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[Cynthia Rawson – 10:30, Sunday June 16th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1241
“Alright then. Well, let us get changed, then we’ll take care of this. Shouldn’t take long but feel free to come inside.” Cynthia seemed about to open her mouth, but she stopped, grinned and said, “I’d offer you to get a snack, but that wouldn’t be a good idea right now. We’ll have to get something big for lunch.”
With a smile, Cynthia went inside then upstairs to change into clothes she go could in town with, idly checking a few things on the matrix while she was at it, starting with looking if MM had a concert planned in the evening: since they were leaving for New York pretty soon, unless MM’s next concerts were there, tonight might be their last chance in a while to take advantage of the VIP passes they had. Not that she cared all that much, but with both Claudia and Sandy being fans…
She soon went back down once that was done. To Pierre – or Alana, whichever of the two she found first – she said, “Alright, we’re going. We’re probably going to be back late afternoon, I’m not quite sure yet but we’ll let you know as soon as we do.”
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[Cynthia Rawson – 10:30, Sunday June 16th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1240
Cynthia shook her head. “Don’t worry about it.” After a second, she added, “I’m not going to say it’s nothing, I… Well, I can’t say I imagine the change it’d be for you, both of you, but I know it’s a lot. But to me, it’s something pretty simple to do and not particularly expensive.” Hell, she probably had made more than it’d cost going to the swamp, and that was purely from passive income.
She lifted a hand, “I’m not saying it’s free, but it’s nothing you have to worry about.” With a shrug, she continued, “We’ve been talking about setting up a sort of clinic, health insurance policy and all that for people working for Serenity and their families, you can just count that as an advance on it. So as long as you do your job, you won’t owe me anything. Just make sure she gets the education she deserves.” Cynthia stopped, frowning, then glanced at Claudia and Sandy. “Have we talked about a school yet? That’d be something to consider too…”
She frowned for a moment, then shook her head. “Well, we’ll see. And remember, I’m pretty sure it’ll be straightforward to fix. I mean, I can’t imagine what would make that impossible to fix, but, at the same time, as long as it’s not done keep in mind that it’s always a possibility, as unlikely as it is. We’ll know when the doctor has given her diagnostic, not before.”
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[Cynthia Rawson – 10:30, Sunday June 16th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1239
Cynthia was pleased to see that the idea seemed as interesting to her girlfriends as it was to her. Oh, she would have gone forward anyway – probably – but it would have been much less fun. And more complicated too. Speaking of complicated, she had no idea how they would find the money to do everything. Though… Now that she thought about it… Mark Franklin had manipulated the stock market for the Grand Marquis, right? If she remembered correctly, he had made something around eighty million… And the money had disappeared since the Grand Marquis still hadn’t been paid.
If she could find that money… Not only she’d have everything she needed to modernize everything and create whatever plants needed to be set up and start the corporation – assuming she found a way to launder everything since it would probably get a lot of attention… – but it could also make things difficult for both Mark and the Grand Marquis which was a pretty good point by itself…
That was definitely something she was going to dig into. Hell, even if she got merely a part of it, it could help her achieve both goals easily enough. “Uh yes.” She nodded, a bit late, at James. “I suppose that’s true.”
At the house, Cynthia was pleased to see both Rob Lee and his daughter, perfectly aware that it was not an inconsiderable leap of faith they were both taking. “Well, we definitely found more than we were expecting.” A bit wryly, she added, “You’d think we’re used to it by now…” The young elf shook her head, “The corporation idea I briefly mentioned before might be even more of a good idea than I thought it would. Anyway, I’m glad to see both of you. Give us a few minutes to get changed and we’ll be on our way okay?” She was careful to look at the young girl when she said that in order to let her read it on her lips.
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[Cynthia Rawson – 10:30, Sunday June 16th, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1238
Cynthia nodded. “And we can learn new ones.” Which was exactly what she had done by taking a few business lessons and was considering taking a few others in management or communication. “As long as we don’t do things we don’t like, I’m sure it’ll be fine. I mean, we can always recruit people to do the stuff we don’t like. Plus, the locals are not the only ones who have to decide how far they want to go, we also have to see what our limits are. I mean… Building a whole corporation sounds exciting to me,” She smiled, “but I’d perfectly understand if you wouldn’t want that.”
