Z
Zack
ON> 188604
"Alright Alex, are you ready?" Uso asked, putting her hands on his shoulders, her chest pressing against the back of his head, "Through that door is a potential new hire. Someone who may be able to help you with getting that fleet of yours built... or... well... helping turn this into more of an operation rather than an outfit. Do you know anything about interviewing?"
Alex frowned slightly. "Uhhh... No?"
"Well. Learn on the job Alex!" Uso said, leaning forward, digging her feet in and starting to shove Alex towards the door... where their new hire was waiting for them.
Alex nervously opened the door to reveal a moderately tall Caelisolan female wearing a cheap-looking suit, her hand paused mid-air in a position implying she was about to knock. "Ah, hello there sir. I came for an interview, I saw the advertisement that was spread around regarding an open position in fleet management and logistics?" Her voice wafted through the air slightly nervously, although not timidly. "I must say, a desert is an interesting place to set up..." Her waist-length hair appeared to refract the light from outside curiously, as if it were two colors instead of one. Unfortunately the lighting differences shadowed her face slightly and obscured details aside from her profile.
Alex nodded understandingly. "I can see why you might think that, but the truth is there isn't much space on 188604 that isn't desert. Uhh...." Here he paused for a moment.
"Hm. I thought that was just the designation of the planet, you've not given it a proper name yet?" She had taken advantage of this pause to bring up a curiously silly point, but a point nonetheless.
"No one could come up with one that people could agree on. At least thats what I'm told."
"I kinda liked Ragna-world, but it didn't take..." Uso added, pausing for a moment and then backing away from the door, "Don't mind me, this is Alex's show..."
" Anyways, we do have a need for someone to help us manage logistics and fleets. I've recently helped build plans for ships and set up the construction for them, but now that they're set up, we need someone to help manage them. Also, we want to begin to expand soon, so we'll need someone to help with that as well."
"Expand as in... Colony management yes? I'm no foreman but from what I have seen of various colonies many seem to have the same ideas behind them-big important stuff like the spaceport near the middle, with residential and other zones. Ahem Yeah I can try that. So, it seems like you're Alex. My name's Serai, Araxie Seari. Haven't been much more than a traveler, when it comes to official documentation but things slip through those fissures easily. And who might you be, madam?" This last comment was directed towards Uso, who had taken a step away but was in the room still regardless-the temporary blockage of its entrance attested to that.
"Uso Tasuki, but please, don't mind me... I'm just here to make sure Alex here doesn't back out of this meeting. You know, pushing him to do more and better things. I think some management experience will do him well... he's kinda a lone gunman type right now." She responded, keeping her distance from the pair, "... I am sure you may have some more specifics to talk about Alex?"
Alex cocked his head slightly. "Specifics about Araxie's job?"
"Could be specifics about me. Y'know, criminal records and all that, tends to be a standard part of contracting nowadays. Seems people get taken aback when an Elysian walks over to ask them for a job."
"Do you think her criminal record is good enough Alex?" Uso asked, snickering a bit.
"I... I don't really... What?"
While the two people went about their little tangent, the caelisolan did her best to peek around the male one-Alex-to get a glimpse of the room, a sort of precursory examination from the door that was... Far from subtle. The room beyond the door certainly wasn't much. The Queen's Slave was a bit of a mess, their starship having loose parts all over the place, a disassembled gun, bits of a power armor, and datapads strewn about the command table in the center of the room.
"Ask her questions Alex, get to know her. It doesn't matter too much what you ask, you just need to talk to her and get a feel for what kind of person she is... for example...." Uso would turn her attention towards the Elysan again, as she came up behind Alex once more, her hands on his shoulders,
"If you were shrunk down to the size of a pencil and put into a blender, how would you escape?"
O-O She stood still for a few moments, eyes flicking about sporadically until she responded with another question, "Is the blender open, what is it made of, and are the blades currently installed?"
"See? Analytical, Slow, Cautious.... quite the fit since you are.... " Uso let her words drift off, tapping on Alex's shoulders with her fingers as she tried to get him to respond.
"Uhhhhmm... Does it matter?" Alex asked.
"Hmm? I'm what now, Ms. Tasuki?" Gravitating towards the apparently more in-control person with her questions, Serai seemed to ignore Alex's question.
