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Okay just an idea since this song came up in my brain again.

So imagine an edit where Sam is the left brain and Paulie is the right brain. I leave this information in the hands of y'all with video skills.

Honestly, the idea that came with this work is what has gotten me back into writing. I’ve played Mafia: Definitive Edition twice back to back now (after having only played part of Mafia III when it came out, but all of my save data disappeared on my dad’s computer so I just never went back), and fell in love with these characters. Just started Mafia II last night after having decided that medium and hard mode completions (except for the stupid race; couldn’t do it on hard, but I will eventually), I decided to continue to the sequel instead of replay it again. I basically spent a bunch of time searching through Ao3 for good mafia de stories, went back to FF.net (haven’t been there in close to a decade) and even ventured into wattpad for more content. I despaired that there was so little so one of my friends made fun of me for not just writing stuff myself.

The thought didn’t leave me, so I did. Here goes the first chapter of my attempt at writing mafia fanfiction. I just started Murphy’s Law in my Mafia II playthrough and I’ve already come up with ideas for a Mafia DE and Mafia II story, but I want to finish the game first. Probably Mafia III as well because I know that Vito’s in it.

Summary:

In which 'The Death of Art' never happens... because Sam was told to change which target he went after first. Don Salieri wants to deal with this one a little more personally.

Paulie wasn't sure what to do with the aftermath.

So this may come out of nowhere but it’s something I’ve been thinking about. I’ve see a lot of different ideas about what made Salieri lean towards Tom and then change to Sam. Personally I’ve felt like it’s a mix of reasons, but thoughts come down to this: when did Salieri find out about Frank?

I know that’s a boring reason, but I think it feeds into the others. Tommy, let’s be fair, is hyper-competent for a cabbie. After 8 years of being with the group, he managed to get made very quickly and then raised to capo within five years. I’d probably say that we see the only three times Tommy has spared someone/hesitated in all of that time (Billy, Michelle, Frank). Tommy has skills, Tommy is (as far as Salieri knows) totally loyal, and Tommy has ambition. While I do think Frank’s conversation with Tommy was him projecting, I think some of those ideas came from talks with Salieri as well. After all, Frank goes out of his way to inform the bank that Tommy is the one coming for him. The Don had to have been speaking in such a ways that indicates he would send Tommy of all people, so this was probably a test for Tommy to move forward, and then later Tommy is the one that speaks for Salieri at the whiskey deal despite the fact that Sam, someone who is already a capo, is there.

So I think Salieri may have been considering Tommy for underboss and/or to be his successor. He has him do increasingly high risk/high reward jobs during the war with Morello and odds are that he continued to show some favoritism to Tommy after. So at some point, something had to have happened that caused Salieri to switch gears.

My interpretation of Sam’s line “Don Salieri really liked you” has always been equal parts Sam trying not to show regret and that he liked Tom, acknowledgement that for a while the Don favored Tommy over everyone including him, reflecting on the anger Salieri must have shown once he found out about all of this, and fear that Sam, now the favorite, could also end up on the other end of Salieri’s wrath should he make a similar mistake. He comments on Frank several times through the fight, showing that he clearly reflecting on it, and mentions Tommy being smart enough to disappear at the end. I don’t believe that Sam wanted to kill either of his friends, but the event happened recently enough that it would be something Salieri would be hung up on, maybe even rant about in front of Sam about the consequences of something like that.

I think that Salieri found out between Election Campaign and Just for Relaxation, because in the former he is still trying to manipulate Tommy. He has Tommy pulling a high risk/high reward job that he is trusting him with (note that he gives him the details privately, away from Paulie and Sam) and he still triea to separate Tommy and Paulie with the drowning story. Then, all of the sudden in Just for Relaxation, he’s communicating with one of his capos about the heist and not the other. I do believe that Sam didn’t know about the drugs bc I think he would have protested otherwise, but Salieri went out of his way to “give Sam information” the others wouldn’t have. had Tommy not been so suspicious, Salieri wouldn’t have said anything. (I know he didn’t in the original and that it was actually diamonds there but this felt more deliberate). He asked Sam to drive him home when his number one wheelman is RIGHT THERE. It’s such a stark change from just the previous chapter that means something had to have happened. Maybe other people knew this already, but it was never stated explicitly so there it is.

I think Salieri would have continued working with Tommy until either died and pushed for Tommy being his second (even not giving up on separating him from the member of the trio he could have seen as a threat to his business/weak link depending on the day). I also think that had there been other circumstances, it was very possible that he would have confronted Tommy after Moonlighting rather than sending Sam, as Salieri initially tried to do when he suspected Frank (maybe even sent Tommy after Paulie instead depending on how the conversation went). Instead, the bank job is just another show of disloyalty and unreliability from Tommy and it makes Salieri pissed. So, he sends Sam after them as a show of Sam’s loyalty. Sam has just seen what Salieri thinks of disloyalty and how Tommy’s act of sparing Frank made him act and he’s not about to ask the Don to send someone else. You don’t do that. So he goes and kills Paulie and tries to kill Tommy, scared that disobeying means all three of them die anyway when the next guy comes for them. I don’t think it even occurs to Sam that they could retaliate or take down Salieri (the “lack of vision” that Frank mentioned). Not to say that he’s dumb, but he’s been in the business for nearly two decades and has seen how Salieri has killed his way to the top; the man probably functioned as a father to him.

Anyways. All this to say that I think the tipping point was Salieri finding out about Frank and the bank job was just icing on the cake.

Don Salieri demanded tribute and Sam gave it to him. He just didn't expect it to hurt so much.

I had a lot of fun with this chapter! Hopefully you guys enjoy it too!

I don’t know why several people I have seen playing Mafia DE make comments about Tommy being a bad liar. He isn’t.

Remember that he lied to people on multiple occasions, including Don Salieri, and no one called him on it. Are you going to tell me that Tommy telling the Don that the Collettis are dead wasn’t one of the riskiest lies he could have told (considering that Salieri had to be looking for the rat at the point).

Tommy is only a bad liar to Sarah (one would hope so; she’s his wife). She’s seen him at his most vulnerable times, so he knows she’ll see through him. Thus, he increases compensating behavior to appear casual. It doesn’t help that he’s convinced they are in danger now and is anxious/scared for the lives of those he cares for. I’m pointing out the beginning of the Death of Art because that’s the scene where most people start declaring it.

