2014.01.30:OfficeMeeting
| Office Meeting | |
|---|---|
| Lane makes her pitch to recruit Gwydion | |
| IC Date | 2014.01.30 |
| IC Time | 9:30am |
| Players | Gwydion, Aiden, Lane |
| Location | Green Knight Consulting, Gwydion's office |
| Prp/Tp | Lane's Celebrity Slave Auction |
| Spheres | None as such |
| Theme Song | Smash Mouth - Why Can't We Be Friends |
Green Knight Consulting - Gwydion's Office(#10098R)
The crowning glory of the head P.I.'s office is the massive stained mahogany desk. The room itself is huge, but that desk is beautiful. A compact high end personal computer sits hidden below the desk with the monitor perched neatly on the right hand corner. The mouse and keyboard hidden under the desk on a rolling keyboard drawer. The desk sits flush against the western wall. Two comfortable chairs sit in front of the desk for client consultation. A huge black leather CEO's chair sits behind the desk.
Along the far northern wall there are several tall lockable filing cabinets and on either side of those are two large stained mahogany book shelves. Sitting proudly displayed on top of the filing cabinets is a framed CA BSIS certificate standing proof that Gwydion Angus McBryde is a full fledged P.I. under California Law. On the far eastern wall a plush black leather couch sits with two forest green throw pillows and a blanket hanging over the back, no doubt for when the job lasts throughout the night.
Obvious Exits: Out <O>
Aiden has arrived.
Lane has arrived.
The offices of Green Knight Consulting are the upstairs neighbor of a neo-pagan supply shop called 'Thru the Looking Glass' across the street from Prospect Roasters. The door into the reception area is standing open since the office is open for business and the receptionist will do a double take at Lane when she comes in for her appointment but professionalism will eventually win out and she'll let Gwydion know that his appointment is here.
In the office Gwydion is behind his desk with his Fedora off and Aiden is at the couch, they both stand when Lane enters and Gwydion offers a pleasantly professional "Good morning Miss Wells. This is my girlfriend Doctor Aiden Lander. She does a lot of the IT work for the firm."
Lane comes in wearing a smart looking dark grey pants suit with a white blouse, suitable for business but that still gives a sense of Lane's personal style which is a somewhat comfortable chic feel. She offers her hand to Gwydion, and says, "Very nice to meet you, Mr. McBryde. Hello Doctor Lander, it's a pleasure," she says with a friendly smile for Aiden. "Thank you for taking my appointment," she tells the couple. "It probably doesn't fall in the normal sort of work your firm does, but you came highly recommended," Lane says with a grin.
Aiden smiles pleasantly as Lane comes in and she offers a hand for the shaking. If it should be taken, it will be a nice, firm, businessy shake. She motions toward one of the seats wordlessly and waits for Gwydion's prompt to sit.
Gwydion smiles and nods as he gives a brisk, professional handshake before gesturing for Lane to take a seat and then once she does he does and gives Aiden a nearly imperceptible nod to settle in. "The usual for Green Knight Consulting is the unusual, so you might be surprised. Though I was a little surprised to get a call from Make-a-wish, I suppose I'd always thought they have facilitators and investigators already on staff."
Lane shakes Aiden's hand, her own just firm enough to be pleasant in a business setting. The brunette smiles to Gwydion and takes the offered seat, crossing a leg over the other. "Actually, I was coming because of you specifically," she tells Gwydion. "Make a Wish is holding a big charity event to kick off the year's fundraising activities. A Celebrity Slave Auction. A chance for people to buy their favorite celebrity or local personality, have them wash the car or walk the dogs or the like for a few hours, and the proceeds going to Make a Wish. We're getting businesses to donate food, beverages, and other items that will be auctioned on the side," Lane says, and pausing to let all of that sink in. "I didn't so much come to hire you as to ask if you might be willing to donate your time and perform, musically, at the event. I understand you have rather eclectic tastes, and so I was hoping you might be able to come up with something suitable for the event. Something Arabian sounding maybe, during the auction itself. We'll also likely have a number of local bands playing before the auction commences."
Gwydion frowns a little and ponders as he leans back in his chair "I don't know if a cultural flavor is such a good idea, especially with the theme of a slave auction. I have a lot of international business clients in my consulting capacity some of whom I can't really afford to offend. I'm interested in principle as long as that's not a deal breaker."
