ARCH 3 CHPT 6

“…I want something just like this.…”

6 Jan 2020, Honeymoon Evening

Upscale safe-house in countryside

Brasilia, Brazil

Bander wakes up from his power nap.

Hela is asleep on the bed next to him paws up.

He gets up, stretches, walks around.

Opens his wedding gift.

Inside the wrapper is a custom made box. 

Inside box is his phone and le Nafta disagreement in fitted padding.

No ammo, battery at 23%, no charger.

Checks phone, it still opens with his face key.
Everything is there as before, but all securities and passwords and accounts are immediately auto opened by some kind of ai program.

Anything he does on his phone is being tracked, monitored and cookied.

 

He removes his face and fingerprints off the system settings and puts in an unlock code instead.

He quickly checks over his accounts…      
…confirms that he still is wealthier than a quarter of all countries on earth.

Checks his Action Bander account.

He was posted as “gone fishing, maybe another self-exploration journey or whatever, idk.  be back in a year or two with even better content.  Wazzaaaaa simps!  Fund that trip, buy that merch 🤪🖕”

Bander was not interested in that life anymore. 

But misses that feeling of jumping out of a plane.

Misses that conflicting part right before the jump;
that part where you made your choice and now you have to live with it.

{…the nerve of them to cover up my kidnapping like that…        
do I really sound like that}

Checks his whatsapp text messages.

Emma had added herself to his phone as “wifey maybe”, and at

1530 had texted the words “I do” with heart and celebration emojis.

>>1745: I found us a nice cozy place by the river for a sunset dinner tonight (cute face emoji) 
Is 8p a good time to pick u up?

Bander checks the time.

{damn.  It’s almost 8:30pm now.  Will she be mad?  Should I say I’m sick or something, try again tomorrow…    …Don’t be a scrub, text her and shave your face.  Only thing coming between Mosa and you is her.  Plus, this restaurant sounds fancy, haven’t had fancy anything for a long time now…    …this place is fancy}

 

Bander text-plies.

>2026:  sorry, woke up now.  I think I have to change this pee pad for the dog.  Going to freshen up.  is late dinner okay?  Feeling weird.  a lot happened today, I have many questions.  Thank you for not hurting me…      …and the gifts…    …and for picking me up.  Is 10’ish still a good time to get together?    …do you know where the charger is?

…

>>2032:  lol yes bae!  I’ll pick u up around 10p.  Pee pads in the second drawer to the left from doorway, and you can leave little hela in the room.   You’re safe, pinky promise.  Looking forward to your 20 questions tonight.   Oh!  Charger should be in the bathroom?

Bander places phone to charge.

Puts body to wash.

Presents face to mirror.

Shaves.  Trims.

Pops small pimple.

{Nice, there’s some Skala here to manage this messy hair…    …what is getting a haircut going to look like under her reign}

 

Closet looked like a mini men’s warehouse of suits, clothing and shoe options.

He sees a familiar cologne on the counter, a little less than a third of it is left.

Note under it said with crayon like hand-writing; “pra o demming 007, com ahmor, pagpag”

{This’ll do bro…   …this’ll do…     …best wingman ever…    …now that the smell is covered, hope she likes how I look}

Nine-fifteen hits and Bander is already ready.

He was hope-waiting for Emma to text or call or something.

He didn’t want to text her that he was ready and bored.

Decided he will wait it out. contemplate things.

He opened up his phone.

{did they hack the bander time folder also…  …fk it, i’m checking it}

♪…NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP.
NEVER GONNA LET YOU DOWN…♪

{sht…    …that was a good one…    …i’m dealing with next level psychos…     …at least my flappy bird app still works}

The phone got lame fast. 

kills time playing with the dog. 
Paces around the room. 
Holds his gun.

Around 10pm rolls around he notes car flood lights approaching outside.
An older model Montero pulls up with an aircrete shipping container hitched behind it. 

It’s got a flag on the wide side that reads “recem casados”.

Theres’s diesel ♪engine♪ and uptown girl music playing before it’s cut off.

Emma steps out the driver’s door.

She looks spectacular.

