This week we have an annonymous prompt: Allowance

Jun saw the Verizon bill and nearly choked on her sandwich. She immediately went looking for Jinpei, finding him watching a video on his iPhone. "What part of no more data use do you not understand?" she snapped, waving the bill at him as he raise his eyes from the iPhone screen. "Even after I told you to get off that thing, you used up another 10 Gigs of data over our plan! That's another $150 and its coming out of your allowance!" Jinpei did some quick math. "But that means I won't have any money for ten weeks!" he whined. "Nor will you have this until you pay me back." She snatched the phone from his hands, shutting it off. "Neechan!" Jinpei screeched as she walked away. She was going to lock it in the J's safe. Tough love was sometimes called for.

"What?" Dr. Nambu's eyes bugged out as he read what was in the report. "They've done what?" "Now, now, Kozaburo." Director Anderson appeared amused at the younger man's distress. "They're just children. Allowance must be made..." "Allowances?" Dr. Nambu's voice became shrill. "With an allowance like this, they'll bankrupt the ISO!" He shoved the report under the Director's nose, a small part of him internally pleased to see his superior blanch. "Oh my!"

BR: I see the reach of the evil Big Red V even extends into the Gatch world! TJ: Are you sure they weren't just talking about Ken's tab?

Becky -- you just reminded my why I'm thankful we didn't have smart phones in the '90's! My niece had moved in and, in spite of the calling plan discount, she ran up a $60-$80 long distance bill every month! (After a couple of months -- and the threat to just let the phone service be cut off -- she started paying.) TJ -- I'm kind of afraid to think what they could be blowing the cash on!

That came from experience. My son has a job, but he has yet to figure out we're not his bank or credit card. TJ- I, too, am afraid to see what they were up to. Charging things to the Chief's account, no doubt.

BR: I have no doubt! Cell phone charges and data limits are total ripoff's though...

I have no idea what they were up to, but I'm sure it's horrifying!

BR-excessive phone bills are still threatening Korean parents. Americans do not?? Because online game companies sell items to the users,(installing game is free, but superior weapons and armors are not free) so many students buy game items via mobile phone payment system. They also buy online Manga tickets or movie(Mm...yeah...skin-full movie) downloads coins. TJ- Besides allowance, I really wonder how much they'd paid for their work!

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Redbird, I was thinking of the Gezora episode as well! It seems like Jun has her wits about her!

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Poor Jinpei! He actually wants to go to school because the J has changed so much. (Not that I blame him for not wanting to do the extra dishes!). I'm intrigued....wonder what Jun wants to talk to him about.

Originally posted by Redbird I'm intrigued....wonder what Jun wants to talk to him about.

I could hear the Music of Impending Doom in the background!

Originally posted by Transmute Jun Redbird, I was thinking of the Gezora episode as well! It seems like Jun has her wits about her!

Brilliant minds and all that, TJ!

Originally posted by ElectricWhite

Originally posted by Redbird I'm intrigued....wonder what Jun wants to talk to him about.

I could hear the Music of Impending Doom in the background!

Yeah and I don't think you mean the "Demon 5". LOL.

Originally posted by Redbird

Originally posted by Transmute Jun Redbird, I was thinking of the Gezora episode as well! It seems like Jun has her wits about her!

Brilliant minds and all that, TJ!

Originally posted by ElectricWhite

Originally posted by Redbird I'm intrigued....wonder what Jun wants to talk to him about.

I could hear the Music of Impending Doom in the background!

Yeah and I don't think you mean the "Demon 5". LOL.

Not unless they've REALLY gone downhill!

I don't think it's Jun on the stairs. After all, does she have a 'heavy' footstep?

Could be that it's more than one person coming up the stairs too...

[quote]Originally posted by rachel BR-excessive phone bills are still threatening Korean parents. Americans do not?? Because online game companies sell items to the users,(installing game is free, but superior weapons and armors are not free) so many students buy game items via mobile phone payment system. They also buy online Manga tickets or movie(Mm...yeah...skin-full movie) downloads coins. Hi Rachel. The problem I've had with my son is he doesn't seem to understand going onto sites and watching videos that are 'free' uses up data tome that we are charged for. A half hour video may use up a Gig of data or only a tenth of a Gig but there's no way to tell half the time beforehand. He also uses his online game systems, which uses up data. A few hours of play may use a Gig or 2. I'm sure the problem is universal. It's all a big racket and rip off.