Lane gives a shake of her head as to whether it would be a deal breaker. "Not at all. Music is far from my speciality. I was just trying to think of something in theme. If you can come up with something suitable, and would avoid any chances of offending anyone, that would definitely be for the best," Lane agrees. "If you would be interested in it, we could even add you to the list of those being auctioned off. Maybe one of the final ones after you've played for the others," she poses, looking to see what Gwydion thinks of the idea.
Aiden has been listening silently to all this, her face reasonably passive. Her eyes move from one person to the other, as she is prone to do in these situations. This is work. This is Gwydion. This is PR for his stuff. She'll listen, take notes, offer advice later.
Gwydion grins and shrugs at Lane as she makes her pitch "I can probably come up with something, though you might even want to consider coming up with something else to call it than a 'slave auction'. You probably wouldn't get the same reaction as some fund raisers in Florida did, not to mention the group in Georgia. Best to leave the word 'slave' out altogether. Not to tell you your business but that's just how I'd play it."
From Lane's expression, one might gather Gwydion has touched on an already oft-discussed topic for her. "Believe me, we've had a lot of time in discussion on that. We decided to stick with the name, though we're also talking to some other organizations that actually do deal with places where there is real slavery going on, seeing if we can't do something jointly to point out that while this may be intended in fun and charity, that there are still places in the world where slavery is an issue." She sighs and says, "And to be honest... if a dozen people protested, the publicity would probably help more than anything. Though, that didn't drive the decision."
Aiden nods her silent agreement to Gwydion's words. Lane's retort in kind gets a slightly arched eyebrow and she turns to study Lane for a long moment, her head cocked ever so faintly to the side. Her brow knits then and she looks to Gwydion to see what he has to say about THAT.
Gwydion looks pretty astonished at Lane's reply and takes a deep breath before replying "I wasn't so much speaking to current world events, though you are right there are places where human trafficking is still a very real problem. I'm afraid you might be underestimating the tension and degree of response this would provoke from the City's African American community. The F street Crips would love a chance to get fired up and noisy about something and for once be on the side of the angels, just for the novelty of it."
Lane hmms quietly at that. "I'm newly arrived here in Prospect. I hadn't realized the racial tensions were running strong here." She purses her lips a moment in thought and says, "I'll take that back to the foundation for discussion. I generally find though that moments like these are opportunities. A chance to do a little extra good and use some of the publicity to increase awareness of just that past that might stir up such a group. I'll have to see if we can reach out to them and perhaps find a way to do so that they would approve of." Having been in Lane's presence for long enough to get a sense of her personal magnetism now, one might believe she could pull something like that off.
"They aren't. Not more so here than anywhere else. This is a big city. The publicity that you will get might not be worth it. It won't be just the gangs going after you. It will be Bill down the street with four kids and a mortgage whose great grandfather was a slave and beaten and tortured. It will be Max from over on Campus who has experienced racial prejudice on a daily basis because of the color of his skin. It will be Jenny who sells herself on the streets to feed her babies." Aiden shakes her head just a little bit. "Publicity... you don't WANT that kind of publicity. It won't be protestors. It could be violent. People could DIE.. because of the name." Aiden is about the whitest white girl there is, from her blond hair and blue eyes to her perfectly manicured fingernails and toenails, but she's offended.
Gwydion nods in agreement with Aiden before he takes his turn "They're just the top of the list of potential troublemakers I think you should look into and this is the sort of thing that would set off otherwise reasonable people. I really do hope it works out with nobody getting hurt but as long as its billed as a 'slave auction' I don't think its something I'm personally going to be okay with."
Lane looks disappointed at this news. "I don't know that we have time to change anything, the ads are already gone out to the papers and radio stations and such," she says. "I don't expect there will be that heavy of a backlash, I've run this sort of event before in other locations. But I certainly respect your principles if you feel it isn't something you can get behind," Lane says, the disappointment showing in her voice and face both.
Aiden falls silent after her little tirade, forcing her features to smooth out, the red to diffuse in her cheeks and she says nothing further.
Gwydion sighs and shrugs at the mention of the publicity already having gone out "Ain't nothin else to be done Miss Wells, and I really do hope you're right and it won't be that bad." he says as he stands, figuring that pretty much wraps things up.
Lane rises from her seat and nods to Gwydion. "Thank you for your time. And I do understand. Perhaps we can work together on something else in the future," she says, not seeming to have any hard feelings about it. She offers her hand to each again before she departs.
