ARCH 3 CHPT 7

“…maybe i’m foolish, maybe i’m blind…

12 Feb 2020.  Noon
Las Torres Mall
La Paz, Bolivia

Emma and Bander (EAB), or Bander and Emma?

They eloped to western Bolivia, nearby lake Titicaca.

Mosa will be meeting up with them today.
She has been using this month to heal and gather supporters from her village in kayapo and district 9.

Emma owned a few fast sale turnkey businesses in the area from before tying the knot.

They own sections in the mall.
Set up a comfortable living space inside a coming soon sporting goods store front.
The walls were soundproofed, for privacy and to lower risk of discovery.
This is their new home and base of operations.

The couple agree that their location is strategic and cautious.
And kind of exciting, phrogging even.  
It felt like they were in a war-spy movie.

They played dress up as a construction crew pair, complete with hard hats with wigs, glasses and gloves.
They owned the maintenance and security contracts.
Have access to food, water, backup power, internet, and a crowd to blend in with and out of if needed.
Surrounded by mountains, borders and jungles.

They were wasting no time.

EAB have been busy, hands on, involved, active, fervent.
The dynamic duo were remotely fabricating different business entities and approaches.

A deliberate shopping spree and ownership reconciliation to lay the groundwork.

Using different names:  truncated initialisms and acronyms: companies and LLCs:  intermediaries: corporate anonymous entities and whale investor authorities; they syphon trickled their wealth into starting the purchase processes of adding large swaths of land and businesses in strategic locations throughout Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia to their already impressive international portfolio of capital and assets.

Dotted the lower case j’s, crossed the t’s; inc’d up the TM’s and the R’s and circled their ©’s here and there.

Raw lands, raw materials, raw fruits and vegetables predominantly, with some factories, warehouses and store fronts.
Bander insisted on moving towards securing some prisons as well.

Due to the poverty of those countries, it was going to be a bargain to execute, barely a flex on their purchasing powers.  There’s less bureaucracy when there’s extra cash involved; sales were expected to move quickly.

They were prepping the bases for discreet and mobile hybrid cooperative communities of 1-150.
Cooping an underground railroad; a pecking order opt out option.

Between laying the groundwork for a new world order, Bander has been refreshing and sharpening his niche in industrial work and organizational psychology.

With newfound perspectives, he refreshed and expanded on military concepts, diverse histories, business strategies, biomimicry; videos and articles and chat groups. 

He reviewed and assisted Emma with some of her businesses, getting a hands on feel for how her cooperatives were stepping in new directions.

Quickly and effectively bridging a gap between a world where money-over-community dominates;
to an ardent community-over-money hierarchy instead.

Both Emma’s and Mosa’s crews were starting to fill in positions everywhere, they were the eyes ears and hands of the immediate area.

They blended in as cheap labor.  As bartenders and baristas, waiters and bakers, cooks and cleaners.  They were managers and owners to popular global and local franchises and retailers. Completely comfortable in their purpose in the concrete jungle environment.

Everybody aware of what happens to nails that stick out.
Organized, defiant, confident, and at the ready.
At the end of their shifts, they had a community and home to go to.

Their food and shelter and family protections were all cared for, no bills.

With the bases being covered,
the scene returns to Las Torres Mall.

Mosa is running a little behind.

Bander and Emma huddle together in front of a dual screen setup with webcam.

Emma has a stereotypical hacker contact in China she has been working with.

Ren the grey hat.

Emma has Ren on the video call line and made the introductions to Bander and Ren.

Ren, with his cat filter on, gets straight to business.

“Ni hao party people.  Bander, pleased to meet ya.  Emma, let’s get this out of the way right quick. 
In regards to the Mosa project, I’m personally working an ai program that I’m confident she will benefit from…   …that was a tough one dough, you’ve really been pushing my talents lately there pengyou.  Of course, I expect nothing less from my number one customer.

As for the bootleg fortnight project so far, that team’s finishing strong and as scheduled.  
We have another demo if you and yours truly would like to give it a try.   
Within a few weeks we can start having talks about this game going live so we are squared away on that.  If you had any questions on that before we move on now would be the-“

Bander looks to Emma in amused shock.

“fortnite, like the game?”

“Bae!  So like, first off, okay-“

{oh sht this is for real, she really is pirating a video game}
Bander is holding back a laugh.

“- games aren’t what they used to be, I’m bringing our gamer origins back!  for mah’ gamer tribe!  No more speech filters, pay to play, fares for flair, season passes, none of that noise.  We want more the whole whopper with cheese, like it should be.  And more player involvement, control and interaction.  I can’t get skins from previous seasons; can you believe that?!  I can’t trade or recycle anything that i own so that’s a missed opportunity.  I don’t even want to get into the V-bucks and all that unnecessary grinding yo!  It totally gets on my-“

Ren butts in.

