11:41 <VoxPVoxD> Richard graciously buzzes them in, each carrying a sack of incredibly unhealthy food. The time has come... for Market Research. 11:42 <Quaker> To be honest, Badawi’s lunch is just different in degree, not kind. She’s very happily abused her alchemized metabolism. 11:44 <VoxPVoxD> Willie hit up a chippie, a chain chicken place, a burger stall, and the empanada/arepa joint right above Mari and Bob's flat. Far too much food for one meal, but, she's got a dog to feed now, so. 11:45 <VoxPVoxD> "Right. So I've been looking into licensure... I think if we go this route I can help ease the paperwork through the system." 11:49 <Quaker> Badawi’s got some hot dogs, a ‘naanwich’, a pastrami sandwich, and, of course, a pey wet and wigan kebab. 11:49 <Quaker> “How long do business licenses take before you can start buying equipment?” She’s arranging the food in front of her in a broad semicircle. “Richard, come eat.” 11:56 <VoxPVoxD> Willie did make sure to get some vegetarian food, so there was stuff for Richard. "You don't need a licence to buy the equipment, only to use it. And I can pull the numbers for every reputable supplier from government records. The main slowdown is going to be supply chain issues. Everything everyone builds still cris-crosses the Channel, and orders are backdated some time still, between 11:56 <VoxPVoxD> the border chaos and the driver shortages." 11:57 <VoxPVoxD> "At least you can get petrol now, even if you have to pay for it in blood." 11:58 <Quaker> A pey wet smack barm and wigan kebab ARE vegetarian!! 11:58 <Quaker> “Is anyone going to want their cut for the paperwork?” 12:00 <VoxPVoxD> Willie looks up from her fried cod. "No, we're not— it's not that kind of thing. Very low-grade favour-trading. I might at some point have to make sure some MP who got hounded out of surgery can locate a wheelchair for her screaming constituent's poor nan." 12:01 <VoxPVoxD> "Have you done this sort of thing before?" 12:02 <Quaker> “Paperwork? Or running a business?” 12:03 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "The latter." 12:03 <VoxPVoxD> "Starting a business in particular. Rather a different skillset from running one, I'm learning." 12:05 <Quaker> “Sort of. Part of my team was in charge of running some shell companies that we worked under, bought equipment, that sort of thing. Some of my relatives are into the whole business world. Restaurants, logistics, that sort of thing. But I never did it myself, no.” 12:05 <Quaker> Did she just repeat herself? Hm. 12:08 <VoxPVoxD> Willie doesn't notice whatever passes over Agostina's face just then, dragging a chip through a little puddle of malt vinegar. "Yeah, this is a bit outside my experience as well. I did some work for HMRC when I was just starting out, but that just lets me know what dodgy paperwork looks like, not how to do any of the work that comes after." 12:09 <Quaker> “We might look into hiring a business manager.” 12:10 <VoxPVoxD> "That's a good idea." 12:10 <Quaker> “Just some part-time work, dotting our Is. I figure we can start out small, one or two stalls just to see how well it works in practice.” 12:10 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Quite. It should be reasonably easy to scale up if the model is sound... and the House's revenue keeps flowing. 12:10 <VoxPVoxD> " 12:13 <Quaker> “English street food’s got some glaring holes. It wouldn’t be hard to make inroads here, if we get the right contacts on the supply side.” 12:14 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Yeah, definitely. Not just in what's available but who it's available to, and where." 12:15 <Quaker> “Have you traveled much, Willie? You seem like the jet-setting type.” 12:17 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "A fair amount. I spent a year in New York, a year in Milan. A lot of family Alpine holidays. My brother lives in Japan, now, I don't get out to Tokyo often enough. I once spent a week in Sydney to meet a friend from online." 12:17 <VoxPVoxD> "I don't feel well-travelled, though. The world is so big." 12:19 <Quaker> “More well-travelled than most. A lot of people never leave their country. Or their city.” 12:19 <Quaker> “What does your brother in Japan do?” 12:22 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Eddie's a writer. Travelogues, creative nonfiction. He's written a couple of thrillers under a pen name, which is the money he actually lives on." 12:24 <Quaker> “How interesting. I hear Japan is a strange place to live for foreigners.” 12:24 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I think that's why he likes it. There's no expectation that he *shouldn't* feel like a foreigner. He felt much the same here, but it wasn't as appropriate or stylish." 12:24 <Quaker> “Milan and Sydney aren’t really food capitals though, are they? And you like to cook. Did you spend a lot of time in New York tracking down culinary things?” 