Goten walked out into the streets of South Philly after finally settling in.  It had taken a week, but he finally got his new building painted, furnished and ready to go.  As he walked further out, he motioned for McLuvin and Kami to step up beside him.  McLuvin was standing on the right side and Kami on the left.

Hello everyone!  I know it has been about a week since I was given the chance to open my business here in South Philly, and I am sorry it has taken me so long to get out here, and address the masses.   First of all I would like to thank my big brother Gohan for believing in me, when many people wouldn’t have given me this chance.  I will do my best to make you proud, and never quit giving my all to you, and the rest of Philly.

Goten turned to McLuvin to make sure he was doing ok, and still had the attention of the gatherers.  After McLuvin nodded, reassuring him he turned to Kami next.  Kami just looked back at him with a smile.  Knowing that it was time to continue Goten looked back and started to speak again.

As I am sure many of you know, my father made some poor choices, and for that I am ashamed.  My father would never have came out here, but I am here to try and make amends for what he has done. 

Goten looks into the crowed and sees Lynch, and CaptainTeemo.  Getting a little nervous at the sight he looks down before looking quickly back up and continuing.

First of all Lynch, I would like to say I am so sorry for the blatant disrespect my father showed you by going against your orders.  You gave him many chances, I know this from reading his journals, and yet he still couldn’t listen to one simple order.  I also would like to thank you for having faith that I am not like my father, and will do my best to help the community.

CaptainTeemo, your mother was a great woman, a hard worker, and did all she could to help everyone.  She constantly was trying to motivate my father, and she never gave up on him.  She did not deserve to be shot in the back.  She had taken care of his business while he was off lolly gagging.  She had earned the right to set up shop, and so again all I can do is apologize for what my father did.  I am not here to ask forgiveness, but here to let you know, I am nothing like my father, and that I am extremely sorry for what transpired between you two, and himself.

Goten then took a deep breath, look around noting that the crowd was paying a bit more attention now.

Last but not least I would like to let everyone know that the Super Saiyan Crime Syndicate is now open!  With the help of McLuvin and Kami, I am sure we will be able to grow, and help Philly grow.  So again, thank you Gohan, and Timon as well for believing in me, and giving me this chance.

Kami had shown up as his boss ordered expecting an auth speech and was a little shocked at what he heard. He glances over at Goten again with a surprised expression on his face as he wasn't expecting this. An auth speech and then some. Shocked, but, also impressed. Kami knew a little something about the sins of your father staining your life. Everyone expects you to fuck up again which only made him more determined to make this life something his future children could look up to.

I'm proud to be at your (left) side, Goten. I'm certain that our fathers insanity in their last moments will not carry over to this generation of mobsters. We will do great things together with McLuvin and will help make Philadelphia shine as an example to the other cities.

The shames of our fathers can come back to haunt us, but if you recognize them as you have done here, and do not repeat such offenses, then I don't see you as bad blood. However, it is always rough to forgive. 

Gohan stepped forward from the crowd, and approached his younger brother. He smiled at him, proud of the man his younger sibling was becoming.

I must admit, brother, I find myself surprised that you have come out here today, and uttered the words you have spoken. Coming out here, in front of all of these people, and admitting to your father's faults, took something. It took a lot of something. It took balls. Something  I do not believe your father had.

Let it be known, that I do not condone the actions of your father. I have shown before, and will continue to show until my last breath, that the past of one's bloodline means absolutely nothing to me. There are people here in this city right now, who disliked my ancestors, and ones my ancestors despised as well. In my eyes, the sins of the past are but shadows and dust. 

There may be some who will continue to hold you accountable for your father's actions, and some that may never forgive you. That is their right. They are at as much of a right to hate you as I believe you are to have a chance to chance the perceptions of you. 

As I said on the day I gave you my blessing, you have proven to me to be the right man for the job already. And now, hopefully, you are on the path of proving something to all those who disagree with me.

With a last glance at the crowd, and a quick embrace of Goten, Gohan strolled away from the crowd, in search of a good brothel to empty his stress into.

Pardon if this is out of line for a Goomba to point out Mr Spike, but in this thing of ours I thought we were supposed to not judge a man's son for the actions his father took? I remember reading this in the journals handed down to me from my ancestors.

