#and i also might owe him financial compensation | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

souridealist · 3 years ago

Text

On what occasions does Phoenix Wright get paid?

PHOENIX WRIGHT: ACE ATTORNEY

Case 1-1 Defendant: Larry Butz Does Phoenix get paid? No way in hell.

Case 1-2 Defendant: Maya Fey Does Phoenix get paid? I doubt it ever even occurred to him to bill her, honestly.

Case 1-3 Defendant: Will Powers Does Phoenix get paid? Yes! I doubt Will makes a lot of money, but he has a steady job, and the studio might or might not have covered some of it. Some kind of compensation occurred.

Case 1-4 Defendant: Miles Edgeworth Does Phoenix get paid? I feel like Miles tried to pay him and Phoenix refused him point blank, and they went back and forth on this for entirely too long until Maya, wanting burger money and also to keep the damn lights on, took it upon herself to deposit the check behind Phoenix’s back and leave for Kurain Village before he discovered it. This is probably what kept him fed through all of game two.

Case 1-5/DLC Defendant: Lana Skye Does Phoenix get paid? Definitely! Lana makes decent money, she knows what the rates for a good defense attorney should be, and she would absolutely take that debt seriously. Congratulations, Phoenix, burgers for you and fancy plant food for Charley.

ACE ATTORNEY: JUSTICE FOR ALL

2-1 Defendant: Maggey Byrde Does Phoenix get paid? A little bit. Phoenix almost certainly gave her a hefty discount, simply because she’s a good person in a bad spot and cops in this universe seem not to make very much money.

2-2 Defendant: Maya Fey Does Phoenix get paid? No way does he charge her, she’s family.

2-3 Defendant: Max Galactica Does Phoenix get paid? Yes! Max canonically made a hefty salary, so I think Phoenix would be willing to charge him a relatively fair price. He might’ve knocked a bit off because of the tenous position the circus ended in, but still, probably went all right for both sides.

2-4 Defendant: Matt Engarde Does Phoenix get paid? He charges that motherfucker for every time that Phoenix blinked over the course of that trial. Edgeworth helps him find ways to jack up the bill even higher. Matt Engarde is going to send Trucy to college and Phoenix hadn’t even met her yet.

All in all, a profitable game for Phoenix.

ACE ATTORNEY: TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS

3-1 Lawyer: Mia Fey Defendant: Phoenix Wright Does Mia get paid? Honestly this depends entirely on your headcanon for Phoenix’s backstory, but Mia is an employee in Grossberg’s (highly profitable) firm rather than running her own office, so she might draw a flat salary regardless of whether he pays his bills. (I did no research on how billing in law works and I feel that is entirely in the spirit of the games.)

3-2 Defendant: Ron DeLite Does Phoenix get paid? Hmm. On the one hand, Ron was throwing around very valuable objects, but on the other hand, he was driven to crime by financial desperation in the first place, and Phoenix did also screw up his alibi. I think probably Phoenix only charges him for the theft trial and charges him the broke people rate.

3-3 Defendant: Maggey Byrde again Does Phoenix get paid? Maggey has gone down in the world financially even before you factor in how Tres Bien is on the verge of collapse, so... no. Phoenix charges her a pittance, if that.

3-4 Lawyer: Mia Fey Defendant: Terry Fawles Does Mia get paid? Mia can speak to ghosts, but that does not mean that she can bill them. As above, however, she might be pulling a flat salary. Regardless, probably not her greatest concern at the time.

3-5 Defendant: Iris of Hazakura Temple Does Phoenix (or Miles) get paid? Phoenix has a personal tie to Iris and she’s from the Fey extended clan, who have no money. He never saw a cent for that case.

I’M PUTTING THE ENIGMAR/GRAMARYE TRIAL HERE FOR CONVENIENCE Defendant: Zak Enigmar aka Zak Gramarye Does Phoenix get paid? Not only did Zak pull a defense-and-dash here, that man owes Phoenix seven years of child support. Zak Enigmar has out-mooched Larry Butz.

APOLLO JUSTICE: ACE ATTORNEY 4-1 Defendant: Phoenix Wright Does anyone get paid? Phoenix canonically states his intent to do so! ...By hoping he was getting the discount rate, but still, planning to pay a rate. Of course, it’s difficult to bill a man whom you’ve just gotten arrested. So, frankly, who knows. However, as above, Apollo is an employee and might be making a flat salary. Enjoy it while it lasts, kid.

4-2 Defendant: Wocky Kitaki Does anyone get paid? Eventually. The Kitakis’ money is all tied up in Wocky’s operation for the time being, and I think Mr. Kitaki would refuse to use yakuza money to pay for Wocky’s defense any more than for his medical treatment. However, they’re not going to leave that debt unpaid forever, so eventually there is profit!

Of course, how exactly billing works at the Wright Anything Agency is... anyone’s guess. I suppose Apollo is technically an employee, but given that the place is held together with string and a wish, I don’t think a flat salary is in the cards this time. My guess would be that Trucy bases it on a performance contract (I don’t know a ton about that either) -- for every booking, Apollo gets paid and management gets a percentage.

4-3 Defendant: Machi Tobaye Does anyone get paid? I don’t think anyone was really planning to bill a fourteen-year-old who’s about to get arrested for a different crime, but Lamiroir may have reached out to the agency and offered to take care of it on his behalf, at which point they had to try and come up with a bill. Still a pittance, especially given the surgery plans (and... everything else.)

4-4 Defendant: Vera Misham Does anyone get paid? She was raking in an implicitly large amount of black market cash and she feels guilty about having it and would want to pay them back, but she’s also a nineteen-year-old agaraphobe navigating the world on her own for the first time. I think, ultimately, they bill her on the low-low end of reasonable.

It’s also possible that Phoenix got paid for what was, technically, a fair bit of government labor in setting up the jury system, but asking questions about those logistics is.... a choice even I am not going to make.

I haven’t played Duel Destinies or Spirit of Justice yet so further updates as events warrant.

I think my conclusion here is 1) in order to make money, Phoenix Wright needs to be supervised by someone who is not currently on trial and older than nine 2) Phoenix definitely gets to tell Apollo that he had to defend uphill in the snow both ways.

#ace attorney #phoenix wright #apollo justice #posts that have no purpose

3K notes · View notes

starr-fall-knight-rise · 5 years ago

Text

HASO, “Freak of Nature.”

A continuation from yesterday. I hope you all enjoy, and I hope you enjoy the setup for some other stories I am planning on doing :)

Have a good day!

Breaking News

The Galaxy is left stunned after the events of late yesterday evening, when a single armed shooter appeared from the crowd and fired on UNSC leader and cultural icon Admiral Vir during a routine press conference given at UNSC headquarters Fort Harmony on the eastern Mericandian coast. Reports describe the event as happening midway through Admiral Vir’s address as the single, hooded female pushed through the crowd and drew a handgun on the Admiral firing once before fleeing into the crowd. She was apprehended by armed security agents only moments later as she tried to flee the scene. On scene witnesses report that an accompanying marine tackled Admiral Vir to the ground just as the shot was fired.

In a statement made early this morning by Admiral Vir he reports that, “Thanks to the brave actions of Corporal Angel Ramirez I am alive and unharmed.” Corporal Angel Ramirez is a decorated veteren of the UNSC deep space division and served his first tour aboard the UNSC Enterprise on its maiden voyage. Since then he has served under Admiral Vir on both the UNSC Harbinger and most recently the Omen distinguishing himself in combat during the Burg war and the Kree engagement. Our sources report that Corporal Ramirez was once an up and coming champion in the Mericandian winter Olympic ice skating team before joining the marines.

Reports say that the corporal came out of surgery early this morning and is in stable but critical condition.

The only question remains is who would attempt an assasination on such a beloved cultural icon. More on that with our crime reporter Jim Shaw.

Thank you, Emily, early this morning we received reports from Fort harmony officials that the name and identity of the shooter is 37 year old Adrea Halen member of a traditionalist leaning moderate group the Hunt Party, who have condemned Admiral Vir in the past for his support of legalizing extrial relationships. President Hunt, leader of the hunt Party and CEO of Hunt Metals said in a statement today. “Our party had nothing to do with Ms. Halen’s actions, while we disagree with Admiral Vir on some fundamentals of government, we would never attempt to silence him through violence. At the end of the day Admiral Vir has done far more good than he has bad and no man deserves to die due to his political views. What Ms halen has done is condemnable, and the party does not support her actions.”

Further comment was withheld until a later date. As of yet police have been unable to determine if she acted alone or with the assistance of the group. Police chief Henry Winzer added in his statement today, “Ms. Halen has not, as of yet, divulged her motives behind the shooting, however based on preliminary evidence of the scene it seems as if these were the actions of a woman acting alone. Detectives have been unable to find any correspondence between her and a third party and even her husband had been out of the country for the past few months.”

Her motive remains, as of yet, unknown. There is evidence of a radicalized political view since she did attempt and target Admiral Vir, and some of her personal social media content has been leaked to the public reporting her dissatisfaction with going the GA and her open disgust for extrial activities especially in regards her oldest son who was in a relationship with a Finnari before moving to Noctropolis. We have since been unable to contact him.

In the past Admiral Vir has been known as a great political proponent in favor of extrial relationships, and a non isolationist view having once said that, “Cooperation and companionship with the GA will be the bedrock of human expansion into space.” With the popularity of Admiral Vir as a cultural Icon, it can be said that his political views have been influential on the younger upcoming generations of today, while the older populace still remains wary of political involvement with extraterrestrial life. In oth-

Adam shut off the TV sinking back into one of the stiff plastic chairs that adorned the hospital waiting room. His eyes felt grainy and dry, and his head ached dully behind his eyes. Off in the corner of the room much of Ramirez’s family lay asleep on the plastic chairs including his father and otters who had arrived late last night. They had fallen asleep after a nurse ventured in a few hours to go to let them know that he was stable and alive. Adam himself had not been able to sleep thinking about his friend, replaying the moment over and over in his head wondering if there was something he could have done to prevent all of this from happening. But the more he thought the more he realized that it was probably unlikely. He might have been able to dive out of the way himself before the shot was fired, but Ramirez was already in motion before that.

He couldn’t have seen it coming, no one could have, and no one did.

Ramirez had just been the fastest.

He sunk back into his chair miserably and stared at the wall. There were no windows in this room, the guard detail had insisted upon it incase someone else tried for his life. It all seemed so strange to him. Why would anyone want to kill him?

He knew the answer though, as much as he wanted to think he was just some nobody, he wasn’t anymore. He was… a political figure, someone who could influence what happened in the galaxy and there were plenty of people who weren’t bound to agree with him on a lot of things.

He just wondered why he hadn’t seen this coming sooner.

His implant buzzed, and he looked down to see that his mother was calling. Whoopse, she wasn’t going to be happy that she was just hearing about this over the news, but he knew he needed to talk to her. He stood and made his way into the hallway, where a protection detail eyed him hawkishly.

Closing the door behind him, so as not to disturb its sleeping occupants, he answered the call, speaking out loud as the implants in his throat and ear picked up the sound, “Hey, mom.”

“Adam! Adam are you alright! I just saw the news.”

“Yeah, yea I’m ok.” He took a deep breath, “Sorry I didn’t call. It’s just been kinda hectic.”

“And you’re sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah, I mean, I feel like shit but no bullet wounds….” he trailed off

There was silence for a moment, ‘I’m so sorry sweetheart, how is Ramirez?”

“Doctor’s haven’t given us all the details yet, but he's at least alive and survived surgery.”

“Thank goodness…. We owe that boy.”

“I know, mom…. I know.”

Just then he heard voices off down the hall and turned to see Dr. kill and Dr Katie approaching from the wings.

“Mom, I’ve gotta go, but I’ll call you as soon as I can, Ok?”

“Ok.”

She let him go and he hung up as the two doctors approached.

“How is he!”

They motioned him into the room and he followed just as Ramirez’s family members were waking up.

Adam hovered near the door not entirely sure if he was supposed to be there. Ramirez’s mother sat up, “Is h ok!”

Dr. Kati and Dr Krill glanced at Adam. Adam realized with Dr. patient confidentiality, and it being family, he probably wasn’t supposed to be here. He went to step outside, but Ramirez’s abuela waved him back.

Ramirez an Dr Katie nodded.

The little alien stepped forward towards the family, “I have both good and bad news.”

The group waited with bated breath.

“THe good news is that your son made it through surgery. He is stable and recovering in the ICU.” he glanced over at Katie, “The bullet went in through his back, through his right kidney and perforated some of his lower bowl. We were able to fix the tears but the kidney…. Was not salvageable.”

The family glanced back and forth between each other, “That…. That’s not so bad though. He has two….”

Krill shifted slightly, “Well that is the remarkable thing and also the bad news but…. Your son only had one kidney. We wouldn’t have noticed it were it not for our imaging, but it seems he has lived with this defect his entire life without complication.”

Dr. Katie Cut in just then, “Since he was born with the defect, his body compensated. The kidney that was destroyed was much larger than average…” She trailed off

The family members looked between each other, “So…. So what does this mean.”

“We have him on dialysis right now, and he is going to need a kidney transplant.” Dr. Katie folded her hands, “There are a few options, there is always the possibility of getting him a donor kidney or equally possible and more…. Advisable would be to have a kidney grown for him using his own stem cells, that way we can grow him one like the one he lost considering there is no way for us to give him two. If he were to get a donor kidney, he would have to undergo chronic gene therapy to avoid medications that would leave him immunocompromised. However in that case he would need to be medically discharged. If we were to grow him a new kidney, he would be able to return to his post without being discharged, but the cost is…. Admittedly much higher.”

The family glanced between each other their faces pulled into grimaces.

Adam knew their financial situation. He had heard stories about Ramirez growing up and knew enough to know that his family had never been well off. They had been close, his childhood had been excellent, but they had never been rich. Affording either of those options was going to be a stretch.

“Well we will have to talk about-”

“I’ll pay for it.”

The entire room turned to look at him.

“You-”

“I said I will pay for it. With the settlement for the court case, I can pay for it. He saved my life this is the least I can do, Please…”

His pleading was so plaintive that the family could hardly say no. He did have a point as well. Instead, he received an enthusiastic hug from Ramirez’s younger sister who clasped her arms around him and nearly snapped him in half with her strength. She was an olympic boxer after all, so he wasn’t surprised.

“Thank you thank you thank you.” She repeated.

Dr. Katie looked at him with a pointed expression, but she didn’t need to ask. He intended to pay for every last cent of Ramirez’s treatment even if he had to fight his abuela for it. He wasn’t entirely sure he’d win against her, but he would damn sure try if it meant doing something fo his friend.

He owed him after all.

And even if he didn’t Ramirez was his best friend. This wasn’t about owing him, this was about doing anything for someone he cared about.

Dr. Krill shifted in his place, “We will get the equipment ready and start later this week. I…. would be honored to perform the operation. I will be upfront with you and say that I am the universe's foremost surgeon, but I would also be the first Alien to perform a transplant”

“I of course, you saved his life last night-”

They seemed almost in shock. Everything was being paid for and the universe most renowned surgeon was practically begging to do it.

The only way this could have been better is if their son hadn’t been shot in the first place.

***

The steady beeping of the machine echoed around the room. Adam sat with one ankle crossed over a knee looking down at his implant and absently reading through that day’s news report as a soft whirring came from the machine just to his right. He wasn’ technically supposed to be here, but the doctors had made an exception for him and the family. On the other side of that a glass tube was busy growing an extra kidney. There was security outside the door and a doctor came in every few minutes to check on the kidney, and the man to which the kidney belonged.

Adam scrolled dow.

There was a shifting just to his side, and with relief Adam looked up to find Ramirez stirring. The man tried to open his eyes but squinted against the light and groaned raising one IV tethered hand to block the light.

Adam leaned over resting a hand on his arm, “Hey you’re finally awake.”

Ramirez cracked an eye at him and groaned.

“Come on ya freak wake up.”

Ramirez closed his eyes again, “Why…. When I wake up do I have to see your ugly ass.

Adam snorted, “How sweet, freak.”

“Freak, have you looked at yourself lately.”

“At least I was born with all my kidneys.”

Ramirez opened his eyes and frowned, “What?”

Adam smiled slightly, “Turns out your dumbass has lived his entire life with only one kidney. Congratulations, you are a freak of nature.”

“No shit, really? I had no idea.”

“We know, anyway the bullet sort of ruined it, so you have to get a new one. He pointed across the room to the glass tube and its slowly growing kidney which was no bigger than a jellybean right at that moment.”

Ramirez looked and frowned, “Ew, gross… wait who's paying for that,because I don’t think the military covers transplants.”

“It's taken care of.”

“By who.”

“By someone.”

“Someone who.”

“Someone who would rather remain unnamed.”

Ramirez looked at him,”It’s you isn't it.”

Adam sighed, “You saved my life, so shut up and let me buy you a new kidney. I owe you that much at least.”

“Fne, fine.”

There was a pause between them.

“I….. thank you, for saving my-”

“Dude don’t get all sappy and shit on me ok. You would have done it for me.” Adam went quiet still wishing to thank his friend but knowing Ramirez would never accept i.

Ramirez shifted to look at him, “So, you know why they tried to kill you?”

Adam shrugged, “Not really, the lady who did it has some political affiliations who don't tend to agree with me, but that connection doesn't seem to fit completely. Either that or she blames me for making her son an extrial in which case….. That hardly makes sense either.” he shrugged, “Either way she isn’t talking, and now I can’t go anywhere without five to six bodyguards spilling out my ass.”

Ramirez snorted, eyes closing, breathing deeply.

“You feeling ok.”

“Yeah…. I’m alright, just tired.”

“Then go back to sleep ya big idiot. Maybe if you’re a good boy santa will leave a kidney under your pillow.”

Ramirez let off a weak huff, “Didn’t know santa was a black market organ dealer.”

“He is this christmas, now shut up and go to sleep.” Ramirez didn’t argue with him beyond that point, and fell back asleep just as a nurse ws coming to check on him.

Adam was relieved.

Ramirez was, hopefully, going to be ok.

Though what remained were far more questions than there were answers.

247 notes · View notes

tiramisiyu · 4 years ago

Text

【未定事件簿】 Tears of Themis: Xia Yan Personal Story 4-4 Translation

Translation Masterlist | Xia Yan Masterlist | Video

Chapter 4: 4-1 / 4-2 / 4-4 / 4-5 / 4-6 / 4-7 / 4-9 / 4-10 / 4-11 / 4-12 / 4-13 / 4-14 / 4-16

North District

Ji Xiaoyu and older sister Ji Xiaoqing originally lived in a two-bedroom apartment in the north district, left by their parents.

After that apartment was forcibly seized by the loan company, the sisters started to rent an apartment.

Xia Yan and I came to the place that Ji Xiaoyu was now renting, according to the address Sphinx gave. However, we waited for a long time, during which Ji Xiaoyu never showed up.

Xia Yan: According to Sphinx, Ji Xiaoyu took on three to four part-time jobs at the same time after Qian Yi’s death.

Xia Yan: Within a few months, she took on a severely high workload from morning to night. Typically, she returns home at around 11:30 at night.

Xia Yan: However, she suddenly left all her jobs two days ago.

MC: Could she be engaging a lawyer for a lawsuit? To repurchase her parents’ real estate?

MC: She’s saved enough money now and needs to focus on the case, so she left her jobs?

