#impound

[sentientcave]

It's WIP Wednesday once again! I've got some Impound for you because it's been a while and it's still not finished (I've been working on Sparrow instead and just hit 55k today which is pretty exciting).

Contains: Blue collar Simon, Price as a cop, petty nonsense from men who should know better, but they're unfortunately not very emotionally intelligent

That’s when he saw the cruiser, parked on the street out front, too close to the fire hydrant.

Not blocking it, exactly, but still too close. If it were anyone else, he’d’ve let it slide, since the fire crew would still be able to get to the hydrant. But it was Price, and he’d just warned him about this very thing.

He pulled out his phone. “Hey, Johnny?” he said as soon as the line picked up, not waiting for Johnny to speak. “Send Roach out to city hall. Got someone parked by a fire ‘ydrant.”

“Fer fuck’s sake, Si, isnae the feckin’ cop again?”

“It is. I’ll come round to handle the paperwork. Won’t make you do it.”

“Awlright, but dinnae let him catch Roach at it neither. Ye know he’ll say somethin’ stupid and get his arse arrested.”

“Oh I know. Lad dun’t know ‘ow to keep his trap shut.” Simon hung up and headed back inside, hardly paying attention to the meeting, his eyes flicking back to Price over and over again, and holding whenever he found Price looking back. It was clear that neither of them retained anything said, too busy glaring at each other over the heads of the people sitting between them.

Simon got out of the building first, and stood off to the side to smoke another cigarette, leaning against a tree where he could get a good view of Price’s reaction when he came out to find his cruiser missing yet again.

He didn’t disappoint. He came out of the building a few minutes after the initial crush of humanity, talking to Kate and Nikolai. Price stopped in his tracks a little ways out the door, focused in on where his cruiser was supposed to be, and immediately scanned the vicinity, his whole body going rigid, hands tightening into fists, shoulders squared up for war, jaw set like concrete. His blazing blue eyes found Simon, and he marched over without saying a word, leaving Nikolai and Kate looking confused, and then amused when they realized what must have happened.

Price stopped in front of him, fury radiating off of him like heat off an engine, all that energy practically warping the space between them. “What’s your fuckin’ problem, mate?” he asked, jabbing a finger against Simon’s chest.

“No problem. I was ‘ere the whole time, wasn’t I?” Simon batted Price’s hand away, resisting the impulse to punch him for having the nerve to lay his bloody hands on him in the first place. Price was lucky that Simon was so rehabilitated now. That he had his temper on a good strong leash these days. “If you din’t want to get towed, you shunt’ve parked there. Not my problem if my people know ‘ow to do their jobs and you ‘aven’t got a clue ‘ow to do yours.”

“You don’t want to start a war with me, son,” Price growled.

Simon leaned forward, the barest curve of a smile on his lips, eyes narrowed and flinty. To his credit, Price didn’t flinch, didn’t move back, didn’t drop his eyes. He wasn’t intimidated by Simon’s size, like a lesser man would be. “You don’t want to start a war with me, old man.” He wasn’t sure there was much difference in their ages, if any, but if Price was going to try and talk down to him with the son shite than Simon was going to shovel it right back, like he was an unruly teenager in a rebellious phase. “I’m not goin’ to be pushed around by a fuckin’ badge. You don’t get special treatment because you wear a bloody uniform.”

Price’s jaw clenched even tighter. He had an impressive scowl, one that could probably level anyone else. “Watch yourself,” he grit out, like each word cost him something to force from his mouth.

Simon leaned a little closer. Their noses were almost touching. He could feel the currents of air stirred up by Price’s breath on his own face. “Or what?” he asked.

“Or else,” Price said, too angry to come up with anything resembling a real threat.

Simon pulled back with an amused grunt, and turned away, glancing over his shoulder dismissively. “See you as the impound lot, hm? I’ll be waitin’.”

In the end, it was Gaz who came around to pick up the cruiser.

[syoddeye]

you have shit luck. money's skint, and your car finally kicks the bucket. there's nothing in your area that looks remotely reliable and within your budget. you need transport for work. you lose it, you lose your job. desperate times call for desperate measures.

desperate measures lead you to a seized vehicle auction, where you buy a banged-up car on the cheap.

it's disgusting—reeks of tobacco, the console's sticky, and the glove box looks like something took up residence prior to the car's seizure. you don't know the history, neither do the police. it's sat in the secure car park for so long that they just want to be rid of it.

remember your shit luck? yeah. the scathing look on your normally absentee neighbor’s face and his furious gesturing to lower the window suggests you shouldn’t comply. but you do. he doesn’t hesitate to reach in, pop the lock, and yank the door open to haul you out. he clenches a lit cigar between his teeth, the tension in his jaw nearly crushing it.

what the fuck are you doing, driving his car? he reported it stolen just this morning, finding it missing when he got it in.

ah. maybe that's why it looked familiar.

