2021-06-07 - Stashing the Loot

Another day, another a few hours to spend at H.O.P.E to help with some more wall painting. Her ulterior motive today was to see if Ravn was about so she could question him about what he knew of the carousel. And from there, maybe hopefully see if he had a safe place where some eye-gems could be hidden. Her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail and she's wearing her paint stained overalls with a canary yellow shirt underneath. Contacts must be in because her thick framed, black glasses are missing. She does a quick look about for Ravn as she makes her way over to one of the walls where painting is already under way.

Ravn is the kind of guy who tends to come in around noon; he tends to sleep in a bit. It's no secret why, though -- he tutors veterans online, and given that the veterans in question live in a timezone nine hours ahead of the Pacific Northwest, his schedule is a little off. Nine a.m. to his students is midnight to him. When he does turn up though, he's carrying coffee -- no less than six of them in one of those handy cardboard holders, as well, as an assortment of sandwiches and bagels from the shop around the corner. There's been a couple of women borrowing a bit of floor upstairs to sleep on the last few days -- something about missing paperwork and a conversation with HOPE's paralegal in Seattle, and getting back to that in a few days' time.

Closing the door behind himself he waves cheerfully at Fern; the usual black jeans and the usual old black shirt which by now carries a fair number of paint stains too, nothing unusual to see here. "Hey -- you're in early today. Something happen or did you just feel like getting started?"

It's not like anything might ever happen in Gray Harbor to throw someone's schedule a bit, after all.

Fern is content to paint until Ravn comes in. It gives her some time to think about how she wants to approach things too. When he does arrive, Fern offers him one of her sunny smiles. "Heya Ravn." She sets her paint roller down for now. "Need any help with that?" Noticing the coffees and food he's carrying as she takes a few steps closer to him. "Little bit of both, if I'm being honest! I did want to get a head start because I have an appointment later. But also I wanted to talk to you about that carousel in Addington Park. Wanted to see what you knew about it basically."

"Let me drop off coffee for the people upstairs and I'll be right back with you," the Dane agrees with a smile. It doesn't take him long to ascend up -- and come back down, without the breakfast supplies. He does look a little sheepish as he murmurs, "It really doesn't help that only one of them speaks English but all five of them look at me like they think I'm going to assault them. Oh well."

He walks over and picks up a paintbrush of his own. "Carousel, yes? People were talking about it at Kelly's gym yesterday. Apparently it was vandalised? It's a bit of a local antique with a lot of history so naturally, some folks are upset about that."

Then Ravn fixes a more searching look at Fern because you don't live in this town for almost a year now without recognising those subtle tones of voice that not only say something happened but also and I was totally involved. "I saw the animals on it come alive once -- the black carousel horse bit my hand, as a matter of fact. They talked, too. Asked us to free them from the poles that hold them to the carousel. We did, but they were back the day after, like usual. That was a pretty far out experience, in part because we also got a good look at the Baxter ghosts that are or were stored under it at the time. What's going on?"

Fern resumed her painting as Ravn came over, listening as he elaborated. "Apparently. Yeah." It was vandalized. What a shame. "Was it like one of those weird waking dreams? Or was it something different?" She asked. So far it seemed to track with the similar experience Conner'd had. Maybe they were in it together? "I was told there's like weird ghost dolls down below that another ghost is wanting to pass on. But then another ghost is trying to get her to leave things be."

Fern is quiet a moment longer, thinking it all over. "I was there with two others the other day when a 'large bear' was trying to attack some guy. It was not, in fact, a bear. But the Manticore carousel seat. Nearly took a stinger to the heart trying to keep it all in place. The green gem that was one of its eyes looked...off. Between myself and one of the others we managed to get the gem free and it stopped. So...I went back later and removed the gems from the other ones just in case. Because the girl ghost is the one that gave out the green gem to another little girl to put in to the manticore. Didn't want to risk any more haywire animals until we figured out what's going on."

It's probably obvious that she didn't do it alone, but Fern doesn't quite seem willing to give up her co conspirator just yet.

