Vinco had walked into the middle of the sidewalk and looked about. A war was going on and he watched a bodyguard., another, fall to gunfire.He let out a disgruntled and disappointed sigh. He was looking around, despite the gunfire and, with mild luck, had found a somewhat worn soap-box. He moved it to the middle and began to finally speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen.. Please hear me out.. I am beaten and worn.. I've traversed and lived a good while, miniscule to some, large to others. I have a lot of things to talk about, but I'm going to be speaking a few points in general, as to avoid making this a very long speech. I have lived through a war as a member of The Lordship Company. I had survived through that massive war and in the aftermath, was asked by a fellow family member, the right hand of the deceased ClockworkAngel, Frank Sinatra, to set up. I had done so and had looked forward to helping rebuild the city of Philadelphia. After an hour of starting the crew up, I was made to clearly see the position as temporary by Bianca. I, at the time, agreed to it, and looked forward to seeing it through to the end. We talked a great deal and I had my hopes on at least a hand position, the left hand."

Vinco had moved on the soap box, still having a lot of things to talk about.

"Two weeks had passed as my time as a temporary crew leader came, and sadly went, as Bianca had reached the rank of made. I had given her the button and she had set up. It took a couple days to make the transition to her family as I had then sold my head quarters and made my way to her crew. I was told a day before that I wouldn't be getting that position as a hand, which made me, at the time, disheartened, but I nodded. I had placed myself to go on. Now, during that time of between then and now, I had found that the city I had helped rebuild turn sour, with recent events in mind."

The man had looked around, hoping anyone was still listening, but still spoke out.

"Over the course of then and now, I had encountered hardship with Bianca as I had to be convincing on promotions. I had eventually reached my current rank over a while of talking and earning it. I was sent to Detroit before I had reached my current rank, and was asked to, by Bianca, to help Quinten with the first family that was under Joseph Zerelli. I was considering myself a mercenary for a few days until I was asked to return back to Bianca's family. I had done so and was thanked for it, and paid for it, even though I had not asked."

Vinco was starting to get a little weary over this massive speech.

"From after that time to now, had been a rather unpleasant time, it was a bit of a blur until the recent events sparked up, and I have found myself disheartened. Conversations during that start of then to now, was taking a slight downturn as, it remained civil, turned to where I found myself more and more silent. I have found myself disconnected with my current family, and with the most recent conversations, I have shook my head and decided my plan."

Vinco had slowly stepped off the soap box, tired of balancing himself, and still spoke out.

"With Frank's odd passing, as I've yet to hear anything about the don's passing. I understand Armorbearer's actions that had taken the life of Jax Teller. I ultimately do shake my head at what he had done, but I understand why he did it. I have found myself in the similar circumstance of where he was, disconnected from the family, or the bosses of the city, by Bianca. I had never once, after I relinquished my crew from the start of this tale,  been really spoken with about the regards of doing more, and had just after instances of the small things, been spoken with, yelled at, reprimanded, and ultimately given a warning for things that should of been a right of me to do."

Vinco had shook his head still, and was on a large rush of adrenaline as he decided to speak a bit more.

"This is not the city I had worked for, but it had worked me. I am tired of giving my time to a city which the city head has no idea what to do afterwards with the recent war with Harry Rosen. I am ultimately tired of being left out of the loop after all I had in truth, done for, and helped build from the ground up. The right hand of Bianca's family, Althea, is on vacation, and the old left hand, Jax Teller, had lost his life to Armorbearer. I had spoken with Bianca on what she had planned for after the war. She had told me she had no ideas in mind, no intentions of helping others regain lost bodyguards, friends lost in this war. During the time of my stay in Detroit, before I was sent off to Quinten's family, I had to leave Bianca's family, under her orders, to join, and in the process of that, had lost a business warehouse, and all the money I had sunk into it to keep it afloat. I was told to keep going, and in doing so, lost every last bit of money in that warehouse. I've yet to see nor will see, any money in being refunded for this mistake."

Vinco, with only a few sparse words left, had smiled, something he hadn't done in a very long time. He had pulled out his gun, a small .45.

