#and faculty have EVERY RIGHT TO BE PISSED about not getting even a cost of living adjustment

[thesaltyace]

Okay I'm about to lose my shit on a whole university.

Admin sent faculty - for the SECOND time in the past year - a letter describing, in detail, how much they "cost" the university.

I assume because there have been LOTS of complaints about the lack of raise for two years in a row. Not even a cost of living adjustment.

So yeah, the letter "kindly" explains to faculty that their compensation includes their benefits, and lists what those "cost" the university in detail.

As though employing them is a favor.

As though they aren't required by law to provide those benefits.

As though those benefits aren't comparable to the benefits every other public university offers, while they also pay a higher salary.

And not to put too fine a point on it, but

bitch

do you think you would even HAVE a university without faculty to teach?

What the fuck else does a university do, but do teaching and research? Which is performed by the faculty you hired to perform that function?

If you view your employees as a LIABILITY instead of an ASSET, you deserve every poor outcome for which you're currently sowing the seeds.

You absolute twatwaffles.

Buffoons.

Go. To. Hell.

#[insert that imageset from Malcolm in the Middle] #you know. the one that has Lois rightfully tearing someone a new asshole #because they had the audacity to disparage someone they'd hired to perform manual labor #that they either can't or aren't willing to perform themselves #hence why they had to hire a *professional* #fuck off with this university administration #you agreed to pay this amount for them to perform this service and yes that includes benefits #and your compensation package STILL ISN'T COMPETITIVE #and faculty have EVERY RIGHT TO BE PISSED about not getting even a cost of living adjustment #like COME ON #admin voted to give THEMSELVES raises while completely hosing the staff who got NOTHING #faculty were told they would only get merit based raises moving forward #which pissed EVERYONE off because. surprise #they want to work collaboratively with their colleagues and not battle for who will get the meager 2-3% merit raise #only merit raises for some faculty every year and and no cost of living raise for anyone? are you fucking kidding me? #this university is a fucking joke

[pennmalling00]

A great deal of persons are busier than ever these days. That is why it is vital for you to regulate your time efficiently. How can you do that? If you read this posting, you'll come across that it is really much a lot easier than you imagine. Hold looking at to uncover some strategies about how you can be a professional at time management.

Consider using a timer for every single undertaking you will need to entire. Need to you be very easily distracted and have issues focusing, use the timer to set a time restrict that will improve your concentrate. If it is an hour you require for a process, work fifteen minutes and acquire a rapid crack. Rinse and repeat and you will be more effective on the process. Program any significant activities or appointments. Try to create a time restrict for those gatherings. At the time you have a program prepared out for the day, do your greatest to stick to it. If a person issue goes time beyond regulation, uncover a spot that you could minimize the permitted time. This will enable you get through your day without going above your time constraints. Make the most of your time use. Figure out just how much time it'll consider you to do just about every process. This suggestion will enable you organize your duties and handle your time in an successful manner. If you come across yourself with additional time on your palms, use it to pamper on your own. Be confident to make a prioritized to-do list. The best hyip Monitor might come across that activities that are not important eat a huge component of your working day. Prioritizing duties implies spending your time and vitality on the factors that most need to get performed. Start off with a to-do record, and place the most significant chores at the top of the checklist. Look into using a time management class. Probably you just aren't positive how to manage your time. Having a class can enable you figure out what is crucial and what just isn't. You can discover these courses at area faculties and even on the net. Generally they are low expense or even no cost. Find out to enable the minimal issues go when you are overwhelmed by a fast paced day. Folks who are inclined to fuss around a lot less vital issues frequently eliminate their emphasis on the significant image, as a result wasting time. Have your priorities straight and you should not allow for small complications to get in the way of taking care of time proficiently. Get the time to replicate every single working day and take into consideration how you've got utilised your time. You want to use your time successfully. Check out your voice mails and e-mails only when you have set aside time for them. Examining them as they are sent is a waste of time. If you have a undertaking that you have been dreading, break it up into many sittings. If you function on the project for 10 or fifteen minutes at a time, you can get by means of it a great deal a lot easier. You will not have to dwell on the strain and suffering that you are heading by means of though undertaking it. Try to concentration on the endeavor at hand at all instances. Will not allow yourself get distracted. People today may well question you to do other responsibilities though you happen to be functioning. Do not enable that materialize. Make certain that you comprehensive one activity right before shifting on to the up coming just one. The time you shell out planning your day can assistance you hold you on time during it. Dedicate a couple minutes every morning to mapping out your responsibilities and appointments, providing yourself at least ten minutes between every. This assists to stay clear of dashing, and should support you to take care of the complete time you have to do the job in the working day better. Occur to grips that no a person is a hundred% productive. There are no robots amongst human beings. You won't be excellent in your purpose of economical time management. All you can do is consider, and perform tough to do your most effective. Really don't get pissed off if some days are better than others. Which is the character of it. Now that you've got experienced the chance to go through this report, you are in a superior placement to take care of your time effectively. Time management is a talent that will enable you all your daily life, so receiving used to it now is a excellent plan. Use the guidelines above to make you an expert.

#high ref back

[rosethornewrites]

I don’t know if I can fully express how tired I am lately.

To sum, I’m less and less enamored of my workplace. Academia is hegemonic in structure and basically the difference between castes and power sucks. In the last few years, a significant number of colleagues I loved have jumped ship for a variety of reasons. But the main reason has been discrimination and hostile work environment. To make matters more fun, one of the people who led to one such friend’s departure is now department chair.

On a personal level, I have no trust that the work that I do for the department or university is valued because I’m not the right academic caste. I got a clear indication of that last semester and have regretted all the extra work I have put in beyond my contractual obligations, sometimes at the cost of my physical and mental health, over the last going-on-9-years.

But here’s the sad thing: if I move on, it’s same shit, different institution. I’m disabled and queer, and the academy caters to people who are hostile toward both. Systemic oppression isn’t going away, even when multimarg faculty join the ranks, because guess who gets shat on every step of the way.

It has been 3-4 years since my fibromyalgia diagnosis. Two of those years allowed me to teach from home. Now, with a disability that is largely considered an autoimmune disease (guess what researchers don’t know much about because it primarily impacts afab folks?), I am no longer protected by a mask mandate on my campus. I’m in fact not allowed to mandate masks in my classrooms because fuck me, I guess. I’m just a cog that can be replaced (for free if UCLA is any example). So I self-identified to my students (which frankly should not be any of their business) and appealed to them to wear masks to protect me and others who may have autoimmune diseases. Half of them care if I die, I guess.

I’ve basically inherited all of my mom’s health problems. Fibromyalgia? Check. Bipolar? Not quite, but double depression with a side of generalized anxiety disorder and trauma is aces. And now it turns out that she’s been having mini-strokes, potentially for years. I probably have that in my future too.

She’s also stuck 15 hours away for another week and a half, and I’m taking care of her incredibly spoiled dogs, who have made it their personal goal to shit and piss on every available piece of floor space, and who cannot get on the guest bed by themselves and will howl until I wake up and put them on it. All. Night. Long.

So I’m not really getting good sleep. I managed to rig a system so that one of the dogs can get up on her own, but the chihuahua can’t.

Guess what flares with lack of sleep? Yep, all of it. I spend a couple hours a day soaking in an effort to alleviate the pain. While doing a full time job that doesn’t even value my life, let alone my contributions. While taking care of dogs that are not mine, who are actually traumatized at the separation from my mom because the last time someone left and didn’t come home it was Dad and he died. So I can’t even be too mad at them for the piss off potty mats, for the incessant whining and howling, for the general neediness. Because it’s been 6 years and thinking about Dad dying still makes me sad, so I can’t expect less from the dogs, especially given the chihuahua was his.

But overall, I’m rapidly approaching burnout, if I’m not there already. There are days my spoon deficit is so bad I wish I could just turn off existence for a little while. Like, can I get a medically induced coma as a treat?

Oh, and add to the fact that I had some fandom fucks threaten to dox me 2 years ago for daring to speak out about an abusive asswipe, and I have no idea if they still stalk my Tumblr or whatever.

Yeah, I’m tired. It’s not getting easier.

I really just want to rest.

#personal #disability #mental health

[barnesandco]

Nikah: May

Story Masterlist

Nikah: noun, Arabic, meaning the contract of marriage.

Bucky marries Peter’s former tutor because her student visa’s about to expire and the government isn’t granting her a green card. Can she find a way to permanent residence by marriage, and if so, will it be at the cost of their hearts?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Angst.

A/N: Written under the Arranged/Accidental Marriage trope for @mermaidxatxheart​ ‘s writing challenge. 

The scent of spices and tea slides like silk into his bedroom, a thief in the night rousing him from his slumber. It's a quarter to three, and he can hear sizzling from the kitchen, adding to the comfortable heat of an early summer night. He curses himself as he scrambles to get up, untangling the maze of sheets around his legs. Almost trips over her prayer mat on the floor on his way out, the lights in the living area blinding, but he has now identified the scent. Lentils. She's reheating the daal maash from last night for her sehri, and a peek over her shoulder from several paces behind her shows him a paratha on the pan. 

"You didn't wake me," He laments, noting how the situations have been reversed since the first time they woke up together. It isn't morning now, but the principle remains. One upset that the other is cooking alone, albeit for different reasons entirely. 

"To no avail, evidently," She answers, sunflower smile wilting on her tired face, although her spirit is anything but. Not a morning person in the first place, this preparation for the day's fast is an exhausting ordeal for his wife, and that's why he wakes up with her.

To tell the truth, he’s still in awe over the phenomenon of Ramadan, and how she not only survives, but thrives in it. Eating and drinking nothing as long as there is daylight, and yet going about her day as if it is ordinary, with no change in her routine except for a brief nap in the afternoon. 

He knows hunger, too, the Depression one of the few things he recalls before everything else. Hunger out of obligation, not choice. Not out of the will to rid yourself of all material needs, not out of the will to sympathize with the unfortunate, and become more grateful for your own fortune, as she says she is. Fasting is a sacred, beautiful ritual, even though he does not like that she is suffering. 

Even in preparation for said suffering, she is calm. Tired, but content, elbow grazing his as they set the table together. Sehri is peaceful, but he will not appreciate that until he looks back upon it in time from an iftaari that is anything but.

He’s beside himself with worry by the time she gets back from her job interview, in spite of her regular texts informing him of her delay. Perhaps it’s because he’s sent too many I’m fine messages to not recognize someone else’s. And indeed, he knows for certain that everything is very much not fine the moment she enters the apartment. The storm in her eyes is a brutal warning, even though she uses a brief hug to umbrella him from it before heading into their bedroom to change in preparation for dinner.

His friends have invited themselves to iftaari, on the condition that they bring the food. It’s something she’s been looking forward to, cautiously, hesitantly, but it seems that whatever happened today has eliminated even that. Bucky assumes the interview didn’t go well, and this suspicion is strengthened when she brushes past him to start removing bits and bobs of a busy household - tea coasters, pens and pencils, loose notes - from sight. No further comment on how the day went. 

“How did the interview go?” Bucky takes the initiative. 

“I didn’t get the job?” She answers, stopping her neat-freak cleaning in front of the hallway mirror at the sight of her hair. The dark locks fall down her back as she opens the bun.

“Why not?”

“Guess they had a better candidate.” She shrugs, refusing to meet his eyes in the mirror as he stands behind her. 

“Darlin’,” Bucky presses as she ties off the braid, letting it fall across her shoulder. It swings over and like a pendulum in front of her back as he follows her to the living room. 

“Dearest,” She teases, the joke not reaching her eyes as she begins to fold a throw blanket. 

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

“What happened?” He persists, pressing the pillow he’s adjusting into the back of the couch. She spares him a glance over her shoulder while she puts the drying dish towels back in their drawer. 

“Nothing happened, Bucky. Job rejections are a part of life. This isn’t my first and it sure as he- heck won’t be the last,” She says, back still to him, stumbling over what could be considered a swear word. Apparently, anger and swearing is also off-limits.

“Then what’s the matter?” Bucky gets up from the couch while she comes to sit on it, Quran in her hands.

“Nothing.”

“Yeah, right, and I’m the damn President.”

“What’s your problem, Buck?” She sighs, closing the book she has just opened, face worn and torn.

“My problem? Honey, you walk in here pissed off like Sam after a bad mission and ask me what my problem is?”

“I’m not arguing with you now,” She says dismissively, looking down again, beginning to read, and Bucky respects her, he does, really, but he can’t let this one go. Not now, not like this. Too many problems arise from a communication gap, from not talking, from leaving people to their own devices. He can’t deal with that.

���Like hell you won’t. I’m not tryin’ to start a yelling match here, sweetheart, but we have to communicate.”

“You sound like a therapist.” She doesn’t look up.

“Maybe you should listen to one,” He retorts, turning his back. This gets her attention. Rising from the couch, she walks around to face him, face livid and tears already ready.

“Fine. You want to know what happened? Yeah, I didn’t get the job. Apparently, I’m too “high profile”, and-”

“Oh, so this is my fault?” Bucky asks, voice tempered and low.

“No. It’s B.S. is what it is. They said my high profile would raise controversy, and reader might not trust reviews I write because of my background,” She finishes, arms flailing agitatedly, brow furrowed and furious. Bucky’s confused. 

“You’re overqualified, doll. I don’t know why you’re applying for these jobs when you’re already a lecturer,” He says. Book critics aren’t PhDs, not usually, and she deserves more.

“I’m visiting faculty. On a contract, which can be renewed, but a visiting job doesn’t provide me with enough basis for a work visa.”

“Work visa? What about the green card you’re doing all this for?” He asks, not realizing he’s using the word you, instead of we. Somewhere along the line, sometime in the past five months, this has become more than a favor. She has become more than someone in need.

“Those things expire. Have to be renewed, and mine won’t be once this is-” She stops, face falling. 

“What? This is what?”

“Nothing.” The anger resurfaces as he understands what she’s alluding to.

“Once this is over, right? That’s what you were about to say? Why’d you stop? You think I don’t know? You think I’m deluded into thinkin’ you could want to stay with me?” Every question mark is another step forward, three steps back.

“Bucky, I-” Saved by the bell. She wipes her eyes with a corner of her dupatta, and goes to answer the door. Bucky steels himself, the anger now a resting mass of resentment in his stomach, pasting a rubber smile on his face as they enter. Sam, Peter, Sharon, Wanda, and Vision, all come in and greet them with noise and the mouth-watering scent of achari chicken. Bucky hopes, for their sakes, that they went easy on the spices, until she reappears in front of him, and he remembers he has bigger problems.

Of course, there is no space to hash it out in a houseful of guests, so they do what they must. The show must go on. Bucky convinces himself they’re doing well at keeping up the pretense with silver tongues and iron smiles, until he overhears a sliver of conversation from the kitchen, where she and Peter have just gone to retrieve cutlery and glasses. 

“You fought, didn’t you?” Peter asks, and he curses the kid’s brightness.

“It’s nothing, Pete.”

“You’d tell me if it were though.” It’s a statement, but the question hangs, suspended in the air, until she shoots it down.

“Of course.” A smile, and they return to help the others set the table.

Peter’s concern, the idea that he, Bucky, could be a cause of concern, tugs the carpet out from under his feet and he feels like he’s falling. Down into his memories like the Harry Potter movies she will stop her channel surfing on, even though she insists she doesn’t like them all that much. Down into the memory of Peter’s first show of brotherly caution.

Bucky had insisted on wearing a suit. Nothing fancy, a simple black two-piece, the collar of his white dress shirt undone. He feels like he’s preparing for a funeral instead of a wedding, tying the laces on his dress shoes. Peter only reinforces this sentiment, grave face set to mourn the fact that one of his mentors is being tied to a ticking time bomb.

Bucky knows that isn’t fair to Peter, the boy has never treated him with anything other than respect - it’s the nerves talking, mostly. It appears that they aren’t the only ones with something to say today. Peter shuffles awkwardly, gusto evaporating at Bucky’s undivided, intimidating attention.

“Spit it out, son,” He tries to help things along, and Peter’s eyes widen.

“Look, I know you’re doing this because you want to help, and you have no idea how grateful I am,” Peter begins, wringing his hands at his sides. Bucky leans back, raises an eyebrow.

“But?” 

“But you have to be careful with her,” Peter rushes out, looking at him anxiously as he gets up to comb back his hair one more time. 

“I thought this was the 21st century. Let women do their own thing and all. I mean, I always believed in letting them be, but it wasn’t the norm the way it is now,” He says, putting the brush back in the drawer and turning to Peter.

“Yeah, I know, but still. She’s been through a lot,” Haven’t we all, Bucky thinks, tightening his watch around his wrist. “ And she needs your support. Be careful with her, Mr. Barnes, please,” Peter urges, eyes appealing for his sympathy. Bucky walks up to him, puts a hand on his shoulder and tells him:

“Alright, kid. Alright,” And he hopes this is enough to convey his promise.

He’s let Peter down. Bucky sees it in his eyes as he’s the last to leave, stomachs full and happy, the other Avengers already halfway down the corridor to the elevator. Peter doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t need to. The look in his eyes is enough of a knife in Bucky’s heart, too clear an image of the one he seems to have planted in Peter’s back. 

She’s in the kitchen, quiet, silent, dark. He stands next to her for several long, tense minutes until she exhales, and the room holds it breath for whatever she’s about to say. Except, she decides not to. Leaves the kitchen, heads for the foyer and pulls on her shoes until Bucky asks her where she’s going.

“Out. I need air,” Is her only answer, and he can’t stop her, doesn’t know how to as she leaves. The aftermath of the fallout envelopes him and he thinks: now what? 

Taglist: @suz-123​ @mermaidxatxheart​ @buckyreaderrecs​ @shield-agent78​ @corneliabarnes​ @readerandcinephileingeneral​ @stevieboyharrington​ @notsomellowmushroom​ @veganfangirl5​ @mood-pancakes​ @lbuck121​ @starnight-charmer​ @redhairedfeistynerd​ @geeksareunique​ @samingtonwilson​

#ayesha writes #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes angst #bucky angst #bucky x desi!reader

[theliterateape]

The Donation

by Wayne Lerner

The email arrived unannounced. A cold call. An over-the-transom letter. He had no idea what was going to hit him. 

No ding, swoosh or chord announced its arrival. Nope. The academic elitist researcher, now University President, linked his email arrivals to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. 

“Dr. Carton,” it read. “My name is Peter Howard. I am an alumnus of your University with two graduate degrees from the School of Allied Health. And I have done pretty well for myself. Your director of development, Mrs. Gardner knows this. She calls me just about every other week to see if I want to increase the $250,000 contribution I made last year. 

I am ready to talk about another contribution but this one much larger. Many universities have been the recipients of large alumni endowments which have been linked to naming rights. What would it cost me to name the School?” 

“By the way, if you think this is a scam or I’m not serious, talk to Mrs. Gardner or read the links I have attached below. In particular, the article from Forbes should take away any concerns you might have. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to a timely response.” 

Dr. Carton had no idea who Peter Howard was. Since taking office five years ago, he had established an MO that was known throughout the University community: manage the Board meetings and suck up to the seven figure donors.  

Carton called Debbie Gardner and told her about the email he received. “Should I respond? Is this guy for real? He could have made up that Forbes story, you know.” 

“Stop!” Gardner exclaimed. “Don’t do anything until we talk. I’m on the way over to your office now. Dr. Howard is one of the wealthiest donors on our prospect list. I’ve been trying to meet with him for months. Now that he’s interested in us, we can’t afford to blow it! But, you have to be careful with Dr. Howard. He’s outspoken and has a somewhat erratic persona. I can help you manage him.” 

26.2 hours later, Peter’s phone dinged with an email from President Carton. 

“Mr. Howard, thank you so much for your remarkable letter. Yes, we would be very interested in talking with you about naming rights for the School. I would love to set up a time to discuss this person-to-person, either over the phone or by Zoom. And, finally, yes, Mrs. Gardner has diligently done her job by staying in touch with you, one of our most esteemed alumni.” 