Ravn dips his paintbrush in the paint tin but doesn't start painting just yet. Considering Fern's words and filing some of them away for future reference, he nods slowly. "That actually -- sums it up pretty well, I think. That there are several ghosts and factions, and they sure as hell don't agree on what's going to happen. As far as I can make out, the dolls are literally the dismembered, shattered ghosts of dead Baxters. It comes down to the conflict between the two families -- when a Baxter dies, some of the shine goes away, and when an Addington dies, some of it comes back, very roughly speaking. There's a side that wants it all gone, the thin spot and all -- close the tear in the Veil, make the magic stop. And there's a side that doesn't. There is a child who is apparently a Baxter-Addington, but I am not entirely certain whether she is an actual ghost, or she simply disappeared from town some time back."

He pauses. "I don't think I need to tell you that some of these people -- dead or not -- are willing to kill? You just said it yourself, nearly took a stinger to the heart. The dead Baxters -- not only were some of them murdered, but their ghosts were dismembered. Run through a spiritual wood chipper at the haunted lumber mill, as far as I can make sense of things."

Another look at Fern. "The carousel is obviously a big deal in all of this. There are a couple of places that seem to recur all the time in this mess -- the carousel, the lumber mill, Firefly Forest itself, Gray Pond. Probably more, but I'm still piecing it all together, too. I'm not keen on vandalism but in this case? If something animates carousel animals and turns them murderous, then taking away that something seems like a sensible choice."

Fern makes a thoughtful noise as she listens with interest. Takes one crazy local to know another one, right? Good thing most all people here were in the know on some level. "That's...interesting. A really weird balance of give and take. I'd love to know how that even managed to become a thing..." People dying correlating to whether the shine goes or stays. "I can see though, that a mass exodus of Baxter ghosts would then be very bad for the people who wanted the shine to stay. And also makes sense that someone would try and chop their ghosts up. They probably can't move on unless they are fully pieces together. "

This sounded like a big mess Fern didn't want to get into. And yet, she was already involved. Probably too late to turn back now. "Exactly. What if Muriel, I think that was her name. What if she put a piece of ghost in the gem or something? A piece of a ghost is probably going to be an angry one because it's not whole. And anyway. The gems can be put back easily enough once we've determined it's safe..." Which brings Fern to her next question. "Do you know somewhere that might be safe for storing them? I don't think hanging on to them in my personal home is a good idea."

Ravn pauses, thinking before he replies; paint drips from the brush but he's yet to apply it to the actual wall (let's be honest here, he's not exactly Mr Handyman even when his attention is on what he's doing). "Muriel, that's the Baxter-Addington child who supposedly doesn't exist except obviously, she does."

He shakes his head. "I'm not entirely certain how these pieces of the puzzle all fit together. Something happened, more than a hundred years ago, probably in the middle of the ninetenth century. Baxters had settled here, Addingtons came in. Some kind of devil's deal or incident. The Addingtons took over and became the town elite. The Baxters faded from glory and have been kind of scattered and roughing it ever since. But it's not as simple as them fighting each other. As far as I can make out, older generations of Addingtons stayed in power because of the shine. They'd definitely not want to give it up -- but at the same time, they were killing off Baxters. And then, last year, somebody started killing Addingtons. Margaret Addington is involved -- but it's unclear what her agenda is, besides 'rule this town like some kind of old world baroness'."

The Dane puts the paintbrush down; he's not going to be able to multitask like that right now. "Gems, right. Of which we know only that at least one ghost is interested in them, and that at least once, something bad happened. You were there when one of the gems was used to make a carousel animal come alive? Not difficult to piece together who might have nicked them, then. You need to watch your back, and so does whoever helped you. And if we're hiding those things, we need to hide them somewhere that you have no immediate connection to."

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Got a moment today to drop by HOPE? Kind of need a hand with something up your field of expertise.

"Oh then she's definitely a ghost person." Fern nodded matter of factly. "And being part Baxter, I can see why she would want to move them all on." She makes a thoughtful noise. "The person who helped me was the one who read the gems. All the other gems just had stuff about them helping kids or kids asking for help. The Manticore one was the only one that specifically showed Muriel and whatever kid she gave the gem to putting it in the Manticore. But like I said before. Better safe than sorry." She sighed, dipping her paint roller again. By contrast, Fern seems to be an excellent multitasker because she's been painting this whole time.

"I'll be careful and I'm sure my friend will be too. Also yes- that. A place unconnected to me and my friend would be very perfect." Fern agreed. "Do you have any spots in mind?"

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Why does you coming to me for advice on your charity terrify me?