Xia Yan: Possibly.

MC: Then I could probably provide her legal assistance to talk to her, right? Perhaps she’ll be more willing to communicate with us then.

Xia Yan: Okay. I’ll say that I received a commission to investigate the Bedo Loan Company trap loan issue, and that I’m preparing to help my client file for a civil compensation lawsuit.

Xia Yan: If she wants to file for a civil lawsuit, she’ll probably be willing to talk to us.

Xia Yan and I were in the middle of talking when we heard faraway footsteps – it just happened to be Ji Xiaoyu.

In the video Xia Yan and I had seen in the afternoon, Ji Xiaoyu’s condition could be called “haggard” or “fragile”.

But now… she was basically skin and bones, surrounded by an air as heavy as death, and her face was completely frozen.

START INSPECTION

⊳ Box and leaflet

MC: (A casket and a cemetery leaflet…)

MC: (So she worked hard to accumulate money to buy a place in the cemetery for her sister?)

MC: (The casket looks newly bought. She’s probably selected a place at the cemetery and is preparing to bury it…)

What are the injuries on her right wrist?

⊳ Wrist slit injuries ⊳ Scrapes

MC: (Injuries layered on top of each other… she must have attempted suicide many times.)

MC: (Though they look like old injuries, she really doesn’t look like she’s come around…)

⊳ Clothes

MC: (Her clothes are splitting at the seams, yet there was no attempt to fix them… it looks like she doesn’t care about herself.)

⊳ Eyes

MC: (Such severe dark circles. She must not have slept in a long time…)

MC: (Ji Xiaoyu’s condition does not look good at all. I should carefully observe some more and think cautiously first.)

END INSPECTION

MC: Xia Yan, Ji Xiaoyu…

Xia Yan: Mhmm, I know. We have to find out what’s going on with her as soon as possible.

Xia Yan and I walked towards Ji Xiaoyu. However, she walked past us expressionlessly, without even giving us a single glance, as if we did not exist.

We could only double back a few steps and block her with outstretched hands.

Xia Yan: Hello, you must be Miss Ji Xiaoyu?

Ji Xiaoyu: …

Xia Yan: I am a private detective who’s received a commission to investigate the case of Bedo Loan Company’s trap loans.

Xia Yan: This case will open trial soon. My client plans to collect evidence to file for civil litigation.

Xia Yan: Miss Ji, may I ask you a few questions?

Xia Yan: With your clues, I might be able to find a few new investigative directions.

MC: Miss Ji, I am Lawyer MC.

MC: If needed, I can provide legal assistance for you and help you file for a civil compensation lawsuit.

Xia Yan and I handed her our own namecards, but Ji Xiaoyu did not take them.

She searched up the employers indicated on Xia Yan’s and my namecards, only stopping when she saw news that involved my legal defense.

She lifted those lifeless eyes slightly.

Ji Xiaoyu: What do you want to know? Do you want me to serve as a witness or write a testimony?

Ji Xiaoyu: I’m fine with it all. Only… my sister will be buried within a few days. Please do not give me trouble during this time.

MC: Understood, we will be careful.

Xia Yan: My apologies, Miss Ji, but we have a request right now.

Xia Yan: Can we speak with you about the progression of events for this matter? Of course… I understand that this will make you remember unhappy matters.

Ji Xiaoyu’s expression remained as numb as ever. Only her lips pursed slightly.

Ji Xiaoyu: … Come with me.

Ji Xiaoyu’s Residence

We followed Ji Xiaoyu into the place she was now renting.

That was a room of a mere ten square meters. The room was filled with a musty smell, as if no air had circulated here in a long time.

Miscellaneous items were piled in the corner of the room. Only the two boxes of corrugated cardboard near the door were uniquely neat and tidy.

Ji Xiaoyu: I’m guessing that you wanted to ask why I ended up in that trap loan?

Xia Yan: We do have some questions about that.

Ji Xiaoyu: Because I wanted to buy something, but was short by two thousand dollars.

Ji Xiaoyu did not wait for us to continue asking and began to speak.

Her tone as she spoke was completely emotionless and smooth, as familiar and indifferent as if she had repeated it many times.

Ji Xiaoyu: I feared being criticized by my classmates if I bought something so expensive suddenly, so I did not borrow from them.

Ji Xiaoyu: Back then, I thought that I would be able to repay it the month after, when I received my wages.

Ji Xiaoyu: I never thought that I would end up trapped.

Ji Xiaoyu: Because I could not pay back the money, they said that if I agreed to take a nude photograph, they would extend the time I had. Otherwise, they would tell my sister and school immediately.

Ji Xiaoyu: Foolishly, I took the photos.

Ji Xiaoyu: So after, I was even more scared of telling my sister, and I didn’t dare call the police. And for my reputation, my sister could only bear the humiliation and not call the police.

She narrated until the end, a heavy self-mocking gradually settling itself into her voice.

MC: (Miss Ji…)

Ji Xiaoyu: What else do you want to ask?

START QUESTIONING

⊳ Qian Yi

Xia Yan: Miss Ji, you once accused Qian Yi and Bedo Loan Company of being related. But the police concluded that evidence was insufficient after investigation.

Xia Yan: What did Qian Yi do during the case?

When this name was brought up, Ji Xiaoyu’s frozen face suddenly distorted as she clenched her fist.

Ji Xiaoyu: He never came to collect debts with that loan company before.

Ji Xiaoyu: He merely kept providing me and my sister’s whereabouts to those people.

MC: Providing your whereabouts?

Ji Xiaoyu: After Bedo Loan Company took away me and my sister’s house, we thought everything was over.

Ji Xiaoyu: But they refused to release us, saying that I still owed them money, pushing me to work at a karaoke bar to return the money.

Ji Xiaoyu: Otherwise, they would reveal that photo to all the people around me and my sister.

MC: …

Ji Xiaoyu: Sister moved houses with me several times to hide, but he kept finding us very quickly.

Xia Yan: After finding you, what did he do?

Ji Xiaoyu let out a strange laugh.

Ji Xiaoyu: Nothing at all.

MC: Nothing at all?

Ji Xiaoyu: He merely appeared near our rental location and smiled at us smugly.

Ji Xiaoyu: After, the scoundrels from the loan company would come to our door.

Ji Xiaoyu: Once, big sister couldn’t bear it anymore and begged him to let us go, but…

[Flashback]

Qian Yi: You say that I’m following you and revealing your locations to Bedo Loan Company. Then… “where’s the evidence”?

Qian Yi: Under the clear heavens, all is balanced. You cannot slander others based on nothing.

Qian Yi: I simply just… somehow always manage to run into you. Maybe this is some sort of destiny?

Qian Yi: Then, I just happened to bring you two up with those that I know.

Ji Xiaoqing: Then… what will it take for you to stop bringing us up?

Ji Xiaoqing: You all have already taken all our money—

Qian Yi: Miss Ji, people are also a sort of financial property.

Qian Yi: According to what I know, Miss Ji, you just hopped to a big company with a pretty decent annual salary?

[Flashback end]

Ji Xiaoyu: Sister originally wanted to move out of the city, but my student enrollment is within Stellis.

Ji Xiaoyu: Which is why we’ve always stayed here.

Ji Xiaoyu: Bedo Loan Company and Qian Yi were basically two colluding villains.

Ji Xiaoyu: But in the end, the police said that there was no evidence and they could only let him go.

Ji Xiaoyu let out a mocking laugh.

Ji Xiaoyu: I’ve heard people call this “procedural justice”. What is justice, then…

Xia Yan: …

MC: …

⊳ Relationship to Qian Yi’s death

Xia Yan: Miss Ji, according to my investigations, you bought a restricted blade the day before Qian Yi’s death.

Xia Yan: That day, you were given a violation ticket from police for carrying prohibited items, and the blade was confiscated.

Xia Yan: After Qian Yi’s death by cardiac arrest, the police also investigated you.

Xia Yan: Back then, a police officer testified for you, saying that he had been keeping an eye on you secretly, and that you did not have the time to commit the crime.

Xia Yan: But if I’ve guessed right, you were following Qian Yi back then, correct?

Ji Xiaoyu: Is how that human scum died that important to you?

MC: It’s like this, Miss Ji. Qian Yi just might be linked to another case that we’re investigating.

MC: So we wanted to ask you whether you noticed if Qian Yi was acting unusually at any point.

Ji Xiaoyu: No need to explain. He’s dead anyways, and I don’t care why you’re investigating him.

Ji Xiaoyu: But you came for nothing.

Ji Xiaoyu: I did follow him for a few days, but didn’t notice anything unusual about him.

Ji Xiaoyu: Even if someone did kill him, they would have just been “enforcing justice for the heavens”.

⊳ Ji Xiaoqing

MC: Miss Ji, we… have a few questions about your sister Ji Xiaoqing…

Ji Xiaoyu: No need to be so hesitant. Go ahead and ask what you want.

Xia Yan: Miss Ji, according to what we know, your sister found out about everything only when Bedo Loan Company seized your real estate.

Xia Yan: After, she was always low-spirited, and then ended up getting into an accident due to drunkenness.

Xia Yan: I’d like to ask you about the details when your sister found out about the trap loans.

Xia Yan: Did she make any unusual actions?

Ji Xiaoyu: Unusual? Under those circumstances, what sort of actions wouldn’t be unusual?

MC: …Could you tell us about where she was different from before then?

Ji Xiaoyu: My sister had always been a very hardworking, motivated person, both in work and life.

Ji Xiaoyu: The year my parents passed just happened to be the one where she was testing for university.

Ji Xiaoyu: Because of limited money and to take care of me, sister gave up on the famous university she’d set her heart on and went to a typical university.

Ji Xiaoyu: Without the halo of a famous school, she worked harder than anyone when it came to studying and work.

Ji Xiaoyu: A few months before Bedo Loan Company found my sister, she had just job-hopped to a very famous company.

Ji Xiaoyu: When Bedo Loan Company had just come knocking, sister still pretended to be lively as she went to work…

Ji Xiaoyu stopped for a moment.

Ji Xiaoyu: But when the police were investigating my sister’s cause of death, they found the people from her company. Only then did I find out…

Ji Xiaoyu: Those scoundrels knew that sister was working at a big company, so they often went to harass her, to make her hand her earnings to them…

Ji Xiaoyu: Sister refused, so those people handed out flyers insulting us at the company…

Ji Xiaoyu: Sister’s mistakes increased in frequency at the company. After, she resigned.

Xia Yan: But you just said that she would pretend to be lively at work? So she went out to…?

Ji Xiaoyu: I don’t know why sister pretended to go to work in the days after.

Ji Xiaoyu: I’m guessing that she just didn’t want to see me at home and think of sorrowful things…

MC: Have you ever secretly followed your sister?

Ji Xiaoyu: … What right do I have to follow my sister?

Ji Xiaoyu: It makes perfect sense for her to want to avoid me, to have time and space to herself.

Ji Xiaoyu: I harmed her so much. Should I not even give her this bit of space?

MC: Miss Ji…

Ji Xiaoyu: But you’re also right. I should have followed my sister.

Ji Xiaoyu: If I watched over her more and worried over her, then at least, I could’ve brought her home after she got drunk, and she wouldn’t have gotten into an accident.

Ji Xiaoyu: But back then, I was only worried about my own sadness and shame. I never thought once for her.

⊳ Other people she’s interacted with

Xia Yan: Miss Ji, may I ask, has anyone found you after you told the police about the trap loan?

Ji Xiaoyu: After sister passed, I dropped out of school.

Ji Xiaoyu: After teachers at school found out, they came to see me a few times.

Ji Xiaoyu: The rest were a few reporters who came to interview me and take pictures for news.

Ji Xiaoyu: After attention on this matter subsided, no one else came.

⊳ Civil compensation

MC: Miss Ji, Bedo Loan Company will begin trial for a case soon.

MC: I read the case details – the real estate that your parents left behind were defrauded away by the company using a fake lawsuit.

MC: After the court comes out with a criminal case verdict on Bedo Loan company, I can help you file for civil litigation.

MC: This way, what your parents left, as well as your assets that were defrauded from you, can be taken back.

Ji Xiaoyu: No need. I don’t need compensation.

Ji Xiaoyu: It’s already pointless…

END QUESTIONING

Ji Xiaoyu: Are there no other questions?

Ji Xiaoyu finished answering all of Xia Yan’s and my questions.

I originally thought that asking these would poke at her emotional wounds, but the whole time, her voice was expressionless, unusually indifferent.

Xia Yan and I locked eyes for a moment, seeing the same confusion and worry in each other’s eyes.

Xia Yan observed the items in the room again, looking at those two cardboard boxes near the door.

Xia Yan: The things in these boxes are…?

Though we could guess what was in it, Xia Yan still acted with caution, avoiding saying anything along the lines of “things left by the dead”.

Ji Xiaoyu: They’re my sister’s things.

Xia Yan: Can we take a look?

Ji Xiaoyu nodded slightly, then opened the cardboard box.

We first saw a journal with Ji Xiaoqing’s name on the cover.

Xia Yan flipped through the diary, giving it a few flip-throughs. The handwriting was beautiful and organized, and the contents focused on work and the comfortable times spent with her little sister.

Xia Yan: Your sister had a habit of writing in a diary, yet she didn’t write anything after finding out about the trap loan?

Ji Xiaoyu: She did. Several times, I saw her writing things in a black leather notebook.

Ji Xiaoyu: I don’t know what she wrote in there. Every time she saw me come over, she would immediately hide the notebook away.

Ji Xiaoyu: She probably wrote a lot about hating me…

Ji Xiaoyu: She clearly should’ve blown up at me, beat me, cursed me, and thrown me away so she could live in another city… but she still put on a strong face in front of me, every day.

Ji Xiaoyu: She also needed to vent, so I didn’t sneak any peeks.

MC: (Miss Ji…)

Xia Yan: Is that black leather notebook still around?

Ji Xiaoyu: I couldn’t find it. Maybe she tossed it away after she finished writing in it, or maybe it dropped somewhere on the day of the accident.

Just when Xia Yan and I were planning to look at some of Ji Xiaoqing’s other items, Ji Xiaoyu brought up a suggestion.

Ji Xiaoyu: You can take these boxes away and take your time going through them.

MC: Can we? These things…

Ji Xiaoyu: I’ll be preparing to bury my sister tomorrow, so I’m very busy. I need to rest right now, and I can’t wait for you.

Xia Yan: I understand – we’ll take these away for now, then. Don’t worry, we’ll examine them carefully and won’t break them.

Ji Xiaoyu: …

Ji Xiaoyu: I’d like to let you know that after my sister’s accident, the police also examined them. But they didn’t notice anything.

After hearing Ji Xiaoyu’s words, Xia Yan and I picked up the boxes with Ji Xiaoqing’s items and prepared to leave.

Ji Xiaoyu: Wait.

MC: Miss Ji, is there anything else you need?

Ji Xiaoyu: Why… why are you treating me like this!

Right when we were about to leave, Ji Xiaoyu suddenly became agitated.

MC: I’m so sorry, Miss Ji. If we have offended you in any way—

Ji Xiaoyu: Why aren’t you condemning me!

Ji Xiaoyu: It’s because I got too greedy and wanted to buy something expensive that I borrowed the money! It’s all because I wasn’t cautious enough that I ended up in the trap loan!

Ji Xiaoyu: It’s because I was a coward who was too scared to tell my sister or call the police that I kept sinking deeper!

Ji Xiaoyu: It’s all because of me… that my parents’ house ended up being defrauded away and that my sister died…

Ji Xiaoyu: You asked me so much, but why didn’t you scold me…

Ji Xiaoyu: Why… did you speak to me so sympathetically… when I committed so many unforgivable mistakes…

MC: …

Xia Yan: …

For a moment, I wasn’t quite sure of how to respond.

Xia Yan: Miss Ji, though this issue started because of you, you were not the one to cause all the misfortune.

Ji Xiaoyu: Have you not heard of the phrase, “flies don’t bite eggs without cracks”? Those who are pitiful must have a hateful side…

Xia Yan: But those who did evil are ultimately those “flies”.

Xia Yan: Whether pitiful or hateful, I have never thought that the focal point of a case should be whether the victim is perfect.

Xia Yan: You’ve already condemned yourself enough.

Ji Xiaoyu: …

Xia Yan: Even if you’ve already bought your sister’s resting place, don’t rush to do anything foolish.

Xia Yan: At least wait for our investigation to end.

Ji Xiaoyu: W-what do you mean?

Xia Yan: I feel like we might be able to find your sister’s black leather notebook.

Xia Yan: No matter how much you just pretended to not care, you must actually want to know what your sister was thinking and doing during that period of time.

Ji Xiaoyu was silent as tears rolled nonstop down her face.

Ji Xiaoyu: If you really find any clue that my sister left behind…

Ji Xiaoyu: No matter what it is… no matter how angrily she cursed… please tell it all to me.

Xia Yan: We will.

#Tears of Themis #tears of themis translations #xia yan #luke pearce #未定事件簿 #pls make sure that if you really need a loan #you get it from trustworthy ppl or reputable institutions;;#highly recommend listening to the voice acting #poor ji xiaoyu

22 notes · View notes

theoneaboutsinnersandsaints · 4 years ago

Text

All Debts Cancelled

Let me be straightforward – this is literally a journal about God and how He canceled all my debts.

I still owe money to the bank, for sure. I am still broke but recovering with God’s grace. However, over time, the more I reflect on my dire financial situation, the more I realize that it is the perfect analogy for my spiritual condition: moral bankruptcy. And that is the debt I was referring to that God canceled and is ultimately the overarching theme of this and the rest of my journal entries.

You might be asking, “Are you delusional? What makes you think you are so special that God would cancel your debts?” Well, truth is, I am a nobody. I am a worthless, shameless sinner. And that is precisely what makes this story mind-boggling. But at the end of it all, does it matter who I am? Well, maybe, if only to provide context. However, let me be clear that this story is not about me but about the God of the Bible who graciously, lovingly, and mercifully paid all my debts in full. The hero in this saga, therefore, is not me but the One who was nailed to the cross on my behalf, whose resurrection gives me the hope of eternal life, and whose blood washed away my sins.

Sin. Now that is something easily identifiable when scrutinizing others but hard to own up to when looking inwards. If, in the past, someone had asked me if I were a sinner, I would have been offended. My first thought would have been, “Who do you think you are asking me that offensive question you immoral, arrogant, egotistical scum?” I would have been both evasive and defensive at the same time (a winning combo for sure) and I would center my argument around the fact that I am no Hitler and therefore, righteous to some degree. That’s it. Argument won.

Or was it?

Did I honestly believe that God would surely avert His eyes from all the lies, curses, anger, slander, and blasphemies that have since come out of my mouth within my lifetime just because I pale in comparison to Hitler? Would the Creator, the Most High God, who is perfect, just, and holy turn a blind eye to all of my shamefully immoral acts just because someone else is more wicked than I? If it were that simple, then that would be the end of it. To gain God’s approval or evade his wrath at the very least, I can choose to either commit less sin than my neighbor or cause them to sin more than me. And if this were true, then it follows we can be thankful for the worst offenders like Hitler for keeping our rankings at bay, right? Wrong. Very wrong. Not to mention disturbing.

Are you starting to see how flawed this logic is?