Peter smirked as he read the email. 

I knew I would get a quick response, but what a douche. Even with an MD and a PhD, he uses adverbs in his letter. What’s the matter with him? Where did he learn how to write? Medical school? 

Three days later the call took place. 

“Dr. Carton, thank you so much for arranging this meeting. As I said in my note, I’m a dedicated alum, committed to the school, my graduate program and profession. It’s because of them that I have had the chance to become so successful. Now I want to give back to the University.” 

“That’s so generous of you, Mr. Howard. Excuse me, I should say Dr. Howard. We are excited to discuss how the donation could be constructed to meet both your and our needs.” 

“Great,'' Peter replied, “but I have a few conditions. One is more important than the others.” 

“Oh,” Carton said. “And what may I ask are the conditions?” 

“The main one is I want the Dean of the School of Allied Health gone.” Silence. More silence. 

Peter looked to see if the call had been disconnected. It hadn’t been. Just silence. 

It felt like minutes to Peter but it was only a few seconds when Dr. Carton finally cleared his throat and responded. 

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a request quite like that, sir. Can I ask why you feel this condition is necessary to make the donation?” 

“Sure.” Peter replied. “That asshole dissed me, he disrespected me, several times when I was sitting on the alumni advisory board. He treated me like I was some putz from the southside of Chicago who didn’t know nothing and had no background or expertise.” 

Peter didn’t know it but, at that moment, Dr. Carton put the call on mute and whispered to his assembled staff. 

“What’s a putz?” 

“Shhh,” they responded in unison.”We will tell you later. Just play along and don’t upset him. He’s very close to giving us the funds for the School!” 

Carton unmuted his phone as Peter Howard continued with his conditions. 

“Furthermore, the Provost put this guy into the Dean position over the objections of the search committee, someone who had never had senior academic administrative experience. He is a fucking researcher just like the Provost. They both should be gone. What do either of them know about leading people or even understanding the roles and functions of the departments within the school? I’ll leave the Provost to you. I have my sights set on the Dean. He’s paid no attention to the departments whose alumni have given the most money to the School. All he cares about are the esteemed research departments with the largest NIH grants.” 

“Sir, you do not need to talk to me like that,” Carton interjected. “I’m sure there is another way to get your point of view across. But I get your message.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Doctor,” Peter replied in an obvious sarcastic tone.  

“It’s my upbringing. It comes out when I get excited and I’m excited now. I’ll just calm down and try to remember that I am talking to the President of the University.” 

“Just so we are clear on the offer, President Carton. I’m willing to meet your asking price to name the School. In fact, I’ll give you substantially more for scholarships for needy students, but the Dean is gone. He’s history! And he’s gone before the donation is announced. I don’t care if you retain him as an assistant professor in his department or a janitor in the building. That schmuck is outa here!” 

Carton muted his phone again. 

“Schmuck?” Carton mouthed to his staff. 

“Later!” they replied in unison again. 

Silence. More silence. 

Then President Carton replied. 

“We really could use your donation to accelerate the programs within the School and, especially, for your graduate program. And we certainly could use the extra money to help us recruit needy students to our campus.” 

The President took a breath and continued. 

“I am going to have to talk with my executive team in more depth about your conditions.We must give them the complete consideration they deserve. They are a bit unusual, you see. However, you can be sure we will take the request seriously. I’ll get back to you promptly.” 

“Thank you, Dr. Carton,” Peter said. “I’ll look forward to your response. Several weeks later, the email from Dr. Carton arrived.

“Dr. Howard,” it read. “We have given your request and donation requirements careful thought. We will agree with your conditions. Please call me so we can make the final arrangements.”  

A big cheshire cat smile formed on Peter’s face. 

Shit! Great! Money talks. Cash is always king. And that’s how the big university can bow to the wishes of a southside Chicago guy. The Dean is history. 

The call was set up for the following week. The parties talked through the conditions and reviewed the press releases. Special attention was paid to the timeline for making the donation and removing the Dean from his position. 

“This is all fine with me, Mr. President,” Peter said. “I’ll have the first installment of the money transferred to the development office account as soon as we get off the call.” 

“Thank you, sir,” Dr. Carton replied. “No one likes to be held hostage, but the size of your donation and the good it will do for the University, faculty and students is just too overwhelming.” 

and now the President’s voice got very quiet, 

“Besides, there is some validity to your concerns but I would appreciate it if you would never repeat that to anybody, ever.” 

“You can be sure of that, sir.” Peter said. “This will be between just you and me”… And the tape recorder I’ve got going. 

Peter continued. 

“Mr. President, not to be rude, please remember that the timeline and deadlines must be hit for the donations to be made. There’s to be no slack in the timeline or the deadlines. If missed, the deal's off.” 

“I understand that, Dr. Howard. You’ve made your point quite clear. And again I want to thank you for supporting the University. I hope we get the chance to meet

face-to-face as soon as the pandemic is under control. Maybe you could join me at an upcoming football game as my guest in the President's box? Have a good day and be safe.”  

“Thanks. You, too.” Peter said as he hung up the phone and smiled once more to himself. 

Silence. More silence. 

Peter felt something cold and wet on his nose. He tried to ignore it but it wouldn’t go away.

“Honey? Honey? Peter! You’ve got to get up for your 7 AM Zoom meeting with your boss. You piss him off one more time and you're out of a job, again! And walk your damn dog first!”

“Ohhhhh, fuck me.”

[hermannsthumb]

37 PLEASE!

37: you jokingly suggest we send out holiday cards together as friends so we do, and now everyone is congratulating us for finally getting together

from the winter prompts here

a few of u requested this one and like....god youre so right to have

“This is your bloody fault,” Hermann says.

“My fault?” Newton says. “How is this my fault? You agreed to it!”

“You’re the one who wanted to send out cards in the first place,” Hermann says. “We had no need to.”

“It was supposed to be funny,” Newton says. “I didn’t think anyone would assume...”

Together, they stare at the text on Newton’s phone from Tendo. congrats! about time you kids got hitched. It’s the last in a steady stream of texts that have been coming in to the both of them all weekend: polite well-wishes from Mako, bewildered ones from each of Hermann’s siblings (ranging from why didn’t you tell us? to when was the wedding? to what the fuck, Hermann?), a single curt Congratulations. from Newt’s mother, a series of all-caps exclamations from both Newton’s dad and uncle.

“Well,” Hermann says. “People clearly did assume.”

Holiday cards, Newton insisted. It would be fun. It would be funny. Everyone was sending Newton and Hermann theirs--Tendo’s toddler in a Santa Claus hat, Mako and Raleigh with their arms around each other and smiling on an idyllic beach somewhere, all of their colleagues at the university (though Hermann’s not sure how they found the address to their flat, possibly a faculty directory, Hermann must see about getting them removed from it immediately)--why shouldn’t Newton and Hermann retaliate with their own? Perhaps Newton’d gotten a tad overzealous in the planning (he spent a month knitting them matching sweaters and insisted he hold their cat like a baby for it), and perhaps Hermann got a tad overzealous with the card design (but he found the perfect computer software for it), and the end result was something far less ironic and far more genuine, but--they never once indicated they were together. Let alone married, like half of them seem to think.

“I mean,” Newton continues, “can you blame them?”

“Yes,” Hermann says. “Easily.”

“Look at it from their perspectives,” Newton says. “We live together, we share a bedroom--”

“Separate beds,” Hermann says quickly (occasional nightmares from the drift, of course, far easier to deal with when your drift partner is a few feet away, and far more cost-effective when it comes to rent as well, those are the only reasons) and then realizes, “they have no way of knowing we share a bedroom in the first place. And we have different last names.”

“--we spend every fucking waking moment together, neither of us have been on a date in a million years--”

“‘A million years’, what about that guitarist?” Hermann says, and Newton sighs.

“Dude, for the last time, I didn’t ask him to buy me a drink--why do you care, anyway?”

“No reason,” Hermann says quickly, but he concedes to Newton’s point. “Perhaps the misunderstanding isn’t entirely unfounded, then, but that doesn’t make it...”

Newton’s phone goes off. A phone call, this time. “Oh, God,” he says, looking at the caller ID, “it’s my dad.” He swipes to accept and holds it up to his ear. “Hey, Dad,” he says, weakly.

Hermann can hear Newton’s father’s excited shouts, even off of speakerphone.

“Yeah, that’s the same Hermann,” Newton says. “No, it’s--it’s not--” He’s bright red in the face, and he pinches the bridge of his nose. “It’s not that I didn’t tell you, it’s that there wasn’t anything--yes--no--last month,” he suddenly blurts out. “We got together last month. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Newton!” Hermann hisses.

Newton covers the receiver. “I’m sorry,” he says, and then uncovers it and forces a loud laugh. “Yeah,” he says. “No, things are great. They’re awesome. Hermann’s awesome. He’s--a real catch.” (Newton makes a face.) “No, not married yet. I don’t know.”

“Newton,” Hermann hisses again.

“Wait, gotta go, uh, Hermann needs me. Not like--bye.” Newton hangs up quickly. Hermann crosses his arms.

“Why?” Hermann says.

“I panicked!” Newton says. “He was so excited, and he kept asking to meet you--”

“Which is exactly why you should’ve told him the truth!”

“I’m sorry!” Newton repeats. “I’ve just told him a lot about you, okay.”

“...Why?” Hermann repeats, but suspiciously this time.

“No reason,” Newton says, voice high. He laughs. “Anyway. Uh. Romantic comedy set-up, am I right, dude?” Hermann continues to scowl. “Look, is it that bad that people think we’re together?”

Truthfully, Hermann thinks, no, but...

“I mean,” Newton continues, and he gets redder. “Look. Hermann. If we’re being honest, cards on the table, I don’t totally mind if people think it. That we’re together.”

“That is a piss-poor excuse for a love confession and you know it,” Hermann snaps. 

“Oh, fuck off, dude--” Newton says, but Hermann snags him by his stupid hand-knitted Godzilla sweater and kisses him square on the lips.

#newmann #maria's fanfiction tag #this is like fake dating for five seconds #tubblin

[yconic]

( I loved the single dad tony au so much i decided to write a part two!)

"Every time you flap your lips another one of my brain cells dies and I crave for death, you absolute disaster."

Two months have passed since what the kids called 'the Steve incident'-- thought, Pietro insisted they referred to him as 'the creepy customer who wants to get into our dad's pants'--, and currently, Wanda was restraining herself from stabbing her eardrums with a toothpick as she was eating a brownie while listening to her brother's immature shenanigans.

Pietro rolled his eyes, laying out a piece of paper on the table. The blank page was filled with scribbled drabbles of Steve in dangerous or life-threatening situations, grace to Peter's artistic skills. Pietro had to bribe him with candy in exchange for the art, but the teen needed to feel like at least ONE sibling was on his side.

"Then perish, " Pietro scoffed, taking a seat next to her, stealing away the brownie as he took Peter into his arms, settling his baby brother on his lap, ignoring the drool spilling on his arm. "Come on sis, contribute! Come up with ideas! Help me! Do something! You're the brain of this operation!"

"No. Steve is just a sweet guy who likes our dad, that's it. Just leave it alone!"

Pietro scuffed, continuing his aggressive scribbling "I changed my mind, you're the ass of this operation."

"There is no operation. There's just you fearing dad will finally have someone again and you want to ruin it because you're paranoid and scared of change."

"Never gonna happen. Ever." Confidently said Pietro, arms crossed over his chest. He's pretty sure Steve won't stick around anyway once he gets bored, or fed up when he realizes Tony won't pick him over them, which will inevitably happen. He's seen this before and already knows the ending.

Only if he knew how bad he was going to eat his words.

Hand landing harshly on Steve's shoulder, Pietro's smile was forced and painful on his face as he turned to his science teacher whom he HAD to piss off that day with one of his usual acting up sessions, as he liked to call every time Pietro pulled his daily shenanigans.

"Mr. Stone, this is my father, Steve," Pietro pushed every word out with difficulty through his gritted teeth, forcing himself not to sneer every letter. Steve's knowing face didn't help the situation by any means, only increased Pietro's desire to wipe that infuriating smug smirk off his face. With his fists, preferably.

He called Steve and asked for his help after Stone caught him having a fight with Thomspon in the cafeteria. After a scolding that bored the teen out of his mind, Stone ordered him to call his parents, which made Pietro pause slightly.

If he called Tony, he'll get grounded for sure. After countless times his adoptive father had to leave his workplace because of Pietro's mischievousness, Tony firmly warned him that if he received one more call from the school, Pietro will be stuck at home babysitting Peter and do chores for a whole month.

He couldn't afford being grounded as he was invited to Harry Osborn's party which everyone will attend and he knew for a fact not a single person will shrug off his absence. If he missed this event, Pietro was going to be the main gossip material for who knows how long. Normally, he wouldn't mind a bit of attention here and there, but Pietro just knew he was going to be more annoyed by their whispers as time went by, and he didn't want to deal with it.

So he swallowed his pride and requested Steve's help, who much to his dismay, agreed to play along if Pietro'd put a good word for him to Tony. Grumbling, he accepted the offer and now here he was, in Stone's classroom, pretending to be the son of the one person he hated most.

In his luck, Stone was new to the school, replacing the former science teacher who thought was a good idea to keep some girls after class for 'supplementary lessons' and forgot about the security cameras that spied every classroom, so he easily believed Pietro's lie.

He also seemed pleased by Steve's perfectly tailored suit. Pietro had no doubt the outfit costed more than his entire tuition. "It's good to know at least one of you has decent taste in clothing, " Stone gestured to one of the chairs. "Please, take a seat, Mr. Maximoff. There is a lot we must discuss your son and his atrocious behavior."

"Don't mind if I do, sir," Steve smiled, sitting on a chair while Pietro remained on his feet, hands in the pockets of his hoodie as he waited for the whole charade to be over. "I know my son can be quite the rascal sometimes, but he means no harm, I assure you. What did he do this time?"

"I regret to say that your son has quite the record, Mr. Maximoff, " with a disapproving shake of head, Stone glared in his direction and Pietro had to hold himself back from rolling his eyes so hard they'd pop out of his head.

"Verbal altercations with the school's faculty, various acts of obnoxious farces that disturb classes, and worst of all, he engages in physical fights with other students like some sort of savage! This behavior is unacceptable and must be corrected immediately."

Fists clenched, Pietro sat in silence, knowing he won't help his situation if he'd open his mouth. Stone wasn't exactly the type to listen to the other side of the story that differs to his.

"Why did they fight?"

Taken back by the question, Stone blinked in confusion, as did Pietro. "Um, well--"

"Because there has to be a reason," Steve interrupted Stone with an unshakable firmity. "Pietro wouldn't start an argument just because. He knows he'd disappoint To--Me, if he did, " not giving the teacher a chance to reply, Steve turned his attention to Pietro and asked: "tell me what happened. The whole thing."

"Mr. Maxmimoff, I don't think--,"

"Stone, I'm speaking to my son. Don't interrupt me again." Steve's glare was enough to make Stone snap his mouth shut, not daring to mutter another thing. "Also if I may, using the term 'savage' to describe another student is incredibly disrespectful, not to mention inappropriate, and I'll make sure Ms. Hill will hear about it."

He couldn't lie, watching Steve rip Stone a new one was entertaining and he didn't want to stop it by any means. Holding back a smile, Pietro began to explain the whole incident. And even now he wants to kick Flash's ass for what he said about his father.

Steve looked like he had the same idea. Turning to Stone, he raised an eyebrow. " And I assume you already knew all of this before you brought my son here and called me. I am sure you were a rational person and heard him out instead of ignoring what he had to say thinking that you know better.

"I, well, he didn't say--"

" I also assume you will call Eugene's father and let him know about what happened. Needless to say his son will get punished just like Pietro, yes? It wouldn't be fair to just punish one student when both of them were involved, would it?"

"Mr. Maximoff, I'm afraid that it'd taint Flash's record if we involve him in this incident and Mr. Thompson wouldn't be pleased with that--, "

Stone's sentence was interrupted by the snort coming from Steve, but judging by the way his jaw tightened Steven was everything but amused.

"And we wouldn't want our main sponsor to stop throwing money to us because we hold his spoiled asshole of a son responsible for once, right? Why does it matter if we're being unfair to the other kids? If we're not treating them equally like we do more 'important' students? I mean, it's not like they can actually DO something or speak up since we will side with money anyway, isn't it?"

"Steve, that is NOT appropriate and I find your tone very aggressive!" Stone huffed indignantly, eyeing Steve as though he was a maniac. Rolling his eyes, Steve stood up, placing a hand on Pietro's shoulder, leading him out of the classroom.

"You ain't seen aggressive yet. And trust me when I say you don't want to," spoke lowly Steve, fixating Stone with a stare so cold and dark it made the teacher take a step and cause Pietro to stop in his tracks. He never heard that tone from him before. "And it's Mr. Maximoff to you."

Once they stepped outside the school, Pietro didn't peep at all, which worried Steve a great deal but didn't press onto the issue. They took a cab filled with awkward silence to the apartment building Pietro and his family lived in. Steve had to admit, the neighborhood wasn't the best. He'll have to talk with Tony about it sometime.

The cab stopped, making Steve finally break the ice "So, uh," he shrugged helplessly, as he gestured to the building. "This is us, I guess. Pleasure masking business with you, kid."

After a pregnant pause, Steve found himself surprised when Pietro asked him if he wanted to have dinner with them. There was no mockery or cutting hostility in his tone like there usually was. Steve would lie if he'd say the invitation didn't caught him by surprise, even made him worry further a bit, but nevertheless, he said:

"I am 100℅ sure you're gonna poison me," he said drily, finally making Pietro snort. ", but I'll take the risk. Lead the way, kiddo."

"Hope you like Cyanide in your lasagna." Pietro joked, jogging to his apartment.

Running after him with a laugh, Steve replied with " As long as you're eating it with me we won't have a problem!"

"Fuck you, Rogers."

"Right back at you, P."

#pietro maximoff #quicksilver #scarlet witch #wanda maximoff #tony stark #iron man #steve rogers #captain america #stony #stony fic #peter parker #spiderman #irondad #fluff #otp #my writing #my aus #oof finally

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 040: Deku VS Todoroki (Conclusion)

Previously on BnHA: Oh god. Shouto flashed back repeatedly to his horrific childhood. Deku decimated basically his entire body in his quest to get Todoroki to finally use his left side. Like, he literally chose the most perverse and insane possible way to do this. For reasons I can’t begin to fathom, none of the adults bothered to intervene in this bloodbath. My god it pissed me off so much. Anyway, Todoroki finally did realize that his power is his own and he can use it without it automatically meaning that he’s giving in to his evil father. It made him very happy and was a very powerful moment tbh. BUT AT WHAT COST.

