Was asked to repost this to the forums, so here it goes! Context is - we were discussing the City of Villains contact 'Westin Phipps', when I segued into talking about one of my own villain characters...
[The Legendary]Acyl: Suffice to say she did a brief stint as a contact in Paragon City, working with lowbie rookie heroes.
[The Legendary]Acyl: She was eventually sent to the Zig when, among other things, it was discovered too many of the heroes that were referred to her as a contact...
[The Legendary]Acyl: ...ended up going into sewer entrances and never coming out.
[The Legendary]Ebony: Yikes.
[The Legendary]Acyl: She had a rather brisk business as a wholesale supplier.
[The Legendary]Acyl: To Dr. Vahzilok. =D
[The Legendary]Atlantea: O_O
[The Legendary]Acyl: Westin thinks too small. =D
[The Legendary]Ebony: Yikes Yikes.
[The Legendary]Ebony: Dead is dead. Parts is parts. Dead heroes is parts. (To paraphrase Mike Pondsmith)
[The Legendary]Acyl: =D
And then Ebony said:
[The Legendary]Ebony: And I can hear the Honest Gentleman asking...
The rest of this played out over the Legendary channel. I've replaced Ebony's name and mine with the appropriate character tags, but you really have to picture it. Totally impromptu. =D
Honest Gentleman: "So, Miss Seven, just out of curiosity ... did you charge Dr. Vazhilok by the pound, or by the limb?"
Triple Seven: "Oh, come now, what do you take me for? You have to do things properly. Now, see this pricing chart - that'd be the Malta MH classification, which is a /reasonably/ good measure of quality, and that's the condition the merchandise is in..."
Triple Seven: "Mind, there's extra charges for pre-processing and delivery. Do-it-yourself packages are cheaper, but some customers have problems with disassembly..."
Honest Gentleman: "Surely not the Good Doctor. He always struck me as a man well-versed in the finer points of anatomy.
Triple Seven: "Oh, yeah, but he's a busy man, and he can't always deal directly with the operations side of the business. And with all the best talent in the marketplace these days going to Crey, well, some of his employees..."
Honest Gentleman: "I understand completely. It can be terribly hard to find good help these days. I myself was forced to look abroad for appropriate resources."
Triple Seven: "Oh, yes. I'm a small operator myself - content to be a middleman, you know, service industry and all that - but I imagine foreign talent would be the way to go...but you'd want quality expatriates..."
Triple Seven: "Not Just: Any: Immigrant."
Honest Gentleman: "Absolutely. The trick is, of course, to find the applicant is is not constrained by situation. It is better, by far, to hire an immigrant who is here because he or she can be here, rather than one who is here because they MUST be here. "
Honest Gentleman: "It helps separate the competent from the desperate.
Triple Seven: "True, true, but then you run into the other problem with the marketplace, where Mr. Richter and his associates are very nearly a Monopsony...-so- bad for the small business..."
Honest Gentleman: ""Oh well, with his Lordship, I find that it's best to treat him as a landlord more than a competitor. Work within the rules when he's watching, and when he's not ... well.....
Triple Seven: "Mm, 'landlord' is a good analogy. Pay the rent all the time, but he /never/ comes round to look at the blocked sink..."
Honest Gentleman: "Quite. But, at the same time, he may not be particularly interested in the contents of your back room, either."
Triple Seven: "Unless the strange noises are disturbing residents on the other floors."
Honest Gentleman: "Well, that requires preparation and forethought. Always necessary for the independent businessman or woman."
Triple Seven: "Soundproofing. Always a...sound investment."
Honest Gentleman: "Doubtless. I find a good fire control system is also useful, to prevent City Services from arriving at inopportune times. Of course, my hobbies may be bit more ... pharmacological than yours."
Triple Seven: "Probably. I've looked at the Superadine business, mind you, but I eventually decided the environmental costs of production weren't worth it. Too much capital, and I'd much rather not go green..."
Honest Gentleman: "Superadine ... pfeh. A mug's game, to quote my driver. I prefer much more refined materials. One does not sell Troll drugs to the bored and rich elite."
Triple Seven: "Oh, no. Superadine's got a bad reputation among consumers, I know - too devalued in the marketplace. But it's all down to tastes and preferences. The Family have a much finer recipe, you know?"
Triple Seven: "It's like beer. Quite a difference between cheap convenience store lager...and, say, a nice cask-aged barley brew, hm? But, well, it's a terribly -difficult- market, as I said."
Honest Gentleman: "Ah, yes. The Family are preferred customers for many of my goods. Discreet, traditional, and quite easy to work with."
Honest Gentleman: "I suppose it could be. The competition is certainly fierce."
Honest Gentleman: "But I have found that good pay for good employees, a certain sense of propriety and style, and the willingness to utterly annihilate anyone who gets in your way go a long way to making it quite profitable."
Triple Seven: "Oh, quality over quantity, yes. Economies of scale aren't for the small firm. But if you can't make a profit selling in bulk, there's always a small number of sales but at a premium price..."
Triple Seven: "If, of course, there's demand."
Honest Gentleman: "My dear, when it comes to the Isles, there's ALWAYS a demand for what we provide. The trick is finding it and making it as profitable as possible."
Triple Seven: "Life is cheap, bullets are expensive?"
