PlagueGuy leaned over in his chair and removed his mask, running his dirtied gloves over his face and alongside his neck. The usual standard thoughts that he once pondered over no longer ran through his brain. They were now racked by incessant ruminations and near-sighted questions that ate at the insides of his mind, not once showing any signs of stoppage. He bent backwards, resting his head on the top of the chair as he stared into the ceiling. The drywall stared back, its palm-textured ripples spread out wide as it remained completely white and completely blank as they surrounded him within the room. This was not how he thought the day was going to turn out.

Plague had spent the day digging through the cesspool of disgraced and disheveled corpses to find his previous executive, finally finding him wedged underneath his now fellow shamed cadavers. His legs were twisted within themselves while his body was otherwise mangled beyond repair, and despite his head sticking out amongst the mound of bodies, it had been slanted to face towards the darkening sky underneath a wave of rotting corpses. Every now and then, some revolting juices would squeeze out from the tip of the wave and rain down upon his head. This was not a place where anyone would have wanted to end up. Normally used to horrid smells, this one vigorously attacked his nostrils and watered his eyes, even despite his precautionary actions.

His usual trail of maple syrup had been absorbed into the surrounding pile, and the otherwise fresh scent of sugary goodness had already begun to go stale. His body wouldn't move, chained underneath the remaining clump of degenerates, but Plague could stick an arm between the mounds and fish around his body to pull out what he came for; a still edible bottle of pure syrup, and Honesty-'s trusty maple flask, albeit it may have to be bleached three times over before it becomes usable again. He collected his belongings and trudged back to Summerlin, his neighboring district and now, his current home. He set the gathered goods on his table, before stopping to sit in his current seat.

He finally gathered his thinking, re-sported his mask, and hiked back outside into the public streets. He remained dirtied from his rather unpleasant adventure, but thought nothing of it as he stuck himself onto a podium.

"I'd like to lend an apology towards the current leadership, the district of Paradise, and, notably, the city of Las Vegas itself. This entire ordeal was pretty unprecedented and came without much warning or preparation, especially after following the love-disguised Valentine's bloodshed throughout our cities. Life has been pretty crazy as of late, and certainly didn't need any more upheaval or confusion."

"Moving forward, Vegas has agreed to place NoahRugs at the head of Paradise and work on the collection effort of Honesty-'s members. Seems he desired some of that Godfather status a little more than Honesty-, heh. I give him my congratulations towards that current status."

"The future has much to offer regarding us and our lives. I've settled down with Circle-of-Fire in neighboring Summerlin for the time being, and have bid adieu Paradise for now."

"While Honesty's unexpected death had been the result of otherwise poor thinking, it is not to say that he does not regret his decisions to some degree; in fact, he's pretty gutted over the ordeal himself, or so I've heard from his later kin, who have granted themselves a break from the criminal world for some time. Honesty and his line of Canadian brethren have always been the carefree sort. They lived for the streets and the people, not so much for the politics or turmoil that came with it. He took chances that others probably would have shrugged aside and he certainly spent time to poke some fun at me and a whole array of other friendly faces. It became something to look forward to each day, and losing that is pretty tough. Taking too much time to strain yourself over the reasoning only would serve to hurt you later on, as it has done to me to some degree. I'd say just smile, have a chuckle, and wait for his inevitable return."

"In the meantime, I am going to wish Honesty- and his syrup-coated face well on his break, and simply bunker down in Summerlin and see how things pan out in the future. Paradise was enjoyable, and who knows? Maybe I'll return to it again sometime. Please enjoy the rest of your day."

PlagueGuy stepped down from the pedestal and stared at his still-filthy attire. Best it be time to take a shower and get himself cleaned up.

Aduros listened as the man standing before him told of the news pertaining to Las Vegas. Although it was a little unusual to see a non-member of upper-structure let alone without their button speak on such matters, Aduros kept an open mind. After all, he too rejected tradition and embraced modernity.

"Thank you PlagueGuy for explaining today's event and its aftermath. Los Ange- I mean, uh, I've been informed!"

I cannot say I am anything but appalled at the actions of Honesty last night. 

There comes a responsibility when taking a leadership role that goes beyond your own wealth and desires.

For a Don of these Streets, a leader of men, to enter into what is effectively a game of death is irresponsible, unethical and not what a leader of that many people should be doing. 

The efforts of the family and everything they had put in to ensure their leaders survival was thrown on the floor over a chase for personal wealth. 

The odds were 50/50. Fifty percent chance they would never return and leave their crew homeless, confused and scared. Alone in this world with no protection. That is exactly what happened. 

There is no justification for these actions and it should be condemned for the ridiculous decision it was.  

The time, the effort people may have put in to getting fortifications up to full strength, donating to get their leader fully trained, for him to then piss it away. Well it's just admirable really.

A man after my own heart.

