Tangled Currents - Cynthia & Jeremiah Options

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - 18:00, Saturday June 15th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1171

For a minute or so, Cynthia didn't say a word, looking pensive, slowly tapping on the table with the tip of her fingers. Finally, she nodded "Alright. So, from what I see, we have a couple of challenges to overcome to make all this work again. And maybe better than it used to, but that's not a priority." She paused, then counting on her fingers said "One, we have to get the production back online. Two, we need to find an outlet for said production. Three, we have to do something to deal with those 'hardships'."

Seeing no obvious opposition, Cynthia continued "The third point is actually the easiest to deal with. Short term anyway. We were told that we could get some money from the house. Since I personally don't need it, I'm pretty sure I could use it to that end. Maybe I'll need to use some of my own if it takes a while to be made available, but that shouldn't be a problem either. I suppose we'll have to talk about that with Mr. Garner on Monday." She rubbed her lips for a second, then continued "Point two is a bit more tricky. Finding buyers for raw sugar is easy, but cotton in itself, not so much. We would at the very least need to get cloth, to find buyers. Clothes would be even better though." She frowned "We'd have to create a small corporation to deal with that end of things. It would buy the products from the house, and sell them outside. It would look much more legitimate to the outside world than anything else. It also could make a few other things easier, but I suppose you would all prefer being employed by the house than by a corporation, even if there is not much difference between the two." Well, that wasn't exactly true of course, there probably were rules she didn't know anything about, like the need for employees to have a SIN or stuff like that. She shrugged "It doesn't really matter, I suppose we could get something for pension, health insurance and whatnot anyway, for workers and families both. But again I'm no expert. We'll have to ask Mr. Garner for that too. And probably get someone who studied corporate laws or something,"

She frowned for a couple of seconds, then shook her head "All of this however depends on point one: restarting production and finding ways to process the cotton into cloth at the very least, clothes if at all possible. Regarding the need for workers, I do not know what we can do exactly, besides making known the improved condition and pledges for the future. Maybe we should make sure that there's something in the contracts stating that should production be stopped, the workers would at the very least get a couple of month of their current salary. Or something like that. It's not like the house really needs to make money out of this after all." She grimaced "I'm no expert…"

"But…" She looked at the men in front of her "Besides the workers, what do we need to get the fields back on track? And do you have any ideas about how to make clothes out of the cotton?" Maybe she should ask that question to Renée? She probably wouldn't be able to do it herself - there was quite a difference between artisan production and an industrial one after all - but she might have ideas. "Maybe we should find a way to further process the raw sugar? Like local candies or something? Maybe jam if someone around here has a decent fruit production? It would increase employment and profit at least."

[Mercy]

Saturday June 15th, 2075 1805, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle


the two men nod at your points and look at each other. The cotton man looks a bit uncertain of himself as he talks. "Don't reckon any of us here are experts in what we need to get the products to market or any of that industry, but I know what I need to get the fields back into production. I could have you a list in a couple of days and get started if you approve and if we can get the financing. But all that other stuff? Maybe you could go upriver and talk to the boys up there? There was a market there, once, so maybe they could take it again."

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - 18:05, Saturday June 15th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1172

Cynthia nodded once "Sure. Send me what you have as soon as you do. You'll need a commlink though, it will make things a lot easier. For me at least. If you need help, I'm sure someone here will be able to guide you." She paused slightly "Do not take me wrong, and understand that it's a matter of principle and not that I have any cause to suspect anything, but I will audit the finances of anything going on. Well, me or someone better at it than I'd be."

She frowned slightly. Not thinking about what had just been said, but about the "boys upriver". She seemed almost disappointed to see her corporation's idea shot down, but she quickly got over it. She wasn't doing this for herself after all… "I suppose it's possible. I'm pretty sure we'd e able to make a killing out there, but like I said, I don't really care about benefits as long as it keeps running. And doesn't lose money I suppose." She shrugged "But 'the boys upriver" is rather vague. Is there anyone you could contact to come see me? Or something more precise for me to go on? Like I mentioned... I think? I... Well... We... will be leaving town early next week for a few days, so if it's not taken care of by then, it'll have to wait. Now, since it requires the production to be on, it's not that urgent I suppose, but..."

