December 15th
"I can't believe you guys love me, scars and all" says Ashley
"it doesn't matter what you look like ash or what you believe politically, you are a beautiful, caring human being, Sam and Carly started renting the place across the walkway which gives us a little more room, Trina and Jade moved into Sam's old room" says Cat
"I can't believe your brother asked mine out" says Ashley
"all the years I've known my brother he's not normally like that, he's been rejected by everyone he's ever asked so two years ago he said he wasn't gonna ask anyone else for fear of embarrassment" says Cat
"why is Tori asleep so much, also is she good at love making, everyone I talk to says she should be because you're adventurous and she was with you" asks Ashley
"she's on meds to help with her insane motor tics her body has decided is what she needs after I caused her gay awakening that caused her to break, I am adventurous however I have no frame of reference to determine how good she is" says Cat
"is that why she cracked her tooth and had to make an emergency visit to the dentist" asks Ashley
"yes, it's very uncomfortable for her, the day before you arrived was a bad day for her, she was making lunch for her and I and her body decided that was a time to slam her wrist against the corner of the kitchen island, when we went to the hospital right after and she told the doctor what happened he said it could be the start of Tourette's and that she was really lucky she didn't break her wrist or at worst her arm" says Cat
"what are her current tics" asks Ashley as Trina comes to check up on Tori
"splits, foot tapping, wrist snapping and biting down hard, that last one is kinda severe, if she's eating she could choke, if she's about to eat she might not be able to eat for half an hour at the longest" says Cat
"that explains the ten pairs of pants that need repairing, how is she" says Trina
"she's ok right now Trina, the tics are not able to happen when she's asleep for some reason, I don't claim to understand how Tourette's works, why so concerned all of a sudden" asks Cat
"as much as I hated how Tori treated me when I had my wisdom teeth taken out, I have to admit she really cared about my health, I want to be able to do the same for her now, how is she supposed to be the singer she wants to be now" says Trina
"she probably can't, if it is indeed Tourettes it would mean no tats, no music career and in her case more than likely no more driving, unless it stops getting worse there are a lot of things she won't be allowed to do" says Ashley
"and she was so close to getting signed too, Casa Blanca records had just accepted her audition, I had just gotten an email saying they'd like to meet her in person and Tori hadn't been responding to their emails" says Trina
"she hasn't responded because of the tics, she's afraid of being made fun of, the tics had only just started when she recorded and sent in the audition, set up the meeting for as soon as possible but let them know about the tics first, if she's gonna be rejected it's best she know ahead of time" says Cat
"they're in the area, they bought her a computer and a mic and sound deadening foam" says Trina
"why are they in the area, aren't they a Las Vegas record company" asks Cat
"yes but I said she was in a difficult situation, they wanted to stop by and help, I said I'd ask if it was ok" says Trina
"dear god I hope it's not my dad he hates me" says Ashley
"why" asks Trina
"because I'm the reason he's not still married to my mom, I told them I loved Tori and my dad wanted to put me in conversion therapy to make me straight and my mom refused to let him, Casa Blanca was his nickname for me, he wanted me to be a singer" says Ashley
1 hour later as Henry arrive
"hey dad" says Ashley annoyed
"you ok ashey" asks Tori
"yeah, yeah I'm fine" says Ashley
"look Tori we know about the tics, that's why we liked your music, people, generally girls get a lot of hate if they have Tourettes and we figured if we give you a shot they'd see Tourettes isn't the end to their dreams and there is still a chance" says Henry Franks
"ok but if I sign you have to apologize for hurting Ashley" says Tori
"deal, look Ash I didn't understand that I was hurting your feelings, I was more afraid of you getting rejected than anything but when I saw you dancing to her audition video then hugging her at the end I realized what an idiot I'd been as a father, I failed you and I'm sorry" says Henry
"you mean that or is this just another excuse to hurt my feelings" asks Ashley
"I really mean it, I realize now you're a dancer just as you said wanted to be, when I said you should be a singer I thought I was connecting, both your mom and I were musicians, your brother has always been into gaming and making videos about cool things, it was selfish and wrong of me to take choice away from you, I've been to therapy for it, Melissa was supposed to be here to get Tori to sign the contract but I knew I had to apologize, that this might be my only chance" says Henry
"if you knew what was best for your label you'd fire my older sister, made me look like a liar so she could do things, she's evil dad" says Ashley
"what kind of things" asks Henry
"the bad bad kind, touched me where you and mom always said nobody but me should touch" says Ashley
