Rules Chapters 3.1-3.4

Darrow

This part, David's Remorse is interesting, because of what it reveals of David: “Retirement hasn’t been doing you any good I see?” Theo asked. “I didn’t retire, I went private, and I’ll have you know my sales numbers have been better than ever,” David shot back, before taking a swig of his beer and motioning the bartender to bring to more their direction. “Shit sorry I always forget, you were the best after all,” Theo replied. “Still am the best, how’s that company treating you these days anyway?” David asked. Really? Went private? Doing great? I see a man living in a pigsty, sitting naked on a couch, not bothering to clean up his home or himself, watching sports and sitcoms and steadily cultivating his alcoholism. Other glimpses of him are that he's a wreck. In Chapter 24 he finally buys a suit - implying that he doesn't have a lot of well fitting work clothes / salesman clothes. Chapter 18 to 24 reinforce that he's a pig at home, and his house smells. Chapter 24 also provides a hint that he was in a serious relationship. No kids, no sign of kids. But it ended a long time ago. It doesn't seem like relationship failure is responsible for his current state of decay. That seems like a long time ago. We see absolutely no sign of him actively doing any business. The closest we saw to that was when he invited himself into a threeway with Sage and Theo. Even there, he doesn't seem to have done anything. He was following his cock, not any ledes. He might claim to be free lancing to keep up appearances, but there's no evidence at all that he's hustling or in the game. He basically sits, drinks and watches TV. That's his life. Yet, he seems relatively young. Not close to retirement age. No older than his 40s or 50s. So what's going on with this guy? He doesn't seem hard up for money. He seems to be maintaining a house - though its not clear whether he owns outright, has a mortgage or is just renting. He can go shopping when he feels like it, without worrying. He doesn't have to work. Never mentions any financial issues. On the other hand, he's jealous of Jeremy's relative wealth and of his house. Definitely there's resentment. At times, he seems almost as malicious to Jeremy as he is in lust with Sage. My guess is he may be living off an inheritance, or possibly a major settlement and investments. He was once a heavy hitter in his field, a major rock and roller, and he flamed out catastrophically. Bad behaviour in his part, maybe incipient alcoholism, possibly a violent incident with a hooker on the company's dime, or maybe just the fall guy in a big scheme gone wrong. His negotiating/bargaining style seems abusive, he may have just been a really hardcore, hard-charging guy who burned too many bridges... Or maybe made so many enemies that when he inevitably fucked up, everyone had knives out. Anyway, my character read on him from Chapter 24 suggests that a guy like that, borderline sociopath/narcissist, can be hell on wheels in business. In the right place, the right circumstances and opportunities, a dynamo. But also a bomb waiting to go off. Best guess is that the bomb went off. Two outcomes - One, his career ended immediately and completely: No re-starting somewhere else, no relocating to competitors, no bebuilding. No one would touch him, he was radioactive. And he stayed radioactive. The high flyer crashes like the Hindenberg. Saying he went Free-lance is just face saving bullshit. Two, looks like he gave up. He was around recently enough that Theo knows him. But whatever it was, wasn't current. He's at least a couple of years out of the game. He's not seething, not in hustle mode. He was well on his way to going to seed. Even his skills are rusty, it's not until Theo's pep talk he fully gets his head in the game. Up to that point, he's willing to accept defeat and depression. After that, he's far more manipulative and aggressive, towards both, focused on winning although he's not clear what winning means, and possessive and very angry about Sage's bathroom adventure. My read on David: He's bored, he's been bored for a while. Going to seed. Developing alcoholism. Resentful and angry, but without any particular target up to now. Arrogant, huge chip on his shoulder. He had nothing going on in his life, until he started to see Sage naked. Now, this is the only thing going on with him. It's everything, as scary as that seems. That's blossomed into full bore sexual obsession. He needs to conquer and dominate completely. He needs to win, not draw, not tie, not compromise. WIN. If he loses, he's got absolutely nothing. It's total WIN or total nothing. He will absolutely not accept losing, not after his previous crash and burn and exile to couch alcoholism. I think he can get thrown for a loop. Sage's bathroom adventure threw him - I think it frightened and enraged him, because suddenly he was disposable. He escalated to extremes, partly out of rage but also fear. He went for total control - no free lancing for either of them. When Sage blew her secret, he really got caught flat footed, again escalating to anger and hyper-control. When Jeremy walked in on the 'love making' he was completely flat footed, no idea how to respond, luckily he didn't have to. And when Sage did the 'love making' thing, he again didn't know what to do. He's all about control and aggression, he doesn't handle the unexpected well. I think he'd be the worst possible guy in the world for Sage and Jeremy to get involved with.