[Mercy]

Saturday June 15th, 2075 1805, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle


There are nods to your question. "I could send someone upriver to try to reopen contact there, but they will eventually want to talk to the bosses. But I suppose we could come back with a name or two, sure. As for local, it might be possible to build everything we need right here, but you would need to have some financing and manpower. Are you really interested in expanding down here?"

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - 18:05, Saturday June 15th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1173

"I don't mind talking I suppose. As for my interest in expansion..." Cynthia shrugged "That, ultimately depends on two things: is there a market... and what is the long term plan. The market question is important considering that I doubt a small town such as this would be able to absorb much." She frowned "Even if it seems bigger every day..." She shook her head "Anyway, I'm pretty sure we would be able to find someone interested in buying whatever we wouldn't sell here in or around Seattle. Or the CAS for that matter. But... To what end?" She paused, looking at the two men "What are we trying to do here? If it's 'merely' to provide you and your families the resources you need to live, then we do not need to go beyond finding local buyers for our raw products, cane and cotton both. We could do more, but what would that be? As you said, financing may be a bit tricky, but, well, to all problems there are solutions. And it would probably be a nice challenge. That being said... I have plenty of challenges to keep me busy, so there's no need to add anything else just for the sake of it, even if it could be fun."

She shrugged "What I'm trying to say I suppose, is that it's probably more your decision than ours. Our goal is not to make of the town something that matches what we're used to."

[Mercy]

Saturday June 15th, 2075 1805, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle


The two men look at each other and then back at you, one asking, "And what do you want of all of this, Miss Cynthia? The three of you are the guiding force for this town. You employ the largest number of people round abouts and, well, you pretty much are the town. So, what do you want to do here?"

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - 18:05, Saturday June 15th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #117

Cynthia frowned "Answering a question with another question isn't exactly nice... Plus, technically, we are not the employers, the house is." She grumbled and looked away, pensive. After a moment, she shrugged "I want to be happy. I want to be proud of the girl I see when I look in the mirror." She paused, then added "And make my dreams come true I suppose. Or as close to it as possible." She shook her head "But none of this implies that I need or want to bend the town to my will." She seemed disturbed by the idea for a while "It has its own identity which makes it unique, and keeping that while making changes, even if we believe them to be improvements, is probably not easy."

She looked at Claudia and Sandy, to give them the opportunity to answer, then continued "So would I find the challenge of setting up a chain of production going from the raw cotton and sugar all the way to finished products like clothes and candies, jam or whatever, and create a tiny corporation to handle the distribution to Seattle or somewhere else interesting? You bet. Could be fun. Plus, since it would be local production, 'artisan' production, the risks to the town are minimal. But that is assuming we could have the means to product all of this with minimal changes. Do we have fruits? Do we have unemployed weavers hiding somewhere looking for a job? If we do then cool, it's just a problem of assembling everything together. And finance the first harvests I suppose. But if we don't?" She shook her head "Then that makes things much more complicated and risky. For example we could get fruits from outside, but it wouldn't really be local jam anymore. Cloth is better than nothing, but 'local' cloth doesn't have the same marketing impact than 'local' clothes. To say nothing of the 'natural' aspect of it, I'd bet it would sell like crazy."

She lost herself in her thoughts for a minute, then shook her head to clear it. There were so many things to consider and say about this... "All in all, what I'm saying is that we do not know what we have, what is available and what we could get reasonably easily. Nor what the limits are for that matter. It's pretty much impossible to make a decision in those conditions." She snorted "Hell, three days ago, we didn't know anything about the house. Less than twelve hours ago, I didn't know we had cane and cotton fields we were supposed to take care of. What am I going to learn tonight, tomorrow that completely changes things? It makes it pretty hard to make plans. And it's not something we, us three, really need. As far as we are concerned at the moment, we would be completely satisfied by doing the minimum, meaning restart work in the fields and offload everything to 'the boys upriver' for a price covering salaries, benefits, etc. After that..." She shrugged, then frowned "Maybe it's something the town's council should talk about? Who's the mayor by the way?"

