John hummed happily as he continued modifying materials. "See, at first I was worried about trying to Craft Command Blocks outside of Steve's world, since it might accidentally hook itself into the fundamental workings of the local reality…"

Which could be an issue, and might make the block itself connected to existence and stuff, thus making its removal or modification tricky.

He grinned as the design hissed and popped. "But then I was like, 'Go on, do it!' and it turned out alright! A hopper to feed in materials, an integrated chest to hold the output, a furnace to take care of any Essential baking that was required, one crafting table for obvious reasons… And voila!"

John's sister stared at the silver cube monstrosity/creation with… Less than thunderous applause. "No."

What!? Wait, stay calm. "What do you mean, 'no'?"

She began moving around his prototype. "The input can NOT be big enough for a person or a teenager WILL climb into it eventually. You need a dedicated input specifically for your Essence Water source blocks, or a chamber built into it to generate the new ones required… Either way, we can't risk infinite water leaks. Get rid of ALL these buttons, that control panel, the levers and pulleys and…"

Huh!? "But how will people be able to adjust the crust density of the Bread!? You NEED these settings!"

Jessica gave him a look. "Won't the bread shift into a new form entirely for each customer?"

That wasn't the point! "Just because the final product CAN modify itself to be perfect for every entity with self identity that attempts to consume it doesn't mean we should skimp corners! How will this machine even be considered functional if you can't adjust the heating density field and the harmonic nutritional disturbulator curves!?"

She pointed at the mass of wires hanging off the device from most of its sides, ignoring his entirely valid concerns. "Those will get yanked or cut or twisted, or shock someone. Get rid of ALL those sharp edges, add rubber to the base so it won't slide so easily…"

Her suggestions/complaints/issues were enumerated and ongoing. Damn it. "Wait, no! I want to keep the 'brokenness' meter! What if someone needs to know what percentage of the equipment isn't already automatically repaired yet!? The entire system could be down and unusable for an entire HOUR or so with no calculated time till recovery! This is important information!"

Jessica groaned for some reason. "John, would you please listen to me?"

…Damn it. "Yes sis."

She gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you. See how your device can do… Basically everything?"

Well, yeah. "It covers MOST of my design requirements, yes?"

His sister nodded. "Now, stop for a moment. Imagine using this machine for a lengthy amount of time. Let's say an eight hour shift."

Where was she going with this? Fine, whatever. "Alright, I'm doing that."

Jessica gave a wry grin. "NOW imagine, without your knowledge, someone tries to be helpful and flips… Uh, THIS knob/switch/toggle thing, over here."

WHAT!? "But THAT would alter the flour dispersal patterns and…" Wait, was she about to!? "STOP! THE BROWNING MIGHT BE UNEVEN!"

She sighed, moving her hand away. "See? And that was just a scenario where I was being helpful. What if I was just careless? Or wanted to see what one of those levers did? Or worse: If I was angry for some reason and just wanted to mess with the entire thing?"

GASP! "You WOULDN'T!"

Jessica nodded. "Correct… But a teenager would."

John stared at her in complete confusion. "...What?"

His sister walked around the machine being examined. "Some kids will argue over something, or get distracted, or be tired, or THINK they are doing things correctly… And they will mess with stuff. Anything and anything you let them interact with? Assume someone might, maliciously or not, accidentally or not, mess up that setting."

Oh.

Oh dear.

That would be bad. "I… I need to redesign this."

Jessica nodded. "It would be for the best. Besides, I thought the plan was for our new bakery to have one machine for each auto-Crafted product type sold?"

Huh? "Yes?"

She waved at the device. "Why try and smush them all into one device?"

John blinked at her. "I didn't." He pointed at the equipment that filled up the back of this entire room. "This just makes bread."

Jessica paused. "I'm sorry?"

He began reviewing the design from basic principles. "Yeah, I guess it was good to talk about this before working on the machine for Crafting Cookies."

She stared at him… Then back at the van sized device covered in control panels, levers, toggles, tiggles, ropes, sliders, shifters, grinders, flippers and floppers. And again back to him.

Which was fine, because he was now going to be SUPER busy and at least she was letting him think about the issue. "Right, if I establish far more static variables and settings I can remove a lot of the interfaces, probably even remove the reloading mechanisms and half the delivery storage queue since it won't be requiring temporal manipulation to allow time for chef input during the Crafting process…"

He was half through disassembling the entire mess when Jessica was suddenly THERE holding him up in her hands. "Uh… Yes? Sis?"

She stared into his eyes. "New design requirements: Two inputs only, one for your special water, the other for purchased raw material. One product produced. One output container. A single switch to turn it off or on, with it automatically cutting off if the output container is full or it doesn't have enough input or if it detects something is broken or whatever."

Normally, here he would argue. Complain about how much fine grade control would be lost in the Crafting process without his ingenious and intuitive control mechanisms, about the potential drop of efficiency by an entire 0.0000384 %! About all SORTS of things that would be lost by such a drastic simplification!

Then again, John was currently dangled in her grip.

His sister was STRONG for her size, good grief! "Uh… For just the bread machine, right?"

Her eyes were serious. "One machine. Per. Product. One for cookies, one for bread, one for cake, ONE. Got it?"

Aww. "Yes sis."

Jessica nodded, already much happier. "Thank you, John. At least this way we won't have some bully accidentally or purposefully attempt to turn a classmate into cookies when working part time."

Huh? Why would ANYONE… How COULD anyone even!?

Oh.

…He glanced at the room sized input hopper.

The one that his future employees theoretically would be entering all the time to stack up the materials for processing, the one that would automatically harvest materials within when activated.

