Money Laundering 2
The Shack
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“Sorry Luz.”
All Luz could do was give Masha a look after being wacked on the head a few times.
“You’d better have a good reason for this.”
They began to nod vigorously. “Yes I do.” They then entered the room and pulled out their phone. “I was showing one of my school friends not in the know about the witches some photos when they swiped to this one.”
They then showed a picture of Masha and basilisk Vee cuddling together on a couch while sleeping.
“AWWW! You two look so CUTE!”
Luz was practically gushing at this point and had forgotten about the whole “head knocking” thing.
“Focus Luz! They saw a picture of Vee’s basilisk form! The only reason they aren’t suspicious is because I told them it was just a plushy that I bought from a new company my girlfriend has connections too.”
Luz just shrugged. “Ok then, what seems to be the problem?”
“The problem is that she wants to buy one herself! She was even ok with a $150 price tag each!”
Luz began to blink before pulling out her phone and hitting a speed dial. “Hay Hunter? How long will it take to make a life sized plushy of Vee?”
…
“No, it’s for someone at school that saw one of there pictures of her and thought it was a toy for sale. They are willing to pay $150 for it.”
…
“Great!”
She then hung up and turned to Masha.
“There we go. Now, can you do me a favor and see if you can figure out how many others are willing to pay $150 for each?”
They just blinked at her for a few seconds. “Are you merchandising my girlfriend and your sister without her permission?”
Luz just smiled for a few seconds. “No I’m not.”
She then fluidly shifted from Luz to Vee’s basilisk form. “I’m merchandising myself.”
GAH!
Masha just backpaddled rapidly until she tripped over a roller-skate and into a beanbag chair. “What?”
Vee just smiled sheepishly at them. “Sorry. I have been practicing being a double for the others just in case and decided to practice on you. Are you mad?”
Masha just looked at her in complete shock for several seconds before laughter completely consumed them.
“HAHAHAHAHA. That was a great one Vee!” Her face then morphed into a sheepish look. “Dose that mean you forgive me for almost exposing you?”
Vee took a thoughtful expression while tapping her mouth with her index finger. “I don’t know. You did keep a picture that I specifically asked you to delete.” A grin completely covered her face. “Can you think of anything that might, convince me?”
Masha’s face grew a sly grin as she picked up what she was hinting at. “Any idea when the others will be here?”
“Hunter and Gus were reading Cosmic Fronter together and are now making a plushy of me, Amity and Luz are on a date to the movies, and Willow is helping Camila with gardening. We have at least a hour before they come here.”
She then wrapped them up in a hug and pressed their foreheads together. “Let’s make the most of it!”
Dinner
The Hexsquad were gathered around the dinner table with Camilla. Vee was chewing her food with a look on her face that was far away and very happy .
“Vee, can you pass the salt?”
Vee didn’t notice and kept slowly putting food into her mouth.
“Vee?” Camilla then waved her hand in front of her face a few times to break her out of the spell.
“Hun? Sorry, just distracted. What did you ask?”
Camilla repeated her question and got said salt.
“You look happy. Anything you want to share with the rest of us?”
She then began to blush. “Nothing really. Just had a nice date with Masha.” She then perked up. “Oh, speaking of which, Hunter?”
He then perked up and realized what she was talking about. “Want me to get it?”
She nodded and he raced downstairs. While he was down there the others were just shooting each other’s questioning looks while Vee just ignored the questions and Gus looked like the cat that ate the canary.
A minute later, Hunter emerged carrying a life sized plushy of Vee. It had a obviously stitch running down the middle and was much chunkier than the real Vee, but it was very realistic otherwise.
“EEEEEE!”
Before he knew what was happening Luz had snatched it from his hand and was hugging it like her life depended on it.
“This is adorable! I don’t know or care where this came from and will throw money at whoever want it for this angle!”
The rest of the table was just giggling at her antics. “One of Masha’s friends accidently swiped her photos to a picture of me and her cover was that it was a plushy. After offering to pay $200 for it, I asked Hunter to make one for her. We can have Masha hand it off and have her pass us the cash. I will be paying her with cuddle time and- “she stopped and looked at Camilla “other couple stuff.”
Camilla was a little suspicious at this, but decided to let it slide. “That is nice. But what if others want to know where they come from?”
Hunter then pulled out a business card from her wallet. “We’ve already got that covered. I am going to start a small business using my sewing skills to do this for profit. Depending how many people in the school will be willing to buy them, we will be able of turning a tidy profit.”
Camilla gave him a worried look. “Are you sure that this is a good idea? A business is a massive commitment. I don’t want you to overwork yourself.”
He just smiled. “I literally made this one in two hours, and the others I make will be much faster. Also, I doubt I will be selling to more than just the High School. Think of it like how fanfic writers will sometimes do work on commission.”
