Chapter 8.25: Starting capital

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From Rowan's diary

Gaia: Yeeeeeh! C'mon, Tommy, why aren't you playing too?

???: That's what my grandma calls me, do you really have to use that childish nickname? 

Gaia: Both Thomas sounds so old!

Thomas: (grumpy) Uhm...

That Saturday we all went together to New Sixam. Francis wanted to introduce to us his wife, Andrea, considering that she's as involved as he is in their teleportation devices store in town, and as such she wants to participate in the decisional process too.

Andrea: I think that portable devices for personal use would be the ideal starting point. They are cheap, and also very intuitive to use. And let's be clear, who would go back to the subway after trying teleportation? Once you achieve a bit of fame and trust, then, you could think about higher-capacity devices for commercial use, and that would really be a game changer.

Andrea is a technician of teleportation devices, apparently she met Francis when she showed up in his shop blatantly asking to be hired. She knows a crazy amount of stuff about teleportation and matter recomposers, and Juno didn't waste the chance to ask her opinion about whatever point she could think of.

Francis and Andrea also brought their kids, Thomas and Jacob, who played with Gaia for most of the morning.

Francis: I think we all agree then. The perspective is quite promising, but there clearly still is a quite big point to solve: so that no one wants to risk their own money, where do you think you'll get the starting capital to sustain this new company in its first phase?

Juno: We have some experience with fundraising, we are actually planning something already.

Andrea: Well, better than nothing, I guess...

In short, the last obstacle to the inauguration of the new Juno's company is quite clear in sight, at this point.

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Since we were already in New Sixam, we decided to take advantage of it to also go and visit my cousins. We all met at the restaurant near their house, as we often did.

Juno: Hey, hi Iris! How are you doing?
Iris: … I'm in a bit of a rush, I just passed by to say hello. Have a nice lunch, anyway!

Having said this, she waved goodbye to us, then walked away staring at her feet. Even I could tell she was sad about something, and Juno probably thought it was serious enough to follow her at the entrance and ask what had happened.

Juno: Are you sure nothing happened?

Iris: Well...

Later that evening, Juno told me what they had said to each other. Apparently, Iris yesterday night was told the much feared: "I only see you as a friend" by a guy she liked a lot, and that's why today she preferred to be alone.

Iris has always been the one trying to give suggestions about personal relationships to everyone, yet she doesn't seem to have much luck herself. Honestly, I'm quite sorry for her.

 

Meanwhile, the younger ones at the table didn't seem to have noticed the dramas of the adults, and continued to chat happily as usual.

Eva: Rather, how are you doing in the big city?

Gaia: It always rains a lot, I couldn't play outside all week!

Caleb: No way, it sounds so boring!

You can tell that time really flies, now Caleb is way taller than me. He still doesn't talk much, just like Rick, and he looks quite happy overall. Eva is the one filling all the conversations instead, she's almost ready for her high school diploma and would talk to us all for hours about all her projects about getting a degree at Tech Sixam University.

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The following weeks were full of work like never before for Juno and her colleagues: they had an agenda full of appointments about raise funds for their project,  promoting events on social media, and also filling a lot of paperwork to ensure that their new collaborators from New Sixam (and their products) could easily travel back and forth from Sim City.

The first meeting was organized at the new store opening in Sim City, for which we all showed up dressed up and ready to make the best impression we could.

Thomas: Hi!

Gaia: (worried) Hi…

Thomas: What's wrong? You look sad!

Gaia: We can't find our cat Nacho anymore... I hope he isn't lost, you know?

Thomas: Oh, poor kitty!

Indeed, Nacho disappeared the last night, we have no clue about where he may be. I'm not particularly worried, anyway. He does this relatively often, he leaves even for a whole week and then returns back as if nothing had happened. He is a bit of a strange cat, he always seems to have extremely clear ideas about what he wants to do, and if that means wandering around a huge city like this for days, he has no problem disappearing without any warning. I'm sure he'll be back soon also without our intervention, we have definitively more serious things to worry about right now.

While Gaia worried about our cat, Juno and the others were committed to displaying the devices around their new store to the curious customers who had decided to show up. There weren't many of them, but some had come with a notebook to write down details. Who knows, maybe they will post something on their blogs or on their social media profiles and advertise the place.

Juno: Modern individual teleportation devices are extremely compact, the latest models on sale in New Sixam fit in a pocket. Any place is just a click away!

???: But did this teleporter pass the Sim City safety tests? It seems dangerous...