Ravn taps away at his phone a little. "I know a guy who knows a thing or two about not being very impressed by trouble. He's a bouncer, and he's a big guy -- and I'm pretty sure you two don't know each other. Think that's the kind of advice we need, because me offering to stash your gems on my boat is honestly a ridiculously easy trail to follow."

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Well, it's not about HOPE as such, it's just that that's where I happen to be. I need a bouncer, actually.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Ah. Well, give me a few and I will make my way over.

\About 15 to 20 minutes later, the familiar rumble of Seth's 68' Cobra pulls into the driveway of the HOPE offices. The enforcer makes his way to the front doors, pausing in front of them as he assesses the building, and then strolls inside with a shrug of his shoulders. "Ok, Darth. I'm here," he calls out from the lobby. "What is it you need?"

Ravn's paused for a cigarette while Fern stepped out to make a call; for a value of 'paused' since he has yet to apply an actual paint stroke. He looks up as Seth walks in and actually looks a little relieved. "Advice. The kind that I don't want to ask about on the phone because plausible deniability. Let's say someone nicked something in order to pull some teeth on the Veil creatures and they need a place to hide that stuff. Problem is, the Veil knows who they are so it needs to be somewhere that can't be traced back to them in thirty seconds. This is where I need your advice because sure, I could offer to stash a handful of stolen carousel animal eyes on my boat, but the math isn't hard to do, you know?"

"Wait..what?" Seth says as he removes his sunglasses and strolls forward towards the Dane. "So, hypothetically, if someone stole a bunch of eyes off of horses on a carousel and they were worried about being caught with them the first question I would ask is do they need to be kept? If the answer to that is no, ditch them somewhere randomly in the woods, or in the ocean, or burn them. Take a random walk and drop them in a well you come across. Or, better yet hand them off to someone and let them dispose of them. If they do need to be kept, then hand them off to someone and let them randomly stash them somewhere and not tell you where it was. It's even better if you can have them pass it off to one or two more people. The farther down the chain, the harder to track. But then of course more people also know."

"Think we're looking at option two there," Ravn agrees. "Because we don't know what they do, or which side wants them. All we do know is that one of the animals came alive and tried to kill people when these things were used. This bloody Addington-Baxter stuff? You never seem to know what's going on or what the agenda is until after the manure's hit the fan. The only thing we know is that de la Vega isn't going to come around asking questions because it's just an act of vandalism -- no one knows that the carousel animals' eyes apparently turned into magic gemstones."

He sighs and looks at Seth. "It's not so much people to worry about as it's specific people -- whoever named Addington or Baxter is behind this. Dead or alive, because there's no guarantee it's even a living one. Girl who grabbed the gems is a volunteer here. Tempted to package the whole thing in a box and ship it to my uncle in Oslo, but we might need them -- once we know what they do. Think it's possible to create a stash hole here or someplace around here, that at least normal people can't find? I mean, there's no accounting for mind readers, we can do only so much."

Seth shrugs, "I'm sure there is. I guess it just depends on what you mean? It's just as easy to dig a hole in my backyard as anywhere else, and random person isn't going to be going back there. Or you could always put them in one of my safes. Or you can tie them in a bag and go anchor them off of one of the docks. There are plenty of places you can put them."

"And if I introduce the two of you so that you know her face and she knows yours -- would you be willing to take them off her hands for now? And give them back if she does need them? I told her you're a bouncer -- figured I'd leave the rest out. Let's assume for a moment that Margaret Addington or someone like her is the person looking for these things. Old rich woman. Society peer. Contacts. For someone like that to pull rank? De la Vega knows about the Veil and a fair bit of the manure this feud brings about, but he can't be everywhere. Now tell me if I'm wrong -- but your cousin's name pulls a lot of weight in this city too, and I'll be damned if Felix doesn't have eyes and ears where it matters. If someone tries to go the official way about this, they're going to hit the same stonewall they'd hit if someone asked questions about the local dope trade. Or do I have the wrong picture here?" Ravn studies the other man's face.

"It's not just ... hiding the things. It never is, here. It's narrative. We disappear the things by tossing them in the ocean, we can be sure that we'll need them. It's this whole... finding the balance between involving enough people that the Veil can't just retcon shit right back out, but not so many that we can't keep secrets."

