The Problematic of the Unproblematic

JoAnne: Things are heating up at work again which means that when I eventually stop, my brain/eyes are tired of watching screens. I think this week I saw Search, TofTN-T, and...oh, I watched Helstrom and really enjoyed it. Not a lot of TV happening here but otherwise things are chugging along. Miss Mouse has a name now - Minnie - and a colorful mouse house with lots of soft bedding to burrow through, and her eyes opened. She's so tiny and soft that my finger doesn't even register when I touch her, and I can barely feel her weight when she snuggles into my hand. We are all in love. Except the cat. The cat is hungry.Trotwood: I'm completely charmed by your mouse stories, Jo. It's like you are living in a Beatrix Potter book or something, so snuggly, and just in time since we may be getting frost and some flurries this week. I got access to a bunch of Japanese dramas last week, and I liked them all. It will be interesting to see how consistent the subs are.Panda: I have h…

Chapter 82written by LigayaCroft edited by Kakashi Youchao’s mood hadn’t improved in the thousands of years since he had last met Nüwa. Compounding his bad mood was the frustration that twelve thousand years since His Beloved’s mortal form’s death in Huicūn and he was still blind to where her subsequent mortal incarnations had been all this time in between!

Fate had clearly decreed he no longer deserved the honor of being her Observer. As much as he found this development to be troublesome, it was a price to pay for the decision he had made at that time in Huicūn. But did he regret it?

No.

It was a human trait to regret, because humans could no longer turn back time, and with gods writing their stories, nor could they change their futures.

But he was a Creator. More than that, he could envision and build anything! A magickal artifact that could bring her back would be nothing but child’s play for somebody like him.

The first time Youchao had this realization, he broke down in tears laughin…

kakashi: I have a lot going on right now and we're going back into home office next week - cases are surging here. Fuck this shit, I'm exhausted. It happened so damn fast...  one day we had only a handful of cases, then within 3-4 days, we're in the thousands. Oh no :/
Trotwood: Sorry to hear that. There doesn't seem to be any respite soon. I spend way too much time looking at these charts COVID Dan's COVID chartsor the one put out by Johns Hopkins that does the global numbers as part of my job. I had a whole conversation with my daughter about what supplies we should be stocking up on for the winter and spent far too much on my car in case we are on lockdown, and I can't get new brakes in December. And you all know we've got a scary US election coming up. Dramas, fanfiction, and you guys are really the things keeping me sane at the moment.Panda: Sorry to pile on the gloom but I lost a younger cousin yesterday to kidney failure. I still can't believe it.…

Chapter 17 - The Last Question
written by LalaLoop edited by Kakashi consulting by Bunny

Night was endless. The shouting and clanging of weapons had become almost echoes in the distance.

Where is the way home?

Bai Qian didn’t know how she had gotten to the river bank or what she was hoping to find. But she was there – under the silver moon and facing the oblivious body of water that, only hours ago, had been the weapon of her Senior; the location that, only this morning, had been protected by the unbreakable barrier of Xunzhua.

Broken shields, fallen soldiers and dying flames lay here and there on the ground.

Bai Qian found that she didn’t care. Silence filled her head, there was nothing left in her but emptiness, an emptiness where he had been.

Who am I?

She had cried next to his lifeless body, had begged and begged for him to open his eyes again. And then, she had fallen into this terrifying silence; and perhaps it was the silence that had brought her here.

The moon had never been brighter…

Chapter 16 - Gold and FirePart 6
written by LalaLoop edited by Kakashi consulting by Bunny“Donghua,” Fengjiu shook the man’s shoulders as they both sank to the ground. He had fallen unconscious after getting away from that cursed sky island with the device. “Donghua! Wake up! I swear if this is one of your jokes…”

“He isn’t joking, Princess Fengjiu,” said the Star Lord, who had promptly put up a shield on the island they were resting on. “Lord Donghua had not fully regained his power even before the Nine Heavens fell, this was bound to happen.”

