(closed) My finger's in the sky so much I got arthritis now—

[chittybang]

Date & Time: Backdated a couple... months lmfao at lunch time.
Location: Some bistro
Characters: Asami Sato (chittybang) and Tony Stark (fe_male)
Summary: Asami and Tony discuss transportation.
Warnings: None

[Asami is one to arrive on time when it comes to important meetings, especially ones in which she's trying to make a good impression. This time, she has arrived a little early so that she can situate her self and her things at a table. In front of her are a pad of notes and a cup of coffee. There's a secret to always appearing energetic throughout the morning, daytime and evening around company, and it isn't tea anymore.

Her motorcycle is parked out front, and inside she occupies herself with her handheld communicator until Tony arrives. By some miracle the rain and her helmet haven't done anything to upset her business-casual ensemble.]

Comments

[chittybang]

[Asami nods.] Alright. I guess I'll start with where I'm coming from. I'm not sure if you remember from the first time we met, but back home I just took over my Dad's technological corporation. We specialize in automotives, hence the luxury line of Satomobiles, and one of my Dad's claim to fames was introducing the concept of the taxi cab.

From my point of view— oh. [The waiter introduces himself to the new member of the table, and Asami politely orders a cup of coffee for him. After he leaves, she has to pause to regain her thought, leaving him enough room to interject if he wishes.]

[fe_male]

[ He listens to all of that pretty attentively, although it looks like he's playing with something in his hands - he's still looking up at her mostly. He lets her order the coffee since she goes ahead and starts doing it, and it gives him another second or so to organize his own thoughts. ]

Taxis would be a good alternative to the bus system. More specific, cut some time out. How big are the specs on your autos? Since a lot of the exiles' streets tend to randomly have debris - hence the irregularity of the transport systems in place already. Could beef up any of them, get road clearing sweeps regularly, boost the prevalence and viability of personal transportation. Or scale them down a bit to make it easier to maneuver. What're the specs on the Satomobiles again?

[chittybang]

[Asami forgot how difficult it can be to follow Tony's dialogue, but she keeps up well enough for having considered some of the points he mentions as well as for keeping an open mind to new ideas. She hadn't considered the possibility of road clearings, and she's in the middle of writing the idea when he asks her to review the specs of Satomobiles.]

There're a couple brands, but as for the standard issue cabs... [Only slightly distracted by his hands, she briefly reviews specifications highly similar to those of a 1925 Ford Model T. Then she adds sheepishly:] I don't know if you remember that mission we had to take a few months ago to Mare-lin? [Maryland.] But I saw some pretty advanced models of automobiles while we were there, and a lot more of them quite frankly.

[fe_male]

[ It takes a second to place "Mare-lin", but he gets it pretty quickly still, because he's a genius. ]

Ah, yeah, that's about what it's like where I'm from. There's something to be said for the looks of the classics though. And their ease in reproduction and repair. People don't have as much travelling to do here, even the exiles. [ Small shrug. ] At least, as far as in the ones I know. They might do more if they had the range though.

[chittybang]

[She smiles sheepishly from the fact that her line of Satomobiles are thought of as classics, and in a good way at least.]

So you're sure creating or refurbishing vehicles to function at all is viable, then?

i am so sorry /again/. and then, again, if he's over...thinking this

[fe_male]

[ Hey, he has a good eye for fine looking.. blueprints. Or something. ]

I think for the market here we'd have to build pretty small - machining the parts necessary for just one full sized car would be relatively cost-prohibitive pretty quickly based on materials. But, offset with some lower power, four-cylinders, scooters, whatever, it's a pretty good idea. Get something interchangeable, easily repaired if something happens - because... It's gonna happen, we know it's gonna happen, whatever it is - yeah. Feels like a deal. [ Heh look it's like he's a businessman. And even moreso - ] And we can more or less immediately corner the market on said inevitable repair too. What's the average efficiency on these? Gas isn't always a thing easily accessed either, if we can keep that ratio stacked to one side we won't eat up the supply.

haha look rl took a toll on me too! WE CAN DO THIS

[chittybang]

Depending on the model, our cabs get about as much as 21 miles per gallon. I have to say, I live in a world where gas is abundant. I think we took it for granted.

[Their coffee arrives, and Asami pauses to politely thank their server.]

So some lower power vehicles, probably some hour restrictions too. Get more out there during peak hours but have maybe just a couple cabs or scooters out in that three-to-nine A.M. period if anyone's willing to work.

YAY RL no go away rl :|

[fe_male]

Probably. Most places tend to.

[ He lets her thank the server - he needs to almost immediately start drinking the coffee, temperature (mostly) be damned. ]

Oh, also a good idea, although we'd have to orchestrate some manner of enforcing the timing restrictions. I haven't got the manpower for anything like that.

[chittybang]

I have a feeling drivers will be less inclined to eat up fuel if they're not getting paid. We can enforce consequences on payment if we catch them driving our vehicles without permission during off-hours, moreso if that includes taking company money. In a place like this, I think it would be fairly obvious.

[She takes a moment to sip her hot coffee.]

wow i'd been thinking about the drivers/cars system differently oops

[fe_male]

[ well that's a good point. nips that right in the bud. point one, asami. ] Yeah. That'd fix that pretty quickly. [ He mulls it all over, back and forth and back for a few moments, then looks at her. ] So are we doing this or not? I'll start to work on the autos - you shoot me over that sexy schematic for your autos, we'll make those too. Hiring drivers, that's your job though.

ooh we can always make revisions behind the scenes too! lemme know

[chittybang]

[Asami had been growing comfortable throughout the conversation, but Tony's sudden gesture of agreement makes the butterflies rise in her stomach again, and in a good way. She can't control her relieved grin.]

I most certainly will. And let me tell you something, if you can crank out something that moves then I'll even train a few drivers. Maybe we can discuss routes when we figure out how many vehicles we have.

should i even bother i'm so sorry

[fe_male]

[ He likes coaxing those grins out of people though. It's fun. ]

'If' I can 'crank out something that moves'. [ omg so sarcastic tho ] Yeah, that sounds like a plan. All works out for me. You want anything written up or is an audio recording of the agreement okay enough by you?