Gulf Based Airlines ambitions and its implications on its customers ...

ABSTRACT

The view from Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways headquarters has stroked fears into the hearts of rival airline companies around the world especially in Europe and North America. Well, why not, the rapid growth of these airlines has been phenomenal and the markets they have captured are beyond expectations. As these three airline companies are growing so as their hub and therefore more passengers handled by these airports every day in coming years. This is good news for them (Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways) and for their passengers who will have some great services on the way to and from their destination. With, every good news, there is a bad news waiting; but the bad news is not for these airline companies but for their rival companies in Europe and North America. The objective of the study will relate to some of the information regarding these 3-airline companies? expansions and it sought to examine more closely the implications on consumers and their rival airline companies in Europe and North America. In addition to that, the report outlines some of the appropriate strategic options about Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways in order to keep itself economically sustainable. Different sources are used in order to execute this report.

INTRODUCTION

Airplanes, a bird with engines fly through the air has developed in less than a century.? Commercial aviation is an important industry around the world and over the years, aviation has perfected itself from a simple glider to space shuttles. Commercial aviation is highly competitive in the world due to the arising costs of operation and maintenance and as people travel for leisure and business, and airplanes are most reliable mode of transportation. The Airline industry is one of the world is largest growing industries, which has generated over $300 billion in 2001 single-handedly and in addition to that it has the second highest industrial growth rate, after the software (computer) industry, with standard growth rates of 3% ? 5% per annum over the last 20 years (Airliner World, 2012). The introduction of new jet planes such as Boeing 707 and DC-9 at the late 1950 has brought a new era in the commercial aviation, which is known as ?The Jet Age? (?The Era of Commercial Jets?, n.d.). In 1927, Charles Lindbergh successfully completed his first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean and created a massive interest in flying with the public. Since then, air travel grew rapidly until 2001 expanding at a number of 172 million passengers in the year 1970 to approximately 642 million passengers in 2003 (?The Era of Commercial Jets?, n.d.).With the production of jets in the commercial aviation, airline companies revolutionized their short routes; the structure of civil aviation air management and ground operations changed tremendously with the introduction of jet planes in the commercial aviation industry (?The Era of Commercial Jets?, n.d.). Air travel has grown in the past decade and it keeps on growing rapidly for both leisure and business purposes. This also affected the short routes and had some social effects on people worldwide. With the growth of air travel in past decade travel grew simultaneously strongly for both leisure and business purposes. Elasticity of demand, externalizations, wage inequality, monetary policies and fiscal policies extremely influences the airline industry (Aviation News, 2011).

The current market conditions decide the direction of airline industry; recently the International Air Transport Association (IATA) further downgraded its 2011 airline industry profit forecast to $4 billion. This is a disaster as this is a 54% drop compared with the $8.6 billion profit forecast in March and a 78% drop compared with the $18 billion net profit (expectations from $16 billion) recorded in 2010. On predictable revenue of $598 billion, a $4 billion profit will equate to a 0.7% margin (IATA, 2011). The past two years airline industry has seen many disastrous economic conditions, which includes an unparalleled number of airlines, worldwide, filing for bankruptcy and many more, would have followed suit if there was no government intervention (Airliner World, 2012). The main factors leading to their failure and the problems currently faced by the airline industry is very general, they have their roots in the existing economic, and political climate, which is according to IATA (2002), continues to remain very challenging. At first, starting with the Natural disasters in Fukushima, Japan, then the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa (Arab Spring), in addition to that, the sharp rise in oil prices has reduced the industry profit expectations to $4 billion this year. If the industry is making any money annually is a combination of unmatched disasters with a result of a very fragile balance (Airliner World, 2012). The high fuel price affected by the industry is balanced by the efficiency gains of the last decade and the strengthening global economic environment. Even with all these conditions, some airlines have projected an excellent profit rate and increased their load factor unlike anyone (Airports International Council, 2012). Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways has become the new face of the airline world, a leader in the industry that has captured different markets and leaving its impression worldwide (Airliner World, 2012).

Throughout the paper, it will discuss some of the questions that will lead to the answers of this research:

1)????? What are the factors, which has made these three airlines so strong and powerful and a world leader in the airline industry?

2)????? What airline companies in Europe and North America needs to do in order to keep themselves competitive to Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways?

3)????? Can Etihad, Emirates and Qatar airways be this economically sustainable in the future?

INTRODUCTION-THE BEGINNING

On 1971, most of the Persian Gulf countries marked their independence from Great Britain. During the year from 1951 to 1971, a British company; BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) became one of the major shareholder in the Gulf Aviation, holding about 22% stake in the company (Gulf Air Company, n.d.). The company Gulf Aviation began its services to London on April 1970 with a regular aircraft (Vickers VC10) then, with the beginning of BOAC, saw a sequence of updated aircraft entering the fleet (Gulf Air Company, n.d.). The greatest turning point for Gulf Aviation came after 1971 as most of the Persian Gulf countries got their independence and from these; the governments of Kingdom of Bahrain, State of Qatar, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and Dubai; and the Sultanate of Oman purchased BOAC?s shares in Gulf Aviation (?21st Century?, 2008). On January 1, 1974 under the Foundation Treaty created a national carrier of the four Gulf States and named it ?GULF AIR?. Then, in 1983, Gulf Air was startled with two big blows on itself (?21st Century?, 2008). ?Then later in June 1980, the UAE Federal Government was proposing to set up a national airline, which will compete with Gulf Air. The Federal Cabinet asked the Emirate of Dubai and Sharjah to carry on with the proposal under the open skies policy in the region (?21st Century?, 2008). In a very grouchy stir, both the Emirates (Dubai and Sharjah) refused to recognize Gulf Air as the national carrier. Moreover, the worrying factor came in, as State of Qatar who was one of the important shareholders in the company was also interested in starting its own Airline Company (National Carrier) (Gulf Air Company, n.d.). Therefore, in 1993, Qatar started its own national carrier: Qatar Airways and almost after nine year on 2002, the Government of Abu Dhabi also withdrawn its shares from Gulf Air and started its own carrier Etihad Airways (?Gulf Air welcomes.? 2009). On 1993, the Government of Oman also founded its national carrier ?OMAN AIR? and later became a joint stock company and purchased 13 aircrafts of Gulf Air. Currently, Bahraini government solely controls Gulf Air and it is the national carrier of Bahrain with its headquarters in Manama, Bahrain (?Gulf Air welcomes.? 2009).

Emirates Background

Emirates airline (also known as by marketing phrase Fly Emirates) is the national airline of the Emirate of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is one of the largest airline companies in the Middle East including in the Persian Gulf and it operates more than 2400 passenger flights per week from its hub Dubai International Airport Terminal 3 to world?s 105 cities in 62 countries across six continents (IATA, 2011). The company also operates three of the ten world?s longest non-stop moneymaking flights from Dubai to Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Houston (Skytrax, 2011).

Anyhow, everyone has a humble beginning so did Emirates, Emirates started its first operation out of Dubai with just only two aircrafts?- a leased Boeing 737 and an Airbus 300 B4 from Pakistan International Airlines in 1985 (Borenstein, S. 1992). As mentioned in the beginning, the Government of Dubai wanted to have its own national carrier and so separated it from Gulf Air. Due to this decision taken by government of Dubai, a tense relationship was created between the government and the airline, in reaction to that Gulf Air reduced the flight frequencies and capacities to and from Dubai between two thirds between the year 1984 and 1985 (Borenstein, S. 1992). Emirates have focused its differentiation in a legacy airline of luxury, high tech, state of the art and its excellent quality. It has been very successful in its operations, it is Gulf?s largest carrier, and one of the world?s largest airline company and expected to be the world?s largest airline by 2015 (?Aviation in the Gulf?, 2010).? Since the foreign airline companies were unable and unwilling to fill the gap, therefore ruler of Dubai, Sheik Mohammad Bin Rashid Al- Maktoum convened a team of experts headed by Maurice Flanagan and Tim Clark and later the son of the Dubai?s ruler, Sheik Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum to deal with the emergency. However, there were two conditions by the ruler: First, the airline should meet the highest quality standards as possible and there would not be any additional capital injections by the government other than the promised US$10 million startup capital (Emirates, 2012). ?With few destinations in the beginning on 1985 (Dhaka, Colombo, Amman and Cairo), by 1987 it added first two European destinations- London Gatwick and Frankfurt. Later, in 1995, Emirates started to operate all wide body fleet and in 2001, 2003 and 2005 Emirates placed some of the largest aircraft orders ever (Emirates, 2004). ?Since 1985, Emirates airlines entered in the industry it improved its operations, they rapidly increased their size, recruited more people and added more destinations each year. With all these improvements lies some sources of competitive advantages for Emirates Airlines, they have provided some operating efficiency compared to other flag carriers or foreign airlines. Now there are direct (non-stop) flights from New York to Dubai twice daily and this means that Emirates has succeeded in providing quality, innovation and efficiency that is considered as the building blocks of the competitive advantage (J. Johnsson, 2007). The second source of Emirates competitive advantage is its low fares and since cost is one of the important factors that determine the competitive advantages among rival companies and beat the competitors out of the market. Emirates airline has captured almost every market with its great service and lower fares, for example: flights within South America; Buenos Aires to Rio De Janiero one way is only US$290 compared to TAM, Pluna and LAN, which is US$350. In addition to that, the service by Emirates is phenomenal, legroom and above all the baggage allowance (2 bags per person) compared to others only one bag policy (Emirates, 2012). ?For its long- haul flights, Emirates provides layover in Dubai with free hotel and airport transfer whereas other airlines could not provide it as it increases their costs. Some of these benefits keep Emirates very competitive in the Aviation Market. Another factor, which is an advantage for Emirates against other carriers in the industry, is the family based structure. Additionally, they do not have as strict governance practices like in the Western companies; their distinctive characteristic is that unlike most other airlines in the industry. They do not have a board but do regular meetings on Wednesday. One thing about Emirates is that ?Sky is no more the limit!? (J. Johnsson, 2007).

