John kicked his feet as he sat on the bed edge. "So I thought we were going to like… Relax a bit? Maybe spend some time looking around before moving on?"

Jessica groaned into the pillow, her whole body tired to the point where she had collapsed onto the made bed fully dressed and not caring at all.

John on the other hand was just hanging out. The other kids were either busy doing stuff (Cleaning the properties, feeding the animals, moving stuff, all that), or like the Bank's children had gone home for the day.

So… He was a bit bored. "Didn't expect things to get this complicated really. Weren't we just going to get a place to stay?"

Jessica would glare at her brother if she wasn't done with today. "Gurbgled."

He hummed. "We should probably stop selling jewelry too, at this point. It's really starting to mess with the markets. I think that right now, England is exporting… Uh."

System?

[[England primarily exports cotton, tobacco, furs, skins, salt meat, flaxseed, rice, tar, turpentine, and pitch at this time.]]

Huh. Interesting, but we are looking for high value, low volume stuff. Like the gems and valuable ore and all that… Hmm, but those are not exactly consumables. Ooh! What about valuable food?

Kind of hard to keep THAT stuff around forever like diamonds or rubies or whatever! It's a market that should have lots of turnover, right?

[[Iranian Beluga Caviar is arguably the most desirable caviar type on the planet, found in the Caspian Sea via the massive yet elusive Beluga, also known as the 'Huso Huso Sturgeon.' The species is heavily endangered and difficult to farm-raise, making it that much more coveted. Each fish can grow up to 30 feet in length and hold up to 100 pounds of roe at full roe an impressive size, each egg the size of a pea or so, while it also delivers on a delicate, buttery flavor with a remarkably long finish.]]

John blinked. Fish eggs? How valuable would that be?

[[Over the years Iranian Beluga Caviar's value varied ranging from $7,000 to $10,000 per kilogram, or $3,200 to $4,500 per pound.]]

…Huh. But, isn't a good chunk of that value due to how hard it is to get? Which means you need to verify it's origins and all that. Plus, he had never seen that fish before, or had one in his Pocket.

John ignored the snoring older sister behind him as he pondered the issue.

What about something he could get a sample of first? Locally he meant.

[[Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the 'saffron crocus'. The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and coloring agent in food. Saffron has long been the world's costliest spice by weight. Saffron's contains a carotenoid pigment, crocin, which imparts a rich golden-yellow hue to dishes and textiles. Its has been traded and used for thousands of years and is valued at $5,000 per kg or higher, establishing saffron as the world's most expensive spice.]]

Now they were getting somewhere! Plus it was dried, so it should store and 'ship' well to explain how they had so much of the stuff when John wanted to sell a bunch of it. It shouldn't take much irradiated mutant material to transmute duplicates of a sample, right?

Probably should have a backup option or two though. Right, another option Sir Pocket, If you would be so kind!

[[The Black Winter (Périgord) truffle is native to southern Europe but has been cultivated in many countries, principally France, Spain and Italy but also in others including Australia, New Zealand, USA, Chile and, at a few locations in the UK. The Italian White (Alba) truffle (Tuber magnatum) is mainly found in parts of the Piedmont region in northern Italy and is one of the most valuable foodstuffs in the world.]]

Uh… That doesn't sound exactly local, now does it?

[[English truffles can be found growing wild in England, discovered from the late 17th century. Indeed, truffle hunting was a cottage industry with the main centers in Wiltshire, Sussex and Hampshire. Often gathered by lower class members of society to supplement winter food stores, the value of these local options are far below the other options available for collection.]]

So it's a local product that isn't worth much, but is related to a distant product that is SUPER valuable? Neat. "Right, so to compliment the whole food thing we apparently have going on, why don't… we…"

John blinked as he realized Jessica was completely out of it now, snoozing away on the bed behind him.

Uh.

Right, he'd come back later. For now, he pulled a warm blanket out and made sure she wouldn't get a chill. Sure, she was still wearing her clothes and all.. But it was always nice to have a blanket.