12:26 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I learned to cook when I was away at school. Six years at Wycombe Abbey, everything from classical French cuisine to menu construction, wine pairing... after that it was all self-directed. It became a hobby. Really my only hobby, which is a bit sad when I say it out loud. You can find amazing food everywhere if you look." 12:26 <VoxPVoxD> "What kind of food do you like?" 12:29 <Quaker> “I’ve been a lot of places. Pakistani food is up there. Just give yourself two weeks drinking the water before you try the food stalls, or you’ll shit your soul out.” 12:30 <VoxPVoxD> Willie snort-laughs. 12:30 <Quaker> “I never got into the whole fancy restaurant thing. I like places where any random place you’ll stop at is a certain quality.” 12:30 <Quaker> “But, if I had to pick one…” 12:31 <Quaker> “I think Mexican food is probably the best in the world.” 12:32 <VoxPVoxD> Willie nods. "And pretty much impossible to get here." 12:33 <VoxPVoxD> "I was only in LA for a few days, one time, and now even the stuff in London is like ash in my mouth." 12:33 <VoxPVoxD> "And not in a fun peaty way." 12:33 <Quaker> “More of a cultural obstacle than a practical one. Mexicans would export their goods to the moon, if they could figure out how.” 12:34 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "An exploitable market inefficiency, perhaps?" 12:34 <Quaker> “Yeah. A taco stand.” 12:35 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "If we could bring proper carne asada to Manchester people would line up to eat it out of our hands." 12:37 <Quaker> “I think the English palate would love Mexican food. I can’t imagine Rolf hating a skirt steak torta. Lots of crema, avocado, some thinly sliced tomatoes, toast the bolillo on both sides…” 12:38 <Quaker> “You’ve had chilaquiles, haven’t you?” 12:39 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Lime, chillis, coriander, cumin... there's a huge overlap in the spice profiles between Mexican food and Indian. Yeah! Phenomenal hangover food. Maybe the best." 12:41 <Quaker> “The Indians would go nuts for it. Just different enough from what they’re used to to be new, exotic and spiced enough to be better than all the local European stuff.” 12:42 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Foreign, but not in a particularly politically charged way... there's something to this." 12:43 <Quaker> “There’s little carts in Mexico City that only do chilaquiles tortas. Sold out by noon, they’ve got so many customers. It’s like…if a smack barm pey wet was actually good, instead of ‘good’.” 12:43 <VoxPVoxD> "A classic 'this, but unironically'." 12:46 <Quaker> “Ever been to Chicago?” 12:47 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I had a layover from New York to LA. I was there for like a day. I had to choose between getting their pizza or their hot dogs." 12:47 <VoxPVoxD> "I should've gone with the hot dog." 12:51 <Quaker> “All the big American cities are food paradises. But I think Chicago has the best hot dogs. They’re up there. Steamed poppy seed buns, pickle spears and relish, white onions, tomato slices, some celery salt sprinkled on, peppers on top…they’ve got these beef frankfurters. Red casings, you can taste the snap. Guess it used to be a specialty among all the Jews who settled there. Kosher beef.” 12:51 <Quaker> “If you got one of those here, with the real ingredients, it would be like you have a money tree.” 12:54 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Maybe we ought to give up the monster hunting business and just become restauranteurs." 12:55 <Quaker> “Not in a million years. I’d miss being able to tell customers to go fuck themselves.” 12:56 <VoxPVoxD> Willie laughs. "Much easier when you're clearing a million a job and hardly anyone's depending on you to feed their families, yeah." 12:57 <Quaker> “It’s why I’d want a business manager. I’m not about to sit down and schedule shifts and call up teenagers to find out why they’re not at the stands.” 12:58 <VoxPVoxD> Willie nods. "Aaron's got an employee. Simon Kingfisher, kin to the leader of the Nightingales. Sweet boy. I think Aaron'd be happier with some sort of placid robot." 13:00 <Quaker> “Maybe some of the Nightingales would like some pocket change.” 13:00 <Quaker> She’s finished the pastrami sandwich, and pushes the rest aside. 13:01 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "That's not a bad idea. You've earned their esteem." 13:01 <Quaker> “I have some contacts that might make business managers for us, if we eventually have more stands than Simon can manage, but…” 13:01 <Quaker> “Some people are good at their job, and unbelievably exasperating to be around.” 13:01 <Quaker> “Let’s hope they stay in Pakistan.” 13:02 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "The Rolves of Hyderabad." 