Log: Symbio-something
Summary: Loe comes to The Lucky Seven for the monthly meeting to go over the tavern's figures. She notices something's off in the figures and June has to explain.
Location: The Lucky Seven, Ista Weyr
Date: 10-4-09
It's been a wet couple of days, but today has brought the sun out again and a heat to go with all of that humidity. Still, it's a milder day than the Istans have suffered over the summer, especially with the breeze that's picked up throughout the morning, strong enough to reach even here, in the thick of the jungle. Boggy mud puddles dot the clearing in front of The Lucky Seven, but there's a wide path that's been packed down enough to avoid the worst of it leading right up to the porch. Windows and doors are all thrown open, adding air circulation to the shade that makes the main room of the tavern a cooler environment than the sunny outside. June has taken over a table with her large outspread ledger and a small collection of plates, glasses, cutlery, all gathered at the space in front of two adjacent chairs. At the moment, she has an elbow draped over the back of the chair she's chosen for herself, a better angle for her to listen to the complaints that Chidiree is spouting from her spot near the bar. "I just don't see why she has to leave it there, in the middle of the floor, where everyone can fucking trip over it, you know?" is the newest snippet that can be overheard.
By the time Loe has trecked through the jungle, she's given up on wearing her sandles and now just carries them dangling from her fingers while her bare feet get to enjoy the muddy path. Even now, as that packed earth resists the water's urge for it to turn to goo, mud is neatly encrusted all over the headwoman's feet, no matter how delicate she's picking across the yard. And, of course, the humidity is giving her hair a very special frizz. But, ever a trouper, she does have a basket over her arm, which promises to be lunch and paperwork. Her footsteps across the porch are probably audible and there might be glimpses of her through the door or windows, but Loe doesn't come in right away. She's out there using the edge of the step to try to scrap the worst of the mud from her feet.
"Of course," is the palliative answer June gives to her sister, just before movement on the boards outside draws her attention. "Oh, hi!" she calls out to Loe, leaning back and looking over her shoulder to peer out the door at the headwoman. "Oh, don't worry about that," she adds when the muddy situation is sized up, "there'll be muddier feet and more of them in here tonight, yours won't make much difference." Then she turns back to Chidiree, still waiting at the corner of the bar, and tells her, "I'll talk to her later." This prompts Chee to give a exaggerated roll of her eyes and turn with a frustrated groan to leave through the door behind the bar. June ignores the show and returns to Loe, instead, inviting, "Come in, sit."
"I can't tell if it's wonderful or just gross," Loe says as she gives up on the scrapping and turns to pad delicately into the bar. "Wonderful outside and wrong inside, I think." Her steps are mincing, like she might be able to make it to the chair without leaving any dirt behind. She catches sight of Chidiree's departing back and then her eyes cut to June. "Did you just send her away?" Loe asks, a smirk forming, a teasing laugh enriching her voice. She sets the basket on the table, drops her sandals and settles into her chair to start unpacking.
June leans forward in her chair just as the basket is settled down, going to help the headwoman pull their lunch components from the basket and arrange them in the empty space on the table. "Chidiree?" June asks, tilting her gaze up over a growing smile, then sparing a glance for the departing sister before looking back at her task. "I think she'd be angrier if I did. She has her own things to do." A flick of a momentarily free hand dismisses the issue just like that. "Was it a tough trek out here?"
There's a pause in Loe's unpacking when June speaks of Chidiree -- it's just as well since June is helping with the unpacking. The blonde is distracted by the young 'sister', enough so that she misses the innkeeper's question. "Is she an actual sister?" As the basket is emptied, Loe puts it on the floor to the side, giving them more space for their food and dishes and papers can have plenty of space. "You know, maybe some stones sunk into the path out there wouldn't be a bad idea."
"You don't think we look alike?" June asks, a tease at the corner of her smile breaking any impression of seriousness the question may have. "No, we're not. Just a term of endearment, I guess," is the more frank answer that follows, joined by a short shake of her head. The tavern owner transfers her motions to loading food onto her own plate now, taking enough to indicate that she's been hungry for a while before Loe and the food appeared. "That's a good idea, yeah," June says of the headwoman's stone concept, her head swiveling over to shoot a glance out at the muddied clearing. "We've been talking about making some improvements to the clearing for a while now. A larger area behind a bit," she explains, gesturing with a hand in the right direction, "for dragons to land. Lights around the perimeter. That sort of thing. It's going to be the next project we do."
"So... not any of them are actually your sisters?" Loe seems just a touch disappointed to learn this. She too starts piling her plate, though with less enthusiasm than June. "Lights around the perimeter? I like it. And stones sunk into the path. Anything else planned?" She starts buttering a piece of bread. "Would you be needing some investment for that or have you been saving?"
"Not a one," June answers easily, chuckling softly over the truth revealed as she gathers the food piled on her plate into a rough sandwich. She shakes her head over the first bite she takes: no other plans at the moment. "That's probably the only thing keeping us from doing it now," she answers the second question, then, turning a finger down to plant it against the table top in emphasis. "Investment would be nice," she allows, with a little inclination of her head toward Loe, "don't get me wrong. But we haven't yet paid off the initial amount. We'd just be prolonging things." The ledger sits at her opposite elbow, but she doesn't move to offer it to the headwoman, not just yet.
