#Mathew 'Rosy' Reigns

[amoxgirl]

Legacies

Legacies Chapter 2

1995 Appalachian Mountain Territories

Jon knew he was different than most boys his age, what made him different he didn’t know nor understood but it didn’t matter. His Mom simply told him that he simply marched to the beat of his own drum and didn’t care for the ‘rough housing’ the other boys were doing. He had nodded at his mothers explanation and thought no more about it, he rarely played well with the other boys and often found himself coming to the rescue of the younger kids or the girls that was from the neighborhood.

It didn’t bother him, he rather liked it- other ten-year-old boys wouldn’t help the girls out nor would they play with the ‘babies’ either cause one group had ‘cooties’ or because the other group still wanted to play sillier games. But Jon was unique in the fact that just as long as he was outside where the sunshine could hit his face and he could take a deep long breath of fresh air he was happy.

Life was good… He had his Mom and his Nana and that’s all that mattered to him.

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It was summer time and by far Jon’s favorite time of year, no school and the warm lazy days called to his heart like nothing else could. While this summer most of the boys he did play with got to go to a summer camp Jon had elected to stay at home, the majority of other kids that were still around were of families that couldn’t afford to go to the summer activities.

He had over heard his Mom and Nana talking about it once school had let out, that they had saved up enough money for him to go should he choose to do so but the flyers that his teacher had sent home with him on the last day of school looked so boring- and that’s what he had told his Mom and Nana.

Instead here he was in wooded park climbing a large oak tree, smiling successfully when he got middle ways up into the top of the tree. Parking his butt on a thick branch and digging out a granola bar from his pocket he enjoyed the shade and the pride of getting this far up when suddenly he heard voices shouting. Stuffing the rest of the bar into his mouth and pocketing the wrapper he hastily made his descent down again.

Listening closely, he realized that there was lots of different voices screaming, male and female alike- stepping into a screaming direction Jon was finally able to make out what they were screaming, “Sasha!” He tilted his head and thought about the name- he thought it belonged to a visiting young girl, she was spending the summer with her own Nana if he remembered correctly and something told him that having this many adults screaming for her was bad news.

Suddenly from around a tree a man stepped out and froze- Jon hadn’t felt him there and by the raised eyebrow he thought the man was just as surprised to see him as he was. In the stretched silence Jon took a moment to look at the man and found himself freezing when he noticed the guns at the man’s hips. Wetting his lips, he felt a slight, very so slight fear bubble- “you’re not truly afraid are you?” when the man spoke it was a funny accent Jon had never heard before, and with Cincinnati being a ‘port’ city he had heard so odd accents before this. But trying to be polite, as his Mom had taught him, he answered the question, “no Sir!” There was a smile forming on the adults lips when the shouting came closer.

Then Mister Connors stepped out around the park path and spotted him and the other man and snapped, “Jonathan what in the blue blazes are you doing out here?” Then Mister Connors eyes snapped to the other man and froze, his head lowered, and a closed fist came over his heart as he spoke, “hail Gunslinger!” Jon felt his eyes go wide as he looked at the strange man who was bringing up his right hand and with two fingers tapped his left side of collarbone. “hail Sai, what’s all ruckus for?” Mister Conner’s raised his head and spoke more softly, “a girl has went missing Sai!”

Jon shuffled his feet as the adults talked, he barely understood the conversation but the pieces he understood was the Gunslinger was on a hunt for parts of a posse he had been chasing for a long time. Suddenly the Gunslinger spoke up, “I will help in the search,” Mister Connors sputtered and finally managed out a thank you- Jon beamed and added, “I will help too!”

At this Mister Connors thundered at him, “certainly not young man- your march your butt back to your mamma and stay there! We don’t need to be looking for two lost kids tonight!” Stiffen his back Jon was ready to fire back when the Gunslinger spoke up, “the Lad can accompany in my search- I don’t know the terrain and something tells me he might be handy to have along!”

