Chapters
- A License To Print Money (Finished January 6, 2026 18:00 EST)
- SY-349 (Finished January 6, 2026 19:45 EST)
- The Limits Of Focus And Form (coming soon)
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I'd like to point out that it was the incredible Gary Sinese Foundation that brought the issue of Veteran's rights to my attention. I've always had little respect for those who'd forget the great contribution made by those who've risked life and limb to defend those values that so many of us espouse. Perhaps the true measure of one's principles are by that for which they'd risk their life.
"None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have fought in war."
Ralph Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize 1950
The ALS Society Of BC
ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) is a progressive neuromuscular disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary muscles paralyzed. The ALS society provides a variety of programs to combat this disease and help those with it to survive.
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The Edgar Allan Poe Museum
Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn't, he said he'd walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people's heads. Maybe I could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado!
United Way Worldwide
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World Veterans Federation (Under Reconstruction) [Wikipedia]
The World Veterans Federation is a humanitarian organisation, a charity and a peace activist movement. The WVF maintains its consultative status with the United Nations since 1951 and was conferred the title of “Peace Messenger” in 1987.
The World Veterans Federation is a humanitarian organisation, a charity and a peace activist movement. The WVF maintains its consultative status with the United Nations since 1951 and was conferred the title of “Peace Messenger” in 1987.
I'd like to point out that it was the incredible Gary Sinese Foundation that brought the issue of Veteran's rights to my attention. I've always had little respect for those who'd forget the great contribution made by those who've risked life and limb to defend those values that so many of us espouse. Perhaps the true measure of one's principles are by that for which they'd risk their life.
"None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have fought in war."
Ralph Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize 1950
The Reeve Foundation provides programs for research, uniting Scientists and Specialists from many different fields to find treatments for spinal cord injury translating them into therapies and support programs.
For over 60 years, Heart & Stroke has been dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Our work has saved thousands of lives and improved the lives of millions of others.
The ALS Society Of BC
ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) is a progressive neuromuscular disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary muscles paralyzed. The ALS society provides a variety of programs to combat this disease and help those with it to survive.
Muscular Dystrophy Canada
Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s mission is to enhance the lives of those affected by neuromuscular disorders by continually working to provide ongoing support and resources while relentlessly searching for a cure through well-funded research.
Humane Society International
The Humane Society protects the health, lives and rights of animals the world over, ensuring that they too have a voice in this world. We are interdependent upon the complex web of life this entire planet over for our mutual survival. This is a world wide charity.
The Global Foodbanking Network
Ensuring that people the world over have enough food day to day in order to survive and lead healthy lives. In this challenging day and age services like this are becoming more and more essential. This is a world wide charity.
The Edgar Allan Poe Museum
Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn't, he said he'd walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people's heads. Maybe I could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado!
In all truth, there's a good chance that thanks to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift, Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Herbert George Wells, Jules Verne, Dr. Seuss, Stephen King, Clive Barker and Pierre Burton (for The Secret World Of Og and his ground breaking interview of Bruce Lee) that all of us are literate. Actually that goes back much farther to the Phoenecians and their first 22 character system of symbols. Literacy is important. Really it is. Literally. It allows us to approach our employer at the end of the week (with a big club) and ask: where my money?! Math important too. It help us count our thirteen fingers and toes.
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Wikipedia
The model for what may become the Encyclopedia Galactica, a complete reference and record of history, events and knowledge of humanity and its journey beyond. It is the encyclopedia of all that we know, what we surmise that we've known and will learn in the future. Yes, Wikipedia is a charitable organization of great importance. If you enjoy what I am doing here then please take the time to donate to Wikipedia. Surprisingly only 1% of Wikipedia's users donate yet the site serves pages to millions every day.
Humble Bundle
A video gaming storefront benefiting a vast variety of different Charities in the United States and United Kingdom (hopefully soon to be expanded to include other areas of the world?). By software their software bundles and choose which Charity your money benefits and how much of your money benefits that Charity. See? Gamers can do their part too.
Multiple Sclerosis is a degenerative disease currently affecting an estimated 2.3 million world wide. By donating you are contributing to effective research in finding a cure and tipping the scales of MS research to change lives forever.
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Shhhh! Digital Media Presents:
The Butterfly Dragon - Heroes of our Own: Reimagined
by Brian Joseph Johns
Episode 7: Fashion And Accessory
A License To Print Money
Nine Years Ago
Tynan And Associates Headquarters
Business District
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
[Money City Maniacs - Sloan]
There's a saying in the boardrooms of the big conglomerates that fund medical research throughout the world, and that saying goes: you can always make the bandage, but you can never make the cure. Let's face it, the people who did make the cure would be killing their own market, and nobody wants to do that. The people who have or the people who've tried, they often disappeared, or died under mysterious circumstances, with no help from my family in that regard.
Honest.
Who am I you might ask? I'm one of the decision makers in a big corporation. The parent company of the largest medical research investor in the world, whose closest competitor, Future Tangent Industries are till in the baby pacifier business compared to us.
We research and manufacture all of the latest bandages covering every illness that currently plagues humankind. If it makes you feel bad, and there's a name for it, then chances are we produce a pill that alleviates it. No symptoms? No sickness is our motto and we've been making bandages for everything that plagues humanity for decades, though I only come into this story about a decade ago, so I'll cut to the chase.
You see, I came to the company as an investment analyst, though I always had my own nest egg to fall back on, but I'll get to that.
I'm the guy that searches out companies and technologies that are entering into, or preferably creating, the markets of the future. Nothing dead-end. We're talking completely multi-generational perpetual markets that never dry up. When one person is mostly over the sickness for which we provide a bandage, another two are contracting it, though we don't just deal in medical research and pharmacology, but that is one of our biggest markets.
We do technology, but we generally don't get involved in hardware manufacturing or resource extraction targeting the technological sector. Sure, the manufacturing and extraction equipment provides great equity in the event of the collapse of their market, but the initial outlay is always relatively high compared to the returns, and that's not the kind of opportunity that I prefer.
I found my niche early on, by finding and researching companies, especially those involved in software or intellectual technology, or third party markets such as computer assemblers and distributors. These companies generally deal directly with the retailer, or even retail sell their products directly to the end-users, and our investment outlay is usually tiny compared to the returns.
However, I have to admit that being in the position that I am, and was even before I was hired by Tynan And Associates, that such opportunities of low investment and high return seem to fall into my lap, and that is exactly how I, ten years later, ended up on the board of directors. One of the big shots when it comes to deciding the direction of one of the biggest global conglomerates.
Being on the board of directors is a little bit like being a Captain in the hood. You're at the top of a pyramid scheme, sort of like the top tier predator, making decisions about where the rest of the pack focuses their energy. Their hunger. Their ambitions, which any good leader will tell you are and should be in support of your own. Your energy. Your hunger and most importantly, your ambitions.
When I had first joined Tynan, I had still been a Captain, and in charge of a sizeable presence across not only the city, but a network throughout the country who could put their energy towards anything we wanted to have and to own, and so owning is what I sought to do. As much as I could for as cheap as I could.
The thing with being an investment analyst is that you have access to loads and loads of data in the form of opportunities. Lists of companies who are about to or just have gone public and are on the doorstep of their future.