“Well, then…” Fengjiu’s eyes darted back and forth between them. “Is he alive? I can’t –” she pressed her palm against his neck. It was hard to detect any flow of immortal energy with her own pulse drumming underneath her skin like mad. “I can’t tell!”

There was blood trickling down Donghua’s lips, down his nose, blood crusted on his forehead. He looked as though he had been starved and tortured for months even though he’d only spent a few minutes on…

Panda: Hullo!! I just popped in to say hope everyone's doing great. I am trucking along with my crime shows. I just binged Scott & Bailey and my gosh, it was EXCELLENT. I absolutely loved Gill and it was such a rush and pleasure seeing these smart women on my screen. Highly recommended.kakashi: Hullo! I'm spending time with my mother and it snowed overnight. The mountains are all white, it's beautiful! In other news, I'm making Königsberger Klopse tonight.
Trotwood: Such a pretty picture. It's getting cold at night here as well. Stocked up on supplies with the feeling foreboding as if the other shoe that was about to drop was a big heavy steel shoe. Wil vote early and walk my ballot to a fire station to put in an official box. Feeling paranoid. Perhaps listening to the When Diplomacy Fails podcast isn't a good idea. I alternate it with the Revolution podcast. I'm rewatching a lot of the ends of dailies because I need to see bad guys taken down.P.S.--Kak…

Chapter 81written by LigayaCroft edited by Kakashi
This can’t be real. This can’t be real!

Mei Lin’s throat felt dry, her heart was pumping hard as she rushed toward the gates of Kunlun. Anyone could see that somebody had put up a barrier. It shone like a golden honeycombed wall from the air to the ground. Immortals thronged outside the edges of the shield, but none looked like they wanted to breach it.

Inside and above were Gun Gun and her Li-Ge in a deadlocked fight. To Mei Lin, the scene looked familiar. Li and Gun Gun had always been evenly-matched. Gun Gun lacked more powerful elemental spells and better swordsmanship against Li, but he had always made up for it with strategic defense.

Yet in a limited battleground such as this one, Mei Lin knew, Gun Gun didn’t stand a chance. Over the past thousands of years since saving the thirty-six Heavens, Li’s cultivation had increased at an exponential rate. Because of this, he had turned himself into an effective weapon for the Heavenly Clan…

JoAnne: I am sorry to report that I watched absolutely nothing this week besides the new anthology series Monsterland on Hulu, and rewatched Blade, Blade II, and part of Blade: Trinity which I will finish tonight. The sun is shining, my new overlords are out of the house sometimes because they are working, and the tiniest bean dog still glues himself to my side, which does not displease me at all.Trotwood: I feel like I'm holding my breath waiting for the next bad thing to happen. Watched a mismash of stuff. Everyone is tense as flu season starts and wondering how we are going to handle the combo. Reading a LOT of fanfiction these days.kakashi: I guess I'm holding my breath too, Trot. I also want to watch something I can fall in love with fully. P.S.: I'm still amazed about the amount of BL shows out there :D
Panda: I am still reading and watching British shows. I am now watching Scott & Bailey and I am thoroughly enjoying the drama. I am so burned out from this year. P…

Chapter 16 - Gold and FirePart 5
written by LalaLoop edited by Kakashi consulting by Bunny

In silence, Zilan observed the flickering web of magic his Shifu had crafted within the last two hours, the web that was now enveloping the sky island which housed the Dark Device, slowly disengaging the defenses put up by Luoji.

Undetectable and efficient, Shifu had said. And Zilan had realized that there was a price that came with the efficiency of this magic.

As the God of War put down his hand for a rest, he took in several short breaths, ultimately closing his eyes for a while – perhaps to stabilize himself again.

Magic that was done in the mysterious Void was beyond ZIlan’s scope, but he could more or less estimate the amount of energy required to cast an enchantment that compromised a whole sky island.

Shifu opened his eyes again.

“No movements,” he declared, indicating they were safe and Luoji was probably still in the dark.

“How long will it take you to er… destroy this thing, Shifu?”

“I have …

Chapter 80written by LigayaCroft edited by Kakashi