[Mercy]

Saturday June 15th, 2075 1807, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle


While you are talking, both Sandy and Claudia put a hand on one of yours and squeeze it in a show of support. When you are finished, the two men look at each other. "Sorry, Miss Cynthia, we thought you were.......well, I guess no one really considered that you might not need or want all of this. You, all of you, seem so confident and capable. Serenity has waited a long time for people like you."

The other man nods then clears his throat. "As for mayor, well, we're not rightly sure, to be honest. Long time since any of us stepped foot in the town."

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - 18:05, Saturday June 15th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1175


Cynthia smiled to the two girls, and shrugged when the men finished "What we wanted was to rent an apartment, a house at best. What we got was... Well. you know better than us." She paused, frowning, then added "And in fact, that is the main problem I suppose." She rubbed her eyes, then sighed and continued "I don't know for Claudia nor Sandy... Even if I suppose it's not too different from me... But I'm seventeen, Two months ago, I was in high-school. Or I was supposed to anyway. And sixteen for that matter. And now, you tell us... You as in everyone around here... Tell us that we are responsible, that we need to take decisions that will define the life of dozens of persons. You're expecting a lot from us, that nothing ever prepared us for. Hell, I don't know why I didn't flee two days ago..." She frowned, looking like she were seriously considering the question. After a moment, probably too long for the taste of some she shook her head "I'm not holding it against you specifically. I understand that for you and your families, it's pretty urgent. And... Well, I suppose we can try to step in those shoes. But we need to stop discovering new stuff like that from one day to the next. And we need help. From the mayor, the elder's council I don't know. But there are so many things we just don't know that I don't see us taking good decisions. Passable ones, like simply restarting the fields and nothing more maybe. But good ones, that's something else."

She looked at Claudia and Sandy "In fact, maybe we should not take any decision until we finally get the full picture. Maybe tomorrow we'll learn that there's a crocodile farm in the swamps, that we're responsible for the operations of the town's firemen and that we need to prepare a speech for the elementary school graduation day and whatnot. Oh and that the mayor position comes with the house." She shook her head "So if you want to place your life in the hands of a trio of teenage girls, well... Do yourselves a favour and at least make sure they have all the elements they need in hands to make sound decisions... That's all I'm saying." She grimaced slightly "Again, I'm not saying this to you specifically. Sorry it's just that... Well, you're there... And we're talking about something pretty important with a huge impact, and... well...." She shrugged.

She inspired deeply, trying to calm down a little. After some time, she resumed, looking assured, a far cry from the almost plaintive appearance she had just seconds ago "So let's say we want to go all the way, both with cotton and cane. By all the way I mean going from the harvests to finished products we could sell in or around Seattle. For cotton, it's easy in theory: we make clothes. But, that means we need a few things: we need to weave it into cloth, we need pigments to add colour, we need designers to create a few lines of products, and finally we need to make those clothes. For the sugar, there are more choices of what we could do with it, but I think two are probably the best possibilities: like I said before, if we have fruits, we can make jam. It's probably the best use of it I can see, and the good thing is that we do not need anything more than sugar and fruits to make jam. Or we could go the candies way. I'm sure there are plenty of candies around here that we could make." She paused, tapping the top of the table with her fingers, then continued "Of course, for all of this, we would need workers, and plants. Plants are a matter of finding how we're going to finance all of this, but well, like they say, where there's a will, there's a way. Workers though? Most can learn on the job, but we would still need to have a few key people who know what they are doing... Are there enough free people around here for all of this?" She cocked an eyebrow, looking a bit doubtful "Assuming we do, we would now have plenty of local products to sell. We would need to create a tiny corporation to handle the sells. I suppose it would be best if it bought the products from...well, from the house... Then sold it in and around Seattle. It wouldn't need to do much except communication and logistics I suppose. Maybe set up a shop or two if we want to handle that side of things ourselves. For that, we probably would need people outside of here, but that's actually pretty simple. And not really necessary in any kind of big scale at the beginning anyway: natural, biological, products are pretty easy to sell...assuming they don't cost too much of course."

