Thursday, November 12, 2015

Set the Record Straight


“Well, lookie here,” Gil said, pulling a folder out of a filing cabinet in the Mayor’s office. “Just as I suspected. Guess who doesn’t have a liquor license?”

Louie, deep in his own inspection of the records in another filing cabinet, snorted. “Start with a D?”

“Yeppur. Technically, the entire Pleasure Club complex lies outside the Talbot’s Peak city limits. We can’t provide him with liquor licenses or building permits or any of that fun stuff. He has to go through the county for that, and I know for a fact he never did.”

“Says who?”

“Beaver Brothers Construction, for starters. Who do you think built the place?” Gil slapped the folder onto his desk, where it joined a growing pile of similar damning evidence gleaned from both the county's online public records and Mayor Lincoln's old CYA files. “One phone call could make his life very, very difficult.”

“You want me to make it?” Louie said, with a far-too-eager grin. “I used to deal with the bureaucrats in Jersey. I speak the lingo.”

“Not just yet. I’m going to talk to him first. Which is more courtesy than he deserves. A recall vote? Seriously? He has no authority to call for that. He has no legal authority whatsoever. Who the hell does he think he is?”

“He thinks he’s protecting the Peak.” Louie made a ratty sniff. “Like we ain’t capable of crossing the street by ourselves if Dante ain’t there to hold our hands.”

“Protect, my ass. You know he held a secret meeting with his cronies to discuss that recall election? None of them even live in Talbot’s Peak. Hell, at least three of ‘em aren’t even native to Earth. And there they are, holed up in a bunker plotting to remove a legally-elected government official under the guise of a ‘recall.’ And who’d take over the office of Mayor? Somebody he approves of? That’s not protecting the people. That’s a would-be dictator planning a coup d’etat. All for our own good, of course. Seeing as how we’re all so helpless and vulnerable without his benevolent guidance. That kind of ‘protection’ we need less than Russia needed Josef Stalin.”

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” Louie quoted. “So let him take his toys and move out. Ain’t that what Damien threatened he’d do?”

“If he does, it’s gonna be one tiny exodus. Unlike our would-be overlord, I’ve been out on the streets the last couple of years. I don’t need a census list; I’ve met our population. Over eighty-five percent of Talbot’s Peak is herbivorous. Even the omnivores aren’t going to follow a wolf. He wants to leave? Let ‘im. We’ll all be right here waving bye-bye.”

Louie made a disgusted noise. “Is this still over the state money thing? That came from the bunnies we got in Congress. Don’t he know that?”

“I tried to tell him. Or I would have, if I could have gotten hold of him. If he was so concerned, he could have called me. We could have avoided this whole mess with a simple conversation. But what does he do? Throws his weight around. Doesn’t even come at me in person. He sends his girlfriend to chew us out. His girlfriend, who has even less authority than he does, and he doesn’t have any to start with. Y’know what kind of a man does that? I’ll give you a hint. It starts with A and ends in ‘hole’.”

“And wasn’t she feeling her oats?” Louie sneered. “Like any one of us was gonna take a swing at her. Hell, I’m a rat and even I’m more of a gennulman than that. Wish I’d taken her over my knee like I wanted to, though. Little bratty cat had it coming.”

“I hope she doesn’t get too full of herself and try that with Zhere Ghan,” Gil said. “There won’t be enough of her left to stuff into a baggie.”

“Dante ain’t gonna dick with Zhere Ghan. He respects Ghan. Ghan’s a fellow predator. Not like us insignificant little rodents what need his protection and all.”

“Typical wolf,” Gil said. “Thinks being alpha automatically puts him at the top of the food chain. Man, the acorn didn’t fall far from that tree. Though he’s right to be concerned about humans. Especially this human.” Gil tapped his chest. “Everybody forgets I used to be human. I’m out here on the front lines doing my damnedest to walk the thinnest tightrope you can imagine, keeping shifters and humans from winding up in a bloody no-win fight. Meanwhile, he’s scheming and doing end runs around me and cutting me off at the knees every time I make a move he doesn’t approve of. If he wanted so bad to protect the town, why didn’t he run for Mayor?”