"I have decided, after a long, long battle of keeping my spirits high.. To have my gun pointed at the bottom of my skull. It will be a relief on me greatly, to finally relieve myself of this entire situation. I call myself insane to have kept myself this long, here, for Bianca. I have a great deal of more things to speak about, but I feel my time at hand. So with this last line to my life.. This last sentence being my last words in this life.. Clockwork Angel.. I am deeply sorry for what I am about to do, I am deeply sorry for disobeying this last order you had given me. I am sorry for no longer surviving."

Vinco, at this point, had moved his gun to his head, and pointed upwards from under his chin, and fired.

Tony walks up to the dead body laying next to the soap box and recognizes the victim. " I guess there is the first time for everything..."

It is disappointing to hear of the hard times Vinco fell on, so much so that he felt the need to take his own life. However, I will point out that nowhere in his speech did he mention that he had suggested anything to Bianca that he may want more responsibility. Leaders have to be aware of many things in this world, so trying to become a psychic is not top of our to-do lists. You want something? Find a respectable way to ask for it.

The rest of what he said is entirely an internal affair, so... with him being such a 'model member' as he so claimed to be, why is this dirty laundry being aired publicly?

Because he gave a lot and felt he got little back? Welcome to the mafia, son.

Gohan stood there, listening to the man ramble on about missed opportunities and people being mean to him. He couldn't help but chuckle a bit as Vinco mentioned that he felt he should have been made a hand. Gohan stepped forward to speak, only to see the man pull out his gun and shoot himself in the face. Gohan just shook his head.

Perhaps I shouldn't speak, as you can't hear me, but I would still like to make a few things clear for those listening in the shadows.

He stepped around the bleeding corpse and turned to address the crowd that had been growing since the sound of the gunshot went off. 

Indeed, Vinco was originally the leader in Bella Vista. I was in that crew for a short time, before Bianca took the reigns and I became her right hand. However, from my memory, the man was rarely - if ever - around on a day to day basis. For maybe one to three hours a day he would be around, the rest of the day he would be either off sleeping, or somewhere where our kind could not find him. And this "inactivity" continued when he joined Bianca. I was chosen as her right hand, and eventually a district leader, because I outworked the rest of her family, and because she and Frank felt that I was the best man for the job. But the point is not me, or why I was chosen, it's why he was not chosen, even for left hand, and how in the world he would even dream that he deserved it.

Gohan looked down at Vinco's corpse now, speaking to the dead man. He knew Vinco could not hear him, but went on anyway, hoping somehow his words might reach beyond the grave, or at least that his son might be listening somewhere.

Things are not just handed to you because you survive a war...well...your original crew was, but again, only temporarily. In your time in Philly you never proved to be anything more than a regular joe. Which is all fine and dandy, I love my regular joes, they are integral to the city's operations. But to be hand, you have to be trusted, dedicated, hardworking, loyal, intelligent, so many things that I, to be frank, never found you to be. Admittedly, I didn't know him very well, but if you really expected to be made a hand on a couple hours of work a day and no real relationship with those above you, you're absurd to have thought you would reach that position.

Since I left Bella Vista, I know for a fact that Bianca has picked her other hands carefully and chose those who best fit her desires and intentions to build her district, and Philly as a whole. You didn't fit in, and instead of putting in a bit more work and making any real attempt to stand out from the crowd, you decided to throw a fit in the streets and kill yourself. Not really the best course of action in my opinion.

Gohan looked down at the man with a look of sorrow. 

It is sad that you chose this way to go, and I wish your son the best of luck.

Rest in Peace. 

You make an extremely good point there about 'activeness', Gohan. For anyone doubting your word can easily go look for themselves.

Level: 35

Start Date: Jan 19, '13 02:19 (211)

That, in my eyes says everything you need to know about whether this person was active enough for a position that requires an extraordinary amount of time.

I'm happy to hear someone actually explain their reasoning rather than leave the world without a word to anyone. There's two options to leave a shitty situation, they both involve your gun and you'll be labeled a coward either route.

It's refreshing to know why this body in the streets, is a body in the streets. I have sympathy for you and your situation, whether that was the goal or not. You did the most respectable thing you can do in that situation, everyone knows there's only one way out.

Units are not always the proper way to gauge whether a person is active enough to lead. Some people are more..people orientated and focus on building the relationships before all else. Of course a good balance is always a plus but sometimes it is what it is.

It's not a wholly accurate way to gauge it Barqs... but 211 days old and 'level 35' is an EXTREMELY slow rank gain. Considering some of the people fresh off the boat can get to 30+ in 24 hours.