13:03 <VoxPVoxD> "There is some risk of entangling the children, if we cultivate adversaries who can connect us to our business interests. Not necessarily disqualifying, but I *am* looking forward to taking less... socially complex work, than the Gardener case." 13:04 <Quaker> Badawi is remembering a certain v-necked t-shirt and gold chains. “Not quite. More proactively annoying.” 13:05 <Quaker> “That’s why I’m relieved to see an end to the vampire work. The other sorts, we wouldn’t ever have to worry about them coming after teenage employees.” 13:05 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Not the magicians, probably. I wouldn't put it above the starchildren, especially not the ones who seem to be common gangsters." 13:07 <Quaker> “Speaking of…” 13:07 <Quaker> “The Star Children certainly seem to be sitting on a few profitable trade routes.” 13:07 <VoxPVoxD> "Aheh." 13:08 <Quaker> “I wouldn’t be surprised if someone undertook to take them away.” 13:08 <VoxPVoxD> "It would do to keep developing our relationships with the Assemblies in Liverpool, wouldn't it? In case those business connections fell through and they needed to be picked up." 13:10 <Quaker> “It would do. In this line of work, smuggling routes become your bread and butter. People moving in between things have useful perspectives, and people who need to get something somewhere are willing to pay well.” 13:10 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "This is something you have experience with, it sounds like." 13:11 <Quaker> “More experience than starting food carts, sure.” 13:12 <VoxPVoxD> "How dangerous is it compared to hunter work?" 13:14 <Quaker> Badawi laughs. 13:14 <Quaker> “It’s not really…” 13:14 <Quaker> “It depends on who you know.” 13:15 <Quaker> “Everyone can make money for a little while, if you’ve got some bravery and your wits.” 13:16 <Quaker> “But it’s like swimming in the ocean.” 13:16 <Quaker> “The water is very deep. Very deep.” 13:16 <Quaker> “And there are much worse things than the police out there, looking up from black reaches.” 13:17 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "That's very much been my experience with the Inchcape set. None of them have ever been anything but gracious, emollient, forthright. Professional, as you say. But you hear the stories other people have... you start to read between the lines..." 13:18 <Quaker> “How’s your companion doing?” 13:20 <VoxPVoxD> "He's..." She looks down at her food. She only unwrapped the one thing and it's half-eaten and getting cold in front of her now. "I don't know. He's not an easy man to know. And we each have our reasons for keeping certain parts of our lives walled off from one another." 13:20 <VoxPVoxD> "But he seems to be doing well enough. He is a survivor, is my Sergio." 13:21 <Quaker> “Eat your food. You’re pale enough.” 13:22 <Quaker> “If you don’t mind me asking…” 13:23 <VoxPVoxD> Willie eats dutifully, but she nods at Agostina. 13:24 <Quaker> “You don’t seem particularly fond of the Inchcape set.” 13:24 <Quaker> “And don’t mistake me for some kind of disapproving marm, but your relationship with Sergio seemed to be pretty brief, before you met them.” 13:25 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "...I dispute neither claim." 13:25 <Quaker> “I wonder what you saw in him, that made his company that desirable. Even with all his relations.” 13:26 <Quaker> “I didn’t speak to him at all at Samhain, unfortunately. I couldn’t speculate.” 13:30 <VoxPVoxD> Willie looks a bit bashful. "Well, at first, it was mostly physical. I'd been up here for three months without a date that went anywhere, and that was after over a year of... very socially fraught lockdowns. And Sergio is very much my type. Remarkably so, even. If you'd asked me to composite the traits of my ideal man, six months ago, I'd have said something like..." 13:31 <VoxPVoxD> "Fit, but not obsessively so. Well-mannered, but not stuffy. Liberal-minded. Creative.... I'd have been describing Sergio." 13:32 <Quaker> Agostina listens, but says nothing. 13:32 <VoxPVoxD> "And I got to know him better, learned some of his story... it's moved me terribly. The world he came up in, the world he moved through, the world he's fallen into." 13:33 <VoxPVoxD> "I second guess myself constantly. Is it hypnosis? Some enthrallment of the blood? I don't think so. There was a bit of that early on, when he was just looking for a date and a check to split in blood. But you never know, do you? I don't, anyway." 13:34 <VoxPVoxD> "And he's phenomenally enjoyable company, when I can be around him." 13:34 <VoxPVoxD> "But he's a corpse whenever the sun is up, and I somehow feel even lonelier than I did when I was single." 13:34 <Quaker> “He’s never Commanded you to do anything? And you haven’t drank his blood?” 