A disappointed Don made his way to the Streets. It was an unplanned visit so there wasn't the customary fanfare greeting his arrival, but at that moment LuciusSweet didn't particularly care.  

The saddest part of my standing here is that all of this whole sorry tale was totally avoidable. I had never spoken to Melkor prior to this afternoon and if it had stayed that way, I have little doubt he would still be operating a small business out of Philly.

Lucius sighed.

As it happens though, I stumbled upon a discussion he started whilst holding a hand drawn picture wherein, he was announcing the arrival of his operation. I found myself frowning at the manner in which he was conducting himself. I have little doubt he was joking, but to me here's a guy who we are allowing to earn on our territory and he's, at best, half-assing it with a poor effort at humour and at worst taking the piss out of us by showing he's not even bothered enough to put some thought into it. Now, I don't find that particularly funny but even so, I didn't press the matter and was prepared to see how he progressed from here; it was, after all only an introductory announcement.

Apparently Melkor felt differently though because he decided to seek me out to question my appearance at his event, not even having the courtesy to do so politely. I was surprised by this; I'm one of the most powerful men in the country and he's a young Capo trying to build enough of a reputation for himself to make it to the weekend. In his shoes, I would have thought how I could improve my standing with those at the top and, at the very least, not seek to antagonise them. Apparently we are different. 

Lucius shrugged.

A short conversation followed.

Melkor didn't handle this well, but I have no need to seek out quarrels and I thought the meaning behind my contribution to his announcement was now clear, so I tended to other business (a late lunch with FitzChivalry running over the finer points of corners) and thought no more about it.

In the meantime, one of my up and coming members had misunderstood how we bring recruits into my organisation and had seemingly tossed out the location of my headquarters to everyone around him. It wasn't a serious problem and was quickly rectified once a couple of people brought this to my attention, but Melkor had apparently found an opportunity, in his opinion, to score points at old Lucius' expense.

He sent me what I would class as "a shitty mail" where he tried to intimate that my man's innocent (and totally harmless) mistake was somehow his business. The problem with this is what I mentioned earlier my standing and his standing. Melkor seemingly had no appreciation of this whatsoever and treated me as he might a local thug who challenged him.

I gave him an opportunity to retract his "shitty mail" and apologise for his grievous error of judgement. Unfortunately, instead of undertaking said retraction and thanking his lucky stars that he was reading mails rather than sampling cement shoes, he tried to justify his behaviour as if this was some sort of tit for tat between equals.

We aren't equals. Not even close. I'm the Don of Summerlin and he's a trial crew permitted to operate with our approval. This is a hierarchical business and frankly he should have realised by now his position and mine were not equivalent and that showing me respect is not an optional courtesy. He had plenty of chances to not make this a thing, but hubris is just a motherfucker I guess.

Lucius gave another shrug and signaled to GlennCullen to get his umbrella. It looked like it was going to rain and he didn't need a soaking to top off his day.

And that's the end; Melkor is no more and I've wasted my evening. I would encourage all those who are trying to bolster their own reputation to heed this as a warning of how not to conduct yourself, lest the funeral parlour acquires further corpses. 

Shady_Sam grinds his heel against a spent cigarette bud, his expression equally matching the disappointment that the old Don felt. 

"Thank you, LuciusSweet, for the explanation. It's a shame this transpired, in the conversations that I had with the late Melkor, he seemed to be a passionate man who's ideals for the city of Philadelphia closely aligned to mine. Unfortunately, he had to learn the rule of respect the hard way, and I hope his future kin understands how to properly conduct business with others. Especially in situations that us trial Crew Leaders find ourselves in. We're on thin ice and while some may be more patient than others, all it takes is one solid crack to start swimming with the fishes. With this and the event that occurred in Detroit, I hope my fellow peers focus on having rational thoughts guide their actions over emotional impulses. It will save us a great deal of trouble in the future to come."