She paused again, looking at the two men for a few seconds "So all in all, it's pretty simple: do we have what we need for all of this? And...do we want to? Once we have the answers to those two questions, then we can decide how best to proceed." She seemed pensive for a second, then shrugged "Though I suppose we can restart the farms before we really decide, it's not like we'd get new crops tomorrow after all, and we do not need to know if we're going to use the raw production ourselves or unload it to the boys upstream. As far as I'm concerned at least, I could go either way. I love a good challenge, and this looks like an awesome one. But... Well, it's not like I don't have anything else to keep myself occupied. So what do you want? What does the town want?"

~~~~~~ OOC ~~~~~~

Two rolls to supplement everything said here:
While she talks about what they could make of the cane and cotton, she uses the matrix to help (and not say dumb stuff): Matrix Search: 15d6t5 6 [Limit is 6]
I'll add a Leadership roll, considering that it seems the perfect time for it: Leadership: 9d6t5 6 [Limit is 9], woh... I was expecting a 2 or 3 at best...

[Mercy]

Saturday June 15th, 2075 1812, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle


The two men look a bit uncomfortable. "I can understand your concerns, but we don't have the answers. We are just the foremen for the farms. Maybe you should have a gathering of the townsfolk and ask these questions."

Sandy and Claudia each hold one of your hands and you feel a sort of confidence flow into you form them.

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - 18:12, Saturday June 15th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1176

Cynthia cracked a small smile to the two girls, then nodded "I suppose you're right. Maybe it would be best if I wrote something to present the choices beforehand, and distribute it. That way people can come with ideas. Or at least knowing what this is all about, and we can take decisions at that time." She thought about that for a moment, then shrugged "Anyway, for now, let's go back to what we need to do for the farms."

Following that, Cynthia listened to what the two men felt they needed to restart production on the farms, from the strict minimum to possible improvements to consider. She wasn't opposed to pay an advance on their salaries to the workers who needed it - something that, from what she saw, she believed they would need - to be reimbursed as a lower salary after that. Or maybe it could be considered as a recruitment incentive or something. She would have to study the numbers. And probably recruit something to do it for her long term...

The second item she had on her mind was some kind of health insurance thing. She looked at the first man she met, and asked "Your daughter is deaf, right? Other than...well, cost... is there a reason it hasn't been treated? In most cases, it's pretty easy to deal with that..."

[Mercy]

Saturday June 15th, 2075 1842, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle


The men give you all sorts of information about what they feel is absolutely needed and then some ideas on what would make things go a lot smoother.

The foreman looks a bit surprised when you mention his daughter. He looks over his shoulder at where she is standing quietly off to the side, watching a few of the younger children playing. When he looks back at you, his eyes are a bit moist. "My daughter, yes. I don't know of any medical things that would help her. Can't rightly afford to even see the local doc, much less get any sort of fancy treatments done. Smart as a whip, that one is, too. See how she has the younger one organized?"

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - 18:42, Saturday June 15th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1177

Cynthia nodded "I see. Well, like I said, it's pretty easy to fix. Or should be anyway, if it's a problem with the ear and not a neurological one. As for the cost..." she shrugged "I told you about the health insurance thing right? The only problem there would be the absence of SIN, but..." she glanced at Sandy "Do you know a street doc who could get a standard bioware kit for that?"