Now I'd target the companies that had gone public, though those who'd not advertised their having done so to the point that they'd drawn much investment capital. These were the companies that were potentially on the brink of something tremendous, if you knew what to look for. The problem was that most of these companies, they knew they were valuable and so their stock value was almost always over estimated and beyond my ability to procure in any appreciable quantity. Enter the guys from my hood and other hoods across the country.
You see, I could put out the word to my boys to go out there and target company who's stock prices were way over valued, and they'd go out there and sabotage every aspect of that company's business. Their suppliers. Their customers. Their inventory sites and their employees, until low and behold, three months later and the company's stock value would suddenly plummet. By that point, I'd usually have a business card in with their CEO or chairperson, giving them an offer per share that they'd rarely be able to refuse, and when they did, I'd just have the boys coax them a little harder. Eventually, no matter who they were or how valuable they thought themselves, they'd always fold, selling their stocks to me at bargain basement prices.
I'd go in, and buy them all up for that value, and then I'd order my boys to go out there and boost the business. This time, instead of crushing the business, they'd promote it. They'd encourage with strong words and sometimes harsh language, the businesses that relied upon them as suppliers to buy more, lest some horrible accident befall the employees of their purchasing department. We'd hit their competitors, and promote by any means possible to their customers. Three months after that (for a total of six months from the time I had prospected them initially) and their value would be through the roof. My initial investment would often escalate in value linearly and occasionally, exponentially.
It was a license to print money.
Within three years of my having started doing this, I'd become the top analyst for the entire company. No holds barred and that's when I started turning heads with the board of directors.
Now, at that point, I might have made it there six years earlier than I'd initially ended up there, but fate as it often does, played things a little differently than what I had in mind.
Us guys that come from the hood. Us Captains? We never had anybody that was a threat to us. Never. Nobody could ever reach us and nobody would dare try, not to mention, that wasn't the only thing I had going for me. You see, I actually got an education in business management and operations. I'm not just a thug. I have brains too, and of the Captains, I was the cream of the crop. Someone that nobody and when I say nobody, I mean nobody messed with me. From my lips to my father's ears, rest his soul.
Nobody messed with me.
That is, until somebody did.
SY-349
Nine Years Ago
Distillery District
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
Alicia sat at her workstation, examining the data from the latest batch they'd produced of the SERIES Y re-combinatory candidate 192048. A spectrograph displayed the structural integrity and purity of the 192,048th generation derived from the original design.
In a tiny centrifuge beneath her monitor, another sample spun as it was mixed inside of a test tube, while a third sample was in the process of being analyzed by their flatbed scanner.
"How's this batch looking from your end, Sylvia?" asked Alicia as she examined the points on the spectrograph against their reference elements.
"It just passed the cohesion examination and I'm waiting on the resilience numbers," Sylvia responded as she peered through the stereoscopic lenses of her microscope.
"That's good news. That's the first one we've had in two weeks that passed cohesion. Lets hope this one makes it all of the way," Alicia replied, feeling a sense of relief that their latest effort had just made it through the starter gate.
"We have... resilience! All samples successfully completed mitosis across nine generations, even while competing against other cellular organisms in the sample medium," Sylvia replied enthusiastically to Alicia, who crossed her index and middle fingers on her left hand.
"Alright. I'm going for the big one. Injecting human immune system cells into the sample fluid. Lets see how they get along..." Alicia returned her vision to her microscope as the tiny world of micro-organisms unfolded before her.
The immune system cells moved closer towards the smaller SERIES Y cells, brushing up against them several times in attempt to provoke a response. One of the other immune system cells became aggressive, moving into position and preparing itself to perform its natural protective duty.
Alicia watched with baited breath as the SERIES Y cells remained docile as the human immune cells kept them under the pressure of micro-interrogation.
Another much larger cell moved into view, causing Alicia to squint as she pulled back on the zoom controller. This newly arrived cell appeared to be predatorial and of a viral nature.
"We have contamination of the sample, preparing for an abort!" Alicia exclaimed to Sylvia, who tensed under the pressure that their afternoon's work might all be for nothing.
Alicia watched as the larger virus cell, whose boundaries possessed large spikey appendages that began piercing the human immune cells, instantly killing them.
Upon this happening, the SERIES Y cells suddenly emerged from their docile state and began subdividing rapidly as the process of mitosis began.
"SERIES Y cells rapidly reproducing! I've never seen anything like this! They're attacking the viral cell and protecting the human immune system cells!" Alicia said excitedly as she watched the SERIES Y cells quickly converge upon the virus cell and encircle it, covering it in multiple layers and copies of new SERIES Y cells, which immediately began devouring the virus.
By the time the virus' cell wall had burst, it was over, and the virus had lost. The remaining human immune cells moved in and began cleaning up the refuse left from the death of the virus, but showed no signs of aggression to the SERIES Y cells.
"Yes! They did it! They kicked viral ass!" Alicia yelled excitedly as she lifted her eyes from the lenses of the microscope.
"I'd say that we have a winner..." Sylvia lifted Alicia's hand like she'd just won a boxing match.
"Or at least a good candidate for the full SERIES Y line," Alicia responded.
"That remains to be seen and not to mention, that's out of our hands," Sylvia reminded Alicia of the strict tests and guidelines that the CDA (the Canadian Drug Agency) adhered to when evaluating release candidate drugs or organic compounds proposed as treatments for public consumption.
"You know... I'm just not that patient a girl. We could...?" Alicia turned her chair to face Sylvia, who had already begun cleaning up the samples from the flatbed scanner and the centrifuge.
"We could what?" Sylvia put her hands on her hips and looked towards Alicia skeptically.
"We could wait until the CDA tests are completed," Alicia responded, not wanting to draw Sylvia's suspicion.
"And that's what we're going to do..." Sylvia continued cleaning Alicia's desk until Alicia stopped her from emptying the centrifuge.
"Wait! I have to take a sample of that for Alex's records? He's going to be reviewing our work first thing in the morning," Alicia reminded Sylvia.
"Oh? Alright. I'll let you handle that. I'm done for the night and am eager to get home. My youngest lost a tooth last night, and I promised her that we'd leave it under her pillow for the tooth fairy today," Sylvia explained to Alicia, who smiled at her own memories of pillow bound treasures left by tooth fairies who looked suspiciously like her parents.
"Why don't you get going and let me finish up here. I've got a bit of time and I'm just going to go to bed when I get home anyway. I'll clean up and prepare Alex's sample. I mean, the tooth fairy can't keep a little girl waiting you know," Alicia winked at Sylvia, who smiled back at her.
"And when are you going to have your own daughter, my favourite of interns?" asked Sylvia.
"I'm the real deal now. Remember? Doctor Westin, though I've still got a bit of time before there's baby Westins running around. Won't get far without a suitable Mr. Westin now, will I?" Alicia momentarily imagined a mature Leland in a three piece suit as he came walking in the front door of her studio apartment after a hard day's work.
"You have someone in mind?" Sylvia confirmed with Alicia, already knowing that she was day dreaming.
"The one that got away," Alicia looked down as the fantasy faded.
"That's just a sign from the universe not to let the next one get away. I think Alicia Westin deserves a happy and prosperous life, don't you? So says Doctor Upadhaya!" Sylvia asked her.
"Yes. Doctor Westin deserves a happy and prosperous life, but Alicia deserves a good night's sleep for now. Preferably without someone snoring next to her," Alicia stood and began cleaning up her desk.
