#WE WILL CHIP IN TO PAY YOUR LEGAL FEES

[mercuryspit]

WAIT HAS SNOWJANUSBLR SEEN THIS YET

Rob Wayne save me…….

[beardedcreatorcreator]

Cash Advance - Get Quick Cash Online

Is it the time frame to cleansing for health going into business? Might have be wondering if you decide to decide to take the plunge, will there be enough clients to match you. Naturally personal training is considered a luxury item. To respond to the question my fact is a resounding, yes! For a matter of fact, are usually are currently working attending the gym will probably find the influx of latest clients to non-public training has declined along with overall being a member. Less members coming in the club could result in less clients for personal training. You could soon find https://zil.us/open-business-bank-account-online/ yourself out of achievable anyway so now is just the appropriate time start off considering visiting business.

http://hardresettips.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Open-Business-Checking-Account-Online-No-Chexsystems.jpg

Very simple, we do exactly opposite what the professors are teaching. However business books teach is to then peddle. We did the opposite, we sell then buy. After i decide to market a new product, I will not but very first. I will go around selling it first, taking order from prospects. Once I got all the orders, i will choose the products. By using this method I minimize my risk and I additionally wouldn't need any upfront cash to buy the products. I collect sum of money first upon order, then use funds to chose the product.

Everyone could use a checking make up. I had some among the worst credit you could imagine after going via a nasty a separation. The divorce totally ruined my credit and landed me ChexSsystems. I thought I certainly not be allowed to get a bank levels. I went to on average 10 local banks and they all denied me. My friend suggested which i look online and see essentially can find anything. After a little searching Observed a few banks that include bad credit bank trading accounts. The main difference I could find would be that they would charge a smaller ATM fee compared to my old bank account online. I signed up for them and now I have a bank account just like everybody other things.

Bank charges - Need to a a key factor that have got to consider - what amount will it cost which have a open business bank or company bank facebook poker chips? Ensure that just exactly what charges are levied around the account exact same page . up. Better check and cash transactions you have, typically the itemizes their service will end up paying.

Get information about your local laws of economic practice. Search for almost surely need to own a business tax Name. These can be obtained through neighborhood library town or city hall. Also be sure to check out out your local law to your topic of your particular enterprise. Too many at times put money into when you business, and find that this was just not a legal operation where they live.

The point is something need money to take up a business, instead you need creativity to begin a online business. As a matter of fact, I believe everyone can do what I did so. It's just that you most likely are so within their pre-fixed perception of needing a handsome profit to start a business, therefore, you are stuck in your current claim. As long as you will certainly break out of your old mindset, you in order to on the best path to starting a successful business.

[mentalmains]

Ifinance auto sales corprate

#Ifinance auto sales corprate registration

Any and all differences must be addressed prior to the sale of this vehicle. The dealership makes no representations, expressed or implied, to any actual or prospective purchaser or owner of this vehicle as to the existence, ownership, accuracy, description or condition of the listed vehicle's equipment, accessories, price or any warranties. Please note that actual vehicle may differ slightly from specifications and/or the pictures. Vehicle images and descriptions posted on our website pages are the representations provided by our suppliers. We make every effort to provide you the most accurate, up-to-the-minute information however it is your responsibility to verify with the Dealer that all details listed are accurate. If the posted price for a vehicle or service is incorrect due to typographical or other error (e.g., data transmission), this dealership and their representatives are only responsible for the correct price, which we will endeavor to provide to you as soon as we become aware of the error. While we try to make sure that all prices posted here are accurate at all times, we cannot be responsible for typographical and other errors that may appear on the site.

#Ifinance auto sales corprate registration

The price for listed vehicles as equipped does not include charges such as: License, Title, Registration Fees, State or Local Taxes, Smog Fees, or any upgrades installed by dealer such as but not limited to (Pre loaded GPS Tracker, Theft Deterrent up to $25000 Coverage, Appearance Package). All advertised prices exclude government fees and taxes, any finance charges, any dealer document preparation charge, and any emission testing charge. Please check to be sure the car is available prior to your arrival. Depending on the age of the vehicle, normal wear and tear should be anticipated. The car may have minor road chips, light scratches, wheel scuffs, etc. Second only to that commitment is our focus on superior service for every business and consumer with which we do business.Due to our low prices and high volume of sales, ALL CARS ARE SUBJECT TO A PRIOR SALE! We offer a "First Come and First Serve policy" in order to be fair to all customers. on the principles of meeting or exceeding all laws and regulations in every location we do business. Hill, “When done correctly, what should be a simple transaction proves to be exactly that, simple. to provide both lenders and their customers with a means to efficiently execute and fulfill a financed consumer transaction that is cost effective and regulatory-compliant. He has seen first hand the difficulties both sides face. ESF provides the consumer with billing statements and receives the consumer’s monthly payment for the life of the payment promise.įor more than 30 years, attorney Daniel has provided legal counsel to both sides of credit transactions: consumers and their finance sources. purchases from merchants the closed-end contracts they have with its customers – obtaining ownership of the promise to pay, and then provides billing and payment services for the consumer until all payments have been made. (We do not finance auto contracts at this time, but it is an illustrative example that many consumers can relate to.) In turn, all billing and payment services through the life of the fixed term are conducted through – and paid to – the finance company, which retains the car’s title until all payments have been made. Auto sales contracts are often purchased by a reputable finance company. The consumer knows exactly how much they will pay, and for how long.Ī car loan is a good example of closed-end financing used by millions of consumers. At the end of the fixed term, when the good or service is paid for in full, the contract is satisfied, or “closed.” Closed-end credit contracts provide consumers with certainty and stability. “Closed end financing” is simple and clear: the consumer agrees to pay for a specific good or service, and make payments over a specific timeframe or “term.” Unlike “open-ended” lines of credit, which may, for example, remain open for use, resulting over time in additional interest and fees, a “closed end” credit contract is a promise to pay a set price, with a set interest rate, divided into equal payments, over a set amount of time (also known as a fixed term). ESF acquires retail installment contracts made by consumers who wish to pay for services or goods over a fixed timeframe. (ESF) is a sales finance company, providing its customers with closed-end finance services.

[brood-mother]

there are four entire countries in the UK and a lot of people just point blank refuse to acknowledge that when discussing things pertaining to britain.

and i’m not even pointing it out simply as a matter of pride or pedantics (and trust me, as a scot, there definitely is an element of that), these countries have their own cultures but also their own legal and parliamentary systems and in 90% of cases it is literally, factually incorrect to lump them all into one. 

[humansofnewyork]

“My biological mother had three kids at a young age, then dropped us all off with my aunt. It wasn’t even a legal adoption, she just signed a piece of notebook paper. My aunt already had three kids of her own, so it was wild in that house. Summers without air. Winters without heat. I loved her to death. And she tried to keep us clothed and fed, but I can’t say that everything she did was exactly legal. She collected disability for some injury that she never wanted to talk about. And she was a bit of a thief. On the first day of school we’d go to the Salvation Army and switch our old clothes for the ones on the rack. My brothers began to model her behavior at a very young age. They drank a lot. They fought a lot. And they stole a lot. The whole town knew about us. On the first day of high school, our principal Mr. Herring pulled me aside and gave me a stern warning: ‘I know your siblings,’ he said. ‘And I hope you remember that we won’t tolerate the same behavior from you.’ I was absolutely devastated. I’d stayed out of trouble my entire life. I’d been determined to show that ‘I’ was better than ‘we.’ But apparently it hadn’t worked. So I tried even harder. I made good grades. I threw myself into musicals and drama and journalism. I even became the first student from our school to go to nationals for speech and debate. I did notice that some of the fees were waived for my activities and school trips, but I assumed everyone was getting the same treatment. Then three weeks before graduation, I was called into the principal’s office. I was horrified. I’d never been in trouble before. Mr. Herring was silent for fifteen seconds, then he said: ‘I made a huge mistake. The biggest mistake a teacher can ever make. I judged you before I ever knew you. And for that—I apologize.’ Then he got up, gave me a hug, and asked me to give a speech at our graduation ceremony. I felt so seen in that moment. After graduation I ended up going back to the school to work as a speech coach. One day I happened to be chatting with an old teacher, and I joked about how I never had to pay for my activities. ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Your teachers all chipped in to pay for them. Along with Roger Herring.’”

[btsmakesmehappy]

Cookies Charades

Genre: Roommate to Lover, Friends to lover, Fluff, slight angst.

Pairing: Jimin x Reader

Word Count: 4,5k

Rating: PG-13

Warning: the reader is a little insecure, grinch joke, ugly christmas sweater, low budget christmas party, a pandemic quarantine itself is a big warning (Please stay safe!)

Summary: A pandemic quarantine, cookies, a bet, and a night with just the two of you; you and your very own crush who is also your best friend. What could happen?

A/N: this drabble is for @btswriterscollective​ ‘s holiday event! It’s my first time joining an event since I wrote my fics. And this fluffy Christmas fic is dedicated to @lunar-jimin​. Merry Christmas! I’m still new at writing fics so It’ll be a little messy but I hope this will make you happy! - your secret Santa, Rain

also thank you for my beta reader, @arizonapoppy​ Merry Christmas<3

“So what are you doing for Christmas?” Jimin asks casually as he puts chips into his mouth. His eyes are glued to the TV which plays Princess Diaries out of nowhere, and you’re pretty sure that both of you don’t even pay any attention to the movie. Today is supposed to be your movie night with your best friends, just wine, and a lot of food, and maybe some board games if you can’t find anything to watch. But since the pandemic, you can’t just barge into your friends’ home easily. That’s why you are stuck in your apartment with your roommate, Jimin.

You’ve been living with him for two years, introduced by mutual friends. You searched for an apartment, Jimin looked for a roommate, it was perfect. There was just a little thing that your friends knew: that you had a crush on him.

Well, who doesn’t?

Jimin is hot, smart, and cute all merged into a fine man. A fine man with a body that makes other men envious. It’s unfair too that he is also kindhearted. It’s like everything you need for a man, you can find in him.

Jimin is like a chameleon. He can be a nerd in the morning, and a fuckboy in the evening. He can be a bulky gym-addicted man to start and then turns into a cuddly soft boy in the space of minutes. He can be a boy that an older woman loves, or a strong-fatherly figure that girls would obsess over. He cooks, he cleans, and he also takes care of you when you’re sick.

He is so perfect. So fucking perfect.

That’s why it’s hard for you to not fall in love with him, not when he is just a room away from you, and not when he becomes your best friend so very soon. It’s like Universe wants to torture you. Like the Universe sees an opportunity to mess with your heart, let alone your relationship with people.

Yes. You’re in love with your best friend who is also your roommate.

You like him, a lot, to the point that your hand goes clammy whenever he’s close to you. To the point that his scent after shower raises your heartbeat. To the point that you feel a stab of pain to your chest whenever he comes home with Jisoo.

You sip your wine slowly. “I might be skiing again right now, if we weren’t in a pandemic.” Your eyes wander to the photo frame above the TV; it was when you were on a skiing trip with your friends last winter.

“Do you want to do something with me then?” He turns his head to face you, eyes twinkling in excitement.

“Sure, why not?” you shrug. “We’re going to do these for Christmas, after all. So yeah, just make an appointment for that.”

Jimin snatches the wine glass from you and puts it on the shaky table in front of you so clumsily that he almost makes it fall and colors your cheap white carpet red. “That’s not what I meant! Let’s just make a small Christmas celebration just the two of us. We should bake, cook, and decorate!”