Once Mister Connors left Jon turned his full attention to the Gunslinger and with a shy voice was able to squeak out a thanks, but the other man simply studied him harder. After a minute he spoke up again, “what’s your full name Lad?” Jon straighten up to his full height, which was pretty tall for his age. “Jonathan Dean Moxley Sir!” The other man let out a laugh and held out his hand, “Steven Regal young Moxley!” Shaking his hand Jon felt his small world center and a heat ignite deep in his little heart.

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It was the next day, the second day of the search for the missing Sasha when Jon had mentioned the pond to Mr. Regal when he asked Jon why he was concerned about the pond he shrugged his shoulders and said as an afterthought, “girls like cute animals and stuff- sometimes ducks swim in that pond!” The other man simply stared at him for a moment and then had him lead him to the pond in question.

Jon watched in awe as Mr. Regal walked with him around the large pond and pointed about small but noticeable foot prints- once when they bent down to examine an odd set of tracks Mr. Regal began to teach him differences of each track they found so when they bent down again some hours later Jon was about to identify the deer tracks without pause.

This seemed to please Mr. Regal and Jon felt such pride in himself that he never wanted this day to end however Mr. Regal wasn’t done teaching him. Next he was taught about the moss on tree trunks and how to avoid poison ivy and what mushroom/berries were good to eat. He learned how to identify the scat left behind to know what type of animal he was tracking- learned how to listen for sounds and more importantly for the sound of water.

It was closing in on dark when Jon felt the odd sensation at the back of his skull, the sensation quickly turned into a headache and just when Jon thought he couldn’t take it anymore everything in his vision tilted and he tripped. Mr. Regal caught him easily enough and frowned at him, “Jon…. Jon what ails you?” Working his mouth Jon had never felt so tired before but he forced himself to speak, “I had this funny feeling in my head then it turned into a headache but now it doesn’t hurt- when the pain went away it surprised me!” He felt Mr. Regal go completely stiff and watched as the other man bowed his head, after a moment he spoke softly, “do you hear it Jon?”

Jon was trying to detangle himself from the arms of the other man when he asked, as his heart thumped wildly against his chest, “hear what?” Mr. Regal glanced up at him at last and whispered, “the voice of your father?” Suddenly Jon was scared to breath, scared to move but Mr. Regal continued on, “a gunslinger will always hear the voice of his or hers forefathers Jon- a gunslinger will never lose focus nor get lost in thought cause they are never alone in their own head!”

They spent the hour in silence, man and boy both staring straight ahead- the man razor focus ahead while Jon himself stares ahead. They quietly came a upon a fork in the road- bending down in the dirt Jon traced the funny looking track when a small but quiet voice murmured deep inside his ear- left, “Mr. Regal I think we should go left!”

Mr. Regal studied him for a moment then nodded and as they walked Jon whispered. “I heard him!” Mr. Regal quietly laid a hand on his head told him one of the most important things in his young life, “listen to him Jon- he will never lead you astray.” Nodding as they continued on until they came to a hill and small cave crop to left- She is inside, glancing at Mr. Regal Jon smiled big when the other man thumbed his thumb into the direction of the cave, “Agreed!”

With that they both walked into the cave and a mile in they found the destroyed corpse of little Sasha Banks and Jon let the tears fall freely.

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1997 Gator Country

It was summer once again and this year the heat had came early and Jon was suffering because of it- his Dinn had swung by after school had let out and nabbed him for their annual summer training. It had been two years since he had met Steven Regal and awoke his inner gunslinger spirit- his Dinn (not teacher- heaven forbid) had continued his hunt but had always dropped back in to train him, a fact his Mom and Nana had hated but when Regal (as his Mom calls him) told him that the instinct to hunt- and the pressure of the voice in head would make him insane before he hit adulthood they had relented.

It had been on their first trip outside the Appalachian Mountain Territories that his Dinn told that he had called in some favors to some ��local Bookmen and after much digging they all agreed that Jon was perhaps the youngest gunslinger to awaken his inner instinct.

“It’s not doing me any fucking favors in this swamp!” He knew if his Mom and his Dinn heard that fowl word muttered from his lips he would have received a lashing but in the heat of the day- with only his hunting knife and four bullets left in his apprenticeship  guns, and half a canteen left of drinkable water he was annoyed.