“aw bro, she didn’t tell ya?  No no Emma, please, allow me.

Dude guey, she got banned out of Fortnite for cussing out them sweaty kids.  😹
She can yell at the annoying turds all day for all i care, but Epic certainly didn’t think so.  Dawg, she had the kids and the parents crying.  At the end of the day, this is all so she can keep her quote on quote; freedom of speech!”

Emma justifies herself, “the little punks thinks it’s okay to be looting my chestys and taking my purple guns while I’m healing!  Who does that!?  These little roach noob miscreant jabronis gotta learn that R-E-S-P-E-C-T [emma snaps her fingers three times] from somewhere emma’right? 

Bander: 🤣

Emma looks away defeated and comes back vengefull, “…hey kitty kitty, that was quite the kibble from somebody who hasn’t done sht against Disney yet.  I mean, at least i gotchu making some real moves; bootleg fortnite is going to be a smash melee hit and you know it.  That market share is mines, just a matter of time, I’m just sayin’; i don’t see moves coming from your end, just nerdy complaints.”

Bander cuts in, “wait, did I hear that right, he’s a cat that wants to pick a fight against Disney with no mousetrap?”

Ren explains, “alright, so it’s like this; they went too far locking up star wars and dumping that baby yoda this is the way sht on us.  Let’s not even start with the –

Emma breaks him off, “whoah whoah whoah, slow down there with that meowth, all those fightin’ words but no mousetrap!”

EAB : 😂🤣

Ren… “Touche…    …I expect nothing less from my number one customers.

So Bander, glad to finally meet ya laoban.  I’d give you a high five ya but I’m afraid you might hurt me with them there pimp hands mr. slappy happy.

I think it’s cute that you and Emma are an item, happy belated congratulations on your special pow mia day there gweios.

Emma puts her fist to her heart – “ouch”.
Bander gives him a cheapish thumbs up.
{thanks asshole, way to sum it up}

Ren continues into the main topic, “I read your Olympic rough draft, that would have made a hell of a paper. 
Those were some impressive anthropological angles of attack you were engineering, left Emma and I talking. 
You really think something like that will fly?”

Bander walks over to his white boards, noting it was going to be awkward and hard to see.  

“I…   ..do actually, I think it’ll be flyer than a g-5 airplane.  The sooner we get together and talk about it, the sooner we can get this show on the road.
Emma and I were speaking about this and you’re a huge part of, well, everything.  There’s an extra space here, it would be the two of us and…    …Mosa.  It’s all you can eat takeout, and we -“

Ren abruptly interrupts him. 

“Absolutely fkn not  😾  xie xie but no xie xie!

Thank you for your generous invitation of me sacrificing my safety and work life balance to bunk up with you, but am I missing something here?

One, you guys are fkn dangerous.  Seriously, you gweilos are pending getting tagged and bagged any day now and I’d rather not be around when that day happens.  I got 99 problems, and i’d rather you two not be my last one.

Two, that’s a long ass trip.  I’m like, super comfy where I’m at brah, I got my drink n’ my two step.  Not gonna lie, that fortnite and bander project already got me paid for life.  After I finish this Mosa and olympia project i’ll be all set up for whatever hidden fee i might get in the afterlife.

Three, everything about these projects can be done remote guey.  Respectfully, I’ve always wanted to say this:  fk your lame ass pizza parties, fk your lunch and learns, fk your traffic and parking, fk your clocking in and out bullsht, fk your dress-codes, fk your TGIFs and Mondays, and besides…     …I work best in my undies anyways, which also brings me to:

Four…    I forgot what I was – oh yeah, I see you were prepping some whiteboards back there, never took you for old school…

…tell you what, it’s 2020, we could all benefit in getting ore familiar with our virtual meetings tools.   There’s actually a nifty whiteboard function on this system that allows you to put down whatever you like on a whitewashed screen…     …We can check it out, see how we like it.  i’ll walk you through the menu if you need to; just be ready to click the remote share and remote access options.”

 Bander replies unphased.

“Right.  Hey man, eh, pleased to meet you also.   If remote is better for you, then remote it is.  We’re just looking to see how far we can push this.  We both appreciate any and all help you can give us so…

…I’ll try out this digital whitewashed, i mean, whiteboard thing right now big guy…”

Bander looks around on the screen clicking the options while keeping his engagement with Ren.