“Won’t it be bothersome, though?” You’re actually pretty worn out. Your finals have just ended, all of your assignments and papers are all submitted. Not to mention you just finished your internship program for this semester, because somehow they didn’t cancel the program because of the pandemic. You were pretty busy. What you really want is just food and your bed. Celebrating Christmas? Maybe it’s just a privilege for you.

“Come on!” he whines. “It’ll be fun! This is the first Christmas, just the two of us!”

And maybe the last one, you think. Staying with Jimin has been hard for your heart. You’re supposed to move this year. You’ve searched the possible rooms, looking for extra jobs to afford it, and anything you need to rent the new room. But again, because of the pandemic, that plan will be postponed. There’s no way you would move at the time like this. So, yeah. Maybe this Christmas would be a nice memory. “Fine. So what should we buy then?”

The corners of his eyes crinkle with his widening smile. “Should we exchange gifts? What do you want for Christmas?”

You fold your arms, thinking. “Ehm. I know! I read it online earlier this morning, there’s a discount in the supermarket for instant noodles. Can you believe it? Buy three get two for free!”

“That’s not what I meant!” he whines. “Clothes? Books?”

“Not really; Why would I buy clothes when I spent most of my days in the apartment? And besides I’m broke.” Well, you’re not lying. Even though you’re gonna spend Christmas away from your family, it doesn't mean you won’t send them gifts, and with those pricey gifts and delivery fees; yeah, it costs you a little more than you’re expected.

Jimin pouts. “Fine… So no exchanging gifts then. Well, Christmas Eve is tomorrow anyway, there’s no way we can find gifts in such a short notice.”

You poke his sides playfully, “come on don’t be sad. And I remember you said something about baking?”

He smiles widely and rises from the couch. He walks inside his bedroom and returns with a legal pad in his hand. “What about decoration? I believe we can still find a Christmas tree downtown,” he suggests as he scribbles his ideas on the pad.

Your hand automatically stops his moving hand. “Let’s skip the Christmas tree. It’ll be too expensive. How about we just make paper chains or something like that?”

“Why? It’ll be like an investment! We can use it next year.”

“I know, but…” You bite your lips, hesitant to tell him. “It’s just…”

Jimin looks at you for a moment and then draws an X on the pad. “Fine. No decoration. Let’s keep our budget to minimum then. What about food?”

“I’m not sure. With all of the baking we’ll do, it’ll be a mess if we decided to cook too.”

Jimin taps his pencil on his chin. “You’re right. Let’s order pizza and chicken then?”

You give him a thumb up and pat his shoulder. “Okay. We should go shopping in the morning.” A yawn leaves your mouth and you rise from the couch. “Well, I’m going to retire for the night. Good night.”

“So early?” He looks at you with a raised eyebrow and then to your abandoned glass of wine. “Fine. See you tomorrow.”

You give him a wave and head to your room. With the weight in your heart, you plop on your bed and sigh. Again, you missed the chance to tell him that you’re going to move out. Your mind wonders whether it’s a good idea to spend Christmas Eve tomorrow with him. Just the thought of that makes your heart race again.

Get your head straight, Y/N!

He is your best friend. Control your feelings!

Just hang in there a little more, Y/N.

Hang in there…

You’re awakened by the sound of metal crashing outside your room. You grunt as you reach the phone, eyes widening when you see that it’s noon already. You rise and walk outside to look for Jimin.

“Hello, Sleepyhead.”

You rub your eyes slowly and stretch your body. You were asleep for more than twelve hours, and instead of energizing you, it physically drained you. Your body aches. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” you ask hoarsely.

Jimin smiles as he hands you a mug of hot chocolate. Even if it’s noon already, it’s still winter and sure a hot beverage wouldn’t hurt. And the time and weather on your phone says it’s actually colder than yesterday, which is why even Jimin wears a thick black turtleneck instead of his usual pajamas. Not that you’re complaining about it. He looks good, like very good. And he just stands out perfectly in your all-white kitchen. “Because I know you’re tired. I feel bad, too, because you did this because I asked you. I’m sorry. And besides, you’re scary when I wake you up by force.”

You sit on the counter, collecting warmth by holding the mug. “Thank you. But don’t feel bad. I agreed to do it, too. So, if you give me fifteen minutes we can go to shopping-”

“That’s not needed anymore.”

Your eyes widen in surprise as your lips touch the hot chocolate, dripping some of it from your mouth. “But.. I thought we’re gonna bake cookies?”

“Yes, we are.” He cleans your chin with his thumb slowly, makes you jolt a little at his touch. The way he licks his thumb casually afterward is not helping at all. “But I already went for groceries!”

“I see, but you should just wait for me. We could go together.” You blow the beverage to cool it down and sip it slower than before.

His hand travels to your cheek and pinches it softly. “That’s fine. So just wake up already and help me bake!”

You look puzzled and yet you walk back again to your room, leaving him humming Christmas songs in the kitchen. You lean on the back of your door after you close it. Your face feels hotter as if you can still feel his fingers on your face. Smooth and warm. The warmth slowly fills your chest and makes you hard to breathe. It’s like magic. And it's even more magical that you still can stand even though your knees are all wobbly.

You shake your head to clear your mind, to clear any unnecessary thoughts, and head to the bathroom. This is going to be a hard day.

Fifteen minutes later, you go back to the kitchen, finding Jimin playing with his iPad. “What cookies should we make?” you ask as you lean on the counter, head propped on your chin. You’re wearing your Christmas sweater that your mom sent you earlier this year. It has a Grinch on the front of it and a huge Christmas tree on the back. It screams ugly in every Christmas sweater contest. You’re supposed to wear this together with your family, sitting together in front of a fireplace. Since it’s not going to happen, at least the sweater can give you some warmth this Christmas.

He lifts his head up and his eyes fall on your green sweater. “It suits you really well, not gonna lie.” He throws his head back in laughter.

His laughter again sways your heart, stealing your breath. You hit him softly on his shoulder and tie your hair loosely in a low ponytail. “Shut up. So what should we make?”

“It’s gingerbread cookies! We can decorate them too. I bought like a dozen cookie cutters just for this day.” He opens a plastic box to show you proudly.

You pick some of the cookie cutters, trying to identify the shapes. “Are you sure you picked the right shapes? Isn’t this like a mermaid-ocean-package?”

“What?” He immediately scans the box and sighs. “Fuck, I’m sure I picked from the right shelf. I’m sorry.”

“What are you apologizing for? Maybe some people are mixing it up. That’s fine!” You pat his shoulder reassuringly.

Jimin grabs all of the cookie cutters and stuffs them into their box. “Just wait for an hour. I’m gonna have this exchanged.”

You grab his arms to stop him from walking away. “Don’t bother. They’re still cookies and edible even though they’re in different shapes. I mean, mermaids celebrate Christmas too, don’t they? In any case, it doesn’t really matter.”

“It does matter!” He pouts. “It’s our first Christmas together, I want it to be perfect.”

You chuckle. “Why would you want that?”

He sighs and scratches the back of his head. “I just feel we’ve been too distant lately, and you look very tired. I just want to make you happy.”

You freeze for a moment as you look at his face. A hopeful thought sneaks to your mind and you clear it immediately. “We can just make our shapes then. You know, just cut it with a knife or a toothpick or anything.”

He looks you back in the eyes, waiting for another reassurement. “Really?”

You smile. “Yes, it would be fun, making our own shapes. Besides, we don’t need perfect-shaped cookies just to make our Christmas perfect, do we?”

He returns your smile with a wider smile and pulls you into his chest. “Alright. Thank you, Y/N.”

You’re again puzzled with the sudden act and clear your throat as you pat his back. “Alright let’s bake some cookies then.”

He releases you immediately with pinkish cheeks.. “By the way, I’ve already mixed all of the ingredients a few hours ago, just so you know. The dough needed to be chilled.”

“Really? So I’m going to just cut them out and decorate it?”

“Yep.” He opens the fridge and pulls out a bowl of brown mixture. He scoops some flour with his hands to the counter and throws down the cookie dough. “Don’t worry I’ve cleaned the counter a few times.”

You’re not a cook yourself but you know a thing or two about cooking and baking. You baked cookies a lot when you're a kid, but as an adult? Not so much. So you just watch Jimin using his rolling pin to thin the dough with admiration on your face.

“What’re you doing? You should help me!”

“Oh right.” You laugh and walk to the sink to wash your hands. You snatch the rolling pin from his hand and start rolling it slowly. “Let me roll this.”

“Wait a minute.” He walks to the cabinet nearest you and grabs an apron. “Don’t want the Grinch to be dirty.” He unfolds the apron and throws the loop over your head.

You hold a breath when he touches your sides to tie the apron around your waist. You clear your throat just so you can distract yourself from the shivers that come from the feeling of his breath on your neck. “Is this fine?”

He pulls away from you. Looking around your shoulder, he eyes the dough. “I think this is the perfect thickness.”

“So how do you want to shape it?” Your hand moves to the corner of the tempting brown dough to rip it and puts it on your mouth, letting the dough melt on your tongue. You open the drawer to search for a small knife. “I’m thinking a puppy would be cute, but without the proper cutter, I’m afraid it’d turn out horrendous.”

“Oh my God, I just have a nice idea!“ He claps his hands together, eyes twinkling. “Should we have a competition then? ‘Who’d make the best identifiable cookies’. It would be like charades!”

You chuckle. “That’s like totally random. I think you hang out with Taehyung too much.” The second bite you ate is sweeter and all you can taste is just sweetness and the ginger. Did I taste some cinnamon in there?

He smiles proudly. “I think we can ask Taehyung to guess. What topic should we use… Animals would be too easy. How about food?”

“Fine! What’d the winner get?” you ask as your hand moves again towards the dough, but Jimin slaps it lightly.

“Why do you keep eating that? It has raw egg for god’s sake. Anyway, I think...” he rubs his chin and leaves a hint of flour on it, thinking. “What about the loser should grant the winner’s wish?”

You pout and use your sleeve to clean his chin. “A wish? Sure, but we should make some rule-”

“Make that three wishes,” he grins.

“Three??” your jaw drops.

He takes a step forward, forcing you to step back. Your hip bumps the counter as he reaches out his hand. “Are you afraid to lose, Y/N?”

You laugh in amazement. “No. Three wishes just for today,” you reply as you move closer to him and accept his hand. “Deal.”

After hours of baking the cookies, letting them cool off, and decorating them, it’s time to play the cookie charades, as Jimin named it. Both of you have written all of the answers on a piece of paper so it’d be fair, and no one can change the answer later.

Jimin holds his phone as he waits for Taehyung to answer the video calls. Just after a few rings, Taehyung picks up the phone. “What’s up Jimin? Aren’t you with Y/N?”

“Hey Tae!” you wave at the phone when Jimin shows it to you. “What are you doing? We miss you!”

“Nothing. I just played games for twenty -four hours straight so I’m resting my eyes right now. What do you want?”

Jimin clears his throat and faces the camera. “So, Y/N and I are baking cookies, and we want you to guess the shapes. It’s kind of a battle.”

Taehyung grunts. “Why would I want to get involved in your rivalry? It’s so bothersome.”

“If I win I can give you one of my wishes!” you chime in, snatching the phone from Jimin’s hand.

“Yah! That’s bribing.” Jimin yells.

You scoff. “Fine! Pretty please?”

Taehyung rolls his eyes and sighs. “Fine. Let’s just get this over with.”

Jimin snatches his phone again and flips the camera. “Alright, thirty seconds on the clock each part and you should answer as many cookies as you can. To be fair, we’re not telling you whose cookies they are. Do you understand?”

“Yes. Can we do this immediately?”

You open your timer on your phone and set to thirty seconds. “Alright, one two three. Start!”

