[Eureka] Step 2: Organisation

[Faith Augustin]

5th Ashan, 722
follwing this

That morning, she had called together the people of Eureka and discussed with them what she wanted to do. There had been questions, concerns even, but by the time she left, everyone was on board. There were many who were keen to help and volunteer, for which Faith was grateful. Now, however, she had to turn her attention to her meeting this afternoon. That was with Mr Pendleton, and they were going to look at the space and discuss design ideas.

When it was time, she made her way to the Inn, where they were meeting. Faith was early, but Mr Pendleton was already there. It had only been a few trials since they met, but he had with him a folder of information and Faith was pleased to see that. He was good, she knew that, but it was still pleasing to see the evidence of that. So, she made her way in and she moved over to the table. Mister Pendleton stood and Faith smiled as she shook his hand. "It's nice to see you, Mr Pendleton," she said with a friendly expression. "How are you?"

He gave a friendly smile. "I'm very well, Doctor Augustin. How are you?" Faith glanced around and then she answered in a manner which was surprisingly open, she supposed. She didn't talk about her feelings, not at all. "I'm dealing with change, and that's both exciting and a little unnerving." It was about as revealing of where she was, emotionally, as anyone was getting.

"So, Mr Pendleton," Faith said quietly. "Where are we at in the process?"

He slid the dossiers over to her. "I'd like you to have a look here," he said. "And tell me how you feel about these ideas."

Faith nodded and opened the dossier. She spent some time examining the contents and she asked questions for clarification. What was this room? How did that link? What was the distance between these two points?

He answered each question, and every time that he did, Faith wrote it down. She wanted to make sure that she fully understood exactly what it was that she was looking at. When she was sure of that, she could start looking at it pragmatically, she knew, but until she did she wasn't going to move forward. Thankfully, she understood quickly and then she finished off the information. Then, deliberately, she started the dossier again at the beginning.

"I'd like it in a slightly different place," she said. "Just ... here, instead of there?" He looked at her with a question on his face. "We have a trade agreement with a local fisherman," she explained. "And that's where he come in and brings his catch. If the hospital is placed here, that will be more convenient for everyone. Does that make sense?" She had an abysmal sense of direction and she worried that this would mean that she'd make mistakes here, but so far she was fine.

"No, that makes sense. Lets go there?" Pendleton asked and Faith nodded. And so, they made their way through the dossier like that, looking at the practical, first step things. Soon, they'd get on to detail but right now, that was what the needed.

Current Planned Map

[Faith Augustin]

5th Ashan, 722
follwing this

Once they had the location fully sorted, Faith started working her way through the hospitals, one by one. "I like this - the fact that there's a means to get to all of them. It's like they're one large structure, while being five distinct ones. They'll be much more efficient like this." Originally, the buildings were going to be very separate but since the central "hub" now was a diamond, the four hospitals around it were able to have a connecting corridor to it - and to each other. That was fine, but now they needed to start looking at the buildings themselves.

"I'd like to start with the central diamond, please," Faith said, and Mr Pendleton nodded. "This is where I want the portal to be, you see," Faith said, and she looked at the diagram Mr Pendleton had. Faith considered it and then she lifted her head to speak and he silently handed her a blank piece of parchment. Except, as she looked, it wasn't blank at all, it had the outline of the building on it. "Put it down between us, Professor, and we'll work out just what you want."

Faith smiled at him, gratefully. And then, she began to speak. "I'd like the portal to be situated in a circular room in the very middle of the building." Pendleton looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "Not a diamond?" Faith shook her head. "No, definitely not," she said. He didn't ask, but she could feel the question sitting there. "I crochet blankets, sometimes, from the middle out. Some of the most beautiful ones start as a circle, and then become a square. It will give the person who first arrives a sense of fluidity, of whole-ness, of it being one place. They'll get split into four places quickly enough, I want what welcomes them to be unity." He smiled and nodded. "This will be the area for off duty security, and I want the walls here to be one-way glass, preferably with pretty glass images on the inside."

That gave Pendleton a moment of pause, and he looked at her. "It's a purely tactical design," Faith said. "If the place where the security guards eat and relax are glass walled, they can see in to the room with the portal. That reduces reaction time in the case of a situation." He couldn't argue with it. "So, what I'm picturing is that there will be a circular room with alternating panes of glass, spaced in between them will be walls with mural decorations."

"Not glass all the way around?"