Tommy seems pretty capable the occasional times he manipulates/threatens people (even Det. Norman), but is also utterly useless at flirting with Sarah. She exposes his squishy inner bits that are still convinced he’s just a normal guy and a cabbie and I love it.

I’m not sorry (but I am; but I’m not). 

Tommy’s POV time

I’ve gotten my tabletop group to agree to be Mafia members using Chronicles of Darkness rules. I’m going to add supernatural time travel elements because I want to.... and even though the characters are in Nevada, I’m going to pop them back and forth between time periods.

I warned them I would have Mafia characters be in it, but not in what context. Now I have to make character sheets. I’m trying to decide Attribute and Skill tiers at the moment. Everything gets divided into primary, secondary, and tertiary (with points being allotted accordingly).

Attributes are:

Mental (intelligence, wits, resolve) Physical (strength, dexterity, stamina) Social (presence, manipulation, composure)

Skills are:

Mental (academics, computer, crafts, investigation, medicine, occult, politics, science) Physical (athletics, brawl, drive, firearms, larceny, stealth, survival, weaponry) Social (animal ken, empathy, expression, intimidation, persuasion, socialize, streetwise, subterfuge)

The characters I am using right now are Sam, Paulie, Tommy, Vito, Joe, and Henry. I think, at the moment, I have them as such: (going primary, secondary, tertiary)

Sam:   -Attributes (Mental, Physical, Social)   -Skills (Mental, Physical, Social)

Paulie:   -Attributes (Physical, Social, Mental)   -Skills (Physical, Mental, Social)

Tommy:   -Attributes (Physical, Mental, Social)   -Skills (Physical, Social, Mental)

Vito:   -Attributes (Social, Physical, Mental)   -Skills (Physical, Social, Mental)

Joe:   -Attributes (Physical, Social, Mental)   -Skills (Social, Physical, Mental)

Henry:   -Attributes (Mental, Social, Physical)   -Skills (Social, Mental, Physical)

If anyone thinks it should be changed, please do. The attribute assignments for primary, secondary, and tertiary themselves are repetitive (even if the individual attributes and skills won’t be). Essentially, they start with one dot in every attribute stat no matter what, but they get additional dots to assign to each stat (wits, manipulation, etc.) for all of the ones in their grouping. For attributes, primary gets 5 more, secondary gets 4 more, tertiary gets 3 more. With skills, none of them start with dots and penalties are used for any stat you roll that you don’t have a dot in (-1 for physical and social, -3 for mental). For skills, primary gets 11, secondary gets 7, and tertiary gets 4. Right now, I’m just trying to decide if these ratings are correct before I start really getting into it.

The Negative Arc of Ennio Salieri

After this past chapter of Eating Alone, I’ve thought a lot about Don Salieri and how I’m interpreting and writing him. Just a warning but this is going to be a loooong post. I actually rewrote it because I thought it was too long, and it still is lol.

I’ll start with a quick explanation of the negative arc for those not into lit analysis. Feel free to ignore this paragraph if you’re already familiar. The negative arc tells the story of a character that ends the story in a worse place than where they started. I would argue that many Mafia stories have these (Vito Scaletta being the foremost one that comes to mind). There are three kinds of basic negative character arcs: the Disillusionment arc (I’d argue this one for Vito), the Fall arc, and the Corruption arc. I feel the Salieri goes through the fall arc, which goes as follows: character believes lie, character clings to lie, rejects new truth, believes stronger or worse lie.

Let’s talk about the truth and the lie of this tale. The lie that Salieri believes is that he is better than Morello, which he has three reasons for. Those qualifiers that he sets up for being ‘better than Morello’ are being a competent business man, a father to his men, and a pillar of the community. We, of course, know he is exactly like Morello when the chips come down to it, but this is the lie Ennio convinces himself with (and does so for others as well). There is a slow decline over the chapters where his humanity hinges on two touchstones: Frank Coletti and Marcu Morello. These events are what challenge the lie.

Let’s look at how the lie is established and how he is presented in the first part (referring to the five groups of four chapters between the diner book ends). He wants to help out Tommy by giving him a loan and tell Morello that he can’t hurt the regular people in Little Italy, projecting a certain ideology to Tommy and the rest of the trio gathered. After Tommy and Paulie burn down the parking lot, Salieri talks about how Morello’s anger will burn out his brain (words implying that he’s like a child). Then, Salieri gives his rules for the neighborhood: no swearing (a very parent like guideline), no drugs (pillar of the community), and be careful with the police (trying to show caution instead of aggression; also gives the impression of ‘local, mom and pop’ compared to big shot Morello).  Next chapter he has Paulie and Sam show Tommy the ropes and gives explicit instructions not to be rough with anybody, although he probably was well aware that would happen anyway. Plausible deniability and showing how he “cares” for his community. Because we, the player, have very little evidence to contradict this notion, we are not aware of the lie that Salieri believes, but we do get to see the conviction with which he believes it.

The lie gets fleshed out with fair play. He is still concerned with his lie considering his conundrum with how to treat the other driver (Morello didn’t have the same concern and faced no consequences so either he has friends at the track too or that was never actually a problem), and he mentions how a lot of people in the neighborhood come to him for financial advice. The fact that he does this is meant to illustrate both his competency as a business man and the fact that the community trusts him. We skip ahead at to Better Get Used To It, and he is full of apparently righteous fury at the treatment of Sarah. He talks about how she is a daughter to him (father) and how people won’t protected by them and they’ll lose business, but if you stick around a minute you hear his rant about the hotel and how he feels like certain things are falling apart. Here and when they find out about Ghilotti in the next chapter, Salieri is furious, but it comes from his business sense. He is still concerned about the health of his organization, but it does foreshadow Salieri’s temper and ruthlessness when things don’t go his way. His behavior, especially when it comes to the hotel, indicates that he can be vengeful when the chips are down. Ultimately, this is still reinforcing the lie, but it allows us to see the cracks in it.