“Because screwing with people’s more fun.” Louie smiled. “Gotta admit, he’s good. Wonder if maybe he’s part rat?”

“Doesn’t matter. Fun’s over. We’re going to have the talk we should have had weeks ago. This time he’s going to listen. We’ll work it out together, like we were always supposed to. If he can’t do that, if he can’t show some respect for the squirrel, then he’ll have to deal with the human. And believe you me, doggie’s gonna heel.”

“Speaking of nuts,” Louie said, “Damien’s still on the loose. You want me to deal with him? Jersey style?”

“Not necessary.” Gil patted his phone. “That’s a call I did make. We won’t have to worry about Damien Hancock for at least the next fifteen to twenty years.”

# # #

Damien looked up in surprise at the knock on his door. Surprise because he was currently sitting at his desk in the office of his stronghold halfway up the Peak, with half a dozen wolves outside. There shouldn’t even be a knock on the door.

He got up and went to the door. The polite rap came again. Damien yanked the door open.

Three men in dark glasses and crisp black suits stood outside the door. His guard wolves pressed against the wall in obvious terror. They wouldn’t look at Damien.

The man at the forefront flashed ID. He did not smile.

“Mr Hancock?” he said. “We want to talk to you. We’re with the IRS.”

6 comments:

Savanna Kougar said...

Wow... Gil and Louie want a war? Gee, okay then. If they don't know Dante and Damien better than that... well... and as far the Beaver Brothers building anything... not on your life. That was just a job tossed their way.

Pat C. said...

Gil doesn't want a war. He wants everybody working together for the benefit of Talbot's Peak. War is only a last resort.

Really. Would it kill Dante to pick up a phone once in a while?

Savanna Kougar said...

That's Dante's goal as well, working together for the benefit of everyone in Talbot's Peak. EVERYONE being the key here. You may, or may not recall, but Dante DID MEET WITH GIL TWICE! *face to face* to resolve the situation. He met with Gil to resolve things after Kitty handed over the money for the faire. Dante thought he and Gil decided exposing the shifters-paranormals to the eyes of the state wasn't a good thing for anyone. Dante IS NOT WILLING to forsake-expose those he loves, nor is Kitty. When Gil agreed to take money from the state, and Dante was confronted by folks demanding he do something, or they would... well, still Dante met with Gil to change his mind. When that didn't happen, he decided on the ruse to make Gil think the money was from the state. You might also recall the name 'poindexter' as being an enemy who is using the state computer system to infiltrate Talbot's Peak.

However, if Gil would like a phone conversation on a secure line, instead of face to face, Dante is more than willing. He's never refused a call from Gil. Unless it was an emergency situation.

btw... Damien quite enjoyed the IRS visit... he's picking his teeth now. Yeah, had to write that flash scene. Just too tempting.

Dante likes Gil. He likes Gil as mayor, and has protected the squirrel man many times. However, that doesn't seem to be important to Gil, and friends.

Pat C. said...

Funny, I don't remember reading about either of those meetings. Could you point me to the posts where they happened?

Here's what I did read: Solara wrote a post in which Gil accepted state money. Apparently that didn't sit well with you, so you hopped into her storyline and had Kitty behave like a raging bully, delivering the smackdown on the town's elected officials. (Where she gets the authority to do this, or why they'd even cave in to her, I have no idea.) In a subsequent post, Solara tried to course-correct. I guess her efforts weren't good enough for you because you jumped in AGAIN, foregoing your Halloween post (a theme week you yourself had asked for) in favor of slamming Solara's story face first into the dirt, this time using Damien as your mouthpiece.

In both cases her characters were portrayed as weak, greedy, bumbling morons, helpless in the face of your righteous crusaders, in charge only because Dante allows it. if they don't toe the line, he'll take his toys and leave. Then the town will collapse, because Talbot's Peak can't exist without Dante there to protect it.