QATAR AIRWAYS BACKGROUND

Qatar Airways is the national carrier of Qatar and its headquarters is in Doha, Qatar. One of the top airlines in the Middle East, in fact according to Skytrax 2011 Qatar Airways has been ranked no. 1 Airline in the industry and one of the four airlines, which has been given Five Star Statuses (Skytrax, 2011). Furthermore, it is also a member of the Arab Air carrier?s organization; Qatar Airways story starts in a similar fashion like Emirates. Qatar Airways was established on November 22, 1993 but it started its flight operations on 20 Jan 1994. At the beginning, Qatar Airways was completely owned by the Royal Family of Qatar (Government) and it started as a low fare airline company. As Qatar was, also part of Gulf Air (national carrier) and it got the idea about establishing its own national carrier after Emirates been successful (?Aviation in the Gulf?, 2010).? At the beginning, Qatar Airways used wet leased Boeing 767-200 aircrafts from Kuwait Airways (owned by Qatari royals), however it was re-launched in 1997 as Qatar Airways. On February 1 1999, Qatar Airways had their first delivery of Airbus A320 aircraft on lease from Singapore Aircraft and on May 2002, the Government of Qatar withdrew its shares from Gulf Air completely and at that time, Qatar Airways had 21 aircrafts (Gulf Air Company, n.d.). Currently, the government of Qatar controls 50% of the stake at Qatar Airways and 50% by private investors. Qatar Airways also ordered new Airbus A380s and A340 on January 11, 2011. The operations of the company have not reached as far as Emirates but currently they are operating more than 80 destinations all over the world but on June 27, 2007 (TNN, 2009). As, Qatar Airways began its services to New York, it has marked its long haul flights; it will also be serving more US cities and South American cities. Qatar Airways has also trying to capture the market in South America like Emirates, which would be an interesting scene as both the Gulf Based Airlines competing with each other in order to control the market. (R.Balakrishnan, A. Fadnees, 2012).

As the company is operating on a very competitive market but known for its large capital base and a growing fleet size, it is becoming a threat to its competitors. In realizing the benefits of the industry, Qatar Airways as one of the participants in the fleet industry is expecting to expand its operations in more destinations and in all continents just like Emirates. With its expansion in process, some relevant strategies are required in order to keep it profitable and sustainable; in short, this is an industry where competitiveness should be first attained at all level (R.Balakrishnan, A. Fadnees, 2012).

ETIHAD AIRWAYS BACKGROUND

This is one of the airline companies, which was born with golden spoon on its wings. It was established by a royal ruling on July 2003 but its first flight commenced on November 2003 with a ceremonial flight from Abu Dhabi to Al Ain, a small city 160 km (125 miles) east of Abu Dhabi and 120 km (95 miles) south of Dubai. Just like Emirates (Government of Dubai) and Qatar Airways (Government of Qatar), the government of Abu Dhabi was also part of Gulf Air; it was also the national carrier of Abu Dhabi. Etihad is the national carrier of United Arab Emirates, so it is company?s Slogan ?From Abu Dhabi to the World?, and pretty much, it is doing it. Etihad means ?United? and it portrays the unity and goodwill between all the Emirates of United Arab Emirates (Adam Schreck, 2012).

Etihad has been one of the fastest growing airline companies and it has increased its destination and routes rapidly; almost ten to twelve routes every year and its fleet size. Etihad has announced the largest aircraft order in aviation history at International Air Show on 2008, it was up to 205 aircraft. By May 2010, the airline started services to more than 61 destinations around the world from its hub Abu Dhabi International Airport (Adam Schreck, 2012). The Airline is currently operating more than 1200 flights per week with over 82 destinations in more than 50 countries with a fleet of 66 Airbus and Boeing aircrafts. Etihad introduces a major campaign every year and invests seriously on marketing as the marketing department as the marketing is an important part of the industry. The Marketing department in Etihad has three divisions: Sponsorship and Exhibitions, Brand Management and Visual Communication (PTI, 2008, July 15). In the year, 2010 Etihad carried more than 7 million passengers compared to 6.2 million passengers; now this is a 13% increase for the airline. In spite of all the record revenues by the airline, which was US$300 million in 2010, unfortunately Etihad has not yet been profitable but recently on 2011 Etihad has claimed to have a full year profit. As Etihad posted a 39% jump in its third quarter revenues and increased its network and passenger numbers (PTI, Jan 26, 2012). On the year of 2012, Etihad has invested in many other airline companies like Virgin Australia and Air Berlin. On 5 June 2012, Etihad invested almost in 4% of the stocks of Virgin Australia and recently when Air Berlin was almost bankrupt, Etihad injected its wealth. Since its beginning in 2003, Etihad Airways has received more than 30 awards; it was also the winner of World Travel Awards (WTA) for having the best Business Class in the world and for its outstanding service in 2009. In addition to that, on November 2009 Etihad Airways won the ?World Leading Airline? award. In 2010, Etihad was awarded as the ?World?s Best First Class?, ?Best First Class Catering?, ?Best First Class Seat? and for consecutive years it has been awarded as ?World?s Leading Airline? by Skytrax.

?	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010??
Number of passengers (millions)	0.1	0.3	1.0	2.8	4.6	6.0	6.3	7.1
Number of aircraft (at year end)		6	12	22	37	42	52	57

After the background of the three airlines, it is important to know more about these Airlines Economic Forces, Key Success Factors, SWOT analysis and above all the Economic Recession Strategies.

ECONOMIC FORCES OF

QATAR, EMIRATES & ETIHAD

In the airline, industry demand for travel extremely depends on the economic conditions, an organization?s marketing strategies. Qatar, Etihad and Emirates has grown and developed its business in their home cities (Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha). The economy of these three cities or the two countries (Qatar and United Arab Emirates) is very strong. In fact according to Forbes, World richest country of 2011 was Qatar with a GDP of US$88,222 per capita whereas United Arab Emirates being the sixth richest country with a GDP of $47,439 per capital just slightly above United States of America (CIA FACTBOOK, 2011). Unquestionably, a stable economy and sustainable wealth is a key to success and an increase in the demand for air travel whether it is for business or leisure. With recent economic crisis Emirates, Etihad and Qatar airways has shown a lot of revenues and profits which unfortunately many other rival companies in Europe and North America (United States) have not posted. Demand is deteriorating, as the economic conditions look grim around the world; now the challenge is how to survive this crisis but for these three airline companies it does not look that grim as it is government sponsored airline companies and enough wealth to inject it does not seem much trouble for these three airlines in the present.

Another factor employed by these three airline companies is diversity; both of its domestic and international markets Emirates, Etihad and Qatar operate in a cultural diversity. U.S.A., U.K., Canada, Australia and other parts of Europe where it is a melting pot and there are variety of consumers and as most of the, stable incomers; this gives these three airlines to cash in with strong demand for travel on holidays (?Middle East Airlines?, 2011).

Below is the profile and data of these two countries compared with United States of America:

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	UNITED STATES	QATAR	UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
GDP Growth	2.?8%?	16.30%	3.20%
Inflation rate	1.40%	1.10%	2.20%
Unemployment Rate	9.60%	0.50%	2.40%

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DUBAI SUNSET

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DOHA, QATAR : A new city on the rise

ABU DHABI: ?New York of Middle East

Porter? Five Forces

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Whenever there is a profitable market, more firms that are new will enter the market to establish itself. Asia Pacific is one of the great examples for this; it is the region of a vibrant market where an inbound tourism enjoys a growth of 7.9% and outbound with a 25%. All the airlines operating in this region during the financial crisis were having high profits; for example- Qantas profits were US$618 million in 2007, Cathay Pacific profits on 2007 were almost US$905 million. In this situation Emirates, Etihad and Qatar airways exploited the market for high profitability as demand was growing.

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Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways compete with some of the largest airlines in Europe and America: Air France, KLM, Lufthansa and United Airlines. As these well-established airline companies are operating the same destination in Asia Pacific, Australia and America, the competition is so aggressive that the global industry is witnessing a growth of low cost airlines.

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As competition between the companies are becoming intense, Emirates Etihad and Qatar Airways may face a threat now and in future when customers have an ability to make demands on their products in terms of lower prices, a phenomenal service and great product quality. Therefore, these three airlines are unlikely to exhibit high rates of return (turnover) due to price reducing and investing more in the product innovation.

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• Suppliers Bargaining Power

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World?s dominant aircraft producers are Airbus and Boeing and every other airlines places orders with the, as a large buyer these three airliners still faces a threat of paying higher prices or even delivery delays. Furthermore, they also depend so much on these suppliers as required products and are differentiated while the suppliers have high proficiency.

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Most airliners offer similar products with similar features: Low Price, outstanding quality,

and phenomenal service. In other regions, there are some direct substitute products to Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways. There will be challenges for these three airlines when there will be enough competition to launch new products globally. For Example: Virgin Atlantic has its subsidiaries around the world: Virgin America in United States, Virgin Australia in Australia and Virgin Nigeria in Nigeria and its nearby regions. Consumers (Passengers) will benefit from these low fares and higher quality; in addition these products will meet the customer demands and understand what they want.