[heyclickadee]

I still think it’s interesting that Tech seems to agree with Echo that they should be doing more. To some extent, anyway. He’s pragmatic when it comes to making sure the batch has the basics taken care of (like the times he points out that maybe they can’t help on a certain mission because then they can’t do a job and they won’t get paid, which is bad, because they’re broke and still need to eat), but he’s not actually opposed to being more involved.

It’s in little things. They way that Tech is the one besides Echo who voices his moral concerns about the empire right off the bat, that Echo and Tech are the two who have similar (but differently expressed) reactions to the formation of the empire; the look on Tech’s face when Rafa and Trace point out that the batch is trying to get sensitive data without knowing who the buyer is, while they’re trying to get it to someone who’s trying to help; the little knowing look and nod Echo and Tech share before Echo goes to talk to Hunter about how much good they could do using the money they might get from the Serreno heist to fight the Empire. He knows what Echo’s going to try to convince Hunter to do. Even during the argument he has with Echo in “Ruins of War” his position isn’t, “Well, we shouldn’t be helping so it doesn’t matter,” it’s, “Technically we never had the treasure we wanted to use to fight the empire, so we didn’t really lose it—at least we’re not worse off than we started.”

The main difference between them are that Echo has this incredible, undeniable drive to help as many clones as he can, for a lot of reasons, but at least partly because he’s feels a kinship with them that Tech hasn’t quite had the chance to develop (he doesn’t have the same chip on his shoulder as Crosshair starts out with, but there is still a separation there) and has a bit of survivor’s guilt due to what he was used to do on Skako Minor that Tech doesn’t have, because he didn’t go through the same thing; while Tech’s first priority is the batch. He’s often if not always the one getting them out of impossible situations, and I think he knows that. Echo has to help Rex, even if it means leaving his new family for a while; Tech maybe wants to help, but he can’t leave his family while they need him around.

(In fact—sidebar, I could actually see these two having a conversation about both of them going to help Rex at the same time and it going like, “You should come, Tech, they could use your skills,” and Tech going, “And leave Hunter, Wrecker, and Omega on their own? Have you seen them?” and coming to the conclusion that, no, they can’t both leave.)

Anyway I’m not going anywhere with this and it’s really rambly; I just think Echo and Tech are neat and that the only way you could get Tech to go help elsewhere for a bit is if he saw them safe, settled, and being able to get by without him there all the time.

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Customs guards removing 82 cartons of Irish Sweepstakes tickets from the liner America after it arrived at Pier 61, July 8, 1948. Sweepstakes tickets were sold all over the world, but were illegal in the U.S. Nonetheless, many thousands escaped discovery and the U.S. accounted for the majority of the tickets sold. The whole thing was a fraud—the money was supposed to go to Irish hospitals, but as little as 10% may actually have found its way there.

Photo: Anthony Camerano for the AP

[tinamybeloved]

[mrsoharaa]

Siren! Choso who brings you cute little thoughtful gifts of pretty seashells, glimmering pearls he had personally plucked from clamped oysters and a couple of edible fish's he'd thought you would like (if you were hungry or just wanted to impress you with his hunting skill). He's so thoughtful and full of adoration towards you! he has such a BIG crush on you and will do anything for you! he visits you everyday by the cove where he first met you, waiting by the shore, resting by a pointed boulder that viewed a bit of your near by castle.🥺🖤🧜🏻‍♂️🫧

[f1oatingaway]

KMAG RACE BAN 1 LESS HAAS FOR DANIEL TO BE STUCK BEHIND

[simplepotatofarmer]

I'm doing some writing commissions and even a few doodle requests!

[leechloach]

Oh my way back from a drive yesterday I swerved and hit a reflector and someone behind me, turned bc they saw and thought I was drunk and yelled at me while I was checking for damage on my car and they called the cops on my so I got pulled over trying to make it home and got pulled over. I did the brethalyzer which was 0.00 bc I was not fucking drunck or high on anywdrugs At All!!! I failed the feild sobriety test bc my balance is bad so I DUI while driving sober and spent the night in jail :)

[sentientcave]

WIP Wednesday - Impound

A little peek at that tow truck driver idea I was tossing around last week, for any interested parties

He shuffled through the papers deliberately. The sound of the cop’s rubber-soled boots squeaking impatiently on the dated linoleum floor was music to Simon’s ears. “Oh, of course. The squad car. Parked in a fire lane.” He tutted, shaking his head. “You’re lucky I got there before bylaw did. ‘S a big fine if they ticket you.”

