#equalizing ( ace )

[mallickshah]

DISPATCHED: SEPT 7 2024

All Clubs, pay attention!

It is quite obvious that I had nothing to do with the recent attack of a Spade's shipment as my focus has been entirely on helping our faction. There's an offer to speak against the assailants, who are supposedly one of our kinds, and if that’s the case belonging to us and one of us, the request is to sell any pertinent information to any Spades which I understand and will not condemn them for requesting. However wouldn't you say it would be preferable for one of ours to receive any kind of punishment from us and not from any outsiders? Don't you think we at least deserve to handle our own matters? The Council will be conducting an investigation into the matters since we are the ones being accused here. I ask that you please direct any and all information you may have to the Ace's headquarters or any of the known council members you happen to meet. Whatever rewards they promised I will rival by offering whatever it is that your needs are individually. 

Let's keep what's ours, ours, bad or good, it is only our judgement that should decide this. Our honor should be in how we stand together no matter how greener the grass may seem elsewhere. 

Respectfully,

Mallick Sai Shah.

Whoever is in charge of The Deck, 

I, Ace of Clubs, Mallick Sai Shah request a proper sit down that does not slander my name and that of my people. I'm disposed to answer any and all questions pertinent to the unfortunate shipment attack that has supposedly put the blood of Spades on my hands.

Please send your reporter to my doors,

Thank you,

Ace of clubs, Mallick Sai Shah.

[mallickshah]

How many members does it have?

The Club Council consists of Eight members, Mallick included.

Is that a fixed number?

It is currently a fixed number, Mallick doesn’t think he’ll be changing this anytime soon, 8 is his lucky number...so he thinks.

What are the requirements to join?

A good sense of what is wrong and right, wanting to better the faction. The ability to not talk like a caveman/cavewoman. Skills in diplomacy is an important asset, more so even than skills in fighting. Mallick doesn’t want a bunch of hot headed idiots making decisions.  

Are there term lengths?

So far this doesn’t exist, if in the future things turn in such a way that it is necessary to make them sign a contract with term lengths, it will be done. It is not something set in stone.

Of the current in-play members, what were Mallick’s reasons for recruiting them?

He trusted them and they trusted him. Plus they wanted to be helpful and he knew that their intentions would never be harmful when it came to what was good for the faction.

How often does the council meet?

It depends on what there is to discuss, meetings during uneventful period of time happen rarely. Maybe once a month, or twice a month. Meeting during an eventful period of time will happen as they need to happen. So members can expect to meet three days consecutively, or even more during the month. As it is, September will NOT be an uneventful period of time.

What changes have they instituted thus far?

Peace of mind for Club members who only want to live and not have to fight 24/7? Apparently the patrolling system they’ve established has been welcomed for those who thought the faction lacked a lot in protecting the weak. It is a bad thing to be weak, but it is not a crime. They’ve established a sanctioning system for those who commit unnecessary crimes of violence, beating someone up just because you can to the point of killing them or mortally wounding them is now considered a crime. There are no prisons or jails or public trials, but restrictions are applied once the culprit is brought forward to the council and the ace. (eg. no ratios for a certain amount of time, isolation in their home, not allowed to retaliate if the victim wants to take revenge, etc.), to be forgiven for this crime, you have to have a one on one with the ace & the council to present your case as to why you think you should be forgiven and how you plan to not be sanctioned again. They have an investigation team, because witnesses do not want to cooperate at times and when they need to catch people, it’s hard if no one wants to say anything. Mallick is an active member of that team, his time in The Resistance comes in handy when he has to find clues and other things. It’s not an official team, and so far they’ve only needed to get together four times in the past year, and this year only once. It’s always based on who they think is a good tool for the investigation. Mallick is the only permanent member of this team right now. This is to avoid corruption. As it is Mallick thinks the longer members stay as ‘investigators’, the more prone they would be to receive bribes for the information they know. So he likes to have new faces around. (That is all for now.)

How often does Mallick institute their changes?

Mallick does it as he takes in suggestions from the people of the faction and the members of the council. He doesn’t just decide to do things by himself, he listens to what others think should be done, then he analyses what is a priority and what can be done at a later time before then making a list of changes to be done. Those that have been raised by a majority tend to be put as a priority. So in a sense, majority of voices might always get their change first, but he does not disclose this way he has of doing things. Because he doesn’t want this to be taken advantage of. 

How will he (or has he) handle vetoing ideas the council agrees upon but he resists?

If the council wants something that he doesn’t agree with but he thinks they might not be so wrong about it, he’ll sit on it for a night and try to work out the reasons why he’s so against it. Then he likes to see if there’s a way for him to rectify any consequences he fears might come from this decision if he lets them have their way. By now, they know that if he asks to rest on it, it’s not because he wants to say no, but because he wants to give them a chance. However, if it’s truly something he doesn’t want and he thinks it’s absolutely not a good idea, he’ll deny it by suggesting it is not well presented and tell them to come up with a better reasoning behind their plan for him to reconsider his stance. He does like to bother Fallon with a consultation when he’s against certain decisions, his mother too, gets to hear aaaall about it. His right hand, Devjay, chimes in as well. Those are the only three he will prioritize when it comes to conflicting decisions, because they know what he’s not for and what he is for.