Key Strategies Employed

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Reviewing these three airlines business strategies, one can understand its focused differentiation as a five star airline or ?Airline of the Year? underlines the product development in terms of luxury, excellent quality and outstanding performance (service). These three have proved to be successful companies exploiting the market with high profitability. Secondly, none of these three airlines is in the major alliances (Star Alliance, One World Alliance and Sky Team). With these competitive markets, will they be able to compete with the big giants?

Unambiguously, this explains how strategic the management is and they consider the possible impact of entering the major alliances with their strong competitors of similar level economies of scale, operating within the markets and channels.

Key Success Factors

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It is very important for good managers to cut costs and increase the revenue and it is vital for capital-intensive industry such as in the airline industry. For these three airlines to balance the total operation costs, the management must work very to costs and keep profits high. According to my own experience, this year on January when I was traveling from Abu Dhabi to Doha and later Doha to Zurich, it was shocking that Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways on these flights were 30% empty. In this recession economic situations these scene would not be seen on any other airlines (J. Wensveen, 2007).

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Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways are well ? established companies with strong alliances over international destinations and other the other hand they keep on continuing to invest on new fleets. This means they will increase their capacity and maintain fixed costs with other players. They will access the global market with greater geographical coverage and this will create a high barrier to new entrants due to high costs and scope of business ?(J. Wensveen, 2007)..

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Emirates, Etihad and Qatar are legacy airlines where advanced technology, staff skills, state of the art technology and auxiliary services are the main drivers for success. Therefore, they are aware of the need for continuous innovations, and not only in the fleet and staff expansion but in the premium services for everyone. They have been renowned for technology development and skilled staff of multi culture backgrounds (?Aviation in the Gulf?, 2010).

RIVAL COMPANIES

As explained the key success factors of these companies, here are some of the rival companies in Europe and in North America, how they are performing. From the graph and data some assumptions can be done:

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In Europe, we can see the low fare airline companies are performing better than the international carrier can and a lot of them are merging with each other like British Airways and Iberia, then KLM and Air France. As markets are getting competitive low fare, airlines are trying to capture the market. In Europe because of the EU establishment, there is open sky policy and in addition, most European cities are just few miles away from each other and only maximum 2-3 hours flight from each other. Most passengers do not mind to travel in less legroom and give away some comfort as they are paying a very low price for the tickets.

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In this graph for the US carriers, it is the mirror image of European market. The bigger international carriers are performing much better than the low fare airlines except Southwest Airlines, which is a low fare airline. First, Delta acquired Northwest airlines, in result to that, it has the largest, and the most state of the art fleet in the US Aviation industry.? Secondly, United Continental after their merge it has the most routes, in fact as recently my trip to Tokyo, Japan I have noticed United Continental second biggest hub is Tokyo. In addition, the Eastern Region Marketing Manager Ms. Monica from United Continental have confirmed that they have more flights in operating in that region than Japan Airlines, Tokyo- Singapore, Tokyo- Guam, Ho Chi Minh City. US airways and American Airlines who are lagging behind with the

big players are soon likely to merge which will make create competition for Delta and United Continental, this might even increase the fares for the passengers.

For the low fare airlines like JetBlue, that has a good reputation and outstanding service has lower revenues than Southwest because of its network and routes. JetBlue does not have too many routes and destinations for its passengers whereas Southwest provides an alternate route (airport) in that same city for a lower price. For Example: Instead of flying from JFK New York- Chicago O Hare International Airport, Southwest flies from New York?s LaGuardia Airport to Chicago Midway Airport. In addition to that, they provide some benefits to their passengers like free baggage allowance and better legroom, which the big international carriers in the US do not provide. Air Canada, West Jet, Spirit Airways and Allegiant Airlines serves few destinations and with less destinations served less revenues earned and they are totally unable to match with their competitors.

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??Strategic Options for an Economic Recession

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Currently, the airline industry is facing financial crisis and many airlines are filing bankruptcy.

Some of the issues:

• Economies are slowing down in US, Japan, EU and China.
• There is overcapacity in many markets especially in the long haul markets; it is because due to reregulation and alliances when there is intensive competition.
• Rising demand of? low fare airlines
• Reconstructing the routes, whether the routes are profitable or not.
• Cutting costs and increasing the revenues.

Well, so far these three airlines are not facing anything like or in a mood to set things in that way. It all depends in the future if the countries or cities are dried with their oil money.

HUBS

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London Heathrow?s terminal 5 is one of the amazing and biggest airport terminal in the world but just after six months Dubai airport Terminal 3 was opened and it has almost in third position in annual passenger handling. Both terminals can handle almost 30 million passengers a year and both of them were designed for the exclusive use for serving their flag carriers. Unfortunately, this is where the similarities end because London?s Terminal 5 is kind of cramped site, whereas Dubai?s T3 has 3 times more space; on the other hand Terminal 5 of London Heathrow would not get any bigger, Dubai?s Terminal 3 will soon be the largest building in the world by floor space. It will handle more than 43 million passengers a year and can accommodate 23 Airbus A380s (?Aviation in the Gulf?, 2010).

As years will, pass Dubai International Airport will be third busiest international airport and as passenger growth running a rate of 20%, the capacity will reach to 90 million passengers a year. It is only a matter of time that Dubai International airport will overcome London. Similarly, Abu Dhabi International Airport has claimed 21.2% increase in passenger traffic in 2012. In this year (2012) between the months of January and March, the airport has welcomed 29,123 flights and passenger traffic reaching to 15,197,000, which is almost a 22% increase. According to 2010, Skytrax, Qatar?s Doha International airport is 27th busiest airport in the world and the passenger traffic has been 15,108,521 compared to 13,113,224 in 2009 that is a 19% increase. By 2013, a new phase of Doha International airport will be opened which will be able to handle more than 16 million passengers (?Aviation in the Gulf?, 2010).

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SWOT ANALYSIS FOR

EMIRATES, ETIHAD & QATAR AIRWAYS

STRENGTHS State of Art Technology Developed Infrastructure,? ground staffs and exclusive airport and terminal Large Fleet size (Small and large sizes) Stable Finance Strategic Management Diverse Cultures (Staff) Absolute cost advantages: Tax Free city, Home base, Cheap Labor, low fuel prices Economies of Scale Scope of business	WEAKNESS Lack of Skilled Labor; heavily dependence on Expat Workers Finance heavily dependent on ?OIL? exports. What happens if Oil price falls or if Oil dries up? Too much government subsidies. Dependence on Local government Cost intensive business due to diversified value chain ?
OPPORTUNITIES Reducing the competition in duopolistic routes. Entering the low cost market due to absolute cost advantages and economies of scale Spreading its market size and network and gaining benefits in those markets. ?	THREATS Threat from low cost Airlines, an intense competition can be faced Deregulation and liberalization Not part of any major alliance. Fuel price fluctuation and even the end of oil revenues. Shortage of resources. Not economic variety.

CONCLUSIONS

From analyzing all the factors internally and externally it is worth that Emirate, Etihad and Qatar Airways management identify its capabilities and competitive advantages and makes a proper way to use those resources in the field.? From these analyses, one can say that Emirates, Etihad and Qatar need to respond to the changes in the economic conditions. Management needs to be aware of those situations and plan accordingly (Adam Schreck, 2012). Another factor to survive in this current financial crisis; these three airlines needs to outsource some of its operations in the value chain such as Engineering, Maintenance, catering and ground handling. This will surely reduce some costs of the company and they will benefit from high expertise and efficiency. Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways also need to strategize its prices and penetrate into the low cost markets as passengers are looking for low fares and better services. So far, these airline companies have a great potential and prospects, they have been awarded in numerous occasions.? All of them can gain from its marketing benefits and network to spread and reduce competition (Adam Schreck, 2012).

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SOURCES

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• Brueckner, J.K., ?The Economics of International Codesharing: An
  Analysis of AirlineAlliances,? International Journal of Industrial
  Organization19, 1475-1498(2001).

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• Emirates Airlines, n.d. Emirates? Story; Fleet; Chauffeur Drive;
  Emirates? Experience, Emirates News, retrieved: 2000/2004/2009/2012,
  <www.emirates.com>

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• Borenstein, S., ?The Evolution of U.S. Airline Competition,? Journal
  of Economic Perspectives6, 45-73 (1992).

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• Wensveen, J. (2007).Air Transportation: A Management Perspective (6th Edition). Burlington, VT. Ashgate

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Become a Grill Master This Weekend

Summer is upon us and, along with it, grilling season. We've got plenty of tips and tricks to help you become a grill master this weekend.

Note: If you don't have a great grill just yet, choose from any of these five great options.

Get the Right Tools

When you're at the grill, it helps to have the right tools. Here are a few we've found over the years that can make your job a bit easier and your food better:

• Grill Clips take the hassle out of grilling smaller vegetables. Asparagus, for example, can slip through the surface and into the fire. Grill Clips bundle the smaller items together so they can't escape.
• Stake combines a spatula, fork, and tongs into one grilling multi-tool.
• The Weber 3-Piece Set gives you a solid spatula, form, and tongs separately (if you prefer them that way).
• Kabob Baskets keep your kabobs in order.

You don't need everything on that list?in fact, getting it all would leave you with quite a bit of redundancy?so stick with what you need for what you want to grill. Ultimately, a good spatula, fork, and tongs will give you enough to work with.