"do you have proof, not saying she didn't but I need proof so I can confront her and ask my female singers if they did that to them too, this is very serious" says Henry
"she blackmailed me with them, took one of her fingers in me and said I had to do what she said or she'd do it again, I can have Tori send them to you, I don't want her to attack me" says Ashley
"I've seen the pics sir, they are indeed pictures of her kitty, I remember the fresh scars from the single sleepover she had with me before she had to move away, she showed me the pictures and the cuts she had made because of it at the time and had asked me what to do, all I could do is cuddle her, give me a company email and I'll send the pictures to you but you must only use them in court if you have to" says Tori
"the box Hannah Kris brought in contains two laptops, one for personal use and one for music and company emails, the music one is all set up with the software we use, there is no password on the user account on the music one, we believe you should choose your own passwords, also since this place is small we are providing large studio grade panels of sound deadening foam so you can record with studio quality, I've heard it's also amazing at limiting who can hear people have sex with all the noise and such, not my words trust me, it's one of the things our supplier uses them for" says Henry
"are the panels removable or are they permanent" asks Tori
"removable, they go on the walls with screws, we figured pink, purple and blue panels would fit your guy's style and not be an eyesore" says Henry
"ugh so my blabby sister told you our styles then, how would I send the recorded music then" asks Tori
"yeah she did, she told us about how you took care of her when she had her wisdom teeth removed and how she was rude and mean to you at the time and she wanted to make it up to you in a way that would help you more than just a gift, also there is a network drive on the music one where only your music is stored" says Henry
"I'm not gonna get to do concerts though am I" asks Tori as she signs the contract
"I'd rather not have a medical emergency if something happened to you on stage Tori, our "disabled" artists stream, I have an amputee girl singer who streams and her fans love it, they get to interact with her directly" says Henry
"how do you deal with creeps" asks Cat
"so glad you asked, we're working with the local internet company that services the area to bring fiber internet here, also when she has gained a thousand fans, Tori can stream at which point everyone in this apartment will be given company laptops with an app specifically for moderating her streams, there is a zero tolerance policy on inappropriate comments and will result in a ban if anyone watching and commenting on streams makes them, our algorithm translates and checks messages sent on the platform but it doesn't catch them all, people mis-spell things all the time and if it's far enough off the algorithm does not flag it" says Henry
"how can you be certain the translations are accurate" asks Jade
"we have professional translators working with our stream algorithm team but its impossible to make a fast working algorithm that catches every possible variation of mis-spelling, they are currently working on a separate system that checks for context of hate in the messages and will at this point in time message a moderator with the message link, the time, user and what it thinks the context is for them to review by the moderator" says Henry as he posts a teaser
"so is that all the laptops can do" asks Trina
"no they're gonna be full laptops that can browse and such, the only requirement is two mods plus the artist have to be active every week, so Ash and Cat could take the first week then Jade and Trina can take the next one, though all four of you could be on moderating the chat at once but it's not required" says Henry
"uh sir, the teaser you just posted of the audition Tori did, it um…. Already has like three thousand comments asking her to stream and about three million likes, apparently her soon to be rival Andre Harris umm helped spread the word" says Hannah
"why would Andre be my rival" asks Tori
"because he was signed by our rival record label Huna Ruma Records, there is a long history of them poaching our artists, we sued them last year and they settled and signed a legal document they wouldn't do it again" says Henry
"he's my friend I won't trash him, his music is good" says Tori
"considering he couldn't have done that without their ok I'm not asking you to, if he didn't ask them first he's without a career anyway, if they did let him go send him my way, if he's willing to stand up and help artist who have problems like you or Rebecca Kron aka the amputee I talked about then we need someone like him but we would need proof he was let go, they void their contracts with a stamp and they don't joke around or trap other labels with void contracts" says Henry
"and what if they do trap you guys" asks Jade
"then we can sue their ass off, a void contract is a void contract which makes an artist legally available to sign by any other label, they have a special void contract stamp and none of us can use it so if we do fall into that situation and they used that stamp it's legally binding and all we'd have to do is present that to a judge and their argument that we stole an artist would be invalid" says Henry
"I'll go get those laptops" say Hannah