{oh wow wow wow…      …wow…    
…don’t…  
…
…don’t forget to tell her she looks wonderful tonight}

 

She looks up and catches Bander peeping out the second floor window, points and smiles at him and honks the horn.

Yells at him to hurry up and come on down, life’s too short.

Bander hurries down.

Emma drives them off, up and over some hills, small talk while going past some old towns, deeper off grid.  She works the stick shift and gears, takes them up and down dirt mud and tree root bumps and offbeat roads not taken.
Using only the dash-compass for that north bearing, and the high beams to guide them through the dark jungle abyss.

Bander is starting to feel they are overdressed for whatever is coming next.

Surprised, impressed, on how she’s been able to negotiate and power through all of this.

{she’s so clutch}

They arrive to a riverfront.

Chill in the car for a moment with the windows down.

Ambience of two rivers crashing over the joining rocks.

No streets, no street lights.

Moonlit and stars out.

Creatures chirping and firefly sparkles all around.

She looks over to Bander from behind the wheel.

“Ready?”

He looks at her defenseless {what for?}

She smiles mischievously while grabbing a flashlight and steps out to fetch gear from the trunk.

He follows behind.

She hangs up some lamps for a light romantic glow of the area.

He fell into inspecting the full sized aircrete shipping container. 
He’s made a lot of these already.
This one is a little off somehow, what was it? 

He feels the material with his hand.

{this recipe is different…   …Some kind of agent was added to make it easier to polish, it feels slick instead of course.  Should be easier to clean externally without needing any hydrophobic paint or anything…   …this is tough to do in general…    …who made this formula?}

Emma asks excitedly “you like it?  Go ahead, open it up!””

Bander tries opening it up but it’s a little stuck. 
Emma helps him, she adds her body weight and confidence to the handle and the double doors open.

There’s a cliche heavenly chime and some led lights that slowly turn on.

Bander’s gobsmacked.

{oh sht, I get it, this is cool af.    …Is this for real}

 

Emma pulled down a simple 2 step ladder attachment and Bander found himself being pulled into the container.

Inside he saw a compact kitchen with polished concrete countertop, his bed complete with all his accessories, and some simple yet comfortable looking furnitures, tables, chairs and cabinets using fast build pagpag corners. 

It was solar powered, and he opened the sink to note that it has pressurized water.  There’s a small tool-shop/work space and right next to it a semi-office space with a gaming computer.  A rifle and a mountain bike are hanging behind the custom couch like artwork. In the opposite end was a small bathroom and incinerator.  The outside flaps seals closed or swings open to expose the side windows.  There’s another flap over glass on the ceiling and a wall-ladder for roof access. 

He finds on the desk space a little model kit of his metal iwtf platform with an rc Toyota toy on top.
Engraved on the aircrete base: “para o demming, com amor; Distrito nove”

“Is this my own aircrete home?  Is…   is this for me?”

“oh my goodness do you like it?!  Did I do good?!  Yes, all for you bae!  A little safe space- I mean, man cave, all for you. 
Nobody can bother you in here.  No matter what happens, ever.
You have a place that’s all you and just you and nobody can take that away from you there you handsome stud you.”

“i…     …I love it.  Wow.”

She squeals in delight and satisfaction.

“full disclosure, I finished making it for myself a few days ago, you know, to test it out for my own peoples and something to remember you by in case you got cold feet.  But, after speaking with Pagpag and Mama ‘Berta and Pepe, I asked them what they thought would make you feel better about the…  …you know, the whole shotgun wedding and the whole money-napping situation and what not…   …and…   …i’m hoping this helps with the awkwardness of it all…

…

…Like! if you don’t like it, I’m all about lending you a hand to build your own perfect nest- I mean, man cave from the bottom up.  I’m sure you’ve noticed that there’s a bunch of-”

Bander cuts in.

“it’s perfect.  It’s so fkn perfect, you have no idea.  thank you thank you…     …thank you so much. I eh, i actually.  
I have to ask, how’d you make it?”

Emma is effervescent at being asked and points out with her hands.

“I used elephant’s toothpaste, some eggshells and cement.  For the additional layer outside it’s the og recipe from the cocoa family, but with a dash of elbow grease 😁”

 

{this is the nicest thing ever…   …I don’t know what she’s talking about elephants and eggs…       …sht…      …I don’t have anything to gift for her}

 

“I don’t…   …I don’t know how to thank you enough.   Ummm…”

Emma has been standing outside while he has been exploring.

