〈FYND〉
“Che che che cha! Nini is here to save you all with her cuteness!” Niloy pranced into the room. “I know I was supposed to wait my turn until the end of the day, but I got bored! I bet you all are bored too dealing with all these stuffy business types. So let’s keep this lively!”
“That doesn’t mean this won’t be a serious presentation, though! I’m here to talk to you about an issue that plagues millions of people every day. It may not be something all of you have dealt with, but makeup has been an issue since its creation!”
“Nuh nuh nuh nuh, Phon! I see your lips about to form the word ‘No’, but hear me out. As someone with a darker complexion, finding makeup has always been difficult. I’ve always struggled with it, but even more so after I became a Fiend. Not only finding the correct tone for every part of my skin, but finding it in vast quantities to hide all my Curse Marks. It got expensive very quickly.”
“I bet even Kada, here, had issues finding the right tones when her skin turned tan.” Kada simply nodded along in agreement. “That’s because we’re in the minority. Makeup has always catered towards those with fair skin, and the rest of us are an afterthought.”
“That is why I, along with some great knowledge of liqudical properties from using my Curse, have been able to develop a new type of makeup that works for everyone. Inspired by the mighty chameleon, I have made a brand of Foundation and Concealer that works with any skin tone!”
“The proof is in the product,” Niloy pulled out some makeup from a bag. “You all recognize this, yes? It is the very makeup I applied to you earlier today.” She opened the jar, and it was pale-green in color. After putting it on a brush, she applied it to her own face. Her Curse Marks vanished after a single coat, the makeup perfectly adapting to her natural skin tone.
“So that’s where I want to start—to get this product in the hands of everyone who could use it. It’s honestly, like, super cheap to make too, so I can undercut all them big nasty brands who are exploiting people. Cus makeup is stupid. I get that more than anybody. We shouldn’t need it, but they make a profit on us being vulnerable or wanting to improve ourselves—preying on our insecurities.”
“That’s why I wouldn’t stop there. I want to make a whole line of FYND makeups and products that are cheap, reliable, and work for everyone. Oh, and I want one of those workspace shop thingies you guys are handing out.”
“A good pitch, Niloy. We give you our full support, right?” Kada looked around to the others. The two boys nodded in agreement while Phon gave a reluctant shrug.
“Woo!” Nini jumped into the air and cheered. The moment her feet touched the ground, she whipped out her phone and started typing. “Just got funded. Pre-orders open soon. We gonna take over the world. #FYND #GurlGotPAID #FreeTheGlam #MakeupForAll …and send!”
《Funded》
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〈Easy2Swallow〉
“And through this process, the pill can be turned into a liquid, a gummy, an injectable, and a suppository, thus allowing the patients to take their medication through their preferred method. Here, you can see on this chart a breakdown from a study of consumption issues among elderly and children. Now with these next dozen charts, we have taken samples from groups across all age ranges and categorized their preferences and restrictions.”
The idea behind this particular product was sound, but the presentation itself was a nightmare. The Fiends had gotten the gist within the first few minutes—a way to easily turn medications into alternate forms to make it more convenient for people to consume them. The presenter could have stopped there, but they kept going on and on with statistics and technical terms that none but the most devoted medical scientists would be interested in or could even stand to hear.
Why this product hadn’t been funded wasn’t because of any issues with it, it’s because there was no way an investor had made it through the proposal without falling asleep. If they had, then they would have been too zonked out and fed up with the idea, leaving them no longer interested.
“I’m going to stop you right there,” Drim cut off the presenter before the slides of their presentation reached the triple digits. “Listen, from what you’ve shown, we have no qualms funding your product. However, we are certainly not qualified to make a decision on a product like this, since there is obvious health and safety liability.”
“While we have no measure of liability ourselves, I in good conscience couldn’t fund something proven to be dangerous. I doubt yours is, but I could never personally be certain of that. So, we would like you to meet with our colleague, Dr. Graf, who is an expert in the medical field. If he signs off on it, we will fund your product based on his word.”
Of course, safety in this regard had to be their top priority. The idea of passing the issue off to someone else had never remotely crossed their minds.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
《Funded after Conditional Approval》
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〈FeDucks〉
“As you can see in the design here, the ducks are fitted with a protective suit that also enhances their abilities to reduce their load and fatigue. It also keeps them safe with a protective weave, thermal adjusting exoskin, and monster repelling sonar emitters. With this, the ducks—” the man paused, suddenly looking distraught and overwhelmed.
