13 September 2025 (Reanna)

[mint_phalanx]

This entry is from our system journal on 13 September 2025. Reanna has an idea for a thriller. (And by "we," she means "I.") We don't intend to watch Him. Ever.

We might be riding on the tailcoats of Him, but we have a story idea about a football player who gets caught up in a player trafficking ring. For me, the purpose would be to show how dehumanizing trading can seem. We thought of the idea last night, originally as a joke that it would be the sequel to Him. Then, F.M. told me that I could write it.

We already have a few things fleshed out. The trafficking ring involves professional football teams and is run by the General Managers. Players who request to be traded aren't trafficked. [We changed this detail.] Players who don't are. They're transported in cages and are abused. Players trafficked from a rival team are tortured until they conform or die (whichever comes first.) Teammates may be encouraged to join in the abuse because the rival player is "poisoned." I'm considering reading about programming techniques used by abusive cults. (It would specifically be used for rival players.) [I decided to focus on abuse instead.] Players trafficked from non-rival teams go through dangerous hazing rituals.

The main character learns about the trafficking ring when the police question him about a former teammate who died after being traded. When he asks the interviewer why he's being questioned for a death that happened out of state, she says the other investigators suspect the player was also a victim of a trafficking ring. [We decided to specify that it's happening across state lines.]

We also decided the main character would be the first openly asexual football player. He's a kicker because it's easy (for us, anyway. Simple job description.) And he's good at it, too.

The working title is Trade. The project is going to require a lot of knowledge on the business of football. If trading isn't as dehumanizing as I assume, then the story will be for pure entertainment. Details of the trafficking ring may change with the facts.

Reanna: I no longer think I'm riding on the tailcoats of Him, unless you define the tailcoats as "perverting football." (This story isn't even in the same genre!) It also wouldn't be the first thriller involving the sport. My sister made me aware of Black Sunday and Two Minute Warning.