Here is when things start to get juicy and where Salieri chooses to cling to the truth. At the very beginning of part three, we get a long conversation with Frank. This is a meaty conversation, especially for the insight it gives into Salieri. Up until now, this kind of behavior has only been hinted at, never confirmed. We start off the next chapter with Frank mentioning that Salieri has been going over the books with him AGAIN. It’s a throwaway but becomes important later as it hints that Frank isn’t the person that botched that chapter’s job. His calm demeanor during the conversation is him still staying calm and business like but reflective. It is the opposite of the way someone would be expected to behave when they find out they’ve been betrayed. His contemplative nature and reflection on the dog, then calling his child self stupid, is him clinging to the truth. He’s saying, “I’m not that person anymore. I’ve grown.” Considering how Salieri (and even Tommy during the conversation with Norman) portray Morello as childish during conversations, establishing his maturity is important to Salieri. Tommy’s conversation with Frank has him talking about he is tired of waiting for Salieri to kill him, telling the player that if Salieri’s most trusted feels this way. The rest of part 3 is largely him continuing businesslike behavior (introducing Tommy to the safe cracker and the whole thing with Paulie and the whiskey deal), which is him trying to return to normal, like the whole thing with Frank never happened.

Then, the third intermezzo happens. So, a huge aspect of negative arcs is the fact that the character will have the opportunity to see the truth on multiple occasions and cling to their lie until the turning point occurs (which is different depending on the type of arc). Intermezzo 3 actually shows hints of it when we hear a very important line from Tommy: “And Salieri, he finally start talkin’ about gettin’ outta Morello’s shadow. Maybe buyin’ our own cops, our own politicians.” Salieri at this point, is continuing to act on the idea that he is better than Morello, but he’s moving himself to the point where he’ll be forced to see the truth. I won’t go further with this too much, but part four is just riddled with Salieri clinging to this idea that he’s better than Morello as time and time again things go wrong or they go right. His opportunities to see the truth come in the form of the violence he or his men inflict (in particular the occasion with Carlo) and the sheer amount of destruction that he orders. Note that the sheer violence of the war is staggering, and it starts because Salieri makes arguably a reckless move by putting a judge on the take without checking (at least checking well) if this person is on Morello’s take. Whether or not this would have happened with Frank, we wouldn’t know, but Salieri’s ambition starts one thing. Salieri might still not see the truth, but, if they couldn’t before, the player can. The biggest piece of foreshadowing in this part is the last line. “See you on the other side Marcu.”

The seeing the truth and rejecting it happens off screen. I’ve talked about what I think the turning point for Salieri and Tommy’s relationship is, and I feel like the rejection of the truth comes when Salieri finds out about Frank. In great contrast to all conceived previous behavior, Salieri has Frank and his entire family killed. During the first conversation with Frank, Salieri only specifies something should happen to Frank (and this is in contrast to the original game where he wanted to provide for the Collettis after Frank’s death). He has a moment where he could show mercy, leave Frank alone or just leave his family alone, and this is a direct hit to his lie, that he is better than Morello. At this point... Who does he have to be better than with Morello gone? He doesn’t have a person to compare himself to that makes him question his anger and he directs his wrath from there. Frank is a traitor, Morello is dead, Tommy is a traitor, Paulie is useless, and Sam is a soldier. He has no equal and no protégé. His lie is no longer that he is better than Morello. His new, worse like is that he is better than everyone, and this time it is not morally. He is in charge. Tommy talks about how Salieri acted like they “owned the whole damn town”, but it was really that he owned it. He didn’t have to bother with putting on airs after this. This is why the three stipulations dissolve. After election campaign, he loses some of the father to his men by deliberately leaving out information about the job and not worrying about the health of “his boys”. He’s bringing dope into the community, not worrying about his position as a pillar of it. The business sense stays only because it is his business that makes him better than other people. Even then, that goes a little bit out of the window when vengeance (because Sam never got information that Tommy and Paulie weren’t planning on cutting them in after the fact, either Sam or Salieri assumed) became more important and he decided to get rid of some of his most successful soldiers. We still see the truth in the end, that Ennio Salieri is exactly like Morello, but he was ultimately blind to it.

Ever get a weird AU idea that makes no sense.

Old man Tommy and Sarah have the ghosts of Paulie and Sam living in their house (both haunting Tommy) and get to navigate weird domestic life with two dead friends living under their roof.

Then Vito and Joe come to kill Tommy and get smacked around with Joe’s  floating shotgun. Conversation happens and the Angelos run away with Joe and Vito since clearly protective custody apparently mean nothing if these two got close and now weird domestic life (with their own children might I add) also includes two adoptive sons (and their ghost friend Henry).

The Negative Character Arc of Vito Scaletta Part 1: Introduction

Alright. So I said I’d do this in the tags of the last character essay and apparently right now, even though I’m not mentally in a place to write fiction I am to write various character analyses. Probably because I can do this during my five seconds of peace at work and easily put it down. On with the show.

In my last character essay, I described the negative character arc of Ennio Salieri in Mafia: Definitive Edition. This time, for no real reason other than I want to, I will do the same for Vito Scaletta. For this one, I’m going to structure it a bit differently. Instead of listing out the events of the story and putting them in each section, I will talk in broad strokes (acts, turning points, etc) because, unlike Salieri, Vito is the main character. There’s just too much to look at for the former approach.

Quick recap or refresher for those that didn’t read the last essay and don’t know anything about negative character arcs in writing. A negative arc is one where the character ends the story in a worse place than where they started. This does not mean the character turns evil or dies, etc. (even though that is what often happens), simply that the place the story ends on for them leaves them unhappy/worse off in some way, etc. I think some of the most famous examples are Nick from the Great Gatsby and Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader from Star Wars, and Javert from Les Miserable. A negative character arc is based on two central ideas: the lie and the truth. Now, another way to put this is the character’s belief which limits them in some fashion vs the reality of the situation that they do not comprehend (oftentimes this can be put into wants vs. needs, but that does not neatly line up). There are three basic negative character arcs: the Disillusionment (Nick and Javert), the Fall (Salieri), and the Corruption (Anakin/Vader).