Get Some Good Recipes

You need a good set of recipes, whether simple or complex, to produce some great food. We like Weber's On the Grill for a comprehensive guide, but here are a few other specific options:

Learn to Cook Meats

Plan on grilling hotdogs? You can achieve a perfect spiral if you know how to cut the dog beforehand. This increases the grilling surface and enhances the flavor. Marinating your dogs can also provide a killer flavor boost. A good marinade can work with steaks and fruit, too. If you've never made a marinade before, learn the basics before you dive in.

Speaking of steaks, a few things can improve the final product. First, know your steak grilling myths so you don't fall victim to any common errors. Second, you can improve a lesser cut of meat by covering it in salt an hour before you grill. Third, a quick freeze will earn you Steakhouse-quality crust. Finally, you need to know when your steak is ready to eat. While that moment will depend upon how rare or well-done you like your meat, you can test its doneness by just touching your thumb to your pointer finger.

What about chicken? You can figure out when chicken is ready using this tip from Serious Eats:

"Remember that the last part on the whole chicken to finish cooking is always the joint between the leg and the thigh. The easiest way to tell if your chicken is perfect is a simple twist test. Twist a chicken leg with your fingers. If it doesn't budge, it isn't done. If it spins like a roulette wheel in Las Vegas, it has cooked too long. Ideally you want to feel slight tension and then a release of the joint.

If you want to maintain a juicier grilled chicken, you should (seriously) cook it under a brick. As for burgers, you gave us some of the best tips, but we have a few good ones, too. Regardless of what you're cooking, make sure you know where to put it on the grill for the best results.

Clean Up Easily

After a day of grilling, you might find the need to clean but not have the energy to do it. Not to worry?you can just stick many of the dirty parts of your grill in the oven and then use the oven's self-cleaning setting to handle the job for you. If you'd rather keep it all together, stick half an onion on a fork and use it to tidy up. If not of that works for you, try a coffee bath.

Have a great weekend (and a great meal)!

Related

Five Best Grills

With the summer grilling season upon us, you may be looking for the perfect backyard cooking surface for your next cookout, or you may just have? Read?

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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/wz81bCGWhB4/become-a-grill-master-this-weekend-579648795

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Canada Fishing Trip Part one - June 2013

Hey all, I haven't been online much lately due to way too much traveling. Some of it fishing and some of it work related. I spent 10 days fishing in Canada with fellow moderator Russ (Look Out Below) and will pull together a full report shortly. There is so much we targeted that it will take a bit to compile all the pics and footage. We caught some really great fish and made some insane meals back at camp.

Fishing Report Part One:

I began this trip with a little bit of a humorous personal challenge by fishing the first three days with nothin but a Barbie Rod before switching over to Fly gear. Passing through the Outfiitters Airbase I got quit the comments carrying my Pink Barbie rod past all their expensive gear. I put together a quick video of the just the Barbie fishing and will add to this report with the rest of the fishing over the next few days.

Canada Fishing Barbie Style:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=nX3MRuhxVYU

If you are view on a mobile phone, use this link without music and lower resolution:

http://youtu.be/cNZHVsxi3ew

Source: http://forums.floridasportsman.com/showthread.php?118348-Canada-Fishing-Trip-Part-one-June-2013&goto=newpost

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Why Women Are More Likely to Be Bisexual

Women may be more "hetero-flexible," or be primarily attracted to men with some same sex attraction, because same-sex behavior allowed women to raise their children with other women, a new study has proposed.

The hypothesis, published this April in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, suggests that more fluid female sexuality may have evolved because it benefited women's offspring. Some women who were raped or fathered children with absentee or deceased dads formed sexual relationships with other women, which may have made it easier to raise children together, according to the theory.

"Being born with the ability to [be attracted to men and women] may have been beneficial to ancestral women," said study co-author Barry X. Kuhle, a psychologist at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. [5 Myths About Polyamory Debunked]

Not everyone agrees with Kuhle's hypothesis, pointing to the lack of evidence to support it and suggesting perhaps women's more fluid sexual boundaries may just be a byproduct of some other evolutionary change. There may be no evolutionary reason for the hetero-flexibility, they say.

More fluid

Several studies have shown that women are much more likely than men to report attraction to and physical contact with same-sex partners. Women also show similar genital arousal when viewing images of both sexes in erotic situations.

But exactly why has been a puzzle. Researchers have proposed that women's sexual fluidity enabled women to bond with sister wives in polygamous marriages. Still others have argued that it's a byproduct of the fact that women have weaker sex drives that are therefore easier to channel to different objects of attraction, Kuhle wrote in the paper.

To better understand women's sexuality, Kuhle looked to other animals for clues. The Laysan albatross's ability to form same-sex bonds may help them alloparent, or raise young that are not their own. Other studies suggest bonobos, which share more than 98 percent of their DNA with humans, often help rear other apes' offspring and cement social bonds by having sex with other troop members ? both male and female. (In general, bonobos have a lot of sex).

That made Kuhle wonder whether sexual fluidity in women has its origins in raising children.

He hypothesizes that being sexually attracted to women and men could come in handy in many circumstances: instances in which women have been raped, or when a father abandons his partner or dies. Women in those situations would need an extra pair of hands to help raise their children, and having sex with other women may have made it easier to find a same-sex child-rearing partner who wasn't related to them. (Kuhle's theory doesn't try to explain women who identify as lesbians.)

Kuhle lays out several ways to that researchers could test his hypothesis if they wanted to.Women who have been physically or sexually abused, abandoned by their husbands or widowed should be more likely to go on to same-sex relationships, he said. He also proposes that women who have lower "mate value" ? that is, are less attractive mates for males ? would be likelier to be bisexual.

"It's an intriguing idea, but there is actually very little evolutionary evidence for it," said Lisa Diamond, a psychologist at the University of Utah and the author of "Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love and Desire" (Harvard University Press, 2009).

If Kuhle's theory was accurate, women who have heterosexual and same-sex attraction in nonindustrial societies would have more children, which hasn't been shown, Diamond told LiveScience.

Instead, sexual fluidity in women may simply be a trait that hasn't been weeded out.

"Gay people were having babies throughout human history," Diamond told LiveScience. "So as long as there's no reason for evolution to get rid of a capacity for fluidity, then it probably survived as a fun little byproduct. It's like the appendix ? it may not serve a function, it may just be there."

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+.?Follow?LiveScience @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-women-more-likely-bisexual-224052122.html

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Apple iPhone 5S Rumors: Release Date Set For Mid-September? iPhone 6 To Launch Weeks Later?

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Source: www.ibtimes.com --- Saturday, June 29, 2013
We fully expect Apple to release the iPhone 5S just two days after the Wednesday release date for iOS 7, on Friday, Sept. ...

Source: http://www.ibtimes.comhttp:0//www.ibtimes.co.in/articles/484695/20130629/apple-iphone-5s-iphone-5s-iphone-5s-release-iphone-5s-release-date-iphone-6-iphone-6-release-iphone-.htm

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Kate Middleton and Prince William release new baby details

Kate Middleton, now officially 'Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge,' still won't say if the heir to the crown is a boy or a girl, but she's revealing a few other facts.

By Martin Benekyk,?Associated Press / June 27, 2013

The former Kate Middleton (at left, in yellow) attends a garden party hosted by Queen Elizabeth II on the grounds of Buckingham Palace, central London in May. On Thursday, the royal spokesperson announced some of Kate and William's plans.

Toby Melville/Pool/AP

Enlarge

With Prince William and the former?Kate?Middleton?expecting their first child in mid-July ? and much of the world interested in the birth of a future monarch ? the royals' office has released some of the couple's plans, although many details are still being kept private.?Kate?has made several public appearances recently but is expected to keep a low profile in the final weeks of her pregnancy. Here is the latest news about the infant who will, upon entering the world, be third in line for the British throne.

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KING OR QUEEN?

Royal officials can't say ? and it's not because they are being coy, it's because?Kate?and William have not found out ? and don't plan to.

"They don't know the sex of the baby and have decided not to find out," said a royal official who spoke on condition of anonymity under Palace guidelines for distributing information to the press.

PACING THE HALLWAY OR IN THE ROOM WITH HIS WIFE?

Officials said William "fully intends to be present at the birth." The birth is expected to take place at the private Lindo Wing of St. Mary's hospital in central London. That is the hospital where William and his younger brother, Prince Harry, were born.

WHO'S IN CHARGE?

A spokesman said the medical team will be led by royal gynecologist Dr. Marcus Setchell.

WILL THE PUBLIC KNOW WHEN?KATE?IS ADMITTED TO THE HOSPITAL?

Officials said there will be no advance notice. The public will be told once she has settled in her room in the early stages of labor, the spokesman said, anticipating that this would be within an hour of her arrival at the hospital.

HOW WILL PEOPLE FIND OUT THAT AN HEIR TO THE THRONE HAS BEEN BORN?

Through a mix of tradition and social media. Officials said a royal aide will emerge from the hospital with a signed bulletin on foolscap-sized paper carrying the Buckingham Palace letterhead. The bulletin will be given to an official who will be driven to the Palace, where it will be posted on an easel in public view in front of the building. At the same time the bulletin is posted, there will be an announcement on Twitter and the media will be formally notified. The document will give the baby's gender, weight and time of birth.

AND THE NAME?

Not so fast. Officials said they don't know how quickly a name will be chosen. When William was born, it took a week before his name was announced.

VISITING HOURS?

Officials said royals and members of the?Middleton?family are likely to visit, but Queen Elizabeth II is not expected to visit at the hospital because she will be on her summer vacation at the Balmoral estate in Scotland.

WHERE'S DADDY?