The first cookie’s shaped like a circle, but decorated with multiple colors. It has a brown-black stripe, red stripe, and green stripe stacked between two brown-yellowish stripes. “Hmmm, Hamburger?” Taehyung answers.

“Correct!”

The second one is also a circle with a light brown color, with a little orange accent on it. “What’s that… a potato?” he squints his eyes as he looks at his phone screen closely.

“Wrong, it’s a hotteok.”

“The fuck I should know? It’s nothing like hotteok!” Taehyung rants on the other line, seemingly excited about the game.

“Just answer it! Fifteen seconds left!”

The rest fifteen seconds and another thirty seconds flew fast and Jimin concluded the game as he waves to Taehyung. “Alright, Tae. Thank you for playing with us. I hope to see you soon!” Jimin yells.

“So who’s the winner? Ya-” Taehyung asks as Jimin hangs up the phone.

Jimin puts his phone inside his pocket and looks at the answer sheets. “So, the first one has four rights and the second one has three rights. So that means…”

You bite the inside of your cheeks to control your emotion, but looking at Jimin’s face, you’re losing it. “FINE! You win!”

Jimin smiles wider as he jumps happily. “Of course I’d win!”

“I still think that putting Sprite as a question is cheating.” You cross your arms over your chest. “It’s not even a food!”

He laughs again mockingly, “It is if I say it is.”

You pout. “Fine, whatever. What are your wishes then? Remember, that those wishes are only valid until midnight.”

Jimin walks to the couch and sits with a smug expression on his face. “Let’s start with cleaning all of those cookie sheets and mixing bowls.” He picks up a remote and turns the TV on to play some movies. “Start cleaning, Cinderella!”

You sigh as you look at the piled-up dishes. Why did I even agree in the first place? you mumble quietly as you brush the crumbs from the pan and the hardened icing from the bowls. And the fact that it is filled with icing sugar before only makes it harder to clean. You scowl as you run them under the hot water, leaning in to scrub them more harshly.

“Don’t be mad, Y/N. You can win it next year,” Jimin reassures as he bites into his cookies. His voice is only half-mocking.

You slam the bowl into the sink with a clang, sending a cloud of bubbles across the counter. “Yeah, right. Like I would want to visit your apartment next year.”

“You what?” he asks, his voice blurred with the sound of the song coming from the TV. He turns his head to look at you weirdly.

You freeze, realizing that you just blurted the one thing you don’t want him to know. “Nothing,” you reply as you continue to wash the dishes, avoiding his gaze.

Jimin rises from the sofa and turns the TV off. He walks back to the kitchen and grabs your arm harshly, forcing you to look at him. “What do you mean?” His voice is cold, the smile vanished from his face.

“It’s nothing.” You try to brush his hand away and continue washing the dishes, but his grip tightens.

“I said, what do you mean?”

You take a deep breath. The scrubber slips from your hand under the water as you turn to face him. “I think I’m going to move out from this apartment.”

“What? Why?” His forehead creases. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No. Not at all. You’re a perfect roommate.” You clear your throat awkwardly. “It’s just, something happened.” You reach for the scrubber again.

He pulls at your sleeve, and you look at him again. “What happened? Is it a money thing? If it is, don’t worry about it. You don’t even have to pay right now. Just tell me.” His mouth is pursed with worry and your head roils with a sudden guilty feeling.

You shake your head weakly. “No, it’s not something like that. I’m fine.”

“Then why are you not telling me? I’m your best friend!”

“IT IS BECAUSE YOU’RE MY BEST FRIEND!” you yell, yanking your sleeve from his hand.

“What? What do you mean?” he demands.

You control your breaths. “Nothing.” You turn the faucet off and stomp towards your room. Jimin’s hand grabs you again before you get two steps, stopping you from leaving him. The warmth of his hand seeps into your body. You feel nauseous. You need to stay away from him right now. “I need some time alone.”

He bites his lips, annoyed with your answer. “Well, then you have to tell me what’s wrong.” He steps closer to you, eyes glaring. “It’s my second wish.”

“That’s not fair. I--” Tears threaten to fall at your sudden exposure.

“Tell me, Y/N. You promised me you’d gran-”

“I LIKE YOU, OKAY?” You confess as tears fall from your cheeks. Your knees turn weak after you let it out, and you slump at the counter. The secret that holds your relationship together, that makes you the way it was. It’s over for you and Jimin.

Jimin steps back from you, loosening his grip around your hand. “You what? Then why would you move out?” he asks softly.

Your fists tighten to stop your tears from falling even more. “I tried to not like you, but it is too hard, Jimin. I can’t control my feelings. I’m sorry. I really wanted to be your best friend and also your roommate, but I just ca-”

Your words are interrupted with his lips crashing on yours, catching you off guard. His lips are soft and you can taste the cinnamon-sweetness from the cookies mixed with the saltiness of your tears. Just when you try to comprehend what’s going on, he pulls away. His hands find their rest on your face and cup it gently, swiping any tears leaving from your eyes. He rests his forehead against yours and sighs. “You’re stupid.”

“Wha-what? Why?” you stutter, throat drying because of the sudden closeness.

“Why do you think I chose you to be my roommate?” His warmth spreads to your cheeks, sending another hope to you. His gaze softens and you gather all of your courage to meet him back. “It’s because I like you too.”

Again you freeze on the spot. Eyes widening, breath stopping. And it makes Jimin giggle. “I always liked you, Y/N.” He leans in and gives a chaste kiss on your nose and moves downward to plant another on your lips.

“Bu-but I thought you.. With Jisoo….” There’s no way Jimin would like you. It doesn’t make any sense. You pull away from him. “Stop playing with me.”

Jimin pulls you in his chest, resting his chin on your head. “I don’t know what you are talking about, Y/N. There’s never been another woman. It's always been you.” He takes a deep breath, and continues. “Jisoo is my cousin, and she knows about my feelings.”

“Cousin?”

“Yes. She sometimes crashes at our apartment when she has a fight with her boyfriend, who is, by the way, none other than our dear friend Taehyung.” Jimin smiles and pulls away, but keeps his arms holding your waist close to him. “And even though she sleeps here, I always take the couch. She always leaves early in the morning because Taehyung picks her up. Their relationship is a little weird, if I may say so.”

“Taehyung?”

“Look I can even call my family members just to prove it to you, if it’s what you want.”

You shake your head, looking lost. You know Jimin is telling you the truth, but still you can’t believe that he likes you. Like he actually likes you.

“I was going to tell you tonight, but this somehow happened.” He calls your name softly to gain your attention. “So yeah, I like you a lot. And don’t ask me ‘since when’, because I don’t even know the answer. It just grows each day and each moment I spend with you.”

And just like that relief washes in you along with your tears. All of the thoughts you have of losing Jimin are vanished. All of your doubts are answered. You bury your head in his shoulder.

Jimin laughs and hugs you tighter. “Why are you crying?” He strokes your back to calm you down as you sob in his chest. “It must have been bothering you a lot, does it? I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you this.”

“I’m not stupid.” You sniffle as you put your arms around him, hugging him back.

“Sure, you’re not.” He laughs again and kisses the top of your head lovingly. “So, here’s my third wish.”

Your eyes widen with the sudden change of topic, looking at him in confusion. “Like right now? Wha-what is it?”

He looks directly to your eyes, gaze softens each time he takes a deep breath. And with this proximity, you can hear his heart racing inside his chest, playing the rhythm answered with your own beat. Not even a Christmas carol can top this symphony. Not when the world is only yours and Jimin. Not when is just you and Jimin, and nothing else matters.

And finally, Jimin opens his lips slowly. “Be my girlfriend?”

Thank you for reading! Hope you all have a merry christmas!!

[doberbutts]

I was looking at getting my dog a friend and…. Dog rescue adoption fees are through the roof? 300 dollars? There were flooded with a hoarder surrender with 70+ dogs and… I don’t get it? That feels wrong and prohibitive and kinda classist tbh? Am I off base?

If the adoption fee includes spay/neuter, vaccinations, and microchip I don’t really think it’s classist or prohibitive. Those things will cost the average person more than that if you just get a cheap/free dog from someone and bring your dog in to the vet. While I don’t think sterilization is a necessary surgery, due to the way most state animal rescue laws are written, they’re usually legally required in order for the rescue to be labeled, well, a rescue. Here in CT to sterilize my dogs it would cost anywhere from 600-900USD. Vaccination through the same vet is about $100 per visit and you’d need at least two different visits for rabies and parvo/distemper (and due to where I work I usually do bordetella as well, which can be done at the same time as the combo shot). I’m not sure what a microchip would cost since all of my dogs were chipped as babies before they left their breeder, but I know through the low cost vax clinics they’re about $20 so I’d probably just round up the combo parvo/distemper visit to something like $200 for everything. So that’s... minimum $900-1200 for the same service on each of my dogs, or paying $300 to pick a dog up from a rescue that does it for you prior to going home.

That’s also IF the dog did not require any sort of vet care going in. If Tater were to enter rescue, she would likely need a dental due to some staining and an MRI- that’s somewhere between $3000-$5000 at a regular vet. Depending on what the MRI revealed she would need either lifelong medication that she’s already on, or a medication adjustment which would possibly become fairly expensive. Fae and Tater both would require extra care during their spays due to their small size and their brachycephalic head shape. Creed has a recent cancer diagnosis and is a senior doberman so would need a chest x-ray, an abdominal ultrasound, and a check to the lymph nodes as well as some heart testing and bloodwork before he goes under (which is what made his surgery to remove the tumor so expensive!). Sushi, really, is the only one who would cost that minimum price I quoted, the rest would be far more.

Unfortunately, these things cost money. The days of rescues costing under $100 are almost dead and gone. These days those cheap rescue dogs are coming from flooded shelters who do not have the means or time to deal with literal hundreds of dogs coming in every day and they often don’t really do anything outside of house the dogs until someone picks them up, and they’re the ones that give the new owner a voucher for free/cheap vet care for the owner to use on their own time. However that means that no one really knows anything about that dog, whether it’s healthy, whether it’s safe, just that it was there for longer than the stray hold and hasn’t tried to kill anyone as of yet. True rescue lottery.

Also like... rescues need money to run. It costs money to keep the lights on. It costs money to feed the dogs. It costs money to make necessary repairs to the building. To have running water. To network and transport the dogs. To file the appropriate paperwork. To obtain permits for adoption events.

Lastly if you cannot afford a $300 adoption fee you also genuinely probably cannot afford the dog. I drop $300 on my dogs for vet care with regularity. Sushi broke her leg after accidentally getting stomped by Creed when she chomped his balls- that was $300 vet visits per week until it was healed. She also had a UTI, that was $300. I work at a pet store and even though I vaccinate for it, we get kennel cough burning through the house once a year when all those import dogs are brought in. I have four dogs, that’s about $300-500 each time this happens in medication and chest x-rays for those most at-risk. Tater suddenly developed a debilitating neurological condition that needed emergency care, that was $700 in a 24 hour period. Fae had a random wild allergic reaction and her whole face swelled up, that was $300. Creed had a lump appear and grow and become suspicious within a few weeks and that was $1300 to remove. My rescue chihuahua cost me $6000 over a five month period and died anyway. If you can’t afford $300 on the dog- which should only be that much with included vet care- how can you afford the rest? What will you do if something like this happens?

[amerie-wadia]

jj spends all the restitution money on a hot tub and misses his hearing. he doesn’t tell pope. 

a mayward one-shot that has been floating around my head since the first time I watched the show. i've read so many post-canon mayward fics (and they’re all great) but none of the ones i’ve read really address jj’s restitution money. i wanted this to be longer but i hate writing about legal stuff since i don’t understand it, so this is somewhat short. i don’t think i’m gonna make a part two, but i might write like an established relationship drabble in this same series/universe/canon. 