“…Sorry you caught me a little off guard here, while I warm up to working this digital whiteboard thing, could you share with me what you understood so far about the Olympus paper?”

Ren talks about it.

“Hao de then, please be sure to check me where I’m off.  Your Olympia idea is an app that has all Olympic games opened to the world.  To accomplish this, you were looking at video uploading functions, chat boxes of each event, etcetera.  Anybody can sign up, create a profile, follow the rules, compete for the record; so it’s accessible.  No age, no sex, no disability limits, no waiting around for 4 years…    …just the game challenge itself and a global open competitive ranking system…      …and from this you would reap in the ads and consumer behavior data from it.  I see the potential here to turn some heads, like, I think it would be the next faang in the dragons mouth, no doubt.”

Bander keeps him engaged, “Yeah, over time I’m sure it would stock up to the competition if that were the goal.  But

our strategy is to be a disruptive innovation rather than sustaining innovation.  If it goes viral, it’s the idea itself, the underlying strategy that is in play.  So what can we expect from that?”

Ren flexes his project management skills and boiling down experiences.

“   …I knew a guy, owed me money, I swear he could out-dash any athlete…    …it means that even that welshing mf can take on the Olympics, or at least brag about being top 100,000…   …when you represent yourself, that takes the sponsors out..    …the whole concept of the olympics, and all the national and corporate puppeteering and profiteering through it would start to be decentralized…

…I’m guessing you didn’t want that kind of attention on you back then, this isn’t something you can go in and then get out of anonymo-

Bander intercepts Ren and keeps him on the convo track.

“keep going on the effects the app would have over time”

“Olympics taken out, what’s next, all sports and games..   …sports seasons can be expected to become a thing of the past as well…    …the app could grow to be an international hold my beer contest for every Guinness world record…   …professionals would have to compete with amateurs to establish who really is the dominant person or team or strategy in a sport.
The fastest or strongest strategies emerge in every field from the pressures of non-stop global competition…  …new world record holders and celebrities will come out overnight and this app would be their platform for it…    …all sponsored athletes will have to compete for real…    …real competition against other ranked members…   …then not even athletes in sports anymore, it spills over…     …all fields..   …everything becomes a game…     …and you will be juggling game theory everywhere in real time…

Bander encourages Ren to go further, “go on, get to the part where Disney comes in”

…   open competition includes all fields.  From growing the world’s largest berry, to who can spit seeds the furthest…   …Even the art and communication fields…     …top ranked movies and fan art…        …world will compete on making the best movies, Disney can’t buy out or control the field anymore…     …fks up their sustainment and long term business strategies…    …this would starve those fkn rats out of their cheese hoards’ competition = unacceptable risks the way you are presenting it…”

Bander closes “That’s a bingo and that’s all folks.  But that’s just the beginning, we get it out there, let the app do it’s thing, get the world signed up, primed up and in that competitive spirit and then we put that tool on steroids.”

Ren muses.

“Alright, good one, I see what you did there by the way.

 So despite all that this is just a trojan…

…you planning on following up with some kind of coupe de grace.

…interesting…

…so you guys are serious, you going all the way with this…

…you have any idea the danger you guys are in?”

Emma and bander hold hands and nod at the concerned cat filter on screen.
{dude, i’m so fkd}

 Ren sighs, “…damn it you guys are cute.  I don’t know.  I need time to think about this.  It’s heavy, but I think you might be-“

Mosa walks in with Cassandro’s backpack, bags and groceries “sorry i am late, did it –

[she was inadvertently caught on camera and freezes in surprise]

– a meeting with a cat?”

Hela comes out of nowhere and starts barking ferociously at an unphased Mosa.

“Hela, no!  Go to your room right now little missy!  [Hela tried to argue until Emma started counting down from three, to which she ran away at 2]  Hey Mosa, [laughs out loud at the legitimacy of her question] no no dear, well yes, i mean, no, it’s Ren, that awesome hacker guy I was talking to you about.  He always has some kind of cat filter on.  It’s okay to say hi to him, welcome to your new home by the way, can’t wait to show you around.”

Mosa brightens up, gets closer to the camera view, rests her hands on the back of bander and emma’s chairs, and engages Ren vividly, “Hello Mr. Junzi!  Thank you for you helping me, sorry was late, lunch traffic bad you know?  If there is anything I can do for you or information share with you i’m open anytime.  Voce tem onde anotar meu numero de telefone?  [mosa face palms and snaps fingers to remember better]  ehm ehm, can I give you my phone number so you can write down?”

Silence.

Cat Ren goes “Eh hem…  No need Ms. Mosa my dear!  My colleagues and I were going over the intricacies of these requests and I think we can all agree that we should rendezvous in person over these pressing issues to most efficiently and effectively move our plans forward.  

