Yellow Pages Back Door

 Was she the boss? On paper, when it came to the important things - sure. But she wasn't some all-mighty puppetmaster that kept the others on strings. So ... she screenshot the entirety of her conversation with Asha and attached the images to a group message.

I hope all of those came in order.

Our options, from what I gather, are as follows: We allow this, full well knowing it presumably isn't geared towards anyone but us. Or there's an almost guarantee that the little bitch is going to blacklist us from Crestview.

Considering your ties to the area, Kai your vote on this counts for two. Elijah I know you live out there too, so lmk what you think.

I can live without food trucks, but I want you all to be comfortable.

Alex / Lex / Gobshite

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Maybe he should have told Alex about his Crestview permit payment before this but wow this just really made him mad.

Was she just using her position to get money? Sure sounded like it to him!

But more importantly... he really couldn't afford to not live here.

She's already basically robbing me every month and if I get kicked out of here I'm liable to go try eat her face so.

Take that as you will.

Elijah

Fines were stupid but he liked his job and his house.
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Wait, what do you mean by that? Is she charging you to fucking live there?

She supposed it could have gone to a side text but at the moment she wasn't thinking of that.
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Yup.

Elijah

He started to feel a little dickish for making this known now, but he was officially in a mood.
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How much? For how long? What did she say when she instated this? Why would you not fucking say anything?

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Ahahaha, kill him.

400 a month since April. I think i just pissed her off by not grovelling hard enough. I didn't say anything cause I know you have grief with her and it felt like a me problem.

But now it felt less that way and yes he realized now EVERYONE knew his business but he officially didn't care.
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 Cool, this was his fault.
 Still, he tried to offer the most level-headed response he could, waiting to respond until the texts between Eli and Alex had slowed.

 He wrote out the beginnings of an apology and deleted it, nixing another that started with 'take my two cents with a grain of salt'. He was in this with them. None of them were perfect. He had to accept all of this and move on.

Let me know if there is anything I can personally do to rectify this.

Otherwise, if the situation was reversed, if the mistake had been theirs, would you be coming to Asha with this proposal? If a jaguar shifted and was safely contained without any deep ramifications, would you then go to them and charge them for their fuck up? Would that have been your first idea of diplomacy?

If yes, then sure. I say agree to the deal. If no, then I think it's an unfair target and she can go fuck herself.

Hen/Hendrix/Jimi

It wasn't like he was going back to Crestview voluntarily, anyway.

Between this and what she's charging Eli, it sounds like she's holding a fat grudge. I know there would be ramifications that would affect Shift Happens, but we have the other shop at home. I don't want to rub any relationships raw, but this petty bullshit isn't cute. I don't think we should cow to it.

Hen/Hendrix/Jimi

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When the flurry of messages came through, Fletch did not respond for some time; busy picking over and piecing together what Asha was saying with Eli's experiences and what he knew of King Jo the Jaguar wrestler. The more he considered the exchange, the less it seemed like a measured response to a one-off incident, rather the actions of an individual whose fortunes had taken a sharp and sudden upturn, who was now intent on using their power for extortion and revenge. It sat as comfortably with Fletch as a stone in his shoe.

All a bit Niemöller, this.

If she's already screwing the Doc out of $400/mo for living there, and now she's decided to capitalise on Jimi's accident, she'll push for more eventually. Creeping normality/democratic backsliding. Whatever you want to call it. Don't agree, don't like.

Do her pals know she's abusing her position?

Fletch

Would they agree and go along with her if they did?
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 She noticed the influx, frowned as she tried to wait for the most important party to the call. They were missing and so she wouldn't respond one way or the other in the official shit show until then. But here, then, it felt absent and poor to ignore everyone else.

Besides good Asha the only other jaguar I know is her dude or whatever, I guess mate. His name's Abraham, he's alright from my experience. A little awkward but seems less childish. But I imagine he's pretty far wedged up her ass atp.

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Dear Lord above, this was giving him the worst case of nerves he'd had in a long time. Because he agreed with them, he really did, this whole thing was very clearly vengeful and unfair and gross and he hated the precedent it set, and Fletch's mention of backsliding was worrisome and spot-on but that didn't change the fact

that he

lived here.