Pope knows it’s a bad idea to go to JJ’s house. He’s been there a handful of times before and usually Luke is off playing poker, working, or getting drunk at his favorite bar. This time is different, though. This time, it’s been two weeks since he’s heard from JJ and JJ has no idea Pope is coming. The last time Pope showed up out of the blue JJ was sending bullets through his childhood teddy bear.

When Pope parked his car in the driveway of beaten down grass and sand, it was like looking at still water. The only movement or sign of life surrounding the house was the soft sea breeze rippling through the branches and the tattered screens that no longer stuck to their frames. Pope hesitated before stepping out of the car.

Luke is a scary dude. Luke scares Pope more than anybody on the island and when he opens the front door, he looks pissed.

“The hell do you want?”

Pope figured it was obvious—that he had come for JJ—but Luke didn’t appear to be connecting any of the dots. Pope glanced over Luke’s shoulder, he had never seen the inside of JJ’s house. Dishes, dust balls, and bottles littered the living room where Pope could see. The smell was strong and Pope couldn’t tell what it was. It didn’t smell like weed, but it also didn’t smell like a cigarette. He figured it must be a mix of sweat, alcohol, and garbage. The only thing he could even compare it to was bile.

“Is JJ home?”

“No.” Short and stark. His eyes didn’t even blink and he looked ready to close the door so Pope quickly interjected, still keeping his distance.

“When will he be home?”

“He’s not.”

Which wasn’t even a full sentence and Pope couldn’t figure out what Luke meant by it.

“What?”

Luke rolled his eyes and sighed as if Pope was a nail under his foot.

“He’s not coming home, kid. So get out of here.”

“Why? Where is he?” Pope knew he shouldn’t push, especially with someone like Luke, but his answers were vague and peculiar and the last time Pope saw JJ was the night John B died. He needed to make sure JJ was okay.

“Wadesboro.”

Oh. Oh shit.

“What? Why?”

“Kid, I don’t have time for the interrogation. I have a business to run, so you get off my property before you make me mad.”

Pope thought Luke had been mad the whole time but now his fists were clenched and as much as Pope needed to keep asking, he knew the answers had already stopped coming.

“Thank you.”

“Get out of here.”

Luke had disappeared into the house by the time Pope was starting up the engine. Wadesboro? How the hell had JJ managed to get himself thrown in juvie in the two weeks since Pope had seen him? Not that JJ getting arrested shocked Pope, per se, but still it shocked him. Pope pulled out of the driveway and went fifteen over the speed limit until he got to Kie’s house.

“Kiara!” He called out as he padded his knuckles against her front door, ringing the bell enough times that his own father would give him a soft smack on the back of his head. “Kiara, open the door!”

He rang the bell two more times before the door opened and Kiara’s wide eyes met his own.

“What’s wrong?” she asked immediately, reaching out to tug him inside. Pope realized his hands were shaking a little bit when she wove her own through his.

“It’s JJ.”

“You finally heard from him?” She pulled him up the stairs and over to her bedroom. It was only the second time Pope had ever been in it and the lines were too straight, the floors too clean, and her shelves too neat for the room to feel like Kie’s.

“I went to his house,” he admitted and as Kie’s mouth opened wide to reprimand him, he continued. “He wasn’t home and his dad told me that he’s in Wadesboro.”

“Wadesboro?” Pope could tell she really didn’t understand because she still looked angry.

“Juvie.”

Her face dropped and she plopped down beside Pope.

“Why?”

“He wouldn’t tell me. What do we do?” Pope could feel the panic in his voice and Kie held onto his hand again and gave it a squeeze.

“We can use my dad’s lawyer. We can go visit him.”

“When can we visit him?”

“I don’t know. Here,” she said, opening up her phone to Google. “I’ll look up their visiting hours and we can go see him.”

“Do you think he’s scared?” Pope asked, because it felt wrong to ask if he was okay. He knew Kiara didn’t actually have a good answer for him. She just nodded and continued to type with her thumbs.

It calms Pope to watch her focused, watch her biting her lip. She finds the hours and tells Pope that next weekend they can go.

“That’s in four days away!” Pope exclaims, as if Kie doesn’t know and as if being upset could solve his problem. Usually, Pope is the one finding the solution but right now all he can think about is JJ sitting in a prison cell and an orange jumpsuit.

“Oh wait,” Kie interjects, softer and it worries Pope. “No, we can’t. He has to put us on a visitation list otherwise we can’t see him.”

“How do we contact him to put us on a visitation list if we can’t see him?”

“I don’t know.”

“Kie?”

“Yeah?” she asks, finally drawing her attention away from the phone and back to Pope. He feels himself near tears and he thinks she might be too. “Do you think this is my fault?”

“What? Of course, not,” she insists, her voice gentle and high and she squeezes his hand. “Why would you even think that?”

“I let him take the fall for me. What if he couldn’t pay back the restitutions and now he’s in jail because of me?”

“Juvie. He’s in juvie not prison.”

“it’s the same thing.”

“No, it’s not.”

“We have to help him.”

Her face softens again and she just nods, resting her head on his shoulder as if the idea how helping JJ has already exhausted her.

“We should talk to your dad’s lawyer, then.”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe he can get us on a visitation list, at least.”

———————————————————————

“Who are you?” JJ asks when somebody who is absolutely not his lawyer takes a seat on the other side of the table. There is nobody else there but JJ can see the guard’s shoulder through the little square window on the door. His right hand is cuffed to the table and he’s sweating through his clothes and even he can smell his own odor. The man sitting down beside him has a suit and gelled hair and wristwatch. He smiles slightly at JJ and it makes him squirm.

“My name is Gabe Walters. I am your friend Kiara Carrera’s father’s lawyer. They’re really worried about you, bud.”

Bud sounds weird. Bud makes JJ feel even more uncomfortable and he wishes he had something in his hands to fiddle with.

“I already have a lawyer.”

“You have a public defender, is that right?”

JJ nods because, to be honest, he doesn’t know if that’s what the first guy was called. The new lawyer sounds very confident when he says it, so JJ just goes along with it.

“The Carrera’s would like for me to represent you. I think I can get you out of here. Is that something you would like?”

The way he worded that comment was sneaky and JJ knows this guy already thinks he’s a loose cannon. Maybe he is a loose cannon. He doesn’t want a pity lawyer. He has no idea how Kiara even found out he was in. juvie.

“I already have a lawyer,” he says again, quieter, because he really doesn’t know what to do and the guard outside has turned around to glance inside the room and it’s distracting. JJ adjusts the way he sitting and kicks as his toes.

“I can’t force you to do anything. But I have a lot more time and more resources than the lawyer you have now. I know, Jim, he’s a good guy. But he has a pile of cases so high he can’t see the top.”

JJ shrugged, wanting to say yes but also knowing very well that he couldn’t. He didn’t have the money to pay the restitution let alone pay a fancy lawyer to get him out of juvie for not having enough money.

“I can’t afford it anyway,” he finally said after a minute of silence that he was dying to break.

“I don’t think you understood, son. You wouldn’t owe me any money. The Carrera’s want to cover the legal fees.”

Fuck no.

“No, that’s okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“They shouldn’t have to pay anything.”

The lawyer sighed and rested his hands on the table. He was looking too deeply into JJ’s eyes so JJ reverted his gaze down to his lap, all too aware of how grimy and tired he looked. It was pathetic.

“I know how important pride can be, especially when you’re in a place like this where they’ll try to strip you of every ounce of what you’ve got. I sat where you when I was seventeen. I had a shit lawyer and I ended up serving three years for stealing a bag of chips. I didn’t have anybody in my life offering me a hand. You don’t have to take it, I’ll leave right now if you ask. But I’d think all of this over before you make your decision.”

It was patronizing, but comforting. JJ looked up and the lawyer’s eyes were still glued to his own.

“You think you can get me out?” JJ asked softly. The lawyer nodded.

“I can’t make any promises, but I think there’s a very strong possibility I could get you home within the next two weeks.”

Home. JJ wanted nothing more in the world to go home. His bed, his pillow, clean underwear, pooping with the door closed.

“Okay, then.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes, sir.”

———————————————————————

Kie’s dad’s lawyer gets her and Pope on the waiting list for the following weekend and she offers to drive since Pope is a terrible driver when he is anxious. Plus, he always goes exactly the speed limit and it makes Kie go ballistic. She picks him up Saturday morning and they stop at McDonald’s on the way there for breakfast.

Normally, Kie has music queued up for long car rides. Today the drive is silent.

After around five hours, they pull up to the detention center. It’s cold and lifeless and wrapped in a snake of barbed wire fences. There are boys outside playing basketball and walking around a track. Kie looks over to Pope and he looks paralyzed.

“If you can’t go in, it’s okay,” she tries to reassure him. She knows how scared he is of the prison. How scared he is to see JJ. She reaches out for his hand.

“I can do it,” he says, voice quiet but determined. Kie just nods and turns off the engine.

It takes them a few minutes to find the correct entrance and then they go through security, sign in, and take a seat in the waiting room. The chairs are made of plastic and leave imprints on Kie’s thighs but she can feel how close they are to JJ. There are a few other people in the waiting room, one looks like a lawyer, there is a set of grandparents, and a woman who is likely somebody’s mother. She’s crying and it makes Kie’s stomach churn. The two guards standing by the door are chatting, laughing. While the woman cries.

“Alright, this way,” a guard finally instructs the two of them down a hall. Kie can see windows beginning to line the wall ahead. It’s the visitation room. Her heartbeat increases and Pope squeezes her hand. “Only thirty seconds of touching, you cannot give him anything, and we have the right to escort you out immediately should the situation escalate.”

Kie isn’t paying attention to what the guard is saying because as he opens up the door to the room she spots a blond head of hair.

“JJ!” Pope cries, both of them dashing toward where JJ is sitting. He stands, turning to look at them, and they both stop in their tracks. He has a dark bruise lining his neck like a noose and his eye is purple. The smell is putrid. He doesn’t move, just blinks as he takes them in. A huge grin grows over his face and Pope throws himself at JJ.

Pope takes all thirty seconds so Kie just gives him the best smile she can muster up and takes a seat beside Pope. JJ won’t stop smiling and Kie wants to smile back, she really does, but he looks to terrible and Pope’s hands are shaking and there are way too many other people in the room.

“Are you okay, dude?” Pope speaks first, voice warm and grounding and it brings Kie out of her head and into the moment.

“Never been better,” JJ lies, giving them a shrug and his smile drops for a moment. She sees the exhaustion and hurt in his eyes before he brings the smile back, even if it’s just for a second it was there. “I mean, it could be a lot worse.”

“How long have you been here?” Kie asks. JJ doesn’t meet her eyes, just looks down at his hands and then up at Pope.

“Only a week.”

“What the hell happened?” she asks when he doesn’t elaborate.

“Missed my hearing. Forfeited my plea deal when I bought that stupid hot tub.”

Kie’s eyes are welling up by how cold his voice sounds. He’s still smiling but his eyes are hollow.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Pope asks, so delicately that Kie almost didn’t even hear it. “Do they let you use the phone.”

“It costs money to call somebody in a prison.”

“JJ,” Kie melts, feeling a tear roll down her cheek but she tries to wipe it away before anybody noticed. She knew she couldn’t get too emotional right now. She needed to focus on JJ right now.

“Call us tomorrow, yeah?” Pope asks, but it doesn’t sound like a question.

“There won’t be much new to talk about.”

“We’ve missed you.”