“Yes, go on,” Xard urged him to continue.
The man clapped a hand to eyes, trying and failing to block some tears from streaming down his face. “Sorry, I’m really sorry,” he took a few deep breaths to calm down. “I’ve just never actually been taken seriously before. The amount of times I’ve been laughed out of boardrooms or they thought that I was a practical joke set up by one of their colleagues…”
“So thank you! Even if you don’t invest, thank you for hearing me out.” Not that they hadn’t been paying attention at this point, but this made the Fiends interested in him even more. Clearly, he was passionate about the project, but damn did it sound silly.
He had done a good job of drawing them in, however. The backstory of how he got to this point was interesting and had been relatable to an extent. He had been an engineering student during The Drazah War, but moonlighted as a delivery driver to pay for his education.
One night, he had been driving through monster-infested territories to his destination and his vehicle was ambushed. He’d known the risks, but still stupidly took it anyways out of commitment to his job. Miraculously, a waddling of migrating ducks passed by and decided to gang up on the monster, saving his life.
That had led to an obsession with the creatures, as well as a desire to create a safer way to deliver items in an unsafe world. He’d originally worked with autonomous flying machines but found them unreliable and unable to adapt to monster attacks and other random situations.
There needed to be at least some entity making decisions, even if not on a human level, but with a higher mobility than humans. That had led him to ducks.
“Oh, my live demonstration is just about ready,” the man’s watch beeped and he turned on the screen behind him. It was a camera feed of an aerial shot above the southern ice shelf at the southern tip of the world. A building in the distance got closer and closer until it looked like the camera was going to slam into it. But the feed came to a screeching halt and touched down to the ground.
A small parcel appeared into view and then a person covered in full survival gear stepped out of the building. They walked over and picked up the parcel and then gave a salute to the camera. Surprisingly, there was a salute back, in the form of a wing coming into view. This shot gave them a good view of the protective suit the entrepreneur had been talking about. The person started walking away, and the camera feed took to the skies once more.
“That is the Central Peace research base at the southern ice shelf,” the man explained. “They’re actually my biggest current customer. All of their supplies are shipped by boat, so it takes a long time for resupplies. If they need something urgently and don’t want to expend the absorbent cost of flying a helicopter there, they contact me. This particular delivery was for batteries and a bottle of booze. While their suit helps with the burden, the ducks still have a relatively low carry weight.”
“I’ve actually been getting increased orders from the Central Peace down there from different departments. I can’t say exactly what, but they’re building something so I get quite a few requests for specific parts. While this is an extreme example of their usage, I believe FeDucks can be used more locally and become a household brand for expedited delivery anywhere in the world.”
“Could you tell us a bit more about the working conditions for the ducks?” Drim inquired. “How are they treated?”
The entrepreneur gave a dry laugh and then huffed, “Better than I was when I was a delivery driver. They get proper time off between each delivery. Right now, I’ve sort of cobbled together a sanctuary for them at my parents farm where they have a pond and bedding. One of the things I hope to use the money for is building a full facility to care for them. They also receive food for a proper diet and have a generous retirement plan.”
“I think we’ve heard all we need to hear,” Phon wrapped up the presentation—words that most entrepreneurs would dread to hear, but really they just needed to move on.
《Funded》
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〈Relaxed Fluff〉
“So it’s a clothing line for pets?” Kada searched for clarification.
“Well, if you want to tout it so simply, then yes,” the woman tried to hide her offense. “While other brands are purely for vanity—pets subjected to the whims of their owners, Relaxed Fluff designs clothing that animals would enjoy wearing. We take their comfort in mind, and understand that you can’t just shoehorn all breeds into simple sizes. Each has their own body type and specifications that need to be tailored for.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s going to be a no from me,” Drim gave his decision. “While I think it’s a step in the right direction for pet owners, having them wear anything they don’t want to is a bit iffy.”
“Well, I think they’re cute, so it’s going to be a yes from me!” Kada rebutted. “Pox used to hate wearing things until Mallea made them just for him. Now he wears them all the time.
“I think it’s really stupid,” Phon scoffed. “But let me help you out, Kada. We need to spend money, so may as well spend it on this zjik that’s pretty harmless. Yes from me.”
“While I actually agree with Drim, we can’t stop people from doing stupid things,” Xard conceded. “If they’re going to dress their pets anyways, it may as well be something more suited and comfortable. Yes.”
《Funded but Only One Person is Happy About it》