William plans to take two weeks paternity leave and then return to his military duties as a search and rescue helicopter pilot in Wales.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Dw2rHQw53yQ/Kate-Middleton-and-Prince-William-release-new-baby-details

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Davis Used a Catheter During Filibuster (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/316061967?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Get Out Of Credit Card Debt

Consumers may not realize that allowing themselves to carry big balances could mean twenty to thirty years in repayments and no relief in sight. To get out of financial binds one needs to set specific rules about using them. The best way to tackle and get out of credit card debts is not to use them at all if possible. Don't authorize increases in limits and only charge up to half or less of the line offered and then put the brakes on so it's possible to get out of credit card debt.

Anyone can run into problems and need financial assistance at one time or another. However, without a plan to attack the problem one may never see the solutions to get out of credit card debt. Adopting a new attitude towards spending and how to get out of financial straits is necessary to seeing results to paying down those balances. If dealing with high interest cards, work towards attaining one that is lower in interest and annual fees and transfer existing balances to the lower one. To get out of credit card debts, tackle one balance at a time if needed, by paying more than the minimum payment until paid off and then start doing the same on the next.

Securing help from a counseling service who can give options to eliminate and get out of credit card debt is often the easiest solution. Access the sites online that offer a minimum payment and interest calculator and put in credit card information in to see what payments will be needed on the debt when only making the minimum payment. Get out of credit card debts by using motivation and determination one day at a time by starting today. "Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also." (2 Corinthians 8:7)

Source: http://www.christianet.com/debtrelief/getoutofcreditcarddebts.htm

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'White House Down': The Reviews Are In!

Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum get thumbs up from critics, but reviewers say movie is 'dumb.'
By Todd Gilchrist

Channing Tatum in "White House Down"
Photo: Columbia Pictures

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709744/white-house-down-movie-reviews.jhtml

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Rodzilla on the rampage: Inside the sports-entertainment career of Dennis Rodman

On the night of June 8, 1998, Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls were in the middle of a grueling practice session in the United Center, running drills after their loss to the Utah Jazz in the first game of the NBA Finals. Dennis Rodman ? the team?s problematic, but effective starting forward ? was some 300 miles away in Auburn Hills, Mich., beating a man with a steel chair.

Less than two weeks away from winning his fifth NBA championship ring, Rodman had opted to blow off practice in favor of appearing on WCW?s Monday Nitro ? then the most-watched program on cable television. ?The Worm? was scheduled to team with ?Hollywood? Hulk Hogan against Diamond Dallas Page and Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone at July 2?s Bash at the Beach pay-per-view. He had to get his licks in when he could.

Watch Rodman in tag team action at Bash at the Beach '98

?They whipped the [hell] out of me with those chairs,? Page told WWEClassics.com. ?But, that night, the highlight of [?SportsCenter?] was what? Dennis Rodman no-shows practice and ends up on Nitro. That was huge.?

The Chicago Bulls organization fined Rodman $10,000 for his actions, but it hardly mattered. For the first time in his career, the famously difficult Rodman was being embraced by an industry that could appreciate a 6-foot-7 dude with hair like a scoop of rainbow sherbet. Not only was Rodzilla being encouraged to play up the flamboyance and arrogance that made him the NBA?s problem child ? he was being rewarded for it.

?The scuttlebutt was he got $1.2 million for the three matches he signed for,? former WCW producer Kevin Sullivan said.

Rodman had made his entry into professional wrestling a year before he skipped practice, pledging his allegiance to The Hulkster?s New World Order in a prerecorded segment on the March 10, 1997, edition of Nitro. It had already been a banner year for The Worm?s growing cult of personality. In those first months alone, he released his second autobiography (complete with a cover photo of him nude and painted like a tiger), co-starred with Jean Claude Van Damme in the action movie ?Double Team? and kicked a courtside cameraman in the crotch, resulting in a $25,000 fine and an 11-game suspension.

Witness Rodman joining the nWo

It was all part of the ?bad as I wanna be? ethos Rodman had been pushing since he came out of his shell during a 1993 run with the San Antonio Spurs. Before that revolutionary year, Rodman had been a janitor-turned-defensive marvel for the hardscrabble Detroit Pistons of the late ?80s and early ?90s. His preternatural rebounding abilities earned him respect, but when he hit the court in Texas with platinum hair, a nose ring and tattoos ? long before inked sleeves were requisite in the league ? he became the NBA?s most recognizable player next to Michael Jordan.

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Source: http://www.wwe.com/classics/wcw/dennis-rodman-in-wcw

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Study links cardiac hormone-related inflammatory pathway with tumor growth

June 28, 2013 ? A cardiac hormone signaling receptor abundantly expressed both in inflamed tissues and cancers appears to recruit stem cells that form the blood vessels needed to feed tumor growth, reports a new study by scientists at the University of South Florida Nanomedicine Research Center.

The research may lead to the development of new drugs or delivery systems to treat cancer by blocking this receptor, known as natriuretic peptide receptor A (NPRA).

The findings appeared online recently in the journal Stem Cells.

"Our results show that NRPA signaling by cancer cells produces some molecular factors that attract stem cells, which in turn form blood vessels that provide oxygen and nutrients to the tumor," said the study's principal investigator Subhra Mohapatra, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine. "We showed that if the NPRA signal is blocked, so is the angiogenesis and, if the tumor's blood supply is cut off it will die."

Using both cultured cells and a mouse model, Dr. Mohapatra and her team modeled interactions to study the association between gene mutations and exposure to an inflammatory tissue microenvironment.

The researchers demonstrated that cardiac hormone NRPA played a key role in the link between inflammation and the development of cancer-causing tumors. Mice lacking NPRA signaling failed to induce tumors. However, co-implanting tumor cells with mesenchymal stem cells, which can turn into cells lining the inner walls of blood vessels, promoted the sprouting of blood vessels (angiogenesis) needed to promote tumor growth in NPRA- deficient mice, the researchers found. Furthermore, they showed that NRPA signaling appears to regulate key inflammatory cytokines involved in attracting these stem cells to tumor cells.

Dr. Mohapatra's laboratory is testing an innovative drug delivery system using special nanoparticles to specifically target cancers cells like a guided missile, while sparing healthy cells. The treatment is intended to deliver a package of molecules that interferes with the cardiac hormone receptor's ability to signal.

Dr. Mohapatra collaborated with Shyam Mohapatra, PhD, and Srinivas Nagaraj, PhD, both faculty members in the Nanomedicine Research Center and Department of Internal Medicine, on genetic and immunological aspects of the study.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and a Florida Biomedical Research Grant.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/v9Q3YzBVkl0/130628131021.htm

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RolePlayGateway?

A profile for starkandskinny's character writing contest, which can be found right over here for anybody interested in partaking. It could use a few more people involved.

Name: Exactly what it says on the fuckin' tin-- Wulan Lestari. Well, okay, so it's not exactly what it says on the tin-- in fact, hardly. The naming culture in Javanese tradition is... well, those overly concerned with being politically correct might say 'unique', but even Wulan will straight up say it's fuckin' stupid. Traditional Javanese names don't have surnames. Just one name. What kind of Einsteinian revelation led to that stroke of genius, Wulan honestly doesn't know (though it must suck to be one of like a billion other poor fucks with the Javanese equivalent of 'John' or some shit), but she did figure that once she immigrated to the States, having just one name woulda probably been a bitch to deal with, so she added 'Lestari' as her surname, for reasons that... well, she'd just say 'I fuckin' felt like it. What's it to you?', but considering she isn't in the habit of hollerin' about how she used to only have one name, it's not like people are always askin' her where the 'Lestari' came from.

Generally? She just goes by Wu. Shorter. More to the point. No bullshit. All that nice shit. Hell, you'd think the name 'Wulan' alone would be short and to the point as it was, but jesus christ, it amazes her how many people in the United States absolutely cannot for the life of them pronounce the name 'Wulan'. For fuck sake, it's 'woo-lan', not 'wuh-lin' or 'wuh-lan'. This shit ain't rocket science. But you'd have to be a real fuckin' imbecile to mispronounce Wu, so at least she's got that.

Age: Wu is thirty two years of age, though goin' by appearances you could easily take her for being more in the realm of her late thirties. This is in large part thanks to the lines creasing her mouth and face, and the patches of grey already emerging amidst the blackness of her hair. But hey, it ain't keepin' her down none, and it's yet to begin wearing away at her in any meaningful way beyond the superficial, so Wu doesn't really give a shit.

Gender: Gender? "Meh." That's the most likely answer you're gonna get, because Wu is rarely in any mood to go into an explanation of her sentiments on gender. Sexually, yeah, whatever, she's female . But that's physical sex. If sex is just a matter of physical differences, and gender is just a reflection of that in society's moulding of you as a person, then who's to say gender is even really a thing? Wu knows she's female, physically, but she's never felt female. Now don't get that wrong-- she's never 'felt' male either. Really, when you get down to it, Wu figures gender is something pretty much irrelevant-- an illusion. In all frankness, though, it's not something she talks about much-- it's not that important to her, and anyway, people are fuckin' stupid. They'd probably think she's tryin' to say she's transsexual or some shit.

Species: About as human as you can get-- a peculiar specimen, by looks and by behaviour, to be sure, but still one hundred per cent human, though there are those who argue Wulan Lestari is in fact the first discovered beef jerky based life form, given she seems to pretty much live on a diet of Slim Jims and protein shakes. Healthy? Probably not. Delicious? Fuck yeah.