Even if he did absolutely no jailbreaks in those 211 days (which I highly doubt) the amount of time spent alive suggests he would be higher than 'level 35'.

Also...

Messages Sent: 177Threads / Posts: 1 / 1 (View Activity)

People person? That's less than 1 mail per day and he had never posted until this.

Yes, why don't we all keep bashing on some dead guy? 

This is so much fun.

Excuse me McLuvin? Where are we bashing him? Have we said anything that is not true? Have we called him any names?

We're commenting on something he said, just because he is dead doesn't mean I can't speak about him.

Why don't we all be snippy, smartass and sarcastic every time we speak in the streets? That is so much fun.

I don't appreciate the sarcasm you generally aim at me in the streets. If I'm totally honest, you're seriously beginning to piss me off with your constant chiming in just so you can 'go against me' in whatever thread. If it continues I shall be speaking to your boss.

Have you said anything about him that is not true? No, not really. Although you have called him lazy and you've welcomed him to the mafia(kudos for that, btw) I am sure someone who has been here for quite a while didn't know he was in the mafia.

Yes, you are commenting on something he said. Question, though... Why? You are not affected in anyway by his death. He is obviously someone who felt that something he once loved has been corrupted and then chose to just shoot himself in the face instead of staying in his Family. It is quite a common enough occurrence. He just chose to make a thread about why he was doing it. 

As for being a snippy, sarcastic smartass... I will make no apologies for who I am.

Please do not flatter yourself, I do not 'chime in' just to go against you. You just coincidentally seem to represent views that I hold repugnant in almost every thread and I simply express my distaste unlike others who murmur in relative safety. If you wish to speak to my Boss about me expressing my opinions, sure feel free to do so.

No one is bashing here, McLuvin. We are stating facts that you could see for yourself. I came out here to clear up some of the things he said about your boss. I felt she was portrayed in a poor way, and being someone extremely familiar with the situation, I decided to speak up.

As for what Barqs said - If you seriously view retirement as the "most respectable way" to improve and/or resolve the situation, I would have to question what you define "respectable" as. The most respectable and honorable way would be to speak to Bianca himself, improve his activity and relationships with the family. After that I would go with giving the plus one to a family member. Retirement/suicide is the least respectable way to go, in my opinion.

I, for one, do not question what you did, Don Gohan. Matter of fact, if I was closer to this man(which I cannot claim to be) I would have come out in defense of my boss. However, I take offense when people who are not impacted in ANY way whatsoever choose to come out here and call someone who I once shared a HQ with a 'lazy, non-social and pathetic leader'

Ok, maybe it was an "in general" statement rather than based off him. Sometimes units are not a way to gauge activity, although in this case coupled with other factors, maybe it is.

Why am I commenting on it? Because it's in the streets, therefore open for public discussion, if Vinco didnt want any replies for his son to read then he wouldn't have posted it here. Stop being so naive.

Also it takes a dig at someone who I consider to be a friend and competent leader from my dealings with her.

Funny... because every time I come out here Mcluvin, you seem to be out here snapping at my heels. You say not to flatter myself... I say don't blatantly lie.

None of the words you have just used to described what i said about Vinco are true. (I've just checked to make sure and I didn't). I brought information into this that is freely available to everyone in our world and gave my opinion on the stats. You don't like it? That's fine. Feel free to air your opinion to me by all means, but if you continue to use your sarcastic tone, be aware that I won't take it well.

Well, sure. It's out here in the Streets, you've expressed your opinion. Same as me.... or is it different because I am not you?

Again... if it was a series of different people expressing the opinions you've expressed over the time of all our 'interactions' here, I would have 'interacted' with a series of different people. Maybe it's just that you and I hold diametrically opposing views on this world and neither of us are scared to speak up? Maybe you know what I would say and you say just the opposite to make sure I come out here to oppose your opinion?

You have a problem with my tone and not what I have to say? Well, kk. 

Sometimes there is no talking things through, lines get crossed and someone has to be buried. The guns go off one way or another, either way they relieve their frustration on someone, why not themselves?

I don't know about you but if I felt myself gaining distance from my family and feeling disrespected at every turn, the last thing I would be thinking about is letting them train their guns on me. Sounds bat shit crazy in my opinion.