Vito Scaletta is a beautiful example of the Disillusionment arc, which is made up of three parts: Character Believes Lie, Overcomes Lie, New Truth is Tragic. It helps his character follows three act structure of this particular type of arc very well (which, by the way, does not neatly line up with the three parts listed above, most of that actually occurs in the third act). Part of what makes his story so interesting is that his disillusionment arc starts off as disillusionment with the Lie of another character: his father. This particular paragraph is a bit of side step, but it is important to what happens before I go into the three act structure proper. Vito Scaletta’s father, from what we know, was a man that came to the U.S. with a dream and the idea that his family could find something better there. He was a working man that turned to alcohol for comfort and drank what little money he could make away and then borrowed plenty before dying. We can see what kind of Lie that Mr. Scaletta believed in the way that Vito’s mother (and to a much smaller extent Frankie) both encourage Vito to work hard just like his father and that, if he does, everything will be alright. That’s the lie that creates Vito’s own: that if you work hard, everything will be alright. 

This is important due to an idea that I didn’t address in the Salieri essay: The Normal World. The Normal World in a negative character arc is the way the world (for the character) is supposed to work outside of the story (the Adventure World being the world of the story). The distinction between the two is not necessarily relevant here, but The Normal World is a huge part of Vito’s Lie, which can be summed up in a beautiful simple quote from Joe: “The working man’s a sucker, that’s for damn sure.” This is Vito’s normal world: the working man is a sucker. They fail, they don’t make money, they don’t have power, they aren’t anybody. This is further pushed by Don Carlo when Vito sees him stop a battle in Italy. Don Carlo has power, influence, he is someone, which is exactly what Vito wants to be. This attraction to influence and rejection of... not hard work but staying within the system is what eventually leads him to take on Leo Galante as a father figure, but I digress. The Normal World for Vito is one where those within the system only end up at the whims of those with power over them and influence, power, and money are the only ways to achieve any sort of worth and/or success. Vito’s Lie is that, because these things are required for success, he needs to have them to be happy... and he won’t get them by abiding the law.

As I mentioned previously, I will be discussing the rest of this story following the traditional three act structure of a Disillusionment negative character arc, so buckle up. This is going to be a stupid long ‘essay’, so I’m going to break it up into four parts: this introduction and each of the three acts. This is purely so a person can come back to a part later if they want to. I’m going to post each of the three acts over the course of the next few days (one per day), so I do hope you enjoy.

The Negative Character Arc of Vito Scaletta Part 2

The first act of a story is structured as exposition, meant to establish relationships, the world they live in, etc. It usually covers about the first fourth of a story. For a negative character arc, it is, naturally, the set up of the story, but it also firmly establishes the character’s Truth and Lie.

Beat 1: The Hook

The hook is important due to the way that it introduces the audience to the character’s everyday life. For a disillusionment arc specifically, it introduces how the Lie that your character believes impacts their life and creates conflict between themselves and the people around them. This is often where we come to understand the character’s Normal World (as referenced in the last part). 

Vito’s hook is plain to see. We are introduced to it through the prologue and The Old Country, seeing how the idea of Vito’s Normal World and his Lie are established through his reflections on his father and how his desire for influence the like Don Carlo has develops. I won’t go to far into that particular nugget, since I did that in the introduction. 

The hook extends into the first part of Home Sweet Home. We see Vito coming back to his “Normal World” after the war. Just in case it hasn’t already been established, let’s go over what the Lie and Normal World are for him.  The Normal World that he lives in is one where those in the system are at the whims of those that run it, so the only way to achieve any sort of happiness is to run the system or be part of a hierarchy that runs it. For him specifically, he’s seen multiple occasions in which people that run the system can do ‘great’ things and are allowed to do them (Don Carlo). Vito’s lie is that, in order to be fulfilled, he needs to have influence, and the group he has seen the most from in that regard is the mob. This is probably more of a cultural thing (being Sicilian), but it is something nonetheless.

During his first night back, we have two examples of where Vito’s Lie impacts his normal life and creates conflict. These are the parts of Home Sweet Home that I refer to. The first incident is with Joe where there is a brief bit of tension when Vito tells Joe that he will have to go back to the war, but Joe gets him out of it. How? By using the influence that Joe has accrued in the time in which Vito was away. This particular act is important for multiple reasons, but mostly in how adult it makes Joe seem. He knows a guy, he can take care of the issue. (This will be important in the next beat). Just like that, Joe frees Vito but assures his friend that it doesn’t really make Vito beholden to him. I’m going to quickly mention it now, but Joe also goes through his own character arc in the story, a stunted positive change arc. I mean stunted, because his story cuts off before it reaches a resolution (I’m pretty sure he got “killed off” right after the midpoint/during the second pinch point aka his act two). That doesn’t really have bearing in this section, but I’ll probably mention it when it becomes relevant.

The second incident occurs basically during the entire night he spends at home, starting with the moment he is asked to pray at the table and up until his mother asks him to see Papalardo the next morning. He is seeing parts where he doesn’t fit, consistently reminded of the life is father built, the one he doesn’t want. His mother is pushing his father’s Lie on him and rejecting his own. She’s not trying to be smothering to him, but this is just how she knows the world works. It is simply too bad that it isn’t how Vito’s does.

Beat 2: The Inciting Event

In a normal story, this is the character’s call to adventure, the way the story really hits it off. For a negative character arc, it takes on another purpose. It is meant to show the first hint for our character (and the audience) that the lie is untrue. This also showcases the main conflict of the story. This hint, by the way, is meant to be subtle. It’s not supposed to hit the character in the face.

The inciting event for Vito occurs, at least in my opinion, a combination of when he wakes up and decides that he needs to get his own place and, more importantly, the moment he leaves his mama’s apartment and sees Frankie being harassed by the man their family owes money too. Yes it does blend in a bit with the hook, but storytelling is rarely cut and dry. Keep in mind that Vito left for war a teenager and came back as a young man; seeing his childhood room is a stark reminder for this and pushes him towards the idea that he needs to be an adult and live on his own. Remember how earlier I said that Joe seemed like an adult? A hallmark of maturity (at least where I live) is being able to take care of problems by yourself: scheduling your first doctor appointment, doing your taxes for the first time, having your own place, etc. etc. Joe was able to make Vito’s obligation to the government to go away and allow him to go home, a very different Joe than the one that Vito left and in direct contrast to his father that probably couldn’t rub two pennies together. Yes, I am comparing Joe to Vito’s father, no it’s not about Daddy issues. I mean, it is. But it isn’t? Let’s move on. Anyway, this means that Joe knows what Vito has to do to be an adult, one that isn’t stuck in his mother’s house and working for the man his father worked for.