Today on BnHA: Deku and Todoroki nearly blow up the stadium and each other before the U.A. faculty FINALLY steps in. Deku is blown out of bounds and the fight ends. Endeavor is all, YESSSSS, JOIN ME AND TOGETHER WE CAN RULE THE GALAXY AS FATHER AND SON but Shouto is just, WHATEVER, I DON’T EVEN CARE ABOUT YOU and it’s the best. All Might and Deku have an emotional moment in the nurse’s office while Recovery Girl is just like, “smdh.” Basically the manga shyly offers me an apology and a bouquet of flowers for putting me through all of that bullshit in the last chapter, and LIKE A FOOL I fall for it hook, line and sinker.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 94 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

so here we are at chapter 40. officially about 20% of the way through the story so far. a lot has happened! Deku has learned to control his powers! somehow it’s made absolutely no difference in terms of how frequently he’s been gravely injured! in fact if anything it’s all gotten much, much worse!

oh my god Endeavor is jumping up in the stands and fucking SCREAMING about how Shouto’s finally accepted his blood and now he can finally fulfill his (Endeavor’s) ambitions

someone push him down these stairs

oh my god the chapter is titled “Emancipation.” lol I assume it’s metaphorical, but what I wouldn’t fucking give for Shouto to somehow legally tell his dad to just fuck off forever

Mic calls Endeavor a “doting parent.” that’s... a take. possibly the most ironic fucking thing anyone has ever said

Aizawa seems to know a little bit more about Shouto’s history with his dad though, since he’s thinking to himself that they’re not on good terms. but maybe he just figured that out from Shouto’s insistence on not using his left side

Todoroki is completely thawed out now and on fucking fire and Deku is grinning and Shouto asks him what the fuck he’s smiling about lol. he’s smiling because he helped you, silly! but yes you’re right he is totally fucking screwed

can we get this match ended at last please?? can we get a fucking mercy rule implemented into this fucking tournament

please help me out here, U.A. as unfathomably badass as Todoroki is at full power, I really don’t want to sit through another whole fucking chapter of Deku doing insane things he really shouldn’t be able to do

you know what I would enjoy, though? a quick cut to show how the villains are reacting to all of this. or Deku’s mom, for that matter! assuming she hasn’t passed out or anything. but even if she did, she said she was recording it, so

(ETA: lol are you guys sick of me speculating about Deku’s mom every five paragraphs yet)

DEKU YOUR SECRET IS FUCKING OUT NOW. IT’S WHAT YOU DESERVE, QUITE HONESTLY

and finally Cementoss is springing into action. JESUS CHRIST. TAKE YOUR TIME WHY DON’T YOU. honestly, both he and Midnight -- and really the entire faculty -- are lucky if they’re not charged with child endangerment after all of this

(ETA: well I’m glad U.A.’s student safety record does actually become a plot point later. but slightly annoyed that no one had any problem with this particular spectacle and that it only became an issue after the second villain attack)

having no self-preservation instincts isn’t a fucking superpower and it isn’t something children should be aspiring to

fucking look at these idiots

DON’T EXPECT A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FROM ME NOW, CEMENTOSS

jesus there was like a fucking shockwave. that was all Deku, I’m sure. the giant fire tornado erupting from the stadium is all Todoroki, though!

I’m pretty sure everyone in the stadium just collectively shat their pants

lol forever if a single one of the heroes in the stands even thinks about having the audacity to think they could ever claim either of these two as a sidekick after this. no matter who it is, THEY’RE THE ONES WHO WOULD BE THE FUCKING SIDEKICK

fucking I don’t even know, Mic

so who fucking won. was it a tie?

there’s so much fucking steam from all of the suddenly-melted ice

that shit should be scalding Deku and Shouto both. but we’ve long since torpedoed past the boundaries of realism within this particular fight

there’s a panel of Deku’s shoe but not showing the rest of him...

HE’S OUT OF BOUNDS. OH MY GOD. PRAISE ALL MIGHT. FUCKING FINALLY THIS FIGHT IS FUCKING OVER

so Todoroki moves on to round three

no matter who wins in the Shiozaki/Iida match, they should just fucking forfeit afterward lmao

the audience can’t understand what Deku’s strategy was. there’s no point in trying to understand it, he was basically just trying to make his friend feel better to the point that he became near-suicidal in that pursuit

still, would anyone in this crowd actually want to fuck with him after witnessing that??

YOU DON’T COUNT

lol do you still want these two as your rivals though. and Deku went and made your job even harder for you

and he overheard that conversation earlier, so he understands the significance of what just went down better than anyone else in this audience

oh look, Shouto is being confronted by a walking piece of flaming shit. what an interesting sight

he says Shouto is finally ready to replace him. fucking get over yourself. I’m trying to think of truly awful things to compare you to but I’m so mad I can’t even come up with any

but he seems to think that this means Shouto is done “rebelling” and has anyone ever been so wrong before I wonder

FUCKING YESS

YESSSS RIGHT IN HIS PRIDE

AND NOW HE’S WALKING AWAY

SHOUTO STAY RIGHT THERE!! I’M COMING AROUND!! GOT A BIG HIGH FIVE WITH YOUR NAME ON IT

aaaaand the nurse’s office again!!

so just how dead is Deku this time

shit

shit. I hope they maxed out his painkillers, this poor stupid fucking kid

WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE GOING TO TELL HIS MOTHER GODDAMMIT

and okay but, can you please stop putting it on All Might though. yes he put pressure on Deku, but Deku’s inner fire has like a psychotic edge to it that even he couldn’t have ever anticipated. All Might told him to go out there with a smile, not screaming like a madman and methodically breaking all of his bones one by one

also, he didn’t anticipate Shouto’s involvement in all this and just how far Deku would go for him

which, by the way, I know there’s a sizable chunk of the fandom that ships TodoDeku (or really it’d probably be the other way round wouldn’t it), and like, it’s hard not to see why. you know I’m all about that BakuDeku ship, but Deku clearly has a lot of love to go around. lots of terrifying, violent love

anyway, the point is this wasn’t All Might’s doing. he’s not fucking Dumbledore manipulating the poor kid left and right. he’s still new to being a mentor and he vastly underestimated his protege’s propensity for getting himself deep into the shit

Recovery Girl says All Might better not praise him for what he did. okay, yeah, that I can 100% agree with. it wasn’t healthy or sane or smart by any stretch, and it accomplished absolutely nothing that a couple of sessions with a halfway decent therapist couldn’t have done. though from what I’ve seen, I’m not sure if this school believes in things like therapists

and here comes the fam

oh shit I just realized All Might is still in Skinny Steve form

um

-- DEKU IS CONSCIOUS???!

HELLO NICE TO MEET YOU

DEKU IS FUCKING CONSCIOUS THOUGH??!

I HOPE HE’S DOPED UP TO THE NINES

apparently they took a break to repair the arena

this piece of shit is expressing an opinion I happen to agree with. it happens

but that’s okay because Deku doesn’t need to be some stupid shitty so-called pro’s shitty sidekick. I hate like 90 percent of the pros outside of the U.A. faculty anyway

well. but Best Jeanist though...

now Recovery Girl is chasing them all out and saying he’s about to have surgery

they’re all like “SURGERY?!” YES, SURGERY. WERE YOU NOT WATCHING THE SAME FIGHT THAT I WAS

sdlfkhl damn it and Deku’s apologizing now

he’s so fucking out of it, I can’t be mad at him even though I was so fucking mad at him!!! you idiot!!

All Might, hey, hold it. wait up. dude. you don’t get openly emotional and you never have up till this point so don’t start now when it’s so late and I’m not prepared. if you lose it even the slightest degree I will literally be a mess

and now All Might is realizing Deku was trying to get Todoroki to get over his hangups

and Deku’s saying yes, because “it was just too sad...”

does All Might know what he’s talking about? he can probably guess some of it, but he doesn’t know just how bad it was with Todoroki and Endeavor

Deku says he tried to mind his own business, but he couldn’t take it

“it was so frustrating.” kid, I 100% agree. but like, you and I have different approaches to solving problems like this oh my god

anyways so he completely forgot about his goal of winning the tournament and “lost himself”

well at least this exonerates All Might from having had anything to do with this outcome. just in case he was prepared to blame himself

Deku hasn’t cried once during any of this, incidentally. is he just too exhausted

he needs huuuuuuugs. surgery and then hugs!!

you know what could have changed what happened. literally anyone intervening at any point before the match actually ended

ooooh just like that I’m starting to get mad all over again lol. but not at you, All Might. and not at Deku, who was clearly out of his mind, just totally off the rails with his psychotic good intentions

“however, giving help that’s not asked for... is part of what makes a true hero.” awww ;_;

look, again, I don’t deny that Shouto needed help in some shape or form

and I guess all’s well that ends... sort of... okay

just. wow, what a fucking outcome. what a train wreck of a battle. that was something, all right

“Midoriya Izuku... finished in the top eight”

and the chapter ends

bonus

looks like we’re done with character profiles for the time being! NOW IT’S COSTUME COMMENTARY OH GOODY :D :D :D

how much of this did Bakugou design himself, I wonder? he probably just explained how his quirk worked and what he wanted the gauntlet thing to do and that he wanted it to look cool (by his weird definition of cool)

I really love Bakugou’s quirk. I don’t know if I’ve said this. but it’s probably my second or third favorite, after Ochako’s and possibly Aizawa’s. just something about explosions. I’ve been a Gokudera fangirl for too long lol. and I also love his fighting style and his blasting all over the place

look at the thought that went into even the fucking grenade pin design

Bakugou can fucking blow shit up with his knees?? holy shit. I thought those were just weird Mad Max style knee pads lmao

(ETA: I think maybe by “kill with his knees” they just mean he could like. crush some poor dude or something. just bludgeon them or some shit. how violent)

and he can put his explosive sweat into the grenades on his belt too. “what’s the point?” well, you never know. plus it looks cool to have the grenades there on his belt

“all in all: heartless” this guy never stops shitting on my favorite character lol

#bnha #boku no hero academia #makeste reads bnha #midoriya izuku #todoroki shouto #endeavor #all might #bakugou katsuki #I forgot all about bakugou's knee pads #fucking kill somebody with your knees already bakugou #are you just going to leave us all hanging or what

[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

Wait what's the story about half the boys in your grade getting your class kicked out of Disney world?

Okay, if anyone is going to read this story, you are legally required to listen to the song “Turbulence” first. Nothing will truly make sense without it. You sit your ass through the entire damn song, if you try to skimp out on it the Elder’s will find you. It’s completely vital to the full experience of this stupid ass story. This ENTIRE story exasperates me

Now, okay, so my high school senior class….was relatively a group of good kids. It was a larger grade then I was used to growing up, so I obviously didn’t know everyone in the school personally, but I could pretty much recognize everyone in my grade, and like okay, there were a lot of class clowns and trouble makers™, but for the most part, no one was really a dick and everyone was generally a Decent Person.

Then, for some ungodly reason, the song ‘turbulence’ gets released. 

Now, I think the song actually came out in like, 2011 or something, but it caused Notable Problems with my grade in particular. It was deemed our ‘CLASS SONG’, and every time it played at an event or someone just played it for fun on their phone or something, every single kid in my age group just unexplainably went crazy. You never really knew what was going to happen, and it got worse each and every year- making senior year the year of Worried Faculty, and not without reason. 

Senior Year alone, before this Disney incident happened, the song ‘turbulence’ lead directly to the slightly-violent concussion of an unwillingly crowd surfing teacher and a few freshmen at homecoming, and it was also being blasted on a blue tooth speaker when a couple of boys in my class Lowkey Very Politely High-Jacked The Plane We Were On, so, when we got to Disney World, the chaperones made sure to contact whoever was in charge of our party and told them under no circumstances was this song to be played.

Anyway.

So the school does a Disney trip for the seniors every year- they stay in a cheap hotel and shove four or five withering and hormonal teens in a room, they go to the parks during the day, one night they walk through Universal and see the Blue Man Group in concert, and one night they usually have a big dinner and dance party for the kids, usually held in Sea World. 

But, you know what came out when they were planning the Disney trip? Blackfish. So, the school board (and a lot of the students) were like “UMM-” and that left them scrambling to find a new location for the party. 

The Disney workers, being Disney workers, were super helpful when the school mentioned this issue when they called to make reservations, though. They were like, “Oh, this is great timing! Your school always brings such well-behaved kids every year, and we’ve been thinking about opening up our Fantasia Gardens golf course as a party location! You guys could be our first official party!” and the school was super flattered so they agreed. Disney was providing a dance floor, food, a DJ, and everything else, and it wasn’t going to really cost anything extra, so the faculty was like, Super Excited about it. They thought this was gonna be a great thing, they were the experiment to see if they would try this with other schools, it was an honor, and it meant that they had a great reputation in Disney’s opinion, so maybe they’d be open to providing the school with free/new stuff/opportunities in future years.

Now, let me tell you something- I was Kinda Fucking Miserable for most of this trip. The first day was fine, but the second day saw my friends abandoning me in Magic Kingdom with barely any explanation, so I spent all day roaming MK and Epicot alone, save for occasionally standing next to acquaintances and talking to my different-school friends in a group chat on my phone, and then later that night my friend since third grade like, got a school official and cried to her about how I had instigated a fight and that’s why I was alone all day, which is literally such bullshit and not what happened, it‘s been 3 years and I still cannot believe she actually pulled this fuckery, so even though we made up later in the week I was still pissed the fuck off for the rest of my life the trip. All of my roommates (the deserters) were walking on eggshells around me, except this one control-freak girl who tried to micromanage everything I did (even though literally none of it affected her)  and none of us realized how pissed off I was until I apparently physically threw her out of the bed while I was in a deep sleep, multiple times, and also stole her pillow. So the only person who I wasn’t Fully Done with was this tiny girl from a writing class, but she was potentially Half-Hamster, exclusively wore clothes made for seven year olds, couldn’t go on half of the rides because of her glass eye, and 99% of her conversation points was talking about all the plans she had to hang out with one of the other girls I was rooming with (who didn’t actually wanna hang out with her/got mad at me the third day there because the boy she liked was flirting with me), so like…she was sweet but I also wanna go on rides and not hear how great the girls I’m lowkey in a Blood Feud with are, you know? She wasn’t exactly prime hang out material here. So by the time we get to this party at Fantasia Gardens, we’re all lowkey pretending like everything’s fine but like. It wasn’t hard to tell there was fighting going on. And you could just look at all the other students around you and see there was also fighting going on. Shoving so many kids in hot rooms is never a good idea, like YIKE. 

Anyway, I needed something at this party to be fun. I needed to be released at this point. 

I walk into the place and immediately realize I’m a fucking outlier amongst the girls- every single girl had opted for a sundress, whilst I thought a black skirt and a nice blouse would be enough. This should not have been a problem, but hey. High School. What can ya do. (it just made me more stressed) At this point I was like, this is it, this is it, I hate literally everyone in my high school. There’s nothing holding me back. Graduation take me the fuck away. But I had to make it through this party and then one more day in Disney. 

The room was like, a barn, kind off? Or at the very least it had been decorated like one. There was barbecue food, a dance floor, a lake outside, and a mini-golf course that we were told we were allowed to use at any part of the night. The DJ was playing relatively normal dance/club music. After about an hour of strobe lights and watching people dancing, My Friend Who Hath Betrayed Me and I decided to head down to the mini-golf course. 

There were these two guys there, and I didn’t really know them but they were clearly those ‘All Our Classmates Are Beneath Us Because We’re Alternative And Like Anime And Heavy Metal Music’ types of guys. They took one look at my ass in a tight black mini-skirt and immediately started flirting with me, and on any other occasion I would have shot them down, but 1) They were both actively focused on me over my friend, who I was still mad at and 2) I was frustrated - so I started flirting back even though I wasn’t interested in the slightest (and I had petty reasoning, of course, but I was 18, it was a bad week, it was 100 degrees, give me a break. I promise 99% of the time I’m not Awful). So anyway, we get caught up in a game of mini-golf with these anti-establishment boys, who spend the entire time dissing our classmates for, like, dancing, and looking for excuses to show off in front of me/touch me. We missed like half the dance because of this. 

Right when we were finishing our game, we were contemplating going to the other golf course (I was looking for an excuse to head back to the party tbh we were literally the only four people outside it was starting to feel like the set up to a horror movie) when a girl came up and told us to head back in because the boys™ had busted out the alcohol and we only had a limited amount of time before the chaperones noticed. 

(They sold alcohol at our hotel, a bunch of people had fake id’s made before the trip for this very reason). Me and my friend didn’t actually feel like drinking but we took the excuse and the boys followed us back inside (we lost them on the dance floor and I only saw them once again that night). Anyway, we arrived to what we thought was Chaos, but was truly only the Beginning of Chaos. 

Right off the bat, I noticed the boys from my Gov class and the boys I knew from detention were huddled around each other, muttering under the music. That, I knew, was not gonna lead to anything good. They see me, and they’re like “Javert! Javert people trust you! Go request that the DJ play turbulence!” and I’m like. No. What are you fucking planning??? But they just keep pressing me. They would not drop it oh my God. One of my roommates overhears this, the one who’s mad at me because her crush she never talks to was slightly flirting with me earlier, and she’s in a petty™ mood so she asks why they want it to play but they still won’t tell her, just keep insisting that it has to happening. So she’s all, ‘I can get it to play’ and struts off to the DJ booth with an exaggerated ponytail snap. I’m left with these boys like. For fucks sake please don’t get anyone killed. 

A few boys break off to go tap people and let them know what’s going on. The smell of alcohol is strong. Boys are starting to discreetly take off their shoes and any valuables and hide them under the tables. The chaperones aren‘t noticing any of this. 

I broke away from the dance floor to get a soda, and one of the teachers sees me looking mildly distressed and asks if something’s wrong. And I know. I know that I have the power to kill whatever the hell is about to happen. I’m the sole person in this room that’s clued in who’s not whispering in excitement and waiting for the song to play. I still don’t even know what they’re all planning on doing, but I could end this so fast, just say the words ‘turbulence’ or ‘the boys’ or ‘senior prank’, and this would be nipped in the bud immediately. This could be over before it ever started, all because of me.

And then I reflect on how shitty my weeks been going, how I was frustrated with most of the people in the room, how I needed something fun to happen at this party to release me from hell. 

I tell the chaperone I’m fine, just getting a little tired, and they drop it and head back to the buffet line. 

I head back to the dance floor. Everyone is grinding with baited breath. 

The DJ’s voice comes over the microphone: “I hear it’s someone’s birthday tomorrow! Let’s play her favorite song!”

Turbulence begins to play.

The class goes wild, wilder than they’ve ever been before. The building may as well be shaking from all the noise and music. 

The teachers are trying to get the DJ’s attention to cut the song. He can’t hear them. 

The bass drops. 

Almost every boy on the dance floor screams, runs outside, rips off their shirts and jumps into the fucking lake. 

It was absolute PANDEMONIUM. This wasn’t even the funniest thing they could have come up with but everyone left on the dance floor was loosing their minds cracking up. The teachers and Disney workers were screaming at the top of their lungs and trying to haul boys back onto the land. 

Then the manager of Fantasia Gardens starts screaming that there are alligators in the fucking lake. 

Like. FUCKING. IT’S FLORIDA. HOW DID NO ONE THINK THERE WAS GONNA BE AN ALLIGATOR PROBLEM. F L O R I D A. 

THESE DUMBASS BOYS JUMPED INTO A FUCKING ALLIGATOR INFESTED LAKE.

A L L I G A T O R S. 

FUCK.

All the boys eventually make it back onto land- no one had been bitten or killed or anything, although a few apparently did see ‘shapes moving’ (it was late at night, so nothing clear), and one kid got kicked in the head and knocked out for a few moments and almost drowned, but everyone was intact. 

DISNEY WORLD WAS FURIOUS. 

And like, you can’t fucking blame them. I’m sure when they were making the principal sign liability papers, they didn’t think to include ‘late night gator attacks in a lake’ on the list, they could’ve been put in serious trouble if something had happened omfg. But there was a LOT of yelling/ranting/cursing. NEVER before have they seen such inappropriate behavior, the school would not be allowed to step foot in the Fantasia Gardens EVER again, yadayada, that sort of thing. The more boys I found soaking wet, the more ridiculous this got- I knew which of them had planned it of course, but this was most of the grade. There were like, geeks and nerds and Good Kids™ who I never expected to do something like wild like this standing around half naked looking torn between proud and about-to-cry omfg.

Every single boy who participated got suspended for three days, but they had to space out which boys were suspended which days because they didn’t trust them to not throw a giant party on the days they weren’t there. 

The school is still allowed in Disney World every year, but are banned from Fantasia Gardens and received a fine. 

‘Turbulence’ was absolutely banned from being played at senior prom. 