"Thank you Alicia so much. I'll let my daughter know that you sent for the tooth fairy. She'll adore you for that. I'm going to get my stuff and get out the door. I'll see you tomorrow Doctor Westin," Sylvia returned to her desk, where she gathered her purse and keys and made her way to the front door and out to the parking lot.
Alicia then opened a cabinet and pulled a fresh needle from within, unwrapping it from its sterile wrapping and then bringing it over to the centrifuge to where she kept the last sample of the SERIES Y formula.
She then took the test tube and placed it in a tray, where it stood upright. She then inserted the needle into the formula and drew one quarter of the needle's length of formula before placing the needle on her forearm.
"Alicia, you've had some pretty ridiculous ideas in your life, but this one definitely takes the cake..." Alicia said to herself before she plunged the needle into her arm, and withdrew another quarter length of the needle's worth of her blood.
"The sample isn't changing colour, or altering the apparent appearance of my blood. I suppose that's a good sign...? Or not?" Alicia said to herself once again, placing the needle against her skin.
She then thrust it in, guiding it to her artery, where she fed the contents of the needle into her body, after which withdrawing the empty needle and placing it in the tray beside the sample.
She waited for a minute, and then two and then three, finding nothing had changed. Her mood remained stable as did her heart and respiratory rate. After the sixth minute however, her fingers and toes began tingling. Slightly at first but definitely noticeable. She noted strange sensations originating from her thyroid, and then her lymph nodes, as one by one they began to burn, feeling as if they were on fire.
She checked her temperature with a thermometer and found herself stable at thirty-nine degrees celsius.
"My temperature's rising... rapidly..." Alicia said to herself as the pain in her lymph nodes spread first to her sinuses and then to her arm pits.
Her breathing increased rapidly as she progressed towards shock, suddenly feeling herself deathly cold as her temperature rose further.
By that point, the pounding of her heart was unbearable, and she became convinced that her chest was going to explode.
She tried to stand from her chair but immediately fell to the floor, quickly curling up into a fetal position as the pain spread further into her body and now in her muscles. She tried desperately to scream but found that her body no longer functioned. She simply fell limp, unable the move as her muscles liquified and her chest collapsed.
She lay on the floor unmoving and unbreathing for ten minutes, her skin now a deep red not unlike that of one who'd been seriously sunburned, her blue eyes fogged over as if death had arrived early.
She twitched a few times, contorting in ways impossible to the human form before the entire process began to undo itself. Her chest suddenly filled with air as she inhaled deeply, her heart once again beating stronger than it ever had after having ceased for a length of time she did not know.
She breathed deeply, watching as the muscles in her arms suddenly began to take form, beneath her skin like perfection, their shape and tone transformed before her eyes to become their peak in possibility and probability. She remained thin and sleek, and yet toned so impossibly perfect that she resembled a sculpted statue of classical art, modeled after a goddess by a long lost people.
She got up from the floor, and looked for her glasses, not realizing that her vision was perfect. She put her glasses on and found her vision suddenly fogged.
"I guess I won't be needing these anymore..." she said aloud.
She looked around the room and realized that she was seeing across multiple wavelengths of light. Not just visible light, but into spectrums beyond the vision of normal human beings. Not only that, but she could see things behind the walls. The electrical conduit. The pipes and plumbing. The studs and nails holding them in place. Even the appliances beyond into otherwise obscured rooms. Her field of awareness was encompassing and total. She could see behind herself as well as in front and all without having to turn her head.
"I seem to have developed heightened senses..." Alicia said to herself, suddenly confused by the immensely and vast input to which she was now privy.
"I'm guessing that means spicy food is probably a big no for now..." she said to herself.
Her attention turned from her senses to her body once again. She examined her arms beneath the lab coat as she rolled up her sleeves, seeing the perfection of their muscular form. Not large or protruding, but sleek and shapely and immensely strong. Densely packed muscle fiber.
"This could be the result of an absence of electrolytes. The muscles cramp in response as tension in the tendons puts pression on the flexors and stabilizers. The resulting exertion acts just like normal exercise, tearing the old muscle and replacing it with higher density. I've got to test this...?" she suggested to herself.
She looked to the sample in the tray, and grabbed it up, pocketing it. She then prepared the sample for Alex before cleaning the remainder of her desk and the scanners and gathering her things to leave for the night.
The Limits Of Focus And Form
Alicia's studio apartment occupied the ninth floor of an academic's co-op, housed in an old building that had formerly been the production and warehousing operation of Thread Appliances, a manufacturer and retailer of sewing machines. The building itself was a bit of a historical monument whose tenant association had contracted painters who covered it in stylishly florescent pastels, even having restored and painted the old style fire escape on the exterior wall which led directly to a service door in Alicia's apartment.
Inside of the split-level apartment, accent lights lined each wall, casting a dull diffuse light towards the floor from near the twelve foot high ceiling. The first level housed her living room furniture and a kitchenette complete with a Subzero fridge, an LG gas stove for cooking and a low energy Whirlpool dishwasher from which she lived, rarely using her cupboards.
A stylish spiral staircase near the front door of the apartment led to the upstairs and her open concept bedroom, which directly overlooked the living room and large screen television, while the upstairs corner housed the bathroom complete with a Whirlpool bathtub (with massage jets) and a shower.
She had qualified for the apartment through her housing contact in the alumni, who had tabs on several units in the Toronto based co-op. Most of her neighbours were professionals, students finishing their final year and who like her, had received the residence at a decent price and discount given the quality and the amenities. At least such residents could live in comfort as they paid off their student loans.
A young terrier lay sleeping on the sofa, her head flat on the sofa between her paws. A few feet away, atop of the wall unit, a cat peered down, watching over the terrier, coasting in and out of sleep.
The terrier's ears suddenly perked up as her head lifted from the cushions. She looked curiously towards the apartment front hall, wondering if the elevator she'd heard was occupied by her favourite human. The cat stood on the wall unit, stretching and yawning simultaneously, before leaping easily down from a height of eight feet, using the shelves as stop-overs before the floor.
The terrier barked once. Her tail suddenly wagging furiously as she got to her feet. She jumped down from the sofa and ran to the front hall and towards the door as she heard the sound of the keys in the lock.
The door opened and a motion sensor automatically activated the front hall lights as the terrier paused, looking with curiosity and caution at the woman who'd just entered. The terrier's tail stopped wagging, and she barked a few times having sensed something very different about the blonde haired human.
She smelled very different for one. Her pheromones were absent of scents associated with six or more percent body fat, as had been the case with her body previously. Instead, her metabolic system now yielded very little in the way of information about her body state through her pheromones, throwing the terrier off as to the nature of her identity.
She also seemed to be somewhat warmer and more dense, her circulatory system having increased in efficiency a thousand fold, while her musculature was densely packed perfection. She stood there looking at the terrier, who peered back at her, somewhat intimidated and unsure if she was seeing a stranger or her favourite friend.
"Silly! It's me Barker!" she smiled and squatted closer to the floor and began rubbing the terrier's head.
Upon hearing her voice, the terrier barked in glee, her tail once again moving like the propellor on a motorboat.
"Mommy had a very wonderful and strange day..." Alicia said to Barker, who responded with a bark as Alicia stood.
Barker immediately ran in circles several times just beyond the front-hall as Alicia made her way to the island countertop in the kitchen, where she placed her purse and keys.