Juno: It will surprise you, but according to the tests there is less risk with teleportation than travelling by car. Also...

Juno really knows how to do this job, I don't know exactly how she always knows what to say. And she didn't forget about the events to come either, because in every free moment of the evening, she took the other organisers aside to discuss the details about the next fundraiser event.

Juno: For the next event we would really need more media coverage, and not only here in Sim City. Don't you think you can write something about it, River?

Andrea: Oh, so are you a journalist?

River: I write for an online magazine, yes. But I'm not sure I can publish such an article, I should ask our editor first…

Iris: What? Do you need a DJ for your next event? Honestly, I'm not really in the mood for it...

Juno: C'mon, there will be a lot of people! Maybe you might even meet someone!

Iris: ... I can ask some colleagues, if you really need someone... Or, if you want to show off some other new technology, have you ever seen holographic DJs?

The key event of the fundraiser was organized the following Saturday, in the form of a musical event at some old ruins which are considered a very trendy location by the local youth these days.

The chosen location is a few hours of flight from Sim City, so participants were given the opportunity to use the teleportation device for free to reach the location and return home.

The idea certainly seems to have been a good one, for many people the opportunity to have fun in a popular place like that without having to pay a penny was more than enough to overcome their fears about teleporting.

Juno: Have you seen how many people came, at the end?

Andrea: It's amazing, I have to admit it!

River: This is definitively quite remarkable, considering it's just a fundraising event! My editor won't be able to turn down an article about this, rest assured!

Rowan: This is the biggest event like this they ever organised, that's for sure.

River seemed particularly cheerful that evening, he would soon be joining the dances too. But before he told me:

River: I'm really happy that Juno gets along so well with Iris, it's good for my sister to have a friend like her.

Rowan: (puzzled) You say?

River: Definitively, yes.

I hadn't really paid much attention to it up to that point, but indeed Juno had been talking with Iris a lot that night, despite all the other things she had to take into account. It almost makes me suspect she's planning something, but what could it be?

Juno: Why don't you try talking to him? I assure you he's very funny!

Iris: ... Well, for what it costs...

Rick: (puzzled) Hey, are you talking about me?

Juno: Oh, sorry, I didn't notice you! It's that this place is so crowded... Anyway, are you having fun too, Rick?

Rick: (nods)

Juno: So, Iris, back to what we were talking about...

The initiative was a great success, for days everyone was talking about Juno's new company and the donations poured in.

They had worked very hard, and were finally starting to see the results.

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A few days later, Miller's house

Gaia: Well, it's not bad up here.

If it were up to Gaia, she would always be hanging from the monkey bars in the garden. Now she sits up there even to do her homework, and very few things can make her decide to come down.

Rowan: Oh, Nacho, you're finally back.

Nacho: Meow.

As predicted, Nacho eventually returned back home, as usually happens under these circumstances he's covered in filth. I don't know where he goes to always return back that dirt...

Rowan: Nacho, aren't cats supposed to know how to remain clean?

Nacho: ...

I had always been certain that the enigmatic feline would return soon, but Gaia instead had been worried for days. It was better to call her right away.

Rowan: Hey Gaia, come to see this! Nacho is back!

Gaia: What, really?

Gaia: (relieved) Oh, hi Nacho!

Rowan: Please don't hug him, he's still covered in cobwebs, and—

Gaia: Welcome back!

Rowan: (to himself) Why do I even talk?

Gaia: What are you still doing here in the studio, dad?

Rowan: I'm checking my email, I'm going to sleep in a minute.

Gaia: Anything interesting?

Rowan: Let's see...

Rowan: (surprised) Oh.

Gaia: What happened? Did you win the lottery?

Rowan: No, it's just a regular email. It's from an old professor from the college I attended, he asks me if I'd like to hold a seminar for his students.

Gaia: (grimacing) How boring, from your face I thought it was something way more interesting than that!

And, saying that, Gaia came out yawning and puffing, still with Nacho in her arms.

I, on the other hand, suddenly felt more awake than ever, it was such an unexpected proposal that made a ton of questions surface in my head: why had he written to me, and why now? What kind of seminar was he thinking about, and what could I talk to the students about?

I haven't considered refusing that invitation even for a second, to be honest I started to visualise the possible points of my speech from the very moment I read the message. It was like going back in time, to the old debate group I was part of back in college.

I know that this will be a short and ephemeral interlude from my job, something meaningless in the long run in other terms. Yet, now I can't wait for the day of that seminar to come. 

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