And then he is spurred into further action when he sees Frankie being hassled about the money that their father owes. This reinforces the Normal World for Vito, as his father took out a lot of money and now his surviving family is stuck paying it back for him, but also gives him the opportunity to be the adult and prove his father’s Lie wrong. His father with all of his hard work had to borrow money from these people, but now Vito was going to use his way to not only pay back the money the Scalettas owed, but also get more money and become independent.

Beat 3: The First Plot Point

This is the first real consequential choice the character makes to show them that their old ways are ineffective. This is what leads the character into the next act and is the threshold the character crosses that prevents the rest of the story from taking place. Now, they will not see the consequences of this act at first, but it will show itself later. 

For Vito, this one is interesting. It could be argued that the rest of Home Sweet Home qualifies as this as it is Joe introducing Vito into the world of the rest of the game, but BUT, I disagree. Honestly, I think it sort of works in as the hook and inciting incident in a way. The only reason this part is probably WHERE it is is because of tutorial reasons. I’m not saying that it doesn’t make sense, but there is a more thematic and appropriate moment coming that fits this act better: going to see Papalardo and what occurs on the docks in Enemy of the State.

Even after going to see Joe, Vito still agrees to go see Papalardo and try and work at the docks for his mama. He’s stuck in this liminal space where he’s not truly embraced his Lie yet, but it’s still there lingering. So, he goes to see Papalardo (from this moment on he will be called Derek) and gets a job moving crates for him. After some time, he makes his choice and refuses to move another crate (I think I only managed about five in my playthrough before he just stopped). Steve comes to see what the fuss is and Vito tells him off before using Joe’s influence inadvertently and getting a better paying job, one that he likes better too, out of it. His choice, both to stop working the warehouse job and to take Steve up on a job that is explicitly exploiting the regular workers there, is the first plot point and one that will come back around in the third act.

Finally updating this. Life has been rough so sorry for the delay you guys.

New chapter of Eating Alone (finally). I hope you guys enjoy!

At long last, I posted another chapter. I swear, this one took far too long.

The Negative Character Arc of Vito Scaletta Part 3: Act 2

Remember that character arc essay I was going to do? Me neither. Geez. It feels like I’ve posted more today than I have in the last few months combined. Thanks lack of giving a fuck with school and upcoming finals. I’m doing part time school next semester, so hopefully it won’t be so bad (it’s has been a BAD semester guys). The next one will be published tomorrow.

In writing, the second act is the story’s ‘rising action’ and shows the character’s various attempts to solve the problem that came from the last character arc, usually finding themselves stuck in increasingly worse or higher stakes situations. This is where the meat of the character arc (or the slow burn aspect of it) takes place. Quick warning: this is going to be a LONG post. I’m going to try and just use the basics, but the second act of this story covers the second half of Enemy of the State all the way to A Friend of Ours. That’s eight out of sixteen missions (fifteen if you don’t count the unplayable prologue). A lot of character interactions are going to be left out, simply because there’s a lot here and I’m just going to relate it to the character arc. This does mean that what we do have of Joe’s arc here is going to be left out as well. For those that read these, let me know if you want me to do a short part 5 about Joe’s aborted positive character arc or not. Let’s get on with it!

Beat 4: The First Pinch Point (Series of Discomforting Events)

The fourth beat (or the first of act two) is the story’s conflict firmly underway; the tutorial is over baby. In a negative character arc, we have several events that are firmly in place to shake the lie and the truth that the character is facing, but we are only starting the second act. For the disillusionment arc, the events are meant to show the tragic truth that the character will eventually come to, but they repeatedly cling to the lie instead. They end up being repeatedly ‘punished’ for this until the next beat. It’s important to note that this is a SERIES of events, not a single one. 

Most obviously this starts with the mess of the OPA job and its aftermath. Now, nothing about the job directly is the issue (yet), but the way the stamps are handled afterwards (not getting enough money) counts as a little punishment, and it is instrumental in helping him achieve the midpoint. Murphy’s law is another one (one that also affects the midpoint), as it’s a robbery that ends up as a catastrophe of blood and without a payout. The only mission that doesn’t really fit for this part is The Buzzsaw. The Buzzsaw is still a very important chapter, but it is more important for the establishment of Vito and Joe and what exactly they’re willing to do. It also references the fact that Vito has already killed, further emphasizing how the system spat him out. 

Beat 5: The Midpoint

You should be halfway through your story by now and suddenly an event occurs that forces your character to confront their Lie and Truth, but, unlike all of the previous small events, the consequences of this are irreversible: your character recognizes the other side for what it is. In the Disillusionment arc, this means your character can now mentally articulate the tragic truth they will eventually come to, questioning the Lie they’ve believed for the first time. Do keep in mind that they are still not embracing the Truth, they just realize that it is an option or compare it to their Lie seriously for the first time. An important point to make is that they may not voice the thought or even realize this themselves, but it is part of their psyche.

Here I will take a quick sidestep to talk about the ‘Tragic Truth’ of the story. I’ve been avoiding it up until now because of how important this is and how quietly the midpoint reveals it. So, Vito’s normal world is one in which people are either at the whims of the system or they’re part of the group that runs it. His Lie is that he needs influence to be part of the group that runs it (or subverts it while running it as the mob do), and this is needed for his happiness. The truth, the tragic unfortunate truth, is that it is not possible for Vito to achieve his wants by operating under his Lie. The Truth of this story is that everyone is at the whims of a system, regardless of the appearance of power and influence and only a select few are excluded from that group (usually beholden to each other). More importantly (and the part Vito won’t realize until the very end), the system was against Vito from the beginning. He is the son of a poor immigrant that got stuck working an awful job. His forays into the mafia kept him as an associate or soldato and, despite his connections, he just wasn’t the kind of person that could achieve the success he wanted. The problem with that is that Vito tries so hard to be an adult, to be independent, when so much of his adult life and formative years are spent in surroundings of violence where independence is taken from you. The dice were loaded and the deck was stacked; he didn’t stand a chance.