"No," Faith said in reply. "The rooms where they sleep, there shouldn't be one-way glass there. That would disturb their sleep." He nodded. "This bit, the green bit? One quarter would be the mess hall, one would be a recreation room for off duty security, one or two then, would be their sleeping quarters." Literally quarters, she thought with a smile. "Then, I'll speak to the person in charge of security, and we'll work out whether they want the blue areas to be separate rooms, maybe for storage. That's my thought." He nodded.


Next, it was on to the other rooms. Laboratories, experimental areas. "The morgue should be below ground, under this room," Faith said. "We'll do the autopsies here, and section off a viewing area. There should be a place here, where bodies can be sat with, in case of the Scalvoris traditions."

And so began a long conversation. Faith kept thinking of things, adding things. Mr Pendleton kept a list as she considered them and they made their way through the whole building. Plenty of storage, but also plenty of space. That was key, and Faith made sure that things were sensible and efficient. She put the labs and libraries most likely to be associated with each hospital nearest them, and then ensured that there was plenty of space for collaboration. It was a long and rather slow process, and when they'd finished she looked at Mr Pendleton.

"It's going to be big, isn't it?" He nodded. Faith smiled. "Well, if we're going to do a thing, best to do that thing properly."

Final Diagram at this point for the central building

[Faith Augustin]

5th Ashan, 722
follwing this

By the end of it they had five building plans, and an overview plan. The size of what she was planning was truly starting to hit Faith and she looked at Mr Pendleton, then back down at the parchment. "That's right," she said. "There may be changes, but that's the basic structure." He nodded. "When would you like us to break ground on this?"

Faith considered that and spoke quietly, thinking as she did. "I think that maybe we need to ... not till the Hot Cycle, please. And I'm going to need to look at the finances, can we do that?" Pendleton nodded. "I have that information here," he said. Faith didn't find that at all surprising, so she turned her head to that.

The fact that this was for the Order of the Adunih meant that they got a fifty percent discount. He had given them a discount, too, and she had sourced many of the resources herself from either free or much more reduced. She had wheedled and cajoled more discounts and, of course, her skill in Logistics meant that things were as efficiently done as they could be. And so, the final figure that they came to was one which was astronomical and entirely out of the realm of possibility for most people.

But not for her. Faith could have accrued ten times that amount of wealth, but she had given it away time and again. She knew that. But as they went through it all and came to the final conclusion, Faith nodded. It would wipe her out, financially, she knew that.

And she did what she would always do. She did not hesitate. "Yes, this one. The best we can get."

He slid over the calculations obviously, he'll give a Nel amount - but she'll basically go down to 0 WP, which means it's costing 650 WP Faith looked at it and nodded. "Obviously, some of these are estimates for things like the glass from Egilrun, things like that. But if we do that, then we're good." He nodded his head and didn't bother telling her what they both already knew. Faith simply smiled. "It needs to be done," she said. "And what sort of person would I be if I could do it, but didn't do it because I was worried about keeping money in the bank."

A normal person, Pendleton thought but didn't say. Faith looked at him, fully aware of what he was thinking. "I'll deal with the finances directly. I'll try and negotiate best deals wherever I can and I will do everything I can to bring costs down."

"Somehow," Pendleton said with a smile, "I don't doubt it."

Final Diagram at this point for the central building

[Doran]

Faith:

Knowledge: -
Loot: -
Wealth: -
Injuries: -
Renown: 5, for meeting with Mr. Pendleton and getting the final plans sorted.
Magic XP: -
Skill Review: Appropriate to level.
Points: Tier 2 points to be awarded upon completion of the plot.

- - -

Comments: First of all, I appreciate that you briefly summarized what happened in the previous thread. That way, people that haven’t been following the story knew what’s going on as well!

I’m not entirely sure what you meant by writing “This is Faith being Faith.” in the review request, but I thought that the conversation between Faith and Mr. Pendleton was well-written in my opinion, and what more, it showed that Faith is someone that his highly skilled in Logistics!

I’m impressed by the maps you made. They don’t only help your readers understand what Faith and Mr. Pendleton are talking about, they also look good!

With that being said, Faith’s explanation as to why she wanted the portal to be situated in a circular room made me smile:

"I crochet blankets, sometimes, from the middle out. Some of the most beautiful ones start as a circle, and then become a square. It will give the person who first arrives a sense of fluidity, of whole-ness, of it being one place. They'll get split into four places quickly enough, I want what welcomes them to be unity."

I like how Faith said that!

I look forward to reading about the buildings we can see on those maps taking shape!

Enjoy your rewards!

P.S.: You can also find the Renown for this thread in your UCP!