Let me illustrate further by using the bank analogy I mentioned earlier. If there were five of us who took out a loan from the bank in varying amounts between Php5,000 to Php1,000,000, bound by the same contractual terms and conditions, and all of us, by some misfortune, failed to pay on time, would the bank sort the balances from lowest to highest and then spare the lowest balance from the late penalty fees? Of course not. Everyone will be penalized according to the terms and conditions regardless.

Such is the case with sin. And unfortunately for mankind, the penalty of sin is death. (Rom 6:23) So, it is settled then—all I must do is avoid sin to avoid death. Sounds easy enough.

Obviously, you recognize the sarcasm in the previous statement as well as the gargantuan stumbling block leading to eternal life. It is written after all that, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23)

From where I stand, it seems there is no way out. If all men sin and the penalty of sin is death, therefore all men will die. Logic 101. You have your premises leading you to your conclusion—a grim one at that. But wait, everyone dies anyway so, what difference does it make? Even if I managed to commit zero sin, I will still die, wont I? What then is the use of repenting and changing the error of my ways if I will inevitably end up in a coffin? It seems there is no use trying. Let me just wallow in my wickedness and hope to have the best depraved life ever on Earth because the one after this, without a doubt, would be agonizingly worse.

Is that it, then? Do we stop here and give up?

Pause. Breathe. Read on because there is hope.

Let me switch gears for a moment and use a courtroom analogy to better demonstrate the hope I mentioned. Let’s say Tom accidentally backed his car into his neighbor’s fence and, thinking there were no witnesses, decided to keep quiet about it hoping his neighbor wouldn’t notice. But, as misfortune would have it, the neighbor has CCTV evidence showing it was Tom who trashed his fence. So, he drags Tom to court so he can be served his punishment according to the law. Tom was found guilty and was charged Php500,000 in property damages payable within 24 hours otherwise he will be locked behind bars. But Tom has no capacity to pay such huge fees. Luckily, Tom’s father was in the courtroom. He takes out his wallet, writes a check, and gives it to Tom’s neighbor. The father tells his son to consider the money as a gift and therefore does not need to be repaid. The judge then, seeing that the all the legal requirements have been satisfied, lets Tom go. Case closed.

In this story, Tom represents me, and the father represents the Savior.

Let me take this further by using a literal example. Barabbas. Do you remember him? He was the notorious criminal who was supposed to be crucified but was released after the crowd chose him over Jesus. “Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.” - (Mat 27:26) Like a lamb led to the slaughter, Jesus Christ—innocent, blameless, sinless, perfect—submitted himself to the fate that was supposed to be Barabbas’ which meant that while Barabbas was indeed tried and convicted for his crimes, nobody can stop him from walking free because he was lawfully released as someone else took on his penalties.

I am Barabbas. I am guilty of all the sins I have committed but have been forgiven. My penalties have been paid in full and I am therefore a rightful recipient of the promise of an eternal life and so is every single Christian who submitted themselves to Christ and called upon him to take on their penalties because it is too much to bear for any simple human being.

The gift of salvation is both simple and complex. It is just and righteous on one hand and yet seems so unbelievably unfair on the other. Unfair because you would initially think there is no way God would forgive just like that without any sort of punishment or compensation. Surely, I must work my way into heaven. I need to deserve it, earn it, and show some effort to be on the receiving end of it; otherwise, every other low-life murderer and rapist will enter the gates to heaven as easily as Mother Teresa.

But you see, that is precisely what makes it just and righteous. Everyone sins. Everyone is depraved. Yes, even Mother Teresa. And because man, whom God loves so much, (John 3:16) will never be able to save themselves, He provisioned this gift of salvation free for all—for all who humbly admit that 1) they have sinned; 2) that they are answerable for having committed all those sins against God; 3) that they have no capacity in any way shape or form to deliver themselves from the penalties of their sins and therefore 4) need someone to redeem them, save them, wash them, heal them, atone for them, die for them, and give them eternal life.

God is both the judge and the redeemer.

If a man stands before God and arrogantly proclaims that he will bear the penalties coming his way, well, that is precisely what he will get because he has the freewill to do so. But, if he chooses to go to God, plead guilty to his crimes, turn away from his sinful habits, and ask for forgiveness and redemption, God the Father will send him to His Son, Jesus Christ to be redeemed, to be washed with His own blood that He shed on the cross. He then sends him the Spirit of God, who will dwell in him and make him a new person like he was born again. “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” – (Titus 3:5-7) It is therefore “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” – (Ephesians 2:8)

Faith and not works. Works then becomes the fruit. It is after-the-fact. Not a requirement of salvation but a result of salvation.

This sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Like a get-rich-quick scheme bound to have something in the fine print requiring an impossible condition you can never hope to fulfill thus nullifying everything. Either that or it could be the greatest, most elaborate love story ever be written. A love story about the Most High God who “so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – (John 3:16)

God is love after all. He wants you in his turf. He wants you to belong to him again. So, you ask, why can’t he just give it to all of us then? Why do we have to repent, confess, etc.? Can’t he just grant this sweeping forgiveness and just let us all into heaven if He is all about love anyway? Can’t he just tolerate our sins and let us all be if He is after all the very embodiment of love?

Good question.

Yes, God is love. But we tend to ignore that He is also holy, just, and righteous. How would you feel if a judge sets a criminal free who robbed your house, killed your dog, and set your house on fire, just because he loves all men and therefore will set them all free? This kind of love will deem the judicial system corrupt and useless. It is unfair. It is dysfunctional. It is morally wrong. Do you want an unfair and corrupt God who will go about things in whatever way suits him at any given point in time? Or would you rather a fair, consistent, and trustworthy God who would exact the correct penalties as written in His law?

Therefore, the answer to your question is this: God, being righteous and just, put in place a set of laws of morality in order to draw the line between what is acceptable to Him and what is not. Without such standards, how can any human being expect to know whether they have done wrong or not? And if there are no laws, by what standards then will we be judged against? He is a righteous and just God. He put together those standards and made it known to everyone to make a clear distinction exactly when we are doing right and when we are doing the complete opposite. But while you mull over God’s justice and holiness, pay equal attention to this attribute as well: God is a loving and merciful God. While He knows that man, being the depraved creature that he is, is wallowing in sin and can never hope to meet the standards He set, He has in His heart mercy and the desire to put us all right with Him again and dwell with Him again like Adam and Eve before they sinned in the Garden of Eden. So, what does a just yet loving God do? He provides the perfect atonement that we can only dream of providing for ourselves. He sends His only Son to be at the receiving end of His penalty and wrath once and for all. He sends His Only Son who is blameless and pure, to take on our punishment so that through Him, we can be forgiven, we can be made righteous, and so that like Him, we can therefore be resurrected and given glorified bodies the way Jesus Christ himself was resurrected on the third day. And Jesus Christ, His Son, who loves His Father and loves us, willingly humbled himself to become like us, live as humans do, and willingly offer His life as the ultimate and perfect atonement for all our sins. He could have said no, but he didn’t. He didn’t have to lay down His life, but because of His great love for us and knowing we have no other way out of our own depravity, He offered His own life in exchange for ours.

If this is not the greatest love story of all time, then I do not know what is.

Can you imagine sending your own son or daughter to prison to spare one of your employees who embezzled money from you from being sent to prison himself? Are you willing to sacrifice the life of your child and have him bear the life sentence that should be served by the soulless man who shot a bullet through your spouse’s chest as he took her money? This kind of love is unheard of. This kind of love is beyond this world. This kind of love can only be coming from the Most High God in heaven who is pure love.

This thought never ceases to amaze me.

And this is precisely why I am starting this journal. I feel the need to record my own epiphanies since late 2018 when He found me and shepherded me back with the rest of His sheep. I hope that by sharing my own thoughts and realization, I will be able to reach kindred spirits as well as touch the lost ones who are trying to navigate their way around this crazy world that only seems to get worse by the minute.

This is not about a magical answer to all your pains and problems as if you were getting three wishes from a genie. No. This is about knowing and acknowledging where you come from, who created you, whom you should be loyal to, which kingdom you belong to, and who the God is that you serve. This is about the true gospel of God that is all about forgiveness, redemption, and freedom. This is about realizing that we are the long-lost prodigal son who finally came home into the open arms of his loving father, having been welcomed with gladness despite having done his father wrong. This is about experiencing joy amid an otherwise chaotic, upside-down world knowing that you don’t belong here but in God’s home. “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” -(Philippians 3:20-21)

If you are still reading up to this point and are one of those who feel this God-shaped void in their hearts, then God must be talking to You. He is pointing you to Him for He is the only One who can fill that void and make you whole. Start your journey. Pick up your Bible and start reading the four gospels a couple of chapters at a time: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Pray before you read and ask for faith.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” – (Matthew 11:28-30)

#Christian #salvation #forgiveness #redemption #holy bible #bible #spirituality #love #god #holy god #jesus #jesus christ #savior

1 note · View note

avengerscompound · 6 years ago

Text

The Games We Play Together

The Games We Play Together: An Iron Man Fanfic

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing: Tony Stark x F!Reader, Bruce Banner x Natasha Romanoff x Tony Stark x F!Reader

Word Count: 4814

Warnings: Open Relationship, Smut (MMFF Bisexual orgy, Frottage, oral, anal and vaginal fingering and sex).

Synopsis: Tony Stark is a playboy and why would you want to change that? Your open relationship takes a fun turn when you bring up sleeping with other Avengers.

The Games We Play Together

You couldn’t tie Tony Stark down. That’s what everyone had always said. He was a playboy. He used sex as a sport. He was good at science, engineering and collecting notches on his bedpost. Who would be stupid enough to try and change him?

Not you, that’s for sure. You loved every little nuance of that man. From his complete and utter inability to buy a gift when under pressure, to the way you would find him hyper-focused on the next iron suit. From the way he risked his life to save the world, to the way that he made no secret about enjoying sex and sleeping around. Why would you change it when you loved it too?

Some nights you went out on the town owning it. Him dressed in his best Armani and you in Dior, his arm around your waist and a killer smile on his face as flashbulbs popped all around you. The aim of the night, to find someone to take home with you both.

Other nights you’d compete, seeing who could find someone to do something illicit with first. Then you’d take them back to the car and compete for things like the loudest orgasm or who could get their partner off first. Sometimes you’d pick up for the other. Sometimes you’d select each other’s target.

There were rules. Safe sex always. No lying. The person you ended up with had to know what they were getting themselves into. You also had a safe word. If for some reason jealousy reared its ugly head, or you were just not feeling comfortable, or you’d just had a change of heart and you wanted to go home and put on an oversized hoodie and eat junk food while you watched James Bond movies, the word artichoke was all either of you needed to say.

People loved to criticize your relationship, but it worked. You didn’t try to change each other. You just were happy with the way you were.

“You ever considered one of the others?” you asked Tony one night as you sat beside him painting your toenails. It took a moment for him to register you’d spoken as he turned the gauntlet on his arm over and tweaked another component.

He looked up at you over his glasses and wrinkled his nose. “I wish you wouldn’t do that in here.”

“Yeah, well -” you gestured to his open toolbox on the table and the parts that were laid out haphazardly around.

He shrugged and went back to what he was doing. “Touché,” he said. “What did you say?”

“I said, have you ever considered one of the others?” you asked again.

“What others? What are we considering them for?” he asked.

“The Avengers. And for dirty superhero sex, Anthony,” you answered.

He looked up at you and shook his head a bemused smile on his face. “No. What’s that old adage, ‘don’t shit where you eat’?”

You scrunched up your nose. “Well, I hope there’s none of that involved.”

Tony lost it laughing, falling back onto the couch and draping an arm around your shoulder. “Well, okay. Let’s say I did consider it. Who did you have in mind exactly.”

You chewed your bottom lip and tilted your head to the side. “Well, they’re all pretty great specimens. Thor immediately comes to mind.”

Tony threw his head back laughing again. “Of course he did.” He tapped the screwdriver he was holding on your arm. “Unfortunately for you, Point Break is off world. Though I’m sure he would love for you to have your way with him if he were here.”

“Maybe next time,” you said, screwing the cap on your nail polish and setting it on the coffee table. “Steve is cute.”

Tony laughed again and pulled you close to him kissing your temple. “I think hell would freeze over before you convinced Captain tight pants to join in on our shenanigans.”

“Okay, okay. Of the people here who I think would participate,” you hummed leaning into his shoulder. He rested his chin on the top of your head and continued to tap the screwdriver on your arm. “What about Natasha?”

“For me or for you?” he asked.

“Either/or,” you answered and kissed his throat slowly. He leaned his head back to give you better access and tossed the screwdriver onto the coffee table. It slammed into your nail polish knocking it over and ricocheting off, scattering other tools around before falling to the floor.

“For you, I’d say she would. For me, not in a million years,” Tony hummed in reply.

“What did you do to Natasha?” you asked, moving to kiss just under his jaw. You sucked hard and used your teeth making him let out a ragged moan sound.

“I didn’t do anything to Natasha. We just… I just… It’s complicated,” he protested, pulling you a little closer to him. “Are you trying to give me a hickey? You know I have a press conference tomorrow.”

“Why do you think I’m doing it?” you answered before returning to suck on that same patch of skin.

He chuckled and you felt it vibrate under your lips. “Such a bad girl,” he said. “Is it so I have to wear makeup or so people can see.”

“The later.” you hummed, running your thumb over the spot to assess your work. “Always good to let them know that it’s test-rides only.”

“Would I get to watch?” he asked when you returned to sucking on the same spot on his neck. You hummed to let him know he could and he smiled and ran his fingers up your spine. “So that’s what you want to do? Fuck the spider while I watch? I might be able to make that happen. Might.”

You pulled back and looked him dead in the eye. “No. That’s not all.”

“Oh, what else?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at you.

“Bruce,” you said.

He startled, blinking his eyes at you. “Bruce as in my Bruce?”

“The one and the same.”

He furrowed his brow and tapped out a pattern on your arm. “I - I don’t know. For me or for you?”

“For you, but me if you don’t think he swings that way.”

You watched him as he thought it over. He looked up at the ceiling and then down at the partially constructed gauntlet on his hand. “I think it would be tough to convince him.”

“The Hulk factor?” you asked.

“That’s part of it,” he replied. “Look, I’m pro the idea. Either outcome. I just don’t want to ask him.”

“So,” you said, walking your fingers up his chest. “You ask Nat for me. I’ll ask Bruce for you, me as a backup. Bonus points if we can get them both at the same time.”

“For this Saturday?” Tony asked.

“Sounds good,” you agreed.

Tony leaned in and hovered his lips over yours. “Do you know how much I love you?”

You smiled at him. “A whole hell of a lot.”

“At least,” he said and captured your lips.

A few days later Tony cornered Natasha in the Gym. She was practising moves against a martial arts dummy. “What do you want, Stark?” she asked as he sidled over to her.

He watched as she expertly performed her moves on the dummy, not looking up at him, just laying into it. “You know about my unusual relationship?”

“Everyone knows about it. I’d have to be living in a cave,” she replied. “If this is you propositioning me for sex, that would be a hard pass.”

“Ow, I have feelings, red,” he said, holding his hand to his heart. “I wasn’t asking for me anyway.”

Natasha stopped what she was doing and looked him up and down wiping her brow on the back of her forearm. “You weren’t? Oh…” she said. “Oh. Well, that’s another matter altogether. Would you have to be there?”

“Seriously. Ow,” Tony joked. “Not essential, but we’d hoped. We had also hoped, maybe Bruce could be too.”

Natasha started laughing. “If you can get Bruce to agree to that, then yes. I would pay to witness that.”

“No financial compensation necessary. Saturday night?” Tony asked.

“Sure, but if he’s not there, it’s just me and her.”

“And a video camera,” Tony teased.

“Just me and her.”

“Fine. See you Saturday,” Tony laughed and headed back out of the gym.

You had approached Bruce in the lab the same afternoon. He was sitting at a workbench looking through an electron microscope and you pulled up a stool beside him, close, but not so close you were touching.

“Hey Doctor Banner, whatcha doing?” you asked, intentionally putting on a fake innocent voice.

Bruce looked up at you and smiled. “Well, you see…” He stopped dead and shifted his chair back. “Oh no. No. No, no, no. It’s not… No.”

“What? What no?” you asked, genuinely puzzled.

“I knew this would happen someday. I knew as soon as he started seeing you and you began challenging each other that one day, you’d come in here…” Bruce said.

“Wow, that’s quite the ego you have on you there, Bruce,” you said, pulling yourself up straight.

“So you’re not… you don’t… I’m not…” he babbled.

“Use your words. I’m not what?” you teased.

“You aren’t here to proposition me?” he asked.

You smiled and brushed your skirt down. “No. I am.”

Bruce started shaking his head. “Then I’m back to no. No. No way. I can’t. The… he… I’d … No.”

“You don’t want to?” you asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Bruce said looking away.

“I’m not going to push the issue. No means no. Just… if you want to talk.” You patted him on the shoulder and stood up, heading towards the exist. As your hand slid over his back, he grabbed your wrist. “Stay,” he growled, his eyes flashed green for a moment and the arteries in his neck bulged out turning green before fading back to normal.

“What the hell? What just happened?” you asked turning to face him.

“That,” Bruce said. “Is the reason I have to say no.”

“Sounds like he wants you to say yes,” you reasoned.

“He does. I do. I just… I don’t think… If I were to…” he shook his head.

“You’re worried that if you do this it won’t be you showing up?” you asked. He nodded. “But you want to?” He nodded again. “And he wants to.”

“That’s what you want? To end up in some threesome with the Hulk?” He sounded disgusted and he turned away from you.

You put your hand on his shoulder and slowly turned it into a hug. He turned in your arms and put his head on your chest, wrapping your arms around him. “You know that’s not what I meant, Bruce,” you said. “Maybe he can be reasoned with. Maybe if you asked him to stay back?”

Bruce sighed. “I - maybe. What if he doesn’t though. What if you end up with a Hulk out.”

“Well, that wouldn’t be the first time Tony has had to deal with one,” you joked. When you were just met with a stern look from Bruce you chuckled and shook your head. “Well, then it’s off. At least he wouldn’t be there because he’s angry. But maybe make a deal. He can look but he has to stay back.”

Bruce didn’t say anything for a moment. “I can’t promise I’ll be the best partner. I don’t think - you - if you’re with Tony so much. And others. I might be a letdown.”

You kissed his brow. “Well - I’m not exactly asking for me,” you said suggestively.

“Tony? He wants to? With me?” he asked, looking up at you.

“If that is something you’d be interested in. He’ll take just watching us if it’s not,” you said.

“I would… yes. Me and Tony,” he said, a deep blush reaching his cheeks.

“You are so cute when you get shy, Doctor Banner,” you teased. “Now, if Natasha could be talked into it would you be opposed.”

“Oh god. I haven’t even had sex at all for years,” Bruce groaned, his head snapped up and the same flash of green happened as before. “Hulk like lady spider.”

“Alright, big guy. But watching. You gotta let Bruce do the driving,” you said.

His eyes and skin settled back again and he shook his head. “I hate when he does that.”

“Well, it sounds like a date, Doctor Banner. Saturday sound good?” you teased.

He nodded. “Yeah. Yes. Saturday.”

Saturday rolled around and you decided to dress up. You dressed in a matching black lace g-string and bra with stockings and garter belt. You sat at your vanity fixing your hair and applying your makeup.

“Really going all out for Natasha aren’t you?” Tony asked, pulling on his jeans.