He then gestured at Gus and Willow. “Also, Gus offered to help me. He isn’t as good at sewing, but he can stuff the cotton inside with no issue. Willow had already grown a few cotton plants to see if we can make our own clothes.” He shrugged. “It didn’t pan out, but it means we only need to buy the fabric and not the stuffing. That is a lot of savings.”
Camilla decided to relent. “Ok then, but If this starts taking a tole on you, I will have to shut this down. Got it?”
The three of them nodded at her. “Got it Camilla.”
She then turned to Vee. “Are you ok with them making plushies of you? It might have been your idea, but it is still a little creepy to think about.”
Vee just shrugged. “It has the potential to bring in lots of money for us depending just how many people want to buy them. I think that is worth it.” She then began to smile. “And I am getting $50 on each one. That is going to really help with date night.”
Camilla just nodded in understanding.
In Luz’s room that night
Hunter knocked on the door before entering Luz’s room and saw Vee siting on the bed and talking with Luz.
“Alright, spill. Why did you tell Camilla we were selling the plushies for $200 when you told me on the phone the kid was going to pay $150 for them?”
Luz looked a little confused before realization grew over her face. “Oh, I get it. We sell them for $150, tell Mami and possibly the IRS we are charging $200, and sneak in the dirty money as the other $50.”
Vee nodded at her. “You got it! That is easy to do for a few in a high school. If we for some reason massively increase the customer base, we can just say we sold some without actually selling them and slip in the cash that way.”
Hunter’s face began to mimic that of Luz. “That is brilliant!” his face began to fall. “But do you think enough people will buy them to make it worthwhile?”
The Shack the next day
Masha burst through the door and shocked Vee enough she fell out of her chair and Hunter to drop his book. “Masha? What is going on?”
“I got 128 more orders for those plushies!”
Hunter and Vee just stared at them in shock before switching to staring at each other. Hunter then got up and started heading out. “I would like to apolagise for doubting you Vee. I’ll get to work on buying the supplies for 130 of them.” Vee nodded at him before getting up and going to them. “I am going to set up a stall near the school where people can get on the waiting list for them.”
Masha raised her hand. “Already done. I also got their e-mail and phone numbers to make it easier. And e-mailed them to all of you.”
Vee just gave her a smile and walked over to them. “Got it Masha.” She then took their hand in hers. “While we are alone, how do you think I can properly pay you back for your help?”
Masha then wrapped Vee in a big hug and touched their noses together. “Oh, I have a few ideas.”
Basement
Gus was twirling his finger in one hand to stuff one of the plushies while his other hand was making writing down some calculations.
“So if the list that Masha e-mailed us is accurate, that is 128 at $150 each for a total of $19,200. If we record them as selling 130 at $200 for a total of $26,000, that is $6,800 laundered money we can slip into our accounts without anyone the wiser. Even if we never sell anymore, that is more than worth it. Though $6,500 would go straight to Vee, so Camilla would only get 19,500.”
Hunter just gave a small laugh while sewing another cloth skin for Gus to fill. “Do you honestly think it will just stay at this? The girl that bought the first one just posted on social media about it with a picture. Pretty soon we will have people online ordering them.” He then frowned. “Though, unless any of the others got much better with computer in the last 24 hours, we will have to just focuse on doing fake orders rather than marking $150 as $200. It would be easier and leave less of a trail.”
Gus nodded before moving over to the laptop they used to manage Adrian Vernworth’s and John Hopper’s finances. “I can probably have these two orders of a few each. How many do you think we can get away with having two people ordered at the same time?”
Hunter paused his sewing while thinking over the question. “I would probably say 5 or 6 each and say they had kids or niblings to give gifts to. We should either double check with Luz, the mob boss, or wait to see how many our legitimist customers buy to use as a baseline.”
Gus nodded. “Sounds like a plan Hunter.” He then though of something. “Oh, if this gets big enough we can hide contraband in them for smuggling!”
Hunter held up a finger before lowering it. “We might not need it, but the mob boss might be interested in doing this a little. Let’s bring it up with him next meeting.”
13 days later
Camilla was doing some calculations on the dining room table to try and wrangle the finances of 7 people under one roof when Hunter walked in holding a backpack. He then spilled it out in front of her, revealing a large number of bundles of cash tied up in rubber bands.
“Guess who made $26 grand in 13 days?”
Camilla could only stare at the money flabbergasted, which Hunter took as a sign to continue.
“Vee gets $6,500, but the other $19,500 is yours.”
Camilla was still imitating a statue during this.
“I also got a hundred more orders from around town, so expect another $15,000 next week.”
Vee then walked in and took stock of the situation. “Hunter? I think you broke her.”
Camilla then did the only reasonable thing to do when a teenager handed you almost 20 grand and promised 15 grand next week.
She fainted.