"Of course it matters!" Uso said, "You don't know a thing about this person. We need someone we can trust, someone that can work with us, and someone who meshes well... Do you think its more important she be talented? Or that she gets along with you? Do you have an idea of what you bring to the table and how it fits with her offerings?"
"I think its more important that we have anyone doing the job at all." Alex said, speaking his mind plainly, as usual.
"Depends on the job, really," Araxie interjected. "After all, sometimes an idiot in a position only screws things up further than hiring a half-competent person..." She shook her torso a little bit, loosening her muscles and also as a side effect, showing off her wings slightly-colored like blue roses, and textured normally for an Elysian.
"And which are you?"
"I like to think myself competent. Sometimes people turn me down because they believe Elysians have their heads up their butts too far to think about anything other than themselves. Proving them wrong tends to be a chore... Then again, if you're asking for someone to move heavy boxes around I'm not the best at that. Putting that one out as a disclaimer."
"I don't think we'll need you to do any heavy lifting." Alex said. "We've got plenty of other equipment to do that for us."
"Hm, fair enough. From what I saw on my way here, things are built for heavy duty jobs, which is great to start." Going silent again, the Elysian stood in the doorway still, swaying slightly on her feet in a non-fatigued manner.
Alex nodded. "We have a lot of equipment here that's good for building. So, do you have a place to stay?"
"If there's an open bunk anywhere that I can use until the contract expires, then yes." The way those words exited her mouth, it was as if she's said them dozens, possibly even hundreds of times before.
"I'm sure we can find somewhere better for you to stay. I have a house."
"As... Comfortable as it sounds, I think that might be me overstepping my bounds if i'm just going to be working here for a few months." She shifted nervously to her left this time, one wing visibly twitching behind her.
Alex frowned. "Aren't you going to stay longer than that?"
"Depends. Contract length, whether I liked the job or not, based off of the operations here whether I'm alive or not by the end is a debatable topic, stuff like that." She shrugged with four of her limbs, the wings elevating higher than her shoulders to be more visible-in a way Elysians could probably intimidate people if they used their wings for a bit of extra body length, towering over people.
"We've got a great health-plan! ST backups and everything!" Uso piped in.
"Convenient. I guess tht's one variable effectively removed. Still... This is, actually, surprising me with its formality and simultaneous lackthereof-I'd expected a boring, somewhat chubby middle-aged man in a suit, or a partially-intoxicated man to be running this but you're clearly neither."
"Nonono.... I'm not running this particular one, look at that guy." Uso said pointing to Alex again, "Focus on what you want to accomplish Alex. She may be able to help you turn that into actionable goals."
"Okay, well uh" Alex began to speak nervously, but his voice gained strength as he continued. "... I've been living here ever since Uso... found... me, and well, I've come to see that while the people here get on fine, I think most of them would like a better place to live. Since I don't know if this is the best place to try and terraform, I thought that the USO, that's us, could try to spread out to other planets. But we'd also need a fleet to help protect other planets and star systems."
"Uso, head of the USO... Heh, seems easy enough to remember! But you need someone to keep your empire running, in the proverbial way. Raw labor I'm sure you have plenty of already but like you've said organization is becoming a problem." The slightly-shadowed Elysian shifted around on her feet more, still standing in the doorway with one hand contacting the frame lightly. She spoke again, "As long as the pay's good enough I'll help out. That is... If you're paying me in standard currency. You guys use KS around here right?"
"Yes." Alex sighed, looking slightly disappointed.
"Good. What was that about?" The angel shook herself a little bit again, cocking her head to the side slightly as she inspected her apparent employer.
Alex realized what he had done, and winced in embarrassment. However, now there was nothing to do but explain.
"Its just... Out here almost everyone I meet seems to want something or other. Like money. I don't understand why people can't just do things to help."
"Welcome to society. Money is almost everything to most people. If I've learned anything from the past few years, unless you're begging for survival you won't get anything for free. The price is usually different, but with enough cash you can get almost anything... So naturally having money is the easiest way to get anywhere." Slouching casually to the side, the birb lady leaned against the door frame, opening her mouth as if to continue but simply panting a few times before resuming her previous stance.
"Err... Are you alright?" Alex asked, with a concerned look on his face.
"Yeah I'll be fine... Hate this hot air."
"Oh! I'm so sorry! If you'd like to come in, the air conditioning is on."