#lmao #true story #molly's memories #Disney world #asks #molly mumbles

[essaycompetiton891]

buy college papers

About me

You Shouldn'T Even Think About Buying A Research Paper

You Shouldn'T Even Think About Buying A Research Paper You’ll want to describe your task or connect your project temporary and set the deadline. We accept deadlines beginning at three hours, however you'll be able to pick a 6, 12 or 24 hours’ deadline and pay much less in your essay. Once the fee is finished, it's going to take quarter-hour for our supervisor to match your order with an appropriate writer. We will e-mail you all the small print and your private account information. Not an enormous fan of dishonest, however, hey… We all want a serving to hand every so often. At least with masterpapers I can be sure that not a single particular person will find out about it. Use the promo code first15 to get pleasure from a nifty welcome bonus in your first order. Use Loyalty program funds got from previous orders. They are obsessed with safety measurements and do all that's essential to make sure customer`s privateness. In case there's an already written paper you want us to edit, that is a separate paid service that costs $6 per web page or extra. If you order any kind of paper from us to be written from scratch, you get editing service completely for free. All of papers you get at Papernow.org are meant for research functions only. To assist you to make up your mind, see how other customers really feel about our service. Are you on the lookout for a spot to buy faculty paper from? We will notify you when you should purchase the essay you need at the best value. at MasterPapers, you obtain particular bonuses which you need to use to pay in your subsequent orders. Meaning that the more papers you order from us, the less you need to pay for them. You should pick your topic when placing an order (we now have experts across 40+ subjects), and we’ll choose a author with qualifications in the chosen subject. The author goes beyond unique directions and shares his suggestions and views. We ensure your paper is written by all writing standards as a result of we do not need you to really feel pissed off making an attempt to format every thing yourself. When you order from us, your writing problems and issues turn into ours. A little hint - the simpler it is to navigate the company's website, the safer and dependable they are. We accept paper orders on all potential topics and matters as a result of we know we will be able to fulfill the requirements and supply our clients with one of the best high-quality work. Log in to your buyer area on the location and download your new plagiarism-free paper, when the deadline comes. Note that nearly 60% of assignments are carried out earlier than the deadline. Every paper is double-checked for plagiarism and grammar mistakes on completion. Step 1 - fill in the information about the academic level, type of project, urgency, pages and spacing. Order now your greatest essay and get it right on time in full accordance along with your requirements. Your essays shall be checked for plagiarism by dependable and top class software program. Feel free to succeed in our friendly buyer help staff any time of the day and night. This information is shared with social media services, sponsorship, analytics and different third-celebration service providers. Successful tutorial platforms like ours usually have easy but efficient designs whereas scammers never bother to work out even an honest homepage. Order an essay online on the day it’s assigned to pay the bottom price. Have you ever discovered your self in an identical scenario? Keep calm, there isn't any have to panic and stress out. It is feasible to submit a prime-scoring essay on time, even if the deadline is dangerously shut. We encourage you to make use of our merchandise as comprehensive templates or sources of ideas in your own work. Anyway, we guarantee you a hundred% original writing and security, and it’s up to you to decide what to do with the delivered paper.

[charlieharry1]

The entrepreneurial attitude – transcript from my tedx bundaberg communicate

So, the phrase entrepreneur, let’s begin there. Has every person ever looked this up within the dictionary? I’d in no way heard the word entrepreneur when i was at faculty. In no way did  Digital Marketing Company Nottingham absolutely everyone say “you! The lady that talks in magnificence and gets kicked out an entire lot”

 “you! The girl that gets suspended”

 “you! The girl that is clever – but doesn’t seem to be engaged in a whole lot of this content material”. That become me. No person ever stated “you understand what? Maybe you have to reflect onconsideration on being an entrepreneur.”

 and this is pretty sudden to me due to the fact in case you haven’t already picked it up, i’m from wellington, new zealand and i went to a certainly innovative faculty – it was known as wellington high faculty that is now over one hundred and thirty years antique. We known as teachers with the aid of their first names, it became co-ed; boys and girls, we didn’t wear a uniform. Inside the senior years it become move if you need and don’t go if you don’t need – which didn’t suit every body. We should study topics like journalism and horticulture which became notable, but nonetheless, the simplest pathway they ever presented to us in 1994, which become the yr i ended excessive college, turned into which you go proper through to yr 12, that you then pass and get a tertiary education and then you definitely get a process. That’s all i ever knew. Each my parent didn’t run agencies, one became a instructor at my school, so that you can believe how mortified he become at my behaviour at instances. No person ever supplied this idea of being an entrepreneur. Whilst i've heard the phrase entrepreneur over time, on occasion it’s were given terrible connotations, hasn’t it? Check these phrases at the slide in the back of me. I imply who desires to be a multi-millionaire? A magnate? A dealer? What about a multi-millionaire, or a massive shot, or a big wig? Or maybe a whizz-youngster. So the use of the word “entrepreneur” virtually dates back to the 1800s and it’s a french word. And through the years it has grown in popularity. I feel like in recent years if something, the word entrepreneur has taken on a life of its personal and is perhaps even over used – wouldn’t you settle? These days, i’m pretty sure while you’re growing up in new zealand, australia or elsewhere inside the international that pretty possibly, and that i simply hope this is actual, you're advised approximately the opportunity to head on a direction of building your very own enterprise – if that’s what you want to do. And that i implore all of you too, that even if you have taken the conventional course of analyzing and going and getting a task. That at any time you can choose to do a “aspect hustle” or even assignment out and start a new business. Did you already know that the colonel from kentucky, that made the famous kentucky fried fowl or kfc, didn’t start his business till he changed into in his 70s?! So in case you need to be an entrepreneur or you simply need to have an entrepreneurial attitude that’s a piece greater like an entrepreneurial person – what does that mean? To me it way a number of various things. It approach to think differently and all the ones times i used to be at high college stepping into trouble, struggling with the educational work, it’s due to the fact i notion otherwise, and i simply didn’t fit the mold. So in case you’re deliberating a person right now that feels like that, whether it’s your personal toddler or a nephew or a niece or someone you’ve taught, possibly, just perhaps, they’re an entrepreneur too. To tell you the way i came to exercise session i used to be an entrepreneur (and how it wasn’t one of these horrific factor and has in reality brought me a lot of tremendous opportunities in this life) permit me let you know a bit about my adventure. As i stated, i began life in wellington new zealand wherein i used to be born and bred till the age of 21. I created my first business when i used to be 17 years antique when i determined to begin a newspaper even as at college. As i stated, a number of the topics at school weren’t for me – i’d by no means touch computers until i had to do a journalism path and needed to discover ways to type out my story. Then my dad said “you have to begin a newspaper and you ought to do it on recreation,” and i concept “that sounds extremely good to me because i like sport!”

 in reality at that time i was inside the new zealand crew for water polo for my age organization and i educated a lot. I additionally did a number of swimming and quite a few surf lifestyles-saving and i gained loads of medals. I was a water baby i wager you could say. And the thing that got me surely inquisitive about starting the newspaper – we all must be stimulated with the aid of some thing – and for me, at age of 17, it become cash. I wanted cash to pay for my recreation, which became unfunded. My parents didn’t have the cash to keep putting in to pay for the uniforms or the trips and all of the costs related to sport. So, i began that newspaper. And in those days, for the ones folks vintage sufficient to recollect, it turned into bromide, not virtual at all. And that i had a number of joy dropping off in my little pink mini to every high school in wellington, a package of newspapers. And as it became made via children, for children, they gobbled it! Then i get this enterprise call from an american man who stated ‘you’ve stolen my concept!’ he turned into high-quality pissed off at me so i stated “how could i've stolen your idea? I’ve by no means met you, i don’t realize who you're or what your idea even is!”

properly it turns out that this man had been making plans to start a secondary school sports newspaper loads like mine for about two years. And here was me, coming along in any respect of 17 years vintage and i just began this thing, and i thought such things as $200 complete page advertisements became exquisite for installing the financial institution to pay for my game. So he demanded a meeting with me and here i am, my first boardroom meeting as a 17 years vintage, with my dad there for guide, slicing my first enterprise deal. And you’re probably questioning what that frypan reference is up at the display screen? I’ll inform you now. Years later, a guy in silicon valley said to me, “ you already know companies are lots like pancakes – you stuff the primary one up,” and that i said, “ oh my god, that’s so genuine for me!” due to the fact that newspaper was the first enterprise and without know it i cut that deal and it ended up being a truely bad commercial enterprise deal once i look again. It become a wage, a small lump sum and that i had to maintain to paintings for him for the relaxation of the 12 months. Which for me, become nice on the time, due to the fact i just wanted to train and get the cash to head and play towards australia later that year. Nicely i did what i used to be requested, and that i learnt my first very good business lesson. Which is, if making a decision to go into business with a person, or whatever it's miles you decide to do as an entrepreneur, ensure it aligns together with your values. On this revel in, his values and my values did no longer align. And it didn’t workout. On the stop of the 12 months we parted ways and that changed into the give up of my first commercial enterprise. For the subsequent seven years, from age 21 to 28 i travelled the arena and that i supplemented my travels with travel writing, so i wager you can say i was a travel blogger before it was even a issue. So that’s my 2d tip on becoming an entrepreneur or growing an entrepreneurial attitude, you need to create your own opportunities. Human beings aren’t necessarily going to say “hello, you must do that” every now and then you’ve simply were given to assume “i want to try this. How can i make it happen?” then make it show up! Speedy forwarding in my tale, i fell pregnant at the pill, in london, and i needed to training session what to do subsequent. By using this stage, i was the editor of a newspaper at age 26. So, i used to be doing quite nicely with the profession component. However to fall pregnant at the pill  in london, without a doubt made me re-assume existence and what i used to be going to next. We ultimately had the kid, and for some time there we stuck it out in london looking to make things work, however while it have become too tough we decided to move again to wherein our circle of relatives lived, which became australia. So then, a few years skip, i locate some paintings in australia after which i've a 2nd baby. So now i have a 3 yr vintage and a new child at home and that i assume, “how am i going to earn cash now?!”

 so i start any other business! Running from domestic around my two kids have been the standard beginnings of my 0. 33 commercial enterprise, the innovative collective. And in fact, i didn’t mention that during among my “pancake business” (the newspaper) and my career in london i additionally commenced a web enterprise selling t shirts known as “tikanga teeshirts”. Tikanga means “culture “and tikanga o te wa – those are maori phrases i’m the usage of – manner fashion. I created that enterprise due to the fact i used to be honestly happy with our indigenous subculture and language in new zealand. Though i am no longer maori, i was introduced up with it. And that i wanted to percentage with human beings that i was a proud new zealander and here became our subculture. So the teeshirt business i started out in 2002 and not using a capital. I put up a internet site up after teaching myself html, and 4 years later, offered it for 5 figures. In order that changed into an awesome outcome, doing the overall cycle of the business, truly better than the first pancake. But the 0. 33 business, the creative collective, that’s in which all of it truly commenced. I got a logo designed via a friend, i were given that revealed in an a3 format and laminated, put it up within the have a look at and growth we’re in commercial enterprise! I then threw up a internet site (now we’re really in enterprise), i made a enterprise card (hey everyone, i’ve got a business!)

 in those days it wasn’t very common for mums to work at home – or it didn’t seem like it changed into. I didn’t have many friends to name on. But it’s become an increasing number of famous now and that i think that this is incredible, that parents who pick to stay at domestic and lift children can nevertheless earn an earnings and do some thing they love. Now nowadays, the creative collective has 12 staff throughout offices on the sunshine coast and newcastle and approximately 40 contractors. I very own a business constructing that we operate out of at the sunshine coast and we have clients all over australia and even some worldwide ones. It has a by-product organisation known as the schooling collective, wherein we train human beings digital competencies. And importantly, we’ve had a lot of amusing with it all. Now there’s a super metaphor obtainable approximately what it takes to be an entrepreneur that i’d like to percentage with you. An entrepreneur says to a mentor, “be my mentor, display me what it takes to be an entrepreneur.”

 the mentor says, “k come meet me down at the water early when it’s surely certainly dark and cold out”. The entrepreneur meets the mentor and on arrival the mentor says “walk with me” and absolutely dressed heads directly into the water. The entrepreneur says to the mentor “wait! I need to get undressed. I’ll get wet…”

the mentor says “no you don’t simply stroll to your clothes”. In order that they enter the water, that is clearly honestly bloodless, and are up to their knees of their garments. The entrepreneur says “oh man that is uncomfortable! What are we doing? This is horrible!”

the mentor smiles and lightly says “that’s proper, just preserve on foot”. In order that they keep walking deeper and deeper into the water, and i ought to truely problematic on this story, but the point is, they stroll until they’re up to their necks, and the entrepreneur at this factor is in reality struggling to preserve his head above water because his clothes are wet, he’s freezing bloodless, and the whole thing is weighing him down.

“i hate this!” he again complains to the mentor.

“i need to get out! I will’t cope! I’m going to drown!” he yells desperately to the mentor. And when he receives to date, the mentor says, “my pal, that is what it takes to be a an entrepreneur. You’ve got to be prepared to get from your comfort sector. You’re going to swim into un-chartered waters. You’re going to be uncomfortable, and you’ll once in a while feel like you’re sinking. At times you can even assume you’re drowning, but you’ve just were given to maintain going. You’ve got to attempt to swim even when things are weighing you down.”

 so that’s any other tip i've for all the budding entrepreneurs obtainable. You’ve were given to be prepared to get from your consolation region and make it paintings! My first step to get out of my comfort region, was coming into a enterprise award. I were in business simply six months with the creative collective, and that i thought “hello, i need to market my enterprise, or give some thing a move here to get the phrase available approximately my enterprise.”

 so i throw my hat into the small enterprise champions awards, and i couldn’t trust it. I received! I won the young entrepreneur of the year award in queensland in 2007. Out of this enjoy i realised that coming into business awards worked quite nicely and that i might need to do extra of that due to the fact the phones began ringing, and commercial enterprise started coming in. I also met a few extraordinary human beings at that occasion. Off the again of winning that award, i were given supplied to go on tv, on a country wide show about specific companies. On it they depicted me as the mum who labored from home juggling my younger ones that is precisely what i was doing at the time. That equal piece came out on channel nine, after which featured on the vodafone website and on qantas’s inflight television and things definitely took off. And this changed into all from going out of doors my consolation sector and coming into a business award. The alternative matters i’ve learned along my years of being an entrepreneur, is that you want to be open to new experiences, places and people. That's precisely why i say, yes to riding 3 hours to talk at a bundaberg tedx occasion. I wanted to come back up to meet new human beings and feature a brand new experience in a brand new area. Via my 

Read Also:-  Top 10 Ways to Use AI in Brand Management

entrepreneurial/commercial enterprise journey, i’ve surely been able to do this. As an instance this is me in the big apple, coming into the worldwide girls in business awards. And in that 12 months, my children have been elderly 2 and 5, the currency exchange fee changed into terrible and that i felt so responsible leaving them to wait those awards. I didn’t win that award, however it turned into nevertheless so really worth going and being open to those new reports. As a result of attending that event, that night time, i went night time clubbing, as you do with the ceo of the complete awards. And he supplied me an possibility to sell those awards in australia and new zealand, which i then did for the subsequent 10 years. And that has changed into having connections with a number of the nice commercial enterprise people in australian and new zealand, which has been an exceptional experience as properly. I suppose you want to place yourself accessible, and do not forget you've got as a lot proper to be there as anyone else. Through entering any  Digital Marketing Companies in Nottingham other business award application, the telstra commercial enterprise womens awards and prevailing enterprise owner of the yr in queensland, extra opportunities unfolded for me. I got invited to go to silicon valley, which in case you don’t recognise, is the tech capital of the arena.

Follow US:-  Facebook,  Twitter,  LinkedIn , YouTube

#Digital Marketing Company Nottingham

[kimvtae]

Drag Me Down (To Hell) | 03

↬ Summary: There’s a darkness to your city, a murderous underbelly filled with crime and deceit that you’ve sworn to avoid at all costs. But the universe has funny ways of forcing your involvement in the form of a notorious mob boss and his young daughter. ↬ Pairing: Jeongguk x reader ↬ Genre: mafia!au ↬ Rating: Mature (for themes; subject to change in later chapters) ↬ Word Count: 11.534

Part 01 - Part 02 - Part 04 - Part 05

You don’t sleep that night.

After Jeongguk had pushed Surin into your arms and slammed your front door, his footsteps echoing loudly throughout the building as he left, the young girl had promptly fallen back asleep with her face nestled against your neck. You hadn’t been able to move for what might have been an hour, staring at the door in muted shock before finally regaining yourself to get Surin into your bed to sleep for the rest of the night, and then calling Jeongguk.

There was no answer, of course. You really hadn’t expected one. But there was no answer on the burner phone Jimin had given you the number to, or on Taehyung’s phone, or even Jimin’s. And Jimin had promised you he’d always answer your calls if he could.

Still, you force yourself not to overreact. Criminals always faced scares, were always encountering threats and needing to leave for covert reasons. With Surin in the picture you could imagine it had been nearly impossible for Jeongguk to up and leave, to chase down people who tested him in different countries. Maybe that was another unseen effect of holding this job- keeping a goddam child safe while her father created trouble around Asia.

When sleep proves to be futile and you’re unable to catch a wink even curled up around Surin’s tiny frame, (she’s shivering, you realize belatedly, grabbing the afghan from the hall closet to drape over her body,) you hesitantly decide to open Surin’s backpack. Maybe by seeing what Jeongguk had packed in her bag you could get an idea as to how long Jeongguk would be gone, or even what he’d left to do.

It wasn’t any help. Surin’s bag was packed as if she wouldn’t be home for weeks. You had to admit the sight was impressive, what with how many outfits Jeongguk’s managed to fit in the bag, along with a sturdy pair of sneakers. Dollars, Won, Euros, and Yen notes are tucked into the inside pockets, enough cash of each for a small family to survive for at least two months. There’s a Taser at the bottom that you quickly throw into the highest cabinet in the kitchen, but what chilled your blood the most was the envelope in the front pocket of the bag, stuffed with official passports of ten different countries, all with aliases for Surin. Only the Korean one had her real name, and even then it wasn’t Jeongguk’s surname on the documents.

“Oh, Jeon,” you whisper, irrationally afraid that Surin may overhear. You hurriedly repack the bag the way you’d found it. “What have you gotten yourself into?”

“Eonnie?”

You startle, placing the envelope back in the backpack and letting the whole thing drop to the floor. Surin stands in the doorway to your bedroom, hair messy and sticking out in every direction as she rubs her eyes. The blanket is still around her shoulders, but you get a peak at the Iron Man pajamas she’s wearing.

“Hey, kid,” you say slowly, watching Surin stumble her way over to join you on the couch. “Don’t you want to get some more sleep?”

Surin shakes her head. “Where’s daddy?”

Fuck, you really should have been expecting that question. You school your expression into something you hope is neutral enough not to alarm her. “He’s running some errands. I’m not sure when he’ll get back.”

Sighing, Surin slumps on the couch. She props her chin on her fist, staring blankly at the backpack on the floor, and you’re struck, not for the first time, at how she looks too young to be so tired. “He’s gone, isn’t he?”

“Yeah,” you breathe. “He’ll be back soon, though, right?”

“Last time daddy left, he had to leave me with the maid.”

“Is that why you’re scared of them?”

“They have guns, eonnie.”

“What-? Why do they have-?” No, fuck, you were not having this conversation with a child, but you would bring it up with Jeongguk when he got home. Instead, you say, “Never mind. There’s cereal in the pantry if you want some.”

“Marshmallow cereal?” Surin asks, a smile betraying what you can’t imagine she’s feeling inside.

“Mhm.”

“Daddy never lets me have marshmallow cereal!”

You take a quick shower after settling Surin in front of the TV with a big bowl of cereal, taking the opportunity to try to call Jeongguk again, but there was still no answer. Not even a text from Taehyung. You collect your books from your room, finding Surin writing in her notebook, focused more on writing than on the cartoon playing on screen.

“Is your school done for the year?”

“Yep!”

Finals were in two weeks. You really couldn’t afford to skip. “Do you want to come to classes with eonnie today?”

