dared a drunk Winston to drink the bong water. He did. (“Gigi, meet my brother.”) This is...Sarah’s table? She’s here at Beleavers tonight? Feeling gutsy, she sifted through the box. On top of the mountain of bath bombs and baked goods, the B.D.E. binder sat there in all its glory. She flipped through pages upon pages of fake IDs. On a scratch sheet of notebook paper: a tally of sales for Sarah, Evelyn, Tai, and Claire. But no Winston. And slowly, her busy brain started to connect the dots. “Holy balls,” she whispered, snapping the stolen binder shut. She thought about taking it right then and there and returning it to its bearded beast of an owner. But another thought crossed her mind. I could leave it here and blackmail them for money, Gigi thought. All I have to do is threaten to tell Winston! The decision was set in stone. She left the binder behind and slipped out from under the table. But not before stealing a baseball-sized charcoal bath bomb. *** In the popcorn line, safe from the mosh pit, Jacky stood in front of Tai with his back turned. The blonde-haired surfer had been rambling excitedly with an Asian guy for five minutes now. And not once had Jacky thought to introduce him. “Oh, Tai Maple!” Jacky finally remembered, turning to face him. “This is my friend: Benji. Benji, meet Tai.” This freckle-faced Asian guy gave a slight bow. Tai immediately knew who he was. In fact, Gigi had given him the full scoop while she and Tai had shared her very first cheese pizza. It had all begun on the day where the freshmen tracked down Jacky in his mail truck. Jacky had mistaken the cross-dressing Gigi with the Benji who now stood before him. And this Benji was allegedly Jacky’s secret long-time crush. “Benji, would you please grab us a popcorn?” Jacky asked politely, stepping out of the line. “I need to talk to my friend here...alone.” “Friend,” Tai echoed, following Jacky like a lost puppy. “Tai, this is just as hard for me, brother,” Jacky frowned, more condescending than empathetic. “The hell it is!” Tai blew up, drowned out by the hardcore band. “You had your hand in my pants just a few hours ago! Were you fucking planning on leaving me this whole time? For him?!” “Tai, listen man. Look, I know everything. When you showed up at the coffee shop, I knew you’d been spying on me long before you met me. I first thought our meeting was a...beautiful coincidence. But all along, you were pulling the wool over my eyes. But that’s okay, brochacho! Because I gave you a chance anyway. See, I wanted to save you from what you are! You’re a liar, bro. But in God’s eyes, we all-” “I let you take my goddamn virginity!” Tai exploded over the music, his jaw twitching uncontrollably. A pitiful look from Jacky. “I see. That does complicate things a bit, on the real. Look, you can have a quarter of my earnings from tonight’s sales. And I promise to pray for you every night before-” “Fuck you and fuck your God! I hope you die in your fucking sleep! I hate you, I hate you, I HATE YOU!” Tai turned around and walked confidently out of the ballroom, holding his head up high while vertigo weighed it down. But nobody stopped him. And not once did he look back. *** Winston limped down the Learning Center hallway with a pounding headache. He struggled to keep his twitching, swollen eye open while passing the empty classrooms. Where he was going, not even he knew. He just had to get far away from that mosh pit. “Calm, child! You’re quite a fool to be walking around with a concussion!” Winston turned around. Through his good eye, he saw a large, middle-aged Haitian woman in an African floral dress and headwrap. She held a bible in her large, smooth hands. “Join us, child,” the woman beckoned, pointing into a classroom of Haitian students in chairs. Winston smiled weakly, thinking back to his controversial speech from class that morning. “I mighty appreciate it, ma’am. But I reckon I ain’t much worthy.” He turned to walk away, but accidentally stumbled like a drunkard into the woman’s arms. “Soft, my child,” she soothed him, ushering him into the room of students. “Not one of us is worthy. But there is good news.” A half-hour later, Winston was sitting in the front row of the Haitian Student Ministry with a bag of frozen peas pressed to his swollen eye. The matriarch, Nadia, was delivering a passionate Psalm 107 sermon to her students. “Let the one who is wise heed these things,” Nadia read. “And ponder the loving deeds of the Lord. Amen. Now, to conclude, I’d like to introduce our guest: Winston from Beleavers. Please, child, tell us about yourself.” The young men on either side of Winston gave him a back pat. Winston slowly stood up and tipped his cowboy hat. In his mind, it was his Public Speaking 101 all over again. But in class, he hadn’t been standing in front of all-black students. Like he was now. “Well, like I told Nurse Nadia earlier. I don’t feel like I’m worthy among y’all fine folks here. I mighty appreciate Nadia for patching me up. And for y’all’s hospitality.” Winston headed for the door, but Nadia blocked the exit. “Please, child. Do your sins trouble you? May it ease your soul to know that there are redeemed people in this very room who have committed acts of credit card fraud, gang violence, and even beastiality?” Winston blinked. But somehow, Nadia’s words did not repel these people away. They brought them closer. So Winston opened his mouth and confessed what had been brewing in his mind all day. “Well, uh...today in speech class, I said the N-word. I didn’t mean to be ugly when I said it. Only said it to take power away from it. But I reckon I really hurt a couple of people in that class. The only reason the teacher didn’t ban me from the class was ‘cause she wanted me to learn a lesson this year. And I’m tryin’, Nadia. I’m...tryin’ real hard.” The students didn’t come forward to comfort Winston, who now choked on tears. But they didn’t back away either. It was only when Nadia lay a hand on him that the other students followed suit. “It