Place of Origin: Jakarta - Java - Indonesia

Physical Description:

Wu does not look like the kinda person you wanna file under the 'people I should fuck with' cabinet. Indeed, she looks more like the kind of person stereotypical whitebread soccer moms usher their children over to the other side of the road when they see her approaching-- the kind of person who will, to use the scientific term, 'fuck your shit up' if you decide to start shit with her, and she loves that she makes that impression. If you have any doubt about that, take one look at her. You'll probably have to look up, though, considering Wu comes in at six feet and six inches of height: she's always been particularly tall, and never understood why people thought it was weird or awkward-- shit, she loves standing head and shoulders over everybody else. Of course, just being tall wouldn't cut it-- who the fuck wants to be some towering beanpole who gets to have a face-to-face meeting with the floor whenever a soft breeze rolls by? Not Wulan Lestari, you can be damn sure. Fortunately, that's not a problem, given her wide shoulders, burly, muscular arms, and powerfully built torso, all of which imply the considerable physical strength she wields, generally for the purpose of starting bar brawls with random people when drunk.

Javanese though she is by heritage, one would be hard-pressed to guess this of Wu purely from physical characteristics-- she lacks the dark, leathery skin typical of the Javanese, and her skin is instead a relatively lighter, tan-brown hue, veritably ironclad in tattoos, scars, and the odd birthmark. One may never see the full extent of her tattoos: even in those precious few cases where she is not armoured in her leather jacket, you'll only ever see the ones that line the robust muscles of her arms, and considering there doesn't seem to be but an inch of skin on either arm not tattooed, you can guess the rest of her is probably similarly armoured in ink. The tattoos on her lower arms seem to depict scenes of nature-- perhaps trees, with ravens vigilantly clinging to the gnarled, perished branches-- however, as you go up to her upper arms and shoulders, the beautiful depictions of nature are replaced with more morbid, macabre fare, such as an inverted pentagram, tattooed in such a way that it looks as though it had been carved violently into the flesh of her left shoulder. The scars, on the other hand, are pretty much the kind of shit you'd expect to find on somebody who grew up as a delinquent on the streets of Jakarta and glories in down'n'dirty brawl fights even to this day-- the most significant one, one she's had for years, is right there on her face, beginning just beneath her right eye, stretching across the bridge of her nose, and terminating below and to the side of her left eye. It's faint, and is clearly very old, but it's there, and she seems to think it's the most badass thing you ever saw in your damn life. All this taken into account, her birthmark-- a splotch of discoloured skin, slightly darker than the rest of her, on the front of her throat-- is hardly even noticeable. Hell, she'd be impressed if you somehow managed to spot 'em.

With regards to facial features, Wu possesses a countenance that appears as though it has been deliberately carved and sculpted by a less than prodigal sculptor-- the features are angular and sharp-edged, and the way they come together is anything but the work of an expert craftsperson. High, pronounced cheekbones carve out an enclave inhabited by a small, slightly pointed nose that has clearly been broken more than once in the past, set over a pair of thin, scarred lips. Beneath a high, wide forehead lie a pair of slender, almond-shaped eyes that tend to really trip people up once you take a single look at 'em-- having been born with a genetic condition known to the medical dictionaries as 'complete heterochromia', and to anyone who asks Wu as 'fucking mismatched', one eye is a surprisingly pleasant forest green-- the other an ugly mottled brown. Those eyes of hers tend to freak people out, which Wu fucking loves doing... er, probably a little too much. Less peculiar a specimen is her wiry, faded black hair, interspersed with speckles of grey, which she's always made a habit of cutting to a short, bristly shave. After all, the last thing she needs is a faceful of her own hair when she's tradin' fists with somebody in the alley behind the bar.

To round out what is undoubtedly, in the eyes of most, the freak show called Wulan Lestari, her attire is no less... uh, out of step with society, to put it charitably? Wu could probably think of a whole bunch of excuses for dressing as outlandishly as she does-- she doesn't want to be uniform (conformity and nonconformity have never really mattered to her), she wants to adhere to the fashion of her favourite music (to be honest punk hardly has a 'fashion' anymore, and if it did Wu wouldn't really give a fuck about it either), she likes that it tends to intimidate the shit outta people (which is true, in a way, but not the full reality). Fact is, Wu just likes the look of it. Generally she's to be found wearing some kind of band t-shirt, with the sleeves shabbily torn off, because Wu's kind of a douche and wants everybody to see her tattoos and muscles in the rare instance that she eschews her jacket. Which is, speaking of which, the veritable pride and joy of her ensemble: an ancient, creased leather jacket, one that is virtually armoured at every inch in 1/2" cone spikes. Used to be that literally the whole thing was covered in spikes; however, recently she removed some of the ones on the back to make way for an acrylic white painting of the Mot?rhead War Pig, replete with chains, skulls, tusks, fangs, and spittle. Her lower body is typically clad in a pair of dark, faded jeans that clearly displays a history of wear and tear, indicating new ones have not been bought since Necrophagist last put out an album, tucked over a pair of harness boots; old bike chains hang from the loops of the jeans, and a belt of rusted copper bullet casings, the kind you can buy at most surplus stores, is slung low down one side of her waist.

Yeah. Punk as fuck, man.

Personality Description:

Wulan is... well, Wulan is an asshole. A god-given, dictionary-definition, textbook-example, bona-fide, true-to-life, genuine asshole. You know that guy who said "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all"? Wu called that guy a faggot and then probably headbutted him for good measure. At her best, Wu is rough, fierce, and stubborn-- she's somewhat conversational, she occasionally smiles, she cracks jokes of a less abrasive nature than usual, she can even be kind at times, if all the planets are properly aligned and seventy pop punk fans are sacrificed at the full moon. Most of the time, however, she's not at her best, and it's not hard for Wu to take a turn for her worst-- at which point she becomes cruel, callous, and violent, towards inanimate objects, towards people around her, and towards herself. She's a veritable machine of ruthless invective, pumping out the most horrific blasphemies and obscenities just because she can, she insults and puts down everybody around her for lack of anything better to do or say, and she has anger issues that would have even the Incredible Hulk goin' 'Dude, chill the fuck out'. Her caustic nature is only worsened by a very deadpan, mordant sense of humour-- sarcastic, pessimistic, angry, profane, an obsessive control freak who absolutely needs to hold all the power in every situation and absolutely has to feel like she's bigger and stronger than everyone around her (which usually is the case, to be fair), not to mention a born fighter whose first impulse in any situation is violence: it's no wonder nobody really wants to be around Wu.

Now I'm not going to say that deep down Wulan is actually a saint, or some broken, misunderstood soul-- fuck no she's not, and to an extent she will always be abrasive and aggressive no matter how well you get to know her-- you could be her best damn friend, or the closest thing she'll ever have to a friend, and she'll still call you a shithead, punch you hard enough to bruise for pretty much no reason, and in general be an asshole. On the other hand, there's much more that most people simply will never see of her-- an innate gruff but genuine kindness, a propensity for remarkable loyalty to the people she thinks care about her, the people she herself cares about, even selflessness for such people. But it's not so evident 'cause no matter how selfless she is, Wu still manages to be an asshole about it-- so much so that most of the time, you can't even tell she's actually being selfless. And she's not used to consciously showing that 'side' of her, to venture the cliche, because Wu has had it ingrained into her very psyche that to show such kindness and humanity is a weakness. After all, she had somebody who knew that side of her, and that person's long gone... which shows what good it does for her to make a fool of herself bein' nice to people when they're never long for this world.

She deals with the psychological fallout of that absolute guardedness by abusing alcohol, cigarettes, and other drugs, immersing herself constantly in her music and her books, and throwing herself into fights and other violent situations, though by this point those methods are becoming less and less effective. It seems those mental and emotional torments only worsen every day, while those few ways she knows of dealing with them just aren't working anymore. She's headed straight for self-destruction, decay, and collapse, and knows it; somehow, though, she just can't stop. Maybe it's pathological-- maybe she's got some kind of disorder, something that makes her unable to display without fear any emotions besides vehemence, something that renders her incapable of normal human interaction. Or maybe she just grew up in a world where everybody was an enemy and everybody wanted to hurt her, and she took that lesson too close to heart, splitting her between the 'look out for number one' mindset she learned as a street rat in Jakarta, and the innate loneliness she may not even recognise, a loneliness that has consumed her ever since the one person she shared it with left her. Either way, it's a pathos Wu neither understands nor thinks much about-- after all, why fuck around trying to understand herself? She knows herself too well to think it's worth bothering to try understanding herself.

History:

Picture it now-- Indonesia. Jakarta. The 1980s.

Did you picture it? Okay, probably not-- frankly, it's somewhat impressive when your average Westerner even knows Jakarta exists, much less where and how. For those of you understandably less privy to the geography of Australasia, allow me to paint the picture for you, and know this: it ain't a pretty one. The Jakarta of the late twentieth century could unfavourably be be compared to The Bronx back in the 70s, when 'The Bronx is burning' was the place's goddamn catchphrase and you were goddamn royalty if you managed to snag an apartment with more than one room total. 1980s Jakarta was a hellhole-- crime-ridden, miserable, poverty-raked.

Being born into a place like that was liable to suck ass-- you'd think it couldn't be much worse, except for being born to a single parent with little financial means in Tanjung Priok, which was (and probably still is) the Jakarta equivalent of Compton. Maybe that was why Wu's first thought upon being born was something alone the lines of 'Oh, come the fuck on. Really? This is the kind of shit luck I have right from the get-go? Typical.' Her father? Her father was never really in the picture. Her mother never really talked about him, and Wulan never really cared-- if anything, the only thing her father's absence made her realise was that before she had even even born, someone had abandoned her, one way or another.