“Okay.”

Your professors, unsurprisingly, were very understanding about Surin staying during class time. You introduce Surin as your daughter, saying there was an issue with your usual daycare and figuring it would fit best with Jimin’s story if anything were to happen. So Surin sits in on your classes with her notebook in one hand and a snack you’d packed in the other. Some students coo at her at the little café you stop at for lunch, but she takes it all in stride, smiling and laughing and talking about the dog she hopes she’ll get for her birthday.

That night while brushing teeth, Surin asks whether you’ve heard anything from Jeongguk, and when you say you haven’t she grows quiet for the first time since that morning. You promise to keep trying to contact him as you tuck her into your bed, but Surin shakes her head.

“If he hasn’t called, that means he can’t talk,” Surin says sleepily. “He probably threw his phone in the river before leaving Gangnam.”

“Surin don’t speak like that,” you say sharply.

She’s quiet for a few moments, turning her head away from your fingers in her hair. “Goodnight, eonnie.”

“Goodnight.”

“Wait,” she chokes out when your hand closes around the doorknob. Her voice shakes, and you know in that moment that there will never be anything you could deny this little girl. “Stay please?”

For the next five days there is no sign of or call from Jeongguk or any of his men. Even Bogum, your tail for the week, had no updates on his whereabouts, and advised you to stop asking about it. Instead, you keep bringing Surin to your classes and taking her out to dinner each night to get out of the apartment. Her face lights up at each childish restaurant you take her to, and you file keep every menu she draws on to give to Jeongguk when he returns. If Surin notices the cash or passports in her backpack she doesn’t comment on them, and you wonder if that was regular in her life.

On the sixth day, Surin asks if there are any parks nearby and you agree to take her to one after your classes let out. It’s your early day, but you have a question about one of your recent papers, climbing the stairs to the faculty offices with Surin’s hand in yours as she speaks excitedly about the dog she had seen earlier. Seemed Jeongguk wasn’t the only one in that house she was taking after.

“Excuse me, professor?” You knock on the door after settling Surin in one of the chairs outside. A man with unnaturally blond hair is in the room with your professor, looking pissed, if his bright red face and veined forehead were anything to go by, and there was a scar from the tip of his eyebrow that extended to the lid of his eye.

“Ah, Y/N,” your professor says, a warm smile on her lips. “Pardon us, Shin, but I have work to attend to.”

“Of course,” the man, Shin, says, giving you a quick once over before leaving the room.

“What can I do for you?”

“Right, uhm. My essay…”

Your nerves are still a little on edge as you leave the room; frown deep on your lips. A stranger on campus really shouldn’t have this kind of affect on you, but you were paranoid after what had happened at Surin’s school and from Jeongguk’s disappearance. Sue you for being worried.

“Hey, kid. Ready to go to… to the park-?” But the chair you had left Surin in was empty, her backpack knocked over onto the floor and no sign of her dark hair on either side of the hallway. “Surin? Surin!”

You look in every office in the area, shouting Surin’s name with each door you open. Holding her backpack, your chest threatens to concave. You were in the office for maybe five minutes; the only other person in the immediate area was the man speaking with your professor before you. Had you misjudged him? Had you seen him around, maybe at the park or Surin’s school beforehand? Fuck, you had learned to be so careful over the last few months and now Surin was missing, Surin was missing and had been taken by the same men that wanted Jeongguk dead, the same men who had no qualms with torturing a small child to get the information they needed-

"Eonnie?"

You whirl at the sound, sweet, sweet relief flooding your limbs at the sight of Surin, standing near one of the receptionist’s desks and staring up at you in confusion. Nearly sprinting to her side you fall to your knees, grabbing her arms and checking her legs, even going so far as to check for a wire before confirming that yes, she's alright, and no, Jeongguk won't have any reason to stage your elaborate death.

"Where did you go?" You demand, still checking Surin's neck for any signs of marks.

"I was in the bathroom! Eonnie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," you breathe. "Nothing. Let's go back to the apartment now."

Surin takes her backpack from you, still glancing at you as you lead her out of the administration building and back toward the bus stop. When she seems to recognize where it is you're headed, she tugs on your sleeve, staring up at you with wide, watery brown eyes. God damn Jeongguk's genes. "What about the park?"

"Not today," you say. "I- uh, I have a lot of homework. We'll go on Sunday." What you failed to mention was how you were still a little paranoid. Especially with Jeongguk MIA, there was no telling who may come out of the woodwork when he wasn't around to defend his turf, when there wasn’t anyone around to keep track of you and Surin.

God, you scoff, sitting on the bus with Surin on your lap. When had your life become a trashy spy movie plot?

Once home, you settle Surin at the table with a snack and a Chinese language workbook you'd picked up the other day, after recognizing that she hadn't been studying her languages since Jeongguk dropped her off. There were four others piled on your bed for Mandarin, English, and French. You realize with a start, digging through your clothes for something more comfortable to change into, that Jeongguk was preparing her in case she ever had to disappear.

You look out of your bedroom, catching sight of Surin's frame bent over the table. She was working diligently, humming to herself as she wrote. She was such a young, beautiful child, but one wrong move from Jeongguk or anyone else that lived in that house, and her entire life would be turned upside down. Whereas other children were enjoying their vacations with family and friends, Surin was studying languages for the possibility of fleeing the country. Men with guns showed up at her school. Her father disappeared with illegal business more often than not. This pretty, tiny little child with night hair rivaling the blackness of Jeongguk's, wide eyes, and a mind that knew more than she let on, should not be bred for a life of secrecy.

"Surin?"

"Yeah, eonnie?" She turns to face you, open and trusting, and your heart catches in your throat.

"I'll order in dinner tonight. Want pizza?"

"Sure!"

You'd stopped calling Jeongguk a few days ago, stopped trying to get information when there clearly wasn't any. And while you were still insanely worried, you tried not to show it for Surin's sake. Instead, you rented Surin's favorite Disney movie and the two of you ate pizza on the floor of your tiny living room, giggling and singing along to the songs. And you hope, beyond all reason that you've managed to distract the young girl.

Bedtime at your apartment is so different from that at Jeongguk's estate. There, sometimes, you have to wait for one of his men to finish in the bathroom before you can get Surin in there, and sometimes it's difficult to get Jeongguk's men to keep quiet after she's put to bed. But at your place, there's no lines or guns, just laughing and dancing, brushing teeth and making soap mustaches. Tucking Surin into bed meant several stories with the little girl sitting propped against your chest and her gaze focused intently on the book, asking questions and pointing out plot holes. In children's books. The fuck.

When Surin's finally asleep you actually look at your homework, at the two final exam projects you have due in the next two weeks. With a sigh, you rub tiredly at your eyes, deciding to get started now before Surin would wake and ask for a trip to the park again.

There's a knock at your door as the time snails towards three in the morning, the rest of the world smartly choosing to go the fuck to sleep. There's no hurry or fury to this knocking, as if this were the middle of the afternoon and a friend were waiting for you on the other side. Still, you sneak as silently as possible to the door, checking the peephole with bated breath and letting out a relieved noise when you get a look at who's on the other side and hurrying to pull the door open.

"Jeongguk.”

"Hey, Y/N. Sorry."

There's blood on Jeongguk's face, blood you hadn't been able to see through the peephole. It's dried, cracked in some places along his forehead and cheek. His gun is carelessly hung in the waistband of his slacks, black hair a mess with what you don't even bother hoping isn't blood. His clothes are a little torn and he looks absolutely exhausted, as if he hadn't slept in three days, or for the entire week he's been away.

For a second, you're floored, speechless as you stare at Jeongguk across the threshold. And then the surprise wears off. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" You hiss, yanking him into your apartment with a fist curled in the front of his jacket. "Do you have any idea how worried Surin has been? She's a smart fucking girl, Jeongguk, she isn't immune to what you do."

"I know," Jeongguk says, raising his hands in front of his body and for a minute, he looks so much younger, and the worry he must have been feeling for his daughter for the last few days shows in the cracks of blood on his cheeks, in the muted colors in his eyes. "I know. And I'm so, so sorry for asking you to watch her on such short notice. I wouldn't have done it if I had any other choice."

"I'm not going to ask for an explanation right now," you say. Jeongguk glances into your apartment, searching for something, but you stop him with a hand on his chest before he can make his way past you.

"Y/N-"

"You're not going in there covered in blood, Jeongguk." You guide him through your apartment, placing a few towels on the bathroom sink. "You'll give Surin nightmares with all that blood on your face, you damn idiot. Shower. She's okay. My room's at the end of the hall, feel free to it once you've finished."

Jeongguk sighs, bloodshot eyes trained on the floor. "Thank you, Y/N. I have no idea how I'll make this up to you."

You smile gently. "Take Surin to the park tomorrow."

As Jeongguk showers you set to work cleaning up your things, packing away your schoolwork and the salvageable parts of one of your projects. While the water's still running you dial Taehyung's number, a little pissed when it goes straight to voicemail again, but deciding not to do anything of it until you see Taehyung again. There's always an explanation.

"We ditched our phones in Ilsan," Jeongguk says, startling you into dropping your phone onto the floor of the kitchen. He chuckles, drying his hair with the towel. He'd changed back into his slacks and undershirt, and you flush when you realize you didn't have anything in the apartment to give him. "Oh, shit. If it's damaged, I'll buy you another one."

"It's fine."

"Right. Anyway, I'm sure you were calling, but we threw our phones away as soon as we realized things were going south in Ilsan. I'm sure Taehyung's trying to find an open store right now to buy a phone to call you on."

"Jeongguk." You're tired and spent, and namely still a little upset by the entire week. Taehyung will get to you. You're not worried about that. "Go to Surin, please."

Jeongguk leaves for your room, leaving the door open and you finish tidying up the apartment. Cleaning dishes that have been there for days, re-packing Surin's backpack, and straightening up the bathroom a little, but as you pass the door to your room you pause. You'd fallen into the habit of either sleeping in the same bed as Surin if she asked you to stay, or checking on her a few times during the night if you were sleeping on the couch. And it's always the same; she's curled into all of the blankets, clutching the little toy dog she loves so dearly, and if she's shivering then you throw another blanket over her slim frame.

Tonight, not to your surprise, is different. Jeongguk is a little too big for your bed, but that doesn't stop him from curling up into it, stroking his fingers through Surin's hair with a practiced touch. She startles awake, but settles right away when she realizes that it's Jeongguk that woke her. The grin that splits the little girl's cheeks is breathtaking as she shoves herself into Jeongguk's embrace, surely burying her face in his chest. You can't hear what they're saying, but you can imagine Jeongguk's whispering something to her as he settles more fully on the bed, arms around her body.

The sight knocks your breath away, a feeling of longing so severe that your chest aches and your features begin to crumble under the weight of the smile. Something like that is all you've ever wanted and yet, it's all you've never been able to have. All you'll never be able to have.

Quietly, you shut the door to your bedroom and retreat to the couch, sinking into the cushions just as your phone vibrates in your hand. You don’t recognize the number, but you’re quick to answer.

“Love?”

“Taehyung.” A sob bubbles in the back of your throat at the soothing sound of Taehyung’s voice. You never realized how desperately you could miss someone until the chance of death was so high.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t call.”

“Don’t. I know why you couldn’t.”

Taehyung’s quiet for a long moment, but just knowing he’s alive and breathing is enough not for you to prompt him to keep speaking. “Y/N, why are you still awake?”

“Jeongguk’s here,” you say, wrapping yourself in an extra blanket on the back of the couch and lying down. “He’s with Surin. I don’t think I can sleep tonight.”

“You should try. There’s going to be a lot of info being explained in the next few days.”

“Just. Tell me anything important you can. You know I don’t like details.”

“Love, I’m starting to think that’s not the best idea anymore.” Taehyung sighs, exhaustion creeping into his voice and curling along your limbs. “Our shipments are being attacked. We got an alert of an attack and went to stop it, but when we got there, they weren’t any of our suspects. None of Zhang’s men, none of Keng’s. We lost five guys.”

“Jimin-?”

“He’s alive. Nearly lost a finger but Seokjin-hyung’s almost done stitching him back together.”

Taehyung’s words are starting to trip over themselves in the way his voice gets when he’s been awake for three days straight, when his body begs him for nothing more than sleep. He’s trying to fight through it, to keep updating you about what had happened. All of the men had been wearing masks, they had no leads on who it could have been, and Jeongguk’s first order of business upon getting back to Seoul had been getting back to his daughter. The rest could wait.

“Taehyung,” you murmur, interrupting a slurred monologue about which drugs had been stolen. “Go to sleep.”

“Mm, you, too.” Taehyung yawns. “I’ll cuddle Jimin back to health all night. Tell Jeongguk to get his ass back here first thing in the morning. I miss his kid.” You laugh quietly, even as the stone in your belly continues to sink, ripples making even your toes feel heavy and uncomfortable. “Get some rest, love.”

“Goodnight, Tae.”

There are no sounds from your bedroom, and you figure it’s safe to assume that Jeongguk’s fallen asleep around Surin. Still, sleep doesn’t come immediately to you, and you reach blindly for the remote before turning on the first show you could find. It’s an infomercial for chrome curtains, the host gesturing comically with no sound on the TV. They’re ugly and unnecessary, but at least the pictures do a decent job of pushing your thoughts from your head until your eyes finally close for the night.

"What do you think about Beijing?"

You tickle Surin's toes as the swing nears you, her bubbling laugh infectious and adorable. Jeongguk stands behind her, pushing the swing each time she gets close enough. "Like. Politically or for a vacation?"

"I was thinking vacation," Jeongguk says with a smile. "But I am wholly interested in your political views."

"Oh, bite me."

Jeongguk laughs, and after a few seconds Surin joins in again. It had been almost a month since Jeongguk disappeared for a week, and though you still didn't know that whole story, things had at least settled down a little. And now that you were out of school you were spending nearly everyday at Jeongguk's estate to watch after Surin. Most days you used her coursework time to keep looking into universities for graduate school, Taehyung hovering excitedly over your shoulder until he was called back to do his job.

"I mean," Jeongguk says, after a few minutes. "I don't even know why I asked about Beijing. It's irrelevant right now."

"Tell that to the people of Beijing."

"I will if you do."

"Daddy, I want to go on the slide!" Surin kicks her feet to make her point, trying to grasp your hands to bring the swing to a stop.

He laughs again, and you instantly see Surin's smile on his own face. "Okay, princess."

Jeongguk helps her out of the swing, and she runs toward the biggest slide the second her feet touch the ground. You and Jeongguk follow at a slower pace, neither of you taking your eyes off her. Yugyeom was your tail today, standing on the other side of the playground. There was no sign of the people who'd been here the first time or the person who'd threatened you, but still your breathing was a little uneasy every time you scanned your surroundings.

"Why do you ask about not Beijing, anyway?"

"Ah, I need to ask you a favor." Jeongguk gestures to a spot underneath one of the trees to stand, the few leaves still hanging on to the branches were brown and burnt. "I need to go to Taiwan in two weeks, and I wanted to ask you to accompany me."

"Why?"

Jeongguk looks away to where Surin's waving from the top of the slide, smile wide and bright. You and Jeongguk both wave back, that achingly fond look back in Jeongguk's eyes, almost as if it had never left.

"I want you there?"

You snort. "Shouldn't I just stay here with her? I'm already at your place most days each week."

Jeongguk's expression hardens, and suddenly you remember Taehyung had mentioned Jeongguk had crafted and burnt an alias just for what happened in Ilsan. Things were getting serious, and it seemed Jeongguk was still intent to keep you in the dark. But could you complain? It was what you had asked for, after all. "I don't want to leave the country without her right now. After what happened in the last couple months, I don't want to leave her alone. You're someone she trusts wholeheartedly, and I know that you can help me keep her out of trouble out there."

"Are you expecting trouble in Taiwan?"

"No," Jeongguk says. "So, I'm telling her it's a vacation. That way she doesn't worry when we get there. What do you say, Y/N?"

You sigh, glancing back to Surin. She's moved on to the monkey bars now, hanging upside down between two of the bars and laughing a full belly laugh. You really didn't like the idea of leaving the country and watching Surin somewhere else, somewhere you don’t trust to not be full of the same danger you were facing here. Jeongguk said he didn't expect any disaster, but the nature of his work was centered in uncertainty. Things can go wrong at any moment.

"I don't have a passport," you say, conceding your consent. If he was telling Surin this was a vacation, then dammit, you'd treat it as a vacation. Maybe get Jeongguk to pay for a ferry ride or something to treat Surin to.

"Uhm," Jeongguk coughs. When you look at him again, he's grinning embarrassedly, bangs falling into his eyes in a way that de-ages him significantly. "Yes, you do?"

"Let me guess." You barely manage to hold back your groan. Even trying so hard to avoid this world, the stage had been set for so long for you to take your place. "Taehyung?"

"Will saying sorry help?

"Absolutely not."

Your passport is, you have to admit, skillfully made. The glossy cover and pristine pages inside make it look almost official. In fact, Jeongguk promises you that Taehyung insisted your passport be real. You’re not sure if it’s official, but you are sure that if Jeongguk’s fake paperwork has been working for this long, then yours can be cleared, too.

Surin adores her passport, giggling at the picture of her. Her name is Park Surin on this one, and you briefly consider asking Jeongguk if any of her documentations have her real name, but decide against it. He's been busy finalizing the plans for leaving for Taiwan, deciding which men to bring along and who to leave at home. He doesn't say it, but part of you believes he's leaving a certain number behind as a front.

"I'm not so sure about this," you say, as Taehyung approaches you in the kitchen, your suitcase in one hand and his in the other. The fridge is covered in colored and scribbled on menus.

"Me neither. But boss's orders and all that jazz." Taehyung had not been pleased to learn Jeongguk had asked you to tag along on this business trip, had even interrupted Jeongguk's meeting to confront him about it, but had finally stopped screaming when you had told him, in your own words, that you had chosen to do this for Surin.

"Do you think Surin's nervous?"

Taehyung runs a hand through his hair, tilting his chin to lead you through the house and looking more exhausted than you could remember him being in the recent months. Since the Ilsan incident, Jeongguk's entire estate had been on heightened alert, which meant more guns and more security and less time for rest. Now, standing on the driveway, you're watching as a select few of Jeongguk's men pack two cars. Jeongguk stands on the front steps, speaking with Jimin as Surin enthusiastically chases Yugyeom around the pair.

"No," Taehyung finally says. "She's a tough kid. Life sucks, but she's strong. Plus she has no fucking clue what this vacation is a front for."

"A front?"

Taehyung's eyes widen, his lips falling shut immediately. "Fuck, okay, you deserve to know. Jeongguk's got a meeting in Taiwan with an old family friend. Other than that, he expects absolutely nothing to happen over the next four days. Maybe we can trick him into a big dinner."

"We can tell the wait staff it's Surin's birthday."

"Love, you're a damn genius." Taehyung kisses your forehead before grabbing the suitcases again and taking them to the first car.

Jeongguk finishes his conversation with Jimin, both men looking a little peeved, but he schools the expression when Surin runs barreling into his arms with a squeal. Jimin was not very happy about staying behind this week, but he needed to let the stitches in his hand from the stabbing in Ilsan properly heal. Your stomach is in knots, both from watching how excited Surin is and from Taehyung's news. Jeongguk has a meeting, huh? You couldn't help but wonder why Jeongguk felt so threatened just by a meeting that he asked you to tag along to another country.

But you don't ask. You don't ask because even if you've been working for Jeongguk for months now, your only place here is to care for Surin. Anything that doesn't pertain to her isn't any of your business, and you know it would do you good to remember that.

"Are we set to go?" Jeongguk directs the question at Bogum as he approaches; Surin balanced on his hip and both arms around her body. She always looks so extra tiny against Jeongguk’s wide frame. "Flight's in a few hours."

"All set, boss," Bogum confirms. "Just give Taeyong the new security password and we'll be ready to go."