Drop off to the left

Smiling in a cruel kind of way, a smile unbefitting a twelve-year-old Jon simple stopped and listened and after a moment he heard the faint sound of a rattle from a rattlesnake.

“Oh, goody dinner!”

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He never got to eat or skin the damn rattlesnake that night, why? Simple, really- his instinct had spoke of the drop off, but it was Jon’s own intelligences that found the cave buried back in the drop off- and in finding the cave (his least favorite places) he had found the two-man posse he and his Dinn were hunting.

Quietly and slowly exiting the cave he took up post in a tree and set off a soundless flare and waited. He knew better than to engage the posse on his own- even though he thought he might be good enough to take them on, but in doing so he might have to kill them and so far he hadn’t been giving the go ahead to kill anything human yet.

Behind and to the right

Already having his gun drew and in the guard position Jon quietly shifted to take a peek behind him- having the tree trunk to his back firstly made him work a little harder at not being heard or seen. The man that slipped out to the right of his tree was a larger man than his Dinn- but the guns at his hips told Jon all he needed to know. Softly, “a mile in it forks- they are to the right fork. The girl is either sleeping or unconscious.” The big man pauses and just as softly asks, “not dead?” Jon snorts and snaps back, “give me some credit man- I know the difference between the living and the dead!”

Yes, little Sasha Banks had taught him that fact two years ago. The sight of her cold body plus the signs his Dinn took shown him taught him early on the differences. Sighing Jon made his way down his post and landed soundlessly next to the unknown Gunslinger, glancing at one another for a second then Jon smirked when other man puffed out his cheeks and moaned in disappointment. “your just an apprentice….” A pause then, “numbers?” Giving the other man a flipped look Jon respectfully, cause like it or not this man wore gunslinger guns, “two!” A long moment, “you made your first kill yet?” Swallowing hard Jon simply shook his head was about to answer when a scream echoed from the cave, “Fuck me- come on then seems like today is your lucky day!”

Jon wanted to back peddle and tell the man to fuck off- he wasn’t his Dinn, had no right to give him orders but another scream echoed out and the image of Sasha Banks flashed in front of his eyes

Never stop never look back

Muttering, ‘fuck you!’ and when the other man gave him a funny look Jon sheepish blushed and said softly, “not you!” The other man nodded and jerked his head inward and Jon took a deep breath and followed.

The work that follows is fast, deadly, and precise on both the unnamed gunslinger and himself. Both their aims were accurate and just as deadly- Jon thought he would be sick afterwards, but he felt nothing when he noticed the girls tore cloths and the bite marks on her shoulders and small breasts.

Always shoot to kill and never kill just for the sake of killing

The girl had stopped screaming long enough to understand that the people that had just saved her wasn’t there to inflict more pain and started to cry. Jon went to the man he had just killed and checked his pockets- looking for any type of ID, he had witness his Dinn do this countless times and so he knew to also check the pulse to make sure his kill was dead.

“Your fucking good kid, what’s your name?” Smiling at the praise Jon answered proudly, “Jon Moxley!” The older man cocked his head and mumbled, “Moxley- I know I have heard that name somewhere before,” shaking his head clear he continued onward, “Well done Jon Moxley, I am Mathew Reigns but most in these parts call me Rosy!”

Smiling Jon stuck out his hand to other gunslinger and replied back, “nice to meet you Rosy!”

[caveartfair]

There’s a New Billionaire in Asia Every Three Days—and They Have a Serious Appetite for Art

Photo by Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images.

The number of billionaires worldwide grew by 10% to 1,542 last year, and more of them now rank among the world’s top art collectors, according to the 2017 Billionaires Report compiled by UBS and PwC.

The document, released Thursday, drew on two decades of historical data and around 90 interviews with billionaires, their heirs, and their advisors to provide a quantitative and qualitative portrait of the wealthiest people in the world. The picture is rosy: Billionaires increased their wealth by 17% last year to a cumulative total of $6 trillion. That amounts to an average net worth of $3.9 billion for each individual on the list.