“Ha, thank you James,” said the young elf when the man arrived, “It didn’t have much to do with us to be honest, but just in time indeed.” She got reacquainted with Cinnamon and mounted, still a bit gingerly and particularly carefully. “We’ll have to postpone the visit of Amos’s domain, but it was certainly enlightening. And have you seen the crocs?”
On the way back to the house, Cynthia chatted excitedly about all of it – while grumbling about how hungry she was, and how inhuman such a treatment was. Back at the house, she looked up to see if Rob Lee and his daughter had arrived.
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[Cynthia Rawson – 09:25, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1238
Once ashore, Cynthia’s relief was quite obvious. Goodbyes were said, she added for Claudia and Sandy, “Well… It looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us. At least we won’t get bored…” She took a moment to look at the sky as she thought about it. “Good thing we don’t need to have everything ready by tomorrow. That being said…” She looked at the other two, “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to think about what you both want to do for all that, if anything. Like accounting & finance, public relations & marketing, governance… Just on the House side or with the Corporation… All that stuff.”
Obviously not expecting an answer right now – it was too soon to decide anything after all – Cynthia looked around for the horses. “For now though, we’d best get going. We have a girl to collect and bring to your doc’,” she looked at Sandy, “To get her ears fixed. I hope James didn’t forget about us…” Not that she was eager to get back on Cinnamon, but… It would certainly be faster than walking to the house.
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[Cynthia Rawson – 09:20, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1237
Cynthia grumbled under her breath, asking how many seventeen years old girls needed to make a will. She wasn’t even sure she could make one for that matter. Though she supposed she could always talk to Richard Gardner, he would probably know how to proceed. Plus, it wasn’t like it would be terribly complicated anyway, she didn’t own all that much.
The girl smiled brightly when Magwen came to offer her a few containers of food. “Thank you! I will.” After a brief second spent to smell the boxes, a couple more to regret it when her tummy rumbled in protest, she added, “And don’t hesitate to come by the house if you have ideas you want to share or anything. We’re out more often than in, but that shouldn’t be too much of an issue.”
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[Cynthia Rawson – 09:20, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1236
Cynthia laughed a bit awkwardly, grumbling something about New York not being more dangerous than Seattle recently. Plus, they would only be after one assassin instead of a host of them, mafia lieutenants and other even less savory individuals. It’d almost feel like vacations… Right? And that was assuming they found anything of course: it hadn’t been long since Maria Struthers had been killed, but… Not only it had been a hit and run which definitely wasn’t the easiest thing to solve, they didn’t exactly know many people in that city. Maybe she could ask Stanley Sergeant? He had spent time working in Denver, but maybe he knew a few people in the New York office? It was definitely something to keep in mind anyway.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be safe, and we’ve taken some precautions.” Hell, that was exactly why her next stop was to receive armours and weapons. Granted, that had been planned for Bogotá and not New York so the weapons would most likely have to stay in Seattle, but they would definitely be able to use the armours. And it wasn’t like they were exactly new at this whole ‘stick your nose where others don’t want to see it‘ business, right? Still… “That being said, we can always take some precautions…” She grimaced, “Making a will would feel perfectly silly, but…” She shrugged, “If it can help…”
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[Cynthia Rawson – 08:20, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1235
“We’ll need some people formed to handle emergencies if they happen, at least long enough for someone competent to arrive, that’s for sure.” Cynthia shrugged. “I’m not sure it’d need to be a full nurse, much less a doctor however. Though that depends on how many people there are of course, but I doubt it’d be that many. Maybe we could offer some first response training or something. Something to talk about with Doc Winston I suppose.”
She readily agreed with Jacques. “Of course, take the time you need. We won’t move faster than you do anyway, we have a lot of things to consider before we do much of anything. Well, except for those immediate needs of yours of course, but no matter what, we won’t move until you’re ready.” As she remembered something, she added, “Just note that we might not be at the house next week, we have things to deal with in New York.” Or that was the plan anyway, “But if that happens you can always leave those lists in the hands of someone there and they’ll make sure we get it.”
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[Cynthia Rawson – 08:20, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1234
“It’d be a start.” Cynthia nodded, agreeing about Claudia contacting that nurse she used to know. “Worst case scenario I’m sure we can find someone another way. There’s a doctor in town already anyway.” The girl frowned as she tried to remember. “Doc Winston I think is his name. He’s probably busy enough as it is, but maybe he’ll have some ideas on what to do.” She shrugged. “It can’t hurt to ask at any rate.”