Loe doesn't make any move for the ledger either, or any turn toward her own papers set neatly to the side while the business of catching up and eating are tended to. "Well, an investment isn't an impossibility. And it's not like you're going away soon or something, right? Business has been good, hasn't it? It should be picking up soon, too, as the weather improves." She skewers some greens on her fork but has to ask, "Do you have any real siblings? Anywhere?"
"Business has been slower," June admits freely, sandwich held to one side while she talks. "Not disasterously, so. But it's been going down. I think it's the newness wearing off, in addition to the summer..." She trails off with a little twitch of her sandwich, which she then takes another bite of. "Me?" she asks when it's been swallowed. "No, not me. No real reason, as far as I know, my parents just stopped after me." Her smile wraps around her next bite, implying any number of reasons she was more than enough for her parents to handle.
"We need a draw. For the Seven, for the market. I'd hoped they'd be enough on their own to get people to come here, but largely they seem to be living off the Weyr itself. Not a problem with the Seven, really, since the money largely comes back to the Weyr, very... what's the word. Symbiosomething? But it would be better if people were coming from outside to spend their marks." There's a beast that passes while she thinks on the dilemma, and then, "Did you hear about Javeri's boat?"
Symbiosomething? June shrugs, at a loss with that bit of vocabulary, while she finishes up a larger bite. "Something like a Hold's gathers," she suggests idly, nodding her agreement. She leans in for another bite, but is paused by the next question. "No, what happened?" Worry creates a slight dip between her brows.
"It got caught in a storm and limped it's way to Boll. Javeri left it. Too many repairs needed to get it back to Ista." Her brows lift, because this is apparently impressive. "She's transferring. Or has already, actually. I'm not sure. As much as she was evil to me, I do feel bad that things went so poorly for her," Loe says with a generously sympathetic sigh. "But, it does make me wonder about possibilities, too."
"Oh," June utters, the crease in her brow banished only because she blinks her eyes wide in surprise, her eating still put on hold for the moment. She processes the information for a beat then adds, "Wow." She slips in another bite and mulls while she chews. "Possibilities for what?" she then asks, gaze still a little bit distracted by the news.
"Were you and Javeri close?" Loe wonders then. After all, she's noticed the mulling and distraction. "All the sailors were fine, all the passengers. I mean, I guess there were some scrapes and bruises but nothing needing healer attention or anything like that." She checks June's expression before continuing. "I was just thinking that it's an opportunity for the Weyr to start up a boat of it's own."
June shrugs, her head tilting to the side a bit when she does so. "Not particularly so, I guess. We know each other, we're friendly. It just... It's so sudden, is all." Gingerly, her sandwich is placed just so on her plate to prevent its tumbling apart, and she reaches for the pitcher of water to pour herself some. "May as well capitalize on the void," she says thoughtfully, when the glass is cradled in her hand and she's had her first sip. "People are already used to having the option for a pleasure cruise." A beat passes before she happens on an idea and perhaps a bit too eagerly proposes it. "We could provide the beers for it. Repay some of our debt through trade that way."
"Well, that's how storms are," Loe points out with a touch of humor. "And yes, I was thinking.. we could incorporate the Seven, maybe even the market, you know? What if every once in a while we have a special Seven at Sea night and you can all do your bartending on the boat, get a cut of the ticket sales?" This time, the blonde is bouncing her suggestive eyebrows across the table, letting something impish curl the corners of her smile. "Tell me you love the idea."
June may be more hesitant than Loe would like, but she's only taking her time with it, letting it roll over in her mind while she takes another drink and leans forward to replace her glass in its spot. "I love it," June remembers to reassure, with a smile that's a tad distracted, her eyes still focuses on the far wall. "In theory," is the caveat. "We would have to look at the numbers and see if it would be more profitable to do that instead of keeping the tavern open another night. Although I guess we could split up, some of us run things here, some of us run the boat." She's run through the options in her head and now her gaze returns to Loe. "I'm interested," she sums up, smiling still. "Get back to me when you have things set up, and we can work out the details."
"It's a ways off," Loe reminds. "Since... I don't even have a boat in mind, let alone have it paid for or cleaned up or anything so exciting. Plus, well, it might be good for finding new customers, people who don't come out to the Seven but might if they got a taste of it. And the girls would think it was fun, right? Fun and still making money..." She's still selling it, even though June's already admitted being interested. Maybe she senses June's hesitation. Now she's narrowing her eyes to ask with friendly suspicion. "Are you afraid of boats?"
June's eyebrows go up for that, remaining in that surprised angle for a moment before she smiles the expression away. "No, I'm not afraid. Sure, I'm no sailor, but I handled it well enough on the ferry to the island. I'm just... considering options, that's all." A wave of her hand diminishes the importance of that thought process and then she goes to pick up her sandwich again. "Thinking of how we can make everything work as well on the boat as it does here."
"Cards, chips, drinks, pretty girls, food. Plus the sunset over the water and sails strung with glows. Mm." Loe is grins, big and dreamy, fantasizing about this lovely vision of a ship. "What else do you need?" She pops a bit of lunch into her mouth, confident as ever. "Really June it's about doing something special and different once in a while. Just to change things up. You're the one who said interest was dying down."