By that time, Mr. Frisker (the cat) had leapt up onto the counter and wandered over to her purse and began rubbing the side of his mouth on it. She turned to him and began stroking his chin, causing him to fall backwards onto his side, where he exposed his belly to her as a gesture of trust.
"You two must be hungry, mommy was so late tonight," Alicia said to Mr. Frisker as Barker did laps of the island countertop excitedly from the floor.
She left Mr. Frisker hanging, mid-chin stroke and went over to the cupboard, where she found two tins of food, one for Barker and the other for Mr. Frisker. Barker ran for dinner corner, beating Mr. Frisker there by barely a second. The two walking in circles as they waited for Alicia to ceremoniously dole out their canned food into their favourite dishes. A moment later and they were already gorging themselves on it and silence once again found the apartment.
"Alright. Mommy's night isn't finished yet, but I'm sure that you two will be fast asleep by the time I'm back," Alicia walked over to the downstairs bathroom and found the scale beside it, in the bottom of the linen closet. She pulled it out and placed it onto the floor and stepped onto it, waiting for the digital readout to settle on a value.
"One eighty? You mean I gained?" she said aloud, clearly puzzled, examining herself in the full body mirror next to the scale to be certain.
For the first time since she'd consumed the formula, she had a chance to examine herself. Her body was indeed much more thin and sleek. The rump of her hind quarters was much smaller but still curvaceous and far more toned, while her thighs and calves were sculpted works of muscular art, reminiscent of the works of Michelangelo or Praxiteles.
She pulled her blouse up, untucking it from her pants and examined her skin, a pale pink washboard stomach, her abs and laterals tightly curved and as densely packed as her calves. Her gaze climbed her upper-body and found her neck, which rippled with muscle beneath, yet when she relaxed, it loosened and looked quite normal. When she turned her neck however, the detail lines and ripples exposed themselves under her pale skin. Every part of her was a work of perfect geometry and art.
She went over to a white board on the wall beside the bathroom, a spreadsheet etched upon it depicting her weight gains and losses over several months, one entry for each week. She examined the most recent entry and compared it to the recent reading on the scale.
"I gained twenty pounds, but I'm nearly a third thinner than I was?" she examined the spreadsheet whiteboard, perplexed.
"It must the density. The formula completely rebuilt the cellular structure of my entire body, rebuilding the muscle at least sixty percent more dense for it to have resulted in that difference in my weight," Alicia realized what had happened to account for the discrepancy between her smaller physical appearance, and her increased weight.
She quickly unbuttoned her blouse as she made her way to the spiral stairs. When she arrived, she leapt up six steps at once, without even thinking about it, and in three leaps, she'd covered the entire stairway and was on the second level, peering over the railing down at Barker and Mr. Frisker as they devoured the last of their food.
She tossed her blouse into the hamper and quickly followed up with her pants. She then went to the wardrobe and found a red and magenta form fitting track suit she'd never once worn, out of her self consciousness over her weight.
"I'm heavier, and thinner now. I guess I've got no excuse..." she said as she grabbed the track suit and a fresh bra and underwear from the nearby chest of drawers.
She slipped into the bathroom and changed, stepping out and back over to the wardrobe to find a pair of runners. She spent all of two minutes sorting through a number of shoes, unable to find anything but her favourite low-rise heels and work wear, when she suddenly remembered the hiking boots she'd kept beside the wardrobe.
They were made of a high-tech material and semi-permeable and yet stylish, sleek and black.
"I guess these will have to do..." she said as she slipped them on, pulling the top over her tight track suit pants.
"It might be a bit chilly out there..." she said as she saw a long black button down sweater hanging from her wardrobe.
She grabbed it and threw it on over her track suit, admiring the stylish look and how shapely her new physique truly was.
"What if someone recognizes me? Sees that I've changed so drastically...?" she asked herself hypothetically.
She went to the top of the chest of drawers and found a pair of horn-rimmed sunglasses that she'd picked up as a prop for a Halloween costume they had at an office party. She threw them on and examined herself in the bathroom mirror.
"A little different... but it should do. I don't want to scare anyone..." Alicia said to herself as she went back over to the stairs.
Once again, out of instinct rather than planning, she leapt over the second level railing, bypassing the stairs altogether. She landed, folding her legs under her, bending her knees, making nearly no sound when she landed, having absorbed all of the forces acting upon her body at impact.
"That must be what it feels like to have focus," Alicia reflected to herself.
When she stood, there were no pains or sprains or any signs of an injury. Just the perfect response of her muscle and body tone, all working together in perfect harmony, as if she could sense her own capabilities and had come nowhere near the limits thereof.
She suddenly found herself having a new respect for body trainers, now having achieved through better medicine what might have taken her considerable discipline and effort under the guidance of a professional. However, what that investment yielded was a feeling of oneness and confidence of the body and mind. A unity difficult for those who experienced it to describe to those who never had. She wondered how many lives such a formula might change, when people could suddenly truly appreciate the wonder of the greatest gift they'd received for free.
Their own body.
Perhaps, upon such realization, they'd appreciate it much more than they typically did.
"Well, at least if it doesn't pass the CDA tests for suitability as a class one treatment for Cancer and degenerative diseases, we can try the late night infomercial market as a health and weight loss supplement..." Alicia joked to herself out loud, imagining herself standing in front of a studio camera delivering the hard sell of the SERIES Y formula.
"Alright my little babies. Mommy's got to go out for a bit. Behave yourselves and I'll be back soon," Alicia grabbed her keys and her wallet from her purse and then made her way to the apartment door and stepped out into the hall after locking up.
She was literally at the far end of the hall from the elevator, which was at the other end, the better part of a fifty meters from her. She leaned forward and began to sprint as fast as she could, the rest coming to her intuitively as she ran. A little over four seconds later and she had slid to a stop before the elevator. Not only that, but her heart was still beating at nearly the same pace and her breath was steady rather than pronounced. It was as if it took her no effort or exertion to be able to accomplish such a feat that otherwise would have left her gasping for air.
"And that must have been form," she remarked calmly as the elevator arrived.
She boarded the elevator when it arrived, and when the door opened on the ground floor, she stepped out into the empty lobby and out to the night, and forever changed.
Begin Again
Helayne, now twenty-five years old and six years shy of her fashion school graduation sat in the lobby of the bank, just outside of the offices as she glanced at her watch.
She was dressed stylishly, in a designer suit of her own crafting, her long black hair groomed and tucked over her ear on one side, as she read a magazine that had been situated on the coffee table in the bank's reception area.
She flipped through the pages of the Canadian Financial Quarterly, paying more attention to the advertisements, especially those depicting models or any elements of fashion associated with her interests, noting what seemed to be prevalent, understanding fully well that if advertising executives would green light an ad, that was a good indication that the fashion therein was part of a modern image the executives were using to appeal to their potential customers. At some point, such executives were also a part of her audience, and therefore a potential customer.
Over the course of six years since her graduation, Helayne had already built one business. A fashion business of course, geared towards young professionals who were part of a large market of technology savvy go getters, many of whom had grown up on post-grunge rock, and electro-edged beats, which had at one point appealed to her and her friends. The style that had accompanied the market she was seeking to draw, was large if not segmented, for many youths had many ideas about music and style and technology, though being young, she geared her goals towards what interested her.