[mallickshah]

COUPLE OF POINTS

This is not a formal event, people are expected to show up in whatever they want to wear for the event. (👘 🥻👕 👖👞 👟 🥾 🥿 👠 👡 🩰 👢🧥👗👓 🕶 🥽👑🪖 etc.)

There might be a lineup, hence the late start, do not show up before the time given and then complain about the wait time and the heat. If you decided to show up early, it’s because you could withstand the heat. (☀️💦)

Ace of Club Mallick will be present (he was def there before 6PM so were most of the hunters, but all of them were required to be there before opening, and council’s members who decided to show up earlier too.) and visible for the first hour, (to cut the ribbon, invite people in, look good and smiley, etc.) after that, he’ll be tending to other matters and might return once all regular patrons have left the premises. (given the current state of affairs he probably will be too busy trying to stop a faction war with spades, so he probably won’t be back, but who knows.) (🌝)

The club council members will be present as well, though they’re free to come and go as they please. Affiliated of the club council are free to come in if they wish to. (✨)

Keep your weapons out of your hands for the entire duration of your visit. (🙏⚔️🙏)

Those who show up early might be in for some free surprises. (only the drinks are free ok.) (🍻)

The food will not be for free. Water will only be available for the first 3 hours, after that only alcoholic beverages will be served. (🍻🍻)

There are no invitation cards needed for this event, you just have to be a Club and you’re free to go on. (💙♣︎💙)

For this event ONLY, regular customers will be allowed on every level of the establishments. (👀)

There is going to be a guided tour happily given by one of Mallick’s brother; Pribas, also known as Yureif’s twin. (🙌)

Yureif will be present as well, he’s acting as the bartender for this inauguration only, it is recommended to not mistake him for the person in charge of the Tour as the twins are prone to not correct these mistakes and might take advantage of it to pleasantly engage you in their games. (🌝🌚)

The event will end for those who are regular citizens at 2AM, for others, council members, hunters, staff, ace, it will go on until they’re satisfied with whatever they stayed longer for. (eg. tidying up, talking last minutes changes, answering pertinent questions, getting drunker, idk, etc.) (🧹🪠🗝)

Security will be present on site for any safety concerns & unruly patrons. (🛡) 

Please be aware that it is possible to get banned from ever entering the establishment during this inauguration. (❌ ⭕️ 🛑 ⛔️ 📛 🚫 💢)

We ask that if you truly are disasstified with another client, you take it 10 buildings away from the site if you really, really, really CAN’T not fight them. (⬅️🏚🔟🏚➡️)

Have fun but remember to go home in one piece. (✨🌶💥💨🎶✨)

[mallickshah]

THE HUNTER’S LAIR

CONSTRUCTION: Began end of 2023 - Completed August 2024

PURPOSE: To give the opportunity to Hunters to meet, mingle, drop the goods, train among other hunters and also rest in between excursions, before or after said excursions. 

STAFF: Waitress (4) rotation shifts, Receptionist (2) rotation shifts, Blacksmith (2) they handle their own hours, Employees in charge of receiving and registering the hunters’ drops (2) they handle their own hours, Employees in charge of sorting drops, placing them in appropriate package/bags/pouches & in charge of handling their dispatching (6) they handle their own hours, Bartenders (3) rotation shifts, Entertainers (any customers who wishes to get on stage, free of charge, but may get some tips or their own admirer to take home), Manager (1) responsible of visting the site once in a week to ensure things are going well, conduct surveys and relay the information to Mallick by the end of the week, Security (7) one on the stairs that are found on Level 1, one at the reception desk, the rest are scattered around the place as needed. (if there are some forgotten, they’ll be added later on. these are positions filled by any members of clubs of any and all ranks.)

LEVELS: The establishments consists of 4 MAIN LEVELS, each of them serving a different purpose. There’s a basement and a small backyard that is only accessible to Hunters. 

ACCESS: Denied to any non clubs, defectors to Clubs are allowed, Hunters have access to all levels, non Hunters only have access to Level 1. The establishment is opened to any and all ranks. Guests of other factions are not allowed in even if accompanied by a Club’s member, no exceptions given, even to Hunters. Penalty for trespassing will be handled by The Council and The Ace of Clubs. 

LEVEL 1; You can find on this level

Reception desk, located on the right side of the entrance door, all guests have to check in with the receptionist and receive a stamp on the back of their hands corresponding to what type of guest they are. Different symbols will be assigned for this purpose (More on the symbols to come. aka WIP.). 