“Have you seen Natasha?” you countered as you applied your mascara.

Tony chuckled and started digging around in the drawer. He pulled out a box of condoms and lay out about a dozen on the table. “Well yes, that I have,” he said. “What do you want out today? Toys?” he asked adding a tube of pomegranate flavored lube next to the table.

“Couldn’t hurt, but I’m pretty sure Nat’s going to be just fine with the gifts God gave her,” you said.

Tony came up beside you and kissed your cheek, running his hands up your side and cupping your breasts. “You’re really excited about this aren’t you.”

You tilted your head back and kissed him. “I may need to change my panties before they even get here.”

Tony laughed and smacked your ass before going to the cupboard and opening up the cabinet full of toys. “Nothing rough I assume?”

“With Bruce here? I think that might be pushing his boundaries a little too far,” you said. “Though I bet Natasha is great at that. Maybe another time.”

Tony hummed. “A birthday perhaps.”

“And who said you were bad at buying presents?” you teased.

“No one. No one has ever said that. I’m an amazing gift giver.” Tony went and pulled three different vibes in varying shapes and sizes and put them next to the other things, plugging in the charging stations for the two that needed it.

“Don’t forget water,” you said.

“What am I? An amateur?” Tony huffed disappearing from the room.

He reappeared as you were stepping into the slinky red dress you had chosen with a wine bucket with ice and several bottles of water shoved into it. He put it on the vanity and stepped up behind you zipping your dress up. “You look good enough to eat.”

“I sure hope so,” you teased.

You spun in his arms and he pulled you into a deep kiss. When he pulled back he rested his forehead on yours. “I love you so much, you know that?”

You smiled and ran your fingers through his hair. “I know, and I love you. It’s you and me.”

He nodded. “Always.”

You headed out into the entertaining area just as the elevator opened. Natasha and Bruce were both there together. Natasha had dressed up too. She wore a figure-hugging black dress with a split up the side. Her makeup was perfect, with winged eyeliner and dark red lips. She strode in, looking completely in control of the situation, making a beeline for you. She kissed both your cheeks and hooked an arm around your waist. “Don’t you look delicious,” she teased.

“You’re looking quite appetizing yourself, Natasha,” you purred.

In contrast, Bruce was wearing a jacket over an untucked checked shirt. His collar was unbuttoned and he entered the room like he wasn’t sure this was where he intended to be. He looked around everywhere but you and Tony, wringing his hands as he moved into the room.

Tony took charge, approaching him and putting an arm around his shoulder. “Bruce,” he said warmly. “Come in. Do you want a drink?”

“No. No, I better not,” he mumbled.

“What about you, ginger snaps?” he asked Natasha.

Natasha shook her head. “Oh no. I want to be in complete control of my faculties.”

“Well then. Not even going to pretend this is something it’s not. I like it,” Tony said. “Bedroom’s through there,” he gestured to the hall.

“Shall we?” Natasha asked.

You nodded and led the way down to your bedroom. Natasha spun you to face her as soon as you were in the room. She cupped your jaw in both her hands and kissed you. It was fierce and possessive and you matched it, moving your lips with hers and circling your tongues together. Tony and Bruce entered the room behind you and closed the door behind them. Tony helped Bruce remove his jacket and hung it up with his own.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Tony said as he approached him again. “We have all the time in the world okay? When you’re comfortable and not a moment sooner.” He ran his hands up Bruce’s arms and along his shoulders. Bruce’s eyes darted from Tony’s to you and Natasha. Your hands had started exploring each other’s bodies. Natasha reached behind you and unzipped your dress. It slipped to the floor and you stepped out of it and kicked it aside.

Bruce made a noise that seemed to be a low rumble and a high pitched whimper at the same time. “How about we watch the girls? They seem to know what they’re doing,” Tony said, a tease to his voice.

Bruce nodded and let Tony lead him to the bed, taking his shoes off and setting them gently aside. He climbed up on the bed beside him and casually rested his hand on Bruce’s thigh.

You and Natasha gradually rid each other of your clothes. After your dress came hers. Then you each removed the other’s bra. As soon as your breasts were exposed Natasha leaned down and circled a nipple with her tongue. As it hardened into a peak she sucked it into her mouth and pressed her teeth on it. You pulled her back onto the bed and she straddled your thigh and latched back onto your breast. You moaned and looked back at Tony and Bruce. Tony had wrapped an arm around Bruce’s waist and his hand had slipped between the buttons of his shirt. Bruce watched you both closely and his muscles twitched under Tony’s fingers. You reached up and took Tony’s free hand as you raked your nails up Natasha’s back.

You raised your leg so it pushed against Natasha’s cunt. She started to grind against it. Her own leg pushed against you and you rocked against it, sending a warm current through you. She switched breasts before beginning to kiss her way down your stomach.

“Oh fuck, Natasha,” you moaned, lifting your hips to meet her. She dragged your g-string down, snapping the clips on your garter. There was the soft tickle of her lips over your pussy before she moved to one thigh and sucked a patch of skin hard on the inside of your thigh. You hissed and bunched your hand in Natasha’s hair.

“Looks like the spider is trying to mark my girl,” Tony said, dragging his fingers over Bruce’s stomach.

Nat looked up from between your legs smirking at Tony. “Thought I’d sign my work.”

“Maybe you should do something worth signing first,” Tony teased.

“Oh, ho ho…” Natasha laughed and looked up at you. “Well, I guess I’m making you question your entire relationship now,” she said to you before ducking back down between your legs. She swirled her tongue over your labia before placing a large open-mouthed kiss on it. She ran one hand up your stomach and squeezed your breast as she pushed two fingers inside of you. She stroked them along your walls and when she touched down on your g-spot she pushed hard and twisted her hand so her knuckles dragged over it.

You cried out and arched back as a jolt shot up your spine. Tony had his hand in Bruce’s pants and was slowly pumping his cock. His own strained against his jeans. Bruce’s chest was heaving and he had his eyes trained on you and Natasha.

Natasha continued to work your g-spot relentlessly. She pressed hard, corkscrewing her wrist and dragging her fingers over it. As she did she sucked and nipped at your clit. You lost the last semblance of control you had on yourself. Your legs trembled and your toes curled. You came, gushing on Natasha, crying out incoherently and clutching at Tony. Bruce made a deep guttural moan as he watched on.

Natasha sat up and raised her eyebrows at Tony. “That,” she smirked. “Is why I sign my work.”

You grabbed her and rolled her over, yanking her panties down and off. You start to grind your pussy against hers as you leaned in and teased her lips with yours. “Time to repay the favor I think,” you purred.

“What do you think, Brucie Bear?” Tony hummed. “Shall we give the girls a run for their money?”

Bruce nodded, his skin flushing and the two men began stripping off their clothes. Yours rubbed against Natasha as you reached for one of the vibes. It was long and thin and could be bent to reach where ever you wanted, with two separate vibrating settings on each end. You lubed it up and pushed it inside of her just as Tony had pushed Bruce down beside Natasha. You got to your knees and leaned over, kissing Tony hungrily as you used the vibe on Natasha and he rolled a condom onto Bruce. Below you Bruce and Natasha began running their hands over each other. Natasha leaned into him and kissed his throat as Bruce arched back, exposing it more to her.

Tony broke the kiss, his breath coming in shallow. “If you get Natasha off before I get Bruce, I’ll trade you.”

“Hey now, I never said anything about trading,” Natasha protested. Tony looked down at her and cocked his eyebrow. She scowled at him before nodding. “Fine. I guess I have always wondered what the big deal is.”

“That’s a girl,” Tony said as he straddled Bruce’s waist.

“Watch it Stark, I can still change my mind,” she hissed.

You turned your focus back to Natasha, leaning down over her, and straddling her thigh again so you could rub against it. Your fluids smeared over her leg, leaving it wet and glistening under you. You fucked her with the vibrator as you kissed her fiercely, biting and sucking on her lips.

You focused the toy on her g-spot while bending it in place so it pressed on her clit. As she started to buck and pant under you, you increased the speed setting on the handle and moved your mouth to her neck, sucking hard on a patch of skin. She arched up with a loud groan. “Oh god, too much,” she gasped. Her leg wrapped around your waist and her heel dug into your back.

Beside you, Tony had gone from teasing Bruce’s cock against his asshole to letting it sink deep inside of him. Bruce gripped tightly to Tony’s hips, his knuckles tinged with green and his head was tilted back, making the tendon’s on his neck pull taut. Tony rode him, bouncing on the man’s cock as his own slapped on against his stomach. He ran his hands over Bruce, touching his face and neck and chest and he kept whispering his name. “Bruce. Feels so good to have you inside me, Bruce. Oh god, Bruce, Fuck me. Just you.” Keeping him present with him. Reinforcing who was in control here.

Bruce sat up and pulled Tony into a hard kiss, cupping his jaw and moaning into it. Tony wrapped his arms around him and held him close as he still moved against his cock.

You moved to Natasha’s breast and sucked on one nipple, flicking your tongue over it as it dimpled. Natasha whole body tensed and then spasmed and she screamed out. “Oh fuck! Yes!”

You kept moving the vibe in and out and you slowed the setting of the vibrator as you looked down at her, watching the look of bliss as her orgasm washed through her. “God, that was a nice O face, wasn’t it, T?”

Tony looked over and nodded. “Very nice work. So we’re swapping?”

Bruce made a low rumble sound and nodded his head.

“Alright, but I’m in charge,” Natasha said.

Tony slipped off Bruce and let Natasha push him onto his back and grabbed a condom from the dresser. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he teased.

Bruce sat up and removed his condom before switching it to a new one and you climbed into his lap, rocking your pussy against his cock. He flipped you onto your back next to Tony and slowly eased his cock into you. You and Tony looked at each other, lying side beside as Natasha rode him and Bruce slowly fucked you. You leaned in and kissed each other.

Bruce’s hands slid over you, holding your throat, massaging your breasts. He reached on over to Tony and his fingers flicked over Tony’s nipples. Natasha followed Bruce’s lead and did the same to you, first pinching at a nipple before moving her hand down to your pussy and rubbing her thumb in circles on your clit.

You gasped and jerked up under Bruce as a current of pleasure ran through you. It seemed to flip a switch in Bruce. He went from a gentle rolling motion to leaning down and bracing his hand on the headboard and just fucking you hard. You groaned, cupping his jaw and looking into his eyes. They were flecked with green and bored into yours. “Oh fuck yes, Bruce. Fuck me hard.”

He furrowed his brow and groaned thrusting deep into you and making the bed shake. Beside you, Natasha rode Tony, her breasts bouncing as she held his hands pinned over his head.

You felt another orgasm threaten and you brought your fingers to your clit and circled it helping push it over the edge. You came moaning and twisting under him. Bruce kept thrusting hard and deep into you as you spasmed around him.

“Oh fuck. Close. Red,” Tony panted.

Natasha smiled down at him and started fingering her clit. “Together, Stark?” she purred.

You watched them as you held tight to Bruce. Natasha threw her head back and moaned, her stomach muscles tightening, and her thighs shaking. Tony’s hips snapped up into her and he released with a groan.

Bruce’s eyes flicked from them to you. You could feel the twitch of his cock letting you know he was close. “Bruce,” you whispered against the shell of his ear, flicking your tongue in a circle around his earlobe. “Pull out. Come on me. We can make Tony clean it up.”

Bruce groaned and nodded his head before pushing up to his knees. He pulled the condom off and stroked himself. His cock jumped in his hand and he spilled over your stomach in hot waves.

“Oh god,” he moaned, collapsing down beside you.

You looked over at Tony and licked your lips. “Guess you’ve got something to keep you busy for a second, honey.”

He got onto his hands and knees. “It’s my pleasure, dear,” he said and ran his tongue over your soft flesh as he licked up the mess Bruce had made. You ran your fingers through his hair and smiled happily as Natasha and Bruce looked on.

“I never expected Tony Stark to be as subby as he is,” Natasha said with a shake of her head. She grabbed a water from the bedside table and a wipe and began to clean herself up. “That was fun though. Thank you for the invite.”

Tony hummed and rolled over onto his back resting his head on your stomach. “You are both welcome to stay or not. Use our showers. Whatever you like,” he said, taking off his condom and tossing it in the trash.

Natasha leaned down and kissed you softly before patting Tony’s leg and getting up. “I’m just going to go. Don’t want people talking. I’ll see you all tomorrow,” she said and started getting dressed.

“I’d like to stay. Can I stay?” Bruce asked. There was a slight shy hesitation in his voice and you and Tony instinctively curled into him.

“Of course, Bruce. As long as you like,” Tony said. Bruce smiled and nuzzled into his neck. There was something about the words and the slight bit of tenderness that made you feel warm to your core. It might take some new boundary setting, but maybe, there was something new here too.

#tony stark #bruce banner #natasha romanoff #iron man #black widow #hulk #tony stark x reader #natasha romanoff x reader #bruce banner x reader #iron man fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #reader insert #bruce banner x tony stark #natasha romanoff x tony stark #bruce banner x natasha romanoff x tony stark x reader #smut #the games we play together

352 notes · View notes

nevermesswithteddybears · 6 years ago

Text

TAYLOR SWIFT FOUGHT FOR YOUR ARTIST INTEGRITY – WHY WON'T YOU DO THE SAME? - AN OPEN LETTER TO EVERY ARTIST

I haven't been debating for three years for nothing so here we fucking GO.

Dear whomever it may concern,

In June 2015 – four years ago – Taylor Swift wrote an open letter to Apple Music explaining why she would not have her music be available for streaming on the platform; to give you a quick reminder and sum-up, she refused to have her music be streamed because the platform did not compensate artists for the three month free trial their users were getting.

To quote Taylor: „This is not about me. (...) This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. This is about the young songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that would get them out of debt. This is about the producer who works tirelessly to innovate and create, just like the innovators and creators at Apple are pioneering in their field… but will not get paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays on his or her songs.“

Apple Music changed their policy, and stated that they would be paying artists their earned due during the three months of the free trial, and on that day, Taylor Swift herself changed the game for many – if not all – artists in the industry; especially those she sought out to protect, the new talent. In fact, many artists speaking up about the current situation – some of them against Taylor, to which I'll get to in a moment – probably got quite a few cheques from their Apple Music streams that definitely helped them become financially stable. Most of all, though, this action did not remain on one streaming platform. As it is in physics, every action has a reaction, and here Taylor's actions echoed throughout the industry and insured the payment of every artist throughout the streaming platforms that are largely the way people listen to music today.

Taylor Swift did not fight for herself. By the time she released 1989, she was already an established enough artists to earn more than enough money for herself, her crew, and everyone attached to her in a more than decent manner simply by playing her live shows. As quoted above, she fought for YOU. YOU, reading this. YOU, an artist she might not even know but whose work she already valued enough to put her name and reputation on the line. YOU, who might now open your mailbox and receive a cheque of royalties from a streaming service and not even know that it might be a fraction more than it would've been four years ago before Taylor asked for adequate payment for all artists. SHE FOUGHT FOR YOU. SHE FOUGHT FOR YOUR INTEGRITY. Taylor Swift has been a punching bag of the industry for years, and yet she put a then controversial topic upon her shoulders – in actuality one of many Taylor has spoken up her, be it LGBT+ issues, sexual assault, and her recent open involvement with politics – and did it all because she through it only seeked to help the fight for OTHERS.

TAYLOR SWIFT FOUGHT FOR YOUR ARTIST INTEGRITY IN 2015. WHY WON'T YOU DO THE SAME NOW?

I pose this question beacause, once again, Taylor is placed to speak within an issue that currently to many seems small and insignificant, seems like it might be an overreaction or not that important, but will through time, echo throughout the industry in a way that will change it from the ground up.

I firmly believe what I say now; One day, you will find yourself owning your own masters without a catch. And in some way it will – much like the numbers on the cheques from the streaming companies – be thanks to Taylor Swift, and what she is doing NOW.

Taylor Swift left Big Machine Records – a label she had been signed to since she was fifteen, the label that had discovered her and under which she had released six albums, starting with her self-titled Taylor Swift and ending with reputation – last year, and through that action, through her choosing what was best for her future career, she was forced to leave her masters behind. Now, the company – and the masters – have been sold to Scooter Braun, and Taylor – whose fight for the masters I will touch upon soon – is farther from them now than she ever was.

Before I go further, I want to ask you one question. One question that sums up this entire debate that has been brought up since the news broke. One question which, when answered, should tell you whose „side“ you should be on. One question.

DO YOU, AS AN ARTIST, BELIEVE YOU SHOULD OWN YOUR OWN WORK?

Is your answer no? Well then, I won't claim to understand it, but I certainly won't stop you to continue your career without truly owning a single piece of what you've achieved. If that is where you find comfort, if that is where you are content and happy, then side with Scooter Braun.

But, I believe, in your heart, that the answer is YES. And this is where I will tell you that it is important to stand with Taylor, as it will ultimately lead to a change in your opportunities as well.

To put this into perspective quickly before I move on: Imagine you are an artist. Imagine you have a lead writing and producing credit on every single one of your songs. Imagine that, at nineteen, you wrote an entire album all by yourself. And imagine now, that you DO NOT OWN ANY OF THAT. This is the situation with Taylor Swift. After a career that's slowly reaching two decades, Taylor Swift will only truly own her upcoming album Lover, out August 23rd. She does not own the masters to any of her SIX previous ones.

Taylor has publicly said that she has fought to own her masters for years, and was continuously denied, and she has also only found out about the sale of Big Machine Records along with the world. Imagine that, imagine your life's work being entirely in the hands that are not yours, and then – without your knowladge or consent – being sold to someone else. Someone who, throughout your career, has brought you only pain. And now they hold six pieces of your heart. Now they own your fifteen years.

Scott Burchetta, the previous owner of Big Machine Records, has released a statement along with the final offer he supposedly gave Taylor for her to aquire her masters, one she has denied. And he presented that offer as if to say Taylor has no one to blame but herself for not now owning her masters, had she accepted the offer. But, he doesn't point out one thing: where Taylor offered to stay in the company for an additional seven years to in return get full ownership of her masters, Scott Burchetta wanted ten. In fact, for every album master of hers Taylor wanted to own, Scott Burchetta asked for an additional album. Even for Taylor, an artist who for the longest time had an album out on average every two years, it would far exceed the ten year timeframe. Taylor Swift took the way out, even if it meant leaving the rights to her life's work behind, because she knew it was the right thing to do. Otherwise, she would have stayed. And the management would've still changed. And she would've been left caged for the remainder of her career.

The issue at hand here, though, is that not at one point was Taylor ever again reached out to with the option to buy her masters. Not once was she brought into the conversation of what was going to happen with her fifteen year legacy. And not once was she given the opportunity to buy that legacy back. Because ultimately, this was never about money. It was about POWER. It was about two men gaining the power over a female artist's fifteen years of work, the female artist whose sole discography brings the company 35% of its entire earnings, the female artist who now probably won't get updated certifications on any of her older songs, and who through that will never be able to officially reach her deserved status of an artist legend.

The line „if a man talks shit then I owe him nothing, and if he spends my change then he had it coming“ is now owned by a man who has complete power over Taylor's masters, a man who gets money off every one of your streams or previous album purchases. A man who has done nothing but abused and bullied Taylor throughout her career.

This isn't the first situation of an artist trying to get control over their masters. Recently, artist JoJo re-recorded and re-released an album she did not hold the masters to, rendering the masters useless, and that is one solution that Taylor could try. But the point is, she shouldn't HAVE to. None of the artists should have to. JoJo herself should not have had to.