Seth shrugs a shoulder, "It does, especially in the right circles, but yeah the Monoghan name carries a bit of weight. More when it is attached to Felix than with me, but the name still has some clout. I doubt anyone would be looking at his direction for any of this anyway. He isn't, one might say, in the know. He would just give them an annoyed look and maybe let them walk out of his office. Maybe. If you think they would come looking at me? Well, I can't say for sure what would happen at that point. In either case I will take them off your hands if you need me too."

It's hard precisely to say how long Fern had been back in the building. Probably long enough to hear the tail end of Ravn's words to Seth. "Name's Fern. Professional Carousel Jewel Thief." She introduces herself to Seth completely straight faced before cracking a touch of a smile and offering out her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm not sure what all Ravn's told you but essentially? My friend and I suspect the gems could be manipulated in a way to turn the carousel animals against everyone not-Veil side. So we took them out as a precautionary measure. I don't have them with me right now and we very well may need them later. Especially if we confirm they can't do anything on their own. But you're willing to take them off our hands I'd be happy to deliver them to you where ever you'd like." Fern offered, slipping her hands back into the pockets of her overalls once her hands were totally free again.

Ravn smiles lopsidedly. "Vandalising an antique carousel is obviously not legal but the real issue here is finding out who thinks they own these things and what they want them to be doing -- and then whether we want them to be doing whatever it is."

He shakes his head a little and looks at the paintbrush he abandoned half an hour ago because obviously, the fact that he has not gotten any actual painting done is the brush's fault. "I'm going to see if I can do some research on this Muriel. Find out what her deal is, how she died. What her agenda is -- I remember her telling us she wanted to restore the Baxter ghosts, but she didn't say what for."

Seth glances at the new arrival, the steely eyes giving her a very throughout look over as he folds his arms over his chest. He turns his gaze to Ravn for a moment, then back to Fern as he rolls his shoulder into a shrug. "I'll take them, sure. I'll put them in a safe. You can just hand them to Darth and he can bring them over to me. No offense, but I don't know you so I think it might be best if you didn't know where these things might end up."

He looks back to Ravn, "You know I don't like all this ghost shit, Ravn. But now you have me at a point I have to ask who is Muriel?"

She nods at Seth's assessment. "Fair enough. Probably best I don't know where they are either." She agreed. "All I know about this Muriel girl is that she's a ghost. And she's watching over a bunch of ghost dolls beneath the carousel...and that she's the one doling out weird gems. So. I dunno. My theory is that she's trying to get rid of the carousel animals but I don't see how that's going to be possible." Fern tilted her head slightly to focus on Ravn. "But I'd like to know what more you might find out about her."

"No one likes this ghost shit, Seth." Ravn hitches a shoulder lightly. "Fern, Seth. Muriel is a girl of whom we only know that she is a Baxter-Addington. We don't even know for sure whether she's dead or alive, though we do know she's somehow affiliated with the Veil. We don't know what she wants, but we do know that other entities in the Veil are very unhappy with what she's doing. Because screw logic and someone ever getting a straight answer by any of this stuff."

He frowns. "I'm going to hit town hall when I have an opening. Find out what the hell happened to that girl and where she's supposed to be. She apparently went to school in town with people who are our age now, yet she looks like a kid. Which does lend credit to the idea that she might not be alive anymore. And anything we do find out, we really do need to share with other people -- because if there's one problem this town has? Everyone's sitting on a piece or two of the puzzle and no one's talking to each other. Let's make that a new rule here, then -- we do talk to each other."

Seth nods once to Fern, in acknowledgment and agreement of how to handle the eyes of the carousel horses before he turns back to Ravn. "What if I don't like puzzles?" Seth says with a smirk. "This is one of those games where everyone has to play, isn't it? I was never that good at group activities, Darth."

"The day we get straight answers on all this is the day we know all hell has frozen over." Fern gave a wry smile. "Let me know if you need any help with the research and I'll make sure to loop you in if I learn anything else." She checked her phone for the time. "I have to go get ready for a class. But this was good!" She pockets her phone again. "I'll get in touch with you in the next day or two Ravn, to transport the gems and all." She offers a smile to Seth. "Thanks again for your help. I'll see you around." And then would start heading out!

