"Jumpin Jeebus you had that drawn up fast Marcello." Hazels dance from blueprints to the man in question and back with genuine wonder at the effeciency his silent partner could muster when required. "Of course this is just the rough drafting correct? The engineer will have a working model in about a week.."

With but nod to verify before sending one of the interns to file away the blue print. Marcelo lifted his palm, letting his demonic graft speak for him "Ask and you shall recieve. This has been our agreement."

"Of that I have not forgotten my friend. But that is how everything in this town works. Hand over fist with intermitted violence. Sort of sad really." A shrug before turning to look out across the building site. "First things first however. We need to level off the land and make sure it's solid enough to hold this much weight. If the ground is too porous, then a good rainfall will turn it into a breeding ground for mosquitoes. On top of that we need to see about space for a moderate sized hotel where guests can stay. Details can be worked out later with the legal department."

No commentary came forth as Marcelo merley began to take notes silently.

"Have to contact the quarry because I don't want to put down any asphalt or chemical compounds. Lets look into brick, stone, or marble perhaps. Concrete while fast to lay down costs too much to maintain in the long term when it comes to high traffic.Lay down some patch, within 3 months you're back to that spot again with a bigger hole." Falling into his thought patterns, Race started to pace back and forth with all of his senses turning inward. A plan was forming and any who watched could very literally see his mind jumping from one synapse to the next.

After more than an hour of pacing the man finally came to a stop and lifted his head with a firm nod as he turned to look at Marcelo. "Let's get some lunch. Then we can call in the saw trucks and chain haulers. This will be our largest operation yet. Rhydin, you're getting your own theme park."

"Easy, just guide it out slowly. Doesn't take much effort, let your hands do the work for you." Eyes wide with a bit of sweat on his forehead Race watched Marcello over his shoulder.

"What do you think I'm trying to do? This is a new experience for me..." Marcello was careful with his breathing as fingers delicately work the object out of its snug spacing.

"First time is always messy...just remember that," he said with a sharp intake of breath and a stiffening of his frame while still looking back at Marcello.

"It's almost in....just a little more....just a little more. Yes...yes...oh..right there!" With a sadistic grin Marcello slid the wooden Jenga piece into its space at the top of the tower and pushed the spinner over to Race.

Grimacing that his counterpart actually pulled off furthering the tower's self-canibalization he turned back around and looked out into the field of tree stumps at the sixty foot tall termite helping itself to the stumps like they were popcorn. "We really should take care of that thing first..."

"Take your tu-" Marcello started to say before one of the oversized pest's movements made the ground shake, completely decimating their Jenga efforts. "Yeah, lets go slay the monster and be good guys."

"Status report?" Dressed to enjoy the summer weather, Race made his way into the conference room wearing a pair of baggy carpenter shorts, deck shoes, and a black button down shirt littered with images of martini's, daqueries, and plam trees in the two gray stripes down the front. Never mind the fact he had a large margarita in his right hand, the crushed ice a shade of rich violet swirled with a virbant green.

Sipping casually he looked around at the group of Cantath Shareholders. The group of men and women that allowed him to live extravagantly, but retain control of the company. A tenuous relationship at best, but he always made it clear their interests were his. That and he owned more of the shares than they did, in order to get him out they'd have to buy his shares, of course those funds could keep him living happily for a long time, true. However he also knew that of them all, only a small portion thought of the workers, and how many medical forms were filled out every month due to job related injuries.

Their lumber production was a family operated branch at this point, at least 4 generations of families working together for long hours and performing dangerious tasks. Especially the ones doing the cutting and hauling.

"We have lost thirty workers to the RBF outbreak, another fifty were quarantined, and production is down twenty percent. All employees have been advised to seek vaccinations and treatment. R&D opened a clinic of their own, those supplies have been guarded meticulously after the stolen shipment at the start of the month." Jansine Declan looked up from the pages in front of her to peer at Race over her horned-rim glasses as though wishing she were addressing someone else. Dressed in tweed she looked like an angry librarian. Recently turned forty, the head of R&D for C.C.L. Industries was an even tempered woman who'd only been divorced once. A record in Rhydin.

