Stepping onto the wooden Graham's crate, almost losing his balance when erecting, JohnMytton addressed the crowd

Before I start: Let's say that there are several reasons why I can have some details wrong:

First.. Part of my information comes from hear-say through my mother or father. Then, second, part of this is what I saw myself, from the outside. And finally, factor three 'till sixteen are the fourteen bottles of port I drank over the day.

Whilst I could have been doing some foxhunting with my many dogs, I have decided to climb up this empty port crate for a couple of reasons, none of which are claiming attention, fame or being salty. There are two true causes:

One..
I emptied it. It was good. Graham's always is.

And two..
I want to tell you a story. A story about something extraordinary that happened lately and that I feel should have deserved more, or should I say any?, attention on these beautiful streets of ours.

Let me take you back to August the 27th. New York was entirely overrun by the other cities. Well.. not entirely.. One small crew of indomitable men still held out against the invaders. And life was not easy for the soldiers of other cities who garrisoned the area around Awakened HQ.

What was supposed to be a simple takedown ended in a massacre. Garou had reacted swiftly when he noticed suspicious activity and over the spell of numerous days, this led to an insane amount of Made Men, Leonards, Dons, Capo's, Godfathers and Consiglieres that were left dead on the streets at the 'little train' of Don Garou, Goomba CLO, many rebirths of the incredibly rapidly reproducing @I________I________I_  and the casual proer passed by. Somehow, with all armed forces from all five cities combined, they still could not sidetrack Garou's machine.

I must say that I am not aware of the hunting techniques used, but when I go foxhunting, I always use an incredible amount of dogs, to outnumber the single fox I am looking for by at least twohundredandninetynine. It's highly efficient. The hunt for Garou clearly was not. I am not sure how he did it, as he seemed to always stay two steps ahead. It even led to crews sending their Made Men away from the Headquarters to get demoted to Wise Guys, just in order to stop the killing spree under Made plusses.

Hunters got tired, huntees got tired. More and more voices went up to start negoatiations for Garou to keep his Headquarters, his district or his city. Behind the scenes, negotiations started and the outcome was a truce.

Garou kept his Bronx as Dagda and Squirrelly-Dan occupied the the districts of New York. The three leaders seemed to bond well.

To the surprise of some, the truce held..

For almost three days, that was.

ChristOnACracker decided to disobey his leader's order and ended the truce by what was said to be a fluke kill, killing the warrior Garou, creating the legend.

I know, and maybe we all did know, there was always someone who felt the urge to revenge what happened, the regime or their forefather, so maybe it was never to be a success. Yet I somehow hoped noone would be so cowardly to shoot him after the truce was signed. On the other hand, people also hope I don't walk into a meeting riding a bear.

What can you do about it, right?
All in all.. If anyone is still awake, I would like you to voice your opinion as I will get back to reducing my stack of port by consumption myself.

Did you believe the truce would hold?
Do you feel our community should allow truces at all?
Do you feel there is correlation in the truce, the ending of it and/or the takedown of Las Vegas, that again, as seems customary these days, ended in a war?

Thank you for your time

JohnMytton stepped off his port crate and walked towards his favourite horse to share a bottle of six grapes Graham's with him.

Mickey straightens his tie and smooths back his hair before approaching JohnMytton. Although a man of obvious latin descent, he spoke with a slight southern accent that seemed to suit his character more, like that time he had been portrayed by Matthew McConnaghey in a Movie about one of his more famous cases. He'd had the dubious honour of representing the man in an LA County Court case a few years back with the dreaded 'Double S', Solicitation and Sodomy, but had managed to secure him a plea deal of Community service based on supplying a client list that included the Police chief and some local politicians.  Thankfully John had either not fallen foul of the law since, or had secured himself alternative representation. Still, it was no wonder the man had an addiction to Port.

Mr Mytton, how good it is to see you again, and under marginally better circumstances. I had the good fortune of representing the Late Mr Garou in his legal matters, and had the undesirable misfortune of having to execute his last will and testament following his demise. I had spoken to Mr Garou at length regarding the proffered truce by Mr Kenobi, and voiced my concerns as to its honesty and legitimacy having not been notorised mor approved by a court of law. Garou however understood the risk he was taking, and after 5 days of fighting almost single handedly against overwhelming odds against FOUR cities, the man was plain tuckered out. Truth be told he needed a break. He was well aware that the truce would not hold and that eventually it would either be broken by one of the involved parties or a disgruntled individual. 

I believe the thing that would have given him the most displeasure though, was the stupid reasoning given by ChristOnACracker for taking his course of action, which seemed to point to Mr Garou as being some kind of distasteful Rogue, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth. He was a legitimately authorised Crew Leader and Family head in New York, who had simply had the audacity to stand up to the assassins when they had called to purge his city. Despite the loss of several friends and allies, he never waivered, never faltered, and gave it his all, fighting his foes to a standstill and forcing them to sue for peace, given that they had proved most ineffectual in removing him from power. To insinuate that this is a way off life and that ChristOnACracker was on some kind of holy crusade to right the wrongs perpetrated by my client is completely and utterly disengenuous to Mr Garou, when if anything ChristOnACracker should have targeted his own leaders, for if anyone had committed trespass against the sacred ordinances of La Cosa Nostra, it was they in seaking a peaceful resolution to a war which they had started and were unable to win.

Sorry for my proselytization, I did not deign to speak with such verbosity, but I felt that I needed to atnleast assist in setting the record straight for a man that I personally have a lot of admiration for. Seldomn do we engage with individuals like Garou in this thing of ours, but in a few short weeks we have been blessed by the appearance of 4 such individuals, hoplessly out numbered yet prepared to go above and beyond to fight the good fight and not simply go quietly into the night as some have done.