"Y-Yeah, that'd be nice. Thank you." Stepping through the doorway, the Elysian's facial features became more prevalent-lightly tanned skin, framing silvery eyes set above a small slightly rounded nose and a mouth that was proportionally average. The earlier confusing appearance of her hair actually turned out to be a curiously irregular mixture of chocolatey-brown follicles mixed with a significantly lower amount of golden-blonde strands, arguably unkempt due to the various circumstances. After taking only a few moments to refresh herself in the regulated air, she seemed much more comfortable all around.
"Uhhh... Can I get you anything?"
"Ah, I'll be alright for now, thank you."
"Only two more things I can think of asking at the moment I guess. One; is there anything you might need while your staying here, and two; would you like me to try to find you a house?" At this point Alex was trying his best, and failing, to seem professional.
"In order, yes I might need some help with random things, likely just small stuff though. And if it's somewhere I can rest, I can work with it." Araxie, on the other hand, seemed to act more relaxed-these guys seemed just like some of the ships she's worked on, if being a hell of a lot bigger didn't matter.
"Uhhhmm, okay. I'm sure we can find room onboard this ship for you."
"Isn't this... Your ship? I mean, thing seem loose around here but isn't that a bit... Too trustworthy of me?"
"No. This ship belongs to Uso. Besides, I doubt there's anything on here worth stealing."
"..Alright then, I guess..." She took another look around the room, noting its generally, messy state internally.
Uso finally decided to step in again,
"This Organization is a bit like a joke: If I have to explain it all to you then no one is having any fun..." Uso would remain by the door, watching from a distance, trying her best not to overpower Alex's presence too much, "Trust is a very complex thing, but if I'm worried about to what level I can trust everyone here then I'm going to have a bad time. I shouldn't have to tell you not to take something that you don't need that I do need, or lay down the law on what is appropriate behavior. I want my team to mesh well and this whole thing is about finding people who mesh well...
... Well THIS whole thing is about teaching Alex how to lead, but the interview process is about finding those people who mesh well...
... Similarly, if you need money we'll setup a salary or whatever. If you need people, resources, whatever, then you have plenty of people you can go to for that. Having a side-hustle is allowed, even encouraged, so long as you're bringing something to the table for the rest of us. At the end of the day, Uso's Star Organization is really just a group of people who have a preference for working with each other."
"Hm. Fair enough, I guess... Not like things could be run in a normal way out here but uhh... Yeah." Araxie shrugged again, flitting her eyes between the two other people in the room. "Oh, and a disclaimer-I like to work during the night, or whatever would have passed on the ship I'd be on. Fewer hassles, fewer interruptions... Stuff like that, although there's still time to talk to me for most people who uhh... have spare time!"
"So what do you want to be when you grow up?" Uso asked, "Grand designs for being some kinda super-accountant? Run your own firm? Servants who feed you grapes?"
"Uhh.... Actually, I've no idea. Just been wandering around for the past few years trying to find the answer to that question, really... I guess in the end, I'd like to settle down somewhere and not have to worry too much about what my children would have to do to survive, except for possibly ruining everything I've set out for them I guess. But that's not really a specific idea, honestly..." There's another one of those shrugs, the rose feathers rippling in the light slightly.
"I think that's a great goal." Alex said, completely serious. "I didn't have anyone looking out for me until I met, well more like Uso found me."
"Ah... You left home, too?" Something in Arx's voice changed there-it grew softer, slower, more... Caring?
Alex looked at his feet. "I guess you could say that in a manner of speaking I did..."
"Ah. Well, you probably had your reasons..." Her voice returned to the more formal, firm tone as she asked, "So where, how, and when should I get started?"
"Now." Uso would walk up to Alex, putting her hands on his shoulders and start pushing him towards their Elysian friend, "Alex here got it in his head that he wanted to do the whole fleet thing, he designed some ships and arranged to by some fabbers to build them but he doesn't seem to know how to keep moving forward with this. He needs a supply line for the ships, people to operate them, that whole thing. Start figuring it out, what facilities you need here, and who you need to talk to to get that all done. You've got my contact info, Vier's, the spacers, Ragnarok... so go and get established. We also got tons of cargo-container-homes setup if you want a place, but you can just as easily take a room on board this ship or get someone to put together your own place."
"Ah. I guess I should make sure that they arrive in one piece, then, as the first matter to take care of."