They both knew that bylaw didn’t have the stones to ticket a cruiser. The fire department might, but they didn’t go around looking for trouble either. That was really more Simon’s area of expertise.

“You could have been impeding an investigation,” Price said, steely eyes narrowing.

Simon snorted. “At Ronnie’s? I fockin’ doubt it, unless you were investigatin’ how fresh the pastries were. Everyone knows that’s Laswell’s girl. Nobody’s stupid enough to cause trouble for ‘er.”

Price’s jaw was so tight that Simon was surprised his teeth didn’t start cracking under the pressure. He could almost hear the grind of enamel. “Fine. Just get the bloody gate open so I can leave.”

“Sure, no problem officer. Just a matter of the impound fees— Y’want me to bill the precinct directly, or are you gonna pay ‘em yourself?” He set the paperwork down on the desk top and fished the debit machine out of the top drawer suggestively. “Just need some I.D., if you don’t mind. Gotta keep things tidy on my end.”

Price snatched up the invoice. “One hundred and fifty dollars? Are you mad?”

“That’s the rate. Take it up with council if you’ve got a problem with it. You still gotta pay.”

Price was pretty near growling as he yanked out his wallet. Simon made a bit of a performance out of logging in the information on his I.D. on the slow computer, of punching in the total on the debit machine, and of checking everything to make sure it was in order. Price initialled the invoice where he was directed, pressing so hard it left a permanent indentation in the cheap veneer of the desk.

“Olright. You’re all set then,” Simon said at last, when he could drag his feet on the matter no more. He got out of his chair with a sigh, pleased to find that he stood a good three or four inches taller than Price, and walked out the side door without any further ceremony. Price was still standing in front of the desk, red-faced and angry. “Come on then.” Simon stopped just past the doorway, looking over his shoulder impatiently. “Haven’t got all day you know. Some of us have important work to do.”

He half expected Price’s head to explode.

Price stalked across the lot to his cruiser and threw himself into the driver’s seat while Simon went to open up the gate. The rev of the engine was the only warning Simon had to get out of the way before Price drove through it, cutting it a little too close for comfort. Simon raised his hand and wiggled his fingers in farewell, enjoying the glimpse of that furious blue glare in the mirrors before Price turned onto the road and sped off.

“Wha’ the hell was all that about?” Johnny asked, leaning out of the building, braced on the door handle, Roach a step behind him. “Ye pissin’ off the new police chief?”

“Yep.” Simon corralled the boys back into the office. “Fuckin’ hate cops.”

“Sure, but aren’t ye worried—”

“Not really. ‘F ‘e gets to be a problem I’ll talk to Laswell, get ‘er to put ‘er fuckin’ dog back on ‘is leash. Owes me a favour.” He snagged the singular tea out of the tray of paper cups and lifted it in thanks. “See you lads later. Goin’ home. When Kristen comes in to pick up ‘er shitbox waive the fees an’ tell ‘er not to park there again. Pretend you’re riskin’ your ass doin’ it, she’ll prob’ly give one of you muppets ‘er your number.”

Johnny and Roach looked at each other, and immediately launched into a game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who would get to be the knight in dirty blue coveralls. Simon let the garage door bang shut behind him, and trudged across the dimly lit space to the back door. The acrid smell of weed smoke hung in the air, thin tendrils of it still drifting across the bars of sun coming through the back windows. Fucking muppets, smoking up while chief of police was steaming mad on the other side of the door. And they thought that Simon was the one who needed to be careful.

[deadqueernoldor]

I feel like keralis should impound all stray named horses that he finds on the server and ask for ridiculous amounts of diamonds when their owners are like "I parked him there for FIVE minutes" "that was not a designated horse parking area, I am sorry"

[air-mechanical]

I've finished watching season 4 of For All Mankind and honestly, eating glass would be less painful right now. It's an excellent show, and there's so much to say about it. But,

Margo and Sergei. My god. My heart. I need time to come to terms with that. Thankfully there's the powers of denial, imagination, and Ao3.