Honest Gentleman: "Something like that."
-- Acyl
[The Legendary]Acyl: Suffice to say she did a brief stint as a contact in Paragon City, working with lowbie rookie heroes.
[The Legendary]Acyl: She was eventually sent to the Zig when, among other things, it was discovered too many of the heroes that were referred to her as a contact...
[The Legendary]Acyl: ...ended up going into sewer entrances and never coming out.
[The Legendary]Ebony: Yikes.
[The Legendary]Acyl: She had a rather brisk business as a wholesale supplier.
[The Legendary]Acyl: To Dr. Vahzilok. =D
[The Legendary]Atlantea: O_O
[The Legendary]Acyl: Westin thinks too small. =D
[The Legendary]Ebony: Yikes Yikes.
[The Legendary]Ebony: Dead is dead. Parts is parts. Dead heroes is parts. (To paraphrase Mike Pondsmith)
[The Legendary]Acyl: =D
And then Ebony said:
[The Legendary]Ebony: And I can hear the Honest Gentleman asking...
The rest of this played out over the Legendary channel. I've replaced Ebony's name and mine with the appropriate character tags, but you really have to picture it. Totally impromptu. =D
Honest Gentleman: "So, Miss Seven, just out of curiosity ... did you charge Dr. Vazhilok by the pound, or by the limb?"
Triple Seven: "Oh, come now, what do you take me for? You have to do things properly. Now, see this pricing chart - that'd be the Malta MH classification, which is a /reasonably/ good measure of quality, and that's the condition the merchandise is in..."
Triple Seven: "Mind, there's extra charges for pre-processing and delivery. Do-it-yourself packages are cheaper, but some customers have problems with disassembly..."
Honest Gentleman: "Surely not the Good Doctor. He always struck me as a man well-versed in the finer points of anatomy.
Triple Seven: "Oh, yeah, but he's a busy man, and he can't always deal directly with the operations side of the business. And with all the best talent in the marketplace these days going to Crey, well, some of his employees..."
Honest Gentleman: "I understand completely. It can be terribly hard to find good help these days. I myself was forced to look abroad for appropriate resources."
Triple Seven: "Oh, yes. I'm a small operator myself - content to be a middleman, you know, service industry and all that - but I imagine foreign talent would be the way to go...but you'd want quality expatriates..."
Triple Seven: "Not Just: Any: Immigrant."
Honest Gentleman: "Absolutely. The trick is, of course, to find the applicant is is not constrained by situation. It is better, by far, to hire an immigrant who is here because he or she can be here, rather than one who is here because they MUST be here. "
Honest Gentleman: "It helps separate the competent from the desperate.
Triple Seven: "True, true, but then you run into the other problem with the marketplace, where Mr. Richter and his associates are very nearly a Monopsony...-so- bad for the small business..."
Honest Gentleman: ""Oh well, with his Lordship, I find that it's best to treat him as a landlord more than a competitor. Work within the rules when he's watching, and when he's not ... well.....
Triple Seven: "Mm, 'landlord' is a good analogy. Pay the rent all the time, but he /never/ comes round to look at the blocked sink..."
Honest Gentleman: "Quite. But, at the same time, he may not be particularly interested in the contents of your back room, either."
Triple Seven: "Unless the strange noises are disturbing residents on the other floors."
Honest Gentleman: "Well, that requires preparation and forethought. Always necessary for the independent businessman or woman."
Triple Seven: "Soundproofing. Always a...sound investment."
Honest Gentleman: "Doubtless. I find a good fire control system is also useful, to prevent City Services from arriving at inopportune times. Of course, my hobbies may be bit more ... pharmacological than yours."
Triple Seven: "Probably. I've looked at the Superadine business, mind you, but I eventually decided the environmental costs of production weren't worth it. Too much capital, and I'd much rather not go green..."
Honest Gentleman: "Superadine ... pfeh. A mug's game, to quote my driver. I prefer much more refined materials. One does not sell Troll drugs to the bored and rich elite."
Triple Seven: "Oh, no. Superadine's got a bad reputation among consumers, I know - too devalued in the marketplace. But it's all down to tastes and preferences. The Family have a much finer recipe, you know?"
Triple Seven: "It's like beer. Quite a difference between cheap convenience store lager...and, say, a nice cask-aged barley brew, hm? But, well, it's a terribly -difficult- market, as I said."
Honest Gentleman: "Ah, yes. The Family are preferred customers for many of my goods. Discreet, traditional, and quite easy to work with."
Honest Gentleman: "I suppose it could be. The competition is certainly fierce."
Honest Gentleman: "But I have found that good pay for good employees, a certain sense of propriety and style, and the willingness to utterly annihilate anyone who gets in your way go a long way to making it quite profitable."
Triple Seven: "Oh, quality over quantity, yes. Economies of scale aren't for the small firm. But if you can't make a profit selling in bulk, there's always a small number of sales but at a premium price..."
Triple Seven: "If, of course, there's demand."
Honest Gentleman: "My dear, when it comes to the Isles, there's ALWAYS a demand for what we provide. The trick is finding it and making it as profitable as possible."
Triple Seven: "Life is cheap, bullets are expensive?"
Honest Gentleman: "Something like that."
-- Acyl