It had been lightly drizzling outside without him noticing.

“You know, you could invite me inside?  i don’t bite”

“Oh!  Yikes!  Yeah, of course, come inside this umbrella”

Bander extends his arm and welcomes her inside.

The environment is a little bit cramped for two, forcing them to be slightly closer to each other.

{whew…   …her breath checks out.  Good thing I got a mint in my pocket for myself just in case}

Emma stands awkwardly next to him.

“…so…   mama ‘berta told me that you like music videos?”

“…yeah, [blushes], we watched some music videos to pass the time sometimes”

Emma sparks the invite to keep things going.
“I like music videos also…   Feel like?…    …maybe kicking off these shoes.  Getting a little more comfortable…   …debate perspectives on some commercialized art together???

I brought some food and snacks for us also…”

{okay…    …she’s such a smooth operator}

“Okay yeah, that sounds nice.  I’m down with you.”

Emma looks down at her moist dress and shoes “…could I borrow some of your clothes..?  I don’t have anything of mine in here and…”

“uh yes yes, of course, sure you can”

She comfortably takes her clothes off in front of him, pads herself dry and picks out and changes into one of his shorts and shirt hanging from his canopy bed.

He stares thinking it would be rude to look away.

She looks at him curiously, “you going to change over as well?”

“Yeah that’s what I was going to do”

Bander picks out some shorts and a shirt and changes over in the bathroom.

He returns to emma setting up the coffee table in front of the couch with an induction cooker and cast iron pan on top, powered by a battery from underneath it.  There were little zip-lock bags of different ingredients laid out.  Cuts of meats.  Fish.  Vegetables.  Fruits.  Mushrooms.  Sauces.  Oil.

A mini projector connected to her phone was already playing music videos on mute against the wall.

She invites him to get comfortable with her in front of the screen.

“I couldn’t help myself and also grabbed some socks for myself, hope that’s okay with you. 
Any song in particular you would like to check out?”

“the monkey one maybe?  The one that says cinco cinco cinco every dime?”

She laughs out loud; “You’re such a capuchin.  I gotchu bae.”

They are enjoying each other’s company. 
They get the hang of cooking and eating dinner little by little together, in bits between chit chats while going over the video’s messages, hidden meanings, potential depths.

They would re-wind it a few times and argue about specifics.

Bander keeps his stance “look, I’m just saying, artists have all the leeway in the world to do what they want, but there’s no fkn monkeys in that video, and i’m feeling a little cheated about that.  The old person young girl voice theme was weird and not communicating anything.  And could you please double check the lyrics, you sure it really doesn’t say cinco cinco…  okay, never mind, I hear it now…  …I see you.”

Emma retorts “cinco cinco cinco never made sense and you know it!  It’s see you see you see you every time!  What you say doesn’t even make any mathematical or even economical sense, how’s that for not communicating anything!?”

They laugh together over the Chilean wine.

Emma continues “…I think the video has its own message dough.  How nice it would be to grow old and have friends around and get into mischief out there…    …like little annoying kids regardless of gender or age.  That weird feeling you caught is our expectations being challenged by what we are seeing and hearing…    …that’s a message right?”

The conversation continues lively over each other’s music tastes and art interpretations.

It eventually finds its way to taking a more grounded tone.

“Emma eh…       …what are we doing?  This is all nice and all but in the end…   …i’m having a great time, thank you, but…      …what do you want from me?”

Emma relaxes into the couch pensive.

“I’ll try to explain…   …it’s kind of hard…  let’s see, there’s a lot to go over…”

They stay in silence for a bit.

“…I need the world to change bae.

it’s not going to change itself.

It needs a re-design and you are like…

The things everyone is doing here in Brazil, I was kind of also trying to do in Guatemala, well… central America.  And we use a different way, because my brother, and it’s different because we use cooperatives, you are a business guy, I’m sure you get that, and this rando named Cassandro was putting my operations on blast, and then there’s you, and how you can maybe…   and…   ..then mosa found me in Colombia…    …I …”

Bander note’s this is complex and tries to reset the story button from the start.
{this bitc- i mean, emma babe isn’t making any sense.  best just, go the long way}

“I eh…    …I ask questions wrong all the time, no doubt there’s context coming from everywhere…

…I think, better question would be, could you tell me what your life was like growing up? 