"And if production doesn't pick up, we'll be under budget to open that Theme Park, you conjured up. Really should have consulted with us before pressing ahead Race. Not that it's a bad idea, goddess knows this town could use something a little more family oriented rather than all of these bars and weapon stores. Nothing wrong with those either, just illustrating." Benjamin Parnassus eased back in his chair to let well manicured hands steeple across the expanse of his impressive paunch. Truly, the overlord of the recycling division loved to get his grub on. Then again he had a few side businesses of his own including two restaurants. Belagio's on Canal street served only authentic Italian, while Kiri's on West 89th was the number one place to go for fresh bacleva.

"On top of all that, the lumber workers are starting to discuss bringing in a union because they're feeling overworked. Need to nip that friggin thing in the bud right the hell now." Rourke Montrose had come up through the company as one of those same yard workers. His grandfather started in the company and climbed the ladder with blood, sweat, and tears. These same traits passed down to his grandson. Of all the individuals present, Rourke was the one Race identified with the most. They worked hard and played harder.

"All right then, pull back production to sixteen hour shifts three days a week in the lumber division and give then an hour long break in the middle. That's a forty-five hour week with four days off." He addressed Rourke first because of all the information granted, the workers wanting to unionize was the most dangerous news. Taking his seat at the head of the table, Race looked at the gathering of faces with one final sip of his margarita. They knew when the company head took his seat the nonsense was over.

"Limit Research and Developement to a forty hour week with no overtime unless someone's out on vacation or hospitalized. While what your department does is important Jansine, it is the area that can afford cuts where as lumber is the brunt of our production.See about a memorial service for the families of those lost to the plague and incrase company benefits to all employees against future or similar occurances." A motion brought Marcellow forward with the quarterly projections. Flipping open the leather folder, his eyes scanned the numbers with a curious frown.

"Benjamin...seems recycling is above the bar despite everything going on. Nice work, but I see here some of the bids are from your personal businesses. Care to explain why you're using company resources on personal projects?" Race motioned for Benjamin to wait as his fingers turned the page. "Nevermind, I see what you did. Nice work having the broken items brought in to be remade and distributed."

"Thank you. I see more than enough workers stop by Belagio's and Kiri's that submitting work orders on items I'd have to throw out anyway just made sense. As you see on page five, I paid the full rate, didn't use my discount as an employee and shareholder." Carefully, Benjamin drank of his coffee. The scent of caramell and tiramisu making Race's nose itch with the desire to sneeze.

"Before we conclude for the day, let it be known that I will be taking a voluntary ten percent pay cut and urge all of you and our salaried staff to consider doing so as well. Rates will be returned to normal once business picks up and shows a trend of continuing to do so. Send out a notice that we will no longer offer a dry cleaning service to employees. If they want the service to continue, the employees that use it may pay of their own pockets. And stop the free HMO. The company EPO is 30 out of every paycheck, make the HMO 15. All of these measures are to cut back expenses and keep operations running smoothly. Do any of you disagree?" Maintaining an upright posture, Race closed the folder and handed it back to Marcello while looking at Jansine, Rourke, Benjamin, and the last shareholder Mako Izen who'd remained silent so far.

Izen was the oldest of all the gathered and the senior member not just by age of company seniority. Dressed in a tailored suit of light absorbing black with a red 'power' tie, Izen was all business. Of them all, he was the one to watch out for as his office was completely in charge of Employee Resources which had been changed from Human Resources within the last ten years. Accounting was his biggest department. "All reasonable, for the most part, ideas and offers, Mr. Lutz. However, you must realize the stir many of these will cause. Many of our higher paid employees maintain a lifestile dependant on their income. Is it wise to affect that web?"

"Considering I too am taking a voluntary cut, it is called leading by example. Not like I'm telling them to take a slash in wages while I keep living high on the hog. This is a business Mako, we all must make sacrifices, both virginal and symbolic." Letting the discussion die there, Race rose and picked up his margarita. A savoring drink taken feeling the green slush cool his pallette.