"Alright Alex, are you ready?" Uso asked, putting her hands on his shoulders, her chest pressing against the back of his head, "Through that door is a potential new hire. Someone who may be able to help you with getting that fleet of yours built... or... well... helping turn this into more of an operation rather than an outfit. Do you know anything about interviewing?"
Alex frowned slightly. "Uhhh... No?"
"Well. Learn on the job Alex!" Uso said, leaning forward, digging her feet in and starting to shove Alex towards the door... where their new hire was waiting for them.
Alex nervously opened the door to reveal a moderately tall Caelisolan female wearing a cheap-looking suit, her hand paused mid-air in a position implying she was about to knock. "Ah, hello there sir. I came for an interview, I saw the advertisement that was spread around regarding an open position in fleet management and logistics?" Her voice wafted through the air slightly nervously, although not timidly. "I must say, a desert is an interesting place to set up..." Her waist-length hair appeared to refract the light from outside curiously, as if it were two colors instead of one. Unfortunately the lighting differences shadowed her face slightly and obscured details aside from her profile.
Alex nodded understandingly. "I can see why you might think that, but the truth is there isn't much space on 188604 that isn't desert. Uhh...." Here he paused for a moment.
"Hm. I thought that was just the designation of the planet, you've not given it a proper name yet?" She had taken advantage of this pause to bring up a curiously silly point, but a point nonetheless.
"No one could come up with one that people could agree on. At least thats what I'm told."
"I kinda liked Ragna-world, but it didn't take..." Uso added, pausing for a moment and then backing away from the door, "Don't mind me, this is Alex's show..."
" Anyways, we do have a need for someone to help us manage logistics and fleets. I've recently helped build plans for ships and set up the construction for them, but now that they're set up, we need someone to help manage them. Also, we want to begin to expand soon, so we'll need someone to help with that as well."
"Expand as in... Colony management yes? I'm no foreman but from what I have seen of various colonies many seem to have the same ideas behind them-big important stuff like the spaceport near the middle, with residential and other zones. Ahem Yeah I can try that. So, it seems like you're Alex. My name's Serai, Araxie Seari. Haven't been much more than a traveler, when it comes to official documentation but things slip through those fissures easily. And who might you be, madam?" This last comment was directed towards Uso, who had taken a step away but was in the room still regardless-the temporary blockage of its entrance attested to that.
"Uso Tasuki, but please, don't mind me... I'm just here to make sure Alex here doesn't back out of this meeting. You know, pushing him to do more and better things. I think some management experience will do him well... he's kinda a lone gunman type right now." She responded, keeping her distance from the pair, "... I am sure you may have some more specifics to talk about Alex?"
Alex cocked his head slightly. "Specifics about Araxie's job?"
"Could be specifics about me. Y'know, criminal records and all that, tends to be a standard part of contracting nowadays. Seems people get taken aback when an Elysian walks over to ask them for a job."
"Do you think her criminal record is good enough Alex?" Uso asked, snickering a bit.
"I... I don't really... What?"
While the two people went about their little tangent, the caelisolan did her best to peek around the male one-Alex-to get a glimpse of the room, a sort of precursory examination from the door that was... Far from subtle. The room beyond the door certainly wasn't much. The Queen's Slave was a bit of a mess, their starship having loose parts all over the place, a disassembled gun, bits of a power armor, and datapads strewn about the command table in the center of the room.
"Ask her questions Alex, get to know her. It doesn't matter too much what you ask, you just need to talk to her and get a feel for what kind of person she is... for example...." Uso would turn her attention towards the Elysan again, as she came up behind Alex once more, her hands on his shoulders,
"If you were shrunk down to the size of a pencil and put into a blender, how would you escape?"
O-O She stood still for a few moments, eyes flicking about sporadically until she responded with another question, "Is the blender open, what is it made of, and are the blades currently installed?"
"See? Analytical, Slow, Cautious.... quite the fit since you are.... " Uso let her words drift off, tapping on Alex's shoulders with her fingers as she tried to get him to respond.
"Uhhhhmm... Does it matter?" Alex asked.
"Hmm? I'm what now, Ms. Tasuki?" Gravitating towards the apparently more in-control person with her questions, Serai seemed to ignore Alex's question.