BK takes out a cigarette and lights it, taking a drag before continuing in another direction.

Nevertheless, a nice speech boss. Hopefully this will inspire some future businessman from this thing of ours to one day man up to whatever it may be on their mind as well. 

Philli_stein listens to what he can only see as the most unusual auth speech he has ever heard. After Goten finished, Philli walks over, and without a word gives Goten a nod and shakes his hand. He then turns to listen to the responses of others in the area.

"blumpking, you are correct, in principle. Unfortunately, in practice, it has been shown time and time again that the ole adage of "Like father like son" is only too true. For someone such as Goten, whose forbears did what they did, to gain auth after only this much time, is highly unusual in my experience. I would say that he has proven beyond any doubt that he deserves the spot he is in, and if he had not proven that he has improved on the work his father did by a substantial margin, then his words today would most definitely make me believe that he had.

So don spikeS is correct that the shame our parents bring on us can be very hard to shake. But today, someone has broken the mold, And i for one, am very interested to see what Goten does with his newfound good work."

I was going to take a spot on the ol' soapbox and speak my mind about this topic, but this might be the place and time to speak about it. Since I've made my home in Philly I've had 2 conversations with members from outfits outside of Philly, I won't name names so don't bother. Both of which spoke of my boss, Consigliere Goten, in a manner I can only assume stemmed from the actions his father took. One was even so kind enough as to toss in his two cents about his opinion of this great city I proudly represent, which I feel came from the same place. I'm sure this is common sense, at least from my perspective it should be, but grudges are bad for business. Should we not be putting this principle into practice, and teaching these things to the bright young faces lookin' to make a buck or a name for themselves on these streets? We are businessmen, and we should be taking care of this business' future, rather than setting a counter intuitive example.

I believe it's incredibly naive to ask or suggest that no one person is judged based on their father actions. When it's often the case that a person receives auth because his bloodlines connection goes back with the Godfather or crew leader giving him the opportunity as they "trust him." But nobody ever seems to oppose this connection to their forefathers?

Perhaps another thought (for another soap box obviously) is why people aren't taking risks on new blood? 

blink shrugs

First off, on the actual reason for this speech. Goten, I worked for your father, or rather, I worked for the Family your father headed. Your father was almost always nowhere to be found and I made my opinions about his 'rebellion' very clear, in almost every way that I could. However, speaking as a member of a bloodline which has been in a similar situation, I will never underestimate the value of a second chance. My blood was given a second chance by another whose help I will never forget, and I am just passing on the same trust. Believe me when I tell you, if it hadn't been for that bloodline, I would never ever have stood at your side. 

However, from my experiences with you, I can say with a remarkable amount of confidence that you're 10 times the man your father was(not Goku, btw. You could never reach the level of awesomeness reserved for Goku) and I am honored to be at your (right) side and I am sure that we will help South Philly reach glorious heights. 

Moving on to the interesting tangent that this conversation has taken, Yes, I personally do look at a person's bloodline as well as an individual himself/herself. Both in the positive and negative sense. It may be an inherent character flaw, maybe it isn't. It's just the way I think. So, I can understand why people find it hard to forgive Goten for his father's actions. 

Perhaps another thought (for another soap box obviously) is why people aren't taking risks on new blood? 

Yes, blink. It is probably the thought for another soap box but if you're going to say Gohan doesn't take risks on new blood, you're sorely mistaken. His first auth was a previously  unauthed bloodline, and after having his fingers burned the way they were, can you really blame him for his following actions?

"Yes, blink. It is probably the thought for another soap box but if you're going to say Gohan doesn't take risks on new blood, you're sorely mistaken. His first auth was a previously  unauthed bloodline, and after having his fingers burned the way they were, can you really blame him for his following actions?"

I'll be the first to admit that it probably more of a risk giving the opportunity to a person that holds no prior experience. I myself (and i hope Don SammyGravano doesn't take this the wrong way) was very skeptical of how well he would cope with the additional responsibility of leading his own crew having not previously done so. Thankfully he has obviously excelled at the position and provided a positive precedence for Godfather Lynch to give an opportunity to Zalitz who is also an unauthed bloodline and is also flourishing in the role as i'm sure your own run ins with him at the Careers doesn't surprise you. 