Yeah.

Yeah, that was a fairly good point.

In fact? Best prevent that scenario entirely. "I'll just… Add some safety checks to make sure nothing sentient or sapient is accepted by the equipment as input, shall I?"

Maybe… Maybe a LOT of safety and security checks.

Just in case.

~~~Pocket System~~~

Mayor Richard Wilkins happily hummed as he strode between meetings. "And BOTH of them suddenly decided to turn themselves in?"

Allan Finch nodded. "Confessed to a rather lengthy number of crimes and past actions as well."

The Mayor sat with a cheerful sigh at his now blood splatter free desk with satisfaction. "I suppose they might have felt a sudden surge of guilt and undergone a moral crisis of some sort. Not everyone can handle the up and going lifestyle of lower middle class consumerism and the deadly risks of part time employment and/or recruitment."

Mr. Finch nodded, unmoved. "Of course, sir."

Oh well, in the end it mattered not. "Will we need to arrange replacements? After all, the town always requires an active temp agency or three considering the turnover rate."

Perhaps another culling was in order… Though that tended to be a bit harsh on his poll numbers most times. Or a major boost, depending on who was being culled… Politics was a bit of a rough profession as well, when it came down to it!

Mayor Wilkins checked his schedule… Yes, he still had a bit of time before his next appointment. "Anyone we know responsible for those two suddenly growing a conscience? Or at least, pretending to have one for a few hours."

Mr. Finch nodded as he accepted a report from one of those lovely creatures that worked in the informational departments.

Lovely fellows, those shadow demons, very efficient! Even if their required payments of unsullied Souls was a bit steep they were worth every sacrifice.

His deputy reviewed the information. "It was that young miss reported yesterday Sir."

Hmm? Oh! "The young lady and younger brother pair with the recent unfortunate luck of losing so many grandparents at once? The ones with the large inheritance?"

A nod. "Indeed."

Sigh, these were dangerous times all over.

The Mayor idly tidied up his desk and ensured no finger segments or bone fragments were lost about or hiding away in some crevice. Cleanliness was important after all! "Last I heard they were setting up a quaint little home near the Skyreach Burial Grounds place, next to Daginash Mausoleum. Though if I remember correctly, our people had some issues checking up on them as requested."

It was always so nice up in that part of town this time of year! So calm and peaceful, as long as nothing living wandered within range. Just a pleasant place to spend an evening or two.

Although, that did remind him of his three informants and their lack of performance. "Speaking of which, did I mention my displeasure over those fellows who abandoned their tasks without properly informing us beforehand?"

Mr. Finch nodded as he continued reviewing the documents. "Already processed sir. The garden should be quite lovely after a few weeks now. Meanwhile, replacements are already being selected and will be prepared by the end of the day."

Oh, very good. "So the young lady was visiting employment agencies? And SURVIVED the experience as well!? Quite impressive! I always support the younger generation, biological or otherwise, taking the initiative and getting out there. Striving for their dreams and goals! Having a bit of pep in your step always helps you, I like to say."

His deputy shifted papers before handing one over. "As you say, sir. She seems to have used the large amounts of inherited funds to invest in the local community as well. The following properties have been acquired over the last thirty two hours."

Oh!? A young civic minded woman indeed! "Let's see here… Oh, THAT area of town."

Hmm, it was the section most recently scheduled for 'decontamination', repossession, and eventual reconstruction into something useful over the next few months... But such plans were easily restructured and altered! "This is quite a sizable amount of real estate… I do hope this effort goes well for her."

Mr. Finch hesitated. "Shall I… Suggest certain elements steer clear of said location?"

Hmm? "Oh no, not needed. Being able to withstand the struggles of business and avoid the risks of entrepreneurship is part of what builds character!" Besides, something told him that she'd be able to handle the local night life just fine even without special consideration.

After all, those two gentlemen who suddenly turned themselves in didn't show ANY obvious signs of persuasion at all. Not even a small amount of organ consumption or Soul piercing! Very impressive indeed.

Such a young lady with that level of professionalism and such immeasurable talent and abilities, related to sorcery or supernatural origins or not?

She'd be fine even without him offering an unneeded hand. "Has the young woman submitted any plans for the property acquired? Requested any business licenses or needed permits?"

Another page was passed over. Let's see here… Oh! This was quite ambitious! Housing, temporary and otherwise, a community area, a public market… A bakery? How charming! "On second thought, send a few memos out to keep an eye on the local riff raff. I don't want her upcoming grand opening to be disturbed in any way."

Mr. Finch blinked, apparently stunned by him altering his decision so decisively. "Sir?"

Mayor Wilkins waved the paper. "A bakery, Mr. Finch! My breakfast snacks haven't been the same since that lovely place over on the west side closed down so explosively."

Losing access to Mrs. Cinglins' breakfast muffins had been quite… Frustrating to the Mayor.

And the following bloodbath, satisfying or not, properly delegated or not, had failed to return such lovely muffins to his morning routine.

Hopefully this new bakery could fill such a void until additional options could be established in his town… It could be surprisingly difficult to ensure a proper swath of available services in Sunnydale despite the amount of resources he dedicated towards that purpose.

That this ongoing difficulty was likely due to the fairly high death rate of his domain was unfortunate, but he'd adapt to the inconvenience like he always did.

A sudden scream perked him right up. "Oh! My 10:30 seems to be here! Send them in, Mr. Finch."

His deputy nodded. "Yes sir."

Oops, best put away the stainable paperwork and such first! Blood and internal juices always wreaked havoc with his paperwork.