My father had no steak in this at all.. MMMMMmmm Steak..  I mean my father had no stake in this confrontation and he believed that peace offerings in this particular situation should not be allowed. Never a time in my father's journals have I seen a peace offering in such a situation work out for both sides to live happily ever after. 

This is a prime example of why it never works out, even if the leaders are on board, it doesn't mean a mobster with a either a grudge or in this case someone upholding a set of standards that have been steadily slipping. For many of us, we remember a time when a made button meant something, and shooting at someone in city regardless of the situation is met with sure death. This situation has always meant sure death for any mobster on the other side of an overwhelming force. Garou should have kept fighting to the death, and would have surely been remembered as a hero. Now we have this odd situation in which Garou is no longer the focus but rather the situation itself is now the focus, as it is so irregular that it should warrant attention and concern for all of us.

It was the cards they were painting the roses red and The Red Queen went ballistic. She ran out shouting "Off with their heads" . Well one of the cards, named ChristOnACracker, apparently took this command to heart and chopped Garou's head off.  This has put me in such a state of disorientation I have decided to live in an apple. That apple is bright and golden.  All I know is that Garou's peace treaty was an impossible thing, so now we have 7 impossible thing before breakfast that can happen. 

Were many that miss out Garou, a true legend got killed in a bad way, but it is what it is so just to shake of it and go along and take new grips and haiving fun again.

Garou did well both when it was a war and also very good when taking in a peace to try to save the game better but it didnt worked but heads up for all Garou did.

Thank you all for stepping forward and agreeing with me.. I mean, sharing your opinion. My horse is too drunk to go foxhunting now, so I will take the opportunity to reply to you all.. Or some of you. If you don't mind me pausing from time to time to consume what the horse couldn't take anymore, that is, of course.

Let me start of with the fact that I am delighted to see Lincoln_Lawyer present. The streets are a lot safer, in the justicial kind of way, with you around, sir. It's good to know there is someone that, in the hypothetical case of me crossing any thin borders of the law when it comes to insulting, slander, scamming or mutilation, there is someone that can hold my back. Apart from your presence, I would also like to thank you for sharing the information you have held about Garou's ideas of and about the truce.

Personally, I have not been aware of the reasoning ChristOnACracker had given about his actions, but hearing them, I must agree with you that those are ridiculous, abject and infame. I agree with your assessment on who he should have targetted instead, if he disagreed to what had happened.

Then.. words I never imagined I would pronounce: Dear Monster.
There, I did it. My mom would be proud of me. Although I must admit that my personal history of actions made the treshold of her being fond of me rather low. Monster, you somehow are indirectly  contradicting yourself as you say Garou did not deserve the Bronx because he knew how to fight, whilst many of the other families, the current regime, apparently do not. Would that not make him more than suited to be a leader of a district or a city? Your conclusion makes no sense. The truce ended the war. At that time, Garou was not dead. ChristOnACracker rogued, shooting an authed leader. The way you say it we could also compare it with Germany, which, because of their current existence, their survival, have in fact won The Great War. I think that is isn't totally truthful.
Of course, truces are tricky, as your grandfather's history showed. But we all remember November the 11th of 1918, do we not? Personally, I am happy that neither the Axis, nor the Allies decided to take up arms after signing the truce, so we can live in peace for many decades to come.

Snacks, I am glad you enjoy your steak. Personally, I prefer to drink enough port to gather all nutrients needed to get through the day. It lends rather nice side effects, too. For example, you get great ideas, like setting yourself on fire to cure hiccups. But I wonder, Snacks, have you seen anyone ever live happily ever after? Is that not just a fairytale expression that will never be realistic? But I do see what you mean, and maybe he should have fought on, although the lawyer mentioned that the wearing battle had totally worn him out. Maybe it was a gamble to sign the truce, yet maybe it was his only option, too? Like Tutte said, basically.

When I shift my attention to you, AliceLiddell, I am eager to reply by agreeing only. That, what you said, is the proper reason I do not take non-liquid breakfast, I like the impossible things to be spread out over the day, so I can experience them all they long, in a woozy state of mind.

As Carl von Clausewitz once alluded, the only possible justification for the temporary cessation of violence within a war is the side halting the violence to gain an advantage by shifting things to a better time.

Squirrelly-Dan hadn't been to the streets much lately.  He was delighted to see an interesting discussion started by his very own JohnMytton.  

"Sirs, to answers your questions bluntly - I hoped the truce would hold.  I believe our community should, and the last question is too loaded to answer."

SD hacked on his dart and adjusted his suspender straps.  

"The answer for these is simple and really comes down to one thing - respect for the leaders of the community.  When I was just a young goomba - I would have done whatever my leader Bosco had told me.  Whether I agreed with it or not - it doesn't matter.  Gangsters live and die for one another whether they agree or not.  That's family.  In that sense - I hoped that there would be enough respect for the leaders to accept the decision and live by it.  That is why the truce should hold.  Respect is also why I was excited for the opportunity to come here and work with the man that I was trying to end not 24 hours earlier.  For one, I'm proud of the fact that I can holster my gun in the name of creating a better community."

"We as a community make the rules here for the most part.  We live by them and we also die by them, but we also reserve the right to change them as we see fit when we are in a position to do so.  In general, if you're not in a position to make them - you're expected to follow them.  Of course, you have the right to disagree with them - but you're still expected to follow them.  That theres is called respect."

"Thanks for taking the time to consider my thoughts.  I'm gonna go watch the Leafs prepare to get eliminated in the first round again.  Cheers."