Cynthia took the time to exchange a few words with everyone she was introduced to, but didn’t spend too long doing so: she had a few appointments coming up for one, and she was going to have many more occasions to do so in the future anyway. She declined the repast however, and did so sadly, “I have a clinic appointment in a few hours, I can’t eat anything before that. Though that doesn’t apply to those two.” Cynthia indicated Claudia and Sandy a bit grudgingly. She sighed, then added, “I’ll be fine with a juice if you have? And I’m sure we’ll have lots of opportunities to do more in the future. And don’t hesitate to come by the House of course, especially when you have those lists I mentioned before.”
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[Cynthia Rawson – 08:20, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1233
Cynthia nodded to Jacques, reassuring him that there was nothing urgent: she certainly wouldn’t deal with all of that before the end of the day after all. “And please, just call me Cynthia. Or Miss if you really want to be all formal for some reason. Mistress is a bit…” The girl shook her head.
When Claudia asked her question, Cynthia seemed surprised for a moment. “Uh… Well… I wasn’t planning on going that far just yet to be honest, but…” She shrugged. “Sure, why not? Not just for here of course, but for the people at the plantations too. Assuming we can afford all of that. Paying a doctor for a few months before the whole thing is up, sure, I can do that. I think. But a whole clinic… The equipment alone would probably bankrupt me. So to speak anyway. Much like everything else though I suppose we can start small with just a doctor and see how where we go from there.”
She rubbed her lips for a second, “I have no idea how any of that would cost though. Nor where we’ll be able to find a decent doctor and invite him or her to come settle nearby…” She cocked an eyebrow, and with a teasing smile asked “But maybe since you suggested you already have a solution?”
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[Cynthia Rawson – 08:20, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1232
Cynthia nodded. “I have an appointment in a few hours, but it should be enough for what we need to talk about.” The girl took a few seconds to look around as she thought about what she wanted to say, then continued. “I’ll start by saying that we’re not here to decide anything for you one way or another, so if you want to be left alone, we’ll leave you alone. You don’t have to be useful to us. From what Magwen told me though, you’d wish for something else. I understand that there are a few things you could produce, such as bottled water and alcohol. Or products made of croc meat and hides?” She didn’t seem all that sure about the latter part though: the idea of a creating a business whose sole purpose would be to kill beasts who hadn’t asked anything to anyone…
After a slight grimace, Cynthia continued. “Like I told her, we already are considering creating a small corporation to sell other products from the region, related to sugar cane or cotton, so there probably aren’t any problem with adding what you want to sell. Understand however that at this point, all we have are ideas, there is nothing definite about any of that. We could just be middle-men handling the distribution to stores in Seattle, or maybe we’ll create a whole brand with some associated products – and it looks like there’d be a lot of advantages going with the latter – but at this time we still need to study…well, everything. All of that is very new to us, not at all expected, and we need to make sure that we have at least some idea of how we’re going to proceed. Business and finance had never been anything any of us had ever expected to have to care about. I’m taking some lessons for that, but…”
The redhead girl paused, giving Jacques the time to think about that before continuing. “Of course, none of that means that you’ll just have to wait while we examine the problem, on the contrary. I’ll require two things of you: first, that you give me, as soon as possible, some hard numbers on everything you can produce: both in terms of quantity, and on what you need in terms of resources to get there, on a monthly basis. You can of course include long terms plans, but right now, I want to know what I have to work with at the beginning, and don’t be over-optimistic, that’d kill us far more quickly than under-estimating things. Of course, that should include the logistic aspect of things: I’m assuming the meat will need to be frozen, so we’ll need to see about a warehouse outside of the swamp for that.”
After a small pause, Cynthia obviously considering that particular aspect of things for a moment, she continued. “The second thing is that I’ll need samples of everything. I’ve no doubt everything can be sold, but how is very much up in the air. Having some samples and being able to get some expert opinion will be important. Again, don’t hesitate to be over-cautious: we want to have solid foundations we can build on and expand later on. If we start shaky…” She shook her head.
She seemed to stop there, but as she recalled something added. “Oh and Magwen mentioned you needed some medical supplies or stuff like that? Give me a list of everything you need when you can and we’ll see what we can do.” Cynthia frowned, glancing at the other two girls. “Maybe we should consider hiring a doctor full time, it’d be a lot easier for everyone.”
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[Cynthia Rawson – 08:20, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1231
Cynthia nodded emphatically. “He’s huge right? I’m so glad he didn’t stir at all, I bet he could flip the boats without even trying!”