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Becky: He's lucky she doesn't blow his phone up. TJ: LOL, now I really want to know what they did. EW: I love how you've Gatch'ed all the location names! And leave it to Jinpei to immediately get himself drugged. Hopefully Jun's savvy enough to be faking it. All of this seems rather convenient, after all, heh heh. (the Gezora episode came to my mind too, but I wouldn't have remembered the name if the others hadn't said it!) KT: Uh oh ... *queue Jaws music!*

Chris - I don't know if Nambu will be finding out about Joe and Ken too soon, I think Adam will 'persuade' the others to keep their mouths shut now Joe knows what's going on between Jun and him.... I'm pleased Joe got a result in the race though, getting 3rd on his first time out is pretty good going

Originally posted by ChrisW EW: I love how you've Gatch'ed all the location names!

Thanks, Chris! Maybe it's the perfectionist in me, but I think that, if you're going to set a story in the Gatch world, you should make it the Gatch world, doggone it! Having said that, I found it relatively easy to do -- I just used the original Native American (or should I say "Native Amerisian"?) names for most of the places (DC was the only place where that didn't work...and I'm not surprised one bit.)

LOL. I like the banter between Adam & Joe. And check out Joe protecting Jun!(Though they might be right when they said she might not need protection!) Joe actually placed in the race! Yay! (Do I dare wonder how many others were in the field? LOL) I don't think the team will tell Hakase about what Joe said regarding Ken. At least, not right now anyway. Might come up later though. And probably at the worst time possible!

I like how Joe said he doesn't get it, either. Love happens. Don't question it. Just accept it.

I figured if Joe has a bit of a gift for racing, maybe he'd do okay in his first race, but not TOO good. And I'm not sure how many there were. I suppose if it was 3rd out of 4 he'd have remarked on it, hehe. I enjoy writing banter. It's so fun when it works. You gotta figure that even at 14/15, Jun has to be kinda formidable if she's training to be their explosives and computer expert, given that they go to war when she's 16!

And after years of martial arts training, she'd be good at taking care of herself.