That way I get to know you more, and get a clearer picture of you and where you’re coming from?”

Emma blushes and starts to withdraw into herself a bit.

Recollects herself and story to share with Bander.

“…my twinsy and I doing things together is what I remember most growing up…

He wanted to be a biologist, I wanted to be a chemist…  and we were just always arguing or playing with each other.  Two competing middle class kids from nowheresville middle America on who will get to a million dollars first…

We lost our parents.  Family couldn’t afford to take us.  Or not worth the hassle.  We never knew, we didn’t care.  We had a bit of a rough time with the system but we were old and scandalous enough to be kept together and looked out for each other growing up…   …we ended up in California…     …he taught me everything he knew about animals…

I went to college, he went to the Marines.

I eventually came up with some formulas and worked for big pharma as product engineer for perfumes and makeups.  Being a chemist while also adopting the biomimicry field to solve problems gave me a bit of an edge.

He survived a convoy ambush and came back in a wheel-chair and in pain…   …And had to jump through hoops for his appointments and meds…”

Emma starts lightly picking and pinching at her skin.

“When he came back.  I had work.  And work and debt, and bills, and more work.

He…      …I mean, I visited him sometimes.  We kept in touch.  He always was, you know, there and we talked about stuff….     …he told me he was having a hard time finding a job and the care wasn’t exactly what he was expecting…   … i couldn’t do anything about that, but i figured he just had to keep trying, speak to a manager somewhere or something, and something good would come eventually for one of us, just had to hang in there…   

…

…then one day he said he had to leave.  To Guatemala, fkn random you know!?  Who the fk does that?!    …Who does that…  Hollywood was supposed to be the dream!  I had college loans to pay first, I was doing great at work, just had to keep grinding for a few more years, party on weekends to blow off steam, keep paper chasing and after i hit it big from all the good work i’ve been doing that the world would be ours and we would have more time to spend with each other! 

I guess he…     …I didn’t understand that he didn’t view things like that..   …he kept changing after he came back, i guess after so many let downs he saw the world differently and I didn’t understand it so I just…    …i think maybe I, i understand him better now?”

Emma continues tearing up and is finding it hard to continue with a runny nose.  Bander panics and gives her a pillow to wipe with.

She laughs at the dumbass gesture and cries with a mix of emotional pain, embarrassment and amusement. 
He gets up and gives her the shemagh that was hanging with his shirts.

She blows her nose.  She’s red and fugly looking. 
She fights tears back as she continues sharing her life story. 

“…He was a big fan of Smedley Butler, i.  I thought it was stupid when he was talking about him like some kind of marvel hero…  saying things like, war’s a racket or whatever…     …that he was a real warrior, highest level a Marine ever could be…     …I just acted like I was listening, I mean, I heard him, but I never…    …never understood nor tried to understand what he was trying to say or what he wanted to do.

I got mad at him for leaving.  I had my own life in L.A. and he was a big part of it…     I told him that there are no good setups or treatments over there for people in wheel chairs, that it’s worse over there so he should stay instead with me…    …near me…     …last thing he told me was that he knew all that…   …I was so stupid and mad…   …I had changed my number and forgot to add him at one point.  I only saw and cared about what was in front of me back then…”

After a few years, corporate, they were rejecting my ideas and improvements and putting me to the side. 
Being a corporate bitch wasn’t working out for me, i worked hard and advanced the product lines but they always had an excuse to keep me from advancing…

…i finally worked the courage and made my own path and be my own corporate boss and compete. 

Started throwing things together.  Made some tattoos that glow in the dark, perfume with crisper tech that lasts longer and mixes with your own pheromones, a gmo fruit that make your sweat taste sweet, infinity putty that clears black heads and face oil, yada yada, started my own companies for each product I put out, went into debt for some copyrights..  I did so much sht.  I risked and worked so fkn hard… 

I eventually ended up selling to the tops of hollywoods. 

