280: “Tailleur” Cuts

For more details on membership tiers, ways to support the site and how to purchase comics/collections, click here. The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred. 

Dear Patrons,

Now we're coming into the new year, there's plenty of new updates at the back end. One of them being a faster server (hopefully you will all notice), a new payment system (AMember), some site fixes and updates, and a renewed schedule. Here's one before the end of the new cycle. Wait for the next update coming on the first week of March, so a bonus bumper 2 updates within a space of a week.

Now, I don't do this often, but seeing she had been all over the place the past month, why not here? I'll be coy and not name the name, but you should know by the sneakily punned title. This story recalls one I did a while back if anyone remembers, called Carte du Jour 265: Pawn Stars. Bon appétit!

Click on the link below to join Forbiddenfeast's Discord Community to keep up to date with exclusive news and updates:
This link is viewable to ACOLYTE, DISCIPLE members or higher & valid for a month as of 23 Nov 2023. If the link has expired, message me and I'll create a new link.
 

I. THE RAIN MAN (5 full color artworks including 2 new artworks, 1 variation of a similar scene, one artwork edited from a previous post, for DISCIPLE members or higher)

So the shit's hitting the fan now, that Hip Hop Rapper mister fuck face is going down, you're here again... What did I tell you? And now you've come back to me, I hope with fresh bills.

You were right. And yeah, there's more where that came from. So was he the Man? The Rain Man?

Oh they have so many names. Rain Man. Green Man. Blue Man. Dead Man. Hell naw. The Rain Man ain't ever gonna be caught. He hovers around you like endless dark clouds and no umbrella's ever gonna stop you from getting wet. Don't get me wrong, it's still a huge thing to happen, but we all knew this was going to happen. It's a matter of when. He flew to close to the sun. Got arrogant like Scarface, like Gotti. And now he's coming down. But the Rain Man operates in the shadows. He's patient. He pulls the strings, and unless you're seeing that business isn't as usual, it's business as usual. So no, he is not the Rain Man.

I have this running theory that came to me this past week. The Rain Man, powerful as he is, isn't supernatural. When he's taken down, another one takes over. You're chasing shadows if you're looking for just one guy. Think of it like James Bond. It's just a title and a new actor comes to replace the old. This is when a new genre finally goes mainstream to replace the last, that's when you know you have a new anointed one. We're living in the age of Hip Hop. What was it before? Arguably... Country? And before that, most definitely Pop. And then Rock, and Blues. So, we've seen a few different Kings or Queens. So, no, this guy, was just muscle. A strong one nevertheless which might signal the beginning of the end. And now you've to ask, if the Rain Man works within the music industry and we see this network work far beyond that, then who does the Rain Man serve?

Who knows?

Who knows. How is it done? I mean, this Faustian pact? Pen on paper? Notarized by the bank with some high-powered lawyers present?

No. Don't be naive. Play a little game theory if you will. There are ways, many ways. Some of em's like...uh... say... they'll record you doing stuff... sexual stuff... or like stuff to animals, sacrificing goats, drinking their blood, or eating some chick's sautéed butt cheek while she's masturbating.

Was that the party you told me that you attended?

I plead the fifth. Not gonna put my parents in danger.

Got it.

Then there's worse. Like murder. Think of how many stars who shot to fame after a death of a friend, a rival, or a family member. Go do your own research and you'll dig stuff up. Think about that. Ye ain't that far off when he ranted on TV about his mama being sacrificed. Something, if exposed, you will not be able to recover from. Then, the second stage is the affirmation, which is to send a signal out on TV or the internet. This shows that you have done what you did willingly, of your own self-accord. By then, this mean that there's no going back. Your signature is now out in public for all to see, witnessed by the collective society. Signed. Sealed. Delivered through airwaves and fiber optics. The public, they won't know what it means, these tiny little inoffensive gestures. A little strange at first but then memory holed, but to those who are in the club, they know that you too, have signed your soul with the devil.

I knew you told me that this shit wasn't for you, but deep down, was there any part of you who had regrets not dealing with the devil?

I'd be lying to you if I said no. Sure, I had weak moments especially when the weather got real hard. Thinking of the money, the life, the vices. Sometimes he works his magic on the skies that every time the cold showers rain on me, I think of calling out to him to stop and take me back... , but I was thinking like a recovering alcoholic would think of another bottle of gin, no... no. I may live out days at a time behind a Mickey D's living on handouts and food stamps now, I was raised in a good Christian family and no amount of money is going to make me sell my soul. That's a fate worse than death. Over on the other side, we may see a life aspired, but all I saw was prison without bars. It's a mental cage. A soul-crushing suffocating squeeze of your soul. I foresaw the joys I would ever have would turn hollow and sour. And man, if you don't know by now, I have a lip on me, my man! The only way that they could control my mind is for them to clone and replace me completely. I've seen what they do to those who step out of line. In the end, you are either corrupted or sacrificed. And that's a fate worse than death.

When you say, "replaced"? Like "cloned"?

I don't know how they do that shit, I mean, it sounds like crazy talk. But I've been on the inside. I knew these people. They are NOT the same kind of God-fearing-farm-girl-singing-Sunday-school-gospel-growing-up-folk they once were. What they are now, they are like a machine who runs on focus groups, surveys, PR teams and strategic consultants. Saw that chick on TV at the Super Bowl, you can't get away from? Fuck, even me here sleeping behind a dumpster, I keep hearing about her and her football player boyfriend. How can I miss it? It's everywhere. Hell, I've even met her. Before and after her transformation.

You did?

Yeah, sure, at a couple of these parties. Sure. She sounds and talks the same, but there's a substance missing. It's like a shell company without any employees, an empty vessel being told what to do, and I've seen them, and hung out with them behind the scenes, without the cameras, PR teams and paparazzi around them and that's who they've become now. And that, good sir, that's not real. But is she real? I don't know. Is she corrupted or sacrificed? I don't know. All I know is that she's not the same. And I've seen it happen more than once.

I just had an epiphany watching the game, are we seeing a new coronation? Has Hip-Hop worn its welcome and now we're seeing the ushering in of a new leader, a new music genre to go mainstream. Did I just see a sacrifice? Or a coronation? Or both? I wasn't even watching the game after you opened my eyes to this. It's the stuff around it. The energy, aura, zeitgeist. Once you notice, it's hard to unsee. I've seen things play out before it even happened. The connections and the symbolisms. And it did play out how I had envisioned! The game on the field, that's not the real game. It feels like the game's on us. It's even gotten me to thinking why they'd even call it the Super Bowl. "Superb-Owl"? The owl of the Bohemian Grove? 

...

Nevermind.

Now you're one of the crazies like me.

The real question now is, did you think they sacrificed the clone, or the real pop star?

That's a question for another day, and a whole stack of bills. I'm tired and hungry tonight. I like a bit of money, but not a lot enough for me to want to open a bank account and not tempt some tweaked up junkie to jump me. Come back again later next week, I might have some more for you.

II. ODDS & ENDS (1 black & white sketch, 4 shaded work-in-progress artwork including 3 of a similar scene, for DISCIPLE members or higher)

These are some works in progress and more idea sketches regarding the previous story.

III. SKETCHES (2 black & white inked sketch, for DISCIPLE members or higher)

A tease from the upcoming Last Days of Winter story.