"Remind me to get a new system when we get home, Bogum. It's been a few months with this one."

"Sure thing, boss."

The flight goes off without a hitch. You'd be lying if you said you weren't nervous going through security, terrified out of your mind that one of the officers would find a flaw with your passport and you'd be detained, that Jeongguk would be recognized beneath his mask and cap and then you'd be arrested, but that didn't happen. Even as you sweated a little too much going through the metal detectors, nothing happened. And almost before you could blink, you were seated next to Taehyung on the plane.

"Why don't you take a private plane?" You blurt, just before takeoff. Jeongguk, sitting with Surin in the row next to you, laughs quietly.

"Too conspicuous, Y/N."

It's warm in Taiwan when the plane touches down, but it doesn't take long to get through customs before the entire group- consisting of you, Jeongguk, Surin, Taehyung, and ten more of Jeongguk's men- is split into separate black cars waiting by the doors. You're tired, dozing off on Taehyung's shoulder as you're driven deep into the city. You've always had trouble sleeping on flights and you're hoping this meeting doesn't happen for at least a day or two so you can sleep off the flight.

Surin lies on Jeongguk's lap, propped up in his arms and resting her head against his neck, snoring quietly. You hope Jeongguk's picked out some nice places to take her over the next few days.

The hotel is small, surprisingly. Only a few stories high and not as impressive as you had expected it to be. Then again, you realize as Jeongguk checks everyone in by speaking shaky Chinese, that this is exactly why Jeongguk had chosen it. Your room is on the second floor between Jeongguk's and Taehyungs.

When you're standing before your respective doors, Jeongguk still carrying a sleeping Surin, Jeongguk nods to you. "Meet me for breakfast in the morning. I'll explain what I need you to do for Surin then. Oh, and Y/N? Expect a raise after this."

You wave off his comment. "You know that's not necessary, Mister Jeon."

"Goodnight, miss Y/N."

Taehyung blows you a kiss before disappearing into his room, and despite your exhaustion sleep doesn't come easily to you that night. Maybe it's the unfamiliar bed, or the extreme heat inside the hotel room, or your nerves betraying the calm you'd felt throughout the day, but you find yourself tossing and turning all night, even getting up at four in the morning and ordering room service. The selection isn't expansive, but they have pretty breakfast foods and you ask the man who takes your order to charge it to Jeongguk's bill, but after eating you're not hungry in the morning.

"Eat, Y/N, we have a long day." Surin's sitting at another table between Bogum and Taehyung, coloring with a marker on the back of Taehyung's hand. Jeongguk had asked to sit with you at a smaller table in the corner to explain a few things.

"I'll eat more later," you say, nibbling on a piece of toast. "Just. Jeon, please let me know what the fuck is going on. This relates to Ilsan, doesn't it?"

"Yes," Jeongguk says. "We received footage of the Zhangs moving toward one of my bases out there, where Namjoon was located at the time. When we got there, we were ambushed. But not by Zhang's men, like we expected. We don't know who these people are, but they were smart enough to hack into our digital system and place the footage we wanted to see, while being able to monitor our movements. That's why we abandoned our phones, Y/N, so they couldn't keep an eye on us as we fought back. It took five days to neutralize all of them, but when we began interrogating the suspect we'd caught, he killed himself with a cyanide capsule he'd been keeping in his mouth. Taeyong’s overhauling our entire system while we’re away and scanning any footage we’ve got to try and get a peek at one of their faces under the masks. Bunny masks. How fucking childish."

Jeongguk sighs, leaning back in his chair and glancing over at Surin. He's got one arm balanced on his bent knee, twirling a packet of fake sugar between his fingers, a frown on his lips. You tear at the crust of your toast. "Do you think these people are connected to those who threatened Surin?" And me?

"I think it's likely," Jeongguk admits. "There are... a lot of people who want to see me dead, you know. If these aren't the same people who're willing to go after my daughter to break me, then it's someone else I've pissed off over the last few years. Someone who's amassed a lot of muscle that isn't afraid to die for his cause."

"Is that what you're trying to find out today?"

"No. Today is a meeting with a man named Jackson Wang. I've known him my entire life, and his father was a good friend with my own. I'm hoping he can give me information on a few men who've been giving me trouble. Oh," Jeongguk snaps his fingers, dropping the packet of sugar onto the floor. "And on a shipment of weapons that's been severely delayed. I should be using a new pistol, not this stupid old thing."

Thankfully, Jeongguk does not reveal his gun, only thumbs at it over his waistband. "Okay. So, what do I need to do with Surin?"

"Keep her occupied all day. I don't know how long this meeting is going to go for, but I outlined a few of Taiwan's best places to visit, a few places to give her a chance to practice her Chinese. I don't want Jackson or any of his men to know she's here. I don't want anyone to know she's here."

"Don't you trust this guy?"

"I trust him with my life, but that doesn't mean I trust the people he chooses to trust."

You rub at your temples a little petulantly. "God, I hate your job."

Jeongguk chuckles humorlessly. "Doesn't get much better, Y/N, I can promise you that."

"And what do I tell Surin when she asks why her father isn't spending time with her on the first day of vacation?"

"Tell her we have all of tomorrow to make up for lost time."

You accompany Jungkook to the building where the meeting will be taking place, a gorgeous office building in the center of the city, nestled above a beautiful restaurant that Jeongguk promises Surin they'll eat in together tomorrow evening. Bogum stays on the first floor, Taehyung on the second, the rest of Jeongguk's men disperse around the office.

The office is quiet, a few people sitting at computers throughout the rooms, but other than an annoyingly cheerful receptionist, there's very little movement on the fifth floor. It unnerves you a little, seeing so few bodies in the office on a workday. You imagine Jeongguk and Jackson had chosen a slow day to do their business, but then again, both men were insanely powerful. They could agree to meet any other day of the week. Sunlight streams through the window, illuminating dust and dirt in any given corner of the office, and your assigned tail for the day stands just inside the door.

Jeongguk places Surin's hand in yours, smiling down at his daughter. "Are you going to be good for Y/N today, sweetheart?"

"Yes, daddy!"

"Good. If I get a glowing report," Jeongguk says, holding both hands to his mouth as if to hide what he was saying from you. "I might just have to take you out for ice cream after dinner."

Surin gasps excitedly, her pigtails swinging with the motion. "Pinky promise?"

"Pinky promise." Jeongguk extends his hand to Surin, and as he links his pinky finger with hers the door to the floor slams open.

"Ah, Park Jeongguk."

Jeongguk stiffens, whirling on his heel in such a way as to hide Surin from view, but it's clear his efforts aren't enough. Who you assume to be Jackson Wang steps into the room, bleached hair looking almost green in the poor fluorescent lighting. His smile is wide, his expression kind, but you have enough experience with these kinds of men to know that he's hiding something behind the smile, that he could probably kill you seven different ways just for looking at him wrong.

"Jackson," Jeongguk says, his own expression remaining neutral. You squeeze Surin's hand. "Ah, let's move quickly into the conference room."

"No need to rush, man," Jackson chuckles. His gaze falls onto Surin, who stands tall as she stares back at him. "I assume this is the kid? My godchild?"

"Yeah," Jeongguk says with a sigh. "Sorry, I would have introduced her to you sooner, but-"

"I know. You don't have to explain anything to me. How's Halla, by the way?"

Jeongguk's jaw clenches. "I wouldn't know."

For a long moment, Jackson is silent, appraising Jeongguk with a muted stare. Then, his gaze sweeps over the rest of the room, pausing on you for almost a minute before he smiles again. "Right. Let's get this show on the road, huh?"

As Jeongguk passes you, he whispers near your ear, "Get her out of this building. Now."

Jackson settles at the head of the table, Jeongguk rounding it to take the other seat. Surin tugs on your hand, and Yugyom’s giving you a look that says you need to go, Y/N, you need to go right now. Please.

Seating himself across from Jackson, Jeongguk takes a white envelope from his suit jacket and slides it across the table. You see Jackson unfold it, pulling a pen from his own jacket as he says something, lips moving to form words you can’t make out. Jeongguk remains impassive, but a smile curls his lips after a few moments, and his posture relaxes slightly.

Yugyeom moves to guard the door, jerking his head to the main door. You remember Jeongguk saying that he didn’t want anyone knowing Surin was in Taiwan, and suddenly your palms are sweaty as you squeeze Surin’s hand. The meeting seems to be going well, but you drag your eyes away from the sight of Jeongguk laughing quietly behind the flaps of a manila folder.

"Let's," you lick your dry lips, uncomfortable with watching Jeongguk in the conference room. You can't hear what they're saying, but Jeongguk does not look as angry as you had expected. Has the meeting even started? "Let's go, Surin-"

A red dot appears on Jackson's chest, standing out on the white dress shirt. Jeongguk freezes, his mouth opening to interrupt Jackson, and then a shot rings through the room.

Jackson drops facedown on the table.

The receptionist screams, every office worker scrambling to get to the front door as you crouch down, bringing Surin with you. You lose sight of Jeongguk. Glancing quickly around the room as more bullets begin to fly and glass shatters all around you, you spot a small closet at the end of a nearby hall.

"Daddy!" Surin screams, as gunshots continue to go off.

"Surin," you say desperately, grasping at the young girl's face with both hands. She's crying, tears streaking down her pretty cheeks, and the sight breaks your heart. "Surin, listen to me. We need to get to that closet, okay? Keep close to the floor and don't stop crawling."

"But, but daddy-"

"He's going to be okay. Right now we need to get you to safety."

You have no clue if there's any validity to your statement, if Jeongguk's even still alive, but he's stayed around this long, and you pray that it takes more than a few well placed gunshots to be the end of him. Pushing Surin toward the hall, she immediately crawls as quickly as she can; whimpering each time another gunshot goes off. From behind you, you can hear heavy footsteps ascending the stairs, and your heart rate kicks into overdrive, brow sweaty and mouth dry at the thought of losing Surin, of losing Jeongguk, Taehyung.

Opening the door to the closet, you urge Surin inside. Plaster is beginning to fall from the ceilings and walls and you really need to find Jeongguk. "Stay here," you tell Surin, instructing her to cover herself at the back of the closet, hidden from the view of the door. "Don't move until someone you know comes for you. Can you do that for me?"

"Eonnie..."

"I know," you whisper, flinching at a particularly close gunshot. "I'll come back soon, I promise."

You barricade the door with the nearest office chair, crouching as you run back to the mail area of the office. Jeongguk's standing by the reception desk, two guns aimed by the door, where three bodies lay motionless on the floor. There's a fourth body in the hall, your stomach twisting uncomfortably as you step over it.

"Jeongguk!"

"Y/N? What the fuck are you doing!"

A shot breaks the window behind the receptionist's desk, glass raining over yours and Jeongguk's bodies. Your arms get cut up a little as you block your face. You can't feel your heart, convinced in that moment that it absolutely jumped right out of your chest.

"Jeongguk, do you know these people?"

"That's not important! We need to get the fuck out of here! Where's Surin?"

"She's safe!" It takes a few long minutes to reach Jeongguk's side, debris and bodies making it difficult to move freely around the office. "Where-?"

Three quick gunshots ring from the floor downstairs, and Jeongguk curses again. "We need to get upstairs. There's probably some on the roof, but a fresh floor will at least give me places to attack from. Y/N." Jeongguk faces you, struggling with his thoughts for a moment before flipping one of the guns in his hand and offering it to you. "Finger off the trigger until you're ready to shoot. Kickback isn't too bad. You've got four bullets left. Safety is off. Let's get the fuck out of here."

You follow Jeongguk out of the room and up the nearest flight of stairs, letting him take the lead. It's no secret that you don't like guns, that you've never liked guns ever since the first time you saw one- when you were thirteen, shaking and scared hiding beneath the kitchen table, blood spilling over the pristine white tiles of the kitchen as they left you, they left you and they've never come home, stolen away before you got a good chance to get to know them- and the unfamiliar weight of the pistol in your hand settles like a weight in a shallow pond. Still, you hold it firmly, pointed at the ground, and focus on Jeongguk's back as he leads you up the stairs. Focus on your breathing, get to safety, and get Surin back to the hotel. That's everything you need to do.

"Jeongguk! Any sign of anyone?"

"No," Jeongguk hisses, back pressed to the wall. You've gone up three flights by now, wincing each time the two of you approached a corner, unsure if there were men with guns or dead bodies waiting for you on the other side. So far there have been neither, but the gunshots keep echoing from downstairs, the sounds of men shouting and muted thumps of bodies hitting the floor with chilling frequency. Jeongguk holds his gun by his chest, peaking around the corner before beckoning you forward. "And someone's jamming my frequency, I can't get through to Taehyung or Bogum."

Your heart stops, sudden images of Taehyung, laying in a pool of his own blood flood your mind. What if he was already dead? He was the last one you had, the only one left. You couldn't lose him. You couldn't. You couldn't lose anyone else. "You don't think they're-?"

"No," Jeongguk says, an air of finality to his tone. It does nothing to settle your stomach. From somewhere below, a beeping noise begins. "No, they're smart as hell. They're gonna survive this. But we won't if we just stay here chatting, Y/N, let's go!"

"Where?"

Jeongguk contradicts himself to say, "The roof. If no one's coming down that means they're not up there. Which means they initially attacked from a nearby building before swarming this one. If I can just get to the roof I can get visuals on the perimeter, see who the fuck we're working with."

"Okay," you breathe, trying desperately to catch your breath. You really don't like the feel of the gun in your hands. "I'll watch your back."

"Don't get shot."

"You too, Jeon."

A woman comes stomping down the next staircase Jeongguk leads you up, but before she even gets a chance to lift her gun a shot's ringing through the hallway, and she's crumpling to the floor, tumbling grotesquely down a few steps before her body comes to a stop. You shudder, but force yourself to keep walking, to keep moving on without sparing the woman a glance.

"Hey! You two!"

Someone shouts from below you and Jeongguk, a quick glance over the banister shows the man, whose face was covered by a black cloth, his bright red hair an unwelcome shock against the muted tones of the stairwell. He raises his gun, fires, and you feel the wind of the shot near your face as you quickly move away.

"Jeongguk-!"

From nearly a flight above you, Jeongguk leans over the railing and fires three quick shots, two of which strike directly in the man's chest. He slumps over the banister, unmoving. "Y/N!" Jeongguk shouts, snapping your attention away from the two bodies on the floor. "Grab one of their guns and keep moving!"

The woman's gun proves to have a full magazine, and Jeongguk curses in relief when you hand it over. "I was out of ammo," he admits. "That would have been bad."

The last staircase before the roof is darker than the others, and Jeongguk whispers for you to stay closer as he walks. His steps are light and certain, a stark contrast to your own shaky breathing and uneven steps. Anyone could be waiting around one of these corners, hiding where in the shadows, where monsters run free and death stalls for no one. Reaching a hand out, you curl your fingers in the back of Jeongguk's shirt, keeping the gun pointed behind you.

Sounds are muted now, each gunshot from below sounds too far away, and again you find yourself wondering if Surin's all right. If Taehyung was still alive. Wondering whom the fuck these people were and how they managed to find Jeongguk in a different country. But Jeongguk's approaching the door slowly, there's quiet shuffling behind you, and then bright light floods the small room as Jeongguk pushes the door open.

There's no one on the roof.

Jeongguk sweeps the roof, gun held in front of him as he checks all angles, breathing a sigh of relief when there are no other bodies. You're about to lower your gun, about to suggest finding a way back to Surin, when someone laughs from behind you, and Jeongguk's pointing his gun over your shoulder.

"Don't do anything stupid, Jeon," an unfamiliar voice says. An arm snakes around your neck and in your surprise you drop the gun, sending it clattering onto the gravel of the roof. The man behind you yanks you against his chest and suddenly there's the cold press of the barrel of a gun shoved right onto your temple, cold dread settling deep in your bones. "Wouldn't want this pretty little thing getting... hurt. Now would we?"

"Let her go." Jeongguk says, voice cold and collected, gun steadily aimed at the man's head behind you. You try to turn your head to look, but the man keeps you pinned, your nails digging into his forearm doing nothing to help yourself.

"Jeongguk..."

"I don't think I will," the man says, pushing the gun harder to your temple until you were whimpering in pain. "Unless. You tell me where your cute little daughter is hiding."

Jeongguk spits "Go to hell."

"I'll see you there."

"Who the fuck are you?" Jeongguk demands, clicking the safety off of his gun.

The man chuckles quietly, the sound reverberating painfully through your skull. More shots echo downstairs. More bodies thump to the ground. Your heart threatens to beat right out of your chest or give up on you right then and there.

"You don't recognize me, Jeonggukie?" The man sneers. "Don't recognize the man who taught you how to hold a gun?"

Jeongguk narrows his eyes. "Nice try, but Sangeul died when I was seven. Tell me who you are and who sent you, and maybe I'll let you live."

The man barks out a scathing laugh. "If you do, you're even dumber than we thought. We knew old man Jeon wasn't raising you right, but to raise a little bitch? Pathetic."

Jeongguk shows no signs he even heard what the man said, glare unwavering against the man. Beside your ear, you hear the safety of the man's gun clicking off. "You have ten seconds."

"Fuck you, Jeon-"

“Duck, Y/N.”

A shot rings out just as you drop your weight.

Your eyes fall shut, body taut in terror and breath held behind your clenched teeth, but pain never comes. Instead, the hold around your neck slackens, the gun leaves the side of your head, and the man falls back onto the ground with a hard thump.

Turning around, you spot a man who can't have been much older than Jeongguk, eyes wide and smirk still caught on his lips. A dot of red is centered on his forehead, blood blooming from the wound and trickling down the sides of the man's head like a polluted river, the sight turning your stomach. You were going to be sick.

"Did you...?"

You swallow heavily, blinking back tears as you back away from the body. Jeongguk steps closer to take his gun, cursing when he sees that the gun had been empty this entire time. You grab the gun you’d dropped earlier, hesitantly clicking the safety on again. He kicks the man back through the door to the roof, throwing it shut with a loud slam and chucking the useless gun off the side of the building.

"Fucking jackasses," Jeongguk mutters. "Should have killed them all when I had the chance."

"Did you know that man?"

"No," Jeongguk says, and when he looks back at you, the cold flame of anger in his eyes extinguishes slowly. "But I knew- wait, shit... Don't tell me that was the first death-"

"It wasn't," you snap. "Did you know him?"

"No, but he obviously knew me. Or at least, he knew my father." Jeongguk groans, running hand through his hair in frustration. He slips his gun back into the waistband of his pants, holding his hand out for yours, and you sigh in relief once it's out of your fingers. "We need to get to Surin and contact Taehyung. I can have a plane chartered out of here in less than four hours."

Jeongguk inspects the ground where the man's gun had fallen, as if the disrupted gravel may give him a clue as to who's been making all of the threats. Dissatisfied, he begins scanning the perimeter, checking between the ground and the buildings across from the office.

"There," he says suddenly, on the other side of the roof from you. "I can just see the sniper set up. That must have been where they shot Ja- where they shot Wang from."

"Jeongguk, I'm sorry-"

"Attachments kill, Y/N. I'm most sorry for Jackson's wife."

He keeps scanning the area, drawing his gun again at one point and aiming it toward the ground, but he doesn't fire it. Jeongguk mouths something to himself before re-joining you by the air conditioning duct. You can't hear anything going on in the office anymore, but you can hear police sirens and shouting coming from the streets, terrified screams from those whose family or loved ones had been working in the building that day.

"Jeongguk, we should-"

The grate to the vents of the roof bursts open, blasted clean off the roof from the force of the explosion. Dust swirls around your bodies, your vision temporarily impeded as you cough, gravel and dirt lodging itself in your throat. You reach out for Jeongguk, your hand brushing his elbow briefly before you freeze, and your breath catches harshly in your throat.

Five people storm out of the vent, taking advantage of the dust and- fuck, they must have used a kind of smoke bomb- scattering around the roof. "Jeongguk!" You scream, sure he's already seen them but he has the guns, he has both of the guns.