~~~~~~ OOC ~~~~~~

In Chrome Flesh it's possible to find replacement limbs from fingers/toes up to arms/legs, plus male/female reproductive system, but I didn't set anything specific for other organs. There is however the hearing enhancement (0.1 essence, 4 availability, 4000 nuyens) "This is a basic enhancement of the metahuman ear’s accuracy, sharpening hearing that’s lost some fidelity due to damage and/or restoring it to better than it was before" (CF p113). It should work?

[Mercy]

Saturday June 15th, 2075 1842, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle


The man remains silent but looks at you in disbelief. "You would do that for her? Even without knowing who she is? I would be eternally grateful." The other man looks equally surprised, but does not say anything.




OOC

It would certainly help, yes.

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - 18:42, Saturday June 15th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1178

Cynthia shrugged, looking uncomfortable "Like I said, it doesn't take much from me, so... But remember that it's easy only if there's no neurological issue. Otherwise, it's... Well, a bit more complicated, so don't go thinking it's a 100% sure done deal." She paused, and grimacing lightly added "Unless we go with cyber I suppose." She grabbed her 'link and displayed basic information about bioware and cyberware, and what she was thinking was possible "It's something really simple and I'm pretty sure Sandy knows someone who could do that easily." She glanced at the other girl to get confirmation. She was a rigger after all, surely she knew a street-doc for this kind of stuff "Do you want to explain to your daughter what we're talking about before taking a decision? You can take the time you want, after that it can be done pretty much anytime." She rubbed her lips "Maybe not tonight though. Unless Sandy's doc' owes her one. Or is a night owl..."

[Mercy]

Saturday June 15th, 2075 1842, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle


Sandy chuckles. "I know some doc that might be able to do this, but none that owe me enough to do it tonight, and it does not seem to be an emergency. I will asking around tomorrow." The two foremen seem very impressed and give nervous smiles at their employers.

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - 18:42, Saturday June 15th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1179

Cynthia shook her head "Not an emergency no." For a moment, she kept silent, tapping the table with the tip of her fingers, obviously deep in thoughts. Finally, she nodded "Alright, that probably covers everything I suppose. For now anyway. Let us know what you need from us to restart work on the farm, budgets and so on as soon as you have an estimation. I trust you can handle recruitment? Oh and the sooner we know about 'the boys upstream' the better. I don't know if we'll want to deal with them, but it can't hurt to talk." Not really waiting for an answer, she continued "As for us, we'll prepare questions for the town, regarding long term goals."

She looked around "I believe this concludes what we needed to talk about?" She rubbed her chin with a slight grimace, muttering "I guess that leaves enough time to see that FBI agent..."

[Mercy]

Saturday June 15th, 2075 1844, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle


The tow foremen nod in agreement and the business portion of the meeting is adjourned a few minutes later, with promises to see to the hiring of hands and the preparation of the fields. The men return to their families for the remainder of the picnic. By 1930, the small crowd of people has left, but not before everyone passes by all three young women and thanks them for the hospitality.

As the last of the families heads off down the path towards home, Claudia smiles at the others. "That went quite well, I thought. Is that the cap on the day or do we have something else?"

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - 19:31, Saturday June 15th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1180

As the father of the deaf girl leaves, she reminds him that should they decide to go forward with the bioware, they can come in the morning: Cynthia has something along those lines planned for herself anyway, so it shouldn't be an issue.

Once the guests have left, she thanks the cooks and staff who helped before answering Claudia's question "Well... There's that FBI agent. I'm not sure I really want to meet him but... I have the time now and it's probably best if I do it now rather than tomorrow I suppose. You never know when the information I have will be useless."

She rubbed her lips, frowning "But... I don't plan to make things easy for him. Which means that I'll have to think about where to meet." After a second, she smiled "Oh, I think I know." She quickly made a query on the Matrix and chuckled "There is a hockey match starting in an hour. It's public, no weapons, and so many people that should he get bad ideas, getting out would be reasonably easy."