Quietly leaving the room, John hummed as he began to wander around the (FAR too large) 'house' they now owned. He'd keep himself busy until she woke up later.

~~~Pocket System~~~

Mrs. Banks could only offer a wry grin to her husband. "I just don't know George… Things just seemed to keep escalating."

Her dear was slumped into his chair, cheerful enough but exhausted. "Thirty five farmsteads."

She sighed. "Yes dear."

Mr. Banks didn't seem to know what to do at the moment, not touching his drink. "What woman would just wildy spend money like this? What person would pick up properties and debt and loans like pebbles on the beach?"

She held in a small giggle. "Mrs. Doe, I suppose."

George was still seeing endless paperwork. "She single handedly put our accounts into the black for the next year at the very least, you realize that yes? One person, with no obvious background, managed to deliver a small financial mountain of rare jewelry of the highest quality. Jewelry unknown to any, using methods that befuddled our appraisers, and even now are causing waves in auctions and private sales around the world!"

He lifted his glass again, unable to focus on it. "And what does she spend it on? Construction. Farms. A Workhouse. Establishing a transportation company." He snorted. "Employing half of England's seamstresses and out of work people of the street to clothe and take care of her new army of children under her care."

Her mind drifted back to her older high society circles and how proud they were to have sent off a bible or two to some distant savage tribe, considering their moral and religious obligations done and completed with hardly any effort or cost… Compared to her new friend's astonishing recent actions. "It was a bit surprising."

Mr. Banks snorted. "Her having a supply of valuables greater than any jeweler was surprising, but this? We are attracting attention. I am not sure if it is a good or bad thing yet, but eyes are starting to watch and people are paying close watch. I just… I don't understand the thought process."

True… Her George always loved the concept of investment in a more financial manner than in regards to social development or physical assets. "Are you aware of Jessica's 'exit strategy' dear?"

The man blinked. "I'm sorry?"

She sighed. "Her 'exit strategy', as she called it. Her long term plans for all this… This madness."

George looked… A little lost. "I… No. I've been too busy trying to arrange everything. Every moment she seems to be arranging deals or establishing groups and what not. I've almost been given a department of my own just to handle the massive amount of work her one account has been generating…"

Mrs. Banks nodded. "It's… Well, it certainly is a controversial decision, in my opinion."

Her husband paled. "Oh dear."

Oops. "No, nothing bad dear! Just… controversial."

He eyed his untouched glass… And decisively set it aside. "Might as well face it with dignity. Go on, where is the woman going with all this? After all those valuables being so casually offered for funding I thought at first she was from a group with powerful connections to that gold rush going on in the Americas, or other mine related companies attempting to establish a new company here in good old England, but that clearly hasn't been her focus."

She couldn't help but chuckle. "No, I fear it's nothing that logical." Oh well, might as well just get this over with. "She plans to leave England entirely with her little brother and have this entire thing she's crafting be watched over while they are away."

Mr. Banks just… froze. "I'm sorry?"

She nodded. "As I said, it all just kept escalating. When she found one of her employees was responsible for those poor children, she decided to make work for them. Which then meant they needed housing and a work environment and food and, since the only places she could acquire were so far away, a method to bring that food into the city and and…"

Her husband just sat there as she unraveled all the pent up confusion and chaos she had been working through these last few weeks, going on and on with and without a logical pattern as she told the tale of her strange new friend and her confusing but well intentioned attempts to 'handle everything' each step of the way.

Eventually, her husband spoke. "Are you telling me that if her maid didn't own and operate a workhouse, none of this would have come to be?"

Mrs. Banks nodded.

He leaned heavily back in his chair. "Madness. Very profitable, very confusing madness… But madness all the same." George reached back for his drink, fully prepared to drain the glass.

She sighed. "I just don't know how the people in my social group are going to react when Jessica and her brother move on and our family ends up having to manage those facilities on our own. It's going to cause quite a stir, I can tell you."

His hand froze.

Mrs. Banks missed it as she tapped the table. "At least I finally convinced her to simply have our family gain something like a custodial position instead of just letting that woman give it all to us wholesale or worse… It will still devastate the social conversations for a few years but at least we won't be accused of anything illegal or immoral this way."

Seriously, she had never been in a more strange and confusing position than that moment when she was near fighting for the right NOT to be given astonishingly valuable properties and ownerships.

Good thing her dear was the one keeping an eye on things at the bank, he'd make sure her friend didn't secretly donate a vault of gold or something to the Bank's family accounts.

She blinked at her husband's expression. "Dear?"

Wait, she had remembered to send him that note about this entire situation yesterday, yes? Or had it been two days ago? A week?

~~~Pocket System~~~

He looked at his mate astonished. "Blimey."

A nod. "Yeah, and the pay ain' bad neither! Just gotta move goods back and forth and whatnot. Even gets paid to take breaks and meals and such, ain't I? All thanks to them Banks people, what not."

Oh! "Youse means wheres Marry Poppins be watching over those tikes?"

Another confirmation. "Aye, and you knows she's only with the good ones. You can trust in her peoples, you right can."

Huh. "That Bank's govenah always struck me as an alright bloke. A bit wound up, but alright. Never spat at us or nothin, even if we ain't the cleanest."

The man shrugged. "Nways, I'm moving things an the missus gots a job toos! She's paid to sew clothing for the children at the workhouse they be setting up. Kids kept out oh trouble, missus is happy, both us bringing food to the table… And we'se still hiring."

His eyes glimmered. "Hiring, eh?" In times like this, it sounded like an angelic chorus it did. Still… "Any trouble? From the streets, that is."

A scoff. "Against a friend of Poppins? You'd have the cutters after you in a heart beat. Wouldn't make it a block. An like ah said: You cans trusts her peoples. Still, we can always keeps a few more ears listen, eh? A look about, what like?"

Indeed. "I'm on a job for a bit…" Casing a joint for theft wasn't something take lightly. "But I knows guys who could use a bit of honest work for a change. Some kids who could stand being looked after too, what say?"

A hum. "There's room for more little ones, the ones running the place have a bleeding heart for em seems like. Just… No troubles, yeah?"

Not when Mary Poppins is involved. The rich may live in their own world, but the people of the gutters knew better: You don't spit on the hand that saves you. "No troubles."

Maybe the girls could use a bit of a safer job or two as well… Working the streets can be hard for the mostly honest whores out there. "You says something about your woman gots a good job doin up clothes? Any room there for a few others needing pay who can stitch?"

After all, scraping together an outfit that looks nice out of trash material was a basic talent for the more talented women of the night anyway, since funds were always tight. Might as well use those skills to keep kids warm instead of convincing a customer to get some 'warmth.'