Kie nods her head in agreement, not trusting her own voice quite yet. JJ keeps his stupid fake smile on his face and scratches at the back of his neck. Involuntarily, he reminds them both of the bruising around his neck.

“How long are you going to be in here?” Pope asks.

“At least until my next hearing. Maybe longer.”

“When is the hearing? We’ll come,” Kie offered, her voice shaky but she tries to steady it.

“It’s two weeks from tomorrow,” JJ comments and Kie pictures him sitting in a cell and counting down the days. “And thanks, but since I’m under eighteen you actually can’t come.”

Pope lets out a trembling breath and Kie knows how hard he’s fighting not to break down. JJ still sounds and looks lifeless, hiding behind his smile.

There’s yelling from across the room and the guards are rushing over to break it up. They announce that visiting hours are over because of the fight and JJ loses his fake smile. The guards step closer to escort Pope and Kiara out but before they arrive JJ grabs a hold of Pope and tucks his head against his shoulder. Pope holds onto him for a moment—even kisses his forehead, which makes Kie really want to cry because Pope is the kindest person she knows—and then the guards pull them apart. They’re too aggressive with both of them and Kie wants to yell but she’s afraid and so she holds onto Pope and tells him that it’s going to be okay.

A guard manhandles JJ out of the room, his grip hard and frank, but JJ doesn’t look to put up a fight. He smiles to Pope and Kie. She can’t tell if it’s genuine but she gives him a small smile back until he’s being led out the door and Pope and herself out another. The visit was supposed to be a lot longer. Kie still has so much she wanted to ask.

The second they get in the car, Pope starts to cry. Kie shoves down her own desire to let it out and pulls Pope into a hug. His grip on her is tight and she buries her face against his chest as it bounces up and down to the rhythm of his cries.

———————————————————————

JJ calls Pope every day. He waits in line for usually about an hour or two until one of the phones is free and dials up Pope’s number—another guy had to teach him out to use the payphone, but it wasn’t that once he figured it out. Pope picks up after two rings every time. They talk until the guard tells JJ his time is up.

“How did the date go?” JJ asks since the day before Pope told JJ that he and Kiara were having a date night.

“It was nice.”

“High praise,” JJ jokes, and it feels so good to be light-hearted for a moment, to hear Pope chuckle through the phone. JJ feels hot eyes on his back from other guys waiting to use the phone but he curls toward the wall and clutches the phone close to his ear.

“Things are awkward between us. Like, we both care a lot about each other…” Pope trails off and JJ would let him finish but they don’t have an unlimited number of minutes.

“But?”

“But sometimes I wonder if us being together is actually a good idea.”

“Oh, shit.”

“Like, I care about her obviously. And we like spending time together but when it comes to the romantic stuff, it just feels weird.”

“She’s a bad kisser?”

“No! No. But, I mean, I don’t feel much emotionally when she kisses me.”

“But you feel it physically?” JJ laughs and he can feel Pope rolling his eyes.

“I’m being serious, JJ. I think we might break up.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not going to affect the Pogues though. I mean, we’ve talked about it actually, what we would do if we broke up.”

“You know, talking about how you would handle a breakup in the first three weeks of dating usually isn’t a good sign,” JJ comments.

“You’re telling me. Have you heard any more from your lawyer about the hearing?”

“Nope.”

“Are you ready?”

“It’s not like I’m the one who actually has to do anything.”

“I’m ready for you to get out of there.”

“Me too.”

The guard tells JJ the time is up and Pope tells JJ he loves him. JJ says it back. It’s just something they do now.

JJ likes it a lot more than he would ever admit. He thinks about it when he sits back down on his bed. His roommate is reading a book, not angry right now like he usually is, and JJ lays down and stares at the cinderblock wall, thinking about Pope and Kie having to break up. Thinking about his hearing. Thinking about Pope. Thinking about his dad. Thinking about how he has to go to the bathroom but isn’t in the mood. Thinking about going home.

———————————————————————

Pope and Kie wait outside the courtroom, Heyward sitting them beside and Mr. Carrera. Pope has told his dad the day before that he was going to go to JJ’s hearing and just sit outside, in case they released JJ on the spot. Heyward had done a double take and then immediately picked up the phone. Pope had thought his dad was ignoring him and was annoyed until five minutes later he popped his head in Pope’s doorway and told him he got his work shift covered and he would come too.

Mr. C and Heyward talked about fishing quietly, blissfully unaware that Pope and Kie had broken up the night before. It had been a loving breakup—if you can call a breakup loving. Kie had agreed it would be for the best. She said she never wanted to lose their friendship and Pope had been eternally grateful for how amazing of a person his best friend was. He reached out for her hand about halfway through the hearing as he started to get lost in his worries. She gave it a squeeze.

The doors open and Mr. and Mrs. Thornton spilled out first. They were both standing too straight and it made Pope uncomfortable but they walked out with their lawyer and then JJ’s lawyer made his way through the doorway. Then Luke. Then JJ.

Pope felt like he had just lost one hundred pounds.

“You’re out!” Kie cried excitedly. JJ flashes her a big smile and this time it looked genuine. Luke said something to the lawyer and then reached out for JJ’s arm. The flinch was tiny, but Pope noticed it.

“JJ, it’s good to see you,” Heyward started, but Luke gave him a wild look and then tugged JJ.

“You can talk to your friends later. We need to have a chat.”

Mr. Carrera took a step in front of them to block the path to the exit.

“Our kids have been waiting here for two hours and would appreciate a moment to say hello.”

Kie’s dad had balls. Luke didn’t seem to care.

“I’d appreciate it if you took a step back.”

His words were vicious and JJ started down at his feet. JJ’s entire body was tense and he was biting down on his lip and Pope had never in his life seen JJ looked so scared. Pope’s chest hurt and he squeezed Kie’s hand.

“Take a step back. And don’t you talk to me about my boy again.” He turned to JJ. “Outside, now.”

Mr. C took a step to the side and Luke pulled JJ out of the courthouse.

“You know,” the lawyer said quietly to Mr. C—but Pope was good at eavesdropping and listened. “I know a good Children and Youth Services lawyer. If that’s necessary.”

Pope’s blood boiled when Mr. C just nodded and shrugged. What can ya do? There was a lot they could fucking do. Heyward lead Pope and Kiara out of the courthouse while Mr. Carrera talked a little bit more to the lawyer.

At least JJ wasn’t in juvie anymore.

“Have either of you ever met JJ’s dad?” Heyward asked as they walked outside. Kie shook her head but Pope nodded. “When?”

“About a week ago.”

“I don’t want you ever going near that man again, got it?”

Pope got it. Kie nodded too, even though Heyward had no control of her here.

“If you ever JJ say something that sounds off about it, I want you to let me know.”

It was too late for that, and Pope wasn’t sure if he even could tell his dad what he knew about Luke. What he figured was about to happen. It made him feel sick. But he agreed and so did Kiara.

“What an ass,” came Mr. Carrera’s voice as he approached the three. “Excuse my language, honey.”

Kie looked over to Pope as if to silently ask what they could do to help JJ. Pope shrugged.

“We drive all this way, provide him with a lawyer that actually gets his kid out of juvie, and he can’t even let the kids say hello?”

Heyward was mad, but Mr. Carrera seemed genuinely shocked. He must not have heard the rumors about Luke Maybank before.

———————————————————————

“How did the hearing go, baby?” Pope’s mom asks when they arrive home.

“He’s out of juvie.”

“Isn’t that wonderful. Maybe we can have him over for dinner one night this week to celebrate.” It’s the first time either one of his parents have ever asked Pope to invite JJ to their house. Heyward sighs behind Pope as he places the key ring on a hook and comes into the kitchen to start up the electric kettle.

“Pope why don’t you go and lay your suit across my bed. I can put it away for you,” his mom instructs. He knows that they just want him to leave the room so they can talk about JJ and his father. Pope wants to leave before they start asking him questions he’s not allowed to answer, so he grabs a cheese-stick from the fridge and makes his way to his bedroom.

He has two unread messages from Kie but he’s not really in the mood to answer them. He changes his clothes and places the suit on the bed like he was told. He opens up his phone and sends a text to JJ, asking him how he’s doing and when they can hang out. He doesn’t expect a response back tonight, but he hopes that he’ll get one anyway. He’s used to talking to JJ every day.

Pope waits until his mom calls him back into the kitchen for dinner. They don’t talk much about the hearing or JJ or JJ’s father during dinner. Pope finishes quickly, thanks them, cleans his dishes, and heads to bed. He’s wiped out from the day and he has to get up early to tutor a freshman in geometry the next morning, so he’s ready to get in bed and go to sleep by ten.

He comes very close to falling asleep when he hears a clinking sound. Then another. And another. It’s coming from his window. Kiara can’t throw for shit, so his mind goes straight to JJ and he’s rushing over to the window to pull the blinds up. Sure enough, JJ is standing in his backyard, throwing pebbles at Pope’s first floor bedroom window.

“Be careful, you could break a window,” Pope says as he slides the window up high enough for JJ to crawl through.

JJ’s not crying and he’s not covered in blood, which Pope takes as a good sign. As he stumbles to his feet, Pope sees the bruises peaking below the hem of his shirt. JJ tugs it down into place.

“Are you okay?” Pope asks because what else is there to say.

“Fine. I just couldn’t stay in that house any longer.”

JJ’s words are practiced and Pope knows they’re a façade, but Pope also knows this is not the time for an argument.

“Are you gonna stay for the night?”

“If that’s cool?”

“It’s good, I just need to go get the air mattress.”

“No!” JJ cries and reaches his hand out as if to pull Pope back. “I don’t want to wake your parents.”

“They’re asleep, they won’t hear.”

“Please, Pope.”

Pope isn’t sure if he has ever heard JJ say please in his life so he respects his wishes. Pope has a twin bed, so he’ll just sleep on the floor and let JJ take the bed.

“Do you want to shower or have something to eat?” Pope asks, trying not to sound too gentle because he doesn’t want to embarrass JJ. JJ’s eyes fall and he shrugs. Pope takes it as a yes.

“I’ll get you some food, the bathroom is just down the hall. Don’t turn the handle too far left or the water will burn you.”

JJ doesn’t say anything but Pope hands him a clean towel and heads into the kitchen to heat up some of the leftover mac and cheese. Pope wonders how much JJ ate in juvie. How much JJ eats at home.

He can hear his parents faintly arguing in their bedroom from the kitchen and tries to block it out but he hears JJ’s name and instantly panics.

“You think DCS doesn’t know about his father? Do you know how many times I dropped Pope off to elementary school and that little boy was bruised or bleeding? We have nothing to report that they don’t already know.”

“You should’ve heard the way he spoke today. The way he scared that kid.”

“I believe you, baby.”

“We have to do something.”

“We’ll have the boy over for dinner. As many dinners as he wants.”

It wasn’t really a fight, just louder than usual. The microwave buzzed and Pope removed the plate and fished a spoon out of the drawer for JJ. He took them back into his room even though he technically wasn’t allowed to have food in his room. And technically he wasn’t—JJ was. There was no rule that JJ couldn’t eat in his room.

And after the conversation he had overheard, Pope didn’t think his parents would actually be upset if they found out.

JJ walked back into the bedroom shortly after Pope. He was wearing the same clothes from earlier but his hair was wet so Pope figured he must’ve showered. Pope ushered to the mac and cheese sitting on his desk and JJ took a seat.

“It’s not as good in the microwave, but it would’ve taken forever to turn on the oven.”