"Talking to a bloke who spent most of his life trying to avoid having to other people," Ravn says drily. "Doesn't work like that here. But you do a lot of the heavy lifting, Seth -- everyone's got their talents, and a lot of the stuff you do I sure as hell can't."

He raises a hand in a lazy salute to Fern as she heads doorwards. "We'll sort it out, one way or the other. That's what we do here, right? Watch your back, call somebody if anything weird happens."

Then he looks back to Seth. "This week, man. Just, this week. I still have your passengers upstairs, too. Law people in Seattle are trying to sort them out."

"I don't know what you are talking about." Seth says as he glances after Fern, "What passengers?"

The enforcer clears his throat and turns his head back towards Ravn with a bit of a grin, "Whomever they are, I hope they are being treated well though. Certainly can't be any worse than how they were treated in the past...I would imagine if I knew who they were."

"Operation like that -- getting people out of that sort of mess, you can count on me to keep my damn mouth shut, Seth." Ravn glances towards the stairs and then shrugs. "You know my take -- in this town, nothing's black and white. There's some people who need help getting out of a mess they didn't want to be in, all I need to know."

Then he glances towards the door Fern left through. "And there's people who keep getting pulled into this feud -- which one might argue they kind of volunteered for, except the Veil pulls in whoever it bloody well wants to, and as you've noticed once or twice, it doesn't send out an RSVP first. Thanks for -- you know. Offering your expertise and your help. I know you don't want to get dragged into this stuff when you can avoid it."

"As you just so eloquently pointed out, if it wants me dragged into this I am going to get dragged into this no matter what. Might as well take the step willingly." Seth acknowledges with a sigh. "Open eyes are better than closed, and all that. As for your passengers, well, let us just say that there are some lines we don't cross, and we discourage such things with great prejudice."

Seth glances around, just to make sure nobody is in earshot before he continues. "Nobody knew what hit them in that. Nobody. The only people that know are the ones you have upstairs, and I hope they aren't saying much."

Ravn shakes his head. "They're not talking. Said you told them to go here. Thought you were police. I -- didn't correct them. Figure it's better this way -- get them on and out of town to wherever they ought to be, don't poke the sleeping bear. The one who speaks English said a big red haired guy and a blond woman sent them here. If I can do that math, so can anyone at the precinct. So, mum's the word and we just move them on. All on board with not tolerating this crap."

He hitches that shoulder again. "I actually put on a damn suit to go talk to Evans, told him the same thing -- I wanted to be sure that I wasn't creating trouble for anyone. Going to have Seattle cover their backsides, contact their embassies, get the non-US citizens back home, the girl from wherever in the Midwest back to her family, no one's the wiser."

Seth visibly winces a bit when Ravn gets to the part about the English speaking one giving descriptions of both he and Vic. "Yeah, I was somewhat afraid of that. Still, no actionable evidence but tricky no matter what." He sighs, running his fingers through that red hair, "Still, wouldn't change what went down. Now we just have to cut the head off the snake. Vic and I will be heading out for a few, so get me those things of yours as soon as possible. I can stall for a couple of days but not much more than that."

"Heh, you put on a suit."

"Worst case scenario, I'll hold on to them until you get back." Ravn nods -- and then nods again, slowly, as it dawns on him what exactly Seth is saying. He pauses a moment and perhaps realises that on some level, this is where he's either in or out where some things are concerned. In, then. "You know what I usually say about batting for Team Humanity? People like that -- don't. Guys like Liu or Reyes, or this lot -- they're off the team."

And then, indeed, a leap for something far safer to discuss, because when push comes to shove, Ravn does in fact not particularly want to know that the man he's talking to is planning to go murder somebody else -- not even when that somebody else is responsible for some pretty atrocious things. "Had to blend in at the bloody Casino. Last time I went there in jeans and a sweater to just dump some paperwork on Evans? Ended up in the society pages of the bloody Gazette. Don't think Evans would appreciate attention for a talk like the one I went to have with him, about those girls."

Seth nods. "Makes sense," the enforcer agrees with a chuckle. "I'm glad he is willing to help out with it. Does he think it will be an issue? If it is a matter of cost, let him know it will be taken care of. I am sure that Kelly will cover any costs that occur...and if he doesn't I will."