What does that mean for the art market? “The growth of billionaire wealth has made art, regardless of what kind of art it is, much more accessible to the public,” due to their creation of private institutions and contributions to public museums, said John Mathews, the Head of Private Wealth Management and Ultra High Net Worth at UBS. “Not only in the U.S. but all over the world—especially in Asia.”

The report found that an increasing number of billionaires rank among the ARTnews “Top 200 Collectors” list, growing to 72 in 2016 from 28 in 1995. Of the six dozen on the list last year, 42 hail from the United States, which with 563 has the world’s highest concentration of billionaires. Asia’s billionaire cohort of art collectors on the list has grown rapidly to 14 last year from one in 2006.

“I’m having more conversations with clients about art as an asset class today than I did 10 years ago,” said Mathews.

Last year’s iteration of the Billionaires Report documented rapid growth of the ultrawealthy in Asia, with the continent generating a new billionaire every three days. This year’s report finds that trend continuing. While 25 new billionaires came from the United States in 2016, nearly five times as many, 117, came from Asia, bringing the total number of billionaires in Asia above those in America for the first time.

The total amount of wealth held by Asian billionaires, still lower than their American counterparts, rose to $2 trillion, up from $1.5 trillion the prior year. In the United States, the technology industry generated the most new wealth for billionaires; it was also the second-largest driver of global wealth for billionaires, after the retail sector. The total number of billionaires in Europe, where old money reigns supreme, was essentially unchanged.

The report estimates that total wealth held by Asian billionaires will outpace that in the U.S. within four years, if current growth trends hold. Asian billionaires are also younger, at 59 on average, compared to their European and American counterparts, who are on average 66 and 67, respectively. But the report notes that the net worth of some Asian billionaires is just barely over the nine-digit threshold.

Billionaires play an important role in the Chinese art scene, which features numerous private museums backed by individual donors. A January 2016 report by the Chinese-based firms Larry’s List and the Art Market Monitor of Artron (AMMA) found that almost all of the country’s 26 private museums relied on individual backers, rather than foundations, raising concerns about their longevity should their founders’ largesse come to an end. But earlier this month the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing announced that it had been acquired by a group of private investors, assuring its survival as a foundation after Belgian millionaire Guy Ullens moved to sell his museum.

Private museums are by no means confined to Asia. The report cites the Broad, the popular Los Angeles contemporary art museum founded by Eli and Edythe Broad, as a prime U.S. example. Still, across the globe, other billionaires thinking about founding private museums “should bear sustainability in mind,” noted the report. “Building a museum or buying a sports team is one thing—successfully running it over time is another.”

The report also found that “public museums are also receiving more funding than ever before” with billionaires making up an important chunk of that. “U.S. museums like the MoMA in New York and SFMOMA [in San Francisco] are institutions that thrive on support from different billionaires,” the report noted, drawing on qualitative interviews.

Previous reports have also examined the art collecting of billionaires, for which hard data is notoriously difficult to come by. According to UBS and Art Basel’s The Art Market | 2017 report, in which author Dr. Clare McAndrew drew on last year’s Billionaires Report, precisely estimating the total value of billionaire art collections or what percentage of billionaires even collect art remains a challenge.

That report did note that “research has suggested that the majority of billionaires own art, and that many are important and regular collectors.” Comparing published figures on individual net worth and their art collection’s value have found that collections can amount to “at least” 10% of their net worth, according to The Art Market | 2017 report.

It’s highly likely that one of these billionaires will be raising a paddle (or calling in from Asia or the Middle East) when Leonardo da Vinci’s famed Salvator Mundi (c. 1500), conservatively estimated at $100 million, hits the auction block at Christie’s next month, along with other star lots by major artists. But McAndrew has suggested that economic inequality could pose a challenge for the broader market if billionaires and millionaires fail to support the art market as a whole, instead focusing primarily on trophies and established names.

The overall growth in billionaire wealth shows few signs of slowing, particularly in Asia. “Unless something dramatic happens, either in the economy or with policy changes in that part of the world, you’re going to have more potential [art] buyers,” said Mathews, which he noted is good for the overall market. “A rising tide lifts all boats,” Mathews said.

—Isaac Kaplan

from Artsy News