Justin had been sitting down next to the Detroit river a lot recently. These stupid mobsters who thought could control the motor town where getting showed how things worked around here, with a pretty unforgiving manner. During those thoughtful afternoons, watching the sun set down at the horizon, now used to the loud pops that created gun shots, he found himself thinking about the power dynamics and the way things worked in the mob world.

In the music industry, where he used to work before his music took a trip down the ratings, people where friendly and they seemed happy to be doing what they where doing. Of course, there where some exceptions, but mostly people worked hard and where motivated to become even better and help the people around them. Things seemed rather different around these shores thought, it seemed as if the top was only helping out the others on top, and no attention was given to new mafiosos. Maybe he was seeing things the wrong way, but he had a couple of arguments to solidify his point.

First of all, he hadn’t exchanged a single mail with his crew leader yet, and there was no intention from him seemingly to do so. It was Justin’s first time around these shores so he didn’t know if that was how every family worked, but it sure seemed odd. He was lucky enough to get acquainted with the family’s Right Hand Man, who took good care of him. Another thing that struck him was the fact that Chicago, well The Ivory Tower to be precise, was the only family who seemed to be around making fun events for the community to enjoy. It seemed as if no effort at all was put in by any other crew to launch something which might include the whole community and get their monsters motivated.

As his mind wandered off, he asked himself a question. Was he motivated. The answer was simple, he was not. It was partly his fault, he didn’t do anything to get really involved, but he didn’t know what to do, as it was his first time around. His mind wandered again, asking another question to which he hoped he could get answers : Are you, the person who is reading this, motivated, and why? 

After selling a full load of cocaine, Katy picked up her new pup Shaggs has brought to the headquarters that morning. She greeted the pup with much excitement. He replied barking which Katy took as him happy to see her. She leashed him and they took a walk through the park. As Scooby trotted around smelling that branch and this patch of grass, Katy people watched. Most faces were unfamiliar, but she was happy to see some folks she recognized. Scooby and Katy got to witness Zoom run down a fellow who appeared to pick his pockets. Scooby barked at Zoom. 

Good dog.

Katy looked Scooby in the eye as she said it and he did that dog thing where he cocked his head to the side and gave his best dog smile. After Zoom went out of their view still on the chase, Katy and Scooby continued on their walk. About three fourths through the park Katy noticed a man and woman sitting on a bench. They looked surprisingly familiar, but Katy just couldn't place it. One of them, the man, stood and asked the small crowd that had gathered.

"Are you motivated? Why?"

Scooby barked next to Katy and she shhh'd him with her finger, making sure she had eye contact with the dog as she did so. The woman that joined the man and asked the crowd.

"Does anyone give a damn about anything in these parts anymore?"

 Katy assumed they were talking about the criminal community and decided to add her two cents in. 

It's easy to come out here, look around and not see anything happening. To look to another crew or district or even city and see excitement. Last week I found myself at a street speech that had the subject of bystanders. What you are saying, @Justin_Tiberlake, reminds me of that subject. To not be a bystander you need motivation and confidence to strike out and stray away from the heard. To summarize my comments from that event to this one, it's easy to not do anything or make things happen. It's easy to look at your neighbors grass and say hey, it's greener than mine. 

From what I've seen in our world in the growing time that I've been here is that activity is on the up. Our streets are active, our cities are being invaded, events are coming from Chicago and our business districts are booming. In our way of life, you get what you put in and you teach that to your children. So after you die, if you didn't complete all your goals your next of kin knows what it feels like to have fire in their heart and hopefully they'll be able to complete the goals your bloodline has. 

Scooby barked, letting Katy know he was still at her side. She looked down at him and gave her pup a smile.

Everyone meet Scooby, the newest member of The Mystery Machine. He enjoys pets, fetch and long walks in the park.

Katy did everything to pull her attention from the adorable pup back to the conversation.

The effort I put into training Scooby will reflect on how he develops. The more training I put into him the better he will be trained and the happier both our lives will be. This motivates me. The more effort I put in for my boss and the crew we are building will reflect how successful we are. That motivates me. It's a ripple effect. The better The Mystery Machine is the better The Bronx is. I want to look good for Dovahkiin too. The better The Bronx is, the better New York is. I want to look good for CletusKasady, New Yor's Godfather Chairman. If I don't see anything happening I have two choices, I can be a bystander and *hope* someone else makes it exciting or I can put effort into it and do something about it. 

Justin, Janet_Jackson and anyone else who finds themselves not motivated why is that? Do you need people around you to be busy doing things for you to feel like you need to be doing things as well? 

Cherry had been walking by. She hadn't planned to bother speaking or even sticking around but as someone who was not motivated in this community she figured she would toss in her two cents on a question she had heard.

Justin, Janet_Jackson and anyone else who finds themselves not motivated why is that? Do you need people around you to be busy doing things for you to feel like you need to be doing things as well? 

I am one of those individuals that would be classified as not motivated.   For me, I do not need people around me to be doing things for me to do something, but I certainly need a damn good reason to put in the effort. As my ancestors journals told of all the effort that they had put in and the outcomes they saw, it just didn't seem like there was a point for me to do much else since the times are still the same.

However, on the flip side that is not to say that I do absolutely nothing and just take up space that my leader could spend on a better individual. I just feel that the outward effort is no longer worth it.