"Of course it matters!" Uso said, "You don't know a thing about this person. We need someone we can trust, someone that can work with us, and someone who meshes well... Do you think its more important she be talented? Or that she gets along with you? Do you have an idea of what you bring to the table and how it fits with her offerings?"
"I think its more important that we have anyone doing the job at all." Alex said, speaking his mind plainly, as usual.
"Depends on the job, really," Araxie interjected. "After all, sometimes an idiot in a position only screws things up further than hiring a half-competent person..." She shook her torso a little bit, loosening her muscles and also as a side effect, showing off her wings slightly-colored like blue roses, and textured normally for an Elysian.
"And which are you?"
"I like to think myself competent. Sometimes people turn me down because they believe Elysians have their heads up their butts too far to think about anything other than themselves. Proving them wrong tends to be a chore... Then again, if you're asking for someone to move heavy boxes around I'm not the best at that. Putting that one out as a disclaimer."
"I don't think we'll need you to do any heavy lifting." Alex said. "We've got plenty of other equipment to do that for us."
"Hm, fair enough. From what I saw on my way here, things are built for heavy duty jobs, which is great to start." Going silent again, the Elysian stood in the doorway still, swaying slightly on her feet in a non-fatigued manner.
Alex nodded. "We have a lot of equipment here that's good for building. So, do you have a place to stay?"
"If there's an open bunk anywhere that I can use until the contract expires, then yes." The way those words exited her mouth, it was as if she's said them dozens, possibly even hundreds of times before.
"I'm sure we can find somewhere better for you to stay. I have a house."
"As... Comfortable as it sounds, I think that might be me overstepping my bounds if i'm just going to be working here for a few months." She shifted nervously to her left this time, one wing visibly twitching behind her.
Alex frowned. "Aren't you going to stay longer than that?"
"Depends. Contract length, whether I liked the job or not, based off of the operations here whether I'm alive or not by the end is a debatable topic, stuff like that." She shrugged with four of her limbs, the wings elevating higher than her shoulders to be more visible-in a way Elysians could probably intimidate people if they used their wings for a bit of extra body length, towering over people.
"We've got a great health-plan! ST backups and everything!" Uso piped in.
"Convenient. I guess tht's one variable effectively removed. Still... This is, actually, surprising me with its formality and simultaneous lackthereof-I'd expected a boring, somewhat chubby middle-aged man in a suit, or a partially-intoxicated man to be running this but you're clearly neither."
"Nonono.... I'm not running this particular one, look at that guy." Uso said pointing to Alex again, "Focus on what you want to accomplish Alex. She may be able to help you turn that into actionable goals."
"Okay, well uh" Alex began to speak nervously, but his voice gained strength as he continued. "... I've been living here ever since Uso... found... me, and well, I've come to see that while the people here get on fine, I think most of them would like a better place to live. Since I don't know if this is the best place to try and terraform, I thought that the USO, that's us, could try to spread out to other planets. But we'd also need a fleet to help protect other planets and star systems."
"Uso, head of the USO... Heh, seems easy enough to remember! But you need someone to keep your empire running, in the proverbial way. Raw labor I'm sure you have plenty of already but like you've said organization is becoming a problem." The slightly-shadowed Elysian shifted around on her feet more, still standing in the doorway with one hand contacting the frame lightly. She spoke again, "As long as the pay's good enough I'll help out. That is... If you're paying me in standard currency. You guys use KS around here right?"
"Yes." Alex sighed, looking slightly disappointed.
"Good. What was that about?" The angel shook herself a little bit again, cocking her head to the side slightly as she inspected her apparent employer.
Alex realized what he had done, and winced in embarrassment. However, now there was nothing to do but explain.
"Its just... Out here almost everyone I meet seems to want something or other. Like money. I don't understand why people can't just do things to help."
"Welcome to society. Money is almost everything to most people. If I've learned anything from the past few years, unless you're begging for survival you won't get anything for free. The price is usually different, but with enough cash you can get almost anything... So naturally having money is the easiest way to get anywhere." Slouching casually to the side, the birb lady leaned against the door frame, opening her mouth as if to continue but simply panting a few times before resuming her previous stance.
"Err... Are you alright?" Alex asked, with a concerned look on his face.
"Yeah I'll be fine... Hate this hot air."
"Oh! I'm so sorry! If you'd like to come in, the air conditioning is on."