She got a loan, her father putting up collateral for her business idea, and she immediately began designing for this market audience she'd anticipated would make up more than half of the fashionable audience of professionals in their mid-twenties by the time she was twenty-two. Her designs were innovative without being a radical departure, for she wanted familiarity to operate in her favour rather than to alienate her customers. Unfortunately, both the economy and the market at that point in time worked against her, and by the time she had just turned twenty-four, she'd declared bankruptcy.
She worked for a year after that, doing twelve hours days, every day of the week, taking whatever means she could to pay off her loan and debt, spending her spare time coming up with new designs to entertain a new goal and business idea she had that would seek a more settled, thirty-something audience of established professionals rather than those who were on their first steps into their professional careers and lives.
Over the course of three months, she'd put together a portfolio of entirely new designs targeting the market for which she was aiming, and the patterns needed to create them. To make them real.
"Ms. Ying? Mr. Hudney is available to see you now, if you'd care to step into his office?" the receptionist looked towards Helayne and addressed her.
"Lets hope this goes well," Helayne smiled cautiously as she got up, grabbing her portfolio as she did.
"Break a leg!" the receptionist said to her.
"Not this time," Helayne responded as she opened the nearby door to the loans administrator office.
"Ms. Ying. Its a pleasure to meet you. Please, have a seat," Mr Hudney stood to greet Helayne and upon her taking a seat, he sat back down.
"So why don't you explain what you're seeking from us, and why, and we'll take it from there," Mr. Hudney asked Helayne.
"First of all, thanks for making the time to see me Mr. Hudney. I know that you're a busy man and I truly appreciate it. With that said and meant, I'm looking to bring my design ideas into the forefront of a modern office and technology connected modern work wear market, developing these designs into a corresponding brand, which will eventually become the flagship for my company. My startup and the means to take these designs from development into production and manufacture is why I'm here today and in good standing," Helayne delivered her idea confidently, never once mentioning the difficulty with her first venture.
"So I understand from your introductory email. When you say you're looking to found your startup and to take your design to manufacturing, what are we looking at here?" asked Mr. Hudney.
"The startup. My company. Will produce both the designs and handle produce the first units or stand alone designer products in the form of one off outfits or business and work wear suits, focusing on both women and men, while accommodating a wealthier palette of outfit colours than you typically see in even the modern workplace, but make no mistake about this. Our customers are the center of focus. They're the stars. The clothing is there to compliment them, pushing them out into the center stage of life in the office," Helayne explained the concept to Mr. Hudney, who felt a little lackluster given her mention of outfit colours, comparing his own dull grey suit to the grandiosity of her statement.
"I'm familiar with the idea, but we need to talk numbers here. What is it you need from us, financially speaking?" asked Mr. Hudney.
Helayne reached into her portfolio, past the designs and to her tablet, which she pulled forth and placed on the edge of the desk in front of her. She then quickly awakened it and after signing in, she opened her ledger.
"For the property I'm going to procure as the location of the business, which will be owned, not rented, will require a loan cover the down payment and at least the first year's worth of mortgage payments, land taxes and insurance as our safety net. With that in mind, we're looking at about one point five million, and a ten year mortgage from your bank. Further, to equip the office and the sewing room facility, we'll need another four hundred thousand, to cover the cost of office furniture, partitioned workstations, computer workstations and servers, and the inventory and accounting system software, which will be custom tailored specifically for our brand and company. The sewing machines, all of which will be industrial quality for production, will be included in that cost. Our first year's worth of fabric inventory will run us about a hundred thousand dollars, which brings us to two million so far. We'll need another two hundred thousand for renovations, including the outfitting of two studios, both equipped with LED and production facility technology, geared mostly towards still imagery, but live action colour key compositing will also be needed, along with the edit suite, bringing us up to two point two million. The final crowning touch on this business location will be the fashion show and presentation ballroom, which will include a large skylight, over an open space auditorium like room which will have fixtures for electrical and plumbing within, including two bathrooms servicing at least three people each at a time. There will also be a collapsible fashion runway and stage, that can be setup quickly and on the fly including in that sum. Last, we will need funding enough to cover the salaries for one year, of approximately twenty professionals, all of whom will be working fulltime in the same building. I estimate their combined salaries to come to one point two million, for a grand total of three point four million, which will procure us the facility and keep us running for one year, after which I project that our sales and contracts will allow us to pay off both the principle of the loan with interest, and the mortgage for the property, over ten years," Helayne explained to Mr. Hudney, turning her ledger around so he could see it.
"This is nice. Did you make this yourself?" asked Mr. Hudney asked of her ledger.
"No. I hired a certified accountant. I gave her the numbers, and she put it all together for me and ended up saving me about two hundred grand," Helayne explained to Mr. Hudney.
"You obviously understand that the bank can't just go around giving out this kind of money without some kind of assurance and in my saying that, I'm not implying that you'd purposely rip us off or anything. I'm just saying that even with the best of plans, things can go off kilter and you might find yourself quickly in a position of not being able to keep up with the loan and mortgage payments, keeping in mind that the payments for both are going to be sizeable, given the amount that you're seeking and the term, but your credit rating is certainly going to help you, but we're going to need a bit of equity to hedge our bet on you, Ms. Ying," Mr. Hudney explained to Helayne.
Helayne's father had once again offered to co-sign for her loan, putting her mother and father's one point five million dollar home up as equity for the loan, but Helayne would not have it. Instead, what she'd done was leverage the equity of her own mortgages (on the two condominiums she currently owned, one of which whose mortgage was already paid off).
"I'm offering up my two condominiums as outlined in the documents I'm about to send you. One of them is about halfway through its term, and the other is completely paid and sits at a current market value of nine hundred thousand," Helayne explained to him as she clicked the send button on her email client.
"Alright. I just got them. Let me see..." Mr. Hudney said as he examined the mortgage for one, and the deed for the other.
"Alright. Given your current equity and liquidity, I can guarantee the mortgage of ten years at 3.9 percent, which is our best rate. I can't go any lower..." Mr. Hudney assured her.
"That's great! What about the loan?" Helayne asked him enthusiastically.
"That's a different story. I'm afraid that without more equity, we're not going to be able to give you the loan. I'd need to see at least another two hundred in liquidity. An account of yours with over two hundred thousand with our bank. With your current equity and income, we can only give you the mortgage," Mr. Hudney informed her.
"Alright. I'll take that. Can you put that together for me right now so that I can purchase the property by today?" Helayne put her tablet back in her portfolio and leaned forward.
"Most certainly, though I'm really sorry that we couldn't help you with the loan. You fix the equity problem though, and I'll clear the loan," Mr. Hudney agreed as he began filling out the onscreen paperwork in their mortgage tracking system.
...
Helayne ran up the steps from the subway (even in her heels) and found her way to the sidewalk on University Street at Queen Street West in Toronto. The warm spring air was upon her as was the sunshine as she strode west in the direction of the street car. She got into line and boarded the car, taking it from University to Duncan Street where she exited and continued her journey on the sidewalk to the property she'd planned to buy.
On her way, she walked by a curious looking restaurant, pausing when she'd noticed that they sold Chai Latte. She stepped into the restaurant, which appeared to be more like an earthy greasy spoon, albeit with a lot of character.
The waitress, a young lady who wore a traditional waitress' uniform, almost appearing more like a nurse, turned to face Helayne.