But she wasn't alone. Shortly after Wu emerged, a second daughter followed meekly after-- an identical twin. This hadn't been foreseen, and it was just another bit of shit luck for a single parent who now had three mouths to feed instead of just two. For Wu, though, it was a stroke of unexpected fortune not to be born alone, as she almost certainly would not have found much companionship if not for her twin sister Lestari.

From the womb, Wulan and Lestari grew up living the life of Jakartan street rats, and they learned very quickly that the only people they could count on were one another. The slums of Jakarta are a realm governed purely by cutthroat laws-- namely, look out for number one. Wulan and her sister did not let themselves get cheated, deceived, stolen from, and hurt more times than they needed to before they realised that fundamental way of things, and at that point, they stopped being the naive fools they felt they had been until that point, and became cut-throats themselves. After several years of hearing friends they'd seen just yesterday had been killed in gang shoot-outs or had left for a better life that the twins were too poor to achieve themselves, the sisters stopped trying to create connections with other people, having come to understand that such connections are a weakness-- a liability, a fragile, sensitive thing all too easily shattered. Once they figured out that there was no reason to try and relate to other people who were inevitably either liars and deceivers, or destined to die or leave the two behind, Wulan and Lestari changed.

There had been a time when she had been a person so wholly removed from what she is now that many today would be hard-pressed to believe it to be true-- that Wulan Lestari had once been a bright, vivacious child, with hardly a violent bone in her skinny little body. That person didn't last long, though. Kind, vivacious Wulan became aggressive, violent Wu, just as shy, bashful Lestari became cold and aloof, hardly speaking to anybody but her sister-- they kinda had to change, to avoid being steam-rolled by the merciless predatory organism that was slumland Jakarta. The twins, and Wu in particular, became fighters, privy to the way of life in the Jakarta slums, a way of life Wulan could not change even if she had tried: she could only be consumed by it, and allow herself to be consumed by it whole-heartedly-- a predator in her own right, accustomed to responding to the barest slight with violence, as that was the only way you won respect and fear. Who the hell had any respect for the jackass who 'turned the other cheek'? Who the fuck feared the idiot who sought a peaceful resolution to the conflict? Fucking nobody. Wu knew this. She knew being hard and strong was the only way to survive the slums.

Thus, Wulan and Lestari became the world to one another-- unable and unwilling to trust others, not even their mother could manage access to the tight-knit emotional bond they quickly developed. Sayin' they were like peas to a pod would have been the understatement of the century: though to the outside observer, bellicose Wu was a far cry from stoic, unflappable Lestari, in nearly all other respects they were twins in more than just a physical sense. They liked the same kinds of cigarettes, the same booze, they had an identically devastating right hook, they came to love the same kind of music-- hell, their mother sometimes swore she heard them snoring simultaneously some nights. The one thing Wulan and Lestari ever really differed on was religion-- Wu never bought into any of that crap, and remained throughout life a staunch atheist, figuring only a complete moron could possibly disregard the blaring logical fallacies inherent in the argument for the existence of a god. Which kinda flew in the face of Lestari, who, though by no means a radical fundamentalist, did profess a belief in God and could have been considered a very, very casual Muslim-- enough of one to quickly run through her own little fajr (morning prayer) upon awakening each day, not nearly enough of one to walk around wrapped up in a blanket. If anything, the most significant symbol of her faith was a small hamsa she was never to be seen leaving home without-- a palm-shaped amulet, not remotely as ornate as other specimens, but vital to Lestari not only in that it represented a sign of her faith and a symbol of protection, but also in that it was, she claimed, the only remnant of the twins' father, given to her by her mother. Wulan really didn't give a fuck about that-- it just made it that much more amusing to snatch the thing away from her sister and keep it until Lestari inevitably beat Wu into submission and took it back.

Ultimately, though? The whole faith thing really didn't matter except for the occasional sarcastic ribbing from Wulan. The two were thick as thieves, and never to be seen apart from one another. Secrets did not exist between them: though there was an emotional wall thicker and more guarded than the Great Wall Of China at the height of the Hun threat between them and anybody else, amongst themselves the twins shared everything. And it wasn't just emotions-- they shared smokes, they shared booze, they shared the precious scraps of exercise and work-out magazines they eventually began hoarding and following religiously-- and, once they discovered it, they shared music.

It was the defining moment of both their lives up until that point, and, as could be expected, it came about after a fight. It was a rare moment in which Wu and Lestari were separated, and Wu, fifteen years old, had just beat the ever loving shit out of some random jackass for... well, fuck all if she can remember at this point. He did something to piss her off, she made him hurt for it, and then, figuring she'd piss all over his prospects while she was at it (she was, believe it or not, even more of an asshole back then) she rifled around for any spare cash he had, figuring she'd buy herself and Lestari some booze or smokes. What she found was even more valuable-- a cassette case, the tape contained within like a treasure within a chest, the label on the side scribbled with the words 'Minor Threat'-- that was it. Minor Threat. Wu had no fucking idea what that was supposed to mean-- shit, she didn't even know what a cassette tape was, so she figured the thing was probably like some top secret government shit or whatever. Having decided that, she did the perfectly logical thing, which was to take it home with her and show it to her sister (after giving the little shithead she'd just beaten up another kick to the stomach for good measure).

In retrospect, she owes that dude a hell of a lot. At the time, she didn't realise it-- the tape was just some weird, foreign object until she brought it home to her sister. They stared at it, poked it, sniffed it, and at one point dove out the window hollering about a bomb when they thought the thing had started ticking only to realise it was just the microwave beeping in the next room. At length, the twins decided to do something they hadn't done in a long, long time: they talked to their mother about it, who informed them it was a cassette tape-- it played music. "How the fuck do I get it to make music?" Wu queried with a frown, looking at the odd little thing, which sure as hell hadn't produced no fuckin' music since she'd found it. "You use a cassette player, you moron," her mother informed her irascibly. That, of course, fired them off on another huge verbal altercation until finally, in exasperation, her mother said, "Look, I know where you can probably get a player if you're willing to waste money on it. If it'll make you two shut up, go there, shell out your precious money on the damn thing, pop that tape in, and then realise the waste of time and money you just subjected yourselves to." Well, y'know what? Fuck that. Wu decided she was gonna go and blow who the fuck knew how many rupiahs on the player, just to spite her mother, and Lestari, just curious enough about this peculiar contraption to play along, followed. So they went and bought it-- split the costs evenly between 'em. Set 'em back a shit ton of money that would otherwise have been blown on smokes and alcohol, but they-- or rather, Wu-- figured it was worth it to piss their old lady off. And sure, she was a little curious about this 'Minor Threat' shit. Who knew, maybe it'd be worth listening to. The two sisters brought the player home, huddled around it in their room, pulled out the cassette, popped it into the player, hit play... and, well, the rest is history.

The twins were blown the fuck away. From the second 'I Don't Wanna Hear It' fired off on all cylinders and Ian MacKaye began howling furiously, hurling his bitter invective at society and everything it represented-- they were both blown away. Music had never been very interesting to either of the twins-- their exposure to music had been limited to shit like gamelan or angklung music, the traditional music of Java and Indonesia on the whole, and frankly, none of that had ever made Lestari feel a damn thing, much less Wu, who found such music infuriating and grating upon her ears. But this... this was primal. This was angry. This was passionate. Violent, disgusted, unhappy with the way things were, unwilling to relent-- it was just like Wulan, but in an aural form, and Wu loved every damn second of it. "Hey, fuck you, mom," she wanted to say with a cocky grin (or rather, did say with a cocky grin, once she was done listening to the tape about fifty times over). "That was the best expenditure of money since... uh... well, it was just a fucking good expenditure of money, leave me the fuck alone."

That set the twins off on a journey of discovery-- a veritable mission to find more of this sound, this noise that they both found so appealing on a primal level. Needless to say, music is none too common a commodity in the slums of Jakarta, and it took quite a lot of 'research' on the subject, necessitating that the sisters step foot for the first time in just about the only local library, where they, in the process of leafing through books looking for some kind of information about this weird new sound they had discovered and fallen in love with, realised that reading, something they had always considered a chore, could actually be tolerable if they were reading something they had chosen themselves. Lestari, for example, found herself entranced by a copy of Tolkien's Silmarillion. Wu took one look at it, called her sister a dreamy dumbass, and turned back to the Dostoyevsky novel she had found herself unable to put down after the first page. Lestari came to delight in tales of the fantastic ranging from the works of Lovecraft, Wells, and Herbert to the novels of Asimov, Tolkien, and Antony; Wu had no patience for 'irrelevant shit about laser guns and hippy elves or whatever', preferring stories rooted in realistic, often modern settings, works by such literary giants as Dostoyevsky, Steinbeck, Orwell, Murakami, and Kerouac.

But they didn't lose sight of the goal, which was finding out about the music on the cassette-- and it wasn't exactly going to be easy, considering all they had to go off was a cassette tape that played pissed off, raw music, called 'Minor Threat'. It was probably the same streak of fortune that had led them to find that tape that put the answer in Lestari's hands: Minor Threat. Hardcore punk. The book in question was a history of 'rock music', which initially struck Wu as kind of weird (who knew rocks had their own music?)-- it was a kind of inherently aggressive music that had branched out into other genres such as metal, hard rock, and punk, each of which had spawned subgenres like death metal, progressive rock, and crust, some of which had led to even more specific styles. As for this sound they'd been pursuing, that fell under punk-- hardcore punk, to be exact. The book characterised hardcore punk as fast, hard-edged, raw, and bitter-- in other words, all the things they loved about this 'Minor Threat' cassette of theirs. And it was said that this style of music had been born in Great Britain (which was some place across the ocean), but its spirit had been carried on in the United States (which was also some place across the ocean), where hardcore punk bands like Minor Threat had originated. In fact, it was said that there, in the United States, the punk scene continued to flourish-- well, at the very least, it was doing better than it was elsewhere. In other words, if there was a place to go to to hear more of this, the United States was it.