"Y-Yeah, that'd be nice. Thank you." Stepping through the doorway, the Elysian's facial features became more prevalent-lightly tanned skin, framing silvery eyes set above a small slightly rounded nose and a mouth that was proportionally average. The earlier confusing appearance of her hair actually turned out to be a curiously irregular mixture of chocolatey-brown follicles mixed with a significantly lower amount of golden-blonde strands, arguably unkempt due to the various circumstances. After taking only a few moments to refresh herself in the regulated air, she seemed much more comfortable all around.
"Uhhh... Can I get you anything?"
"Ah, I'll be alright for now, thank you."
"Only two more things I can think of asking at the moment I guess. One; is there anything you might need while your staying here, and two; would you like me to try to find you a house?" At this point Alex was trying his best, and failing, to seem professional.
"In order, yes I might need some help with random things, likely just small stuff though. And if it's somewhere I can rest, I can work with it." Araxie, on the other hand, seemed to act more relaxed-these guys seemed just like some of the ships she's worked on, if being a hell of a lot bigger didn't matter.
"Uhhhmm, okay. I'm sure we can find room onboard this ship for you."
"Isn't this... Your ship? I mean, thing seem loose around here but isn't that a bit... Too trustworthy of me?"
"No. This ship belongs to Uso. Besides, I doubt there's anything on here worth stealing."
"..Alright then, I guess..." She took another look around the room, noting its generally, messy state internally.
Uso finally decided to step in again,
"This Organization is a bit like a joke: If I have to explain it all to you then no one is having any fun..." Uso would remain by the door, watching from a distance, trying her best not to overpower Alex's presence too much, "Trust is a very complex thing, but if I'm worried about to what level I can trust everyone here then I'm going to have a bad time. I shouldn't have to tell you not to take something that you don't need that I do need, or lay down the law on what is appropriate behavior. I want my team to mesh well and this whole thing is about finding people who mesh well...
... Well THIS whole thing is about teaching Alex how to lead, but the interview process is about finding those people who mesh well...
... Similarly, if you need money we'll setup a salary or whatever. If you need people, resources, whatever, then you have plenty of people you can go to for that. Having a side-hustle is allowed, even encouraged, so long as you're bringing something to the table for the rest of us. At the end of the day, Uso's Star Organization is really just a group of people who have a preference for working with each other."
"Hm. Fair enough, I guess... Not like things could be run in a normal way out here but uhh... Yeah." Araxie shrugged again, flitting her eyes between the two other people in the room. "Oh, and a disclaimer-I like to work during the night, or whatever would have passed on the ship I'd be on. Fewer hassles, fewer interruptions... Stuff like that, although there's still time to talk to me for most people who uhh... have spare time!"
"So what do you want to be when you grow up?" Uso asked, "Grand designs for being some kinda super-accountant? Run your own firm? Servants who feed you grapes?"
"Uhh.... Actually, I've no idea. Just been wandering around for the past few years trying to find the answer to that question, really... I guess in the end, I'd like to settle down somewhere and not have to worry too much about what my children would have to do to survive, except for possibly ruining everything I've set out for them I guess. But that's not really a specific idea, honestly..." There's another one of those shrugs, the rose feathers rippling in the light slightly.
"I think that's a great goal." Alex said, completely serious. "I didn't have anyone looking out for me until I met, well more like Uso found me."
"Ah... You left home, too?" Something in Arx's voice changed there-it grew softer, slower, more... Caring?
Alex looked at his feet. "I guess you could say that in a manner of speaking I did..."
"Ah. Well, you probably had your reasons..." Her voice returned to the more formal, firm tone as she asked, "So where, how, and when should I get started?"
"Now." Uso would walk up to Alex, putting her hands on his shoulders and start pushing him towards their Elysian friend, "Alex here got it in his head that he wanted to do the whole fleet thing, he designed some ships and arranged to by some fabbers to build them but he doesn't seem to know how to keep moving forward with this. He needs a supply line for the ships, people to operate them, that whole thing. Start figuring it out, what facilities you need here, and who you need to talk to to get that all done. You've got my contact info, Vier's, the spacers, Ragnarok... so go and get established. We also got tons of cargo-container-homes setup if you want a place, but you can just as easily take a room on board this ship or get someone to put together your own place."
"Ah. I guess I should make sure that they arrive in one piece, then, as the first matter to take care of."
