Well, it is just after midnight and I need to be up in six hours, hopefully, I won't make any mistakes. This week's prompt is: Book Also, I need someone to take on next week, June 29th and someone for July 13th and July 27th. If I get no other takers, I'll pass these dates onto a few regulars, but I wanted to put it out to everyone first, in case there is someone else, who'd like to do one or two. EW, even if someone else takes these, I'll be pm'ing you, as I'll need a bit more help in the near future. So that there are no secrets or surprises, my daughter got invited to play on a traveling softball team. It is going to take up a lot of time. She's giving up volleyball to play softball in the fall and will have tournaments every other weekend. Right now she's at a tournament a few hours away, and we will be leaving early in the morning to go watch the last two or three games. This was a decision made early last night (this evening?), and I didn't think to get someone for this week. Hence the early post, and long explanation. However, I'll make sure this continues weekly, and the gift exchange will be started late August/early September (travel ball ends in November, so we get a break for basketball during the holidays before high school softball starts up in early February). Okay, enough personal drama/whining/whatever/ect. It's time to write (or sleep in my case, but I have had some very good ideas while riding in a car).

That's great news for your daughter! Good luck with the games!

Originally posted by amethyst EW, even if someone else takes these, I'll be pm'ing you, as I'll need a bit more help in the near future.

{EW stands and salutes her computer monitor...} Aye aye, Cap -- {...and promptly crashes to the floor.} Dang, you'd think I'd remember to not do that. Anyway, I'm glad to help, Ame! And it's great news about your daughter! Good luck and have a good time!

[unrecoverable text]

NYAAAAAARGH! Cliffhanger!

Poor Jun! And poor Gatchamaniacs, left wondering until the next prompt

For past two weeks, most of my waking hours have been taken up watching, analysing and agonising over the football (soccer) World Cup. So this was bound to happen: //"Move over," Mark nudged Jason as he set himself down on the couch. Jason, and Princess who was seated at the other side of him, moved a bit to the left, to give Mark -- and his loaded tray of pizzas -- more space. All three fell silent as the ref announced the beginning of the game between Earth and Riga for the Intergalactic Cup. The first few minutes passed in silence, with the occasional groan and stifled shout, as the ball passed, respectively near the Earth and Rigan goalpoasts. Then a Rigan player made his way towards the Earth penalty area, a developing dangerous situation, when the captain of the Earth team plunged towards him, taking him down. The ball was safely out of bounds -- but no one was happy. "HE'S GOING TO BOOK YOU, YOU IDIOT!" they all yelled ineffectually at the screen, as the ref pulled out a yellow card and raised it in the face of the Earth captain. A heated conversation followed -- but mics had been wisely switched off, so Princess, Jason and Mark could only guess at was being said. But actions spoke louder than words. The Earth playears assembled themselves in a defensive line as a Rigan player walked to the designated spot to take the penalty shot. Jason pointedly covered his eyes and Princess grabbed Mark for support. If he minded, he didn't say. A knock was heard on the door, and Anderson poked his face in. "Team, I need...". "NOT NOW!" three voices shouted in unison. He discreetly closed the door. It could wait. The whoop that was hear a moment later startled him, even though he should have been prepared. It took him a moment to work out that it was a whoop of joy, and that the Rigan penalty had not found its target. In the ready room, Princess grabbed Mark and kissed him hard on the mouth. It seemed, thought Jason, glancing at them out of the corner of his eye, that the Rigan hadn't scored, but someone had.//

Bah! And I thought this would be my one refuge from the World Cup!!!!

KT - I would thought Joe would react to the news his cover had been blown; unless, of course, his last comment was to tell them all how it happened... DT - Ah yes, the World Cup fever has hit. We had lunch yesterday at a TGI Friday's during one of the games, Iran vs. Argentina. The bar was filled with fans from both teams, so it got rather noisy.

Originally posted by KT1972 Bah! And I thought this would be my one refuge from the World Cup!!!!

Sorry, KT!

[unrecoverable text]

It's the list of Bradbury's prompts!!!

