Nine Swords

There's always that night- when after an evening of Japanese sushi, Chicago-style pizza, and solid English ale- she gets the half-buzzed urge to dig through the conspiracy sites. Some of them she just outright giggles at- after all, sasquatches are real, but they don't really enjoy playing ping-pong.

Others, though, she marks down and prints off for later digging- such as the one about a new kind of glitter being put on the market that seems to make the kids want to slather everything they own with it...

...and it's made by an Orochi subsidiary. There goes her weekend...

1 - Loud) Yes, Phoenix is very, very grumpy if she's woken in the morning before she's ready. But she also has a bad habit of being able to fall asleep in various places many others wouldn't- at her workstation in the crappy office chair, in the library, in the back of a bouncing truck heading down a Transylvanian dirt road, and even once at her local takeout, after a thirty-six hour research session on something.

2 - Spaceship) She has a weakness for those old arcade cabinets and claw machines- so she carries around a few bills and coins depending on the region- dollars, yen, euro or won- and more often than not she comes home with a new cuddly friend for the pile in her quarters.

3 - chocolate) Phoenix and I share a common idea that Cadbury's chocolate is superior to Hershey's in almost every conceivable way- except that Cadbury's doesn't have a chocolate syrup you can pour into milk or over ice cream. Also, she has a tendency to let mess pile up and to work around it instead of actually cleaning it up and organizing everything. She also has a tendency to eat at her station while in the throes of a work-binge, and she's submitted more than one "flavored" report.

4 - boots) A solid pair of footwear is a trusted companion no matter the situation- but while your favorite comfy sneakers might be good for a quick jog around the park, there's nothing like having a nice steel toe when things might be headed for throw-down territory. Not to mention they fit together so well with the tender parts of your enemies.

5 - radio) Don't take Phoenix to a karaoke bar, unless you need a ride or someone to work the equipment. Banshees have better voices than Phoenix does when it comes to singing- not that it stops her when she gets in the mood to bust out karaoke at her desk.

6 - glitter) I came up with this one after my niece decided to take a jumbo bottle of glitter and glue it to her desk in her room and made a complete mess of the desk and the carpet around it. Everything in her room sparkles like a unicorn now, and we know we'll never get it all up.