“It’s perfect,” JJ hummed, shoving heaping spoonfuls of pasta into his mouth until he started to cough. Pope, unthinkingly, reached out to put a hand on JJ’s back and it caused JJ to jump out of his seat and he fell on his butt beside the desk. Wide-eyed and quick-breathed, JJ scooted further against the wall until it hit his back.

Pope took a step back and held his hand to his chest.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t think.”

“I’m fine you just uh startled me,” JJ said, trying to sound nonchalant but his voice cracked and his eyes were still big.

“JJ.”

JJ swallowed and Pope noticed the spit up pieces of mac and cheese on the carpet. They would probably stain. JJ’s eyes had gone wet and Pope hesitantly stood before him. He held his hands up so JJ could see where they were. That they weren’t reaching out to hurt him. With his eyes locked onto JJ’s, he reached out a hand to help JJ up.

“I’m sorry,” JJ whispered, taking Pope’s outstretched hand and helping tug himself up. JJ looked to the floor where the mac and cheese had sprinkled. “Shit.”

“Don’t worry about that. Just eat slowly, okay? We have more if you’re still hungry.”

JJ nods and takes a seat in Pope’s desk chair, taking a significantly smaller bite of mac and cheese. If it wasn’t so hearting breaking it might be funny how the moment he begins chewing a tear falls down his cheek. But it is heart breaking and Pope doesn’t know what to do because he’s not good with words and he can’t touch JJ. He sits at the edge of his bed so they’re close, but he doesn’t touch. JJ doesn’t wipe his tears away, and he eats slowly just like Pope suggested.

He finishes what’s left on the plate and tries to steady his breathing but his chest is rising and falling rapidly and Pope notices the way JJ is fiddled his thumbs around the hem of his shirt.

“You take the bed,” Pope says, standing up and taking a few steps back so that he’s not in JJ’s space.

“That’s stupid,” JJ whispers.

“It’s not stupid at all.”

JJ looks up at him and Pope realizes he hasn’t actually stopped crying yet. Pope motions his arm toward the bed even though he wants to reach out and pull JJ into a hug. But he can’t. JJ stands and climbs into the bed. He lays above the covers so Pope grabs a fuzzy blanket from the upper shelf of his closet and sets it at the foot of the bed.

“If you need it,” he says. JJ pats the space beside him softly and Pope freezes.

“Please?”

His voice is barely there and there are still tears running down his cheeks and Pope is in absolutely no position to say no to JJ right now.

Pope slides into the bed, laying down on his side and sticking his hands under his head so that they’re face to face. JJ blinks, tears fall, and he reaches his hand out to the middle of the space between them with his palm facing up. Pope isn’t sure if it’s what JJ wants, but he pulls his hand out from under his head and places it on top of JJ’s. JJ grips his hand instantly and Pope feels relief wash over him.

“Are you okay?” Pope asks again, wondering if maybe in the dark JJ will have a different answer than he had before.

“No.”

“Can I hold you?”

Pope is surprised he even asked the question and wants to take it back the moment he opens his mouth. It sounds so stupid and JJ gives him a confused look and Pope feels like an idiot.

But then JJ mumbles, “Yeah,” and Pope doesn’t feel like an idiot anymore.

He reaches his free hand out above them and JJ burrows into the space between Pope’s chest and his arms and Pope wraps his arm down across JJ’s back. JJ’s tears are wet against his shirt and they seep through his skin. It’s sticky.

“I’m so glad you’re home,” Pope says, wanting to see JJ smile. JJ doesn’t smile though, only chokes on his breath. “JJ?”

“I didn’t mean to,” he whispers. It’s hard to hear him before JJ is speaking into Pope’s chest but he manages to decipher the message. “I never mean to do it.”

“It’s not your fault.” JJ doesn’t seem to hear and continues mumbling into Pope’s shirt.

“I didn’t mean to do forget the hearing or spend all the restitution money. I didn’t mean to.”

Pope’s heart is crumbling like rubble to ash and he can’t seem to hold JJ any tighter so he uses one of his hands to run circles around his back because it always calms Pope when his mother does it to him.

“It’s not your fault.”

“I didn’t mean to get John B killed or break up you and Kie.”

“You didn’t get JB killed, man,” Pope says, even though it feels weird to call JJ man when he’s holding him so gently. “And Kie and I didn’t break up because of you.”

JJ shakes his head and continues rambling as his cries begin manifesting into sobs.

“I didn’t mean to make Mom leave.”

Pope thinks JJ might be too far gone to realize what he’s saying at this point.

“I know,” Pope says, running his hand through JJ’s hair and then brings it to his back again to run his fingertips around. “It’s alright.”

JJ shakes his head again but he’s finished talking—unable to get anything else now that he is sobbing. His fingers are twisting Pope’s shirt and he can feel his nails lightly throw the fabric across his chest. It doesn’t hurt, but it reminds Pope that JJ isn’t just sad but angry too. That JJ isn’t just soft but has sharp edges and steep slopes.

“It’s alright,” Pope says again, brushing through JJ’s hair and across the skin of his arms as he tries to sooth him. JJ clings to him.

The sobs eventually die down and JJ’s hand loses its grip on Pope’s shirt. Pope can hear snores escaping his lungs and feels relieved that he’s fallen asleep. Pope holds him just as tight, taking the blanket from the end of the bed and uses his foot to pull it closer. He wraps it around them both—giving the vast majority of the blanket to JJ. He brushes the hair out of JJ’s eyes and tries to keep his fingers as far from the purple and blue skin as he can.

In his sleep, JJ curls closer to Pope.

Since JJ is asleep and Pope wants to scream but cannot, he chooses instead to press a kiss to JJ’s forehead. It’s all he can think to do. It’s not enough.

———————————————————————

tagging: @kikifromtheblock (if anybody would like to be added to a mayward taglist, feel free to lmk!)

[notthatiwilleverwriteit]

Hi! What do you think of the mafia side of manhua? Do you have any headcanon ?

Hello, dear anon!

I’m so sorry I’ve kept your ask waiting for so long because I’ve been taking a break from the inbox. Thank you very much for your patience!

I have talked about my take on the mafia side of 19 Days a couple of times by now:

He Cheng and Mr. Jian headcanons

Are Mr. Jian and Mr. He acquainted?

The He brothers and He Cheng kidnapping Jian Yi

About the mafia stuff in general in 19 Days

Could He Tian work for his family in the future?

I’m probably going to repeat some of the things but I would recommend checking out those previous asks.

“What do you think of the mafia side of manhua?”

I’m quite interested in it. First of all, it carries a lot of big plot elements and questions we have been waiting to be answered for years. The mafia storyline makes up a lot of the overall story of 19 Days, and I wish the comic would pick up the pace regarding that. I love seeing the relationships between the boys progress but I also feel like stretching the mafia storyline out for years can be risky when it comes to consistency.

As a writer, the mafia aspect also appeals to my personal aesthetics. Mafia stories have such great potential for dark, angsty, and mature characters and relationships. I think 19 Days has shown some great complexity and layeredness in regards to what is right and wrong, what is black and what is white. Some of the relationships revolve around seeing someone from another perspective while others have the undertones of torment and regrets when someone is being pulled in two directions. Those things are also partly why I wish the story would focus more on the mafia aspect again soon. There is so much untapped potential in there.

“Do you have any headcanon”

I don’t know if you could call the following things headcanons per se, they’re more like tentative theories. But close enough, I suppose.

I think the three families - Hes, Jians, and Mos - are connected

We already know that HC works for Mr. Jian but the reasons are unclear. I’ve always been a bit confused by it because I imagine that two such obviously powerful and well-off families would have a certain level of tension between them. But it seems they trust each other quite a lot. Mr. Jian trusts HC with the safety of his only son. I wonder what is the future vision for that dynamic, though. Is HC supposed to stop working for the Jian family at some point and take over the He family?

Or is the He family in general working for the Jian family? For some reason, I’m not sure if the He family is actually in the mafia. I think they could be people who have close partnership connections to the mafia. Maybe they provide something for the criminals (guns, political connections, influence?) and that relationship is beneficial for both parties. I think that would even make the moral dilemma more complicated. In a way, working for the evil and helping them for your own gain sounds worse than being the evil itself.

I also think it would also be interesting if the Mos were somehow connected to the Hes. I have this idea that maybe Mr. Mo got mixed up with some shady people if they were desperate for money, or something along those lines. Maybe the restaurant wasn’t doing so well or maybe they needed to pay protection fees. Maybe Mr. He tried to resist them and the bad guys decided to teach him a lesson? Either way, I have a hc of sorts that maybe Mr. Mo is in a prison ultimately because of the He family. Not directly but maybe the bad guys who trashed the restaurant worked for the He family (a subgroup or something). I think that would create an interesting situation if MGS and HT found about it. Or even if HT knew about it and that’s partly why he got interested in MGS.

What about She Li’s family?

I kind of have this idea that maybe SL’s family isn’t in the mafia. They’re just well-off based on legal business (bars and restaurants, and that’s why the father works so hard?) and perhaps they ended up coming across some shady families as a part of that. It could even be that those groups make SL’s parents uncomfortable and uneasy and they’re somewhat of an unavoidable evil to them. I have this idea that maybe his parents don’t know SL is involved with them on his own. Maybe he’s even used his parents’ business to hustle on the side and that’s how he got into the underworld in the first place. Maybe SL could even think that his parents are fools for not taking advantage of the other families and their positions.

Mr. and Mrs. Jian

The relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Jian interests me quite a lot. It smells like the kind of “complicated” that appeals to me a lot in fiction. I like to think that they love each other very deeply and they’re partners but they’re also each other’s worst potential enemies. They’re both smart and strong but have the needed chips to hurt each other more than anyone else. They have a deep bond, tons of chemistry, and they’re drawn to each other but it’s also in both of their natures to do what’s needed if their arm is twisted.

Overall, I would say that the chapters about the boys walking down the corridors at school can be cute and funny but there’s a sea of compelling story elements out there to be discovered, and I kind of miss that.

Thank you for your question, dear anon! And for your patience, as well!

[transdaddy]

It’s time to start thinking about Christmas lads!

I am very not joking btw. Today we got news from our freight forwarders that at one point this week, nearly half the container shipping capacity out of Asia was sat with their thumbs up their arses in the China sea.

The acute reason for this is ports in and around Shenzhen, China closing due to covid outbreaks, the bigger reason is that the shipping industry is absolutely stupid and constantly operating at max capacity so when anything goes wrong, it all goes to shit and this past 12 months has been a big one for things going wrong. Better get settled for an epic rant story time!

When covid hit China in early 2020, they closed down for lunar new year, which most factories close down for anyways but the length of time they were closed was increased to break the cycle of transmission. During a normal LNY, shipping lines essentially cancel sailings because no one is shipping out and seeing an early March slump in shipping demand they cancelled more sailings. Demand is always a bit high after this as you can imagine but it was increased by the LNY being extended and a sudden increase demand for goods in late March/April as people stayed home.

This demand started to really hit home in July when it became increasingly difficult to obtain space on a vessel. Also the increase in blank sailings (cancelled sailings) came back to bite them in the arse when months later in about November it transpired that as there had been a break in the normal ebb and flow of full containers out of China and empty ones into China, all the empties were sat in ports anywhere but China. This caused problems in not just for getting things out of China but getting things into container yards around the world as they became full of empty containers. In the UK this was a big problem for Felixstowe, which coupled with a few badly timed storms and a poor rollout of a new booking in system, meant that vessels just looked at Felixstowe and thought, ‘nah, I’ll come back later.’ Pressure increased on all UK ports as a result and goods were delayed by up to a month as the vessels offloaded at other ports in Europe before returning or even offloading UK bound containers on the continent to then be driven to the UK.