As the creator of two of the characters that got skewered, you understand why I sound a bit miffed.

Here's the bottom line: this blog is a group effort. We do it as a team. We also have the right to create our own separate plotlines and see them through to completion. NONE OF US has ANY right to hijack someone else's story to bring it in line with how we feel it should go, and to denegrate someone else's characters in the process. That's a slap in the face to the writer who's just trying to tell a good story.

So Gil accepted money from the state. Big fat hairy deal. If Solara wanted to have him do that with no repercussions to the Peak, then so be it. That's her story, and her choice. If you don't like it, tough titty. Go write your own. You're the one who keeps bringing in all that government conspiracy crap anyway. Just do it wihout screwing over other people's characters. How about if one of us hops into your WIP and rewrites it to suit ourselves? Bet you wouldn't be a happy camper either.

Of course, we'll never know how that storyline would have played out. I'm sure you saw the email on the loop. Solara's abandoned that storyline and returned Gil to me. She's going back to her own characters, the ones who don't live anywhere near Talbot's Peak. Guess you won. Nice going.

I know exactly how she feels. I've been putting up with this shit from you for years. You have no idea how often I've kept my mouth shut for the sake the blog. You're the reason I moved to Thursdays. I got tired of trying to build on a story only to come in the next day and find my plot had been yanked out from under me and my characters portrayed as bumbling stooges. Or have a plotline airily dismissed in the comments, like you just did with Damien up there.

I don't have to worry about that with Serena. She has respect for us, her fellow bloggers.

That's what it all comes down to. We have a saying over on AW: RESPECT YOUR FELLOW WRITER. Posters who don't get banned from the site. You've shown very little respect for your fellow writers, their creations and their choices lately. From where I sit, the biggest threat to Talbot's Peak's safety is you.

Now, we could let this devolve into a bloody feud where we fling poop back and forth at each other and the blog collapses, which does nobody any good. OR we can forget all this happened and start afresh and continue to have fun telling our stories. All you have to do is respect your fellow writer. Is that so hard?

Savanna Kougar said...

Gosh, buttons got pushed or what???!!!
Gee, I'm so sorry my character have the gumption to stand up for themselves, and do the best for the Peak that they are able. If you consider this poop-flinging so be it. In my opinion, you've done what I'm being accused of... and you have NO idea how much I've kept my mouth shut with you hijacking certain themes I've brought forward. Like you say, I have a right to my story plotlines. So, I guess it comes down to this. Since you aren't willing to respect my characters, and their feelings and rights... and NO, THEY ARE NOT MOUTHPIECES FOR ME... no more than yours are for you. Why can't my characters disagree with other people's characters?
However, to make it easier for ALL of you, I'll simply bow out. And you can have your righteoous anger, and believe you've done the right thing in telling me off. And gee, if I had a problem, I would have brought it to you privately ***first*** to discuss it... not made it PUBLIC on blogger. Thanks for that courtesy among writers.
Further, if this is town of characters, they are going to clash at times... like people do in real life. But, IN TRUTH, Pat, there is no pleasing you. To get your way you simply USE BULLY TACTICS instead of a back and forth discussion.
And personally, I'm tired of not having my characters' feeling and thoughts respected, as if how they feel and who they are MEANS NOTHING!!!
I mean GET REAL... would a werewolf like Damien be frightened of IRS agents??? Really??? Why should Gil get to get rid of Damien in a way that is patently ridiculous???
But no problem, just throw my characters under the bus, or do whatever... THANKS FOR THE RIDE, SERENA, REBECCA, AND SOLARA. I truly have ENJOYED your flash scenes. I love you ALL. And, I apologize for any distress I've caused you. That was NEVER my intention.

Savanna Kougar said...

btw, if you had actually truly read my flash scenes you would know that Dante DID MEET WITH Gil about the situation, in an attempt to resolve the situation. But, nonetheless, YOU WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!