I will bring back that question now. The main question. DO YOU BELIEVE ARTISTS SHOULD OWN THEIR OWN WORK? FULLY AND COMPLETELY, DO YOU BELIEVE THAT? Because THAT is what this conversation is about. Ultimately, it is not about who is mean or who is nice, not about who has what reputation, or who gets the bigger name to stand behind them, it is not about who needs to give a half-assed apology or anything of that sort. It is about arists integrity. It is about Taylor Swift, and YOU, and any other artist, being afforded the opportunity to own their own work.

I believe they should. I believe something should be done to protect artists. I believe there should be a clause that all artists get their own masters once they leave once their contract is settled. If not that, then I believe all those artists should be given the opportunity to buy them back; especially once the management of the company is changing.

If you believe so too, if you believe in YOUR integrity the way Taylor Swift always has, if you believe in HER ARTIST INTEGRITY as well, then stand by her and speak up. Be the reaction to her action. Be part of the echo throughout the industry. Fight for her right because you are most certainly fighting for yours.

@taylorswift, I stand with you. Everyone else should too.

With love,

Katarina

#taylor swift #swifties #taylorswift #speak now #fearless #red #reputation #1989 #lover

17 notes · View notes

rivetgoth · 6 years ago

Text

.. ;D ..

Time to be Ogre’s unofficial marketing representative.

PLEASE please please go support Nivek Ogre. Follow his Twitter at ohGrOfficial, follow his Instagram at ohgr_official, like his official Facebook page. Go buy his newest album on Bandcamp or buy some of his merch from his online store. Buy his music (ohGr or Skinny Puppy) off Amazon or iTunes or wherever you prefer to go (that will actually give some of the money to the artist!). Or buy stuff from the Skinny Puppy online store which’ll also go to him too.

As most of you should know by now Nivek Ogre is my hero and my favorite person in the whole universe and the best person who has ever existed. Most of you know him as the frontman for Skinny Puppy and ohGr, some of you here might be more familiar with him because he plays Pavi Largo in Repo! The Genetic Opera and other good sexy perfect characters. All of you who follow me have definitely been forced to be aware that he exists (good). What a lot of people don’t know, though, because this has gotten almost no mainstream news coverage, is that he recently had about $100,000 stolen from him :(

Last year Ogre started a PledgeMusic fundraising campaign to help release his newest album, TrickS (which is fucking fantastic, by the way, and can be listened to for free on the official ohGr Youtube page here). PledgeMusic had until last year been a totally trustworthy and successful website for mostly smaller scale music artists to connect with fans directly and crowdfund projects, kind of like a GoFundMe or a Patreon but specifically for musicians. Buuuut the site collapsed; Pledge was caught taking the money that fans were giving to the artists and using it for other things, and they went bankrupt when they were caught unable to give any of the artists their money. The fans had their money taken in secret and the artists never received a dollar of the money they had made. A shitload of bands have been totally fucked over and MILLIONS of dollars are owed that will likely never be given to their rightful owners. You can literally just google the news results for “pledgemusic” and see a ton of sources on this, here’s one for reference.

Yes, this was illegal bullshit, but the artists are trapped, because it takes money to sue, and they have no money because PledgeMusic stole it. Some artists have sounded like they are seeking legal compensation and are planning to try to sue, and I think everyone involved in the theft absolutely deserves to go to prison LOL, I support legal action being taken here 100%. I heavily encourage everyone to look into this and spread more awareness of what’s going on, especially if you’re an artist of any kind yourself and/or you’re someone who’s been vocal about supporting artists financially (all of you who have reblogged posts about stuff like how artists deserve to be commissioned at a fair rate for their art!!), and ESPECIALLY if you’ve ever relied on some form of crowdfunding such as a Patreon yourself. I don’t mean that in a “shame on you for not talking about this ://” way, I know it hasn’t gotten much coverage, but now that you do know I think everyone who cares about artists being paid fairly for their art should be speaking up more about this. It’s a devastating blow to so many people and it deserves way more public outcry... But on topic again, the fact is that Ogre & Mark Walk (the other member of ohGr) have decided not to take legal action - According to Mark this has left them in debt, they produced the entire TrickS album and Ogre toured (WITH A BROKEN JAW) with literally no money and making no profit, and with absolutely no foundation of financial stability at this point they’ve announced that they just want to try to move on and recover from this as they go while creating new music.

So that’s the good news!! They’ve announced that they’re working on new music right now. Apparently they’re about two months into the writing process. They’re posting previews and demos of their WIPs on their social media pages so you can follow them for updates!! ;D Ogre and Mark have both been pretty active and answering questions and they’ve also started posting some unreleased older demos from the 90s and teasing a “vintage ohGr” release sometime soon. They’re being so optimistic through this whole stupid ordeal and seriously deserve so much support. I’m so sad that there’s been so little acknowledgement of this horrible situation and how much it fucked over so many artists but Mark and Ogre have been adamant about the fact that they don’t do what they do for money and the music is born out of passion and wanting to bring their art to life and they deserve the support to be able to do that while also being able to have financial stability and comfort ... Ogre is the best person in the whole world. He’s so sweet and kind and loving and talented. He’s so passionate about what he does and in 30+ years of touring he’s never cancelled a show ever even when he was beaten and robbed and fractured his jaw and taken to the emergency room on the same DAY (AT AGE 55)... He’s devoted his whole life to activism alongside his music and he cares so much about every living thing. He loves to share oatmeal with bees and he gives the biggest nicest warmest hugs ever. Please go support my dad. :( 🖤

#soft hooting

21 notes · View notes

orbemnews · 4 years ago

Link

Did You Miss Out on Trip This 12 months? You’re Not Alone In a typical 12 months, New York workers of the journal writer Condé Nast should use their trip days earlier than late December or lose them — a typical coverage throughout company America. However early this month, the corporate despatched workers an e-mail saying they might carry as much as 5 trip days into subsequent 12 months, an obvious acknowledgment that many scrimped on days off amid the lengthy hours and journey restrictions imposed by the pandemic. “The carry-over will likely be computerized, and there may be nothing additional you could do,” the e-mail stated. Condé Nast was not alone in scrambling to make end-of-year preparations for vacation-deprived staff. Some employers, nonetheless, have been much less accommodating. “It’s an enormous concern we’re seeing now — competing requests for time without work over the subsequent two weeks,” stated Allan S. Bloom, an employment lawyer at Proskauer in New York. “Purchasers are struggling to determine it out.” Mr. Bloom and different attorneys and human sources specialists stated there was no clear sample in how employers had been dealing with the problem. Many firms that already permit workers to hold trip days into the subsequent 12 months — like Goldman Sachs (usually as much as 10) and Spotify (usually as much as 10) — haven’t felt the necessity to change their insurance policies. The identical is true for some firms that pay staff for his or her unused trip days. Neither Common Motors nor Ford Motor, whose hourly staff can money out unused trip days on the finish of the 12 months, is making adjustments this 12 months. However many staff could discover themselves unable to take holidays that they postponed: Salaried staff at each automakers ordinarily lose unused trip days on the finish of the 12 months with out compensation. Different firms have taken steps that might defuse a possible human sources headache and, they are saying, profit their work forces in troublesome instances. Financial institution of America, which usually requires its U.S. workers to take all their trip earlier than the tip of the 12 months, stated in June that it will permit them to push as much as 5 days into the primary quarter of 2021. Citigroup has sometimes allowed its U.S. workers to hold trip days into the primary quarter of the subsequent 12 months, however in July it added an inducement: Staff obtain an additional trip day subsequent 12 months in the event that they use all of their 2020 trip time this 12 months. Smaller firms have made comparable modifications. Latshaw Drilling, an oil service firm primarily based in Tulsa, Okla., sometimes permits workplace staff to roll over as much as three weeks of trip time. In December, Latshaw advised its workplace workers that it will purchase as much as one week of unused time past that quantity, which they’d have in any other case misplaced. “Since this 12 months was so loopy and other people had been afraid to journey, we made a one-time change,” stated Trent Latshaw, the corporate��s founder and president. A number of specialists stated a philosophical query loomed over trip advantages: Is the purpose to make sure that staff take time without work? Or are trip days merely another type of compensation that staff can use as they see match, whether or not to chill out away from the job, to complement their earnings or to pull round with them till the tip of time, as a monument to their productiveness? An employer’s insurance policies can mirror its views on this query: For all their drawbacks, use-it-or-lose-it guidelines may also help make sure that staff take time without work, stated Jackie Reinberg, who heads the absence and incapacity apply of the consulting agency Willis Towers Watson. In contrast, rollover and cash-out choices indicate that trip is an asset they’re entitled to regulate. Nonetheless, for a lot of staff, the problem in the course of the pandemic shouldn’t be unused trip days a lot as inadequate trip days. Jonathan Williams, communications director for United Meals and Industrial Staff Native 400, which represents grocery retailer staff in Mid-Atlantic States, stated staff had generally been pressured to attract down their reserves of paid time without work in the event that they had been requested to quarantine a second time after a doable coronavirus publicity. Solely the primary quarantine is usually lined by the employer, Mr. Williams stated. And a few workers have issue benefiting from the beneficiant trip insurance policies their firms supply. Up to date Dec. 28, 2020, 3:18 p.m. ET A Goal spokeswoman stated the corporate had elevated the holiday days that each hourly and salaried staff may roll over into the subsequent 12 months, primarily based on the worker’s position and tenure. However in keeping with Adam Ryan, who works for Goal in Christiansburg, Va., many workers wrestle to qualify for advantages like trip days. Mr. Ryan stated in a textual content message that he had been with the corporate for 3 years however sometimes averaged lower than 20 hours per week. “That method I don’t get any trip or paid sick days, no actual advantages of any form,” he stated. The Goal spokeswoman stated workers may choose up extra hours below its vacation staffing association. A number of union officers, employers and human-resources specialists stated monetary concerns drove many choices about trip insurance policies in the course of the pandemic. Toyota usually permits hourly and lots of salaried workers in the USA to money out as much as two weeks of unused trip days. This 12 months, the corporate lowered the cap to at least one week, a change {that a} spokeswoman stated was meant to assist avert layoffs. The concerns develop into much more difficult for days that staff push into future years. In line with Ms. Reinberg, permitting staff to roll over days can create a pile of liabilities owed to staff that many employers are loath to hold on their books. A union official on the information group Reuters stated the corporate cited accounting issues in sticking with its use-it-or-lose-it coverage this 12 months. The union had pleaded for leniency, noting that its contract permits administration to approve a rollover of trip days in “distinctive circumstances.” “If this 12 months has not been distinctive, I don’t know what the hell has been,” stated the union official, Dan Grebler, an editor who’s chair of the employees’ bargaining unit at Reuters. “The response was: ‘No, we are able to’t try this. There can be difficult bookkeeping concerned.’” Mr. Grebler stated Reuters had begun urging staff to take days off this calendar 12 months across the identical time it had rebuffed him. A Reuters spokeswoman stated that “our coverage for U.S. workers for some years has not allowed for unused trip days to be rolled over” and that “workers have been recurrently reminded because the first half of this 12 months.” Unionized workers at The New York Instances, comparable to reporters, are inspired to make use of trip days in the course of the 12 months by which they accrue the times however can usually carry them over till March 1 of the subsequent 12 months. Days they don’t use by that time are paid out in money. An organization spokeswoman stated the coverage had not modified this 12 months. By each regulation and customized, many People have come to see trip days extra as compensation than as a mandate to take time without work. In a survey by Willis Towers Watson in April, greater than half of employers that made or deliberate to make adjustments to their trip advantages stated they had been doing so as a result of they didn’t anticipate staff to make use of all their days. About one-third that deliberate adjustments stated the profit had develop into too expensive. A number of states, like California and Montana, basically codify the property-right view of trip by outlawing use-it-or-lose-it insurance policies. (Corporations with use-it-or-lose-it or strict rollover insurance policies should exempt staff in these states.) Such legal guidelines shield staff from successfully being disadvantaged of trip days which are troublesome to make use of in the course of the 12 months solely to have them expire at 12 months’s finish. However these legal guidelines may subtly discourage holidays by making them simpler to redeem for cash or postpone indefinitely. “To me as an advocate, you have to be ready by regulation to maintain unused trip time,” stated Peter Romer-Friedman, an employment lawyer at Gupta Wessler. “However I’m undecided that creates a great incentive.” To that finish, quite a few firms, many within the tech business, have seized on the pandemic as a possibility to verify their staff are decompressing. Within the spring, the software program firm GitLab responded to a big rise in hours put in by its greater than 1,000 staff with so-called friends-and-family days, by which the corporate shuts right down to discourage folks from logging in. Google, Slack and the software program firm Cloudera have began comparable insurance policies — none of which rely in opposition to staff’ paid days off. Automattic, the maker of the website-building software WordPress.com, has gone even additional, encouraging workers who work collectively to coordinate their holidays as a approach to get rid of friction that daunts breaks. “We’ve been experimenting with whole groups taking time without work concurrently,” Lori McLeese, the corporate’s head of human sources, wrote in an e-mail. “We’re hoping that this will cut back the quantity of ‘catch up’ work workers sometimes return to after taking a trip, making their transition again much less aggravating or overwhelming.” Peter Eavis and Clifford Krauss contributed reporting. Supply hyperlink #vacation #Year #youre

0 notes

rosalindmosis · 8 years ago

Text

Jane Foster Week - Day 2 - Associated Quote

Okay, this is technically song lyrics, but it reminds me of Jane so much....

‘ They look down At the ground Missing But I never go in nowI'm looking at the big sky I'm looking at the big sky now I'm looking at the big sky You never really understood me You never really tried.’

The Big Sky, Kate Bush

(Content warning- cancer, death, suicidal thoughts- but there is a happy ending!)

As Dr Bastrop was talking, Jane wondered how many times he’d had to deliver death sentences. Did he speak to his therapist about it? Did he get drunk? Did he cry? Probably not cry, otherwise he’d never stop. Would her reaction, or lack thereof, stick out in his memory at all? She was probably younger than most he delivered this news too, but maybe not the youngest. She wished she could ask him, but… it didn’t seem like the right time.

‘Do you… understand Dr Foster?’

It was nice he actually used her title, even if he had just informed her that she had maybe eight months at best. It was the little things.

‘Yes,’ she managed, distantly.

‘I can go through anything if you wish…’

‘No no…I’m… alright, hah, or not.’

He managed the merest trace of a smile, indicating to her that he’d heard his fair share of gallows humour in the past.

‘Is there anyone you wish to speak to?’ He asked, quietly ‘Or for me to contact?’

There was one, to start with.

‘My lawyer,’ she told him, looking at her phone ‘I need to speak to her straight away.’

Ms Jennifer Walters was someone Jane had known for years. They were at Culver, albeit in different departments, and she had a reputation for being quiet but determined. Her outwardly mouse like exterior hid something that won her cases and Jane admired her for that. She also admired the way that Jen had brought in the most delicious, artisan coffee she could find for their meeting.

‘I’m so sorry Jane,’ she told her, indicating a seat before drawing her into a hug first. Jane returned it gratefully.

‘Thanks,’ she whispered back ‘um, yeah, could we… get down to it?’

Jen nodded ‘Of course! Sure!’

She went behind her desk and retrieved a file from a drawer. Jane recognised it.

‘Most forward thinking thing I’ve ever done,’ she said, mostly to herself.

‘Is… is there anything you want to change about it?’ Jen asked.

‘No… well, how much would it be if I recorded a video message as well?’

Jen frowned ‘Nothing.’

‘C’mon Jen-’ Jane began.

‘Nothing whatsoever,’ Jen repeated, firmly ‘I’m serious.’

Jane sighed ‘Okay, fine… but that’s the only thing I want to do. Nothing has changed. Same people. Same stuff.’

‘Same plan?’

Jane nodded ‘Same plan.’

Jen said nothing for a moment, before pressing a button on her intercom ‘Hey, Dean? Could you bring in the paperwork for a video will? And set up the studio?’

A young male voice replied from the other end.

‘Sure thing Ms Walters.’

Jen sat back in her chair and nodded to Jane’s coffee ‘Drink up. That’s the best stuff I have.’

Jane nodded and drank deep- it was perfect. Probably the best coffee she’d ever drank. God the smell was heavenly, with a proper creamer, not some diner garbage and a nice ceramic mug instead of a paper cup.

‘You need a tissue?’ Jennifer asked, her voice seeming to come from a long way off.

‘Yup. I really do.’

‘That good?’

‘Hmmph,’ she sniffed.

Well, I already look pretty bad, Jane reflected, blowing her nose before finishing her coffee so I might as well cry.

Eventually, she collected herself enough to be led into Jen’s will-studio, complete with dull murky backdrop and school-photographer set up. She passed her own reflection and saw that she had endured a year of chemo. No hair, pale skin, skeletal appearance… man. Red eyes did nothing to improve the fact she looked half dead already.

She sat on a reclaimed bar stool, whilst Jen’s cute assistant, Dean, asked if she wanted cushions or some water which she declined. Jen handed her the will she’d made the week she had been diagnosed. She glanced at it. She hadn’t had much hope back then, but she promised herself this was for peace of mind. She didn’t really think she was doomed, it was just… a precaution.

Jen coughed ‘We’ll start rolling and… you just read whenever you’re ready.’

Jane nodded and took a breath ‘Okay… I’m good to go.’

‘My name is Doctor Jane Foster, this is my last will and testament- the full legal document is kept by my lawyer; Ms Jennifer Walters, but I wanted to make a video so that… so that it felt more… I dunno, personal? I guess? And um… yeah… I just… If I am making this, it’s because I’ve decided to take the cancer with me… rather than let the cancer take me, if that makes sense? I’ve made arrangements. You probably will not find a body if all goes well.’

She slowed her breathing and started again.

‘I um… I am sorry to everyone. I know some of you are probably going to be mad that I didn’t say goodbye in person but… um… yeah, pretty selfish of me I guess, but there’s something I’ve always wanted to do and… this is my last chance. I don’t know if it will work but… what the hell. I’m dying anyway.’

That was the first time she’d said it outloud. God.

‘Um, I’ve filed several patents, the numbers are listed in my will and all the proceeds from them go to a Miss Darcy Lewis… who I owe big time. I can never pay her back for her time or emotional labour, but I can compensate her financially… if my last experiment works, then the equipment listed is eventually going to make her very well off indeed. Just in case it doesn’t work, I have savings of about $7,000 which I am leaving to her as well… and, if I may get super unprofessional for a moment… Love you Darcy. I’m sorry for this.’

She’d sold her Mom’s London apartment after she’d died. She couldn’t bare to be there any more. The place was worth a surprising amount, but she’d spent a lot of it on her treatment and… a few other things.

‘All of my equipment, notebooks and backup drives currently in my apartment are to go to the University of Culver, Virginia. Again, a full list is available in my will. To Erik Selvig, there’s a list of data drives and a server in storage at a facility in Norway. The address is in the will- I am leaving it to him. All of it. I hope… I hope he can make good use of it… and I’m sorry I’m the second Foster he’s had to watch get sick, but I’m damned if I’m going to be the second Foster he watches die so… sorry Erik.’

She blinked and continued.

‘Anything further is detailed in my will…. Um… there is one more thing.’

She looked dead into the camera.

