Katana snuffs out her smoke as she take a step up on the soap box. It hadn't been that long since her and Iestyn_ap_Llywelyn had recently told a story that she had hoped many had enjoyed. She looked up at the crowd and then down at the flower she held in her hand.

Good Evening.. She cleared her throat and then took a deep breath in. In this world of our there are many things and many people that are important to us. Sometimes in our hectic busy lives we lose track of those things, but they always lay in the back of our mind. Many people right now are spending time with their close friends. Others, well they might be sitting missing someone or wanting to be with someone that isn't there at the moment because they can't be, no longer walk our streets or any number of reasons that plague us.

To be quite honest, I'm not sure what has brought me to come here this wonderful evening. It seems quite the joyous occasion to some. A massive football game seemed to have been played just a bit earlier and those fans of the teams that won are probably quite happy. Katana gathers a smile. As are their pocket books if they placed the right bet.

I guess I just simply came here to ask a question. What is it to you to be who you are? Lifts the flower she holds in her hand and takes a deep breath. Is what makes you who you are the people you surround yourselves with? Is it what you strive to be? What about the things you do in a daily life? Another thing I think about is who or what you are only because of your past ancestors?

People themselves are who they are I believe, because of what htey have been through in life, the things they have done, the people they surround themselves with and well maybe even if they have that person that is so special they can say they love them. Katana catches a glimpse of Katie and Iestyn in the streets and smiles a bit.

I guess I am wondering to what each of you contribute what and who you are to? If it is a person, a crew leader, a god father or even a friend. Katana takes a deep breath as she lightly steps off the soap box and walks over to her friends that she has chosen to surround herself with, and those in Chicago that have aided her in ways she never knew people did and even those that not long ago moved to Detroit. She lowers the flower in her hand as she thinks of those to that helped her that recently passed.

Iestyn sees Katana looking at him for a second and smiles.

I am a crew leader to many and a friend to some but myself to very few. I mean being fully and 100% yourself. Sure, I can show a small part to most people and then have those close friends and "that person that is so special to them" that I can really be myself with and feel comfortable doing it.

Horatius clears his throat and steps up to the unoccupied soapbox to speak his mind.

Before I made the jump to this life of crime, I was quite the loner.  I spent most of my childhood in foster homes around the state of New York.  Numerous chances with folks I didn't even know, but nothing ever worked out in the end.  My teenage years consisted of nights in jail or out on the prowl in New York City, looking for my next score, drink or floozie to wine and dine.  I never kept with any friends and I never got close to anybody.  I was accepting life.  It was something I could live with.

One day, I finally did it.  I met a few Irish locals at a pub and became in good standing with their leader.  We took any two-bit job Cosa Nostra was willing to give us.  Robbing local businesses, heisting trucks; you name it, we were there.  My luck was soon to run out though.  We hijacked a truck of nice Italian suits and just when we though things were going well, a raid from the local police sent us all to federal prison.  

Let me tell you something.  When you're seventeen years old, spending the next eight years of your life in the can is the most horrific thing a teenager could imagine.  I'd rather die then go back there.

Horatius removes a silver flask from his pocket and takes a swig.

You'll have to forgive me.  I've been known to ramble on a bit.

As I am still a lowly nobody around here in Chicago, I've had a few folks impact me from the start.  My wise and benevolent boss, Kimble, was nice enough to make an investment with me.  Not a financial one, but an investment of chance.  He took a chance allowing me to work for him, when no other Caporegime would even look my way, he was there.  He's taken me under his wing and has shown me how to do things the "Chicago Way".  Along with his number two, SpuffWaffle, these two guys have really shaped who I am and what I can be under their tutelage for this short time in my life.

Fenris stood in silence listening speeches, quite a few serious ones have been spoken on the streets these few past days. Maybe it’s was the weather, maybe reflections in the light of recent bloodshed, maybe it was something in the air…He was not sure, yet he liked it.

He took a step forward and sighed, pretty unaccustomed to speaking in front of the crowd he still felt the jitters every time he was about to open his mouth.

Appearances…That would be sum of it in my humble opinion. Or rather combination of the same since very few are privileged to have just one for all walks of this life we lead. Nature of our business force us to keep the hand we are dealt close to the chest, letting only privileged few to take a peek and see all skeletons we keep in our closets.

This here Fenris spread his hands like he was hugging the street is how we like for the world to see us. Parts we play in order to get where we want. Clowns, killers, mystics, wise man, drunks and whores. Some more, some less true to our true self, face shown only to few trusted friends that have laughed, cried and bled with you numerous times.

Fenris shrugged

Yet this face we wear on the street is one stuck in public eye, either if we go from corner to corner chatting with people you know or just, like me now, Fenris smiles go and talk to strangers or finally some decide to muster the courage to stand on that soap box themselves. Whichever it is that is how majority see us and in the end treat accordingly.

I find ironic that largest pieces of who we really were are found in speeches made on our funerals by people that knew us outside street and coffee houses.

Fenris looks somewhat ashamed

Well I sidetracked a bit, but anyway those are my thoughts.

Steps back to give room for someone else

Greetings Earthlings!  Zerk is I.

Zerk come from the planet *O&(*&(&&(*.  Zerk is here for one reason and one reason only.  To plant Zerk's seed so that his race may suvive.  Any Earthling will due acually.  As long as you don't mind dying at the end of you pregnancy.

The classic competition of nature versus nurture and as we know these two elements converge and provide us with who we are today.

Like many of us here, my parents were taken from me at a young age - but I took from them my genetic makeup:  predisposition for some cardio-vascular diseases and an attractive form, topped with a robust chin and a crown of curls. In my youth I reflected over my father's journals. When I exhausted that end, I turned to his friends, most prominent would be then godfather of New York: TheDean. He was a lion of a man who commanded tremendous respect. He captured my father's complete loyalty and after meeting him, I understood why and surrendered whatever talents and resources I had to him.

Through my service to, camaraderie and friendship with this colossus, my eyes were opened to things my father and ancestors could never see and the difference is synonymous of: learning at the feet Aristotle.

Never a day escapes, when I neglect reflection of the lessons or mourn his retirement.

I personally am fairly fresh of the boat, however I found America unwelcoming in many places I have visited which has altered by attitudes and perceptions.  I entered this country as a graduate of the University of Catania with the intention to make money to help my family back home.   Slowly, I found my medical skills meant very little outside back alley clinics and emergency home visits of injured citizens.  Slowly what I thought would be paradise became a nightmare as I was shunned and shifted city to city due to where I came from.

What initially I wanted as security, I guess changed and will continue to change as I slowly work to equality however I see this as a distant future and slowly see my frustration turn to anger at people I only came to help.  This goes against my parent’s teachings and my previous teachings and every day here brings a new challenge.

I have rapidly found myself moving away from those I thought were friends originally as see many of them as mere parasites, as I attempt to establish myself among some of my father and grandfathers friends.  Personally I see something’s simple where I am, friendship, loyalty and a chance to further myself in ways I never realized and a reason to want to do so.  I think is the simple adage of wanting to be part of something bigger then myself.