"We warned you to stay away, Jeon!" One man yells.

A woman laughs. "You're just that greedy, aren't you?"

Shots ring out along the roof. You can hear the sirens on the ground increases, someone shouting into a megaphone for order, but there's no order when you're dancing with the devil, no organization or routine to the art of running blindly across an unfamiliar roof, dodging bullets from every direction. You couldn't tell if they were shooting at you or Jeongguk, but you realized then and there that Jeon Jeongguk possessed the deadliest accuracy, as three of their bodies fell to the ground horrifyingly quickly.

"Y/N! Where are you?"

You spot Jeongguk's figure by the door to the staircases again, and you take a deep, unsteady breath before taking off in his direction, gravel crunching beneath your boots. He notices you quickly, aiming his gun at whoever must have been behind you, his expression slowly twisting from neutrally pissed to horror, time slowing down and centering around one pull of a trigger.

Pain erupts in your left shoulder, inconceivable fire exploding throughout your body as you stumble onto your knees, not registering what had happened. Your shoulder feels hot, burning red liquid seeping through your shirt and beginning to drip down your shoulder. Tentatively, your breathing shallow and shaky and your stomach concaving on itself, you press two fingers to your shoulder. They come away covered in blood and the rest of the world comes rushing back to you- shots ringing around the roof, pain numbing your mind and lighting your entire arm on fire.

"Y/N!"

Jeongguk's screaming, absolutely frantic as he trips over his own two feet, momentarily lowering his gun before a shot flies a little close to his face and his resolve returns. He fires with terrifying precision, hitting one, two, three people square in the head and suddenly it's silent on the roof.

"Y/N! Holy shit, Y/N, please-"

Jeongguk falls to his knees beside you, tossing the gun to the ground as his hands hover over your shoulder. He applies pressure where your hand is, face falling at the noises of pain you let out, and looking even more frantic at the whimper that slips past when he lets up. "You're okay, you're going to be okay."

He reaches to his own shirt, tearing a long strip of the fabric away from the hem and wrapping it around your upper shoulder as a tourniquet. "You're going to be okay!"

"Jeongguk," you whisper. The world is spinning, everything is spinning and Jeongguk's voice is nothing more than a shallow ringing in your ears. Your body gives out, slumping against the nearest surface. Warily, you realize that it is Jeongguk's arms, and that he is supporting you from falling against the ground. The door opens with a slam, but to you it sounds like the softest, sweetest embrace. "Fifth floor. Supply closet. Get... get to Surin..."

"Jeon!" A pause, and then, "Oh my God... Y/N?"

"Taehyung!" Jeongguk cries. "Supply closet on the fifth floor, get Surin. Please. Please Taehyung!"

With incredible effort you manage to stand, a sudden surge of strength leading you to your feet. You have to get to Surin; you have to find her. You need to see Taehyung, need to know that he's alive and okay, that his voice a few minutes ago wasn't just a figment of your imagination. Your ears are ringing and your vision spins as you take a couple of unsteady steps, forcing yourself to continue moving, to wrench open the door with your good arm and make for the stairs.

Jeongguk runs at your side, a hand on your shoulder as he fires at anyone rounding the corners. Every dead body you encounter has a black mask covering the majority of their face, similar to the man who'd confronted the two of you in the stairwell. You're determined to make it back to the fifth floor, to find everyone and get the hell out of the building, but your legs give out somewhere around the seventh floor, Jeongguk catching you before you can hit the ground hard.

Jeongguk gets his arm around your back, helping you onto shaky and uncertain feet with great difficulty. Your head lolls against his chest, your good arm yanked around his shoulders for an attempt at stability, but as Jeongguk leads you to the door and your legs give out on you three times, he gives up and hooks your legs over his arm, carrying you down the remaining staircase. It's slower than he would have liked, bodies and slick blood making the journey treacherous. The rooms and hallways are dark, your head too muffled to try and discern if they're supposed to be void of color.

"Jeon... gguk..."

"Don't try to speak," Jeongguk begs, sounding breathless and terrified. He barks orders to someone you can't see. Your shoulder feels cold. Someone shouts. Jeongguk adjusts your body in his arms, and fires three bullets in a direction. "Fucking- dammit!"

Jeongguk doesn't go through the front doors, of that much you're certain. Instead, he keeps running down the stairs until he reaches the basement garage center. It's cold and damp, windy, and it's becoming more and more difficult to keep your eyes open. A sleek black car speeds up to where Jeongguk is standing, the back door opening as it comes to a screeching halt.

"Boss, let's go-!"

He helps you into the car as quickly as he can without jostling your injured shoulder, and despite your best efforts to sit up; you immediately crumple against the window. Jeongguk gently tugs so that you're resting your weight on him instead as the car tears out of the garage.

"Get us to the warehouse, Yugyeom. You know the place."

"Yes, Jeon."

"Y/N." You think that's Jeongguk's hand on your cheek. "Y/N, I know it's hard but try to stay awake. Please. Listen to my voice, okay? We're getting you to someone who can help-"

"Jeongguk... I..."

Your vision fades to black.

The first time you fade back into consciousness, you're crashing; like a ship being dragged brutally beneath the surface as you listen to two spirits decide your future. You can't open your eyes, but you can feel a hand clenched tightly around yours.

"Can you treat her or not?"

"You know I can, sir-"

"Sir was my father. Help her."

"...Jeon, it's a risk. I need to get the bullet out, and I don't have any proper equipment here-"

"I don't fucking care. Treat her. Now."

"Hold down her legs, Jeon. This isn't going to be pretty."

Newfound pain slithers through every nerve of your body, centered on your left shoulder as something small and pointed digs into your wound. You think you scream, but the noise sounds so inhuman, so foreign to you, that you can't be sure.

You can be sure you're thrashing, can be sure of something holding down your legs, screaming and begging for you to calm down. Your nails scrape against flesh, someone curses in your ear, and the pain increases in your shoulder.

You black out again.

Your body feels like a lead weight. There is uncomfortable pressure at points on each of your limbs, preventing you from moving in the slightest. Your head is heavy, a splitting headache threatening to rip your skull in half.

Someone touches your cheeks with startling gentleness, wiping fingers beneath your eyes. The pain is too much, so much that you think death would be kinder than this, than this horrible burning sting in your shoulder.

"What pain meds do you have?"

There's a long, unbearably silent pause. "Morphine, Jeon."

"Where is it?"

"There are incredible risks that come along with it-"

"That is not what I asked. Is it the money? I'll pay you triple that my father used to pay you. Make. Her pain. Go. Away."

And then, you're floating into sleep again.

"Let me in there! Let me in the fucking room! That's my fucking sister!"

At least this time you can wiggle your toes, but one of your hands is trapped within the confines of someone else's. Mm, but the pain is nothing more than an afterthought, diluted and dulled to the back of your mind.

You giggle quietly, your head lolling to the side.

"Y/N?" That's Jeongguk's voice, you think. "Y/N, I'm here-"

Sleep is too enticing to pass up.

The first time you open your eyes, it's nearly pitch black in the room. Your body feels heavy, unbearably so, and there's a dull, painful ache in your shoulder. It must be what woke you up, pins and needles poking at your skin. You whimper as you turn your head, sore and burdensome from such little use, your shoulder stinging like a bitch as you move.

Your tongue is dry, your head too heavy to try and lift. Moving your toes, you let a little sigh of relief escape when you confirm that yes, you can still move the rest of your body. But the pleasant lightness and floating feeling is gone, and you desperately miss it.

"Help-" You croak, wincing at the rough drag of your voice. You just want the pain to go away.

"Y/N?" You're just barely able to look to your right, to see Jeongguk sitting by the table you've been laid on, his hand holding tight to yours. His eyes, dry and red, nearly glow in the dim lighting, making you believe he hasn't slept in weeks. "Are you awake?"

Your tongue is dry and heavy in your mouth, and it takes you too long to form a proper sentence. "Is blistering pain my new reality?"

"Yeah, you're awake."

"Where's Taehyung?"

"In the hideout with Surin. He'll stop by again in the morning."

You whimper. "Jeongguk, it hurts."

His eyes soften imperceptibly. "I know, Y/N. I know." He turns away from you. "Doc, where are those painkillers?"

The doctor speaks from behind you, "Jeon, I really don't think that's a good idea. There's a very high chance of addiction, and we've given her some already."

"I'll consider your opinion," Jeongguk spits, "When you go to proper medical school. But until then, and for as long as it's my fucking blood money paying your bills, you do what I say. Understand?"

"Yes, Jeon."

"Jeongguk- Surin-"

"She's okay," Jeongguk promises, stroking his thumb over the back of your hand. "We'll go home soon. Think you can wake up tomorrow? Taehyung really wants to see you."

Your head is pounding; body sore and tired and you want nothing more than to sleep and never wake up. "I'll try."

"I know. Y/N, those men-"

Taehyung's voice rings into the room, "Is she awake?"

"Tae?" Jeongguk startles. "Where's Surin?"

"With Bogum. I'm going to kick your fucking ass, Jeon," Taehyung says. "And then we're going to find out who those men worked for, and kill all of them, too."

Something pricks your arm, and pleasantly warm syrup begins to flow into your veins. You sigh in blessed relief, a dopey smile on your lips as you relax against the bed.

"Well, Taehyung," Jeongguk whispers. "I might have a lead on that."

You fall asleep again with Jeongguk and Taehyung each holding one of your hands, a grounding of your body even as your mind floats far away from the pain.

Words don't come to you for the longest time. You can't tell how long you've been awake for, the pain in your shoulder not yet unbearable as you lay still, watching the sun begin to paint the sky with muted orange and yellow colors. There are hands holding both of yours. Earlier, you heard Jeongguk and Taehyung speaking, before their voices had tapered off when they figured they should let you sleep. But you had been awake for a while now.

Carefully, you squeeze your fingers, watching as the silhouettes at your bedside startle. Someone, you think it's Taehyung, eagerly squeezes your hand back.

"Love," that's Taehyung. "Love, are you with us?"

"Mm," you sigh. "I think so? Everything aches."

Jeongguk lets go of your hand. "Your body's going to be sore for a while. I'm so, so sorry Y/N. If I could go back and take that bullet-"

"You couldn't have known," you say. Are you slurring? It feels like none of your words are making sense. "Where... where are we?"

"We're still in Taiwan," Jeongguk says. "I know someone here, someone who could heal you faster than any hospital around. I've got people working my contacts around here. We'll likely be able to leave as soon as you feel like you're able."

"Tae?" You whine, tipping your head up as Taehyung stands to hover by the head of your bed, pushing the hair away from your face with his warm hand. "Are you-?"

"I'm okay," Taehyung assures you. He smiles gently, and you can't help but match the gesture. "I'm okay. And Surin's perfectly fine. You did the right thing hiding her away like that."

"Good. About what happened-"

"I don't want to discuss that here," Jeongguk interjects. "We can talk about it when you're feeling stronger, okay? I'll get Jihoon, find out when your next dosage should be. How's your shoulder?"

"Hurts." You wince slightly. "A lot."

Jeongguk frowns, not saying anything else before he leaves the room.

"You should sleep again, Y/N." Taehyung says, still stroking through your hair. It's soothing and nice, his touch always warmer than the general temperature of your skin. You find yourself melting back into the bed, catching up to the sleep that had been eluding you for the last few hours. Taehyung sounds far away when he speaks again, your eyes closing slowly. "Everything's going to be okay. I promise you. We're gonna catch the bastards that did this, and then we're going to kill each and every one of them."

#jeongguk scenarios #jungkook scenarios #jeon jungkook #bts scenarios #jeon jeongguk #my writing #i didn't think i'd edit this in time today lmao i've been distracted by basketball #this is where shit starts getting real so get ready

[kylo-renakin]

So there was this buzzfeed article recently about a senate panel voting to include birth control in women’s healthcare in the military, which is great. Of course, it devolved into a healthcare ideology battle in the comments, and one of the people commenting on it sent me into a moral outrage, and I just really needed to vent. So I’m going to have my rant here, because my perception is that Tumblr is mostly full of good people who will understand/agree with this.

.

So, some of my followers may know that I come from New Zealand. (I am now living in the States.) New Zealand has Universal Health Care. We actually have a two tier system, like a lot of countries. You can buy private insurance if you want, and the quality is usually higher, but healthcare is guaranteed to all on the first tier.

In my opinion, this is how it should be in the States.

Now, the woman in the comments says here that “no one is entitled anything just for living and you should have to pay for your own products and services”. In products and services, she’s including healthcare. This sounds like a reasonable enough premise, right? Everyone should work for their keep.

The problem is, if you disseminate her stance, it becomes clear pretty quickly how callous and cruel this ideology can be. Food, clean drinking water, healthcare, a roof over your head--these are all “products and services” that have to be paid for. The things you need to literally survive have to be paid for. What about people who can’t work? I’m not talking about the people who choose not to--and I’m not going to pretend there aren’t some of those people, too, because there are, and I’ve known some myself--but the people who actually can’t work for their keep?

I’ll use an example close to me. My uncle has downs. He is in his forties, and has been cared for by the New Zealand government and taxpayer dollars his whole life. Now, based on her ideology that no-one is entitled to healthcare, or food, or shelter, and that they should work for it--my uncle should be left out on the street to die. He can’t work. His mental faculty is similar to a small child. He’s able to do some small jobs here and there, he’s even allowed to cook for himself at his community (with supervision), he likes to sweep the floors at the local stadium for fun. But he needs constant care, he needs supervision, he can’t hold a steady job, buy insurance, manage his own finances, drive, take himself to the hospital. The idea that you should have to work to earn the basics to live (food, healthcare) is barbaric in cases like his.

And there are so many other cases. Mental and physical disabilities. Chronic pain sufferers. Mental health issues. There are many, many people who would work if they could, but they can’t and this woman, and others like her, would have them out in the cold because they’re not “entitled” to live. There are people who are literally bedridden from their illnesses or disabilities. And apparently those people are entitled to nothing?

Fuck that. Fuck that hard. 

It goes even further than this. How about the people working minimum wage, barely able to afford food, bills, rent? Even the cheapest, shittiest insurance can cost them over $100 a month. To people in dire straights, $100 per month is money better spent on food and transportation to and from their shitty, no-appreciation, low-income jobs. She and her ilk argued in the thread that minimum wage jobs are only stepping stones, and it’s those people’s own faults for not trying harder or looking for something higher paying.

Are you kidding me? People with learning disabilities can struggle to learn in school, and that can affect their job opportunities for life. Some people are naturally shy and don’t do well in interviews, and get looked over for promotions. And these people are getting told they simply need to work harder to be able to afford healthcare for themselves. It’s utter bullshit. I know people who work harder in their low-income jobs than people earning twice as much as them do. How hard you work, for most people, has very, very little affect on your paycheck. My last job paid me $50,000 a year. And you know what’s hilarious about this? The job I had before that paid me $42,000 a year, and was harder and more stressful for me by far. I was being paid more for an easier job. So I loathe people who claim that how much you earn reflects the effort you’ve put in. I know people who have worked themselves to the bone in low-paying jobs, while other people grow up in elite families and have opportunities beyond anything ordinary people get. You think Kylie Jenner worked hard to become rich? She was just lucky to be born into a wealthy family.

People work hard even when they’re poor--often more so when they’re poor. This elitist attitude from some Americans just sickens me.

So, yeah. I’m pretty done with all the conservatives in America who behave like this. In New Zealand, people who bitch about public healthcare are flat-out ignored, because it’s accepted that no matter how you were born, what disabilities you have, what social disadvantages you have, everyone has the right to live. Healthcare is part of your right to live.

And yes, I know that there are people who abuse welfare. Like I said, I’ve met some myself. And it pisses me off, too. But at the end of the day, I care more about the people who actually do need the assistance than I’m angry about the people abusing the system. My priorities will always have me supporting welfare, because it makes zero sense to punish the people who actually need the help just because you’re mad at some people who you perceive to be lazy. I genuinely think that anybody who says healthcare should not be a right of every citizen is selfish, cruel, and callous.

In small groups, where assisting someone else can mean death, hunger, danger to yourself and your loved ones, I can understand not helping out. But in a society as large and as rich as this one, to deny people the basic right to live by denying their healthcare coverage is just sick, and I am appalled by people like this.

#universal health care #healthcare #politics #wordy #social justice #welfare #me #rant

[woodland--fairy]

What To Avoid In A Locksmith

So you want a locksmith but you might be unsure how to search out one. You clearly know the fundamentals of testing recommendations and evaluations and doing worth comparisons. However you've got gotten to the place there are just too many locksmiths to select from and you do not know which method to go. You're pretty assured you already know what you do need in a locksmith. But are you aware what you do not want in a locksmith? When it comes to selecting a locksmith on your needs, it will be important to pay attention to these issues you must avoid when looking for a locksmith. A lot of these programs are well-liked in workplaces and lodges and are often installed by a locksmith. Solely folks with a sure card can open this type of lock. A biometric lock requires a fingerprint or retina scan to open. Such a lock could be very safe and can solely open when the precise biometric signature is read. The lock is outfitted with software program that will learn the fingerprint or retina scan and match it with one in its database. If the information doesn’t match, the lock won't open. One other sort of secure and distant lock system is the numeric system. This type of lock requires a certain combination of numbers to open the lock. Locksmiths costs will fluctuate depending upon the service required. Locksmiths can open a lock or install a brand new lock. They can also create a new key or extract a broken key. They may even work on keyless entry methods.