This is continued from Prompt #118- Forgot. Heheh. ************************ Prompt# 120 Allowance It was late on a Sunday morning and Joe and Ken were sitting at the counter of the Snack, when Jun came creeping down the stairs, trying not to make any noise. "Guys, I've got to talk to you!" Jun whispered, quickly leaning across the counter, her face pale. Ken paused, his BLT raised halfway to his mouth. "Sis? "Jinpei called from upstairs."Sis, where are you?" Jun bit her lip and closed her eyes. "It's about Jinpei. I think there's something wrong with him!" Ken and Joe's eyes met as Jun glanced over her shoulder towards the stairs. "What do you mean there's 'something wrong with him'?" Joe asked, setting his coffee mug down on the counter. She twisted her hands together, fingers twining with each other. "He's been acting really weird lately..." "Jun, this is Jinpei we're talking about..." Joe reminded her. "No, I mean really weird...." Ken frowned and took a bite of his sandwich. "Is he sick?" he questioned around a mouthful of food. "No. No, it's not that kind of thing!" she told them, starting to sound annoyed. "How do you know that?" Ken asked her. "When did this 'weirdness' start?" Jun was about to answer him, when none other than Jinpei came bounding down the stairs, feet thumping madly. "Hey!" he exclaimed, seeing them all at the counter. "What're you all doing down here?" "Eating, squirt." Joe said taking a sip of his coffee."What's it look like?" Jinpei eyed Ken's plate and the half-eaten sandwich that lay upon it. "You got money to pay for that, Aniki?" he asked suspiciously, skinny arms crossed over his chest. Ken almost spit out his food and his blue eyed gaze slid helplessly to Joe. "Hey man, " his friend shook his head, holding up a hand to him. "Don't look at me, I'm all tapped out." "Oh for goodness sake, Jinpei!" Jun scolded him. "Just drop it..." "But Sis..." "Don't 'but Sis' me." she said crossly. "Have you picked up those things from the store like I asked you to and done those other errands as well?" "Ummm...well.." Jinpei stammered, glancing at the tile floor. "Well, then!" Jun said briskly. "If you want to get your allowance, I suggest you get started." "Aww, man..." her brother complained, pulling a face. "Go on!" she pointed to the door, her other hand on her hip. "Get going...!" "Yeah, yeah..." he muttered and headed for the door, mumbling something about being an underpaid slave. The three of them watched him leave, the door banging shut behind him, the chimes jingling madly. "I dunno Junie." Joe shrugged lazily, facing forward once more. "Seems like Jinpei's acting pretty normal to me." Joe eyed the rest of Ken's untouched sandwich. "Hey--you gonna eat that?" Ken started to push the plate towards him, then stopped. "You'll have to pay for it." he smirked. "Jun doesn't allow the sharing of entrées..." " Entrée?" Joe snorted. "It's a sandwich not an entrée." "Would you both stop it!" Jun cried, banging her hand on the counter, making them both jump. "Sorry Jun," Ken apologized, pulling his plate back towards him. "I have to agree with Joe. I don't see anything wrong with Jinpei." "Of course not! Not right now she cried. Joe rubbed his forehead, as if feeling a headache coming on. "Then why don't you just tell us what's been going on..." "I've been trying to..!" "Jun," Ken said seriously. "What's going on with Jinpei? Is this something we need to tell Hakase about?" "I don't know...I...I don't think so." He looked at her expectantly. It was the look she was used to seeing him wear aboard the God Phoenix, when they were on a mission. The look of the Commander. She sighed, pushing a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. "You are both going to think I'm crazy. But...it began a few weeks ago." "Weeks?" Ken questioned, sounding surprised, while Joe reached for the newspaper behind the counter. "Yes, weeks." she repeated leaning on the counter. "It took me a bit to put it all together, but it all began after he went to see that movie marathon at the local cinema...you know all those monster horror flicks that he likes." Ken frowned, brows furrowed together. "A day or so after that, Jinpei told me he wanted to help out more around here--to be honest I was ecstatic. There's never enough time to do chores properly, so when he offered to start doing the laundry more often I let him." she paused, then continued on. "It was shortly after that, that I started noticing that my socks were disappearing. At first I thought I misplaced them, or maybe that the washing machine ate them, but then I found they were all gone." "So....wait. You think that Jinpei stole all your socks?" Ken asked slowly. "Just listen....!" Jun pleaded. "I bought more, and they disappeared too. And some of my spare shoes started going missing! Then he started doing the weirdest things. Like asking me if I was going to get a pedicure anytime soon, or when I was going to paint my toenails." Ken just stared at her blankly, vague realization dawning in his brain, and in the background he heard Joe's newspaper rustling suddenly stop. "And then, the worst thing happened." Jun said in a low voice."He said that he wouldn't mind seeing my toes and said he'd paint my toenails for me!" Just then Joe began to cough madly, choking on his lukewarm coffee. "I really need to get going." he managed to croak out, thumping the center of his chest with his fist. "I have no idea why he's suddenly obsessed with my feet! Guys, it's creepy!" Ken only chuckled to himself, fighting to hold back the laughter that threatened to burst forth. "Honestly, I don't think you have anything to worry about Jun. You know how Jinpei is. He probably saw something in those movies that piqued his interest.......like a person with..... oh... extra toes or something." He ignored the death glare that Joe was shooting him from out of the corner of his eye. "You know," Ken continued as he got up from his stool. "You should ask Joe about extra toes, he knows all about them." He slapped Joe on the shoulder, his hand biting hard into his second's shoulder. "Right, Joe?"

I nearly forgot about that, RB!

LOL, run for your life, Joe! Or ... Jun could find it funny and get in on the joke. At least Ken's not letting him make a get-away ...

LOL. Thanks guys! We'll have to wait and see if anything happens to Joe after this!

ROTFL! Oh, I'd forgotten about this, too, RB. Joe is in trouble!