"I doubt it. Just need to cover tracks so you guys don't end up implicated if anyone does start to ask questions." Ravn reaches over to very lightly shoulder punch the other man; an unusual gesture from the guy who tends to be rather hands-off. "Just going to get those women home -- but please don't tell me what you're planning to do about the people who got them here. If I don't know, I can't accidentally cue somebody in. I want to say I don't talk to anyone who'd care, but I do bump into de la Vega regularly, and lately, the ADA too."

"I wasn't planning on it," Seth says, eyeing Ravn with a quizzical look as the Dane play-punches his shoulder. "It's not like we have any details planned anyway, so I couldn't give you any even if I wanted to." The enforcer sighs, walking over to pick up that discarded paintbrush and eyes the wall in front of him, dipping the brush into the liquid color and splatting the wall with it. "You know, this wall isn't going to paint itself."

"Ten thumbs. If not for Hawthorne and Michaels -- that's Fern -- this place would still be a bloody ruin. Hyacinth Addington put in a fair bit of work too -- besides society lady, she happens to be a trained carpenter. And then there's me, barely able to hit my own thumb with a hammer." Ravn makes a face and goes to pick up his own paintbrush; who knows? This time it might even get used.

"Speaking of which, uh, sorry if I blocked you yesterday on Erin Addington. Figured that with the way things turned out last time another woman eyed you up, dropping a not very subtle hint about a girlfriend might save everyone some headaches." Ravn dips the brush. Progress. "Erin and Atli are both -- how to put it. They figure themselves the leading family in town. Which they are, just, there's ways to go about it. Hyacinth tries to use her influence to improve things here. Those two do too but they very much don't want the family's dirty laundry out in the open -- which is understandable, except that all of us live the consequences of their family's issues."

Seth laughs, "Not a worry. If things had progressed down a path where blocking was needed, I would have done a better job of it than I did the last time. At least now I have a solid foundation to say that I am taken, not just getting used every once in a while." Seth starts to paint the wall with the brush he had, lazily moving the brush up and down in slow strokes. "Besides, I was just holding the bag for her. I didn't think anything was going to come of it."

"Nah, doubt it. I know Vic's temper, though, and I know she would definitely not shy away from rearranging the face of some socialite girl if she felt her territory was being infringed on." Ravn actually touches the brush to the wall. He's not very good at it -- if this guy ever decides to retire from teaching and blogging, he definitely should not be considering a handyman career. "I don't know much about Erin besides that she crashed her Maserati once -- she told me about that the first time we met. I don't know a whole lot about Michaels either, but the fact that she comes to me admitting to vandalising carousels tells me she's on the right team. You know the one -- the team where we sometimes have to do things that might land us with some hefty fines or worse, because these things just need to be done."

Seth chuckles as he continues to paint the wall. He may be an enforcer by trade but Seth has done many an odd job, painting included, so his at least looks somewhat professional. "Yeah she was talking about crashing a Maserati yesterday. Fuck, do you know how expensive those cars are? That just breaks my heart." He shakes his head, "Must be nice to have that much money to burn. I mean, I'm not doing too bad, but that is just total 'Fuck You' money."

In response to the 'teams', Seth just nods. "I'll have to take your word on that one, man. I don't know anything about the carousel to be worried about it one way or the other."

"Money's not a problem for the Addingtons," Ravn agrees. "I'm not a car enthusiast myself -- but I get you. I'd have been crying my salty little tears if someone'd told me they accidentally dropped a bottle of wine in a first edition Shakespeare folio. That said -- I don't know, I suppose that kind of money says 'fuck you' but it says it in more ways than one. No one needs to be throwing so much money around they can crash a car like that and not feel the dent in their budget. If you have that kind of money, put it to work, do something with it, hell, hire somebody else to do something with it."

"Yeah, there is a thing as 'too much money'. Don't tell my cousin, or Rhys I said that though. I've never been a horde all you can get type, just need enough to pay the bills and be comfortable. Do I mind being able to get some of the finer things in life? No. Do I think you can have enough and at some point you just need to give back? Yes. Like these billionaires from the internet. There is no need to ever have that much money. Ever."

Ravn grins slightly. "If you've got everything you need and dream about then you've got enough, I figure. Me, I'm happy with a boat. If I had a family, I'd probably want something more. I don't know -- I think I'm pretty easy going in this regard, but I'm also trying to not judge. After all, I hired somebody else to deal with the family investments so I could bum around the US and not think about it, ever."