sounds like you have a lot to think on,” Nadia said warmly, as layers of hands covered him. “I wish you luck on your journey. We will always be here whenever Beleavers get a little too...rowdy.” Nadia and the students led a closing prayer for Winston. He smiled as a rush of dopamine reached the brain. The tears flowed freely, even as he used the bag of frozen peas to dab his face. “Amen,” Nadia concluded. Everybody left Winston’s side and began stacking chairs. “Wait,” Winston said, returning to his confident southern drawl. “Let me take care of them-there chairs. It’s...the least this poor white boy can do.” And so, Winston began folding chairs alone while the others left. And like Jesus on the Via Dolorosa, he began carrying ten chairs down the long hallway toward the supply closet. And like all other men, Winston was hell-bent on making only one trip. “Winston!” Gigi blurted out as he turned a corner. With his hands full, his black eye had nowhere to hide. Gigi dropped her jaw. Then, her mouth formed a pitiful frown. She kissed her tattoo-free hand and gently pressed her fingertips on Winston’s eyelid. “One more time,” Winston suggested with a grin. Gigi hesitantly kissed her hand, then reached for Winston’s eyelid again. Suddenly, Winston playfully bit her hand. “Eek!” Gigi quickly brought her hand to her chest. “You’re a good woman, Gigi,” Winston chuckled, reflecting on his own moral character. Both of their faces flushed red. He shook his head, arms trembling from the weight they carried. “Look, I gotta put these chairs up. Walk with me.” Gigi carried four of the chairs. And even then, she lagged behind Winston. “So, what’s the word on Frankie? You find him in that-there mob?” Gigi shook her head, her long black hair whipping back and forth. “Nope! And Claire?” “Shit,” Winston said, emotionally detached. “Honestly, I don’t expect to see her ever again.” “Hmmm...so why don’t they love us anymore?” “Beats me,” said Winston, as they set their chairs down at the closet door. “But if I was a betting man, I’d wager it’s because you and I seem to be attached at the hip these days.” “Do you think they don’t trust us together? I mean, as friends?” “Should they?” Gigi opened her mouth, then closed it. Then, they quickly reached for the doorknob at the same time. A moment passed, and they did not move their hands. Slowly, her earthy brown eyes met his icy blue ones. Gigi’s tattoo was on fire. Together, they turned the doorknob. And lo and behold: it was Frank and Claire. Frank’s pants were around his ankles - all eight inches of uncut glory on full display. Claire was on her knees, snorting an eight-inch line of red-and-white cocaine from root to tip. As soon as they were spotted, Claire frantically wiped her nose while Frank shuffled to button his pants. “W-w-woe is me!” Frank moaned in despair. “It doth appear that our feline hath escaped its rucksack!” “Like, no fucking shit, Sherlock!” Claire snapped, brushing the cocaine off her shirt. “Do you ever, like, shut the fuck up? Like, look Winston and Gigi! I promise this is, like, not what it looks like. It was just, like, like, like, like, like-” Winston and Gigi slowly stared at each other - sly grins on their faces. “Um...are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Gigi asked Winston cheerfully. “I sure the hell am, buddy,” Winston answered. They each grabbed a folding chair and approached the pair of adulterers. *** A short while later, at dusk, Winston and Gigi sat on the curb of the Chadwick Hughes Learning Center - handcuffed. A fresh-faced, fat officer stood with his arms crossed, staring at the excited pair of criminals. “So, you mean to tell me you…stabbed this chick with a chair?” the officer asked, dumbfounded. “Yep!” Gigi piped up, a wide smile plastered on her face. “I managed to wield my melee weapon like a medieval knight, riding with the north winds until that raging thundercunt landed on her assless keister!” “That was fuckin’ awesome,” Winston said, giving her an elbow bump. “But not as awesome as me crackin’ Frankie’s skull.” The cop knitted his brows, taking extensive notes. “Alrighty then. Anything else y’all wanna add?” Gigi and Winston grinned at each other, adrenaline fueling their veins. They had truly saved the best for last. “Then, I took out my phone,” Winston started. “And I showed them a pic of-” “He flashed them a pic of him taking my virginity!” Gigi finished proudly. But it was a lie. No, Winston had instead shown the cheaters the photo of Gigi eating cheese for the first time with Winston. And despite being attacked with a chair, that photo had shocked Frank more than anything. Cop 2 walked over to Cop 1 and whispered something into his ear. Cop 1 nodded and pointed at Jacky and Claire. The pair looked tired and traumatized, and were hugging and consoling each other next to another cop car. “Y’all got off lucky this time,” Cop 2 jeered. “They ain’t gonna press charges. You must have some deep dirt on ‘em or something.” He wasn’t wrong. That red-and-white cocaine was Ryan’s signature product. The BDE fraternity circulated that cocaine more widely than Jacky and his fake IDs. And it was a much larger, lucrative operation. In Winston’s eyes, Claire didn’t want to risk Winston snitching in retaliation for being thrown in jail. “Ladies first,” said Cop 1, helping Gigi off the curb to her feet. He spun her around and unlocked her handcuffs. “What kinda ink job is that?” the cop muttered, reading the silver nitrate tattoo on Gigi’s palm. “Winston...wait a sec. Hey, that’s your name, right?” Winston cocked his head at the cop’s question. Gigi’s knees trembled as she let out a nervous chuckle. It surely wasn’t the craziest thing to happen that day. But goddamn, would it be hard to explain. “Gigi, what the hell?” Winston muttered with a blank expression. “Call me Ji-hye!” Gigi blurted out proudly. Winston shook his head with a smile as he watched her disappear into the Asheville night.
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