June relaxes back into her chair, taking her sandwich with her, as she listens to Loe over her slow chewing. A beat after the headwoman's finished, she begins to nod slowly. "You're right." Then again, "You're right. We can figure out all the little when everything else is ready." She lifts her food, braced between two hands and says, "Count me in," before sinking her teeth in.
"Excellent. I wonder if we could even get the market involved somehow..." Now Loe really is musing, her gaze drifting off away from June as her mind fiddles with this idea and that. "You know, sometimes it's hard to want to see the market succeed when it seems like so much more fun try to get under Skinner's... skin." Boy does that sound dumb to say, Skinner's skin. She makes a face. "I have to remind myself that I'd rather start raking in some money than cause him trouble. But oh, it's a temptation." Having taken a moderate helping, her lunch is steadily disappearing, even if there's no real hurry in it.
June smiles the warped smile of someone dealing with a full bite in their mouth, eyes squinting up at the humor she finds in Skinner's skin and the temptation to get under it. "Not sure there is a way to get under Skinner's skin," she uses the phrase as smoothly as she uses any other. "But if there were, it would probably involve profiting more than him from his own work." Quite the challenge, it would seem, from her tone.
"Yes, well, he got more in the agreement than I'd have liked and he probably still thinks it's less than he deserves." All of this makes Loe frown, sulky as a child. "It's a lot easier for one man to profit than hundreds at a time." Another thought comes to her then, visible in the way it makes her mouth close and her glance sharpen on nothing, but whatever it is she doesn't share. Instead she just snorts out: "Skinner." And then, pushes her plate aside, finished with her meal. "How have -you- been?"
While she chews the latest bite from that steadily disappearing sandwich, June sucks in a deep breath, as if it takes her some amount of effort to switch over to thinking about the personal side of things. The exhale brings a swallow as well, and after that she says, "I've been... stressed. Pulled too tight, in too many directions. It's all just catching up to me now, I guess. I've been trying to slow down a bit, take some more of my free time away from here." She starts to take a bite, but pauses with it held halfway to add wryly, "Not bored." She takes that bite, then, chews and swallows it down. "Is this boat and all the challenge that you were looking for then?" she asks, recalling tidbits from past conversations.
Now Loe's frown loses it's sulk and is instead quite honestly concerned. A furrow comes to her brow as she looks at the lovely redhead across the table. "You need a break. And real break. Not just a nice afternoon but, like, a few days of laying on the beach and napping and having attractive men bring you drinks and finger foods." She lifts a playful eyebrow for that last bit. "Why don't you take a vacation? Your sisters could totally deal with things for a few days, right?"
"Oh, I know they probably could," June responds, a shadow of a frown appearing between her own brows. It's quickly smoothed away. "But I think I would just worry more if I was away from it all." She stares down at her sandwich and snorts gently, lifting her gaze again as she self-deprecatingly adds, "I'm full of excuses, you see. I know I need a rest, I can feel it. But honestly, I don't have the slightest clue where I would go or what I would do."
Loe's lashes narrow at June, the sign of hard thinking. "If I set something up, would you go?" she wonders. For all that she's so given to scheming and plotting, this time whatever she's cooking up doesn't make her smirk, so that's probably somewhat encouraging. "You deserve a break. Plus, if you just worry all the time you'll get wrinkles." Ok, with that she does crack one of those impish grins.
June flickers a suspicious glance for the offer to 'set something up,' but her gaze quickly returns, unconcerned, to the last remaining bit of her sandwich, held between two fingers. She eats it while she listens to the rest, laughing silently in response to that impishness. "I'd go," she decides when the process of chewing is finally over, tone implying that it was easily made. "No beaches, though. I get enough of that around here."
"No beaches at all? Even if they're different beaches?" It seems she really was thinking of something that involved a beach. "Well... I'll think of something." Undaunted, of course. But she's done with her meal and so Loe wiggles a finger toward June's ledger. "Let me see the numbers while you eat. Maybe you've earned a bonus day of vacation," she tacks on, the accompanying loftiness entirely fake.
"No beaches," June confirms, covering her only nearly empty mouth with a polite hand while she does so. Hand now freed, she shoves the ledger across, navigating it around a bowl of fruit, which she then samples from. "Don't count on it," she says with a melon piece balance in her fingertips. "I'm the first to admit, their not promising figures." And what the headwoman will find when she looks at that ledger is a fairly steady and minor decline at the beginning of the month followed by a more extreme dip, a handful of percentage points at least, midway through. "The rains haven't helped. And we had to replace broken bottles this month."
Loe's features register each drop in the number, matching them with the depth of her frown. "The rain. And... bottles? You have your own supplier for that? The Weyr could probably get them pretty cheaply." Just a suggestion. Of course, maybe they were through the Weyr to begin with. "What happened here?" she headwoman wonders gently, pointing to that first sharp drop in the profits.
"Skinner," June notes, soft smile twisted a bit as she acknowledges handing profit to the very man Loe wants to irk. She pops a piece of fruit into her mouth, taking her time with it as she leans over to see the point in question. A gentle shrug lifts when she tracks it with her own eyes. "I wish I knew. It was just an abnormally slow day. You can see the drop start here..." After a quick swipe of her fingers together, she lays a single one along the line in question, tracing back a few days to isolate a gentler dip. "Then a few good days, though I think that was one of Skinner's merchants staying here. And then it just drops again." And her finger follows the rest of the disappointing figures down, the minor rises and falls all staying around the same level.
