The tea, to John's surprise, actually does seem to help. Not him so much as Martin, who seems to find the whole process of fixing them each a cup either diverting or soothing enough to prompt a noticeable uptick in his overall mood. It's enough to engender a little cautious optimism in John, though he's still wary of spoiling things and remains politely subdued as he accepts his cup.
And then Martin launches into his pitch. It has the air of something he's put a good deal of thought into, and possibly even rehearsed (as evidenced by the dramatic pause he casually executes). But more to the point, it's... not a bad idea. Actually, it's a shockingly good one, provided the city lets them get away with it. The impression he's gotten from any relevant or adjacent authorities is that the city's feelings about the immigrant population are more apathetic than antagonistic, which makes it hard to judge whether their... unhelpful tendencies stem from laziness or a more deliberate intention to stonewall. If it's the latter, then giving two new arrivals access to all of their immigration records might be the last thing they'd want. But if Martin's right, and they would be willing, if not eager, to offload it onto some willing adjuncts...
John hums pensively, mulling it over. "And I imagine the city's immigrant population might prefer to have their records in the care of a few of their fellows as opposed to gathering dust in some mysterious sub-level of City Hall," he muses. "We could charge a small access fee, offer copies, that sort of thing." They probably wouldn't bring in that much, but it might be enough in the way of on-site earnings to accommodate their more ill-gotten gains.
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And then Martin launches into his pitch. It has the air of something he's put a good deal of thought into, and possibly even rehearsed (as evidenced by the dramatic pause he casually executes). But more to the point, it's... not a bad idea. Actually, it's a shockingly good one, provided the city lets them get away with it. The impression he's gotten from any relevant or adjacent authorities is that the city's feelings about the immigrant population are more apathetic than antagonistic, which makes it hard to judge whether their... unhelpful tendencies stem from laziness or a more deliberate intention to stonewall. If it's the latter, then giving two new arrivals access to all of their immigration records might be the last thing they'd want. But if Martin's right, and they would be willing, if not eager, to offload it onto some willing adjuncts...
John hums pensively, mulling it over. "And I imagine the city's immigrant population might prefer to have their records in the care of a few of their fellows as opposed to gathering dust in some mysterious sub-level of City Hall," he muses. "We could charge a small access fee, offer copies, that sort of thing." They probably wouldn't bring in that much, but it might be enough in the way of on-site earnings to accommodate their more ill-gotten gains.