"Can I help you?" she asked Helayne.
"Yes. Can I get a Chai Latte, with a half a teaspoon of coffee grounds, and a sweetner on the side?" asked Helayne, smiling at the girl professionally.
A hefty man with a belly, who worked behind the counter addressed Helayne.
"We're out of Chai Latte lady. Want a coffee instead?" he said to her.
"Sorry Miss. He's pulling your leg. We've never had Chai Latte. He put the sign out there to lure in customers..." the waitress leaned in closer to Helayne and said quietly to her.
Just as Helayne was about to respond, a trio or armed men wearing masks stepped into the restaurant, each of them wielding firearms.
One of them screamed:
"Everybody put your hands up in the air and don't move, or we'll pop a cap in yo' ass!" one of the men yelled showing them his gun while the others kept theirs leveled at the man behind the counter, and the six or so customers that occupied the booth seats of the restaurant.
The waitress raised her hands, rolling her eyes in the process, more out of frustration than fear.
Helayne raised hers as well, keeping her eyes on all three of the men and their guns.
"We're takin' all of your cash. Your phones. Your wallets. Your jewelry. Everything, you hear?!!!" the man who yelled produced a knapsack, which he opened and beckoned the man behind the counter to fill it with cash from the till.
"Slowly... I'll plug you fast if you try anything funny!" the robber said.
"There's only about a hundred in the till," the man behind the counter responded.
"That sounds like money to me. Get it the f#ck in the knapsack and be done with it!" the robber ordered him, presenting the gun to him by aiming it as his forehead.
The man behind the counter emptied the till into the knapsack and then withdrew his own wallet and dropped it in as the two other robbers went around to the booth seats and collected wallets and phones.
When they got to the waitress, asking her for her tip money, she responded.
"Go to hell, Tabarnac! I worked too hard for this money! I am not giving you anything!" she responded to him, a fierce look on her face.
One of the robbers leveled his gun at her, and then at Helayne, immediately turning to face her. Helayne kept her hands in the air and blinked at the robber innocently.
"Give us your purse and your portfolio..." he demanded of Helayne.
"No. They're too much important for me," Helayne said to the robber.
"But not as f#ckin' important as your f#ckin' life!" one of the other robbers, a taller fellow said to her, now aiming his gun at her too.
"No. That's not the point. The point is, that I can't going to give them to you," Helayne said to the third robber, whose gun now was focused upon her, leaving everyone in the restaurant out of danger.
"Hand it over!" the robber directly facing her demanded, though at the same time, she felt the cold steel of the gun of the third robber's gun on the back of her head.
She quickly spun, spinning her head while pressing it back against the gun so it rolled off of her and to the side, then using her raised arm in a block to brush the robber's gun wielding arm aside enough that she could get her other arm around it, grasping his wrist and twisting it backwards and up at the ceiling.
The gun fired once, and then again, before the robber screamed as his elbow dislocated from the pressure Helayne had excerpted on it. The gun fell harmlessly to the floor, the other two robbers now running for the door with their collected loot.
As they arrived, the door suddenly opened and two uniformed Police Officers entered the restaurant, their firearms drawn.
The two robbers tried to flee in the direction of the back door, immediately dropping their weapons and raising their hands as one of the cops yelled:
"Freeze! Drop your weapons and raise your hands!" he yelled at them.
"There's a real gun on the floor over here! Those two were only carrying water guns," Helayne said as she maintained a grip on the arm of the one she'd disarmed.
"Alright. You two! Hands up! Against the wall! Have you got a firm hold of him miss?" the other Police Officer, a woman ordered the apprehended robbers, then turning to address Helayne.
"So far. Yes. But I've got an important meeting I have to be to in half an hour..." she responded to the Police Officer.
"Alright miss. We're going to make sure you get to that meeting on time. We're going to cuff these two, and when we're done, we're going to relieve you of that one and cuff him, and then we're going to take your name and information, and we'll contact you later," the Policewoman assured her.
"Thanks Miss," the waitress said to Helayne.
"Lets wait until they've got these goons stowed away before we start thanking each other, alright?" Helayne smiled at the waitress and she held onto the third robber's arm.
"She's breakin' my f#ckin' arm!" the third robber yelled, struggling to get away from Helayne.
She tightened her grip and twisted his arm even further against the grain, until he cried out.
"I'm going to mess you up!" he promised her, though she ignored him.
"Alright, we've got this one," the two officers relieved Helayne of the third robber, quickly cuffing him as more officers arrived on the scene.
When the Police had hauled the final robber from the scene, the man behind the counter spoke.
"Monique! You know the policy! You almost got us killed!" he yelled at the waitress.
"I saw the guy in the second booth texting for help. I had to distract them!" she yelled back at him.
"Well consider yourself out of a job!" at that moment, her employer fired her.
Helayne looked to the waitress, examining her carefully, seeing a pretty face and a healthy and well cared for body, despite the bags under her eyes, likely from overwork.
"Monique? Have you any experience on stage or in front of a camera?" Helayne asked the former waitress.
"A little bit. I kind of bombed my first time on stage. A bit of flair and a bit of controversy. I lost a lot back then," Monique responded to Helayne.
"Do you think that you might be ready for another chance?" asked Helayne honestly.
"As ready as you were, taking on all three of them. Maybe?" Monique smiled.
"I'd like to hire you. I'll start you out in two weeks, at a thousand a week for the first three months, paid training, and then we'll take it from there," Helayne gave Monique the offer.
"Let me think about it," Monique said, a big smile stretching across her face.
"I'll take it!" she quickly responded, not daring to lose the opportunity.
"Monique! I want the tip money back! Now!" the man behind the counter ordered Monique.
"That's not your money. That's hers. She worked too hard for it, and she doesn't work for you anymore. She works for me," Helayne turned to face the man behind the counter.
"Thanks. I'll split it with you, fifty/fifty," Monique responded to Helayne.
"No need," Helayne smiled back at Monique.
"Fine... fine. Why don't you go, and talk to the Police then?" the man behind the counter suggested to Helayne, looking to Monique with an intimidating look in his eye.
Monique took off her apron and threw it at the man behind the counter, following Helayne out the door and onto the street where a gathering of Police was growing as more officers arrived.
The two of them gave their account of what had happened and then their contact information in case the officers needed them for the investigation of the trial.
Once they had finished, Helayne and Monique left.
...
"I've got a meeting with a real estate agent, and I'm going to see a property that I've already decided I'm going to purchase. I'll give you a hundred dollars for the day today, and if anyone asks you, your a model and a coordinator. Understand?" asked Helayne.
"We're not scamming anyone, are we?" Monique confirmed with Helayne.
"No. Not at all. I just want you not to end up with the load at the end of the day. You obviously worked hard for that tip money, and I don't think that it would be fair, and I know that some people can be very cruel. What you did in there was very brave and very selfless, but I want you to know that if you run into that kind of a situation again, and I hope that you or I never do, I want you to promise me that unless you're covering for someone else, not to ever do that again. Its far too dangerous," Helayne urged Monique.
"Alright, but you first. You've got to promise the same thing. I mean, how did you even know that two of them had water guns?" asked Monique.
"I saw their barrels when they pointed them at me. I could see the spout on them. Too small, their guns," Helayne admitted to Monique, causing her to laugh at Helayne's quip.
"What about third guy?" Monique asked her.