But he stayed quiet about that because Kai hadn't chimed in yet and she lived here, too, and there was nothing more he could add to the situation other than screaming in an articulated manner.

One point, though.

I know their medic. Guy named Frank. He knows about my situation.

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Though there was nobody else around to see it, Fletch gestured, palm outward as Eli's message came through.

And did Frank have anything to say about your situation?

Fletch

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With that he would sent a couple of screenshots of this conversation from early April, and then:

Radio silence since.

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As Fletch read through the exchange between Eli and Frank, he scoffed. It was at that point he reached for his cigarettes. Frank's inaction and silence told him everything he needed to know.

Suppose it's out of the question to suggest we take the moral high ground? Kill her with kindness - don't charge for any jaguar mishaps in Red Rock?

Fletch

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... And just live with her charging us unchecked? I feel like that sets a standard I don't necessarily want others to glean from us. Like it goes beyond just being kind?

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Depends what your relationship with the other Big Wigs is like. Just wondering if it's possible to spin a benevolent, merciful angle with the community at large, as opposed to a weak one. Show her behaviour up for what it is. Dunno. How popular are you, Gobs?

Fletch

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 Incessant dings from her cell phone would finally pull Kai away from the part she was working on, scowling. Surely it was important for the amount of notifications on her screen. It had better be. A few minutes of reading set a deeper frown on her face, and she would have to sit down to think for a minute or two.

 This was fucking stupid. This was Asha holding a crazy long grudge - which, like, sure, she could understand. It was a shitty situation, and she'd even said that she felt like Kai was the only one, among the coyotes probably, who treated her like a person afterwards. But this was getting ridiculous. It was petty and ugly and too much fucking work for the cranky mechanic.

Coyotes must leave a real bad taste in Asha's mouth. I'm pretty much 100% sure this is all about her news fiasco and then being banned from Larkspur.

Not an excuse, really, but I know why she's pissy I guess.

 Come on, Asha, why did this have to be so hard.

I say no. Both ways. This is petty and fucked up.

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She exhaled slowly as the final voice to way in came through.

I know you're not stupid but I have to be sure, you know what this means for Shift Happens - right? Like worst case scenario?

And if everyone really could just send me their absolute final answer, yes or no, we'll see where we go from there.

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Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh.

You want me to talk to her?

Not just for band and pard shit but like... her shop :(
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No.

It's great that she likes you but this isn't solely about you. Given the brunt of her problem seems to be me but clearly that's not all. She needs to be mature and reasonable with us as a collective.

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Alex was the leader and all but damn did Kai not like being told no. She frowned a little more deeply at the messages that followed.

No shit Sherlock. I'm just saying like maybe she'll actually listen to me. Or maybe I can be some sort of mediator.

Also I don't want to lose Shift Happens if at all possible, but I really don't like this deal she's trying to cut

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 He watched the messages come in, feeling weird for interjecting but doing it anyway.

How long till she starts charging you rent, Kai? How long till she demands a slice of the shop's profits? Talk or no talk, she seems pretty set in her bigoted opinion against all of us, regardless of her personal feelings towards you.

Hen/Hendrix/Jimi

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Don't get a fucking attitude with me because she's being a cunt.

I said I'll do what I can but it isn't intelligent to not acknowledge all the possible outcomes.

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Two senders popped in at the same time, and Kai thought for a second that she might rip her hair out, between Hendrix being a know it all and Alex being a fucking bossy bitch. She'd snap to her feet to go hide in the bathroom instead of texting in the middle of a garage.

By the time she got there, though, she'd run out of the burst of steam that hit her face upon reading them both. Whatever. Not her fucking problem then.

Do whatever you want

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He was about to toss his two pennies' worth in, but when a flurry of messages popped up in the group chat he merely exhaled a long plume of smoke in faint exasperation. Decided to abandon what he intended to put forward for the sake of mediation and clarity. Since the powers that were wanted this boiling down to a simple yes or no.

Stand by what I said before, Gobs. Don't agree, don't like.

No.