Apologies while I post about them for a bit. Block the tag if you want to avoid spoilers or if you just don't care. These space nerds will kill me for at least a week.

New crossover idea that's plasma burst into existence: Andor and FAM. Dedra and Syril plan a mission with Margo and Sergei. I'll write it for my audience of 1.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

John Knefel at MMFA:

A partner organization in a large conservative effort to provide policy and personnel recommendations to the next Republican administration, known as Project 2025, has become a leading advocate for the radical position that the president should have broad latitude to refuse to carry out Congressionally mandated spending. 

The ramifications of such a policy would be wide-reaching and could potentially threaten funding for the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, or other conservative targets within the federal government.  The group pushing for this major expanse of presidential power is the Center for Renewing America, a MAGA-aligned think tank that has deployed several of its top figures to make its argument across right-wing broadcast and digital media. Its most recent salvo came in June, when CRA released a white paper arguing that a 1974 law restricting a president from unilaterally refusing to spend funds allocated by Congress — the so-called “impoundment” power — represented an improper break from historical precedent. Instead, CRA argued that the White House should have the authority to halt Congressional spending virtually at will.

“Congress’s use of its power of the purse to make it illegal for the President to intentionally spend less than the full amount of what appropriated was norm-breaking, unprecedented, and unconstitutional,” CRA senior fellow Mark Paoletta wrote with his co-authors David Shapiro and Brandon Stras. Paoletta and Shapiro have written op-eds advancing the same argument at The Hill and right-wing blog The Federalist.  Paoletta’s executive branch power grab is an implicit goal of Project 2025, the right-wing policy and staffing initiative organized by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. The Center for Renewing America is one of more than 100 partner organizations on Project 2025’s advisory board; its founder, Russ Vought, was the director of the Office of Management and Budget under former President Donald Trump and remains a major figure in MAGA media, in addition to being an open Christian nationalist. 

As Vought told The New York Times, describing his organization’s broader goal of remaking the federal government: “What we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them.” Although the impoundment power doesn’t come up in Project 2025’s policy book — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise — it’s easy to see how it fits in with the effort’s larger goal of transforming the federal government. A second Trump administration could theoretically withhold funds outright or use that threat to pressure career staffers perceived to be insufficiently deferential to the White House.

[...] Another CRA figure, who has advanced a radical theory of executive authority in other contexts, has also argued against the Impoundment Control Act. Last July, CRA senior fellow Jeffrey Clark also appeared on War Room to discuss his “fight against the administrative state,” in the host’s words. [...] Though it remains publicly unclear which departments, agencies, or programs a second Trump administration could arbitrarily defund, he’s already shown a willingness to use federal funds as a bludgeon in his own personal protection racket. During his first term, Trump tried to withhold roughly $400 million in foreign military aid in order to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to provide him with dirt on the Biden family, which led to his first impeachment. On X, Vought celebrated his organization’s white paper arguing against the Impoundment Control Act, which he promised was the “first of many” on the topic. 

Center For Renewing America, led by Russ Vought and a partner of The Heritage Foundation’s radical Project 2025 agenda, lays a foundation for Donald Trump to use the power of “impoundment” to ignore Congressionally-mandated spending orders if he gets elected again.

See Also:

Popular Information: The alarming new power Trump will claim in a second term

[pheere]

Genpei Akasegawa’s One-Thousand-Yen Note Trial Impounded Objects.

In thriving Japan of the 1960s, an artist decides to rebel against the westernisation of his culture by using banknotes as his creative medium. His art using Japanese currency as a medium was symbolically intended to undermine the value of the legal tender, injecting uncertainty into the sacred status of the banknote, revealing its illegitimacy as a protest against the country’s increasing proclivity toward capitalism.

Copying and tampering with the design of a ¥1,000 note, his work became controversial when in 1967 he was convicted for the crime of imitating currency. Despite two appeals, he was given a three-month prison sentence in 1970.

In his trial, Akasegawa pointed out, “Even if we know intellectually what the monetary system is, the ‘perpetrator’ – the currency – constantly overshadows us, clings to our work and our actions like eyelids to our bodies, and before our eyes, sneaks into our wallets/our beings, and aided by the speed with which it circulates despite our wishes, without time to look it in the face, wraps us in the long rope it drags.”

[weirdbabs]

​when i was younger i always wanted fangs and one of my canines is nice idk its not super pronounced or anything but it makes me happy and the other. isnt. and i never knew why until a couple of years ago when i went to my current dentist for the first time and they went oh wow you still have a baby tooth dont you