This is important, because the midpoint of our story occurs when Vito is thrown into a new system, one he will spend six years in. I’m talking about Time Well Spent. (Hoo boy).

Up until he gets arrested, Vito has been gaining clout with the mafia. He believes that he has a decent ranking and has made a name for himself. You may be wondering how him getting arrested might shake his Lie, considering that arrest is an expected part of a criminal lifestyle. This comes less from the fact that he got arrested and more from the fact that he got no support afterwards. Luca Gurino hires a lawyer, ostensibly to get Vito out of prison, but it is quickly pointed out that he is there more to keep Vito quiet. Vito thought that his maturity would allow him to take care of himself, that the connections he was getting would help him solve these problems, but they did not. He thought that with his new adulthood, he could help take care of his family, but instead his mother dies and all of the money he had been saving went to his sister, not to take care of her but for a funeral. Everything he had gained (’earned’) was gone, and the person that helps him get out of is it Joe, but telling him that prison operates under a different system. Joe points Vito in the direction of Leo Galante, who operates as a father figure by helping Vito navigate his Normal World in the way Vito’s father couldn’t. Leo is aware of the truth and even hints at it when we see how he is in prison. The prison system works for Leo, but even he admits that he operates under the will of others. 

Vito can articulate his tragic truth: there is always a system. Someone always works for someone, and his lifestyle, the Lie he believes, will not get him the money, power, and maturity he craves. However, this is only the midpoint. This is not something that Vito believes, but a worldview that he recognizes is there. To him, he realizes that his previous Lie was incorrect, but instead choses to expand his Lie and incorporate part of the Tragic Truth into it. Sure, there will always be a system and what he was doing before wasn’t working. This was made clear when Leo Galante points out that Vito and Joe were getting duped and that the whole road to being Made Men that they were on was just a way to keep them busy. Now, however, he’s found someone new who can get him the success he craves. He still has a chance. Vito hasn’t realized that he never did.

Beat 6: The Second Pinch Point (Series of Devolving Events)

By now, the protagonist has seen the Truth (in this kind of arc) and can no longer look away. More and more they see how their Lie no longer functions the way it should. They see the limits. They start to use the Truth to operate in their world, no longer relying on their Lie, and this rewards them and allows them to get the thing they want. Vito is a unique case because of how closely his Lie and Truth are intertwined. The real difference is in whether or not he can succeed in the system that he is in and how. If he believes his Lie, Vito continues to operate as if he can actually gain something by working in the mafia, which he will do for the majority of these missions. The Truth shows him that it doesn’t and it won’t work. At the beginning of the In Loving Memory of Francesco Potenza, it does appear that everything has worked out and Vito’s new estimation of who is actually in charge has landed him a powerful ally; after all, Leo got him out of prison four years early. As the chapter goes on, however, Vito’s celebration is at the whims of Eddie Scarpa, to the point where they end the chapter burying a body for him because (in that moment) they are his lackies. It’s more played for comedy, so not really significant, but it is something to consider.

The Wild Ones and Balls and Beans stand in stark contrast to one another. This is because the Wild Ones furthers our story while Balls and Beans is a significant ‘step back’ or so it would appear. In the Wild Ones, Joe’s cigarette scheme ends with them having reality shoved in their face when the stock is messed up and they end up owing Eddie tons of money, both hurting their reputations and making it clear that the camaraderie they felt the previous night meant nothing when the chips were down. Opposed to that is Balls and Beans, where Vito gets of a glimpse of ‘mafia loyalty’ and becomes a made men. For me, that whole encounter was tinged with some bitterness, despite how victorious Vito probably felt. This is also major set up for act 3, but I will get there when I get there. Room Service is important mostly for Joe, but it just is another moment where Vito sees how disposable the people are and how fragile the peace between the mob families are when he and Joe are instructed to really start a war.

This comes to a head when Vito operates using his Tragic Truth by saving Leo Galante in A Friend of Ours. He is still clinging to his Lie to a certain degree by believing that he is important to Leo Galante (which, to be fair, he is; just not as much as he believes), but he also recognizes some of the truth of the system. Who is he if Leo Galante is disposable? The man was someone that everyone respected, but now his death is being ordered, and it is his friend that has to do it. On this lower level, Vito recognizes that there is no honor among thieves, but there can be among friends. He is seeing that the system he believes that can make him successful will do nothing to help him at the end of the day. So, he takes matters into his own hands and goes against orders out of a sense of loyalty to this man and appeals to the loyalty of his friend to let them go. 

It works, but Vito may have learned the wrong lesson. He now sees that the system isn’t working the way he thought it was, but he still doesn’t realize that he can’t succeed in it and it is actively trying to push back against him.

The Negative Character Arc of Vito Scaletta Part 4: Act 3

Ah yes. It’s the final act of the story! Time for the resolution and a neat wrap up of all of the subplots, including our protagonist’s character development. For the Disillusionment Arc we’ve been studying, that means that the character will finally fully embrace the truth and all of its consequences. This usually covers the last fourth of the story. Also I am now 100% convinced (I know nobody mentioned it but it seems like fun after all the reading I’ve been doing) to do Joe’s aborted positive character arc at some point. I just want to.

Also this was a weird one to write. I kept skipping back and forth between putting certain events in different parts. Part of what took so long is that I had a whole  three LONG paragraphs written for part 8, but then realized when I started to write beat 9 that what I was writing for beat 9 was beat 8, what I was writing for beat 8 was part of beat 7, and that some of beat 10 was beat 9 and some of it was beat 10. It was weird and it made beat 7 so long on rewrite, but here it is.