She looked down at herself "I'll have to get changed though, I certainly don't want to meet him in those clothes." She frowned "In fact, I'll have to get something in a 'Shack on the way. Even that way he might be able to identify me, but hopefully he'll have better things to do."

On the way to her room, she asked Blackmoor to warn the driver that his services would be welcome in fifteen minutes or so, then asked Claudia and Sandy "You want to come or you'd rather stay?"

[Mercy]

Saturday June 15th, 2075 1931, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle


Both girls smile as they stand and link arms with you, Claudia speaking for them. "We're going. I mean, what's not to love about hockey in June? What are we changing into? Or are we leaving in these and buying flats from a 'Shack on the way?"

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - 19:31, Saturday June 15th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1181

"Jeans, t-shirt for me." Cynthia shrugged "At least that's what I'll wear once there. I don't think I even own any of that anymore, I guess I'll have to check." She paused "And since I have no desire - at all - to get changed out of this," she slightly plucked at her dress "in a 'Shack... and I think I'd get killed if somehow it reached some ears around here... I'll change now into something easier to move around."

On the way to her room, she called the Agent »Stanley Sergeant [Nimue]: There's a hockey match starting in one hour at the Omnidome. Meet me there.« It felt a bit weird to give an order like that to an FBI Agent, but... well.. he had said anytime anywhere, so...

[Mercy]

Saturday June 15th, 2075 1932, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle


Sandy and Claudia both nod and head for their rooms, too. Entering, you find your maid turning your bed down. She turns and curtsies to you, smiling. "Do you need anything, Miss Cynthia?"

At the same time, you receive a reply from the FBI guy. >>Nimue [Stanley]: Which gate will you use and what will you be wearing?<<



OOC

Four gates to choose from: North, South, East, and West, but the East and West are mostly for departures and handicap access.

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - 19:32, Saturday June 15th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1182

Having forgotten about the maid, Cynthia stopped for a second. She shook her head and came in, then nodded "I need to get out of this, and into something simpler. As close to jeans t-shirt as I have..." She looked at the dressing, thinking that at some point she'd have to get her nose in there to see exactly what she had. She tried a few times to reach the zipper and get out of her dress herself, but finally relented and turned her back to the maid "I have an errand to run in town and I don't want to stick out." There probably wasn't a need to tell her she'd need to get in and out of those clothes quickly and without a fuss after all.

While they worked on getting Cynthia out of her dress and into more common clothes, she thought about Sergeant's message. It seemed... Ominous might be a bit strong but... »Stanley Sergeant [Nimue]: I don't know yet. I'll let you know when I do. Or pick one and I'll find you.« She knew how he looked like after all, and may not even need help from Sandy's drone to locate him. If she had the right Gate anyway...

[Mercy]

Saturday June 15th, 2075 1940, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle


The maid nods and immediately comes to assist you in getting out of the dress. She walks into the large closet and returns with a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. "Is this what you are looking for, Miss?" At your nod, she hands you the clothes and returns to the closet for a pair of shoes to go with the jeans.

>>Nimuea [Stanley]: I appreciate your caution. I can wait at the South gate, near the hot dog cart.<<

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - 19:40, Saturday June 15th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1183

Whgen the maid walks in with jeans and t-shirt, Cynthia beams. That was a pleasant surprise. Maybe she wouldn't need to change again after all. The goal had been to hide where she came from, but jeans and t-shirt gave away nothing she didn't mind the agent knowing. Worst case scenario, he'd learn that she doesn't wear bras. She was pretty sure she could live with that.

She happily changed into her new clothes, and sent »Stanley Sergeant [Nimue]: Oh, you don't want to get in?« She was... puzzled. Curiosity was one part of it, but it seemed to her that not knowing anything about her, it was also in his interest to be in an environment where it would be hard to start anything. Outside the dome seemed to quite a bit more risky than inside...

Once decent, she looked around for her boots, thanked the maid when she found them - or when they were handed to her - and exited her room.