"He showed his first when he entered, and I saw right away that it was was steel. Not to mention, it smelled like steel, if that makes any sense," Helayne explained to Monique.
"Did you study martial arts or something?" asked Monique of Helayne.
"Yes. When I was younger. A young girl..." Helayne recalled her classes back when she'd started studying at the age of six years.
"What kind?" asked Monique.
"Wing Chun and Kung Fu," Helayne told Monique, who raised her eyebrows.
"Isn't that like takeout or something?" Monique responded, causing Helayne to laugh.
"I guess it is, in a way. I mean we took out those robbers, didn't we?" Helayne quickly improvised.
"I guess we did. So, do you live around here?" asked Monique.
"I do. Downtown. In a condo, but I worked very hard to be able to buy it. What about you?" asked Helayne.
"Me? No. I lost my place to live when I lost my job..." Monique responded to Helayne, seeming unfazed by the turn of events.
"Care to explain?" asked Helayne.
"Its a long story. I ran away with a boyfriend a long time ago, and then when he started to become a problem, I ran away from him, getting a job at that restaurant to escape him, but that stuff always seems to have a means of finding its way back to you. I lived at the restaurant, in an apartment above it. I slept on the sofa of the man behind the counter," Monique admitted to Helayne.
"He didn't... I mean you weren't...? You know?" asked Helayne.
"Us? Me and my employer? No. He tried. Twice, but I put him in his place. Lucky for me he was the kind of guy that feared women enough to take the second no seriously. After that, he didn't try again," Monique looked down, remembering that night from only months earlier.
"So I guess that means we're going to have to find you a place to live now," Helayne said to Monique assertively rather than protectively.
"That's not your problem. Its mine," Monique accepted the fact that her circumstances had turned out that way, and instead focused on the opportunity that had befallen her, rather than the loss of her living space.
"Yes, but solving challenges is kind of like a specialty of mine. I thrive in it. Like this place we're going to see. Up until two hours ago, I had no way to buy. Then I meet with the nice bank, then I have mortgage, and then I have means to buy. That problem is gone," Helayne explained to Monique, who admired her for her focus and sense of direction.
"I appreciate the offer, but lets see how things go," Monique suddenly became suspicious given the situation and all of the good that had suddenly befallen her.
To her, such an occurrence was more of a sign to be suspicious rather than embracing. If something was too good to be true, it usually was, or so she assumed given her life experience.
Since leaving home at the age of fourteen, she'd averted many times over attempts to take advantage of her in many ways, not just sexually. Fortunately, Monique had always been somewhat street wise and possessed an edge of confidence that the kind of men who were attracted to the idea of taking advantage of her, found intimidating. This was the case with every one of them who saw her innocence as weakness. Her innocence may have simply been the lure to bring predatorial men closer to her only to find themselves subject to her quick wit, brashness and confidence.
Hence, since having fled from her home in Montreal, she'd never once given herself over sexually. Samias had tried many, many times but had hit that same solid wall of her impenetrable awareness and her unwillingness to give in, unless it was truly what she had wanted.
When she'd fled Samias, the opportunity had actually come to her similarly as had the one with Helayne. Seemingly arriving out of thin air and at the very moment that she'd needed it. Anatio, the man from the restaurant has seen her arguing with Samias when they'd arrived as customers for lunch. Samias had come to the downtown area to meet with a contact with the opportunity to work for one of the downtown Captains. A man with global connections in the underworld, who had wanted something Samias had to offer. Experience with people management and intimidation.
As it turned out, this Captain was evaluating the purchase of companies that had just gone public, and he needed members of his downtown crew to assist in lowering the stock value of these companies by sabotaging their businesses and client base. One the stock had dropped enough, this Captain would give them an offer they couldn't refuse, buying their inventory of stock at a bargain basement price. The Captain would then implore his downtown crew to work towards improving that same company and its stock value, once again by intimidation against their competitors and advertising the business. The stock value would quickly climb, and the Captain would often sell, ending his trades with a return on investment of approaching three or four thousand percent, some of which he'd dole out to his crew.
Before the meeting, Samias had come to the restaurant, as the man behind the counter, Anatio, was a connected friend. Someone he trusted. He knew that he was running into walls with Monique and wanted to be rid of her, but without having to risk the law being involved, so he brought Monique to the restaurant, and purposely started an argument with her, and then escalated it to the point that he stormed out of the restaurant after nearly assaulting her.
She of course was a mess by that point, especially having just broken up with him. Given her position and neediness, she was very susceptible to their ploy, for their crew had a lot of experience accomplishing setups such as these.
Anatio then went over to her and sat at the booth, and delivered a rousing and encouraging speech to her, in much the same way that a father or grandfather might have. He then ended on a positive note, leaving her and picking up her tab, which he pretended to pay for (though it had been part of the entire ploy from the beginning). He then went into the back room and returned with a waitress' outfit, complete with an apron. He tossed it on the table and offered her the job, adding that he also had an apartment above the restaurant and that she could at no charge, sleep on his sofa. What he didn't tell her was that he knew that all of this would create a weight of implied debt against her, and that he would at the right time, attempt to collect on it by approaching her with the intent of securing a more intimate nature to their relationship.
A few months would go by and she'd likely unquestioningly trust him, at which point a trio of robbers would arrive, where she'd be shot dead during the botched robbery, hence relieving Samias of any risk she posed of her knowledge of his life and activities.
Of course, the robbery did not go as planned, when a stylish woman and unbeknownst to them, a martial artist had arrived at the very moment of this robbery which had been designed to end Monique's life.
Instead of being rid of her, Samias was now a perpetrator of armed robbery, he being the one who'd wielded the real gun. The gun that was intended to take Monique's life.
...
Monique and Helayne now paced the interior of the old factory that had previously been a night club, that resided at Duncan and Adelaide Street as they waited for the real estate agent to get off of his phone with the approval.
Helayne looked at the property, wondering how much of it was going to have to be demolished to accommodate her dream design, and how far off budget that might stray.
"I'm thinking that the runway is going go right here... under the skylight. The seats right here. A buffet and bar over there. This is where we'll hold fashion events, showcasing our company's and other strategic business allies' designs," Helayne shared a bit of her vision with Monique, who nodded as if she was contemplating it like a professional, enjoying the opportunity to play the part.
"True. Backstage right over here, with the hair dressing and makeup rooms..." Monique added as Helayne nodded.
"The change rooms too..." Helayne added, glad to see that Monique was settling into what had the chance to be a prosperous and rewarding future.
"Miss Ying? Care to speak for a moment?" asked Mendez, their real estate agent.
"Did the customer agree to the terms?" asked Helayne of Mendez.
"They're fine with everything, but we're not going to be able to turn over the keys until the bank closes. They're superstitious..." Mendez explained to Helayne, who listened despite her frustration.
"The money has cleared. They've nothing to worry about, unless the bank folds, and I don't think that's going to happen. I don't want to have to wait here until six tonight to get the keys..." Helayne taught Monique the first lesson in how to negotiate time urgent matters where the sales representative stands to make a lot of money from your purchase.
"Not a problem. I'm here to solve problems, Miss Ying. I agree. Their superstition should not affect your life, so I'm willing to pickup the keys for you and I'll hand deliver them to your security's front desk at six-thirty, no charge," Mendez smiled, offering her his hand for a shake.
