socialactivillain | IC Contact

It had more zeroes than I'm used to being offered by a stranger, that's all. Especially one who didn't want to give me his name at first. I'm just trying to get a feel for who he is before I jump into business with him.

So when I worked with him it was as a sort of freelance coordinator - I managed charity events that he was involved in, I arranged his contributions and led those projects - and what I found was that he's a very generous man who isn't typically personable or interested in taking a lot of credit for what he does. He doesn't court attention for it - he's not going to put himself out there on the network in that way and I don't think I got him into a suit at any of his funded events the entire time we worked together, but he does a lot of good, legitimate philanthropic work.

( also once he got her wasted and took her with him to rob a bank. a n y w a y. )

[ Piper has robbed banks perfectly sober and of his own free will, so it's not like he could judge too harshly. ]

Huh.

You're right, he does sound like a singular kind of man. Most people want as much credit for their charity as they can squeeze out of it.

You'd have an easier time bathing a greased cat than getting him to say a few words. He signs cheques, that's his thing, and honestly it's sort of refreshing. I've been on the philanthropy circuit at home since I was thirteen and I have seen and dealt with a lot of these men. I'll take the brusque guy with the big bank account and an itchy signature hand any time, any place.

No kidding. It definitely makes organizing this sort of thing easier when you can just ask for a donation and know it'll be there when you need it. A whole lot easier than, say, hosting pointless banquets that nobody actually wants to go to in the first place. I've suffered through more than my share of those.

My father's a composer and concert pianist, so he's been the star attraction of exactly that sort of thing since before I was born. I cut my teeth on his international tours; he's never fallen short of the target, not once. But it's such a fucking gauntlet to run sometimes.

Mine's a Republican businessman from Kansas with more money than he knows what to do with. Our family's old money, and that leaves people with certain expectations... ones that I never failed to deliberately ignore once I hit the rebellious stage.

[ People who know him might rightfully point out that he can't call it a "rebellious stage" if he never grew out of it. ]

( all american money is nouveau riche to europeans, she does not say. )

Daddy actually sold our family seat when I was a child. If they'd not been such cunts about it he'd probably have worked something out with the cousins, but they started screaming about heritage and he made them buy it from him at market value in a bidding war. They probably heard the shrieking in Kansas.

[ A very diplomatic choice on her part. Piper likely wouldn't have taken the comment well—not out of any sense of hurt dignity, but because he can't stand people bragging about money. ]

You know, I don't care how much money I grew up with, it never made me understand why people get so terrible about how much they do or don't have compared to other people. Especially within family.

( it's never been her style; she comes from the sort of money that doesn't have to, and she's always considered that kind of carry on at best gauche. it's just she largely considers america the same way. anyway, she'll just go ahead and solve this mystery: )

It's because they're cunts.

[ He laughs out loud at her text as he taps his response in. ]

So you said. I'm guessing they'd be like that even without the money?

Chicken, egg. There's a conversation to have about what a certain upbringing can do, but if upbringing were insurmountable then there'd never be any progress or change in the world.

Some people are just cunts. Most people, in my experience.

I try to have a better outlook than that on people as a whole, but... Yeah, a lot of individual people really are, aren't they?

If anyone ever proves me wrong, I'll change my tune.

Well, here's to hoping someone proves us wrong, huh?

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