We all want more, life's a gamble. I say why not? 

Hunter weighed up the varying opinions of his fellow man. This was a difficult subject to comment on for him but threw his 2 pence in anyway. 

God loves a trier. 

It does seem a loss of life but I do some some respect for a man willing to risk it all on the roll of a dice. 

I can certainly see an element of gung ho enthusiasm for the route that the Don took. 

Unfortunately, as a level headed leader of people, that is not something that should be even considered.

I mean, let's be honest, if they were willing to go for a 50/50 shot it is probably for the best that the great dark cloud from the sky removed them. They were obviously not mature nor dedicated enough to become a Godfather.

I meant to add previously. I wish NoahRugs every success in their new position. One earnt through restraint from the temptation and hard work. 

The thing about Honesty- is that he lived as he died - stupidly. 

The duties and responsibilities of CLs seem to be rather arbitrary these days. Anything beyond securing members safety and boosting prosperity can go into one ear and out the other. Not a single tagged member who weren’t already comatose has died. Did he promote prosperity? Well, his city became a whole lot richer. I call his run a success. Legendary? No. We can’t all write our names on that wall and that’s fine not everyone seek it. Who cares about missing out on Godfather. Rank means very little these days. I know Wise Guys who are truly the backbone of their city.

The smearing is beginning to sound like a personal vendetta against Honesty and honestly doesn’t accurately reflect how the community as a whole saw him. He died with honor. His care and kindness was parentlike. In his last moments, he was reportedly ensuring his crew safety and telling them how much he loved them. You don't get that everyday, people. 

What we're not gonna do is attack CLs who participate. Instead, we ought to encourage them. It should be a rite of passage. Can we get a nationwide ruling, PlagueGuy?

As a former member of his crew (albeit for a short period of time), I hold no grudge against his decisions. 

He was aware he'd fucked up and paid the price for it. The contributions members had made to the crew as a whole were of course building costs etc. but above all else to be a part of the crew and ensure their own safety and a place to call home. New accommodation apparently arranged in his final moments.

He was a great guy and I appreciated him, before and during my short stay in his crew. 

A lot of it does seem like a personal vendetta, but it also might just be the amount of passion towards what we traditionally deem respectful or the standard respect one's crew leader should show in public or to those in their crew.

Honesty was a uniquely amazing person. There isn't really another side to that. The amount of effort he puts forward towards his own goals, the goals of his members, and his standing, position, and status in the world is rather commendable. The amount of care and solace he has towards his own crew is stupendous.

Did he necessarily throw all his hard work away? Sure. A lot of that spent time cannot be reclaimed. But let me tell you, his "chase" for personal wealth was certainly a success, as he achieved the end-goal of the opportunity in the first place. He died on a mistake after securing the goods, even after immediately dishing out some of his winnings just to continue playing for the fun of it. Is that stupid? Probably, I even warned him to pause his gambling right then and there, and yet he continued.

But now that his lineage has been rather blessed with a staunch amount of future wealth, I'd say any future lines of his family now have an incredibly easy upbringing for both him and those alongside him. And he without a doubt will offer it out to fellow mobsters near and far, just as he's done multiple times in the past. Assuming this will change him is of poor thought; I doubt anything about him or his personality or goals will change. His current run had been struck with a lengthy period of idleness itself; he was not at his best throughout his life. He most certainly probably would already have obtained the Godfather status had his life taken another path, and maybe that had played a part in his death. His recent family had told me he was tired, of which I can infer is a good reason for him to step back and take a break.

Like Aduros has said, shrugging aside opportunities for a chance to obtain some permanent deep-pockets is rather silly. Any person regardless of their standing would do the same given the opportunity. You can condemn them for their actions, but their death wasn't necessarily deliberate just as their departure wasn't left in poor taste. He quickly put himself and his crew together and gave a noble farewell prior to the hammer coming down upon his life, and the cleanup process has been a rather major success. That is good leadership. 

The other thing to keep in mind is that some people will look for any opportunity to conjoin a vendetta against anyone, regardless of their actions. I will not be naming anyone in particular. This event in itself remains as an "Oh no! That's a shame." type of matter, compared to seeing Honesty as a clown. Though, he may be one in other matters...

On the matter of encouraging such actions, I'd say that's up to everyone's own opinions, just as anyone has the ability to do them. You shouldn't necessarily ridicule them for their decisions on it. It's not a matter of common sense or common respect.

For an event of this high importance, standing, and later effects, I can gladly assume anyone entering into such a competition knows damn well about the consequences that may follow should things go awry quickly, especially when such an event allows zero forms of leeway or exceptions. Except you Puppy_, you might as well be the luckiest man alive!

So, go ahead and take your gamble at an opportunity like this. Just be aware of the consequences. Both the good and bad outcomes are massively life changing for either party. Guess Honesty wanted a taste at both of them.