Amethyst- Good luck to your daughter. KT- I can't wait to see Joe's comment... Only three days have been passed... DT- Jason seems to be defeated 2:0. One from the TV, the other is......lol. Do you cheer for Belgium? Me too. I hope Korean team would be doomed bloody in the next match with Belgium. Not only me, everyone here is really looking forward to it. Only the old pray for Korean team. Don't be worry about your victory, DT! (Presidential office sent instructions to every broadcasting centers. The message was: Prepare yourselves perfectly for the World Cup. We need to boost the fever to make people forget the ferry disaster.// The leaked document annoyed people so much... the most talented players were kicked out of the Korean national football team. Young rookies who have strong backgrounds&family replaced them. Because if the team success to advance to the round of 16, they are freed from mandatory military service of two years. Now, Korean national football team is a perfect miniature of Korean society which is the injustice itself. Many Koreans identify themselves with the players who were excluded from the National team. These days even TV commercials barely issue WC. None of the team member succeeded to contract CF with companies. DT, when you watch Belgium vs Korea, please tell your friends many Koreans cheers for your team.) EW loves me so much I think the time to escape from Gatchamania is coming soon. Ak!

Hi Rachel! So Belgium did it But what's even better, is that the other team I support, Greece, made it to the second round for the first time ever! I totally understand your frustration with the government giving instructions to people to support their team. In Greece, people love football and there were all-night celebrations, but thankfully the government did nothing more than send a telegram of congratulations. Now let's see what both Belgium and Greece do in the second round!

First, double congrats, DT! Second, I say this to fulfill an order given to Americans with European friends: SOCCER!!! SoccerSoccerSoccerSoccerSoccer! Annoyed yet? And, finally, I think I found proof that Wold Cup fever isn't really a new thing: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/issuecartoons/2014/06/30/cartoons#slide=8

[unrecoverable text]

EW -- now that the US qualified for the next round, I bet you guys in the States will hear more and more about soccer -- it may even become popular I mean, who even remembers that the US hosted the World Cup in 1994? (The only reason I do is because it was the first one that Greece played in). OK, enough of football/soccer for now -- more tomorrow!!!

DT -- right now, I think the main thing you'll hear in the states is: "How the heck can you lose the game and still win?!" (referring to moving on to the next round without actually winning the match.) But, yeah, it's picked up in popularity. (We don't understand it, but a win's a win...)

Originally posted by Daniella T I mean, who even remembers that the US hosted the World Cup in 1994? (The only reason I do is because it was the first one that Greece played in).

I remember! I recall being in a bar one night when a game was on and they had some sponsor there running some kind of pool and giving out T-shirts during the game. They had leftovers at the end of the night and I got one for free. Heheh.

Amethyst: Congrats to your daughter! I hope you find a way to make all the travel work for you. KT: Poor Jun, but she's kinda created this situation for herself, so it's time to face some real consequences. At least they're not blindly believing him or completely ignoring him. Hopefully they don't really know who Joe is! DT: LOL, I'm picturing HUGE blue eyes glazing over ... I love that the Chief leaves them be EW: LOLOLOL rachel: I'm sorry to hear how much politics has ruined the fun of the World Cup for Koreans

Oh good Lord can you all stand another one? LOL. This stems from #118 (Forgot), #120 (Allowance) then #121.2 (Hang) ************************************* Prompt #130 --Book The following Friday evening: "Why's it so quiet in here tonight?" Joe asked as he walked through the door to the Snack, and finding it empty. The only person in the joint was Jinpei, who was currently standing behind the bar, an army of napkin dispensers lined up on its counter. They reminded Joe of a horde of evil mini-robots or something. Damn, he was working too hard! Jinpei shrugged, "Slow night. There's that big concert going on in Utoland City tonight. Probably a lot of people are going." "Where's Jun?" he questioned as he slid onto his usual stool, glancing towards the stairs. "Upstairs?" "Naw, she joined a book club." Jinpei snorted, as he slid a steaming mug of coffee over to him. "She said she needed to get away from this place. They meet every week to talk about the latest goopy story they're reading." Hmmm....really? "Goopy stories, huh?" Joe mused, a smile tugging at his lips. Yeah, that was so like Jun. Okay Condor. Joe thought to himself, staring into his mug. This was it. This was his chance. There was no one in the Snack, Jun was out for the evening and he and Jinpei were there alone. He had wanted to do this during the week but Katse and Galactor had run them ragged just about every freaking day. And even twice on Wednesday when they got a "2 for 1" special. Get one mecha attack during the day, get another one free in the middle of the night. Oh sorry! Were you trying to sleep? Joe could just hear Katse's maniacal cackling in the background. The whole team did nothing but collapse with fatigue at the end of each mission, and even Ryu wanted nothing to do with grabbing dinner, he just wanted to sleep like the rest of them. But after this there would be no more worrying about Jun, toes or Ken barking at him to straighten the whole mess out. He would fix everything and things would finally return to normal. Or what passed for normal around here. It would all be over. He could forget this ridiculous debacle and no one would be any the wiser. "Hey kid." he began, clearing his throat and taking a large gulp of coffee. "Speaking of Jun-- you remember what I told you about your onechan's extra toes?" "Yeeeeaaaah...." Jinpei replied cautiously, eyes narrowed as he wiped out a dirty glass behind the counter. "You do know that she had them removed right?" "What? Why?!" Jinpei exclaimed, his face a mask of horror at the thought of losing something as cool as an extra toe. "Well," Joe said, pausing longer than usual for effect. "Do you remember earlier this week, when Jun missed her exit landing after infiltrating and blowing up that hornet mecha?" "Uh-huh." The Swallow replied, clutching the drinking glass in his small hands, at rapt attention. "After our debrief, the med team told her that she needed to have them removed, because they messed up her balance and that was what caused her to miss the landing." "Really?" "Yeah. Don't you remember she stayed over at the Crescent Coral, when the rest of us all went home for the night?" he asked while nonchalantly stirring his coffee with a bent spoon. Jinpei nodded silently, his eyes wide. "That's why she stayed overnight--they removed them there at the base. The doctors wanted to make sure she would be okay, so they held her for observation until the morning, then let her go." Joe watched as the kid finished stacking the clean glasses beneath the counter, and started refilling the stainless steel napkin dispensers on the bar. "It really upset her too." Joe said quietly, doing his best to lay on the sad routine. "She's very sensitive about the whole thing. So, you know, like, don't try and stare at her feet or anything. It makes her uncomfortable." "Oh..." Jinpei said in a small voice, his mouth pursed in thought."I understand...." A look of consternation crossed Jinpei's face as he turned and reached for the coffee pot behind him and topped off Joe's coffee. "I wonder how they removed them?" he asked aloud, as he jammed napkins into the dispenser. "Lasers, kid. Lasers." Joe told him sagely with a nod of his head. "They make perfectly clean cuts. Cauterized and everything. I'll bet if you saw Jun's feet now, you'd never be able to find the scars from where the extra toes were."

Nice cover....but I still get the feeling this is gonna come back and bite him!

Redbird: Are you kidding? This is fun. Can't wait to see how this bites Joe ... (or who tells Jinpei that Joe has something weird that deserves attention!)

Originally posted by ChrisW or who tells Jinpei that Joe has something weird that deserves attention!)

Ooooh, now that's something I never even thought of! LOL. (and too bad I can't use it for this story!)

Originally posted by Redbird (and too bad I can't use it for this story!)

I don't recall anybody saying you couldn't write a sequel!

Heheh. Gotta finish this story first, EW! LOL.

RB, that was slick. But like the others, I have a feeling its still going to come back and bite Joe in the butt - or Jun will be inserting her normal feet up his butt as she kicks the crap out of him.

Wait and see, BR. Wait and see.

[unrecoverable text]

Interesting.... we're gonna see Joe take him on in order to prove to him he can handle himself huh? Oh Joe, you might not be the one dealing out the ass kicking. LOL. So is this how we're going to see Ken slo-o-o-w-w-l-y become part of the team somehow? (Assuming that's where things are going to eventually lead).

How could I possibly know where this is going? LOL

I'm wondering if this is what wins the others round, so they finally accept Ken as one of the family (if not the team) or whether they feel it's just another way for Ken to protect Galactor?

Yeah it's always interesting to see how people interpret things. And they might not interpret them the same way!

I was actually expecting Ken to say then he would fight with them, too.

Becky, he just might