When all this was finally clearing up, it was LNY again so once again shipping lines operated at limited capacity. Then the Ever Given got stuck which not only had an impact on the vessels stuck behind it, but all the schedules went to shit so even if a vessel wasn’t directly impacted, it fucked the entire system.

Once the spectre of this latest shit storm was fading, there were cases of covid at Yantian port, one of the biggest in the world. The port was half closed, initially for four days but this dragged on throughout June. People started to look to nearby ports to ship goods but they too started to shut down due to covid outbreaks. So now we are here, with nothing moving, vessels sat waiting to berth in China and the prospect that the problems caused now will be causing further problems for at least the next six months.

Getting anything out of China is next to impossible at the moment and through all of this the shipping lines have hiked their prices to absurd levels. A container last year cost anywhere between $900-$2000 to ship China to Europe and people are now being quoted at least $17,000. Even then you aren’t guaranteed a spot, they’ll happily chuck you off the schedule if they can find someone willing to pay more for the space. They’re even fucking over their biggest customers as companies with massive contracts (think huge retailers) are having their booking cancelled because why give the space to a company that has a cheap deal when you can sell the space to someone else who doesn’t have that luxury of a good contract and is desperate enough to pay exorbitant fees. There’s like 12 shipping lines and if one hikes a price they all do and its all totally legal (legally they can’t discuss prices between themselves but informally they can see what their competitors are charging and independently choose to match it). It’s incredibly shortsighted because long term if the volatility continues, people will look closer to home for production, because if you landed costs are nearly nine times higher than they were a year ago, it’s no longer cheaper to produce goods half way round the world. This doesn’t even touch on the damage this does to small businesses which could go under because of this short sighted greed.

Anyway what this boils down to is that there are going to be shortages of consumer goods for at least another six to eight months. If getting the perfect gift for a loved one is important to you, get it now just in case because it will either not be available or it will be more expensive. Also good luck getting your hands on electronics even now, the chip shortage gets thrown in the mix for consumer electronics.

Tl;dr: the supply chain is utterly utterly fucked. Just… totally bollocksed. The shipping industry bounces from one catastrophe to another like a drunk man bouncing off parked cars and they’re not even attempting to sober up.

[ejzah]

A/N: Since I don’t love story I posted earlier, I thought I’d give a bonus chapter. Which I also don’t love. Enjoy Kensi and Deeks on their not date.

***

The Agent and the Lawyer, Part 8

“This is incredible,” Kensi groaned, having just bitten into a warm, succulent carnitas taco. It was so good she closed her eyes to better enjoy the experience. When she opened them, Deeks was grinning at her. “What?” She swiped self-consciously at her chin.

“Nothing, I’m just glad you’re enjoying the food. Alex will be happy,” he said.

“Who’s Alex?” Kensi considered stuffing the rest of the taco into her mouth in one bite, but decided that would probably be pushing the limits of propriety. Even if they weren’t on a date, she still didn’t want to disgust him.

So far dinner was nothing like Kensi had been expecting. Deeks had answered the door in a black t-shirt, jeans and with bare feet, completely confident and at ease while her stomach felt like she’d eaten worms for lunch. At the very least, was relieved she’d opted not to wear the sundress she’d been considering.

After showing her around the rest of the house, which was equally as impressive as the few rooms she’d already seen, he led her into the room he called a den/entertainment room. They were now sitting on the floor in front of a low table eating some of the best Mexican food Kensi had ever tried.

Deeks had found the first Iron Man movie on some movie channel and it was playing in the background, but neither of them were paying any attention to the plot.

“Alex owns Alejandro’s, the restaurant I ordered this food from. He’s a friend from high school and hooked me up for the night.” He looked pretty pleased with himself.

“Why have I never heard of it?” Kensi demanded.

“Well, it’s a little bit off the beaten path,” Deeks explained. “I’ll have to take you there sometime.” He said it casually, but Kensi froze for a moment. That sounded distinctly more date like than their current situation. Deeks didn’t notice her response, busy sorting through a bowl of chips.

She stared at him for a minute, taking advantage of his obliviousness. Once again he’d surprised her. She’d expected something much more elaborate, designed to impress and display his wealth than tacos and a movie.

It was very much at odds with his choice of profession, not to mention the massive house, and it made her curious.

“So what made you decide to be a lawyer,” she asked, popping the final bite of taco in her mouth. Deeks snickered, taking a swig of his beer and smirking at her.

“Really, that’s the question you decided to start your interrogation with?” he teased. Kensi stole a chip from his plate, biting into it with an obnoxiously loud crunch.

“Oh, if you want an interrogation I’m happy to oblige. Why do you go by two names?” She raised her finger, cutting him off as he opened his mouth. “And before you start, remember that you already gave me the separate lives bit. Somehow I don’t think your life is that crazy that you need to use a pseudonym.” Deeks acknowledged that with a nod of his head and drained his beer before responding.

Although his expression didn’t change, Kensi sensed he was bracing himself for whatever he was about to tell her.

“Martin Brandel is my legal name. I didn’t get along very well with my dad and pretty early on I decided I wanted to change my last name to Deeks, which is my mom’s maiden name,” he explained, getting up to grab a fresh Modelo. He gestured to Kensi and she shook her head.

“I knew my dad wouldn’t let me, so I waited until my parents got divorced. I figured my mom wouldn’t mind, but she said I needed to wait until I was 18.”

“Your first act of rebellion as an adult,” Kensi guessed and he smiled wryly.

“Almost. When I started looking into the process, I realized why my mom had told me to wait. The filing fee was a couple hundred dollars alone and we didn’t have the extra cash,” Deeks told her with a shrug.

It hadn’t occurred to her than Deeks had ever been anything other than well off and she was curious to know more.

“Why didn’t you change it in college?” He snorted, giving her an incredulous look.

“Are you kidding? I was a scholarship kid. Some months I could barely afford room and board. I didn’t have the money to pay all the fees either.”

“I didn’t realize,” Kensi said, feeling a little ashamed and embarrassed. He waved it off, apparently unbothered by her invasive questions.

“Don’t worry about it. A lot of people assume I came from money.” He glanced meaningfully at Kensi. “It’s how they respond after they get to know me that I care about. Anyway, it was during college that I decided to go by exclusively Deeks with my friends and use Brandel for anything that required my legal name. Turned out it came in pretty handy once we started the law firm. Like I said, it keeps my personal and business lives separate.”

Kensi was quiet, taking it all in. In the back of her mind, she remembered asking Eric to research Deeks’ history. Then it had been for the case, but it could still come in handy. She made a mental note to skim through his history so she wouldn’t run into anymore surprises like this.

They ate quietly for a few minutes, watching Robert Downey Jr. fly across the screen in his metal suit.

“So what led little Kensi Blye to become a big, bad Special Agent?” Deeks asked after she’d eaten her third taco, his tone slightly mocking.

“My dad was a marine,” she told him as she wiped her fingers on a napkin. “He died when I was a teenager. But even before that I knew I wanted to serve the country in some capacity. NCIS was the perfect fit.” She kept the details sparse, not wanting to delve into the years of anger that had accompanied her father’s death.

Deeks gave her a sympathetic smile and squeezed her shoulder. It was a quick touch, but she felt the warmth of his skin through her shirt.

“I’m sorry.” She smiled back, shrugging it off, even though talking about him still stung.

“It was a long time ago.” She felt Deeks’ eyes on her, heavy and inquisitive.

She cleared her throat, her emotions feeling a little too close to the edge. She didn’t talk about her dad often and had shocked herself by telling Deeks about him at all.

Needing to lighten the mood, she snatched up the TV controls which were sitting by Deeks’ leg. He looked a little surprised by her response, but didn’t say anything as she switched off Iron Man and started flipping through the channels.

“Have you ever watched America’s Next Top Model?” she asked and he shook his head, leaning back as she found a rerun of her favorite show.

“No, I don’t watch a lot of TV,” he told her. Kensi grinned evilly and suddenly he looked a little wary. “Ok, now you’re freaking me out a little bit.”

“You are in for a treat,” she promised, grabbing the bowl of chips and settling in against the back of the couch. After a minute Deeks made a horrified sound.

“Kensi, why does that girl have a cockroach crawling on her?”

***

A/N: I hope this wasn’t too awful.

It seems I might have underestimated how much a mansion-y type house would actually cost in California. Where going to pretend that Deeks’ house didn’t cost several million more than I stated.

Also, the filing fee to change your name in California is currently over $400 and that’s not taking into account all the other fees. I figured that when Deeks was 18, it might have been quite a bit less, but still pricy for a poor college student.

[jadonsancho09]

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DigitalFlyer is a business-to-customer (B2C), as well as a business-to-business (B2B) platform focussed on serving small to medium enterprises, connecting customers to their chosen service provider or product. DigitalFlyer is an established and growing marketing and business service platform.

You started your business to make more money. You want to do what you enjoy and profit from it. In order to do that you need your time to be available to you to generate more business and more profit, not to spend time and most of your budget on administration, invoicing, marketing, social media and websites. We have created a, growing and evolving, toolkit that does all that for only R600.00 ($40) a year. By joining our network and community we multiply the value of your R600.00 ($40) many times over. DigitalFlyer is not a middleman, but an enabler and connector.

We provide you with the means to free up your time so that you can focus on your health, wealth and happiness. Our platform achieves this by lightening the administration and marketing load at an affordable price by opening the communication channels between those looking for a service and those providing it. You and your customer target each other which makes landing new business a pleasure. The platform adapts to your industry to upskill, train and empower you at whichever experience level or business stage you are at by providing you with a customisable one-stop business marketing and, ever evolving, administration platform. Our modules will streamline any business so that you are able to focus not only on doing business, but on creating wealth.

DigitalFlyer charges a R600.00 ($40) annual business membership fee for the following services which we call business modules:

Business and Marketing Platform

Your business profile can be found via web searches on our web platform and app.

Other modules that will be available as a growing list of separate add-ons to your directory are:

Recruitment made easy on our Job Seekers and Job Givers platform

Outsourcing platform for specific contractors, such as developers

Second-hand car sales section

Real-estate section

Full eCommerce Module

We provide you with the option of integrating with one or all the below online payment merchant accounts. This enables you to get paid with no commissions charged by DigitalFlyer for any sales. All commissions will be charged according to the contract with the respective payment merchant. We will always be researching the best suited payment gateways and continue to add more options.

Sage Pay (Enabled) – DigitalFlyer is the only platform that allows for multi Sage Pay account integration, meaning each of our business members can integrate their own Sage Pay account to their DigitalFlyer profile, and be paid directly.

Chips Money Manager (Under review)

K-Merchant (Under review)

PayFast (Under review)

PayPal (Under review)

Events Management Module

Any business member or user can use the Events Listing module to list upcoming events free of charge. Business members can use the full events management system to sell tickets, add merchandise and manage an event’s ticket sales.

Appointment Booking Module

All business members can use the booking system to manage their appointments. This plug-in is designed for service-based businesses, such as hairdressers, massage therapists, estate agents doing house viewings, or any other service that books out specific time slots for customers. The customer can book a desired time slot and even pay a deposit if required. Both the customer and business member will be able to track and modify their appointments.

Customer Relationship Manager (CRM)

All business members will be able to manage their customer relationships and track the status of their sales and leads via the CRM module.

Email Marketing

Email funnel – The business member has the option of creating multiple funnel mails and execute said funnel at their leisure. The platform will be POPI Act enabled, and each member will have the ability to build their own email lists.

Social Media Module

All business members will be able to integrate the major social media platforms into their marketing strategy and publish articles, messages, service or products from a centralised dashboard to all their selected social media platforms. This module will also be able to track the success of marketing campaigns, enabling our business members to adapt their marketing campaigns to maximize customer reach.