They spent months seeking out more punk rock where they could find it, but there was, needless to say, a paucity of punk music in the slums of Jakarta. After a while, the inevitable topic was breached: leavin' Indonesia for the United States.

The music wasn't the sole factor in that decision. After all, they'd heard about the US-- heard that it was pretty much universally better than life here in the slums of Jakarta, heard it talked about like it was fucking heaven or some shit. That 'heaven' apparently was also the home of the music they loved, even though they had only a few dingy cassette tapes to show for it, and that alone was reason enough.

You may, of course, ask where their mother was throughout all this. And to be fair and true, she was certainly always there-- just always in the background. Though she never outright hated her daughters, it was always understood that there was a definite resentment there-- always the understanding that she would have had a much, much better life without two kids to feed and clothe. The twins knew it just as well as their mom knew it. And sure, she worked her ass off day after day, slaving away so that the two kids wouldn't fucking starve to death, but that didn't mean she also had to be nice to 'em. And therefore, for as long as Wu can remember, her mother was never a big part of their life. She never thought much of how her mother was providing for her-- never really thought much about her at all. Whilst her daughters were out in the streets picking fights, or huddled away in the library, she was at work, slaving away at an arduous job, making a thankless effort for which there would be no pay off except that she wouldn't have two starving kids on her conscience.

Maybe that was why their mother never heard of Wu and Lestari's plans to blow outta town and head across the ocean. By that time, Wu'd figured that Jakarta held no fortune for her or her sister-- here, they'd only ever keep living as they always had, grow up mired in violence and alcohol, and probably both die before the age of twenty. And that was not, needless to say, something Wu figured was in their favour. They started contemplating it, mulling over and planning it out at fifteen, but by no means were they ready to just get up and go at fifteen. But they were ready to work and meticulously hoard every penny they earned to get the hell outta Jakarta, a city with almost no good memories and countless bad ones for the two, a city that had known them when they had both been naive idiots. Wulan and Lestari wished, honestly and earnestly wished, to leave it behind forever, go somewhere where nobody knew them, and forge a marginally better life there, with the music they loved, with nobody but each other.

That was the plan for two years, during which they worked harder than they ever had, and forced themselves not to spend (as much) money on the usual booze and smokes. But unfortunately, life just loves to shit on hopes and dreams, and when life saw the twins with their anticipation for the future, for the better things to come, it just couldn't resist shitting all over that. They were on the cusp-- all but ready to just get up and go at last. That particular day, Lestari wasn't able to leave home-- she'd caught a fleeting case of the flu, and was hard-pressed to take so much as a step without vomiting. Wu mocked her sister some for her condition, and then mentioned that she was gonna go out and maybe stop by the library-- asked if Lestari wanted her to grab a book about orcs or wizards or some shit like that. Lestari merely shrugged, and then fixed her sister with a weird gaze. Slowly, she reached to the bedside, took hold of the hamsa that had not for nearly ten years left her sight and body, and held it out to Wu, asking her sister to take it, because she was uneasy and felt Wu may have needed its protection.

"You do realise," Wu retorted, after mocking her sister senseless for thinking a piece of metal could protect her just by being there. "That you've totally jinxed it now, right? I'm gonna take it and come back and find you murdered or some shit."

"Just take it," Lestari replied coldly in her characteristically laconic manner, and then she would have no further discussion on it.

Well, fuck it. Wu figured she'd take it, and then taunt her sister with not giving it back while Lestari was too weak to really do anything about it. Whistling a jaunty little tune (in specific, Black Flag's My War, a perennial favourite of hers), replying to her mother's demand to know where she was going with "Outta here, asshole", and in general figuring things were lookin' pretty up now that the time for the sisters to leave Indonesia was rapidly approaching, Wu stepped across the threshold of their house for the last time, the hamsa shoved in one of her pockets haphazardly.

Nobody could say for sure just how the fire started-- it seemed like a true bolt from the blue, a sudden blaze that quickly engulfed almost the entire block. Some thought it was an act of deliberate arson-- none too uncommon in those days. Others hypothesised it had been caused by negligence on the part of one of the neighbours. Wu didn't give a flying fuck. When she came back and saw what had happened, she only had one question, burning fervently in her heart, mind and soul, tearing at every fibre of her body-- and the answer to that question was a hard, final, resounding no.

She never saw-- nor wanted to see-- the corpse. At that moment, all she wanted to do was rage-- she became engulfed with a despair and a fury that made the blaze that had just shattered her life look like a fucking campfire. Suddenly, nothing actually mattered worth a shit, because she'd eschewed universally all human contact and connection in favour of having one bond with just one person-- a bond she'd thought bullet, fire, and shatter-proof, and now she had nobody. Now there wouldn't be any huddling up together with the latest discovery being slipped into the cassette player by strong hands shaking with anticipation-- no more walkin' the streets just talking, Wu laughing a booming, raucous laugh and Lestari permitting a minuscule smile to emerge. No more wiling away the days in the library, mocking one another over their choice of reading materiel. There wouldn't be any more of that, because Lestari was fucking dead-- gone, forever.

Wu wanted to hurl the hamsa at the burnt-out carcass of what had once been her home, throw it at the ground before the charred corpse of her sister, and scream, "Why the fuck did you give me this stupid fucking piece of shit? I didn't fucking need it. You did." Of course, she never for a second actually believed the damn thing had had any effect-- but it was so much easier to blame this senseless reduction of Wu's life to nothing, to worthlessness, on a hunk of metal, for her rage to have direction and focus, rather than to be forced to dwell on the fact that she was now alone.

Wu had pictured her and her sister stepping onto that plane, destined for New York City, vibrant with anticipation and anxiously high hopes-- maybe she'd even see her sister laugh for the first time, let herself show uninhibited joy as their new home approached on the horizon. Instead, Wu boarded the plane alone, dejected, torn up inside, the hamsa shoved away in her pocket. She reached New York City alone, armed with little knowledge of the English language and, once she got through foreign currency exchange, a wad of dollar bills of varying values in her pockets.

And frankly, none of that mattered.

To the outside world, she'd never changed-- she was the same bellicose, sarcastic, swaggering fighter she'd always been, even as she was still reeling from her twin sister's death. The only thing that changed was that now she was the one who never left behind that hamsa. She honestly couldn't tell you why if you asked-- she still didn't believe the damn thing did jack shit, and it was just a reminder of the day everything was fucked up for good, so why the fuck keep the thing around? Well, maybe, if you happened to be one of those idiots who's gotta see some profound shit in every little thing, you'd guess it was so she could always carry around a remnant of her sister with her. Wu merely thought of it this way-- her sister had asked her to take it. She'd never asked for it back. And that meant Wu got to carry it around with her, until her sister asked for it back, or until she died too, one or the other.

Though it was supposed to have been a milestone in her life, moving across continents to a new home, in New York nothing much really changed for Wu. She quickly picked up on English and became quite proficient with it, but otherwise, she just kept reading, kept listening to music, kept blowing most of her money on smokes and booze. Eventually, she bought a subscription to a local gym that also offered martial arts classes like boxing, where, as you can imagine, Wu excelled, having learnt many of those principles of fighting through street fights herself and having a shitload of rage and pent-up anger to vent through that medium; however, with those boxing classes, she polished that street smart knowledge and furious energy into a damn science, and at the gym she honed her work out regime.

Her source of income was a record shop nearby the little apartment Wu settled down in-- she took up work there pretty much from day one, and it pretty much became home to her-- a place where she could spend hours a day just listening to music (and occasionally actually doing her job), and getting paid for it. She dove straight into the 'punk' section like a kid at Disneyland-- just started grabbin' every damn cassette, CD, and vinyl in the place and put it on its respective music player, and hit play. Black Flag, Antischism, D.O.A., Spitboy, Nausea, Discharge, Government Issue-- it had that same primal, raw fury as that very first Minor Threat cassette, the little tape she had moved across entire continents pursuing the sound of, and she fucking loved it. She spent pretty much all day at the record shop, even when she wasn't actually working, listening to music. Leafing through some of the magazines lying around the record store-- and, later, using the burgeoning wonder of the internet-- led Wu to also discover some of the 'fashion' of punk-- you know, leather, denim, spikes, bullets, the whole shebang. Wu ate that shit up-- loved the dirty, angry look of it. She redirected some of her money flow from books, CDs, and drugs into clothes and accessories-- boots, chains, a leather jacket, spikes to decorate it with, a bullet belt, all gradually accrued over the years.

Now, I could start writing some shit about how her sister's death somehow motivated Wu to pursue an education after dropping out of high school, about how she went, got a high school diploma, pursued a higher degree in university in some field she'd grown passionate in, settled down with somebody she loved, made new friends, and in general rebuilt her life... except then I'd be a liar, and Wu would probably headbutt me, because she fuckin' hates liars. None of that shit even came close to happening. Wu's spent the past fifteen or so years living pretty much the same life she did back in Jakarta-- drinking, smoking, fighting, all that shit. The only difference is, now she hasn't got anybody else to do it with. She's still abjectly miserable, distracting herself from her loneliness with her various vices, seeking to distract herself from the fact that she's now utterly alone. Just her, and that damn hamsa-- a reminder of her sister's death, an object she reviles and loathes with all her being, but cannot bring herself to dispose of.

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