Loe scoffs a little at the very mention of his name. "Miserable man is everywhere," she tsks, largely to herself. She's eyeing the legder again. "Well, if it really is the weather, things should be picking up soon. I should look at the Sandbar records and see if it has a summer slump too." She rubs her fingers along the side of the ledger, like maybe she's petting it comfortingly since its had such a time. "We're looking at having races. I'm not sure when, but sometime in the near future. I bet you could take advantage of that. Offer rooms. Or rent out the lawn for people to pitch their tents or stop their wagons. Maybe slap together some simple breakfast for a small price to make everything nice and convenient. Plus, well, race, chances are a good number of the attendents will like gambling anyway." She does look at those numbers again though. "It's just so sudden," she marvels of the drop.
June grows more interested by degrees as Loe begins to describe the races being worked up and all of the ways that she herself could capitalize on them. She nods, not bothering to mask the enthusiasm in her expression. "Fantastic," she declares, though softly. "Like I said, like a Hold's gather. It's perfect." But the reality of now seeps in again and when Loe turns back to the ledger she does too. "I know," June agrees, though she's already resigned to the fact. "We're going to be doing everything we can to make it come up again. But you can see why I was hesitant to start new projects."
The resignation is met with sympathy and Loe's honest smile. "Hey, business can't just grow and grow and grow. It'll perk up again. How could it not?" Such optimism. "Plus, we did expect that things would level off once things weren't so new and shiny anymore." She shrugs her shoulders and moves her finger to the dates of those major dips in revenue though there's no further comment on it. "You never had any trouble, did you? Never saw those guys Vlad sketched?"
June still picks through the fruit and she's on the hunt for a citrus slice when Loe asks her that question. So her eyes are downturned when she gives a tiny, vague shake of her head. "Still looking for them," she answers casually, fingers happening upon the sought fruit and snatching it up easily. "You're still looking for them, then. Is the Weyr going to take any action against them, if you do find them?" The fruit is bitten in half as her curious gaze finds Loe's again.
"I'm not sure," Loe returns, more subdued. "I mean, I don't know what made them single out Vlad or what they thought it would accomplish to mess with him but nothing else has happened and maybe they're just a couple of bullies who moved on. It's not right but... Vlad hasn't seen them again so maybe it's over. Not that I like the idea of a those pigs out there in the world trying to prey anyone who can't defend themselves. They're either really stupid or think that they're really smooth to get it into their heads that you could pull stuff like that at a Weyr. No one here is powerless." She's certain on that. And meanwhile, she's also started to copy down the hightlights of June's ledge onto her own clipboard.
"So what's the point of having me look for them, then? Just to see if they're still around?" June asks idly, reaching out for just the nearest available fruit piece this time and popping it in her mouth. While she chews, she idly watches the copying, though her gaze easily meets Loe's should it turn up.
"Well, yeah. It's not like you're out in the woods turning over rocks or anything. And they -are- the kinds of guys who would beat Vlad up just because he wouldn't hand over his money. I figured you should probably have a heads up in case they come in here and start something." Loe pauses her transcription to take a drink. "Anyway, I thought they might comeback and try to get him again but it seems like we can probably our guard down, I guess." She takes in a deep breath, lets it out slowly. "I don't know. I've never done before."
June nods, quietly understanding for Loe's lack of experience with thugs, while she finishes her most recent bite. "They may be wanting you to let your guard down, though," she observes. "Call me pessimistic or jaded, but... well, if you let one drunken buffoon smash up your bar, there'll be twenty behind him thinking they can do the same thing." She smiles for the comparison of her bar to the Weyr, but lets the humor fade quickly. "And if they're not just random bullies, you should know about /that/ sooner rather than later."
"Well yeah but for how long? How long do we worry about them before we figure they're good and gone?" Loe makes a face for that the query, a scowl for her inability to answer her own questions. "What do you think we should do? Are you worried about them coming here?" Her brows go up, curious about that. And it's easier to address that possibility. "Because I can get assign some muscle to look out for you, you know."
June smiles in the face of Loe's curiosity, a calming, reassuring variant. "We have enough muscle to handle things at the moment. If I start getting worried, I'll let you know. I'm just worried about the Weyr as a whole. Things get bad for the Weyr, things get bad for me." The symbio-something goes both ways, you see.
Loe rolls her eyes a bit, friendly-like, as June insists she has enough muscle. However, that much as been covered already. "You don't have to worry about the Weyr. Those two, they're like gnats. They aren't even an appetizer. We have so many friends." She lets her smile spread slow and certain and sly. "And so many of those many friends have dragons. You don't ever have to worry about stuff like that." And then, appended, "Of course, if you do see those guys, send someone to the Weyr. I don't know if it's better to bring them in and question them or let them go and follow but I'd rather not leave them out there to terrorize the island."
June gives the response all of her attention, even slowing her chewing at a point or two to more completely listen to what's being said. "Following's a good idea," she compliments sincerely when Loe's done, giving a few more faint nods of her head as she leans back in her seat, water glass taken up again and sipped from. Maybe she's reassured by the thought of legions of dragons on her side or just tired of such dismal topics, but she heaves a sigh and discards her glass after she's only just taken it. Rising, she tells Loe, "I'm going to find us something a bit naughtier to drink. Then we can get into all of the really good," slight emphasis on that word there, encompassing two aspects of the word, both juicy and not at all dreary, "gossip from the caverns." And she does just that.