Quick recap for those who haven’t looked at this in a while:

Vito’s Normal World is one where the lawful system does not work. The working man is a sucker and those that take for themselves are the ones that are successful. The system of crime that exists in the world is more effective than that of the law-abiding one. This is important for the themes of adulthood and maturity and masculinity that permeate his story, as for Vito financial success is equivalent to adulthood (being a man). Being dependent on others is being a child, especially considering that his father was not able to provide for his own family and, in fact, made their situation worse. This is vital for understanding the last act of the story. Vito’s Lie is that he can use the system of crime to be successful, to gain clout, to be considered mature. It is extremely similar to the one his father believed, but using a different system. The Tragic Truth is that Vito overestimates the clout/influence/success that the system has given him. He won’t succeed in it and was never going to succeed. His status in society as a poor immigrant from poor immigrants was never going to work for him. He was not lucky enough for it to work out that way, and despite his hard work he is just as disposable as ever.

Now, onto Act 3. 

Beat 7: The Tragic Realization

Starting off for poor Vito, it is time for devastation! Here, the character recognizes that they’ve been operating under the Tragic Truth and its been working in their Normal or Adventure World (here it is the normal world), but something happens that tips their hand. Here, the character is forced to watch as their tragic truth is either their undoing or the undoing of those they love.

This is most certainly exemplified in the latter half of A Friend of Ours. First and foremost, the decimation of Vito’s life as he knows it when Frankie cuts him out of her life after he beats up her abusive partner. This is not nearly as damning as what comes next, but it directly shows how Vito’s way to solve problems just creates more of them. The way he has been taught to operate took away his own remaining biological family.

Then, his house gets burnt to the ground, and with it all that he has put his sweat and blood into. Over the course of a single day, Vito loses everything: his family, the home that he built, even a place at Joe’s. He has to flee to Joe’s in the middle of the night (with a stolen car in my playthrough). Joe’s success is juxtaposed to Vito, even if it is success by Joe’s standards. Suddenly Vito is back where he started, depending on Joe instead of being his own man. It also doesn’t help that this time Joe provides him a place, making it feel more permanent than a stay on a friend’s couch (and feel like he’s less welcome there). Full disclosure: I do think that if Joe didn’t have Marty’s apartment in his back pocket, he would 100% let Vito stay with him. It’s just that he does and having Vito stay with him would be incompatible to Joe’s current lifestyle, and he probably thinks that letting Vito have his own place will give him a sense of agency. Unfortunately it can come off (although I don’t think he meant anything by it at all) like he’s just helping a ‘friend’, but doesn’t want to be there to be emotional support. I just think Vito is not expressive in the same way that Joe is and they don’t have the same values. 

The distance between them and just how much the night has hurt Vito comes after he’s gotten his revenge, but doesn’t feel better. Joe says, “All the stuff that got burnt up? It’s just things Vito.” and doesn’t realize that to Vito those things and that money are what make him an adult and everything his father wasn’t.

Vito’s Tragic realization is that all of the hard work that he put into this life and working to gain what his father couldn’t have was his own undoing. It was operating in this lifestyle that put the target on his back in the first place and it was operating by the rules of that system that pushed his sister away. Now, he has nothing and also thinks he has no one. He sits in Marty’s apartment and laments that he is stuck there without any of the money that he had found comfort in, only with a roof over his head and the charity of his friend.

The tragedy of the Truth is full realized in the Sea Gift and Exit the Dragon. Keep in mind that the reason Sea Gift happens for Vito is because he has just lost everything. This whole plot, for Vito, was a desperate attempt to get what he had back, no realizing that system he was a part of isn’t working for him and actually being able to do something about it. Henry, knowing his friend needs money, decides to put this up as an option. I don’t think Vito here is trying to get out of the life, despite knowing that staying within the system will only cause him problems, but he is still stuck knowing that after losing everything he is nothing. There is a cycle of violence here that will continue by existing in this system and Vito is a grunt at the end of the day. Nobody is going to post bodyguards around his house and rival gangs/mobs are going to feel perfectly safe retaliating against him as they did just then, because the only person to fight back will be Vito. Money is safety and comfort, so Vito goes searching for it.

Then, his world is shattered as Vito and Joe find Henry’s body. This person who may not have been always next to him but was nevertheless an important part of his life is dead. Not only that, but they’re money as part of the deal is gone because they spent it, Falcone is demanding a cut, they still have to pay off the broker, and it only gets worse. Joe and Vito, while still working together, have to immediately begin taking jobs as they are on the chopping block and no one is going to hold their hand and say it’s okay. They go to war with the triads as revenge for what happened to Henry, and only succeed in angering their bosses, although that doesn’t come to a head yet.

Vito has just been forced to realize just how fucked the system was for them. They tried to pull themselves away only to succeed in being dragged back into the cycle. In this moment, while dealing with his relationship with the Henry and the man’s death, not to mention all that he is going to have to do in order to keep Joe and himself alive through this. It’s desperate and he is driven to despair here. It has undone everything, and now he sees, really sees how the truth of this world has harmed him.

Beat 8: The Third Plot Point

Now, the character has seen the Lie and the Truth for what they really are and no hope for the future with the one they’ve been operating under. They can no longer fool themselves into believing that the Tragic Truth is not true and that their old Lie is true. Here, they accept the dark truth and reject their Lie. The biggest point of this is to recognize that the Lie they found comfort in is nonexistent. 

This point of the story belongs solely to Stairway to Heaven. You know what I’m talking about.

Set up: at this point in the story, Vito has lost everything, really lost it. Now, he is no longer even trying to get it back anymore. He’s just trying to get himself and Joe out of danger before something worse happens and they both die. More and more he’s been seeing how the system has fucked them over and how every single time things start to get better, specific institutions or by products of doing the jobs they do in the system push them back down. He’s been told a friend betrayed him and pressure has been put on him since he tried to avenge that friend’s death, not to mention that he, Joe, and Henry spent enough of the money that they won’t be able to pay back the person that got the money from and give Eddie a cut.

So, he goes back to the beginning after a job or two doesn’t cut it and works for Derek at the dock, strong-arming the workers for the man. As he is doing his job though, he finds out about his father’s death and Derek’s role in it. Vito, for the first time, seems to claim ownership of his father. At least, he feels responsible for avenging his father’s death instead of working for the man that killed him. In a way, he sees that his father and he were a part of the same system and that it murdered his old man. 