Accounting Module

All business members will be able to access basic accounting functionality on our system. Included will be the ability to action and record the following information on the fly:

Quotation

Invoicing

Purchase Orders

Slip Management

VAT Management

Reporting

Bank Reconciliation

Stock Management Module

All business members will be able to manage their stock directly from their dashboard. Stock levels can be customised with an automatic ordering setup and early warning system when stock levels are low. This plug-in will be fully integrated into the eCommerce module.

Human Resources Module

Business members will be able to manage all employee records from their dashboard, advertise available positions and publish basic job requirements.

Legal Contracts and Administration Manager Module

Business members will have a fully integrated legal file system to store, secure and manage all contracts and legal advice.

Public users i.e. customers will benefit from the following free of charge:

A personalised dashboard offering functionalities such as:

Favourites list

Transactions list

Appointment calendar

Personalised and family shopping list (shared and accessible from various devices)

Holiday planning chart

Personalised communication preference, such as specials or location notifications

Points reward tracking and management plug-in

The DigitalFlyer platform is adaptable and constantly evolves as we receive feedback from business members and their customers. It is with this community of production and exchange that we have decided to grow the platform’s ability to create wealth and opportunity for our members and their customers alike. We invite you to continue reading as we introduce you to our Community Business Coin.

Technical Info

DigitalFlyer and CBC Technical Overview

User Interface and Communication

DigitalFlyer’s business members will manage and administrate their tasks via a web interface available on all major web browsers. Basic tasks and communications will be done via the app interface.

Public user functionality will be available via the web and app interfaces. The app interface has been built on React Native for the fastest operation and phone OS integration. The app is available on iOS and Android stores.

All communication will take place digitally, utilising blog posts, via the member’s back office which will keep business members and users updated on our latest news. Our own integrated chat module will provide a real time support platform where we can quickly respond to business member and user queries. Social media platforms will be used to communicate public news and updates. The aim of all our communication channels is to maximise efficiency and minimize costs to our business model. The acquisition of on-going concerns will add a further market value growth to DigitalFlyer, resulting in the increased value of the CBC, which is linked as a tradable coin between DigitalFlyer business members and clients alike.

Summary

DigitalFlyer is a market leader in the field of digital marketing and business support. The team strives to provide top quality service to businesses and their clients by streamlining the process of connecting business to client and client to business. DigitalFlyer sources and provides best-of-breed business support partners, accounting systems and support services. We can offer this at an affordable price because we already have an active and operational platform, delivering on quality and focused on quantity.

Now, DigitalFlyer has gone one step further by introducing the Community Business Coin and our Initial Coin Offering. We created a space where our business members and their customers can generate wealth by partaking in and trading with CBC’s on our existing platform. We invite you to partake in our CBC ICO during our 12-month cycle and reap the potential benefit of an estimated 3000% growth on your initial buy-in or CBC value at the end of the ICO. Furthermore, you could not just increase your share of CBC’s by referring customers, business partners and friends. Our shared goal is more business, more profit and ultimate wealth generation, converting individual businesses and one man shows to self-sustaining prospering communities.

Community Business Token Roadmap

Community Business Expo

Regular expo's were held but due to covid-19, got put on hold till further notice

HelpLift platform

The HelpLift platform was developed as part of the community drive and can be found at www.helplift.net

CBT Wallet

Deadline was set for December 2020 but wallet is already active and being used by members

Launch CBT on exchanges

Time frame is once ICO completes CBT to be listed on various exchanges

Our Team

We are proud to introduce our team

Our team consists of a collection of people with experience who have earned the title of experts in their field and each perfectly aligned with the vision of CBT and DigitalFlyer. The full team’s page will be updated on a regular basis as we add more team members.

Dewald Rosema: Founder and Visionary

Abhishek Mehta: Technology Master Mind

Andrew Visagie: Wellbeing and Communications Expert

Jeetesh Gajjar: Product Owner

Doepie Du Plessis: Financial Distributor

Deep Yadav: CTO

More information

https://www.communitybusinesstoken.com/#homeToken

https://www.communitybusinesstoken.com/files/Community%20Business%20ICO%20V3.0.pdf

https://twitter.com/business_token

https://web.facebook.com/communitybusinesstoken

https://www.instagram.com/communitybusinesstoken/

https://youtube.com/c/DigitalFlyer

Telegram chats: https://t.me/CBT_Bounty, https://t.me/cbtico, https://t.me/SoficoBounty.

Author:

Bitcointalk username: Jadon Sancho

Bitcointalk Profile: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2954208

Telegram: @Jadonsancho09

ETH Address: 0x5541Bd8145965dFBE8CE3429898000605F689904

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Automating arbitration claims

"Binding arbitration" is a system for resolving legal disputes without going to court. It was invented to help large corporations of equal bargaining power amicably and quickly resolve their contract problems without spending years and millions on lawsuits.

But the Supreme Court steadily chipped away at the limits on arbitration and companies realized that it was a way to strip their employees, contractors and customers of the right to sue them regardless of how badly they behaved.

I've been asked to enter into binding arbitration "agreements" by a toboganning hill, an emergency room, a daily newspaper, and Lyft (to name just a few).

Why? The golden rule: "Them what has the gold, makes the rules." In other words, if you settle your dispute in front of a private arbitrator in the employ of a business that cheated or maimed you, the private arbitrator will rule in their employer's favor far more often than a judge would.

Even better: if you're the kind of business that profits by cheating lots of people in small ways, binding arbitration makes it impossible for them to get justice through class action -- it sets the threshold for fraud at "less than it would cost to go through arbitration."

But it turns out that you CAN do class action with binding arbitration, if you just automate arbitration claims, as some lawyers have done. They're now able to file thousands of arbitration cases at once against abusive companies.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/business/arbitration-overload.html

Now, the companies that used one-sided "agreements' to strip others of their right to sue are refusing to arbitrate, too. They're reneging on their obligation to pay arbitrators. They're slow-walking claims so that some aren't being heard for YEARS.

Companies like Fairshake are massively expanding the industries they bulk-file claims against, paying their customers - people who've been screwed over - an average of $700 each.

And OH, how the companies are whining! They're basically admitting what we knew all along: that the point of arbitration wasn't to streamline justice, it was to DENY justice. Arbitration was supposed to mean that only 30 of AT&T's 300,000,000 customers filed claims per year.

As Karl Bode writes, whatever problems class action suits had they were also engines for good - for example, class actions are why you no longer have to pay giant termination fees if you cancel your cellular contract). Replacing them with kangaroo courts was no improvement.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200406/08301344244/corporations-not-happy-innovators-have-hacked-crappy-us-binding-arbitration-system.shtml

Image: Tim Evanson https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albert_V_Bryan_Federal_District_Courthouse_-_Alexandria_Va.jpg

CC-BY-SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

[fatehbaz]

re: unstable access to kitchens/food supplies - is there anything we can do to help?

Thank you for the concern and for checking on me. Just interacting with friends means a lot. Having people that care makes a really big difference to me, even when “my material conditions” don’t change. So not to be all sentimental, but I appreciate you reaching out and, really, I am trying to more actively communicate with and reach out to people (including my friends here).

And, sorry in advance for the needless length of this text, I don’t want to make this a chore to read. I usually try not to draw attention to myself and I avoid discussing my IRL economic crises. (I know the way that I write/”talk” can be a little grating, and it’s especially annoying when I’m talking about myself.) But now that we are all experiencing such an unusually dire catastrophe which could exponentially worsen as time goes on, I guess I’m more willing to talk about these things. I know you asked what kind of support I could use right now, and I really do appreciate being seen and thought of, so I don’t mean to be disrespectful to you by deflecting or side-stepping your question. But I just wanted to clarify why I’m willing to talk openly about myself.

Part of the reason I’m willing to discuss my own experiences right now is because of the concern I have, just in general but also especially now during this pandemic, for other people with no health insurance, unstable access to food, and unstable housing.

Like, if I take off the shitty chipped black nail polish, I can be “vaguely yuppie-passing,” right? I don’t “look” homeless, so I can get away with hanging out in public without getting accosted. But as lockdowns are being legally enforced, I’m watching how other homeless and, now, jobless people are being judged and treated in my area, and I am heartbroken. This is the US, so I’m not surprised, y’know, but I am still disturbed by the complete lack of coverage or popular discourse about how to help homeless people, those incarcerated, or the vast amount of already-struggling people in their 20s who’ve just lost their jobs and face imminent eviction. Regarding kitchens and food access specifically: If you don’t have access to a kitchen, it can be difficult to feed yourself even with access to a food bank or a grocery store gift card or something, because most of that food (cheeses, meats, some vegetables, starches, major carb sources) requires cooking or refrigeration. You can’t do something as straightforward as boiling water or making pasta, rice, or sauteed vegetables. Leftovers are also out of the question without a refrigerator. So you’re forced to spend way more on eating at restaurants. Kitchen access is so important.

So as someone in the US with type 1 diabetes, heart issues, no health insurance, and no home right now, who lost my job due to the lockdowns, I’ve been talking with food banks, clinics, a friend who works in the emergency room, now-unemployed service industry workers, poor university students, and other homeless people in my area. And from this vantage point, things look really bad. There are preposterous obstacles to doing something as “simple” as finding food, when “being outside” is functionally criminalized. Since the virus reached my area, I’ve watched over 100 people at the local shelter sleep on a concrete floor, stained by mud-tracked boots and literal shit. No protective masks; no soap in the soap dispensers to wash your hands with; sharing three shower stalls and one drinking-water fountain. These conditions were always unacceptable. But now? There’s no concern from the wider community. No discussion at all. Before the pandemic, I (like, I imagine, a lot us) was already just … so tired of watching people get hurt, and then essentially left to die the “slow death” of being abandoned to insufficient food, untreated illness, crowded inhumane facilities, and careless institutions. Every consecutive day that I see people in those conditions, I am heartbroken again. It’s not a distant event, it’s not a thought experiment, it’s happening right there, every day.

Anyway, I have always had difficulty asking for or receiving help, even when going through my own personal catastrophes. And now I feel even more hesitant to ask for help, now that everyone needs serious support. I had never before seriously considered making a donation post for myself, and I can’t do so right now anyway. (I can’t receive electronic funds since my bank account is empty and I owe overdraft fees before using it, and I also need to pay a driver’s license renewal fee due to states in the US now mandating adoption of their strange new “dystopian passport/license combination ID card” protocols. It feels so shallow to say, but it’s a matter of money, and I don’t like saying that out loud.) I’ve been through this kind of destitution before, but obviously not during the mass closures and mortal threats of a pandemic. So am I at the point of literally begging for help? Pretty much, yes. And it’s truly scary how many of us are at that point. (Once I get my bank account reopened and can arrange direct deposit, I’ll be trying to get one of the “essential services” jobs that are now available in my area. Purchasing adequate food is really all I want to account for; as long as I’m fed, I do OK. That, and enough insulin. I might soon, begrudgingly, make a donation post, and I’ll post a list of the fees the clinic/state wants from me, but I’ll feel selfish while doing it, y’know?)

–

So I meant it when I said that it’s just nice to socialize, to chat, to just be present for each other. In my past experience, I guess, just knowing that friends are out there, and that they’re acknowledging what you’re going through, that they see you, alleviates some of the despair. I know it sounds dumb and corny. For me, at least. Material poverty and the struggles of chronic illness are, for me, significantly easier to confront when I feel like someone’s rooting for me, when relationships exist. So I genuinely appreciate that you asked me this! Thank you.