The kardashians bought my stuff.  The rock uses my sht.  Rick ross had me on speed dial.  Dj Khaled would throw money out at parties for no reason and I just happened to know where he was going to be in advance…   you know?  I chased it until I hit it…    …I did it, I was debt free and am making millions…     …I was a millionaire…      …i build setups and systems that had people under me keeping me in millions, i did it bae, i was set for life…      …so then what?…   …you know?  I did so much and had fun after and had it all but…    …I missed him.  That was my twinsy and the plan always was who would make it to a million first…

He wasn’t answering calls so I thought he was mad at me or something.  

I go to look for him, since, I can afford to do that now…    …right?

I had that first class bird’s eye view now; I could afford to pay attention to what was going on around me…so-

I found the village he was in.

He was getting by on just his disability benefits.  Over there, the dollar exchange was worth way more so yeah…    …he could have just lived like that you know.  Just enjoy that advantage, he would have been more than comfortable with what he was making…  He had options…

…But he opened up a banana cooperative instead.  That was his master plan…    …was able to find a way to get everyone to work together and make it work.”

Emma cries proudly, smiles between her pain, plucks at her own hands.

“how do you do that?  Have so little and get so many people to join in and take risks together and work together and get along and get sht done by like, nothing more than doing the right thing right?  he could do that.  He did that.  He had that way of thinking and leading…

…He did that so well…

He met people there.  Made so many friends, everybody knew him.  He even had a young family I didn’t know about… 

Neighbors recognized me.  They said he was an angel to them.  That he spoke the world of me and showed them pictures on how similar we were, he tried to help them by helping them create and own their own jobs together…   …he had told them that someday i would be a superstar, and that i would need a quiet place to retire to…    …They loved him…   and told me I had to leave, that I was in danger and there’s always people listening on who’s asking questions around there and that i looked just like him…

They…

…My brother…       …that was his way of honoring his service, his heroes, himself…    …and me and…“

Emma starts breaking down, again.

   …they killed him bae.  Men came in at night and took them away.  They tortured him for days.  They barbed wired his hands and feet.  They cut into him.  They…    ….fkn threw him off a cliff and into the jungle.  He had a family…    …fk!   ….
I had a family!     …they never got to meet their auntie…    …they butchered them before I could even…”

Emma starts sobbing.  Bander consoles her with his shoulders and chest and speaks up.
“That’s so fkd up.  I’m.  i.  I’m so sorry about this..”

Emma blows her nose and struggles to keep it going.

“…I had to know…   …what could could possibly make another person be so evil.  What could he have done to evoke something so horrible like that from people.  who were they? 

It was the local cow ranchers and fruit company owners that did it.

They paid for it, to make an example out of him, they got together and…   …it was an investment move for them, or financial security move, doesn’t matter.

I learned that, working in a cooperative meant everyone knew and had a hand in where all the money went.  The workers there worked less and made more in those cooperatives and that was a threat to the other businesses around them..    …so they nipped him out…    …they nip ideas like that in the bud…    …they were sending a clear message that…      ….nothing changes the status quo…

…They disappeared my twinsy and his family, and then took the community cooperative to courts for anything and everything they could make up.
By the time I got there, the courts split everything and the people weren’t talking about it…   of course not, they were terrified…
   …so it was as if …   ….as if nothing ever happened…    …as if my brother was never there and not worth anything…

…

…of course after this I i….    
 …I got organized.    I bought up circles around them, financially strangled them first, put them on the streets like a real corporate boss does and then…      …then i gutted a few honchos after, had to let them know that the message was heard and rejected you know…   respond in kind i had to…  i…

…i had to make myself the biggest fish in the pond and i had my own message and…   and..”

Emma starts drifting off a little bit.

   “I tried to bring back what my twinsy started but come to find out the hard way that this is a bloody cycle against an army of cowbirds and that…      …that anything that starts opening up the money books is public enemy number one…    …this was a whole new level of business for me, a game above the game…     …and for the past few years I’ve been doing nothing but funding guns under the table and lawyers on top to keep our cooperatives alive and it’s a mess and it’s…”

Bander adds in.