But, that’s not where Vito accepts the truth. But first, Eddie tells Vito that his friend was a snitch for the feds. This is just more proof, to Vito, that he was disposable to the man and a tool (whether or not this is true is up for debate, but nevertheless this is how Vito felt as well as conflicted over the truth of the declaration). Not to mention that there’s potentially a war starting and it might come back to bite Vito and Joe if anyone finds out about they’re involvement. After a kerfuffle, it becomes clear that the Vincis do think Vito and Joe are a part of it and plan to punish them for it, and I personally believe it’s pretty clear that if the Falcone’s find out about the whole thing, there might not be retaliation. After all, a couple of low level wise guys who almost set everybody to war with the Tongs. Giving them over would be a lot less trouble, and if they did bother to do anything about it, it wouldn’t be because of Vito and Joe. No, if they bothered to retaliate, it would only be because they were itching for war and Vito and Joe gave them a good enough excuse. Vito gets to realize that in this moment and rescues Joe in a manner that no one would know they were there so that it doesn’t get back to Falcone.

And the final nail in the coffin. The moment where Vito sees and accepts the Tragic Truth of it all. He goes to pay back Bruno.

This, I feel, is where his story truly comes to a head. Vito goes to pay back a debt, something his father never got to do, only to find out that the man he is giving the money to is the same one his father took out a loan from years ago. It is the same man that strong armed his sister and mother into paying, despite knowing that they couldn’t, and Vito can’t touch him. Suddenly, everything is put into sharp relief. There are no separate systems, his father wasn’t a sucker. Vito is the sucker for ever believing that he could do what his father couldn’t. There is only one system, both Vito and his father were a part of it, and both of them folded to it in the end. There he was, making the same mistakes as his father while trying to be everything but. Here, he accepts that he was never going to succeed, not the way he wanted to. “The working man is a sucker,” said Joe, but no one bothered to tell Joe that Vito that the lifestyle he craved wasn’t what Joe wanted. Joe was fit for the life, quick cash and quick spending. He could go with the flow, but Vito wanted maturity and adulthood. He wanted to be successful and to have respect. In this world though, Vito was never going to have either. He had the same dream his father did when coming to the U.S. of a better life, but didn’t realize this was not the place to get it. All of the people in the mob were there when it was established in Empire Bay, they were the old guard, an institution. Where there are institutions there are systems, and where there are systems, there are hierarchies. Vito would always be the fall guy, which meant he could never move up.

Beat 9: The Climactic Moment:

Now, the protagonist fully acknowledges the truth, and uses it and all it has taught them to get the thing they need and occasionally the thing they want, but if they do get the latter, they usually realize that it’s worthless in the face of their new Truth or they sacrifice it somehow. They end the conflict between them and the antagonistic force. Oftentimes, for a Disillusionment arc, the character will experience one final tragedy, usually as the result of what they’ve previously set in motion (this is usually found in the resolution or at the very very end of the climactic moment). 

No more is this more obvious than Per Aspera Ad Aspera. Vito literally spends the beginning of the chapter basically lamenting the truth by discussing how his life is nowhere near what he thought it would be. He gets a call from Eddie Scarpa about meeting at an observatory, but before that he is stopped by Leo Galante, his dark father figure. Leo gives Vito his real ultimatum and shows Vito that he has the real power here compared to a figure like Falcone. He likes Vito, so he’s going to give him this chance to make things right. This is a short beat, but it goes up until the point where Vito convinces Joe to side with him, even as Joe is being promised everything by Falcone. Vito is wielding his friendship and the knowledge that he and Joe both have now (as Falcone admitted to using them as pawns) to fight. They both know the system won’t work for them, so they have to work for each other. It’s triumphant! Together they beat Falcone and manage to break free of Empire Bay’s mob families, moving along with Leo Galante, but then tragedy strikes as we move into the resolution, one that ends the bitter-sweet moment of knowing the Truth and using it to put themselves in a new place. Sure they are alive and together, but there is still the knowledge that they both were in a place where they were never meant to succeed, Falcone’s words ringing in their ears. Their only hope of getting out of this is at the mercy of Leo Galante.

Beat 10: The Resolution

Now, the character is fully faced with the reality left in the wake of all of their actions and the consequences of their Lie and the Tragic Truth. They will either enter a new Normal World or return to the original, but now jaded with the Truth in face of the world that operates on the Lie. 

You may have noticed that I am ignoring much of the actual confrontation with Falcone, and that is true. While I do believe the ending of Per Aspera Ad Aspera is vital to Vito’s story as the resolution of it, namely seeing what “happens” to Joe due to the way the new Normal World operates, but the actual confrontation is more important for Joe’s arc. While friendship is an important part of Vito’s story thematically, that more has to do with how Vito relates to the men in his life. Joe’s arc in the story is more about friendship, and I will address that in the next part. So, importantly, Vito, by the end of this, gains a new darker mentor that has been steadily hinting at the Tragic Truth since they met. Notice how large turning points for Vito’s character usually involve Leo Galante somehow. While up until this moment, Vito has acknowledged and even wielded his Tragic Truth, Galante finally confronts Vito with the world he was always a part of. 

By stepping into the car with his dark mentor, Vito Scaletta agreed to join a New Normal World and start to use the new connections he has, aware that his only value in the system was how much he still meant to Leo Galante. But what Vito forgot was how expendable everyone was, how the system chewed up and spat everyone out, not just him. He was fully faced with reality at the end of this when Leo Galante made clear who he valued and who he didn’t. All he needed was a simple line to drive home the consequences of forgetting this Truth for even one second, disillusioning him to it completely.

“Sorry kid. Joe wasn’t part of our deal.”

I am not dead and neither is this story. I had promised myself that I wouldn’t update another chapter until I had finished the thing, but while checking out my account, I noticed that it had been OVER A YEAR since I had last added a chapter to it, let alone anything else. I have remedied this. Can’t promise anything coming super soon, but if another month passes and I’m not significantly closer, the next chapter will at least be done. Once I’m finished, I’ll move down to once a week so that I have time to edit.

This is especially important to me, because I’ve already started working on a new project, because my dumb ass wants to do absolutely everything, and I want to at least be much closer to finishing this before I put that story out too.

Next chapter in the story! I told you I would at least make sure it was here in a month!

Somehow, I skipped putting chapter 10 on here. My apologies.