When Jacques approached, Cynthia turned to him. “Good morning, thank you.” She looked at the offered hand and took it, albeit with her usual discomfort: she didn’t have small hands per se just…well, girly ones. Feeling it being completely engulfed in a man’s paw always felt weird. She waved at the two girls with her. “This is Claudia, and this is Sandy. I’m Cynthia.”
After a second, with a cheeky smile, she asked. “So, business first or you want to take us on a tour to make your own ideas about what you heard about us and whatever Magwen reported to you?”
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[Cynthia Rawson – 08:20, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1230
When she first saw the houses, Cynthia started. “Uh… You must not have visitors particularly often…” Though it probably was the point after all. Or it had been at any rate. She didn’t want to think about the size of the mosquitoes in summer, but maybe they were too big to even be able to fly around the trees?
She nodded noncommittally when Magwen described their leader. She didn’t really care if he was rough. Her mom… her adoptive mom had wanted her to be a princess but she had been less than successful. As long as he wasn’t aggressive she’d manage. Plus, at the end of the day… While it wouldn’t be a bad thing to part as friends, it wasn’t like she had much of anything at risk if it weren’t the case: they needed her, not really the other way around. “I’ll remember that.”
As Peter took their boat in, Cynthia stayed in until it was safely secure: it wasn’t that she wanted to wait until the last moment to meet those people, more that she really – as in really – didn’t want to fall in the water. Once on safe ground – more or less anyway – she waited for Claudia and Sandy before they went to meet the locals.
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[Cynthia Rawson – 08:15, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1229
“Mmmh.” Cynthia glanced back at the group of boats they were collecting, but didn’t comment more on that. While she wasn’t particularly happy about it, she could understand curiosity, and she supposed it made sense for them to want to know her. Or Claudia, Sandy and her.
“As long as the tree doesn’t have teeth. Though, uh…” She looked a bit embarrassed. “I should probably mention that I don’t know how to swim…” She didn’t pay that a lot of attention though, focused on the trees. “It feels like another world…” And for all she knew… Well, with all the oddities surrounding the house and the town in general, would she really be surprised?
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[Cynthia Rawson – 08:15, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1228
Cynthia wasn’t concerned there wouldn’t be much to sell just yet. “It’s fine if you don’t have a lot. In fact, it would probably be best if you didn’t ramp production up just yet. A small production is more than enough to sell a bit and see how it goes. What kind of people are interested, for how much we could sell it, etc.“ She paused briefly. “And that would give me the time to think about how to distribute the products. Given that it’s traditional products, it would be best I think to avoid common networks, maybe a couple of small shops would be best.” She grimaced slightly. “Problem is, I’m pretty sure we could sell everything to the rich, but that means we can’t exactly expect them to come to the suburbs to buy. Which means a high rental cost.” She thought about it for a moment more, then shook her head. Now was probably not the time to think too much about all of that.
When she noticed everyone starting to follow, she asked “Is there a reason everyone is coming with us?”
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[Cynthia Rawson – 08:15, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1227
Cynthia watched Old Seth with some trepidation. The beast was huge. Thankfully, the beast appeared lazy, or at least satiated for now, and didn’t move an eye. “There are some even larger? Uh…” Those people were definitely crazy…
Once Magwen has explained what they’d like to her, Cynthia nodded. “Oh that… Well, I already had an idea of creating a small corporation to sell the products derived from the cotton and sugar cane fields, like candies, clothes, etc. I don’t see anything wrong with adding meat, water., whiskey, hides, etc.” She sounded a bit doubtful there, but maybe the rich would find appealing to drink some fresh water, straight from the source. Unpolluted source. “The more we have, the better diversity we have, the easier it’ll be to find a market and more importantly, the more robust it will make the whole enterprise.”