Location: The Lucky Seven, Ista Weyr
Date: 10-4-09
It's been a wet couple of days, but today has brought the sun out again and a heat to go with all of that humidity. Still, it's a milder day than the Istans have suffered over the summer, especially with the breeze that's picked up throughout the morning, strong enough to reach even here, in the thick of the jungle. Boggy mud puddles dot the clearing in front of The Lucky Seven, but there's a wide path that's been packed down enough to avoid the worst of it leading right up to the porch. Windows and doors are all thrown open, adding air circulation to the shade that makes the main room of the tavern a cooler environment than the sunny outside. June has taken over a table with her large outspread ledger and a small collection of plates, glasses, cutlery, all gathered at the space in front of two adjacent chairs. At the moment, she has an elbow draped over the back of the chair she's chosen for herself, a better angle for her to listen to the complaints that Chidiree is spouting from her spot near the bar. "I just don't see why she has to leave it there, in the middle of the floor, where everyone can fucking trip over it, you know?" is the newest snippet that can be overheard.
By the time Loe has trecked through the jungle, she's given up on wearing her sandles and now just carries them dangling from her fingers while her bare feet get to enjoy the muddy path. Even now, as that packed earth resists the water's urge for it to turn to goo, mud is neatly encrusted all over the headwoman's feet, no matter how delicate she's picking across the yard. And, of course, the humidity is giving her hair a very special frizz. But, ever a trouper, she does have a basket over her arm, which promises to be lunch and paperwork. Her footsteps across the porch are probably audible and there might be glimpses of her through the door or windows, but Loe doesn't come in right away. She's out there using the edge of the step to try to scrap the worst of the mud from her feet.
"Of course," is the palliative answer June gives to her sister, just before movement on the boards outside draws her attention. "Oh, hi!" she calls out to Loe, leaning back and looking over her shoulder to peer out the door at the headwoman. "Oh, don't worry about that," she adds when the muddy situation is sized up, "there'll be muddier feet and more of them in here tonight, yours won't make much difference." Then she turns back to Chidiree, still waiting at the corner of the bar, and tells her, "I'll talk to her later." This prompts Chee to give a exaggerated roll of her eyes and turn with a frustrated groan to leave through the door behind the bar. June ignores the show and returns to Loe, instead, inviting, "Come in, sit."
"I can't tell if it's wonderful or just gross," Loe says as she gives up on the scrapping and turns to pad delicately into the bar. "Wonderful outside and wrong inside, I think." Her steps are mincing, like she might be able to make it to the chair without leaving any dirt behind. She catches sight of Chidiree's departing back and then her eyes cut to June. "Did you just send her away?" Loe asks, a smirk forming, a teasing laugh enriching her voice. She sets the basket on the table, drops her sandals and settles into her chair to start unpacking.
June leans forward in her chair just as the basket is settled down, going to help the headwoman pull their lunch components from the basket and arrange them in the empty space on the table. "Chidiree?" June asks, tilting her gaze up over a growing smile, then sparing a glance for the departing sister before looking back at her task. "I think she'd be angrier if I did. She has her own things to do." A flick of a momentarily free hand dismisses the issue just like that. "Was it a tough trek out here?"
There's a pause in Loe's unpacking when June speaks of Chidiree -- it's just as well since June is helping with the unpacking. The blonde is distracted by the young 'sister', enough so that she misses the innkeeper's question. "Is she an actual sister?" As the basket is emptied, Loe puts it on the floor to the side, giving them more space for their food and dishes and papers can have plenty of space. "You know, maybe some stones sunk into the path out there wouldn't be a bad idea."
"You don't think we look alike?" June asks, a tease at the corner of her smile breaking any impression of seriousness the question may have. "No, we're not. Just a term of endearment, I guess," is the more frank answer that follows, joined by a short shake of her head. The tavern owner transfers her motions to loading food onto her own plate now, taking enough to indicate that she's been hungry for a while before Loe and the food appeared. "That's a good idea, yeah," June says of the headwoman's stone concept, her head swiveling over to shoot a glance out at the muddied clearing. "We've been talking about making some improvements to the clearing for a while now. A larger area behind a bit," she explains, gesturing with a hand in the right direction, "for dragons to land. Lights around the perimeter. That sort of thing. It's going to be the next project we do."
"So... not any of them are actually your sisters?" Loe seems just a touch disappointed to learn this. She too starts piling her plate, though with less enthusiasm than June. "Lights around the perimeter? I like it. And stones sunk into the path. Anything else planned?" She starts buttering a piece of bread. "Would you be needing some investment for that or have you been saving?"
"Not a one," June answers easily, chuckling softly over the truth revealed as she gathers the food piled on her plate into a rough sandwich. She shakes her head over the first bite she takes: no other plans at the moment. "That's probably the only thing keeping us from doing it now," she answers the second question, then, turning a finger down to plant it against the table top in emphasis. "Investment would be nice," she allows, with a little inclination of her head toward Loe, "don't get me wrong. But we haven't yet paid off the initial amount. We'd just be prolonging things." The ledger sits at her opposite elbow, but she doesn't move to offer it to the headwoman, not just yet.