‘If Thor comes back somehow and… and sees this, tell him… I mean if you’re watching this Thor… Oh god… I’m also sorry. Sorry that I had to… Had to end it this way um… I didn’t want to end it this way, but I also didn’t want you to know about this...that I was sick. I thought you were way better off not knowing about me...that the universe needed you more than I did. I hope you can forgive me. I wanted to protect you from the dangers of my world.’

She coughed as she recovered from the impression. Dropping her voice to that octave hurt at the best of times. Jen and Dead laughed. She took some grim satisfaction.

‘Okay, that’s all. That’s all I have. I… I love you guys. I am sorry. I hope… I hope I either die in the name of science or… finally get to go to space on my own and… die out there. Also in the name of science.’

She waved to the camera and Jen clicked it off.

‘That was a pretty great Thor by the way,’ she told her as Dean offered her help off the stool she was sitting on.

‘Eh, had plenty of practise,’ she shrugged ‘thanks.’

‘So… what’re you going to do now?’

Jane bit her lip, before turning off her phone and handing it to Jen.

‘First… get a van.’

There wasn’t much left of Puerto Antigua. No one decided it was worth rebuilding. It was regrettable, but it worked for her. After finding the site of the old garage where she had first found Thor and the Einstein Rosen Bridge- god had it really been eight years? No, closer to nine now. She glanced up and down what remained on the main street. The whole place was a ghost town now. She looked little more than a ghost herself.

Perfect.

Even now, probably as it had done for thousands of years, there were readings. All she had to do was… open it up.

Dealing on the black market had not been the best option, but it was the only way she could find the power sources she needed. The Chitauri army had not been able to open the portal without a massive boost, but there was enough for one person… in theory. Aiming was another problem- but she had a rough… idea of where she was going. Thor had taken her to the libraries of Asgard once, long enough for her to cross-reference a place- the Alfheim system. She was certain a group of astrophysicists in Hawaii had found it and they were happy to share the data with her. If they were wrong- well she’d end up floating in space and would mostly likely die quickly. Or in the middle of a star. Or something… worse. Well, she had a contingency plan, provided she could move her arms and legs.

The black market was a good place for cyanide capsules as it turns out.

The platform was a crude octagon of spires that tapped into the weak spot left by continuous Rainbow Bridge use. It was faint, but present. The power source were some crystals, circuits and the engine of one of the floating hover boards linked to a remote controlled unit. It had taken her years of work and, she wasn’t wholly confident. She had been doing it since the convergence. She hadn’t told Thor… for some reason. She meant to. Really. Perhaps he’d worry about her safety. Perhaps he’d try and stop her. She wasn’t sure, but she hadn’t said anything. She’d simply disappeared into a converted shipping container she’d rented and hoped no one would find it. Darcy knew, but she’d assumed she’d abandoned it after she’d got her Nobel and focused on Astronomy instead. She had for a while… but the cancer had put her right back in there.

Screw it, she had thought, at five am in a cold static shipping container in the middle of Staten Island, I might be dying anyway.

There was only one certainty in her future now. The only question was when and where. So she wasn’t all that different from everyone else really. That was a good way to think about it.

She checked her watch. An hour. Time for a final once over. She tested the signal, applied more duct tape, checked the wind resistance… a lot of it felt more out of nervousness than anything else. Her hands shook, but they shook all the time lately. She was cold, but it was the desert at about 10pm, so that wasn’t surprisingly either.

But yeah, she was scared. Uncertainty had never sat right with her. She needed to know, but right now, that wasn’t going to be possible. She could only hope she didn’t end up dying in a stupid way. Just in an awesome way.

She checked her watch again- now it was twenty five minutes. God. Too much time, yet not enough… She rechecked her backpack- food, supplies, a water purifier, warm clothes, ancient mp3 player, old digital camera (as if anyone would ever see what she recorded) changes of underwear, painkillers… and the way out. The cyanide were in an otherwise innocuous little pill bottle that she placed on the inside of her jacket. Just in case she… over shot? Undershot? This would be interesting, if nothing else.

Ten minutes.

She had ten minutes of time on Earth. That’s all. What the hell could she do in ten minutes? Pretty much nothing. Especially not out here.

Oh god. What if… hah. What if what? She died? That was happening anyway.

‘I’m looking at the Big Sky…’

Her Dad said-sung that when he was high on morphine, as he faded away. He was, as a nerdy British man who was in college in the seventies, a huge Kate Bush fan. He adored her. He had her records on in the car. One of her earliest memories was listening to Hounds of Love on the way to pre-school. The song that she loved the most?

The Big Sky.

They look down

At the ground

Missing

But I never go in now

I'm looking at the big sky

I'm looking at the big sky now

I'm looking at the big sky

You never really understood me

You never really tried

She wasn’t the best singer ever. But… if there was an appropriate song to go out to, then this was it. She pulled out the mp3 player and put the headphones in, finding the song quickly. Her voice was lost in the desert night, echoing into nothing as the equipment began to hum into life. She checked her watch.

One minute.

That cloud, that cloud

Looks like Ireland

C'mon and blow it a kiss now

But quick

'Cause it’s changing in the big sky

It’s changing in the big sky now

We’re looking at the big sky

You never understood me

You never really tried

She was aware of the equipment warming the air around her. The buzz and hum as they began to open the way around her. She took a breath as the pressure made her ears pop painfully, but she had no time to check if she was okay before-

-she was thrown.

Well, she wasn’t thrown exactly, but it sure as hell felt like it. She’d realised early on that she could die on impact if she tried to recreate the Bifrost exactly. She aimed for more of a tunnel type thing that would allow her to walk out. It still felt like she was pulled by a gust of wind. Her eyes watered as she saw blackness speed past her, feeling as though she were being buffeted. She wondered if it would ever end, as nausea and pain began to creep up her throat. Oh god…. Oh god what’s-

This cloud, this cloud

Says Noah

C'mon and build me an ark

And if you're coming, jump

'Cause we’re leaving with the big sky

We’re leaving with the big sky

She opened her eyes. The sky was blue, pure, clear blue, with soft clouds that would indicate a sunny day. She winced and got up, feeling stiff and sore but, apparently in one piece. She glanced around, trying to take everything in. Either she was hallucinating, or there was a lot of grass here. Like, it was a field of tall grass that flowed and waved in the breeze. She gazed to the west of her and saw what looked like a settlement of some kind- a town? It was so far away…

She hefted her bag onto her shoulders and stood up straight.

Either I am dead and this is heaven or… or I made it to somewhere in the Alfheim system. Or… somewhere else.

She patted her pockets- her mp3 player was there, still in her pocket, but the headphones had been lost. She had packed another set, given her past experience with camping trips, and set herself up with some more Kate Bush.

The sky above her was bright and big, there were people up ahead and here she was… ready to head out. She’d done it. She’d left.

She’d made it. Holy…

‘Holy shit!’ She giggled ‘Holy shit!’

The thought that perhaps no one would know where she was or what she had done… hurt, but only briefly. The mortal world with her friends, her work, her legacy… it was still there. They’d have to sift through the pieces. Maybe… maybe they’d find something.

Hopefully.

But that wasn’t her concern any more. She had left.

She set off.

#jane foster week 2017 #janefoster #jane foster #jane foster week

7 notes · View notes

dudence-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Dear Dudence for 17 October 2017

For a little spice in your life go with a Bloody Maria. Just swap out the vodka for tequila. And it's only day drinking if you stopped. Can't stop! Won't Stop! With that useful advice on to answering questions people asked of someone else! Shoot an email to [email protected] or reach me on Facebook!

I feel like I’m going to be the downer in this group of questions… I don’t know how to deal with #MeToo as a rape survivor. I’m feeling triggered and angry. Social media is a big part of my job, so I can’t just turn it off all day, but I’m not sure what to do. I keep finding myself going to the bathroom and sobbing. My boss posted on our Facebook page about how “proud” he was of all the women who’ve been sharing their stories and I almost lost it. I haven’t talked to many people about what happened to me, including several members of my family, and I don’t want to “come out” as a survivor through a hashtag. At the same time, I really want to respond. I want to tell people that survivors don’t owe them their stories. I don’t want people to come away from this display of mutual pain and think that by posting a hashtag, they’ve done enough.

Dear Dealing with #MeToo as a Survivor, it hasn’t been reduced to a hashtag so it can trend on social media, it can also be used as a cudgel against people who don’t genuflect enough or in the correct manner. You don’t have to out yourself as someone who has been raped to complain about the lazy nature of hashtag activism or question the sincerity of folks pretending to be surprised that sexual assault is a crime women disproportionately impacting women. Getting furious about other people’s benign messages of support is probably not healthy, but it is what it is. That you have suffered a traumatic experience and feel it is better for yourself to not make is public doesn’t mean it’s the same for others. Your boss has expressed some solidarity with victims so it might be worth mentioning to him that, while this campaign is trending, it is difficult for you to work this part of your job.

I live in one of the areas of the country that was significantly affected by the recent natural disasters that hit over the past month or so. (Hurricane, flood, fire etc.) Although I used to really enjoy this column, I now find myself reading the questions and feeling extremely angry, as I don't think that the issue of whether or not someone may or may not have said something mean to a coworker qualifies as a real problem when I personally have no power, have to stand in line for hours to buy food, and had to send our son to my parents house to live so he could attend school since our home was severely damaged. I just want to tell people to get over themselves and be happy and grateful that the only problems they are facing are those. They have food, water, and a warm and dry place to sleep. Everything else is really meaningless.

Dear Who Really has a Problem, step away. When dealing with a tragedy or a disaster some people crave any return to normalcy or an opportunity to spend some time not thinking about how tough their situation currently is. Clearly that is not what you're getting from this. It doesn't mean that won't return, but it's not a thing for you right now. And while "how do I keep kids from attending my party?" is far more First World Problem than "I have no clean drinking water", it is an important question to the person asking. Life can be hard enough without needing to turn it into a tragedy competition to determine just who has it worse. Due to unfortunate circumstances, I’ve recently attended a number of wakes. Am I obligated to kneel before the casket and say a brief prayer? I’d been taught that this was the “polite” thing to do, but it feels disingenuous now that I no longer subscribe to any religion. I’m sure the grievers don’t notice or care either way, but should I continue to fake pray?

Dear Wake Etiquette, you're not obligated to pray. If part of the wake involves filing by the casket to pay your respects it is polite to go with the crowd, pause at the casket, and have a moment. Whether you spend that moment praying for the eternal salvation of the deceased, hoping the surviving family can find strength or comfort in this difficult time, or to wonder if you can make it home in time to catch the latest Game of Thrones before it gets spoiled online is up to you. I supposed you could go up to the casket and loudly proclaim that, as an enlightened atheist, you refuse to partake in this silly superstition. I'm sure that would go over well too.

My girlfriend recently bought a vibrator for us to use together. We're both women if that matters. However, it's been a couple months since and we haven't used it together once. We have had sex several times, but once we were in bed and I suggested we use it and she said it had dead batteries. My question is, should it upset me or worry me that she is clearly using it on her own time?

Dear Should I be Concerned, define “recently”. If she burned through a set of fresh batteries in two months y’all need to get some better batteries. Unless you’ve got one of those fancy-pants ones which have an internal battery, and if that’s the case make sure you check that it’s been plugged in before y’all get to your banging. That being said let’s go ahead and slow your roll high speed; just because she’s (Googles "female equivalent to jacking off", loses 10 hours to Urban Dictionary and all faith in humanity) jilling off without you doesn’t mean she’s going to be cheating on you. Heck, just because she didn’t want to use a certain vibrator with you doesn’t mean she’s going to be cheating on you; maybe the idea sounded better when she had it and she realized it wasn’t something she wanted to do? That she wants to occasionally self-bang doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to have sex with you too. Talk with her about what you want and how you’d like her to give it to you.

I am a 45 year old woman struggling with several issues. I have returned to dating as a middle aged woman. The men I meet are manipulative and tend to dump me after a few weeks. I also drink more than I should (3 to 5 glasses of wine, nightly). As if that is not bad enough, I spend a couple hours a day on dating and kink websites. I feel lost. I started seeing a therapist five months ago. This was after being "ghosted" by a man who was married. I was very hurt at the time. It felt good to vent to the therapist. However, now, after months of weekly appointments, I feel like therapy is worthless.

Dear Too Nice Therapist, you’re being dumped after a few weeks by men you via dating and kink websites? I’m shocked. If you’ve spent half a year seeing a therapist weekly and you’re feeling like it isn’t helping you (it’s certainly not worthless; the therapist has been well-compensated) then please, go and find another one. But I do have to ask, have you addressed your feelings of not making progress with your therapist? Because a therapist isn't going to be able to make you choose better men; they might help you understand why you keep picking up men who get what they want and move on, but it's still choices you're making.

My ex husband and I split up over 5 years ago. My daughter was just turning 4 and had a difficult time, but I did everything I could to make the transition easy. We never did anything "officially", and although her father was horrible to me, he was an excellent dad and I supported them seeing each other every chance they could. In the beginning he would only take her for a few hours some days and overnights occasionally in an effort to limit any social life I could develop. As years passed, he finally met someone and stopped using her as a means to control me. Once he started dating this person, we developed a clear schedule of when she would stay over at his house.

Dear Daughter Dislikes Stepmom, wait, you mean you had a court bless off on a divorce where the child custody agreement is “We’ll wing it”? Seriously? Nevermind, I’m getting wrapped around the axle on a tertiary issue. Let’s go ahead and ignore what your mother wants in this; she’s not helping. In the absence of a child custody agreement specifying who gets your child when (again, seriously?) I’m thinking this is something your daughter, your ex, and you need to hash out. Your daughter is 9, she deserves some say in how her life goes; it doesn’t mean what she wants goes, but she gets a say. It might be that she needs a temporary respite from staying with your ex and Trish. Your daughter is getting older and just because she’s well-adjusted doesn’t mean she can be feeling some emotions about being with the woman her father prefers over her mom. Trish might not like the reminder of a previous relationship. It probably is frustrating to your ex that the child he loves views nights spent with him as a reason for tears. An advantage of revisiting your custody agreement and including your daughter is it gives her some control over her life, which helps with her buying into the agreement, which helps her adjust to and accept the change.

I am a college aged woman who recently got out of an almost year long polyamorous relationship with another woman and a man (they were pre-involved for years). It was a spectacularly awful breakup. At the moment, the male partner and I are dating but the other woman is out due to attempted physical assault and anger issues (yes, she's been to therapy but stopped). Frankly, there are oodles and oodles of more backstory I could provide but the long and short is I just found out from my male partner that her mysterious internet job is in fact camming. She became a camgirl shortly before she and I met, withheld that information from me purposefully, and is now very popular and ridiculously financially successful.

Dear Unintended Revelations, does she now drive a brand new Nissan Altima? A polyamorous relationship between a trio of college-aged people exploded in a spectacular way? NO WAY! Totally did not see that coming. You were with her for less than a year, had no idea what she did, and she didn’t didn’t make an effort to see you for 25% of the time you were together? Yeah, I think it’s fair to say she was putting more effort into being a camgirl than she was into your relationship. To answer your question about where you go now I’d say you need to move on. You are going to get none of the validation you think you’re owed by confronting your ex for her perceived slights. Although. since you found out about her occupation through your boyfriend, her ex-boyfriend, I'll bet confronting her about her infidelity and demanding an explanation or apology will go swimmingly.