“I know what you are saying…    …the money part, i.  i understand those strategies and problems you are dealing with, it’s the same as sun tzu and…   anyways that’s…    …so incredible that you’ve been able to do so much and come so far…     …that’s a lot to balance…  I’ve been thinking about this a lot and..   …it just seems like we are thrown into bad situations one after another and we are just trying to make the best of every day to survive it…     …you’re just trying your best and i think that you are..   …amazing for being able to do all this”

“Thanks bae, yeah, it’s been like, every layer of hell.  I barely sleep, I travel so much, I have to juggle so many life and death decisions, and the hardest part is…    …the violence…       …no matter which way i go there’s always violence at the end of it…   …it’s too much i can’t…” 

She holds his hand.  Takes a deep breath.

“…And then there’s Cassandro.   WTF.  I didn’t know pirates were a real thing, like, who is that guy?

We were able to peace together that he’s been all over the the ‘Stans, Nepal, Africa, you’ve seen what he’s done in brazil practically overnight, and now we think he’s locked up in guantanamo.”

“wha wait say what?  That guy could be in guantanamo!?”

“I know right!?   When he came to brazil, he was faking being a negotiator for my group or something, and was able to somehow ship out both victims and thugs to re-enforce my cooperatives all the way to guatemala and even some in costa rica…   …they were the most motivated helpers, and we made the 1-150 changes they suggested and it was like, I had a different group of people working with me instead of under me getting sht done.  I was able to delegate easier and we’re now harder to infiltrate.  We are holding our own for now against cartels and local gangs and small time corporations, but if the media and government start coming in…    …that would straight fk us and, yeah, we’re just not ready for that.    …so far we’ve been able to start small setups on edges of big cities, just, that little tweak alone he gave us was enough to give us some kind of opening…    do you know anything about him, anything stuck out when you spoke with him?”

“that…    …yeah, it sounds like something he would do from the little I…     …I never knew the guy he just, forced me to tell him i was a billionaire…    …it was such a scary vibe with him, and weird.  It was like..  ….he wasn’t even speaking to just me.  like he was speaking to mosa and then back to me at the same time…    …like he could see through me or already knew me or something and i was just another pleb…”

Emma shakes her head.

“bae, he put dead squids in brightly colored boxes with body parts to get the trafficker’s attention.  This same trick forced me out of my safe zone to start dealing with him and what he was putting out there.  Dude was a total weirdo, but…     …he knows how to move people…     …kind of like you do…”

She winks at him.  

…And then there’s mosa, somehow she was able to track me down from central America to medellin…   …it felt like…    …we were being hunted and…   ….well, lets just say that in our run in with her she ended up in cuffs…     …mainly because i’m worth more alive to her than dead…

Bander adds his 2 cents.

“…She’s fkn crazy is what she is…     …babe…    …she scares the sht out of me”

Bander switches his seating to Indian style.

Emma puts her hand on his knee, comforting him.

“…hate to tell you this bae but…     …she scares me also, her finding me was supposed to be impossible.   But at least i’m not her target…    …The real fear comes from..   that…   If she could find me, it’s only a matter of time before every 3 letter agency comes tracking me down also…    …I’ve worked so hard to keep a low profile and be off radar, but fkn Cassandro and mosa made me get more involved…   …and …   she laughs in disbelief…    that’s how I met my hubby and how fkd up our situation is in all of this…      …i… 

…i’m sorry…    …you’re safe from Mosa…    …but you’re not safe with me…    …they got us tagged as la pulpa…” 

Bander tries to calm himself at understanding the gravity of the danger he is in…     …then sighs in relief.

“thank you for telling me all that…    …I’ve always hated not knowing and this, and least, really helps clear up so many questions for me…      …i’ve been through so much by now…    …  i, yeah, shts so fkd up, i get it…   you want me to help you make your cooperatives work…    but that means a radical change against the status quo…      …that’s a death sentence…    …but at least i know and i have more control to do something about it now right?…        …we stay low and, i guess, i’m sure we’ll figure something out…    …yeah…    and so…   …why do they call you la pulpa?  Is it because you have some kind of reach everywhere?”

She snort laughs.

“People love passing out nicknames…   …I honestly don’t know who started it and how it caught on.

