I Victoria Stone a survivor.

There will always be terrible, terrible memories of the war, things that I saw, people that I lost and all the devastation. It seemed like I was stuck in a battle equipped with no real armor, but still standing strong. As I saw my comrade’s fall around me I just waited for instructions, always thinking the next bullet had my name on it. 

At first I just sort refuge around the Headquarters, but what I thought was a safe haven ended quickly. I received orders to fly to another city.  What a sense of pride I felt, little ole earner me with my pee gun assistance was needed elsewhere.

Basically unknown to this city with all my enemies lurking around me I slowly made my way through the streets and bunkered down in what seemed to be a deserted building to plan my strategy in trying to locate my given targets. One by one I was able to locate them, took care of the protection assignments and made it back to my hiding place to wait further instructions.

Then what I considered an unbearable occurrence happened.  My leader Don BigSmo was taken down and I found myself in these dangerous streets without any guidance. I was scared, hungry and tired. I found a drop cloth that some painters had left behind and managed to cover myself in a little corner which seemed safe and was able to close my eyes to get a little rest.  

Dreaming of better times I was suddenly waken to more gunfire.  It was daylight now.  I ventured out onto the streets to find a dear friend JosephProfaci who advised me not to worry that PodrickPayne had set up and would be contacting me soon. We found some food in a vacant grocery store and after he had found me another secure place to lay low he had other business he needed attend to.

 Laying low what seemed to be an eternity, only by the grace of God I looked up to see PodrickPayne had found me taking me into his family.

What a glorious moment.

May all the fallen rest in peace for the life of the dead is placed in the heart of the living.

It has everything to do with relieving oneself of the burden of being a victim, letting go of the pain and transforming oneself from victim to survivor.

While I appreciate all this lying low stuff. Did you ever stop to think about how you were relaying your events? That you come across as rubbing it in that you could lay low and live, while others worked their asses off for their cities trying to protect their leaders and died?

So does this mean that the survivors just laid low? Because I am fairly certain that many did not just hide in a vacant store to wait out the war. They were actively fighting for their families, cities and what they believed in. All the fallen and most of the currently standing survivors.

JadedButterfly, maybe you missed the part where she actually did work her ass off to protect their leaders?

Did I miss that she went to do a pro? No. But a lot of the story is in regards to her hiding. That is the part I am hitting on hard because it is the biggest portrayed part there is in this story.

It means that she laid low after she did what was asked of her. I didn't see  her suggesting that all survivors survived because they laid low? It's a part of her survival story, but not something that jumps out.

It's something that is emphasized the biggest in this story. Almost every time it is said. So yeah it does jump out.

However, we will all read things and see different things in them. You see some effort, I see a lot of hiding.

She did what she was instructed to do, then hid when her leader died and communication (presumably) broke down between her and the surviving forces of her city. Sounds reasonable, especially as she wasn't a Made Member of that family. 

This is something I will never understand. Your family dies, so you hide? Hiding is not an accomplishment. Doing something regardless of the situation for your side of the war, is.

But to come out and basically say you survived because you hid seems a bit of a slap in the face to those that died for their cities and crews. As well as the survivors who may have been busy reloading their guns to fire at what their side saw as the enemy targets.

Looks like we're just putting the emphasis on different parts of her survival story, then.

Wandering through the streets writing his name on any surface he could find where a lot of passerbyers could see, Fart found himself listening to Victoria's war time story. The message was so strong, and Fart found himself so moved. Without warning the man suddenly burst into song despite his not so angelic voice.

I'm a survivor! I'm not gon give up! I'm not gon stop! I'm gon work harder! I'm a survivor! I'm gonna make it! I will survive! Keep on survivin'

Confused as to what had just happened, Fart looked around. Shrugged, then immediately took off to look for more public property to vandalize.

Thank you very much Aleksandr as Victoria approached him then turn away quickly.

Excuse me JadedButterfly I did exactly what I was ordered to do.  Where in the fuck were you?  Did you find yourself in the streets wondering who the fuck was warring with whom?  Hell yeah I had to lay low.  WTF was I supposed to do.  Surely I couldn’t kill shit.  All I saw were men with steel suits and people like me biting the dust like maggots.  I told of my experience.  I know the coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty.

 My leader was dead, my family scattered all over the place.  I ventured out when I needed to and protected myself to live another day.

I am not bitching, complaining or boasting that I am still alive because that shit was awesome.

If you got a problem with that so be it. 

"Perhaps the situation we are missing here is that due to circumstances which could not otherwise be described in our streets, our associate Victoria was unable to be awake during some aspects of that terrible war.

"They do call it 'going to the mattresses'..."

Genco offers signora Stone a courteous tip of the hat and a reassuring smile. 

"Regardless, it is always interesting to hear a survivors perception of the wars and not from their kin, however harrowing or macabre it may be"

Jaded chuckles.

Did I hit a nerve?

Where was I? Not yet emerged into the scene. However, Ryssa. Maybe you haven't heard of her. She was a great friend of mine. A real steady rock thrower. She did more than she was asked to do. She fought with her family every moment that she could possibly. She wasn't laying low or hiding. She had courage like any of the leaders trying to down the others were. She was out and fighting tooth and nail for her family. Did she die? Yes.

But she fought for what she believed in. She fought for her family. She did so much more than was asked. She didn't cower away and hide. Maybe her leader saw the value in her being courageous. Who knows as both died. But I will be damned if you insult those that have died just because you chose to hide.

We can't all be perfect like Ryssa, sadly.

Where did she insult anyone? Please show it to me, and the community. 

JosephProfaci has been pretty busy the last couple of days and finally heard of one of his close friends telling what had happened to her during the recent war.  He made his way to the front and gave Victoria a huge hug.

I'm so glad that you have come out to tell of your experiences in the last few days.  Those of us that know you......know that you are one of the most respectful people in this thing of ours in terms of the deceased.  If other people that don't know you want to try to interpret your actions, so be it.  I know you went out and fought when you could have hid.  I know that once your leader died you had no more instructions.  The important thing is that you are better for the whole experience and are here to tell about it.  Hold your head high.  We love you.

Joseph knows that each persons perception is their own reality and that each person has a right to their own opinion.  But to attack someone and put words in their mouths?  He can't figure that part out and just figures its displaced anger.  Everyday people are angry about one thing and take that anger out on someone else.  He shakes his head and vanishes into the crowd to attend to his own business.

The age old latin term "Sandinus Vaginus" springs to mind.

Jaded grins.

You know it would appear that people don't like to be told what others think. That is fine. I read the story in a way that troubled me. I said so. Don't like it? Too bad. No one will see eye to eye on everything.

However, just to come out here and trash someone because of their views doesn't make you a better person.

As always Afghan you follow my line around. Do you perhaps have some personal shit you would like to get off your chest? Because I don't think this is the place for it.

Uhm... Didn't you ''trash'' on the original speaker because of her actions? Did that make you a better person?

Stop thinking everyone is out to get you and is stalking you, and take responsibility for your words and that a lot of people think negatively about you.