1 note · View note

k-lara7 · 8 years ago

Text

The Bodyguard

Chapter 3 Cassian didn't know what to make of the fact that he had lost three weeks of his life. The fact that he was in a hospital because of an almost successful attempt on his life didn't help matters. He tuned out the doctor as she listed his injuries and expected recovery. It was too much information at once while he was trying to remember. He knew Kay, ever his responsible best friend, would be sure to note anything Cassian needed to know, so he turned his attention to the beautiful young woman next to him. Noticing the direction of his gaze, Kay thanked the doctor and asked for a private moment with the patient. Once they were alone, Kay proceeded to introduce Cassian to his fiancé. He filled him in on the story the tabloids had been fed about a whirlwind romance on the cruise ship. While Kay explained her presence to the actor, Jyn was able to observe him without the breathing tube covering his face. His skin was abnormally white and his face was still covered in bruises. For this picture he had been clean shaven, but days unconscious had left him with quite a beard; not a bad look on him. On screen he was a force to be reckoned with. Here, in the hospital bed, he seemed small and thin. The injuries had taken a toll and he had lost weight his trim body couldn't afford. Doctor Val Tomin had warned her that his recovery would be long and difficult. She gave Jyn a list of rehab exercises and appointments for Cassian to keep if he wanted to regain his health. The doctor had wanted to order home health care but Jyn refused. Cassian seemed to be a private person to her. As his bodyguard, she could also care for this aspect of his safety. She would make sure he could recover in the privacy of his own home without the fear of a stranger selling his story later. As his fiancé, no one would question her place in his apartment and it would provide the rag mags safer topics of gossip than his medical condition. Jyn had wanted to tell Cassian the truth about their 'relationship' the moment he woke up. Unfortunately, Kay had the final say on the matter by virtue of the employment contract. She followed his lead. Kay must not have thought it a good idea to explain to the actor that on top of someone trying to kill him, the studio had decided to hire a woman to pose as his girlfriend-slash-fiance to protect him. With his head injury, Kay was probably afraid Cassian might slip up. Once they got him back to the privacy of his own home they could explain the deception. Hopefully the surprise wouldn't cause him to relapse. Cassian's head was aching as Kay finished his explanation. He didn't know how to deal with a relationship he had no memory of. As he tried to sit up, pain shot through his arm. The strange woman was instantly by his side carefully urging him back down. "Careful," she said gently. Then she turned to Kay. "Could you give us a few moments of privacy?" Searching her face, Kay decided he could trust her to follow his lead. "I'm going to make a few phone calls. Text me if you need anything." He closed the door quietly behind him. Jyn turned to Cassian. "Would you like some water?" At his nod, she grabbed a glass already set with a straw and helped him drink. She sat back down, picked up his hand and looked at him. The doctors had encouraged touch for his recovery. There was no harm in following doctor's orders, was there? "You don't remember anything about our relationship, do you?" she stated the obvious. "No." He looked down at their clasped hands but didn't pull away. "That's ok. I'm sure it will come back to you. Don't force it. Just concentrate on getting better." "And if I never remember?" he asked cautiously. "Why don't we get you through your current movie project, then we can worry about our relationship. And in the meantime, I'll be right here. You need to concentrate on getting better." She really didn't like the thought of lying to him and decided to keep as close to the truth as possible. He suddenly looked very tired. "For now, rest. We can figure out our relationship later. Sleep. I'll be here when you wake up." Cassian wanted to shout out that he'd been sleeping too much, but his eyes closed, involuntarily. He was asleep within minutes. Cassian silently observed Jyn. She was different than the women the studio always hired to escort him to publicity functions. Those women were usually taller, lighter haired and snobbier. They would never be caught in public in any form that wasn't perfect. Perfect hair, perfect makeup, perfect accessories, of which included him. It was impossible to enjoy their company as they were always fangirling on him. Jyn was dressed down in everyday clothes. He couldn't ever remember seeing makeup on her and had the thought that she was perfect without the stuff. Her brown hair was always pulled back in a messy bun. She didn't treat him as special or different. In fact, she treated him like he was the guy next door and not the guy on the movie poster. It was an experience he hadn't had in years. He couldn't remember when the last time was that a woman didn't expect something from him. In his current state he was a burden. Dr. Tomin refused to let him return to work until after the stitches came out. Then it would be at least two weeks before he could return to the set and several more before he could go back to a normal work schedule. The whole helpless feeling of being an invalid was not helped by the strange feeling that Jyn, a stranger to him, expected to help him through his convalescence. Lying in bed, he tried so hard to remember the last weeks. He couldn't understand how he went from unattached and not dating to meeting a woman and proposing to her in such a short period of time. And yet, not only did Kay say it happened, but he also supported Jyn completely. That wasn't like Kay at all. Normally he was very protective of Cassian, often extricating him from uncomfortable situations. Jyn had not left his side since he awoke. She read to him from his favorite books or watched television with him. Sometimes she would read the latest on their relationship straight out of the tabloids. Thankfully, she found all the speculation humorous and not humiliating. He could almost see how he could fall in love with her so quickly. With her dry wit and feisty attitude, their was no question how he could find her attractive. He came out of his reflections to Jyn reading to him again. Something about the situation confused him. She looked up and said, "You're staring again." "I'm sorry. I--. It's just I--. It's the ring. Did you pick it out, or did I?" Jyn looked down at the monstrosity on her hand. It was a huge saphire set in silver, square cut and impersonal. It shouted, 'I'm rich, not I love you.' What Cassian didn't know is that it was also fake. Sticking to the truth, she answered, "I believe Kay found it for you. You didn't get the chance to pick it out." "Well, that explains it then," he said, relieved. The simple necklace she wore fit her. He had the random thought that if ever bought her a ring it would match the simplicity of the piece. "Explains what?" "I think I would have picked something smaller, and maybe green, to match your eyes. Kay likes to make a statement. And that ring definitely makes a statement." "And what statement would that be?" she smiled. Cassian hesitated, feeling as if a trap were closing. Choosing his words carefully, he answered, "That ring seems to be an ownership tag. You don't strike me as the type who would like to be owned. And it's gaudy, which also doesn't seem to be your style." "It is definitely not my style. Dr.Tomin said you could go home today. But she insists you come back in a week to have the stitches removed. She feels like we are rushing your recovery, but I thought you would prefer to recover at home away from prying eyes." At his emphatic nod, she continued, "She only agreed to release you after I assured her you won't be alone at home, as your going to need constant care." Cassian didn't want to admit she was right, but he didn't know how he would be able to manage without help. "I'll talk to Kay. He can hire someone to help me." "Absolutely not!" she almost shouted, flinching like he had slapped her. Calming, she said, "I've already requested the time off from my employer. They know I will be helping you through your convalescence. And I am not about to let just any stranger have access to you. You don't know if they would take advantage of the situation and sell the story to the highest bidder." What she didn't add was that she wasn't going to risk anyone getting that close to him in case of a second attempt on his life. "I'll compensate you. How much do I owe you?" he instantly offered. "Dammit, Cassian," she complained, "I don't want your money. And I am not going to have that conversation again." It angered her that he thought he had to pay his fiancé, and that's what he thought she was, to care for him. She was also surprised she could yell at him when she figured she'd be tongue-tied around him. Self consciously he looked away. "I didn't mean to offend you. I don't know anything about you, what you do. I don't want to create a financial hardship for you." Jyn reached out and grabbed his hand to turn him back towards her. "I appreciate your concern. And yes, I am going to be taking a leave of absence from my normal job, but Kay already took care of that." He gave her a quizzical look sticking as close to the truth as possible Jyn said, "He managed to get the studio to pay me for lost wages while you recover. Since they are responsible for the lapse in security on the film site, they agreed. Kay might have used blackmail, I'm not sure." At that he smiled just a little. Kay was always protective of him and probably had some heated words with a few producers. "I'll let it go for now, but if you need anything, please ask. I don't want you suffering because of me." Jyn snorted. When she first took this assignment she wasn't sure it wouldn't be a disaster. Now she grateful she had taken it. No one was going to hurt him on her watch. She didn't let herself think about why this mattered so much. http://archiveofourown.org/works/11237331/chapters/25114074

#rebelcaptainnetwork #dailyrebelcaptain #celebrity au #fake relationship

11 notes · View notes

amitsinhavidhi · 6 years ago

Text

A GUIDE TO MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE AND DOCTORS LIABILITY

MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE CASES AND DOCTOR’S LIABILITY

In my recent blog I shall be discussing the topic “Medical Negligence and Doctor’s Liability” My blog shall cover the following topics with in depth analysis for the readers to understand the essentials of the same.

1. Introduction

2. What is Medical Negligence

3. Cases on Medical Negligence

4. Doctor’s Liability in Medical Negligence

5. Miscellaneous

6. Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

It has been noticed recently that the Indian Society is experiencing a growing awareness of its patients’ rights.

The Supreme Court of India has taken painstaking efforts as to make ‘Right to Health’ as a fundamental right.

It is the need of the society to develop a protocol which states and checks the practice of Doctors while discharging their duties. Like any other profession, the medical profession is a service line industry which is stated to be of contractual nature. Such a contract is made between the Doctor and the Patient. However, explanation of the same is not that simple as it includes a lot of other variables making this relationship a bit more complex and complicated than the normal ones.

There is a need for the code of conduct for the doctors and stabilizing their acts of professionalism. Unlike any other service line, doctors service is said to be next to god as they deal with the life of patients at critical moments and the life of a human is completely dependant on how they serve that patient. A lot of risk is at stake. Henceforth, the provisions should be made in such a manner that they understand the complexity of this nature and then punish.

From the point of view of a patient one cannot deny the fact that wrong medications, wrong treatments, negligence in operation theatre and other various forms of negligent acts are present in the system of which the patient is the lone sufferer. To protect the same, the patients must have their rights and such wrong doers must be punished for their negligent acts.

While discharging a duty one must be aware of the fact that there lies certain responsibilities and duties which need to be carried. Failure of which shall result in penalty and punishment. Also, one must have a duty of care towards his work and must also follow the ethical codes of conduct.

In the recent present, the Indian Society has seen a massive growth by brainstorming into patients’ rights for negligent treatment. Based on the same and also taking into consideration the responsibility and the complexity of the service provided by the Doctors that, the judicial system has tried to make provisions whereby

1. The patients have their rights if treated in a negligent way AND

2. The doctors are covered under an umbrella of safeguards which is essential to protect them according to the complexity of the service they provide to their patients.

In my blog below I shall be discussing about aspects of Medical Negligence and the liability of a Doctor for the same. The topics mentioned above shall be discussed in a chronological order to provide a step by step guide for suitable understanding of the readers.

WHAT IS MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE?

Before going into the details of what is “Medical Negligence” let us understand what is “Negligence” as a term.

So, what is negligence? What exactly does one mean when he says someone has been negligent?

NEGLIGENCE

Negligence can be termed as an omission to do something or not to do something under certain circumstances which an ordinary man having reasonable prudence would do.

In other words, “Negligence” means to avoid a Duty of Care which should have been taken while discharging the work. In simpler words “Negligence” would mean to not take care or to behave irresponsibly.

The term “Negligence” is far too broad to explain. What may not be negligence to me, might be negligence to you and vice versa. Negligence is circumstantial in nature and depends upon the situation. For example: If it is a rainy season and “X” does not lock the windows before going out of the house as a result of which his bed gets wet. “X” would be held to be negligent as he should have shown a duty of care to close the windows. However, under the same circumstances had it been a dry summer day, “X” would not be termed negligent.

Having said that and now that we have understood the concept of Negligence let us understand what constitutes Negligence. So, to say what are the factors which must be taken into consideration before coming to a conclusion of an act of negligence.

There are 5 basic elements that constitute negligence. It is upon the consideration of these elements that one can conclusively decide whether an act includes negligence or not. The elements have been discussed below.

1. Duty to take care

Negligence depends upon whether or not the defendant owed a duty towards the plaintiff. If there was no duty there cannot be Negligence.

In case of Doctors, every doctor has a Duty to take care of its patient and as such is subject to being negligent if he fails to do so.

2. There should be a Breach of Duty

Negligence cannot be determined without a breach of duty. By breach of duty one means to do something which he was not supposed to do or to not do something which he was supposed to do under the given circumstances which, if it had not been him then, any reasonable man having ordinary prudence would do.

In case of Doctors, every Doctor should be aware of his duty and should discharge the same in similar manner. Any deviation [which would not be taken in the ordinary course of action] shall be held to be breach of such duty.

However, it must be stated that – If a particular patient can be treated in two different ways and a particular doctor follows such mode of treatment with due diligence and standard of care and even then, the patient suffers. [In such a case the doctor shall not be held liable for choosing option 2 over option 1]

3. Cause in Fact

This is the traditional rule of negligence that, in order to prove the negligence, the plaintiff much prove that the action of the defendant which is said to be negligent in nature is the actual cause or the cause in fact for the plaintiff’s injury. Had such action not been taken, the plaintiff would never have suffered such injury. That such injury is directly related to the defendant’s act.

In case of Doctors, the plaintiff must be able to prove that the action or course of action for the treatment or medication of such patient was the reason for which he or she has suffered injury. However, if the plaintiff fails to establish the same, the Doctor shall not be held liable for negligence.

4. Establishment of Proximate Cause

This relates to the extent of the scope of a defendant’s responsibility in a negligent case. The defendant is only and only responsible for his negligent acts and the proximate cause of them which would injure the plaintiff in direct connection with such act of negligent nature. Furthermore, the defendant shall be held liable only for those damages suffered by the plaintiff which were foreseeable by the defendant. Any damage suffered by the plaintiff outside the scope of the risks which the defendant could have foreseen cannot be proved as a “Proximate Cause”.

In case of Doctors, the onus is on the plaintiff to prove that the negligent act of the defendant has proximate cause in the injury suffered by him. Such cause should have been foreseeable by the defendant while discharging his duty.

5. Damages Caused

In order to prove negligence, Damage must be proved. It is an essential and most important element, without which negligence cannot be proved. It is not enough by the plaintiff to merely prove that the defendant did not take reasonable care to prove negligence. In fact, such avoidance of reasonable care on the part of the defendant must result in some actual damage to either Body or Property of a person to whom the defendant owed such duty of care.

In case of Doctors, the damage must be showed as bodily harm or physical injury suffered by the plaintiff as a result of some negligent act done by the defendant which is in direct connection with the injury suffered by the plaintiff and the same was foreseeable by the defendant.

To sum up from the above, I would say:

“Medical Negligence” is when a Doctor/Medical Practitioner who happens to owe a duty of care towards his Patient, breaches the same by way of some misconduct or negligent act, as a result of which the Patient has suffered damages/injuries which are of physical nature, which establish proximate cause and such damages/injuries caused thereof were foreseeable.

CASES ON MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE

After already knowing what Medical Negligence is all about let us look at the practical examples and the views which have been taken by the courts to arrive at a conclusive decision on cases of Medical Negligence. Here I shall be discussing a few of the landmark cases regarding Medical Negligence, its implications and impacts.

LIABILITY UNDER THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT

CASE – INDIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION vs VP SANTHA

Ø In the above case, medical profession was brought under the purview of ‘service’ as has been defined in the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

Ø This case also played a pivotal role in defining the relationship between a Doctor and his Patient as contractual.

Ø Aggrieved Patients now had the right to sue to the Doctors in the Consumer Courts and claim compensation.

Ø The Safeguard to the Patients under this Act is available only if they have paid for such service. However, if for some reason, such payment is waived off due to the incapacity of the Patients financial position to pay the same it will be covered under this Act.

Ø Any service rendered free of cost or for a nominal registration fee shall not be covered under the scope of this Act.

CIVIL LAW AND NEGLIGENCE

CASE – STATE OF HARAYANA vs SMT. SANTRA

Ø The Supreme Court of India held that – “Every doctor has a duty to act with reasonable degree of care and skill”

CASE – INDIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION vs VP SANTHA

Ø The Supreme Court of India held that – “Doctors are not liable for their services individually or vicariously if they do not charge fees. Thus, free treatment at a non-government hospital, governmental hospital, health centre, dispensary or nursing home would not be considered a “service” as defined in Section 2 (1) (0) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.”

CASE – DR. LAXMAN BALAKRISHNA JOSHI vs DR. TRIMBAK BAPU GODBOLE

Ø The Apex Court had held that – If a proper practice has been adopted by a doctor which is considered to be proper by reasonable body of medical practitioners and professionals who are skilled in that particular field of expertise, then, in that case, such doctor shall not be held negligent due to the mere fact that something went wrong.

CASE – DR. JANAK KANTIMATHI NATHAN vs MURLIDHAR EKNATH MASANE

Ø The NCDRC applied the principle of “res ipsa loquitur” and arrived to the decision as the prima facie case proved that the accident which occurred could in no way have taken place without the negligence of the Doctor.

CRIMINAL LAW AND NEGLIGENCE

CASE – POONAM VERMA vs ASHWIN PATEL

In the above case, the Apex Court distinguished [negligence, rashness and recklessness] wherein it was held that – “Any conduct falling short of recklessness and deliberate wrongdoing should not be the subject of criminal liability”.

Ø On the basis of the above, a Doctor could not be held criminally liable for his acts or for a patients death until and unless it is shown that he was negligent/incompetent till such an extent that he had no regards for the life and safety of his patient and as such it amounted to a crime against the state.

CASE – CALCUTTA MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE vs BIMALESH CHATTERJEE

Ø Held that – The onus of proving negligence and the resultant deficiency was on the complainant and not on the defendant.

CASE – KANHAIYA KUMAR SINGH vs PARK MEDICARE & RESEARCH CENTRE

Ø Held that – The proof of negligence has to be established and it cannot be presumed.

DOCTORS LIABILITY IN MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE

It is needless to say that Doctors are both jointly and severely liable for the acts done in the operation theater as a result of which if the patient is the ultimate sufferer then they should be penalized and scrutinized for the same.

Looking at the complexity of such service it was not easy to pack such negligence under one head or one tab. Therefore, the courts have opened a variety of options whereby the aggrieved persons can get the relief.

The liability of a doctor is broadly classified into 4 heads.

Ø Liability under the Consumer Protection Act/Contractual Liability/Service Liability

Ø Tortious Liability

Ø Criminal Liability AND

Ø Civil Liability

CONTRACTUAL LIABILITY/SERVICE LIABILITY

The liability of a Doctor is restricted to the meaning of the term “Service” as specified under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

As it has already been discussed above, the services provided by a Doctor to its patient comes under the ambit and scope of “Contract for Service”. However, such contracts are personal in nature but still cannot be treated as a contract for personal service. Therefore, bringing the services of a Doctor under the scope of Consumer Protection Act, 1986. Having that said it should also be mentioned here that a “Contract for Service” is beyond the scope and ambit of Section 2(1)(o) of the said Act.

Therefore, any patient who has been treated free of cost by any doctor shall not be allowed to sue the doctor for being negligent as there was no consideration. Even if there was a nominal registration charge for the same it is disallowed to get a relief here.

TORTIOUS LIABILITY

It is again a well stated fact that – The Law of Tort starts from the point where The Consumer Protection Act ends.

Under The Law of Tort, medical practitioners who give free service to the patients are also brought under the cover and subject to liability if found guilty of negligence. Those services provided by doctors or medical practitioners which do not fall under the meaning of “Service” as defined in The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 have all the liberty to take recourse [if aggrieved] under The Law of Tort and can claim compensation. However, the onus of proof is on the Patient and it is he who has to prove the negligence of the Doctor.

CRIMINAL LIABILITY

Under certain circumstances a Doctor can also be held Criminally Liable for his acts. Criminal Liability is attracted in cases of [Gross Negligence, or Recklessness].

The Doctors can be punished under the following provisions of The Indian Penal Code, 1860

Ø Under Section 304A [IPC] – For causing death of a patient by rash or negligent act.

Ø Under Sections 319 to 338 – For Causing Hurt/Grievous Hurt/Miscarriage etc.

However, criminal proceedings against a Doctor cannot be brought about so easily as the judiciary finds it fit to state that Doctors are the professionals who work in and out on a daily basis to give life to their patients and as such they can never have such intentions to hurt them leave apart killing them or being the cause of their death. The Doctors are presumed to be bona fide who are always acting in good faith in the best of the interest of their patients. As such they are entitled to certain immunity from criminal proceedings under the following sections of The Indian Penal Code, 1860

Sections 87 to 92 of the Code provide immunity to those doctors who have acted in good faith for the benefit of the patient. However, such good faith must be proved as and when required.

CIVIL LIABILITY

A doctor can be held liable for negligence in a civil case. The courts have taken into consideration that what act of a doctor should be held as civil liability and what shall extend to the criminal liability.

Stating Paragraphs 12 to 16 of the case of Jacob Mathew,

The court has said that – An act of simple negligence will result only in civil liability and only damages can be imposed on the doctor for such act of simple negligence by either the Civil Court or by the Consumer FORA.

The matter of deciding what is simple negligence and what is gross negligence has been left to the sole discretion of the court which shall decide the same on a case to case basis, depending upon circumstances, treating every such case as a fresh one and acting upon the same independently without prejudice, keeping the sanctity of justice.

MISCELLANEOUS

In this Final Topic of discussion, I shall discuss the following

1. Defenses for Medical Negligence

2. Where to seek redressal

3. Guidelines Issued by the Apex Court

4. Liability of Hospitals

DEFENSES FOR MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE

There are quite a few defenses which are used to safeguard a Doctor from frivolous litigation's of Medical Negligence. They are:

1. Known Complication – If in any case during the treatment there is a certain complication, as a reason of which it is well known to the doctor and the patient or so his/her family that such complication during the course of treatment may result in death of the patient and that they consent to the same and still go forward with such treatment knowing well that the result of such treatment may or may not be fruitful, The doctor cannot be held responsible for the same. Or in a case where certain known complications arise out of which a mishap took place, even then the Doctor cannot be held responsible.

2. Difference of Opinion – If under any circumstance a particular doctor has two options to chose from say “A” and “B”, both of which are well recognized methods of treatments in the medical fraternity, then, the Doctor cannot be sued merely because of the fact that he chose option “A” over “B” or vice versa.

3. Unexpected Results – In a case whereby during the course of treatment there has been some unexpected results which the doctor had no clue of. Or for that reason any doctor having the same area of expertise could not have foreseen the same or could have analysed the same. Or that a doctor having ordinary prudence, reason and logic could in no manner deduce such an outcome, in such a case, the doctor cannot be held liable for such unforeseen and unexpected results.

4. Contributory Negligence – If under any circumstance the court finds that the claim of negligence levied upon the doctor is not totally the negligent act of the doctor but has some contribution of negligence of the patient itself, in such a case a doctor shall be held liable only for that part or percentage of negligence which the court feels fit for the doctor and nothing more than that contribution of negligence.

5. Emergency Care – In case of Emergency Care, a doctor can use this as a defense to defend himself from the charges of being negligent. However, the onus is upon the Doctor to prove that the particular case was a case of Emergency Care as it is, he who is using claiming such defense and it should be he who should prove the same.

WHERE TO SEEK REDRESSAL?