"That would be most acceptable Mendez, given the situation," Helayne smiled and shook his hand.
"Glad to hear. I like to solve problems rather than to make them," Mendez led them to the front door of the building as Helayne turned and winked at Monique, leaning over and whispering in her ear.
"Good thing I didn't tell him about the bad Feng Shui of exchanging the keys of a recently sold home after dark," Helayne smiled as she spoke.
Monique laughed, stifling it before Mendez heard it, though as good luck and Feng Shui would have it, Mendez managed to make the key exchange long before sunset.
When Helayne and Monique arrived in the lobby of the condominium, Heylayne approached the security desk and picked up the keys to her second condominium unit, which was the smaller of the two. She then handed them to Monique.
"No guests. No parties without my approval, and you're going to have to pay the condo fees and the utilities yourself out of your pay. Once you're three months in and I know that you're solid, you'll pay the mortgage, and when its paid off, the condo is yours and you have some equity to really start your life," Helayne said to Monique, dangling the keys like a golden amulet.
Monique's eyes began to tear up.
"I can't accept this..." Monique said to her, now afraid that she was vulnerable now that she had something to lose.
"Yes you can. I'm in the position to do this only because I had people that did it for me. Good parents and a best friend in school without whom I'd not be taking the risk of buying that building we purchased today. Imagine if I'd have said no to them, simply because it would have put me in a position where I had something to lose? Try it out. See if you like it, before you throw it away. Can you at least do that?" asked Helayne.
Monique nodded, still unable to speak and on the brink of crying.
"I'll give it a try..." Monique said as the lump in her throat grew.
"Lets get you into your new place first, and then we'll work on getting ourselves some real takeout for dinner. Sound good?" Helayne asked Monique.
"Yeah. Lets," Monique replied as the two of them headed over to the elevators and proceeded upstairs to the penthouse.
I am Brian Joseph Johns and this is Shhhh! Digital Media at https://www.shhhhdigital.com or https://www.shhhhdigital.ca in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701. I don't live in New York and have never been there. I don't use crack cocaine or cocaine and never have. I actually don't smoke at all, though I drink alcohol on occasion. I have no criminal record, nor have I ever been incarcerated in jail or prison.
To be continued...
Don't worry, Helayne Ying, Monique Defleur, Valerie Aspect, Myung Chung-Ae and Aikiko Tanaka will all be returning soon, along with some other characters yet to be reintroduced...
Brian Joseph Johns
Credits and attribution:
Artwork: Amy Wong, Wendy Pusey, Ghastly, Birdman, Brian Joseph Johns, Daz3D, Unreal Engine...
Tools: Daz3D, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, Blender, Stable Diffusion (Easy Diffusion distribution), InstantID, Sadtalker, Google Colaboratory, Microsoft Copilot (Windows 11), Hitfilm, PhotoPea (a great web based Photoshop stand-in if you're on a low budget or in a pinch), Borderline Obsession...
DeepSeek AI for suggestions on exercises to improve aspects of describing scene and settings with a more sensory focused grammar.
InstantID by: Wang, Qixun and Bai, Xu and Wang, Haofan and Qin, Zekui and Chen, Anthony. Research Paper Title: InstantID - Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds.
Sadtalker by: Zhang, Wenxuan and Cun, Xiaodong and Wang, Xuan and Zhang, Yong and Shen, Xi and Guo, Yu and Shan, Ying and Wang, Fei.
Research Paper Title: SadTalker: Learning Realistic 3D Motion Coefficients for Stylized Audio-Driven Single Image Talking Face Animation.
Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR, (both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.
Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and at least one comedian): https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire family of inspirations), http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International presence of a very scalable intensity martial art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua's own specialized variation thereof, https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation (even Hanshi had his teachers), https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be Taegers), https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck Norris), https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy Chef Steven Seagal liberate a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier from a team of hijackers?), https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto's own Shaolin Temple), https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken's Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can't laugh at ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others, and other Zen)
Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real thing): Magic Week Archive (I'm currently growing this section so stay tuned)
Special thanks to Aitrepreneur, Mickmumpitz, Hugging Face and the YouTube educational content producers, including those catering to the AI content production pipeline and of course AlphaSignal.
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Sensei Rokas: Martial Arts Journey
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history
Iaido: Train For Katana Mastery Like Samurai
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art
Extensive courses for calisthenics and body strength, stamina and flexibility
Special thanks to Captain Crunch and his wonderful sister!
Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one roof
Something to give you perspective: The very first teacher had no formal education, didn't graduate and was self taught, but only because they had no other choice. We do.
Tools: Daz3D, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, Blender, Stable Diffusion (Easy Diffusion distribution), InstantID, Sadtalker, Google Colaboratory, Microsoft Copilot (Windows 11), Hitfilm, PhotoPea (a great web based Photoshop stand-in if you're on a low budget or in a pinch), Borderline Obsession...
DeepSeek AI for suggestions on exercises to improve aspects of describing scene and settings with a more sensory focused grammar.
InstantID by: Wang, Qixun and Bai, Xu and Wang, Haofan and Qin, Zekui and Chen, Anthony. Research Paper Title: InstantID - Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds.
Sadtalker by: Zhang, Wenxuan and Cun, Xiaodong and Wang, Xuan and Zhang, Yong and Shen, Xi and Guo, Yu and Shan, Ying and Wang, Fei.
Research Paper Title: SadTalker: Learning Realistic 3D Motion Coefficients for Stylized Audio-Driven Single Image Talking Face Animation.
Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR, (both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.
Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and at least one comedian): https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire family of inspirations), http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International presence of a very scalable intensity martial art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua's own specialized variation thereof, https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation (even Hanshi had his teachers), https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be Taegers), https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck Norris), https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy Chef Steven Seagal liberate a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier from a team of hijackers?), https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto's own Shaolin Temple), https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken's Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can't laugh at ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others, and other Zen)
Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real thing): Magic Week Archive (I'm currently growing this section so stay tuned)
Special thanks to Aitrepreneur, Mickmumpitz, Hugging Face and the YouTube educational content producers, including those catering to the AI content production pipeline and of course AlphaSignal.
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Sensei Rokas: Martial Arts Journey
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history
Iaido: Train For Katana Mastery Like Samurai
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art
Extensive courses for calisthenics and body strength, stamina and flexibility
Special thanks to Captain Crunch and his wonderful sister!
Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one roof
Something to give you perspective: The very first teacher had no formal education, didn't graduate and was self taught, but only because they had no other choice. We do.
This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.
This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.
Brian Joseph Johns
https://www.shhhhdigital.comhttps://www.facebook.com/shhhhdigitalhttps://www.youtube.com/@ShhhhDigitalAudio
Produced at Shhhh! Digital Media
200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Inquiries: brian.joseph.johns@shhhhdigital.com, info@shhhhdigital.com
Brian Joseph Johns
https://www.shhhhdigital.com
https://www.facebook.com/shhhhdigitalhttps://www.shhhhdigital.com
https://www.youtube.com/@ShhhhDigitalAudio
Produced at Shhhh! Digital Media
200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Inquiries: brian.joseph.johns@shhhhdigital.com, info@shhhhdigital.com
Produced at Shhhh! Digital Media
200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Inquiries: brian.joseph.johns@shhhhdigital.com, info@shhhhdigital.com
Copyright © 2025 Brian Joseph Johns