Clear it up

Auto Locksmith

Sliding Doorways

Labor prices

First, you'll want to chip away as a lot of the frozen ice from across the lock as doable

Each resident ought to carry their own key on-the-go

Keyless entry lock installs and maintenance

Toddler Trapped in Financial institution Vault Saved by Locksmith

Tips To Avoid #Locksmith Fraud 1. Check Identification and #License 2. Beware of low prices 3. Ask for Vehicle #Identification 4. Do not leave the #locksmiths unattended during the work For more info visit our website https://www.locallocksmithcoventry.co.uk/ pic.twitter.com/gOdlT7FXmj — Local Locksmith (@LocalLocksmithC) February 24, 2018

Toronto Locksmiths are the very best and you'll avail of our paramount locksmith services in Toronto, Canada. You will get both distinctive locksmith services and a jovial face from us. Log in or Create Account to put up a comment. It's good to know where to go to search for a locksmith toronto, knowing someone is there and skilled and ready to help is at all times good. Locksmith.html presents 24 hour emergency locksmith services that embody: lock rekey, key alternative, lock picking, key slicing, automobile key programming and lots of more lock and key options. Soaked and pissed off I made my move. Just a few moments with my Blackberry and a fast cellphone call and the locksmith was on his way. Inside fifteen minutes the locksmith arrived like a knight on a shiny white Ford F150. I hadn't ever given any consideration to what was possible with the locks themselves, only their meant objective. My routine consisted of locking the doorways when i left dwelling and checking them earlier than retiring every evening. emergency locksmiths dublin The locksmith launched himself as Johnny and began analyzing the lock with a vivid flashlight. He was a young guy, wanting as if he should be at a frat occasion somewhere as an alternative of here working. Anybody can sign up to 1 of those courses – no prior skills or expertise are required, simply a sharp problem-solving thoughts and a willingness to study new issues. Starter programs require as little as 4 days to teach you the fundamentals of locksmithing, and costs can begin from less than £1000 for your entire course. These introductory courses serve to give you a good all-spherical understanding of what you should know to work as a locksmith, and there are superior comply with-up programs for these trying to achieve a mastery of the discipline. Locksmithing is a very good ability set to pick up for emigrating, as a result of the abilities concerned are common, and although chances are you'll encounter some completely different lock varieties in several international locations, the important concept behind them will likely be the same. The power of the Web will make it doable for you to reach your ambition and be a effectively-skilled and licensed locksmith in New York City. Listed here are the methods to get enrolled in online locksmith programs. New York Metropolis locksmith wannabes wants to finish their high schooling before they can proceed working their method to being a locksmith. There are lots of institutions offering various sorts of on-line programs on locksmithing including specialties like working with safes, automotive and electronic doors. The Penn Foster Profession Faculty is one establishment that gives online locksmith programs. Publisher: Adriana Noton For firms which have a fleet of automobiles, harm to a car ensuing from an accident just isn't the only issue of concern as there are also authorized and public relations points to fret about. Publisher: Prolock Smith What can you do when you end up locked out of your automobile, residence or any other place with a lock and key? Have you ever referred to as a locksmith? Locksmiths are your best bet to unlocking that pesky door. Publisher: gurumalik Locksmiths are used in all places like in residence, business places, safe, in vehicles and extra. It prevents the property from unlawful access. Publisher: Daniel Thompson Fleet monitoring may be a great tool for any enterprise that uses multiple autos. That is something that can be a fantastic asset to any manager or proprietor of a business that makes use of a fleet of autos as a important component of their business. Writer: elvina jake You at all times robotically think of the automotive locksmith when unintentionally you lost your car keys or forget keys in the automobile. The London Locksmith is your local locksmith near my location firm. Struggling To Discover a London locksmith Near Me? Although we don’t let our success and fame go to our heads, we hope they may convince you that we're a London Locksmith near me firm with its finger firmly on the pulse of present near London Locksmith services. How a lot do you charge for London Locksmith companies in London? As we provide 24 hour London locksmith providers, we don’t have a a fixed value. Nevertheless, we cater for all residential and commercial properties. You'll be able to guarantee a excellent deal as well as safety of your dwelling if you are taking the acceptable steps. First off, you ought to be glad an organization in lieu of a person locksmith. A service, even a small household owned question a popularity to forestall and can usually have past efficiency data so you would possibly test. It signifies you might be least gonna end up with an terrible service supplier. To uncover the suitable somebody's place of enterprise, the best step shall be to ask for suggestions. In addition to friends and family, it becomes a good idea to ask insurance coverage companies, firemen, property managers and mechanics for locksmith service ideas. Being extraordinarily late, leaving a job undone or attempting to cost further charges without purpose are only some of many points that will alert you of an unreliable locksmith. Bear in mind 24 hour locksmith providers ought to always be related to competence and professionalism. This one is entangled with good buyer care. An excellent locksmith will at all times be open about how a lot he expenses. He should offer you a quote that should clearly state his charges. You should be capable of know if his 24 hour service efforts attracts an additional fee just by asking. 24 hour locksmith providers usually cost slightly extra for emergency services rendered at night time. That said, be keen on what that locksmith you name at night time says about how much he fees. He will provide help to get another key, open your safe or door, but know the place your money goes. Then like said he ought to exude utmost professionalism and competence. This means guantee that there are not any damages or points with your doors, frames and locks as soon as job is accomplished. That would minimise the possibility of future bills. A lock pro should really attempt to make it a excessive concern to keep updated with the most recent locks, house or car keys, and safety instruments to be beneficial in the fashionable world. Shifting security parts in locking devices make it extremely laborious to compete as a locksmith technician with out adapting. Usually a longtime Gilbert, AZ locksmith ought to be ready to reply buyer crisis conditions at any time of night time or day. There are enough work alternatives out there all by way of town for a emerging locksmith technician to herald a sizeable amount of cash if he or she is ready to put within the work for it. The importance for an automotive lock company is prevalent in nearly any major city. Security tip from the locksmith: Trim the hedge. We are a observe bunch here at our little humble shop, and from us in Bristol you possibly can always rely on our security ideas being easy to use and logical from a practical viewpoint. Our present best home or enterprise security tip is; Trim the hedge! It’s something easy, relevant, and it’s a multipurpose and multi useful factor to do. From the safety perspective, the experts right here recommend trimmed hedges due to the truth that it provides better and clearer view both from the road and from inside your own home to the surface areas. If you have any kind of inquiries regarding where and ways to use alarm systems dublin (click through the following web site), you could call us at our internet site.

[webpostingpro-blog]

New Post has been published on Webpostingpro

New Post has been published on http://webpostingpro.com/audiences-are-lining-up-to-watch-this-guy-play-video-games-badly/

Audiences are lining up to watch this guy play video games badly

While Michael Jones takes the stage, he does not preserve a mic or a musical instrument. His most important equipment to entertain is his video game controller and the words that pop out of his mouth.

“I honestly failed to assume I would locate myself in this case,” said Jones, 29.

After graduating excessive faculty, Jones apprenticed as an electrician. He offered a camera to movie own family moments and decided to move himself gambling video games for fun.

In July 2010, he posted an expletive-encumbered video of him chasing off one of the not possible-to-trap orbs in “Crackdown 2.” It went viral and abruptly humans noticed.

I found out, ‘Oh, people adore it When I’m pissed?'” Jones stated. “I am from New Jersey. I do that all the time.”

Six months later, manufacturing organization Rooster Enamel requested him to enroll in its team, and in January 2011 he released his online display “Rage End,” a series providing him playing hard ranges or demanding situations in video games. Spoiler alert: It typically ends in him quitting with an epic tantrum. It’s gotten greater than 350 million perspectives up to now on YouTube.

“Everybody can play an online game,” said Jones. “You do not be accurate. I don’t forget myself k. I’m higher than the common person, but compared to people on the Net I’m terrible.”

The youngest of three brothers, Jones grew up in Woodbridge, NJ, gambling video games. He fondly recollects his brothers saving cash to buy him a Nintendo 64 for his 10th birthday…Then his center brother claimed he failed to simply to present it as a gift and took it for himself.

There was not a whole lot of controller sharing going on in the family,” he said.

Jones is now approximately to embark on the four-town “Allow’s Play Live” tour with the opposite stars of production company Poultry Teeth’s “Achievement Hunter” channel, wherein they may perform for his online — and now offline — fanatics. First up may be a stop on April 24 in Jones’ domestic country of recent Jersey at the 2,900-seat New Jersey Overall performance Arts Middle in Newark.

A Simple Tool to Make Your Presentation Move Audiences to Action

In this age of technology, we may additionally over-think much stuff which is without a doubt pretty simple. One instance is a method I exploit with Submit It Notes. I exploit this tool all of the time in growing presentations so one can without difficulty have interaction the audience and leave a lasting influence.

Many recognize this as a storyboard, one that is easy to amend and is definitely portable. I use it to put together all my displays and even overview and update my antique ones. I call it “Presentation Mapping.”

Here’s what you need:

A bundle of small multicolored sticky notes, and a manila document folder, both letter size or for bigger initiatives, criminal size. Label your folder with the presentation call and start to paintings. First, chart out the principle topics or key points you need to cover. Every topic receives its personal sticky note color. Put them at the top of the open folder. Plan on using each the left and right facets of the open folder. I like the usage of manila folders due to the fact I will fold them up and carry them around with me. I do business from home but often use coffee stores to catch a few minutes of labor time while I’m away.

With my number one topics in a single color jogging alongside the pinnacle of the open folder,

I begin to upload content material using a unique coloration strolling down Every column created with the topic title. I find it movements along quickly. I use a blue colored sticky word for the “thru-line” or Large Concept, attached to space to the aspect. This way I make certain each essential point will tie in the Massive Concept. This maintains me on the challenge, and not going down any “rabbit trails” during my presentation. The Massive Concept is carried all through the presentation. If it is a teaching lesson, I Positioned down the targets for the scholars to make sure those do not wander away inside the shuffle.

On your presentation,

You might want to excessive light what is at stake to your target audience in the event that they do not purchase into your Massive Concept. Make that sticky be aware pink. You may also make a major factor stand out with a brief illustrative story. Make that sticky notice blue. In case you want to You could simply choose up a column of a primary point and reposition it In your presentation. You want it in a logical order that is straightforward to follow by the audience. They will be watching for your subsequent point, and also you do not want to redirect their questioning. Create drama with the aid of setting your major factors in a meaningful order. I love to think about it as a crescendo (as in tune) building to a final impactful point. while one-of-a-kind factors on your presentation are in specific colors, changing the order is brief and smooth. Now you are equipped to draft your presentation out of your very last mapping.

I bring around a small stack of sticky notes,

So when I have a top notch inspiration and that I don’t have that particular presentation map with me, I write it out on a Submit It notes and switches it to that presentation map while I get lower back to my domestic office. The presentation mapping process is continually under construction, and I will always locate methods to improve it.

There you have it. high tech at its handiest Placed to paintings growing effective shows. I often work with speakers helping them increase their displays with a view to resonate with their audiences. This simple tool is one of the most helpful thoughts I can skip on. Right luck, and talk nicely!

Surprising Benefits Of Playing Video Games

You might be surprised, however, do you understand that playing video games has its blessings? Science has demonstrated that gambling video games no longer only improves hand-eye coordination however it is able to additionally be useful to the player as well. As human beings rely upon an increasing number of on-ear to ease their way of existence, playing video games also can growth one’s possibilities of survival. Underneath are a few sudden blessings and blessings of gambling video games.

Hand-Eye Coordination

It has lengthy been established that gambling video games can enhance hand-eye coordination. Game enthusiasts who performed for longer hours in particular action video games or role-playing ones have a tendency to have higher attention and are able to find their target quicker than those people who do not play games. In a examine conducted by means of the researchers in Deakin College in Australia, they discovered that pre-school youngsters who play interactive games have a tendency to have higher object-motor abilities than those youngsters that do not.

Ability to Multi-task

Some of the research exhibits that Gamers have the Ability to allocate their mental assets allowing them to execute quick decision-making and better problem fixing competencies. They have the Potential to interact in extraordinary responsibilities concurrently and may transfer among duties to paintings on extra stressful ones with none difficulty than others that don’t.

Enhance Fitness Conditions

Folks that are suffering from mental Health troubles and different scientific Situations discover that gambling games help alleviate their Health troubles. In a take a look at posted in 2009 within the Annual Overview of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine, people who suffer from intellectual problems inclusive of melancholy and pressure can clearly use the pastime to help them deal with their situation with the aid of distracting and changing their notion or mental state of mind.

  Financing Lining Your Pipes

To find out what the fee worried may be, get in contact with some vendors in your vicinity. Maximum will come up with a unfastened estimate based on the materials and the labor worried to get the process carried out. They can also inform you realize long it’ll take for them to finish the job. You can examine costs, guarantee information, and the price of the substances used to select the proper provider.

Buying the process of trenchless pipelining doesn’t need to be a large ordeal although.

You can do not forget one among many approaches to get the project financed. You could find you have got enough money on your budget to divide the number of it to take care of this kind of improve. It’s miles going to prevent cash down the road to do that now. In any other case, You may have a massive value and then this too.

Loan

Most lenders see the fee in trenchless pipe lining and that they are not going to hesitate to provide you the finances to get it achieved. That is a brilliant solution in case you do not have the coins go with the flow to pay for it out of pocket now. The disadvantage to a Mortgage even though is you will pay hobby with it. Attempt to pay the Loan off in much less time than required so that you can lower the hobby.

[myupdatestudio-blog]

New Post has been published on Myupdatestudio

New Post has been published on https://myupdatestudio.com/who-is-accountable-for-high-property-taxes/

Who is accountable for high property taxes?

Maximum Illinois politicians will inform you “excessive assets taxes” is the Maximum commonplace complaint they pay attention from components. In many communities, rising assets taxes ways outpace annual will increase the value of living. It’s a gadget this is flagrantly predatory, frequently showing fixed-earnings homeowners out of their paid-for homes due to the fact they can’t manage to pay for the expenses and the debt that authorities keep accruing.

                                        Property Taxes

But if you find yourself the various pissed off, I have got a few tough love for you: Improve your proper index finger and pivot that digit towards yourself. Sure, the taxpayer. You’re a part of the hassle.

Living proof will be Tuesday’s nearby elections. Hundreds of applicants within the suburbs are running for metropolis trustee or faculty board member or library commissioner. Dozens of referendums are on the ballot. Every race and difficulty will help determine whether local governments get permission to spend more taxpayer money or whether or not voters say “no,” lightly nudging their elected officers closer to more performance.

Maximum registered voters won’t even hassle to cast a poll. They’ll be too busy fighting approximately President Donald Trump on Facebook, ignoring the greater extensive effect of President John Doe on their nearby college board. During nearby elections in 2013, best 19 percentage of suburban Prepare dinner County electorate showed up. Identical for DuPage County. Similar to Lake County and different collar counties.

Is it fair, then, to say that if you can’t be afflicted to vote in nearby elections, you do not have grounds to gripe about your home tax bill? Yes, it is. Wake up, taxpayers.

a few hard love for one community particularly: West suburban citizens who stay in Hinsdale Township high school District 86 may be asked to approve a $seventy-six million bond referendum. The original rate tag changed into towards $130 million, But after residents complained that the proposed enhancements had been too fancy, the school board worked with architects to carry down the fee.

It’s nevertheless too lavish

If citizens agree, the district will borrow that $76 million, and hobby fees will add one-0.33 of the marketed price tag. So the total cost is closer to $100 million while you add up what the bond holders will price over the existence of the bonds.

What are citizens getting for all that money? college constructing improvements and a handful of recent classrooms on the district’s colleges, Hinsdale South and Hinsdale Relevant. More or less one-third of the cash will pass closer to swimming pool enhancements and up to date diving pits.

Why? due to the fact, my gosh, Hinsdale high schools are not able to host water polo championships because of pool inns.

Allow that sink in a minute

Additionally, the district had to start asking drivers to sign liability waivers (they possibly have to besides) due to the fact the colleges don’t have pits that meet more modern policies. Oh, and the air is sort of stuffy at Vital At some stage in swim meets. A brand new circulate machine became introduced to the want list.

Rather than retain with services that are just pleasant, or have the faculty district negotiate a sharing program with close by pools, the faculty board is asking all district taxpayers to pony up, in large part for a pinnacle-notch new aquatic facility at Central.

This is the district, by the manner, wherein a fiscally conservative college board majority that held the line at the belongings tax levy some years in the past got shoved out At some stage in subsequent college board elections.

Do citizens get the connection? in case you keep authorizing your district to spend greater, there are outcomes to your house tax invoice.

The one’s increases can’t be blamed solely on state authorities. While Springfield has not constant a damaged faculty investment system that punishes wealthier districts, residents in wealthier districts Additionally dig the wound. They keep balloting for bigger and better matters — and for school board contributors who like to spend.

Hinsdale District 86 does not need to spend the almost $20,000 per student that it does. residents choose that degree of lavishness through their activity on the voting sales space, or lack thereof, and then turn around and whine about rising belongings tax payments.

“while you’re issuing bonds outside the tax cap, even if you have been to freeze the relaxation of the levy But you allow new debt issuances, belongings taxes will move up,” explained Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, a tax hawk in Springfield. “It all provides up.”

The kingdom lawmakers who represent Hinsdale — Sen. Chris Nybo, R-Elmhurst, and Reps. Patti Bellock, R-Hinsdale, and Peter Breen, R-Lombard — all help proposals in Springfield to freeze assets taxes. But even Those freezes, if enacted into law, could not save you extra, voter-accepted spending.

So keep in mind that, taxpayers, whilst you find yourself steaming over your house tax bill. Are you voting in local elections? If the answer is “Yes,” are you furthermore may falling for the vibrant new amenity your college board is selling? If so, then quit complaining. You are a part of the problem.

Appealing Belongings Taxes for Apartment Proprietors Assets taxes are one in every of the biggest line object fees incurred through Apartment Owners. However, many Owners do now not attraction correctly. Even though Proprietors recognize that Assets taxes can be managed and reduced via an enchantment, some view taxes as an arbitrary estimate supplied by using the authorities which cannot effectively be appealed. It tends to boil right down to the antique adage, “You can not combat metropolis corridor”.

Thankfully, the Property tax appeal procedure in Texas gives Owners more than one opportunities to appeal. Dealt with both without delay by the proprietor or via a Assets tax consultant, this system ought to involve an intense attempt to yearly attraction and minimize Property taxes. Lowering the biggest line object price has a tremendous impact in Decreasing the proprietor’s general running prices. Even as it isn’t feasible to entirely get away the weight of paying Belongings taxes, it’s far feasible to lessen taxes sharply, often through 25% to 50%.

Why some Owners don’t attraction

some Assets Owners don’t appeal due to the fact they both don’t recognize the system or do not take into account that there is a great possibility of accomplishing meaningful discounts in Belongings taxes. a few Proprietors accept as true with that since the marketplace fee in their Assets exceeds the assessed cost, then it is not feasible to attraction and decreases the Property taxes. Despite the fact that appeals on unequal appraisal are especially new, there may be a manner to attraction Assets taxes at the administrative hearing stage based totally on unequal appraisal. Unequal appraisal occurs when Belongings is classified inconsistently with neighboring properties or similar homes. Also, a few Owners are reluctant to rent a Assets tax representative, Even though many experts will work on a contingent rate foundation, wherein there may be no fee to the owner unless Belongings taxes for the simple year are reduced.

Property Proprietors have the choice of asking for a notice of assessed cost for his or her Belongings yearly. Segment 25.19g of the Texas Property Tax Code presents the proprietor the choice to request a written be aware of the assessed fee from the leader appraiser. Proprietors gain from inquiring for and receiving a written note of assessed cost for every Asset because it ensures they have an opportunity to study the assessed cost. This word has to be despatched on an annual basis. The appraisal district does no longer ship a observe of the assessed price if the price increases by way of less than $1,000. However, if a proprietor becomes not happy with a prior 12 months’ price and the value remained identical, the appraisal district probably will not send a note of the assessed fee for the clear straightforward yr. In this case, the proprietor might overlook to protest when you consider that a word of assessed price for the Assets changed into now not received.

The way to record and attraction

On or before May also 31st of each 12 months, the Assets proprietor need to record an attraction for each Belonging. But, While many Proprietors are relaxed with an assessed price, in many instances there may be a basis for Appealing. Two alternatives for Attractive include:

1. Unequal appraisal, and

2. marketplace price primarily based on records the appraisal district presents to the owner earlier than the hearing.

You may appeal by using finishing the protest shape supplied by the appraisal district and indicating each immoderate cost (marketplace price) and unequal appraisal as the basis for attraction. In addition, the Property proprietor can genuinely ship a word that identifies the Property and indicates dissatisfaction with some dedication of the appraisal office. The notice does now not want to be on a legit form, Even though the comptroller does provide a form for the convenience of Assets Owners.

House Bill 201 – helpful data

House Invoice 201 is the enterprise jargon for a Property owner’s option to request statistics the appraisal district will use the hearing, and to acquire a duplicate 14 days before the listening to. The call House Bill 201 is derived from the Bill used to enact the law. The details for Residence Invoice 201 are placed in sections forty-one.461 and forty-one.67d of the Texas Assets Tax Code. while submitting a protest, the Assets proprietor need to moreover request in writing that the appraisal district provides a copy of any statistics the appraisal district plans to introduce at the listening to. The appraisal district will usually require the Property owner to return to the appraisal district workplace to select up the records and price a nominal price, commonly $0.10 in line with the page. Whilst the fee for House Invoice 201 requests are pretty low (generally $0.50 to $2.00 per Property for residential and industrial) the statistics is invaluable in getting ready for the hearing. Similarly, submitting a Residence Bill 201 request is important as it limits the information the appraisal district can gift on the hearing to what became furnished to the Property owner Two weeks before the hearing.

Making ready for the hearing

Start by way of reviewing the appraisal district’s data for your private home for accuracy. If the appraisal district overstates both the exceptional or amount of upgrades, this may justify a deduction. The following step is to check the facts on marketplace price and unequal appraisal furnished through the appraisal district within the House Invoice 201 package. If the concern Belongings is a profits Assets, assessment the appraisal district’s earnings analysis as opposed to your real income and cost statements. Take into account the subsequent regions as opportunities to rebut the appraisal district’s analysis: