Qualapec the She-Wolf

A third movie? God(s) above I hope not! As for a third reunion. Although a nice idea. I doubt it. ~She-Wolf

Sci-fi. That station rocks. ~She-Wolf

Yes, Saiyuki is [loosely] based of the Journey West (which, I'll admit, is what sparked my interest)... However, it does stick pretty close to the skeleton of the original plot. I believe the Japanese name for Monkey is Son Goku, hence the characters from both Dragonball Z and Saiyuki of the same name. I think he's also called Sun Wukong in Chinese. But in the translations I've read he's just called Monkey. Or Monkey King sometimes. The art in my sig is of the Saiyuki Son Goku. And the lettering (if you can't read it) says "Great Sage, Equal to Heaven". Which was the title Monkey demanded after evading the warriors of heaven for so long. The Jade Emperor (AKA Most Celestial Beaurocrat) gave it to him so he would stop causing trouble. ~She-Wolf

Walker smiled, "So...you wanna give themt the good news?" Michaels frowned, "Do you think it's wise to get their hope up?" Walker stripped off her scrubs, "What else is there?" VVVVV Meanwhile, Enos was already striding up to the Hazzard County police station. He knew this had to be done right. Otherwise this could just backfire. But he knew one thing: what had happened was eating Rosco up inside. Or it was at least bothering him. Enos could remember several times in the last couple years when Rosco would drive up to the Duke farm...always claiming he wanted to catch them in the act. But Enos knew Rosco well, and knew that the sherrif was indeed just going up there to check on them. Besides, Enos knew that if he could get Rosco on his side then Boss would have little or no choice... ~She-Wolf

Go west young man! ....not quite. For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about. The Journey West is an ancient Chinese fantasy novel written by Wu Ch'eng En in the sixteen century. It chronicals the antics of Monkey, a creature born from rock who becomes extremely powerful. When I say extremely powerful, I mean Superman x 100. It follows him as he protects a monk, Tripitaka, who is going westward from China to India to retrieve Buddhist scriptures. Along the way they are accompanied by Sandy and Pigsy, two gods who were cast down from heaven and are trying to repent as monsters on earth. The book consists of about 100 chapters, most of these chapters consist of short stories as the four main characters travel. I'm just curious. Who has heard of this ancient Chinese folk novel? Better yet, who likes it? I've been reading about it online ever since my interest was sparked a few months ago. Not too long ago I bought the Arthur Waley abridged version, Monkey, and am almost finished reading it. Unfortunately I haven't been able to buy any of the four-volume translated versions that are out there. So, has anyone read the full translated versions? What did you think? What do you think of the story in general? Personally I love every second of it. It's a fantastic story. Really funny too. There are some seriously hilarious (not to mention outragous) things in there, even for modern, American audiences. ~She-Wolf

"Thank God..." Michaels' said in a barely audible whisper. "Amen to that..." Walker breathed. VVVVV "Luke?" Uncle Jesse asked, terrified that he'd lose his other child, as some sort of punishment for causing the death of another. Luke just looked up at him and gave him a quick smile. When Uncle Jesse gave him a puzzled look he just wrote: "It'll be alright...He'll be alright." VVVVV Daisy was glad when the shivers stopped. What had that been? She sighed, it was probably just a result of all the anxiaty she'd been under lately. Now, she had to get to Enos before he hit town... ~She-Wolf

Michaels' heart went cold as ice. He felt Walker stiffen up beside him. They watched the surgeons work, powerless to do anything else. VVVVV Meanwhile, just as Daisy entered Hazzard something hit her. She didn't quite know what it was, but it made her bones shudder. Daisy haphazardly pulled her car over while she waited for the sudden, violent shakes to stop. What was that? She thought. ~She-Wolf

Michaels held a particle mask over his mouth and nose. Walker had actually bothered to put her's on. He supposed she was more resistant to things like this then he was. In the few years he'd been a prison doctor, he'd only lost one patient, and the main artery in their neck had been sliced in half. Needless to say they had died instantly... Walker's experience had probably been more difficult. She worked in the coma ward. Most of the people in there might as well have been dead. He would bet money she'd had to pull the plug on a few of her patients as well. She must have had much more experience with this kind of thing. Dealing with families, the death of someone who hadn't yet seen as many sunsets as she had. "...It never does..." She whispered silently beside him as they stood in the back of the room, watching the preceedings. "What?" He asked, snapped from his thoughts. "This," She replied, "No matter how many times you see it it never gets easier...the only way to protect your soul from it is to lock it away. Somewhere deep where empathy can't effect it..." "...But we can't. Lock our souls away. Can we?" Even under the particle mask he could have sworn he saw the faint remnants of a smile, "No...we can't. Because we hear about miracles and every time we think 'maybe'. Maybe this time I'll get to see a miracle..." He didn't reply. But he knew she was right. They couldn't lock their souls away, because wouldn't they just hate to see that one miracle in their lives and not be able to feel it. But when Bo's heart moniter flatlined, for just a moment, Michaels truly wished he had that ability... ~She-Wolf

He wanted to say more. Wanted to do something to make up for his inability to help. But god knew that anything he could have said would have just been him trying to make himself feel better. He felt Walker brush a hand on the sleeve of his lab coat. "Come on..." She whispered, "There's nothing left for us to do here..." As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. The only thing they could do now was check on the surgery. He could at least be there in case something went wrong. She-Wolf

After a moment, Doc Walker considered suggesting they make funeral arrangments. But knew that it would be far too cruel right then. She saw Michaels' fist clench, his other hand gripping his clipboard so hard you could see the ivory bone beneath flesh. She hadn't wanted to intervene like that. But she'd been a doctor long enough to know that when they had that look in their eyes, chances were they couldn't speak... "Cat got your tongue" was very appropriate. Of course, she was just focusing on her friend to take her mind off of the Dukes. Jesse Duke, the older man looked even weaker, frailer. So did Luke...somehow he even managed to look even frailer than he did while laying in that hospital bed... Suddenly, Luke grabbed his pen and paper, and scribbled a messy: "What are his chances?" It was Walker's turn to not speak. Hadn't she been clear enough? Why did he have to make her repeat the prognosis of the surgeon and five doctors, herself and Michaels included. Luke jabbed a finger at the notepad, and stared back at her with a stubborn will. What right did she have to refuse that? "...There...is an 80 percent chance of the surgery being unsuccessful. And a 30/70 chance of him surviving through the night if he makes it to recovery." ~She-Wolf

"Enough doc..." Uncle Jesse said, "What're you getting at." Doc Michaels tried to talk, but for once a cold ice seemed to grip him. These were good people. Who had just fallen on hard times. They were just coming back to a love for each other. And Beauregard had suffered so much already...fought so hard. He had never had any hesitation about something like this. It was always hard, but he knew it was his sworn duty to give news like this. And he'd had to dozens of times in the past. Nope, never had a regret about his choice of profession either. ...Until then. Dear Walker! Even as he stood there like a dear in the headlights she jumped in. A part of him was angry that she'd had to take up his slack, but another part of him couldn't be happier... ~She-Wolf

Daisy drove faster than was healthy. Desperate to get to Enos before he did something he would regret. She could do this, nothing Boss could do to her could hurt her more than it already had, but Enos...he didn't have that immunity. If he went directly and challenged Boss with the knowledge he had, he would the thrown in prison. He wouldn't survive that. Daisy switched gears and swerved off the high way. Please...she begged silently. I've been such a screw up lately. Don't let me screw this up... ~She-Wolf

It's stupid. Lack of...anything like that is one of the reasons I love the Dukes. Also, I didn't know Ben Jones was an activist? ~She-Wolf

Dito. I don't know much about Full Metal Alchemist but I like your avi. ~She-Wolf

Does anybody watch the TV show or read the books? It's one of my all time favorite series both on TV and in respect to the books. I love the books. A fantastic fantasy series. And although the show is certainly different than what I picture in my mind, I love it too. Note: If there's anybody out there who's just knows about the show you may want to check out the books by Jim Butcher. So anybody else? ~She-Wolf

So, does anybody watch it? I watch it almost religiously every Sunday on Sci-fi channel. ~She-Wolf

Daisy whirled around. Desperate to get away from Luke before she made a mistake she would regret for the rest of her life. Didn't he see that she was the only one who could do this? Nothing Boss could throw at her would break her... ...Hard to break when you're already broken. She stormed into the hospital room. But when she looked to find the handcuffs that her plan actually relied upon, she couldn't find them. "Uncle Jesse, where are those cuffs?" Luke wheeled in, "Don...gib..." he managed. "If you must know Enos took 'em. Now what in a blue moon is going on here!" Daisy didn't hear the second part of Uncle Jesse's question. All she heard was that Enos had taken the handcuffs. She was just as bright as Luke ever was, she could easily piece together what the deputy was probably doing. But he couldn't do this...Boss would find out what he knew and would lock him up. Enos couldn't survive that. Dag nabbit! When on heaven and earth did Enos become an impulsive person! "Enos..." She whispered before turning on her heels and sprinting off. She had to get to him before he did this! VVVVV Luke watched Daisy go. Relieved to see that familiar flare in her eyes as her soul made it's way through the prison she'd built around it. It seemed Enos had been able to do what he hadn't. And proved to Luke that the girl he knew before was still in there. He should have known. You can throw everything you had at a soul like Daisy's. Wind or rain, ice or fire. She might get a little rougher around the edges but there was no way to truly destroy her. He couldn't help the smile. Maybe there was hope for this family after all... ~She-Wolf

Luke stared at that cold exterior that had suddenly overcome her. Only moments before she'd been on the verge of breaking down. Now it occured to Luke that she may have broken down. Or she may have been broken from the start, and what happened to Bo was what shattered her... And now she was rebuilding herself into something Luke didn't want to see her become. He didn't want to see her become the kind of person who put somebody else through pain just to bring a twisted ray of sunlight into her own life. In his life he'd known many people like that, they never had a happy life and certainly their end wasn't very pleasant either. Perhaps Daisy didn't plan on becoming like that, maybe she was just creating this part of herself to take on this one task then that would be it. But there was always the chance that once you tasted blood you liked the taste. And if she created it at all that part of her would always be there, waiting till she needed it again. Daisy may have been willing to take that risk. But Luke wasn't willing to let her. If she did this, there was a chance she could become something worse than what Boss and Rosco ever were. As it was Luke doubted her eyes would ever be completely unshielded again. It was almost impossible to go through all the pain she had and still be quick to love as quickly as she had before. Whenever he and Bo left the house from then on she would lock her soul away, like she was now, because now she knew for certain they might not come back. But Luke could only hope that she was just locking her soul away. That this whole thing hadn't so destroyed her so deeply that part of her didn't even exist anymore. The eldest Duke cousin realized dreadfully that there was only one way to know for sure, he didn't like doing this. He was practically giving her permission, it was a gamble if ever he'd gambled. But at least this way he would know for sure if the girl he left behind was still in there in some shape or form. He wrote quickly: "Daisy...once you go down the road you're going down, there's a chance you won't be able to go back. That you'll go so far from the light of the sun you'll never find it again." ~She-Wolf

Daisy read it over a couple of times. "Perhaps I am doing this for myself. Maybe it is selfish. But tell me this Luke, could you really watch your baby cousin hurling blood onto the floor and not feel some need to punish the man responsible? I don't see what the big deal is? It isn't like I'm gonna walk up to him and pull a gun." Luke sighed, and wrote quickly: Right now, I wouldn't trust you not to pull a gun on Boss... "You're dodging the original question. Bo rotted in that prison for four years. That's four years of his life wasted...and now he could very well be dying. Can you look me in the eyes and tell me you don't want to make the man who did that to him feel even an ounce of the pain we've felt..." Another angle hit her, "And what if Bo dies in there Luke? Can you tell me you wouldn't want to take out more than just psycological vengeance on Boss 'n Rosco?" ~She-Wolf

"Luke..." she begged, "Don't make me choose...You've had to do things before that I've begged you not to. All those times you jumped the General Lee over...something! All those times someone was out to do you in! All those times you did something to foil Boss Hogg yourself! Every time you walked out the door I wasn't entirely sure the next time you came back wouldn't be in a box...but all those times I watched you go knowing that you were doing the right thing, I let you go because I knew you boys were born and bred to be that way." She sighed, amazed with herself that she was doing this, "Well, I'm a Duke too. And for four years someone I love has been rotting in prison because of that man..." The look in his eyes didn't change, it hit her that showing him some kind of reason would be the only way to make him see, "There isn't a jury in the world that would find him guilty. He's too slippery to have not destroyed all possible evidence by now...but he does have a concience, or at the very least Rosco does. The only reason they can stand putting somebody through something like this is if they don't have to watch it themselves...blood and true suffering make them sick...if I can make them feel just an ounce of what I feel, it'll be enough. Somehow I know I'm the only one who can succeed..." "Luke, he needs to reap some of the pain he sewed. And I need to do Bo this one justice..." She put a hand on Luke's, "If you care for me at all you'll let me go." ~She-Wolf

Daisy just smiled, a smile that she was quite sure scared him, "Don't worry, Luke. I know what I'm doing...I have a plan. And as for helping Bo...I can't do anything here. Can't stay in the same room for more that four minutes. I've done something terrible to someone I love...The most I can do is make the person responsible pay for it." As she walked away from him she heard a quick scribling on a notepad and a grunt that made her turn around. She read the message. This is selfish! Daisy smiled again. "Maybe it is...but...if I don't perform this act of penance..." She shrugged her shoulders, "I'll either die or go crazy. I ain't sure which one. Just trust me..." ~She-Wolf

"Luke..." She said. "Bo was thrown into prison after he hit you...You were dead to the world in all but the beat of your heart...we didn't know what to do, we'd never handled a betrayal like this before. And at the trial...what with all the witness testimonies...we just walked out. Turned our backs on him." Luke stared at her, his eyes a perfect mask to his emotions as he listened to her. She kept going, "In all those four years he was in that prison I didn't go to see him once...not me, not Uncle Jesse...nobody. I guess they just figured if we believed he was guilty he had to be..." Luke didn't do anything for a long minute, until finally Daisy could hear the scraping of a pen against paper. She looked down: "All because of a few witnesses?" "Luke they were real..." She trailed off as a sudden thought hit her, "...convincing." She followed the trail the thought led her to. Astonishment that she hadn't seen before quickly turned to anger, and even faster to rage and hand in hand with rage came the pure hate. Yes, it was without a doubt her fault that she had abandoned Bo. And she wouldn't forgive herself for that until her dying day. But who was responsible for that to begin with? Who had taken advantage of a family wrecked with pain and loss that they wouldn't even know who was behind it until it was too late? Who pulled all the strings he had? Who? Who? Who you ask? It was the same person it always was: Boss Hogg. The bastard of a county comissioner had to be the one behind it! The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. And the angrier she became. She'd always known he was a self-centered, money grabbing, pig of a man, but until that moment she'd never considered him truely capable of cruelty. Until that moment, Daisy had never thought Boss Hogg had the stomach for torture. In that moment a realization came upon her. Here she was beating herself up when she could be doing something productive. The time to punish herself would come later. But there was one thing she had to do first...namely deal out some vengeance on one Boss Jeferson Davis Hogg. "Luke," She said softly, with a reserved smile one would almost call happy. Of course she was glad, it seemed whatever divine being that was out there had shown her a way to at least repent some for her crime. "Luke, I've gotta go do something..." Now all she needed was the bloody cuffs... ~She-Wolf

Luke watched Daisy leave. She barely managed to get behind the wall before more tears fell from her eyes. For the first time, it hit him that she might be going through even more than he was. The older Duke cousin wasn't entirely sure what had transpired in his absense. But from the way she held herself, the way her blue eyes were lost in themselves, he'd seen that look many times in his life...sometimes wearing it himself. A prison of guilt...she blames herself for what's happening to Bo and she's trapped in it... Luke thought. He reached out and wrote out his question on the notepad. He didn't need to be left in the dark. Although Luke loved Bo like a brother, there wasn't anything he could do now. And if Bo was a brother, then Daisy was a sister, and he had just as much of an obligation to help. ~She-Wolf

Just a little curious. Where did all this come from? I mean, is this something Tom himself said or is just online gossip? ~She-Wolf

Daisy sat alone in the hallways. She'd left behind the confines of the hospital room to sit by herself. Right then, she didn't feel like she needed anyone. Not a hand on her shoulder, or another soothing word about how it wasn't her fault. She had to face this herself. It was her crime, and she deserved to atone for it. It was her fault. Not a force on heaven or earth could change that. Unless there was someone out there who saw fit to turn back time. She waited. Unfortunately, no catastrophic change in the time/space continuim erased her sin. The only thing that happened was a janitor rolling his bucket down the halls and entering the room she'd left behind just moments ago. Soon the smell of disinfectant would cover up the scent of blood. Bo's was probably not the first blood spilled on this Hospital's floors. Daisy was sure they had covering up the remnants of the life substance tuned to a fine art. Well, they had to. If you don't cover up the smell of death, would anyone ever come to the hospital? VVVVV Right then Daisy was so lost in her own morbid thoughts. Her guilt dragging her farther with every ailment that struck her cousin...her brother. And she let it. There was no court in the world that would legally find her guilty of what she did. She would never know what it was like to waste years of your life in prison, abandoned by family and friend alike. Her mental anguish would have to do for penance... ~She-Wolf