Loe doesn't make any move for the ledger either, or any turn toward her own papers set neatly to the side while the business of catching up and eating are tended to. "Well, an investment isn't an impossibility. And it's not like you're going away soon or something, right? Business has been good, hasn't it? It should be picking up soon, too, as the weather improves." She skewers some greens on her fork but has to ask, "Do you have any real siblings? Anywhere?"
"Business has been slower," June admits freely, sandwich held to one side while she talks. "Not disasterously, so. But it's been going down. I think it's the newness wearing off, in addition to the summer..." She trails off with a little twitch of her sandwich, which she then takes another bite of. "Me?" she asks when it's been swallowed. "No, not me. No real reason, as far as I know, my parents just stopped after me." Her smile wraps around her next bite, implying any number of reasons she was more than enough for her parents to handle.
"We need a draw. For the Seven, for the market. I'd hoped they'd be enough on their own to get people to come here, but largely they seem to be living off the Weyr itself. Not a problem with the Seven, really, since the money largely comes back to the Weyr, very... what's the word. Symbiosomething? But it would be better if people were coming from outside to spend their marks." There's a beast that passes while she thinks on the dilemma, and then, "Did you hear about Javeri's boat?"
Symbiosomething? June shrugs, at a loss with that bit of vocabulary, while she finishes up a larger bite. "Something like a Hold's gathers," she suggests idly, nodding her agreement. She leans in for another bite, but is paused by the next question. "No, what happened?" Worry creates a slight dip between her brows.
"It got caught in a storm and limped it's way to Boll. Javeri left it. Too many repairs needed to get it back to Ista." Her brows lift, because this is apparently impressive. "She's transferring. Or has already, actually. I'm not sure. As much as she was evil to me, I do feel bad that things went so poorly for her," Loe says with a generously sympathetic sigh. "But, it does make me wonder about possibilities, too."
"Oh," June utters, the crease in her brow banished only because she blinks her eyes wide in surprise, her eating still put on hold for the moment. She processes the information for a beat then adds, "Wow." She slips in another bite and mulls while she chews. "Possibilities for what?" she then asks, gaze still a little bit distracted by the news.
"Were you and Javeri close?" Loe wonders then. After all, she's noticed the mulling and distraction. "All the sailors were fine, all the passengers. I mean, I guess there were some scrapes and bruises but nothing needing healer attention or anything like that." She checks June's expression before continuing. "I was just thinking that it's an opportunity for the Weyr to start up a boat of it's own."
June shrugs, her head tilting to the side a bit when she does so. "Not particularly so, I guess. We know each other, we're friendly. It just... It's so sudden, is all." Gingerly, her sandwich is placed just so on her plate to prevent its tumbling apart, and she reaches for the pitcher of water to pour herself some. "May as well capitalize on the void," she says thoughtfully, when the glass is cradled in her hand and she's had her first sip. "People are already used to having the option for a pleasure cruise." A beat passes before she happens on an idea and perhaps a bit too eagerly proposes it. "We could provide the beers for it. Repay some of our debt through trade that way."
"Well, that's how storms are," Loe points out with a touch of humor. "And yes, I was thinking.. we could incorporate the Seven, maybe even the market, you know? What if every once in a while we have a special Seven at Sea night and you can all do your bartending on the boat, get a cut of the ticket sales?" This time, the blonde is bouncing her suggestive eyebrows across the table, letting something impish curl the corners of her smile. "Tell me you love the idea."
June may be more hesitant than Loe would like, but she's only taking her time with it, letting it roll over in her mind while she takes another drink and leans forward to replace her glass in its spot. "I love it," June remembers to reassure, with a smile that's a tad distracted, her eyes still focuses on the far wall. "In theory," is the caveat. "We would have to look at the numbers and see if it would be more profitable to do that instead of keeping the tavern open another night. Although I guess we could split up, some of us run things here, some of us run the boat." She's run through the options in her head and now her gaze returns to Loe. "I'm interested," she sums up, smiling still. "Get back to me when you have things set up, and we can work out the details."
"It's a ways off," Loe reminds. "Since... I don't even have a boat in mind, let alone have it paid for or cleaned up or anything so exciting. Plus, well, it might be good for finding new customers, people who don't come out to the Seven but might if they got a taste of it. And the girls would think it was fun, right? Fun and still making money..." She's still selling it, even though June's already admitted being interested. Maybe she senses June's hesitation. Now she's narrowing her eyes to ask with friendly suspicion. "Are you afraid of boats?"
June's eyebrows go up for that, remaining in that surprised angle for a moment before she smiles the expression away. "No, I'm not afraid. Sure, I'm no sailor, but I handled it well enough on the ferry to the island. I'm just... considering options, that's all." A wave of her hand diminishes the importance of that thought process and then she goes to pick up her sandwich again. "Thinking of how we can make everything work as well on the boat as it does here."
"Cards, chips, drinks, pretty girls, food. Plus the sunset over the water and sails strung with glows. Mm." Loe is grins, big and dreamy, fantasizing about this lovely vision of a ship. "What else do you need?" She pops a bit of lunch into her mouth, confident as ever. "Really June it's about doing something special and different once in a while. Just to change things up. You're the one who said interest was dying down."
June relaxes back into her chair, taking her sandwich with her, as she listens to Loe over her slow chewing. A beat after the headwoman's finished, she begins to nod slowly. "You're right." Then again, "You're right. We can figure out all the little when everything else is ready." She lifts her food, braced between two hands and says, "Count me in," before sinking her teeth in.