Bar & Restaurant; located right after the reception desk, tables can be found all around the room, plus a stair facing the bar’s counter that is blocked and kept as such by security guard standing there to make sure those who enter have the required clearance. 

LEVEL 2; You can find on this level

Training rooms, a total of four of them can be found. The backyard can be accessed through a set of stairs in one of the training room that leads there. The backyard has a wooden fence around it, trespassing will result in consequences that no one but the culprit will be held responsible for. The backyard can be used as a shooting range for bows only, no AXE/SPEARS throwing. Sparring and other things that might be needed. Sparring has to be done without ANY weapons. 

LEVEL 3; You can find on this level 

The rooms on this level are only filled with one thing: The food brought forth by the hunters, other hunting goods, anything that needs to be stored for the kitchen and for the dispatching to the places where it will then be distributed accordingly to the rest of the citizens in need. There are two rooms with a desk and two lead employees to register the good, security stays there to transport the goods to the appropriate room, where other employees will then sort them out and get them ready for distribution. 

LEVEL 4; You can find on this level 

Restrooms, sleeping rooms, cleaning rooms. Hunting teams tend to rest together, they are dispatched together and they return together. Hunting teams are also divided per seasons, then biweekly, it is very possible that the restrooms will only be accessible to the team that’s just returned from hutning and the team that’s about to head out for their huntings. 

BASEMENT; You can find on this level

The blacksmith and all the weapons that are being made, repaired, etc. This a bit like an armory that only belongs to the establishment itself. 

*That is it for the establishment itself, more to come on how The Hunters are picked, who can become a hunter, how they can be distinguished, how teams are formed, each teams’ symbol/tattoo, etc. 

*The establishment will not tolerate discrimination of any kind towards anyone because of their rank, or anything else for that matter. This is a tolerance zero zone for fighting of any kind that is not about sparring in the training zone. Patrons who break this rule will be banned from entering the premises again, no matter their ranks and status. 

[mallickshah]

PRESENT DAYS THOUGHTS ;  Usual occurence: Close to Saiyah’s tree.

For some months now he’d taken the habit of sitting in his backyard, the one where the tree Saiyah had planted and adorned with her wishes sat proudly with the weight of other’s hopes. Mallick would sit and ponder on how things had gotten to this point, he’d also wonder about how easy it was to settle in a routine that he was aware had isolated him from the rest of the world. It’d isolated him from a world he’d thought he’d never see himself leave behind since Saiyah’s death. To have thought of it as temporary had never been part of his way of doing things, especially not when he’d finally risen to be among the leaders of The Resistance. 

Mallick had imagined the end of his journey in only one way; getting killed while getting his revenge. There had never been any other alternatives, he’d never desired anything else. He should have felt off his footing then, to find himself a sudden Ace, not only that, but also in desperate times and with a past that meant not many would see this as a beneficial status for him to hold especially. Mallick Sai Shah had stopped dreaming of glory the moment he’d fallen in love, being wrenched out of his paradise had further buried such a feeling from ever resurfacing and even here, as Ace and with the strong urge and desire to do right by his title and not simply consider it something that could come and go. Although it very much could. 

But even here, he still did not feel that he wanted glory. 

What it had done instead was make him painfully aware of how much he’d needed to be left alone. To be a part of The Resistance, to fight for a cause and to make sure what had happened to Saiyah right after her death did not give him the time he might have needed to mourn her in silence. Mallick had instead, filled in the emptiness she’d left with something akin to a bloody revenge. He’d been blinded by a dormant rage that felt displaced within him lately. It had taken him sitting in a corner where she used to be, with a rocking chair, her fingers doing something that never had he seen anyone else do, knitting. The last thing she’d been creating had been a baby blanket, but she’d never managed to complete it. 

At first the idea of having to spend so much time in this house, when he’d first chosen it to be the main point of encounters and meetings, had scared him. Mallick had thought that he would have resurfaced harder than before, angrier, even readier to fast forward the idea he’d had for so long of seeing the blood of her killer pool at his feet. But knowing every corner of his house and seeing her everywhere he went, whether he was with company or not, it’d given him a peaceful grief. 

Mallick had never understood it, when his mother had been adamant he took an exile, somewhere where he wouldn’t have to think of anything else, just be with his thoughts. He’d found her mad to want him to stay in his head where his wife still lived, freshly, alive, vibrant, breathing and with the heartbeats of his child to be born echoing in his ears relentlessly. How mad would he have gone? He’d thought. None of that was happening though. Mallick had, indeed, needed to be alone. 

The kind of solitude that made him grow less bitter at the memories of what he had, a loneliness that soothed and made him accept that she would never really be gone. Saiyah and her memories would never die with her. To not say her name, to not sleep so he could not see her in his dreams, to not replay the times they’d spent together and to not linger on the future he’d wished to have with her, none of that would ever make her disappear. 

Mallick had not lost her; she was in every corner where he let himself be alone.