Fletch

These things rarely worked out well when you took the binary, hard-line approach. But that was not his problem.
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 Talk a walk, Meemaw.

No.

Hendrix/Hen/Jimi

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Hey, was someone free to come Old Yeller him?

Eli wrote several things and deleted them all. Nothing he could say here would change the fact that Asha deserved to be told NO, and that doing so was also going to screw him over.
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Understood. Waiting for Eli, in ten I'm going to assume that's a no, bud.

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He was entertaining some very uncalled for ways to solve this problem, and he hated more than anything that everyone else was right.

He agreed with them, but it was an awful lot like trying to convince yourself to take off your own leg.

I'm with you guys. No.

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Alright, thanks. For the record, I'll be as chill about all this as I can be and I'll show you guys the screenshots.

Thanks for weighing in.

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-screenshots here-

Surprise, she's a cunt.

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Anyone wanna come kill me

Surprise, he'd gotten his own direct text but screw that.
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Wow.

When's the ban kick in? I can come help you pack if you need it.

Or we can pool for movers.

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Jesus. What a stupid fucking mess. See what kind of bullshit she'd avoided by being a lone 'yote for so many years?

Seeing as I'm the special snowflake guess I'll help you move, Eli

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Moving wasn't even the half of it. Thinking about work was breaking his brain. What even could he do about that??

I'll shoove everything in storage while I figure this out, but help would be great. 48 hours is a... yup.

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Oh boy.

Toys out the pram, eh?

Let me know if you need to borrow the van, Doc. Won't shift big furniture, but can have it cleared so you can pack a home away from home til you get yourself sorted. Reckon that'd be easier than many car trips back and forth.

Fletch

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It was some hours later that Kai would leave the Extra Mile to go home, feeling a bit like she was walking on egg shells still despite her earlier anger. Crestview felt... empty. Like nothing. She knew exactly what that feeling was. It felt like Jo leaving Larkspur and never coming back.

Something's up. Crestview feels empty.

Was it weird to text Asha about it?
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Like zombie apocalypse empty or what?

Hen/Hendrix/Jimi

Help, he was new(ish).
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Oh, yeah. The guy she'd frowned at through her screen for being a know-it-all didn't actually know it all. Sorry Henny.

It's like... when you go into someone's turf, you can sort of feel it, I don't know how to explain it. Like static. And when you go in somewhere that's not claimed, you don't feel that sensation. That static isn't here anymore.

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Oh shit.

Thanks, Meemaw.
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Did she leave?

Fletch

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Wait like, exactly the same as Larkspur?

Sorry to lance that old wound there Kai, but this was major and alarming and more than either of those things: confusing as shit.

Does anyone have a jag they can contact to see what the fuck is up? I get this weird feeling Asha's not going to reply to me.

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Confirming that Kai isn't crazy. I'm going to talk to Frank.

Elijah

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Like Larkspur.

Unfortunately, the only jaguar she knew to contact was Asha, so... maybe she'd just sit on her hands and let Eli do the investigating.

Don't damage my crazy reputation, Eli.

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It was a brief sort of humor that they maybe needed right now.

Don't worry, Kai, I'm not that sort of doc.

Elijah

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Hey so talked to Frank and apparently their leaders left them without explanation. He doesn't know what's going on either but I've offered assistance if they need it and just... am hoping he'll update me if they figure things out.

I'm going to try staying put for now.

Elijah

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 He knew his recent track record was a little...stained, but jesus.

Is all of this because of us telling her to shove it? Or do you think something else is going on?

Hen/Hendrix/Jimi

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She's pretty thin-skinned in my experience but honestly I have no idea. Weirdly coincidental if not though.

Elijah

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Toys. Pram. I'd put good money on this being her response to being told no.

Fletch

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Wow, what the fuck?

I doubt we're the whole cause of a group disbanding, but we were probably the straw that threw out that back.

Way to fucking go Hen, you ruin everything.

Just kidding.

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 WAY TO POKE A SORE SPOT, ALEX.

I'm deciding to look at it that my stream is what put $400 a month back into Eli's pocket, among other things.

You're welcome, everyone.

Just kidding.

 See, he could JK too.
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