The Ranch

Collaboration (2)

Phillip leads the way to Maddox's office. Phillip knocks politely on the door and waits to hear a "come in" before entering.

Phillip and Tih walk into Instructor Maddox's office. The room has a silver sheen to it. It feel much more futuristic in design. Everything in the room is very neat and clean. Tih can't see a speck of dust throughout the entire room.

Tih spots a black military uniform hanging on the wall. Tih looks at the man behind the floating desk. The office desk is actually just an large, oval-shaped piece of glass levitating in the air. The chair is large and egg-shaped with a fourth being cut out.

Maddox is sitting cross-legged behind the desk. He's wearing a black suit with a dark purple tie, that matches well with his slicked back hair that reaches the bottom of his neck.

"It's a pleasure to collaborate with you, Mr. Maddox." Phillip says in a calm, business-like tone.

"For us as wel-" Instructor Maddox turns his eyes up to examine the temporary business partner the other sent only to be drawn to Tih.

"Tih? What are you doing here? Did you need help with something?" Instructor Maddox immediately forgets his business in favor of talking to the child. He gets up from behind his desk to come up to Tih.

"You know each other?" Phillip looks surprised. In terms of the (known) wealthy inhabitants on the island, Maddox ranks high, if not at the top. It's not easy to meet him and it's especially hard to have a conversation with him. But, the most surprising thing to Phillip is how considerate Maddox is acting in front of Tih.

It's well-known that Maddox is an incredible strict and rule-abiding person, making it difficult for people to like him, but even more difficult for him to have a good impression of others. He always holds certain expectations towards people and expects them to abide by his personal expectations. No matter the status, he will not back down and submit to others morals and philosophies.

To see the rumored strict, rule-abiding man lower his force of presence for another is unheard of.

Maddox glances at Phillip before coughing into his fist. He momentarily forgot his image. He puts his hand out," Nice to meet you. As we will be working together for the discernible future, please refer to me as Maddox."

Phillip shakes his hand," Understood. Then please call me Phillip."

"Then Phillip, may I ask why Tih is here?" Maddox decides to ask Phillip, knowing Tih can't answer himself.

"Tih is currently working as my assistant in this project. Is that fine with you?" Although Phillip very much wants Tih to stay by his side during this boring process, he knows not to ignore the collaborators, especially when it comes to security. Both groups have equal say in this partnership, so it's not good to ignore the other side's opinions.

Maddox takes a second to think about it before deciding Tih to be trustworthy," Yes, it's fine with me. Then, shall we start discussing ideas?" He motions the two over with his hands.

Two similar egg chairs glide over to the front side of the hovering glass desk. The three sit down in their respective seats.

Maddox pushes up his glasses as he begins," Our main goal is to distract the public from our unknown competitor's stores that have been popping up suddenly until we figure out who's backing them and their goals."

"Agreed. In that aspect, the maze did quite a good job for us."

"Yes, but that's ending soon. We need something that will last longer."

"I think we should stick to what we know works. The maze offered up a legendary prize with a seemingly easy way to get it." Phillip brings up Alphonse's maze.

"What are you thinking?"

"I have an idea, but it's a little costly which brings some risk factors."

"I'm open to any plausible suggestions." Maddox doesn't like beating around the bush.

"A carnival." Phillip offers bluntly.

Maddox goes into thought, not immediately dashing the idea aside.

"Think about it. We garner attention using kquil and other rare prizes. We'll have a small play fee to earn back the investment fee. Carnivals are giant time wasters and money pits, both of which are needed to go to the Central Market. Those that can afford things here have time and money to spare. So let's just drag them all to the colosseum."

Maddox starts thinking about the logistics of it all, "We'll need a space to use. The only place would be the unused colosseum. I already own most of the arenas so renting the place out shouldn't be too expensive, but the longer we do it, the more money we'll be throwing in to it. Especially if we want to get ahold of a bunch of rare weapons and such and that's only if we manage to find them in the first place. You should be well aware, people like to conceal those things to hide their strength. We can't pull rare tools out of thin air like the maze did with those shoes. Not to mention a carnival's expiration date. The novelty of throwing their money at this new thing will only last a week or so."

While the two are still discussing, Tih is thinking about something else. The part where Instructor Maddox mentioned the maze and the prize jogged Tih's memory.

Tih takes out the old man's ID and recalls Sinclair's desk. He walks over to Maddox's side and starts slapping and jabbing the ID on the glass screen without and luck. He tries different areas of the screen. All corners of the glass. To reach the top part with his short body, he climbs onto Maddox with no expression and slaps the card on the glass.

"..."  Maddox doesn't quite know how to react. He's never been in much physical contact with people. But now, Tih is sitting on his lap in a completely relaxed way, like its normal.

"Tih? What are you doing?" Phillip speaks up first. Tih has distracted them from their conversation so it's best to deal with Tih's antics first before anything else. Currently, Phillip is mostly worried about the fact that he's all touchy-feely with Maddox without realizing it.

The card in Tih's has is swooshing all over the glass pane and Tih is grabbing on to Maddox as support as he swings his body to and fro.

Phillip is about to piss his pant. Right now, Tih is his "assistant". His "assistant" has climbed onto his collaborator's lab without warning. If Maddox is angered and decides to cancel the collaboration, he won't be able to look his master in the eyes. He'll be too much of a disgrace for ruining his master's business and reputation.