I have already explained why it is different for you Mcluvin... it's your tone.

It may be the case that we just hold totally different views on a range of subjects, however I don't believe it is at all.

Again, yes... would have no problem AT ALL with what you have been saying, I find it refreshing that someone is willing to give their opinions so forthrightly, especially as a lot of people when talking to someone in a bold suit dilute what they say to not cause offence. But I will NEVER take offence to your opinion, only the way is presented. You say that it's "just the way you are". That might be true, but you are not representing JUST yourself at the rank you are, you are representing your entire family and district.

Well, first off.... It is. I hold no personal animosity toward you. Kinda hard to believe, I know. However, I really don't. Matter of fact, I do find these exchanges to be quite enjoyable and entertaining. As far as I can tell, there is nothing wrong or evil with two people who disagree on a topic going at it. So, if that doesn't convince you that I am out here with a vendetta to keep going for your jugular, I don't really know of any other way.

However, I do realize the fact that you are....bold and I am not. Hence, I will henceforth, try to employ a tone of speaking that is more.... not me? 

vectre walks out of the shadowy alley slowly walking towards vinco's corpse looking down at it and says "RIP  old friend ive known you a very long time and sad it had to come to this" looking over to the crowd and says "sadly i knew this day would come, he confided in me how he felt the day before coming to these streets and taking his own life he told me he was distraught and disheartened to see all the work he did not make any sort of a difference.as time went on he grew more and more discontented towards his family seeing the work he put in become corrupted and also felt that everything he did got him reprimanded so he did what he thought was best in his eyes and became distant from his family and as time ticked he only grew more and more disheartened then confided in me he was tired of running from the problem and intended to retire saying it was the better option rather than keep on growing distant and saw that becoming distant wasnt going to solve the issue, as one of his oldest friends i stand by his decision and wish him well as for those who dont respect his decision i feel that i must respectfully disagree with your opinions." vectre sighs and looks down at his friends corpse and says "rest well" and walks off slowly towards the alleyway he came out of.

Timon lowers his head for a brief moment of silence before speaking.

"I thought things were well said by Orithyia and Gohan. When I first seen this speech, I didn't want to comment on it because I didn't feel that I needed to. I had a feeling that people would feel the same way about it as I did, and most do from what I can see.

First of all, rest in peace. I have no problem with the route you taken, it is way better then going out with your gun. At least you had enough respect for us not to do that, and I thank you. Secondly, I listened to your speech in full detail before you pulled the trigger. Like stated earlier, I see nowhere where you had a sit down with Bianca to discuss your future plans. Nor did you show her that you were interested to extend your workload. I'm fairly sure if you would have approached Bianca, she would have found something to get you involved in. That's just the type of person she is. Asking her what she had in plan for her district after this NPC war isn't getting involved. I'm also assuming you are asking Bianca this in the heart of the NPC war, which is very time consuming and crunching. If you wanted to talk to her about your future, you should have asked her for a meeting when she had more time to concentrate on the matter at hand.

But what I see the most of is a lot of lip and tongue biting. You expected her to share things with you when you can't do that yourself with your own crewleader? Biting you lip, not taking that extra step to show you're interested... Those to me are signs that showed how badly you wanted it. You never gave her anything to judge you from besides the fact you did whatever she asked of you, which isn't a fault. It's admirable. It's every CLs dream to have members that do whatever they're ask without question, while at the same time without just becoming another 'yesman' of the group.

Frankly, I feel that if you were going to make the claims you did that you would at least have the valuable evidence to back it up, which you clearly lack. Your presence in the coffee shops weren't much. Your messages to those around us, minimum. Streets? Slim to none.

But you think that you should automatically be placed in front of those who are busting their balls for the city? With the behavior and dedication you let us witness here today? I'm sorry, but I can't agree. You gave her no reasoning to why you should have be placed before others, only thought about it and never went to her directly to discuss it. I believe that is what bothers me the most about all this, you didn't even ask. I'm 95% sure Bianca would have done whatever she could to keep your interest. Might not have been a hand spot, but at least a job and step in the right direction of showing you cared more.

And I don't think anyone is bashing the dead guy, Flea. This gentleman took his time to come to the streets to be heard one last time, he must have expected to have others opinions as input. If he didn't, he would have just committed suicide without speaking his mind one last time."