Scooby was sniffing a bush as Cherry approached the group. Though, she wasn't a woman to miss. Her long red hair flowed around her shoulders and made Katy think of fall and everything she loved about the season that just passed. She wouldn't be surprised if Cherry left a lasting impression every where she went.

Katy listened to the women contribute to the conversation and the training she had been keeping up with on Scooby seemed to be working. The pup stayed quiet and didn't disrupt. As Cherry spoke Katy couldn't help but think that a lot of people in the world these days felt much like Cherry. Ancestor journals were often times filled with excitement or lack of and that's why people refereed to them. It showed history where history had been forgotten. It was always a good reminder to the community. 

Oh, in no way would I ever blanket those who are unmotivated to the public eye are doing nothing. A warm body, a number to their crew leader. Speaking of leaders, I will always be a fan of seeing them appearing to be motivated in public. Lead by example, right. 

Scooby barked as if he were listening and agreeing. 

Cherry, I'm surprised by your comment that things are all still the same. My ancestry wasn't here while Disorder and company reigned over this world, but I didn't hear a lot of good things. Though, that always depends on who you talk to. Opinions and such. With what I did hear, that people were being killed just for breathing air while a rogue was out and about it sounds like times were hard. An opinion, even an innocent one would get you into a grave faster than a dishonorable action would. 

With Disorder dead and gone, how are the times still the same? Or does this lack of motivation have nothing to do with how the world ran under the last regime? 

And, because I just cannot help myself with the questions, what kind of damn good reason would you need to put in effort? Can you provide an example from the journals you have where your ancestors had motivation and why they had it? Maybe it was to support a leader they could really stand behind? Or maybe it's just simply standards. Were standards different then they are now?

Justin smiled. He was happy KatyPerry, an old friend of his back in the music industry, and Cherry had joined the conversation, and that he was now with his amazing wife Janet_Jackson.

”Thank you both so very much for your inputs. I will be focusing more on Katy, as I tend to agree with what Cherry says I except the fact that I’m behind most things she said, I don’t have much more to add. But Katy, you’re right, I could put more effort and try to spark things on my own, but the thing is I’m not motivated because I don’t feel important. I could create a bunch of events and not be important because most of the people around me don’t seem to care, take out a select few. As I said, no interest was shown to try and know me, let alone help my bloodline which is new to these shores. You could of course come back and tell me it’s my job to introduce myself and ask for questions, all that jazz. But is that really what being a Crew Leader means. In my head, a family Head should care for every single member in the family and constantly check if they’re ok, and if they need anything. I might be mistaken thought, as I said, I am new around here and I still don’t fully understand how things work.”

So many questions KatyPerry, where do I begin?

First I will sort out the confusion. I was not referring to this reign being the same as that of Disorder. They are different in their own ways. While Disorder's reign was very quick to the pull the trigger, this reign has other things that it is very quick on. Some could say they are trigger happy with all the deaths that have happened under this reign. However, my reference was strictly this reign alone, and not comparing to any other.

Cherry pauses briefly to gather her thoughts. She took a minute to consider the other questions posed to her.

I can pose you a few recent ancestoral examples where they had the motivation to put in the effort that has currently lead them to why I, myself, am not so motivated. These will be short as possible so as not to take up too much time with the past.

One of my ancestors had joined a leader that they had rallied to see bold. We will call this Crew leader CL A.

You see she had many talks with CL A. They had told her that they would be looking to have standards and implementing them. They spoke at great lengths the things that my ancestor were excited for and the plans they had thought to plan. So my ancestor joined them.

Things went well for awhile, but then the first slip of standards. Promoting a hand that had barely been in the family more than a couple of minutes. This individual had been through many families and didn't seem to know what loyalty was to any leader they were formerly of, so of course my ancestor saw some issue with that. 

They had discussed it. My ancestor had gotten some information passed to her regarding the person in question but it would be some time before that became a real actuality. Anyone can spread any information but seeing it for yourself takes some time.

Anyways all these standards that CL A had promised, never came. The standards began to slip and that CL ended up throwing away my ancestors loyalty for that of someone who doesn't know the meaning of the word.

Cherry rubbed her palms as she recalled that journal. The disappointment that had been coming from those written pages seemed to pulse in the air. Digging her nails into one of her palms she continued on.

The next ancestor moved on. They went to a completely different city. The leader was ready with lies dripping so sweet from their lips. All the talk of appreciating loyalty. After much hard work from that ancestor, she recognized the lies for what they were and eventually took her own life.

Shaking her head, she turned her attention to KatyPerry.

So as you can see, there were some sour tastes left to contend with. These all left me with my own questions when I came to shore such as, How much effort was I willing to put into a community that seems to have swayed so far away from important things such as loyalty? What was I willing to provide to the leader that took me in? What should I expect from that leader? These are just some of the questions I needed to ask myself to figure out where the best place for myself was.

At the end of the day this was never going to be where I was supposed to be.

Waving her hand around the streets where they were standing.

The effort to be out here was more than I was willing to give. However, some conversations just beg to be answered. They pull at your mind until you can't help but to speak up.

Cherry turned her attention to Justin.

It is indeed frustrating when no interest is shown towards you. I always stress that people should take a look at all the options, gather as much information about the families and then decide. Not all families are ran the exact same way. I am sorry that you feel like you have no motivation.