…so like, el pulpo, that’s what the united fruit companies were called.  They had latin america practically build for them cities and ports and roads and logistics for control over the labor and products, they were everywhere and in everything related to like; politics, infrastructure, phone lines, wages, land ownership so…

…I guess we are called la pulpa because, in these banana and pinapple and avocado cooperatives we are running the women are major drivers and don’t have any pay or glass ceiling issues, and that’s a culture shock for many of these fake machos you see out here that see that as a threat as well…    …so it must be like, some kind of villain name or something they try to put out on us”

“babe, that’s pretty bad ass of you you know?  You turned land and communities into armed fruit cooperatives…     …and ended up with a cool nickname…     …la pulpa…”

They both laugh drunkenly at the horrors of their realities.

“Bae, can I ask why you renamed yourself Bander….?”

“oh…   jeez..   you know how if you slap someone as a persons hitting another person you go to jail, but if a company slaps you accountability becomes strictly a money transaction.  Well, it made sense at the time, so I essentially I made myself into a corporation.  Gives me a corporate legal entity edge internationally pretty much.”

“And why bander of all names?”

“eh…    …right..   ha ha, well…     …I was 17 at the time and…   …I figured it would be smart to disassociate my name with any family history and…   …you know how you are a kid with a new gaming profile or email or something?  I was in France when I came up with the idea and I thought it sounded cool to name myself that…”

“so let me get this straight, you low key changed yourself into a walking talking LLC to avoid responsibility and secure a get out of jail free card practically anywhere around the world…     …and life is such a game to you that you renamed yourself after some word you liked in France…      …that was a hard move.  That was bad ass of you bae.”

They laugh and continue exploring each other’s histories, strategies and conflicts.

“Bae..     …what do you think Cassandro saw in you…

I’ve asked around enough to notice that his interaction with you was different.”

“…I think that…    …the way I was hiding my wealth…     …and…   …he saw my Olympic thing…    …at that time I was studying up a lot into Carnegie, and demming and game theory and psychology and I noticed an opportunity…”

“oh my goodness!  I thought the same thing when I read your rough draft!  Did you ever think about doing anything related with that after?”

Bander blushes, reminded that she knows practically everything about his life already, even the most hidden parts.

“no I…     …I focused more on trying to live my best life.  I was done with college.  I saw the world a certain way and was comfortable with it.  I used my degrees as cover up as an influencer and to justify and explain my going back here and there…”

Emma nods and listens.

“did you ever think about having a family later on down the road…?  Like, kids maybe?…”

“I…       …never thought that far.  I was living a routine I liked and didn’t think it would ever change and…”

They keep talking, back and forth.  Their experiences, fears, goals.

Emma explained to a panicked Bander that they would be working closely with Mosa, that they are committed as a power couple to help her with her goal.  They both agreed it was the right thing to do, and that it was the fastest and safest way to get rid of her.

She comforted him, letting him know that there is absolutely no threat from anybody.

That his life is tied to her life, to get to Bander anybody would have to go through her first.

They would work together on creating a security plan for themselves.  Like a new familia.

Bander found himself comfortable sharing with her.

His wanting to live forever.  His suppressed feelings of having a legacy.

He reasonings with her that he will help her as best as he can…   …but what she is asking for hasn’t been successful before, and that he doesn’t want to die or be hurt doing this.  He wants to be extra careful.

That he trusts her.

As the hours to minutes pass he is losing himself slowly into her.

As he melts in, Emma broods over what they are now, and what they could be.

What they are doing is no place for beginners or sensitive hearts.

Only clear goals and sharp cuts.

Bander’s head fast asleep on emmas lap.

He’s beautiful.  Emma runs her hands over him gently like a new tool.

She reaches over to the coffee table gently, as to not wake her capuchin.

Grabs some grapes and savors inside the oncoming waves incoming.

She strokes bander’s hair.

Soft touchies; her nails gently stroking his scalp as she fantasizes about a world after her wrath.

An octopi, a pulpa, is a amazing creature.

She could be and do anything, but life is short.

Semelparity in her blood.

She will she lay her eggs, then feed herself to the new wave, so that life can go on…

…She’s going to bayonet the Teufelshunde in the guts, and let the vintage spill out.