13:35 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I've never drunk his blood. He hypnotised me, out of habit, on our first date. Just to go for a walk, somewhere he could bite me. He didn't ask me to do anything I wouldn't have done willingly. He never has." 13:36 <Quaker> “I find it a bit hard to believe you would have let him drink your blood on a first date.” 13:36 <Quaker> “Especially given your employment.” 13:37 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Maybe. But I second-guess even that. You don't know me that well. In London I was explicitly forbidden from doing any vampire work, I realise now because they expected exactly what has happened." 13:37 <VoxPVoxD> "Dev is not going to be happy if he finds out." 13:38 <Quaker> “They thought you were that much of a hopeless romantic? Or a thrillseeker?” 13:40 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Yes. Probably both. When they recruited me, they said the thing that signaled to them that I was safe to approach was that I'd managed to stay sober for a year out of rehab." 13:40 <VoxPVoxD> "Once someone knows that about you, it's always in their minds when they look at you. No matter what you do to prove yourself." 13:41 <Quaker> “You had a drug problem?” 13:41 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "When I was younger, yeah." 13:42 <Quaker> Badawi shrugs. “Common enough.” 13:43 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Yeah. And people tend to start to look at me like that anyway, eventually, whether or not they know." 13:43 <VoxPVoxD> "Which makes it easier to tell them." 13:45 <Quaker> “When you say ‘like that’…you mean like they think you’re an alcoholic, one step away from losing it all for a shot at a bottle?” 13:46 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Yeah. Or more generally, like, this person can't be trusted to control their impulses. This person can't be trusted with anything that matters." 13:48 <Quaker> “That’s pretty uncharitable. Whatever happened to every lesson starting out as a mistake?” 13:51 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "That's the doctrine in Milan. Everyone deserves a chance to repent, to show remorse, to atone. Except for... people like me, basically. People like who I'm afraid they see me as. Someone who has willingly succumbed to their blood." 13:51 <VoxPVoxD> "And while it's the doctrine, the mood is very different. The doctrine is as it is because forgiveness is not instinctive." 13:53 <Quaker> Agostina laughs. “Really? For all their mystery, they believe that doing drugs marks you as the Antichrist?” 13:54 <Quaker> “How many terrible devils there must be, walking all around us.” 13:54 <Quaker> “If that’s all it takes.” 13:55 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It's not a generous attitude, like you say. I think there's an element of projection to it. People who feel like they're one bad day from slipping into Hell and see the same in everyone else." 13:56 <Quaker> “It reminds me of that old movie with Jack Lemmon, where he’s an alcoholic.” 13:57 <Quaker> “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’ve always thought that the Alcoholics Anonymous model of addiction is moronic and counterproductive.” 13:57 <VoxPVoxD> Willie smiles a bit. "Me too." 13:58 <Quaker> “Original sin is enough metaphysics for me and anyone. No point in deciding you’re some kind of fallen angel because you were unhappy and you treated it with an addictive substance.” 13:59 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "People get written off for all sorts of reasons, more and less stupid than that. Sometimes they're born fallen. Sometimes they have a fall thrust upon them." 14:00 <VoxPVoxD> "Is it reasonable? No. Is it fair? No. Is it kind? Obviously not. But it happens." 14:02 <Quaker> She doesn’t know what to say to that. 14:03 <Quaker> “Pledging yourself to Sergio’s cause seems like a very weighty commitment.” 14:03 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It does. But I don't know how to be with him any other way." 14:04 <Quaker> “Not being with him seems that unbearable?” 14:06 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I mean... yes and no. I've been in love like this before. I've ended relationships like this before. But in London, in New York, in Milan... it's an easier void to fill. The life we're living in Manchester, the life *I'm* living in Manchester... what's the alternative? What am I going to do that's safer and saner? Drag a civilian into the night-city indirectly?" 14:09 <Quaker> “You’re entitled to your love. Everyone disposes of it in their own way.” 14:09 <VoxPVoxD> "What would you do?" 14:09 <Quaker> “Some are happier taking risks.” 14:11 <Quaker> She smiles at the question. “I only ever got into relationships if I could picture myself marrying them and growing old together. I thought that I shouldn’t waste my time. Even if it was fun, to me it always felt unsubstantial. I could and should be with someone who could build something permanent.” 