The Consumer Dispute Redressal Agencies, more popularly known as Consumer Forums have been created at the district, state and at the national level. The COPRA, 1986 provides for a 3-tier grievance redressal mechanism. They are:

1. NCDRC [NATIONAL FORUM]

2. SCDRC [STATE FORUM]

3. DCDRC [DISTRICT FORUM]

Ø The reply of the respondent must come within 45 days after the service of the notice to him and such reply is compulsory in nature, failing which the matter can be thereafter proceeded “ex – parte”

Ø Appeal to be filed within 30 days from the date of adjudication of such lower forum to a higher forum.

Ø The verdict of the NCDRC can be further challenged in the Apex Court [Subject to the period of limitation]

The Consumer Forums have a Disposal Percentage of 91.03% all over the nation and a total of 44,47,487 cases have been disposed off out of 48,85,877 cases which were filed since the inception of COPRA, 1986.

GUIDELINES ISSUED BY THE APEX COURT

Ø Any complaint against a Doctor received by the NCDRC/SCDRC/DCDRC or any Criminal Court must refer it to an expert body to confirm the allegations.

Ø Only when it is “prima facie” found after such confirmation that the act was of negligence by the doctor should the police be allowed to arrest such doctor and a notice should be issued for the same.

LIABILITY OF HOSPITALS

When we talk about medical negligence, we do not only mean negligence by Doctor/Doctors. It sometimes may also happen that the Hospitals are responsible for negligence as a result of which the patient could not be treated properly.

The liability of the Hospitals can be

Ø Direct – where there is a deficiency of service by the Hospital during the course of the treatment, as such making it unfit for treatment. OR

Ø Vicarious – Liability of the Hospital [Employer] for the wrongful acts of its workers [Employee] who are working for the Employer [Hospital].

The latin maxims “qui facit per alium facit per se” and “respondent superior” shall be applicable here which means

“qui facit per alium facit per se” – He who acts through another does the act himself. “respondent superior” – Let the master answer.

Some conditions where the Hospitals are directly liable are given below:

1. Improper maintenance of Hospital

2. Not being able to provide safe and healthy environment

3. False claims of available facilities, malfunctioning equipment’s, incompetent staff, deficiency in service, malpractice etc.

4. Improper maintenance of records by not complying with the regulations of The Medical Council of India Regulations, 2002.

CONCLUSION

In the recent times, the Indian society has seen a massive growth and awareness relating to the rights of a patient. The Medical Profession is seen to be the most noble of all the professions in the world as it is only after GOD that a Doctor can give a new life to a Patient. As the known idiom goes “God is unerring”. But in reality, a Doctor is as much a human as we are and again as this idiom very truly justifies the same “to err is human”. Hence, they will commit mistakes.

The cases of medical negligence have increased by an astounding rate of 400%!!!!! In the past few years in India.

In the case of Delhi Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, lost its license for declaring an alive new-born child to be stillborn.

Gurgaon’s Fortis Memorial Research Institute for the death of a 7-year old girl who suffered from dengue, have once again brought up the issue of rampant medical negligence in India in private and public hospitals.

In the light of the above it has become a dire need to establish standards of practice for the Doctors and also safeguard the same. It is very complex to determine how do you hold a person responsible for your losses when he himself is doing his best to save you from the same.

Having said that the law in force has tried to keep both the interests of the doctors and the patients very well-defined compromising none when it comes to litigation. On one hand it gives the Patients the right to sue a doctor for its wrongful acts and on the other hand it also immune's a Doctor knowing well that his act is a humane one relating to the most complex of natures going to the extent of “bringing one back from the dead”. Nevertheless, they are humans who are bound to make mistakes and as such the provisions should not be too harsh on them only because they belong to a certain profession.

Content Reference from Legal Blog

#Medical Negligence Lawyers #Medical Negligence Article #Medical Negligence Act #Medical Negligence Cases #Medical Negligence Case Laws

0 notes

wolfandpravato · 8 years ago

Text

It is actually difficult to define blackmail

Talk of supposed blackmail is in the news, both as to the Kushner/Brzezinski/Scarborough story and the CNN/HanA[––]holeSolo story. The stories are complicated enough that I don’t want to opine on who might or might not be guilty of what there; and of course the stories raise ethical questions as well as legal ones. But I do want to pass along some little-known legal background on the law of blackmail, which is an unusually (and, to some, surprisingly) thorny area.

1. To begin with, at the heart of blackmail law lies what some call the blackmail paradox: Blackmail — which I’ll define here as threatening to reveal an accurate embarrassing fact about a person unless he does what you demand — generally involves (a) threatening to do something that you have every legal right (even a constitutional right) but no legal obligation to do, in order to (b) get someone to do what he has every legal right to do.

It’s clear why we criminalize extortion by threat of violence (pay me or I’ll burn down your business): It’s a threat to do something that you have no right to do. But in the threat, “Pay me $10,000 or I’ll reveal that you had an affair,” all components are legal: He is free to pay you $10,000. You are free to reveal that he had an affair. You are free not to reveal that he had an affair. Yet combine them together as a conditional threat and it’s a crime.

Nor can we resolve this by saying that coercive threats, even threats to do something legal, are generally criminal. “Pay me $10,000 or I’ll stop doing business with you” is perfectly legal (assuming that the threat comes from a sole proprietor, rather than someone lining his own pockets at the expense of his employer). “Pay me $10,000, neighbor, or I’ll sell my house, which is next to yours, to someone you dislike” is perfectly legal, too. Much legitimate hardball negotiation involves threats aimed at getting someone to do something, including threats of financial ruin. It’s just when the threat is to reveal embarrassing information that it becomes blackmail (or, as some statutes label it, coercion or extortion).

Of course, there are lots of possible theoretical and pragmatic responses to this objection; and the law does punish blackmail, though the definition varies from state to state. But the theoretical paradox, and specifically the fact that so much legal and commonplace behavior is very similar to blackmail, causes practical problems.

2. Consider, for instance, this D.C. statute (just as a sample that is representative of many of the broader, more modern statutes):

A person commits the [felony] of blackmail, if, with intent to obtain property of another or to cause another to do or refrain from doing any act, that person threatens: (1) To accuse any person of a crime; (2) To expose a secret or publicize an asserted fact, whether true or false, tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule; or (3) To impair the reputation of any person, including a deceased person.

Note that the statute applies not just to attempts to get money, but to attempts to coerce other action (or inaction). “Stop seeing my daughter or I’ll tell the police that you stole money from your boss” is a crime.

But, read literally, this would also make it a crime for me to say, “Pay me back the money you stole from me, or I’ll call the police” — something that few, I think, would want criminalized. It would make it a crime to say “Stop seeing my daughter or I’ll tell her that you stole money from your boss.” And it would even make it a crime to say, “Pay back the money you took from me, or I’ll sue you to get it back,” when the lawsuit would tend to subject you to “contempt” (because it would accurately expose you as a thief) or otherwise impair your reputation; yet we actually want to promote that sort of behavior, rather than requiring people to sue in every such case without having a chance to settle the matter beforehand.

Indeed, many courts have said that some such threats are themselves protected by the First Amendment, and state appellate courts in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and Washington have struck down state blackmail statutes because of this:

Threatening to keep publicizing and condemning a real estate agent’s practices in order to pressure him into changing those practices is constitutionally protected. Organization for a Better Austin, 402 U.S. at 419.

Threatening to keep publicizing and condemning shoppers’ decisions not to comply with a boycott in order to pressure the shoppers into changing their behavior is constitutionally protected. NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware, 458 U.S. at 909-10; see also Eagle Books, Inc. v. Jones, 474 N.E.2d 444, 450 (Ill. Ct. App. 1985) (threats to publicize the identities of pornography buyers were constitutionally protected).

A consumer’s “threaten[ing] a vendor that unless he is given a refund for a defective product he will complain to the Better Business Bureau” is constitutionally protected. State v. Pauling, 69 P.3d 331, 335 (Wash. 2003); State v. Weinstein, 898 P.2d 513, 515 (Ariz. Ct. App. 1995). The same is true when the consumer publicizes his dissatisfaction with plaintiff’s product and implicitly threatens further such publicity unless he gets a refund. E.g., DeGroen v. Mark Toyota-Volvo, Inc., 811 P.2d 443, 446 (Colo. Ct. App. 1991); J.Q. Office Equipment of Omaha, Inc. v. Sullivan, 432 N.W.2d 211, 214 (Neb. 1988).

“A store owner[’s telling] a customer to pay a delinquent bill or else he will report the customer to a credit reporting agency” is constitutionally protected. Weinstein, 898 P.2d at 515.

So is “a mother[’s informing] her former husband that if he does not pay back child support, she will report him to the court where he risks incarceration.” Id.

So is saying, “If you do not withdraw this research report …, I will disclose that you falsified the experiment.” State v. Robertson, 649 P.2d 569, 580 n.13 (Or. 1982).

So is a newspaper reporter’s “tell[ing] a public official [that] if the public official votes a certain way, the reporter will divulge that the public official will gain from the public body’s action.” State v. Steiger, 781 P.2d 616, 621 (Ariz. Ct. App. 1989).

So is a citizen’s “protest[ing] a perceived unlawful arrest by threatening to write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper.” Chaffee v. Roger, 311 F. Supp. 2d 962, 967 (D. Nev. 2004).

So is a citizen’s threatening to continue picketing a store until it stops selling a particular product, such as pornography. Eagle Books, 474 N.E.2d at 450.

Or, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said in United States v. Jackson, 180 F.3d 55 (2d Cir. 1999) (later reversed but only as to the harmless error analysis) — a case involving a Bill Cosby sex scandal, though not of the sort that we’re hearing about now —

Not all threats to engage in speech that will have the effect of damaging another person’s reputation, even if a forbearance from speaking is conditioned on the payment of money, are wrongful. For example, the purchaser of an allegedly defective product may threaten to complain to a consumer protection agency or to bring suit in a public forum if the manufacturer does not make good on its warranty. Or she may threaten to enlist the aid of a television “on-the-side-of-the-consumer” program. Or a private club may threaten to post a list of the club members who have not yet paid their dues.

3. To solve this problem, courts have generally added a “lack of nexus” element to blackmail statutes. To quote the 2nd Circuit,

There are significant differences between, on the one hand, threatened disclosures of such matters as consumer complaints and nonpayment of dues, as to which the threatener has a plausible claim of right, and, on the other hand, threatened disclosures of such matters as sexual indiscretions that have no nexus with any plausible claim of right.

Likewise, in the words of the Washington Supreme Court (which read such an element into its statute, in order to avoid striking the statute down on First Amendment grounds),

Although a person might have a legal right to collect a judgment, there is no nexus between the exercise of that right and the threat to post embarrassing nude photos on the Internet. On the other hand, a person with a legal right to collect a judgment would have a nexus to a threat to institute garnishment proceedings….

We … hold that it is unnecessary to strike [down the state extortion statute on First Amendment grounds] because we may impose a limiting construction in the form of a requirement that there be a “lack of nexus” that limits its application to only unprotected speech.

Some statutes expressly provide an exemption for attempts to get property by threat of exposure, when the property “was honestly claimed as restitution or indemnification for harm done in the circumstances to which the … exposure … relates, or as compensation for property or lawful services.” Again, that takes care of the “pay me back the money you took, or I’ll sue [or call the police]” scenario.

But while a “lack of nexus” requirement does protect some of the threats that should be protected, it leaves a good deal unclear. “Nexus,” after all, is a vague term (likely deliberately vague).

And that’s especially so when the “claim of right” goes beyond a claim of something that should be coming to you (unpaid club dues, a refund for shoddy goods, the money you are owed under a judgment). Consider, for instance, two examples:

A reporter “tell[s] a public official [that] if the public official votes a certain way, the reporter will divulge that the public official will gain from the public body’s action.”

A reporter telling the official that, if he votes a certain way, the reporter will reveal the official’s extramarital affair. (Assume that the vote has nothing to do with regulation of adultery.)

Example (a), Steiger says, is constitutionally protected, and that’s likely right. Example (b), I think, would be classic coercive blackmail. But there’s no distinction in terms of a reporter’s having a “claim of right” in one situation but not the other — in neither of them does the reporter have any personal legal right that he’s trying to vindicate; in both, the reporter has a First Amendment right to publicize the information in the absence of a threat.

If the law requires an inquiry into whether there’s a “nexus,” that would focus on whether there is an adequate moral connection between the action being threatened and the action being sought. There appears to be such a connection between a politician’s vote and a threatened disclosure that the vote is self-interested — there doesn’t seem to be such a connection between a politician’s vote on, say, an environmental or budgetary bill and a threatened disclosure that the politician is an adulterer.

But this connection is often quite subjective, as any inquiries into moral relevance are. Consider this example:

A reporter telling an official that, if he votes in favor of increased criminal sentences across the board, the reporter will reveal the official’s child pornography habit.

Is there a sufficient “nexus” here that the reporter can avoid being guilty of blackmail, on the theory that there is an adequate moral connection between the threat (exposing an official’s own willingness to commit crime) and the action that the reporter is trying to stop (the strengthening of criminal punishments more generally)?

Or consider these two examples (reminiscent of the stories in the news, but deliberately stylized, since again I’m trying to discuss blackmail law more broadly rather than figure out what the facts were in these cases and how those facts should be interpreted):

A reporter telling a citizen that, if he continues to make certain anonymous statements, the reporter will (or may) reveal the citizen’s identity.

A politician’s assistant telling a reporter that, if the reporter faults the politician for supposedly cheating, the assistant’s friends will reveal the reporter’s own cheating.

How do we apply the “nexus” analysis here?

Originally Found On: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/07/06/it-is-actually-difficult-to-define-blackmail/

#Law #Lawyer

2 notes · View notes

haulix · 8 years ago

Photo

Learning to trust ‘The Pinch’

Next March will be a major occasion for me. I don’t know the date specifically, but that month will mark seven years of full-time employment in the music industry. I will be thirty when it happens and, hopefully, it won’t be the last year that I get to celebrate.

I still remember getting the call that changed everything, and it could not have come at a more opportune time. My friend and frequent collaborator, Ben Howell, was seated across from me inside a gas station in rural Arkansas when my cell phone rang. We had spent the night in a motel we could barely afford after my car blew a rod and left us stranded on the side of the freeway the night before. We were broke, hungry, upset, and - according to a kind mechanic who woke us to break the news that the car could not be fixed - stranded.

When the call came in, I was expecting the worst. If the past twenty-four hours had lead me to believe anything it was that the music industry might not be as interested in me as I was in it. Ben and I had spent the several days prior attending SXSW in Texas, which was fun and filled with networking, but ultimately did not provide any leads to paid work. Then the debacle with my car happened, not to mention the fact we were over one-thousand miles from home and several hundred miles from anyone we knew in a town of less than 1,000 people that was not easily found on a map. If the universe or God or whatever really gives people signs, this felt like a big one.

But then I answered, and within a few minutes I was offered a thirty-hour a week job in Boston at a music discovery startup that wanted to leverage my writing talents to help grow their business. It was exactly what I had always wanted to do, the very job I felt I had been training my entire life to do, and here it was being offered to me at a rate that would allow me to pay my bills and live away from my parents. I excitedly told Ben the news, but considering the fact everything good I had to say would do nothing to free us from our Arkansas predicament, he was less than amused.

Several years later, trouble struck again. The same job offer that brought me to Boston turned into a source of constant trouble after the business ran into trouble securing and maintaining investors. Weeks would pass without anyone below top ranking staff being paid, often with a handful of people being furloughed (a fancy term where you’re not really fired, but you’re also not getting compensated for any recent work you’ve done). If us lower lower employees did get paid it was usually a fraction of what we were owed, with promises that everything would come to as us funds were made available.

After a months of these erratic fluctuations with cash flow the company came to a crossroads where those in charge either had to close things entirely or cut the staff to a small skeleton crew. They chose the latter, keeping me on board, and cut more than a dozen people. They also sold our longtime offer, which was a sprawling space just outside of Boston, and moved the remaining eight employees into a shared working space in a different town. I soon found myself working in a windowless room smaller than my childhood bedroom with another individual, and between the two of us we were doing the work a team of six or more had been assigned just weeks prior.

As humans, we are often able to sense trouble is on the horizon. Something in our DNA alerts us to the fact that we are standing on unsteady ground and need to make changes. I could feel that uneasiness when the Boston gig lost its main office, then again when I found myself spending eight hours in artificial light working for a company that might not be able to pay more for the time I was putting in. To make matters worse, the financial uncertainty had put strains on my home life, including my relationships. I knew something needed to be done, but I was so set on continuing to work in the music business that I refused to sever ties until something else came along.

It was on a day like any other, tucked away from the sun in that tiny office shared office with bills piling up, that my life changed once more. For reasons I still don’t fully understand I chose to contact Haulix and inquire about their marketing efforts. I think my interventions were to attempt securing freelance work to cover bills while my primary job found funding, but after only a few email exchanges I was offered a role in the company that matched the pay I was supposed to be receiving from my current career. Better yet, I could work from home.

Over four years later, I still have that job at Haulix, and my position in the company has grown over time. There is still a lot of uncertainty about the music industry and where it is headed in the years to come, but for now we are a leader in our market and a trendsetter for promotional distribution. I would never dare take credit for all of that, but I do like to think I have found a home in this business that will welcome me as long as it can afford to do so. In this business, that is as close to ‘making it’ as any professional can hope to come.

But recently, something changed in another part of my life. After sever years together my partner, who only became my wife in the last year, decided she needed to leave. It hit me as a complete shock, one which I am still recovering from as I write this entry. In a moment I needed to find a new home and a new life without her. I never planned on having to do the latter, and I had yet to even consider where we might move next. Now I needed answers quickly, but I had no idea where to start. I packed my belongings, and in the process split our possessions into two piles of stuff. I loaded my cats into my car and headed to my parents’ home three states away so that I might get out from under the roof my wife and I once shared.

I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t scared about the future. The thought alone keeps me up at night. My brain tells me that if I could not predict her leaving me then there must be other things on the way in my life that I don’t foresee at this point. Maybe I lose my job due to an evolving industry, which would make me an unemployed divorcee on the edge of turning thirty who currently lives with his parents. The likelihood all that comes to pass is very low, but still — it could happen and that is more than enough to prevent me from finding any sense of peace.

But last night I had a thought, and that thought lead to this entry. Every time I have found myself cornered in ‘the pinch,’ which here means any situation I do not know my way out of, something happens to renew my faith in the path I am on. Sometimes it comes in the form of a phone call, an email, or maybe just a conversation with a close friend about how you’re really feeling. When you find the strength to admit you do not have control over the situation, but continue to do everything in your power to influence it in a positive sense, change happens. It might not be what you thought you wanted, and it might demand sacrifices on your part, but your path is much longer than it appears to be at this moment. You have more stories to write, more adventures to go on, and a lifetime of memories to make. I do too, and sometimes I need to remind myself of that.

Trust ‘the pinch’. Feeling pinched by life does not mean you made the wrong choice, it just means you are due for a change. Whether you believe it in the moment or not, change is good for you, and if you continue to pour your heart into everything you do the changes in life will not stop you from becoming the person you aspire to be. Just believe in yourself and it will all work out in the end.

James Shotwell is the Director of Customer Engagement for Haulix. He is also a ten-year veteran of music journalism, host of the Inside Music podcast, and a frequent commentator on the future of the music business. You should follow him on Twitter if you enjoy business talk, cats, The Simpsons, and in-depth discussion of the latest Law & Order: SVU episodes.

#Music business #life #life advice #advice #careers #career advice #motivation

0 notes