Emma darling, if you could please arrange for my transport to you two on the double. 

Bander, kindly be a good chap and mind your phone for a text from me on some very important things I will be needing.  Don’t screw this up please.  I help you, you help me, we keep it quality, and that’s what good business is about. 

With all that said, Emma, Bander, when I get there we can continue this meet up right away tip top tally oh! 

Ms. Mosa!  It was a pleasure to meet you 😻, please forgive me for hanging up so soon but my presence there with you is pressing so there isn’t a minute to lose.   The good news is, no need for numbers, roaming charges and doing the math on time zones.  I look forward to advancing our acquaintance in person, cheerios luv!  Oh!  By the way, I’m not a cat!”

Ren’s window does a windows closing chime.

Mosa looks to Emma for an explanation.

“I think Romeo gato say poetry to me…    …You trust he can help?”

“He can be such a goofball sometimes, we go way back, he’s always been legit in my book…    …I trust my name with him, just like I’ve done with the two of you, so that should say a lot.”

Mosa remains curious to learn more.

“How you meet him?”

Emma smiles.  “Fivver.  when i was first starting up my businesses I needed help with some excel problems and i struck gold with him; guy’s a genius with computers and project management.  Gave me a crash course on conditional formatting and pivot tables for the price of a pumpkin spice latte and an avocado toast.  He even manages some teams dedicated to certain niches in businesses; if he feels like he might be able to help, he goes all out.  Just so you know, he made a mention of it, I think he’s already working on something that will help us find baby…    …if anybody can help get all of us to the next level, it’s him…   [she gives mosa a sly look, excited at the thought of meeting him in person randomly so soon after so many years] After hearing his voice, any idea what you think he looks like?

Bander gets to putting his whiteboards with squiggly marks away.

“… so, meeting postponed I guess, I’ll just take this back.”

Bander’s been trying to stay cool since Mosa walked in.
One thing was knowing she was coming, another thing was her actually being there, where he could see, hear and smell her.
Knowing that she has the ability to smile and laugh one minute, then drop bodies into ultra violence the next.

Emma and Bander had deliberated before hand on Mosa returning. 
He’s working to maintain calm and composure as he moves to avoid the face of his traumas and leave this environment.
{fk what emma said, need space away from her}

Mosa smoothly angles up to him sideways to get his attention before he thought he could scurry away.

“Bander sir…    …i want to thank you for everything you have done. 
I have never expect to see the change, it was so many and..  Pagpag and Mama ‘Berta and Pepe tell me everything you did.  I able to have much bigger support now because of trust…    …love my village and Distrito nove have for you.  Thank you for so everything good, that helps me closer find my son and…     …Emma ask me to make sure we are all safe.  You are safe.  I am your service.  Anything bad for you, has to do bad to me first.”

Bander mumbles.  “…   …okay…    …”

Mosa goes further, at her humblest.

  “We find boxes you had hide.  Mama ‘Berta says muito obrigada, she is rooting for you. 
It look like, you wanted me to have this?  It’s nice.  It’s okay if not for me”

She hands him the 3d printed box from months back.

Drawing inside.

“…you can…”

He hands it back to her.

She outreaches her hand to shake his.

He puts his up and meets her in the middle.  She shakes it gently. 

Tells him she’s obrigada.  Kisses his hand appreciatively.

Bander goes fuscia face.

“…just, no fkn pestle and mortars, no molcajetes, no pilao e pilaos, i don’t want to see any of that sht around me…      …and don’t fkn touch me ever again please…    …i’ll help you…   …i don’t know how exactly.  But i’m helping you find your son…”

Text message rings in Bander’s pocket.

Bander excuses himself to his room.

Mosa and Emma quietly talk between themselves in a low voice while they put the whiteboards away.

The next day the 3 worked out speaking and feeling each other out.

Getting familiar and comfortable. 
Sharing the layout space; 4 rooms, one bathroom and a large makeshift common kitchen and living room area.
Discussing routines, expectations and boundaries within it.

They all tried out Emma’s bootleg fortnite demo as something to try to bond over.

Emma was surprisingly good, aggressive and competitive.  Bander and Mosa suck at playing but were interested in working to get halfway decent.  They took this as a teamwork exercise, a training tool.  They reasoned that the more advanced strategies you can communicate while playing as a team in a hostile and dynamic environment, the higher your probability of success. 

They all agreed that the build your own character and story line option and trading system in Emma’s version was fun to play with…   …and working smooth for a demo.

Ren was on his way.

They ironed things out before the big day.