"Excellent. I wonder if we could even get the market involved somehow..." Now Loe really is musing, her gaze drifting off away from June as her mind fiddles with this idea and that. "You know, sometimes it's hard to want to see the market succeed when it seems like so much more fun try to get under Skinner's... skin." Boy does that sound dumb to say, Skinner's skin. She makes a face. "I have to remind myself that I'd rather start raking in some money than cause him trouble. But oh, it's a temptation." Having taken a moderate helping, her lunch is steadily disappearing, even if there's no real hurry in it.
June smiles the warped smile of someone dealing with a full bite in their mouth, eyes squinting up at the humor she finds in Skinner's skin and the temptation to get under it. "Not sure there is a way to get under Skinner's skin," she uses the phrase as smoothly as she uses any other. "But if there were, it would probably involve profiting more than him from his own work." Quite the challenge, it would seem, from her tone.
"Yes, well, he got more in the agreement than I'd have liked and he probably still thinks it's less than he deserves." All of this makes Loe frown, sulky as a child. "It's a lot easier for one man to profit than hundreds at a time." Another thought comes to her then, visible in the way it makes her mouth close and her glance sharpen on nothing, but whatever it is she doesn't share. Instead she just snorts out: "Skinner." And then, pushes her plate aside, finished with her meal. "How have -you- been?"
While she chews the latest bite from that steadily disappearing sandwich, June sucks in a deep breath, as if it takes her some amount of effort to switch over to thinking about the personal side of things. The exhale brings a swallow as well, and after that she says, "I've been... stressed. Pulled too tight, in too many directions. It's all just catching up to me now, I guess. I've been trying to slow down a bit, take some more of my free time away from here." She starts to take a bite, but pauses with it held halfway to add wryly, "Not bored." She takes that bite, then, chews and swallows it down. "Is this boat and all the challenge that you were looking for then?" she asks, recalling tidbits from past conversations.
Now Loe's frown loses it's sulk and is instead quite honestly concerned. A furrow comes to her brow as she looks at the lovely redhead across the table. "You need a break. And real break. Not just a nice afternoon but, like, a few days of laying on the beach and napping and having attractive men bring you drinks and finger foods." She lifts a playful eyebrow for that last bit. "Why don't you take a vacation? Your sisters could totally deal with things for a few days, right?"
"Oh, I know they probably could," June responds, a shadow of a frown appearing between her own brows. It's quickly smoothed away. "But I think I would just worry more if I was away from it all." She stares down at her sandwich and snorts gently, lifting her gaze again as she self-deprecatingly adds, "I'm full of excuses, you see. I know I need a rest, I can feel it. But honestly, I don't have the slightest clue where I would go or what I would do."
Loe's lashes narrow at June, the sign of hard thinking. "If I set something up, would you go?" she wonders. For all that she's so given to scheming and plotting, this time whatever she's cooking up doesn't make her smirk, so that's probably somewhat encouraging. "You deserve a break. Plus, if you just worry all the time you'll get wrinkles." Ok, with that she does crack one of those impish grins.
June flickers a suspicious glance for the offer to 'set something up,' but her gaze quickly returns, unconcerned, to the last remaining bit of her sandwich, held between two fingers. She eats it while she listens to the rest, laughing silently in response to that impishness. "I'd go," she decides when the process of chewing is finally over, tone implying that it was easily made. "No beaches, though. I get enough of that around here."
"No beaches at all? Even if they're different beaches?" It seems she really was thinking of something that involved a beach. "Well... I'll think of something." Undaunted, of course. But she's done with her meal and so Loe wiggles a finger toward June's ledger. "Let me see the numbers while you eat. Maybe you've earned a bonus day of vacation," she tacks on, the accompanying loftiness entirely fake.
"No beaches," June confirms, covering her only nearly empty mouth with a polite hand while she does so. Hand now freed, she shoves the ledger across, navigating it around a bowl of fruit, which she then samples from. "Don't count on it," she says with a melon piece balance in her fingertips. "I'm the first to admit, their not promising figures." And what the headwoman will find when she looks at that ledger is a fairly steady and minor decline at the beginning of the month followed by a more extreme dip, a handful of percentage points at least, midway through. "The rains haven't helped. And we had to replace broken bottles this month."
Loe's features register each drop in the number, matching them with the depth of her frown. "The rain. And... bottles? You have your own supplier for that? The Weyr could probably get them pretty cheaply." Just a suggestion. Of course, maybe they were through the Weyr to begin with. "What happened here?" she headwoman wonders gently, pointing to that first sharp drop in the profits.
"Skinner," June notes, soft smile twisted a bit as she acknowledges handing profit to the very man Loe wants to irk. She pops a piece of fruit into her mouth, taking her time with it as she leans over to see the point in question. A gentle shrug lifts when she tracks it with her own eyes. "I wish I knew. It was just an abnormally slow day. You can see the drop start here..." After a quick swipe of her fingers together, she lays a single one along the line in question, tracing back a few days to isolate a gentler dip. "Then a few good days, though I think that was one of Skinner's merchants staying here. And then it just drops again." And her finger follows the rest of the disappointing figures down, the minor rises and falls all staying around the same level.