However as history has taught us to suggest there is no risk because of prior experience is clearly not the case. Toast was fairly inactive back in Detroit, Finnick even more inactive whilst here at West Side..perhaps 3rd time's a charm? 

Receiving auth is another case in and of itself in my opinion. Growing up my father was very adamant that I uphold the code I swore an oath to upon finding shelter with Goten, he taught me tricks of the trade, and as I previously stated I was given the journals of my forefathers. Not to say I'm experienced by any means, but coming into this life I had a basic idea of what was to be expected. I feel as though the older bloodlines of this thing of ours have experienced something similar, and therefore are "ahead of the curve" if you will. On the other side, you have the bloodlines who go rogue with no rhyme or reason behind their actions, skim off the top, or whatever it is they did. The same lessons I learned might go unnoticed to the perceived "bad apple" due to the example set by his or her father or mother.  

I was speaking more about the actions of Goten's father and the perceptions on Goten that came about from said actions. Before someone uses the point I just made against me. My bloodline has worked with Goten's for years and years now. Before this, his blood never brought shame to any outfit of any city. From the entries my ancestors put, I gather his forefathers were well respected men who put in the time and effort to earn the position that he himself has just earned. 

And my dear McLuvin, I do believe blink was referring more to the current state of this thing of ours, and not so much pointing a finger at Godfather Gohan.

I believe it's incredibly naive to ask or suggest that no one person is judged based on their father actions. When it's often the case that a person receives auth because his bloodlines connection goes back with the Godfather or crew leader giving him the opportunity as they "trust him." But nobody ever seems to oppose this connection to their forefathers?

Perhaps another thought (for another soap box obviously) is why people aren't taking risks on new blood? 

I am not asking. I am not suggesting. I am telling. I am the one person who's opinion on the man truly matters. I judged the man on his actions, and his alone.

However, you do make a point. It's quite obvious why I made Mikehunt my underboss. I knew that he could and would become the man his grandfather was, and knew that he would serve me well. I will not deny that in his case, his past was taken into account.

As for the new blood bit, as McLuvin stated, I took a chance on new blood. I got burned. I actually intended this next auth to be another person fresh to the role of leader, unfortunately it did not work as such, as the man had pressing matters in the old country. Do not mistake me for being once bitten twice shy. If a man or woman who's blood is new to the role impressed me as Goten did, I would have given them the chance.

Toast was fairly inactive back in Detroit, Finnick even more inactive whilst here at West Side..perhaps 3rd time's a charm? 

Goten was, and is, spending at least ten hours a day on these shores, doing work for me. I could care less how his ancestor's activity was. His activity is excellent. I suppose third time is a charm.

And my dear McLuvin, I do believe blink was referring more to the current state of this thing of ours, and not so much pointing a finger at Godfather Gohan. 

I'm not so sure. This is not the first time he has shown sarcasm and doubt in my decisions. Alas, as I  have already said, he has the right to have an opinion of me and the way I have chosen to run South Philly. I am not his godfather, he doesn't need to come out here and pretend to like what he is seeing, so I would not expect him to.

Apologies Gohan, if it appears i am questioning you on your decisions as Godfather i can assure you that is in no way the case. I know my own Godfather has spoken very highly of you on numerous occasions and to my knowledge your two bloodlines run way back too.

It's just when you finally feel like as a family you have moved on from a very distressing situation and time to then have all those memories resurface and come flooding back. Needless to say it sparks those same angry thoughts (and i was far from the most affected party member). In the interests of saying something that may get me in trouble with my boss, i'll just leave this speech.

Good day Gohan. 

I understand your anger, and realize the reasons behind it. The reactions of some were to be expected, and I am prepared for them. I had a conference with my close friend, Godfather Lynch, before ever authing my little brother, and was assured that he himself held no ill will towards the man. Had I thought my decision would effect the relationship between me and my close friend, I would not have went through with it.

Again, I feel for you and the others who have not recovered from the pain Finnick caused. And I thank you for not pushing the topic further.

Let's not dwell upon the past, and look towards a brighter future!