She’d really need to get more business lessons though. She knew a thing or two but managing a corporation, even a small one, was way out of her depth. For the moment at least. “But if we want to do this, I will need hard numbers. That you could, right now, provide x bottles of whiskey and water, that you’d need that list of supply a month, that you have those kind of medical needs, etc. You can include what you hope to be able to produce in the right circumstances, or with this or that investments – again, numbers for the investments – and it will be really useful, but what I really need is to know what you can do right now. Oh and samples I suppose. Once I have all that, I can start formulating a business plan, decide how to go about it.” And hopefully, that would give her time to figure things out… “And don’t be over-optimistic with the figures. Do not try to oversell it, it’d be the best way to sink everything. What we need is a strong foundation. Once we have that, we’ll be able to build on it, but if the foundations are shaky…”
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[Cynthia Rawson – 08:10, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1226
“Uh… Probably?” Cynthia shrugged. “You’d have to ask them. But…” The girl looked away for a second or two. Finally, she simply smiled wryly. “Consider things like this: first, Claudia is nineteen and she has two years on Sandy and I. Being responsible of anyone is not really the kind of things we want, especially on top of everything else we have to deal with. And believe me, there’s a lot, quite a bit major than being a teenage girl or deciding what to wear in the morning.” Considering that some whose name she wouldn’t disclose would be fine answering ‘nothing‘ it wasn’t saying much though. “So if you want to be left alone, that’s fine by us.” She cocked her head to the side, frowning. “Well, unless it goes against the house and all, I suppose we can’t have that.”
A second later, she shook her head. “Anyway. If, on the other hand, you want us to do something for you, or help, or… If you want anything from us in general… We’ve learned yesterday we were responsible for a cotton and sugar cane industry, what’s a little village more? That’s not to say that we’re going to agree to everything – or anything really – but listening doesn’t hurt anyone.”
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[Cynthia Rawson – 08:10, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1225
Surprisingly – or maybe not? – Cynthia didn’t look all that convinced. Oh, that some people would like it here… Maybe. Ok, sure. If it was the only thing you ever knew and didn’t really want to see what was beyond. And in a sense, life was simple here. Not easy, what with the alligators, snakes and whatnot, but simple. There probably was some attraction to it. For herself though… She’d be bored out of her mind alarmingly fast.
“Well, the guys in town have a saying… What was it again…” Cynthia thought about it for a second then snapped her fingers. “Oh, right: ‘Il faut de tout pour faire un monde.‘ I suppose it’s fitting. And as long as you’re happy…” She shrugged.
Cynthia seemed about to answer to something Peter had just said, but nodded to Magwen. “I see.” In a very different tone, she repeated an “I see…” when pointed at a gator. She wanted to ask if they ever tried to snack on the people in the boats, but decided she didn’t want to know.
At some point, she came back to a point she had wanted to talk about. “You know, you don’t have to be useful to me. If you want to live here and never see my face or have anything to do with the house in general, that’s fine by me. So do not feel like you absolutely have to do something. If you want to be left alone, I’m happy to go with that. If on the contrary you want more I’m not unwilling to hear about it. Will I be able to actually do what you’d want or need is another problem entirely of course, but… Well, I guess what I’ saying is that my door is open. Sort of…”
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[Cynthia Rawson – 08:05, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1224
Cynthia didn’t seem to mind to not be with Sandy or Claudia on the bots: when she had heard there were three bots, it had been what she had been expecting to happen anyway. She looked curiously at the supplies in the boat, and paid even more attention when it was time to get onboard. Falling from the horse would have been embarrassing, she’d probably have had a nice collection of bruises as a result, but odds were that would be the end of it. With the swamp’s population though… Embarrassment was the last thing she cared about. Alright maybe not, but it was pretty low in her priorities of things to avoid at the moment.
A minute later, once truly on the way, she asked her two companions. “So, what is it that you do?” After a few seconds she added. “I mean, it’s your home and all that. Okay. But still… What’s there that makes it worth it to share with gators, snakes and I don’t know – and probably don’t want to know – what else.”
The girl looked at Magwen. “You live in the village over there, right?” She indicated the front of the boat, though she obviously had no idea where it truly was.
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[Cynthia Rawson – 08:00, Sunday June 16th, Swamp, Serenity, Cajun Town, Seattle] #1223
“Yeah right, snakes too of course.” Cynthia didn’t look particularly happy, wondering why the hell she was doing that in the first place. She looked silently at the hides, feeling real small in front of them. And those were just hides. With the rest of beast, alive… She shivered just thinking about it, feeling really vulnerable: in front of one of those, there was absolutely nothing she would be able to do but try to run, knowing that in this place, the beasts had all the advantages.
Unless she managed to escape for a few seconds: those beasts didn’t like to exercise, they didn’t have the metabolism for it. Shaking her head, she added. “Alright, no standing up then.” She glanced at the other two girls, then back at Peter. “Well, we’re ready when you are…” Lower, almost inaudibly, she added. ”I hope…”