Loe scoffs a little at the very mention of his name. "Miserable man is everywhere," she tsks, largely to herself. She's eyeing the legder again. "Well, if it really is the weather, things should be picking up soon. I should look at the Sandbar records and see if it has a summer slump too." She rubs her fingers along the side of the ledger, like maybe she's petting it comfortingly since its had such a time. "We're looking at having races. I'm not sure when, but sometime in the near future. I bet you could take advantage of that. Offer rooms. Or rent out the lawn for people to pitch their tents or stop their wagons. Maybe slap together some simple breakfast for a small price to make everything nice and convenient. Plus, well, race, chances are a good number of the attendents will like gambling anyway." She does look at those numbers again though. "It's just so sudden," she marvels of the drop.
June grows more interested by degrees as Loe begins to describe the races being worked up and all of the ways that she herself could capitalize on them. She nods, not bothering to mask the enthusiasm in her expression. "Fantastic," she declares, though softly. "Like I said, like a Hold's gather. It's perfect." But the reality of now seeps in again and when Loe turns back to the ledger she does too. "I know," June agrees, though she's already resigned to the fact. "We're going to be doing everything we can to make it come up again. But you can see why I was hesitant to start new projects."
The resignation is met with sympathy and Loe's honest smile. "Hey, business can't just grow and grow and grow. It'll perk up again. How could it not?" Such optimism. "Plus, we did expect that things would level off once things weren't so new and shiny anymore." She shrugs her shoulders and moves her finger to the dates of those major dips in revenue though there's no further comment on it. "You never had any trouble, did you? Never saw those guys Vlad sketched?"
June still picks through the fruit and she's on the hunt for a citrus slice when Loe asks her that question. So her eyes are downturned when she gives a tiny, vague shake of her head. "Still looking for them," she answers casually, fingers happening upon the sought fruit and snatching it up easily. "You're still looking for them, then. Is the Weyr going to take any action against them, if you do find them?" The fruit is bitten in half as her curious gaze finds Loe's again.
"I'm not sure," Loe returns, more subdued. "I mean, I don't know what made them single out Vlad or what they thought it would accomplish to mess with him but nothing else has happened and maybe they're just a couple of bullies who moved on. It's not right but... Vlad hasn't seen them again so maybe it's over. Not that I like the idea of a those pigs out there in the world trying to prey anyone who can't defend themselves. They're either really stupid or think that they're really smooth to get it into their heads that you could pull stuff like that at a Weyr. No one here is powerless." She's certain on that. And meanwhile, she's also started to copy down the hightlights of June's ledge onto her own clipboard.
"So what's the point of having me look for them, then? Just to see if they're still around?" June asks idly, reaching out for just the nearest available fruit piece this time and popping it in her mouth. While she chews, she idly watches the copying, though her gaze easily meets Loe's should it turn up.
"Well, yeah. It's not like you're out in the woods turning over rocks or anything. And they -are- the kinds of guys who would beat Vlad up just because he wouldn't hand over his money. I figured you should probably have a heads up in case they come in here and start something." Loe pauses her transcription to take a drink. "Anyway, I thought they might comeback and try to get him again but it seems like we can probably our guard down, I guess." She takes in a deep breath, lets it out slowly. "I don't know. I've never done before."
June nods, quietly understanding for Loe's lack of experience with thugs, while she finishes her most recent bite. "They may be wanting you to let your guard down, though," she observes. "Call me pessimistic or jaded, but... well, if you let one drunken buffoon smash up your bar, there'll be twenty behind him thinking they can do the same thing." She smiles for the comparison of her bar to the Weyr, but lets the humor fade quickly. "And if they're not just random bullies, you should know about /that/ sooner rather than later."
"Well yeah but for how long? How long do we worry about them before we figure they're good and gone?" Loe makes a face for that the query, a scowl for her inability to answer her own questions. "What do you think we should do? Are you worried about them coming here?" Her brows go up, curious about that. And it's easier to address that possibility. "Because I can get assign some muscle to look out for you, you know."
June smiles in the face of Loe's curiosity, a calming, reassuring variant. "We have enough muscle to handle things at the moment. If I start getting worried, I'll let you know. I'm just worried about the Weyr as a whole. Things get bad for the Weyr, things get bad for me." The symbio-something goes both ways, you see.
Loe rolls her eyes a bit, friendly-like, as June insists she has enough muscle. However, that much as been covered already. "You don't have to worry about the Weyr. Those two, they're like gnats. They aren't even an appetizer. We have so many friends." She lets her smile spread slow and certain and sly. "And so many of those many friends have dragons. You don't ever have to worry about stuff like that." And then, appended, "Of course, if you do see those guys, send someone to the Weyr. I don't know if it's better to bring them in and question them or let them go and follow but I'd rather not leave them out there to terrorize the island."
June gives the response all of her attention, even slowing her chewing at a point or two to more completely listen to what's being said. "Following's a good idea," she compliments sincerely when Loe's done, giving a few more faint nods of her head as she leans back in her seat, water glass taken up again and sipped from. Maybe she's reassured by the thought of legions of dragons on her side or just tired of such dismal topics, but she heaves a sigh and discards her glass after she's only just taken it. Rising, she tells Loe, "I'm going to find us something a bit naughtier to drink. Then we can get into all of the really good," slight emphasis on that word there, encompassing two aspects of the word, both juicy and not at all dreary, "gossip from the caverns." And she does just that.