14:12 <Quaker> “That must seem awfully quaint to you.” 14:12 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "No. Not quaint. Just... unattainable." 14:12 <Quaker> “Because of your demonic blood?” 14:12 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "That's part of it. And my Satanic blood as well." 14:14 <VoxPVoxD> "I can't set foot in churches. I won't have children. But those are negotiable, yeah? You can build a life with someone for whom those aren't deal-breakers." 14:15 <Quaker> Badawi: “Sure.” 14:17 <VoxPVoxD> "But what is permanent for me? What is forever? I have no idea how long I'm going to live. It could be six months. It could be six hundred years. The Lucifuge herself is almost a millennium old. The blood is strong, if we wish it to be. Sergio and I will never grow old together, because he'll never grow old. And I imagine once I've aged enough he'll begin looking elsewhere. Who wouldn't?" 14:17 <VoxPVoxD> "I feel like if I tried to build something permanent with someone, I would be deceiving them." 14:17 <VoxPVoxD> "I can't do that to someone I love." 14:17 <Quaker> Agostina laughs. 14:18 <VoxPVoxD> Willie smiles reflexively; she doesn't get the joke. 14:18 <Quaker> “I hope I’m not revealing to this to you for the first time, Willie, but nobody knows for how much longer they’ll be alive.” 14:18 <VoxPVoxD> "Most people don't do things that so actively invite their deaths at the rate we do. Or that I do, at any rate." 14:19 <Quaker> “From you, to the Inchcape castle rotting in their keep, to the least fated office worker there ever was.” 14:20 <Quaker> Inchcape set* 14:20 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Like, your husband is in the same line of work as you are, right? Or something adjacent." 14:20 <VoxPVoxD> "Do you think you could've built a life with someone who wasn't?" 14:21 <Quaker> “I did. Or I tried to.” 14:23 <VoxPVoxD> "Yeah?" 14:24 <Quaker> “We were engaged when we were both 19. He died in a car accident.” 14:25 <VoxPVoxD> ... "I'm sorry." 14:26 <Quaker> She smiles. “Why? You had nothing to do with it.” 14:28 <VoxPVoxD> "...I suppose not. Do you think you'd be happy now if you'd been able to stay with him?" 14:28 <Quaker> “I don’t know. I don’t have a crystal ball.” 14:28 <VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." 14:29 <Quaker> “My husband is not a thief.” 14:29 <VoxPVoxD> "But he knows you are?" 14:29 <Quaker> “He does.” 14:30 <Quaker> “It was probably the very first thing he knew about me.” 14:30 <Quaker> “Or second. The first was how beautiful I am, of course.” 14:32 <VoxPVoxD> Willie nods, like that goes without saying. "I need someone I don't have to hide all this from. All this, the work we're doing, the things we're learning... I don't think someone could really know me and not know about all this." 14:32 <VoxPVoxD> "Sergio is very complicated, but who wouldn't be, with that caveat?" 14:33 <Quaker> Badawi is looking at Willie, but not really at her. “Mhm.” 14:35 <VoxPVoxD> Willie smiles, and doesn't say anything for a while. It's nice to see her like this. 14:36 <VoxPVoxD> She starts to tidy up. 14:37 <Quaker> Badawi’s jaw flexes when she thinks about things in her past. If she couldn’t replace them, she’d have to worry about grinding her teeth when she concentrates. 14:38 <Quaker> She looks like she’s about to say something… 14:38 <Quaker> But it passes. She starts to clean up with Willie. 14:39 <Quaker> “I figure each of us contributing thirty thousand pounds to the stands will give us more than enough operating capital for two stands and a manager.” 14:40 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It should, yeah. And if we need more we can set up a shell company, take out a loan... it'd be good for cover to have a bit of debt." 14:40 <VoxPVoxD> "Revenue and Customs look very closely at companies with clean books." 14:41 <Quaker> “I’ll send over the money when we get paid, then.” 14:41 <VoxPVoxD> "Splendid." 14:42 <Quaker> “Willie, look…” 14:43 <Quaker> Agostina is squared up to the younger woman, like she’s going to say something. 14:43 <Quaker> “I…” 14:43 <VoxPVoxD> Willie turns to give Agostina her full attention." 14:44 <Quaker> She is concentrating, and then it’s gone. Willie can see her eyes roll with frustration. With Willie? Or herself? “It’s, uh…” 14:45 <Quaker> She waves her hand like she’s dismissing thoughts. “You can make your own decisions. I trust you with Sergio. Just don’t involve us with their politics. And ask for help if you need it.” 14:45 <Quaker> “You don’t have a problem with me over it.” 14:47 <VoxPVoxD> Willie nods. "...thank you, Agostina. I will do everything in my power to keep this House and my house separated. But if I need help, I'm very grateful to know I can come to you all."