Rich Property Developer

A woman wanders into an office with a large stack of papers. The office is decorated with several large mock-ups of possible housing developments and a few of the resorts. It smells of fresh coffee as she enters and cheerfully says, “Miss Jackson, here are the reports you asked about.” As she approaches a large, minimalistic styled sit-stand desk with a laptop and a name plate that reads Heather Jackson, Head of Location Management. With a lady with charcoal hair and minimal makeup in a suit that screams I am the boss and I know it. It hardly shows any of her figure. She doesn’t need to. She is already the one in control.

“Thank you, Kimmy. Any reports from R&C ecological works?” Heather Jackson asks, dreading a positive answer.

“No, not yet. We have been given confirmation that they are the ones reviewing the latest site. Mr Roberts has given the usual notice of this. As well as that, the plan is likely insufficient. Especially if they look over hydrological systems.” Kimmy responds.

“Translation?” Heather asks, frustrated.

“From what he said, we likely need to adapt the plan to consider the existing creeks better. This region is known for a lot of rare fish. He also says that, as usual, Mr Philips is doing his thorough screening. So he is likely to find all the species in those waters, or at least a significant number. The e-DNA sampling has already told them there are many rare species in four out of the five creeks.” Kimmy explains shyly.

“Since when do they have e-DNA sampling capabilities, whatever that is? They are a bunch of upstarts.” Heather complains.

“Reinvestment, I suppose, makes them more attractive as a company. E-DNA is DNA analysis based on soil or water samples. Soil is less commonly used in the surveys since it isn’t great for mammals. But better for bacteria. Water samples from creeks like here is assumed to be a good representative sample for the species present. The slower the water, the better. More and more companies that do that kind of work are using it.” Kimmy says, shrugging. Only to be greeted by a groan.

“Well, we need to deal with it. Can’t we just bribe them?” Heather pleads.

“No, you know how they are. But an important point to remind yourself of is that your brother hired them pre-emptively. That means they will flag things before we get too far into our planning and design phases. Your brother even mentioned maybe hiring them earlier so they can set the “minimal design requirements” for future projects.” She says, trying to placate her boss.

“The two of THEM setting OUR targets! That means more hassle... But he is correct. It is better to design with their demands in mind.” Heather says with her hands in her hair.

“It isn’t their demands, though. They merely tell us these species are here. These are the things that will minimise the impact on the involved protected species. The government demands it! Not Mr Philips or Robberts. Keep that in mind while communicating with them.” She replies with a pleading tone.

“Yeah, yeah...” Heather says, dismissing the girl. She grabs the coffee she had just made before Kimmy had entered. Heather's thoughts start to wander.

Her assistant was great at many things. First and foremost, for this project, dealing with Roberts. No one was good at dealing with Philips. If you needed to deal with him, you had already lost. He is a stubborn prick who doesn't consider the needs of others. Too passionate about nature to consider the human aspect. Roberts managed him somehow. That is likely why he was the face of the operation. Philips dealt in data, not in the human element. He always found something to complain about, the type to let perfection get in the way of good.

Forgetting the headache that was this project, she started to look over the reports she had ordered. Everywhere was doing well on track with minimal or no extra costs. The ones where the plans had been reviewed by R&C ecological works didn’t face any opposition afterwards. All the conservation groups checked their work and gasped at the amount of data and detail. Some even praised the revisions we made afterwards. Whoever suggested those should get a raise.

The fact that these pricks were the reason they got praise from people annoyed her. In this project, the company needed to put a water feature in. Which was going to change the look she had talked about with the architects. She knew that if their recommendations had such big impacts, she couldn’t neglect them even if she wanted to. She continued her work.

Around five, she heads out to a dinner for one. Men hate a woman in power, so the best she could get was the occasional hookup. She enters a lovely restaurant smelling of freshly cooked Greek food, a guilty pleasure. She orders her usual, a three-course meal of Tryospanakopita, Stifado, and baklava as a dessert. The waiter knows her and hands her a glass of red wine and a shot of ouzo. She isn’t opposed to travelling and new things. During a trip to Athens, she had fallen in love with this food. The atmosphere here is a corny but welcoming version of the tourist trap style restaurants you would find lining main streets. If you looked closely and followed locals, you could find different restaurants with, in general, better food for cheaper, but that is always the case. She had not chosen to spend a lot of time touring Europe. But instead, stayed mostly in Greece and toured the country. Only leaving it for a day trip over the border into Turkey. She left for home, where she got undressed, put her clothes in the spot her cleaning lady would know to dry-clean the suit and went to bed.

B-roll of Heather on her trip, as well as at work, is shown to the audience. Before cutting to her standing at the entrance of the camping ground in a sleeveless white sundress with a large window for cleavage, her vacation outfit. Her larger C-cup breasts are accentuated by the window and frills around it. The frills move with the wind like waves. Alex approaches her clipboard in hand. “Miss Heather Jackson, I assume?”

“Yes, that is me. Why am I in my vacation outfit in this place?”

“Silly, you are here on vacation and for a game show, but my boss will explain everything once all our guests have arrived. If you could please follow me.”

“What if I don’t?” Heather asks, hoping to regain some control over the situation.

“I have options. Lift you up and carry you there as a child, make your body move you, or I could just teleport you over. Walking over is more for show than anything. But if I had to choose... You are the first, and I think I know someone who might get a kick out of seeing you be dragged over kicking and screaming.” Alex taunts her. “So, what is it going to be? Me carrying you like a child or we walk together?”

“I will walk.” Heather begrudgingly agrees. Alex starts leading her over the path past what is an extremely sparse campground to a semi-circle of chairs. One person is sitting there facing her in the only decent chair. “Mr Philips, if you would, could you please let me have that chair?” She demands with disdain for the person currently sitting in it.

Syl steps in before Chris could get up or respond. “Sorry, Heather, we have arranged seating beforehand. That is Chris's chair. Now go sit on the one next to him.” Heather starts to strut. Swaying her hips more dramatically than she normally would or maybe even could. She turns around and places herself delicately on the weave of the chair. Sinking in more than she would have liked. “Now, how about you answer us a few questions. Who are you? How old are you? What is your job? Hobbies? Last sexual encounter? Relationship to your Master? Anything fun you want to add?”

The mic has the same compulsive effect as Heather answers. “I am Heather Jackson, one of the Heirs of Jackson and Sons Development, third generation. I am the Head of Site Management. My job is to make sure that the infrastructure is properly planned and installed. So that when we start building houses, we don’t have to install everything from scratch. I am 43. I like travelling, experiencing new cultures, reading books, learning new languages, and anything that will help me explore the world. I had a hook-up with a man two months ago. Not the longest I have had between sexual encounters, but I would have preferred one sooner. I am often at the receiving end of reports from Master's company, much to my chagrin. I often have to revise plans because of some dumb animal or endangered plant or something or other. A fun fact... I have had sex in 12 different countries.” Heather says before covering her mouth.

“Now that is a fun fact. Thank you for your openness.” Syl says with glee.

“Why did I say that? Who are you?” Heather asks, shocked.

However, ignoring her, Syl continues, “Time to welcome our next contestant.”