43 - They're only gangsters.
joneworlds@mailbox.org

Let's  get something  straight.  The Braxons  call
themselves  "chieftains",  and   that  makes  some
sense,  but it's  not like  they're leaders  of an
indigenous  band or  anything like  that. I  heard
some people  the other day  call them that,  and I
don't  know  where  that dumbass  idea  is  coming
from. Maybe them? Nice  try. Back when things were
messed up and the republic was cutting its losses,
the Braxons  swooped in  and grabbed  control. But
before that  they were  just this  gangster family
that  controlled  most   of  the  fentanyl  around
here.  That's all  they are.  To say  otherwise is
kind of disrespectful to real indigenous people, I
think. But anyways, it  reminds me that I'd better
go pay my  tax at the fort tomorrow  so they don't
break my finger again.

I remember  those times, when the  Braxons sort of
moved in  on here. It  was like you'd see  more of
the Olds coming in every  week back then, in those
big marches out of the mountains like they used to
do.   It  was  mostly   centaurs  back  then,  and
gnomes. Things  were getting pretty  unruly around
here before, but they  really blew apart after the
Davis Inquiry wrapped up. It didn't go the way the
portal-ers  and the  AV's thought  it should,  and
when they went on the rampage, so many people just
disappeared in  those months. And I'll  never know
for sure  what happened to Beth  but it's probably
whatever  they  did to  all  the  rest that  spoke
against them. And I try  not to talk about it, but
I  miss  her  so  much every  day,  and  the  kids
too. And so I got to  talk to PJ about the ogre in
the  morning.   It's  past  time we  got  on  that
again. At  least that's a situation  that maybe we
can fix one day.