It may not look it right now, but there are over 600 articles in this world!
Goofing Off
Adan and Forrez hanging out for a second time. Adan shares more of his secret obsession's and makes plans with Forrez regarding the underground club.
"Hello! Welcome to Dyetastic! How can I help you?" Evelina, Adan's mom, greeted when someone came to the front door. She was a medium height wolverine with bright pastel purple colored hair and a splattering of different colors dotting her arms. Usually Adan was up front, but he had to meet with the supplier in the back and she was the only one available.
Quickly she closed up her notebook to give the newcomer her full attention. "Do you already have an appointment with us?"
Forrez flashed her a as charming a smile as he could muster, and, given his mood, it was actually genuine. "No, unfortunately. I'm here to see Adan?"
"Oh! You must be Forrez then? He was mentioning he was having someone meet him here." She gave him a more relaxed smile, she always unintentionally tensed up when she had to interact with customers. "He's in the back, but he should be back out here soon. If he doesn't I'll let you loose to fetch him."
"Mind if I sit in the waiting area?" Some places were iffy about that, so he liked making sure. Though those places were not ones he'd particularly like. In his culture going as a group was often the norm, so limiting who can use the waiting room just seemed unpleasant to him.
"Not at all! Long as you don't start making colleges out of the magazines." She gave a chuckle, letting him know she was teasing. She was thinking of all sorts of things to bug Adan's friend with, but her other son came up to the counter with one of the customers so he was safe for the time being.
"Hey Ma' we're gonna need some more of the Indigo Blast soon." He commented, ringing up the bill as she pulled out the appointment book.
She looked surprised as she replied, "Already? I just made it yesterday, there was enough to last us for three days." Her eyes narrowed as he sheepishly avoided looking at her.
"I feel sorry for your boyfriend if that's how heavy handed you get with the bottles." She sniffed, the customer hid behind her hands stifling a laugh as her son looked mortified.
"M-Ma!"
Forrez smiled at the exchange and went to sit in the waiting area. He was actually sort of glad for the wait, it gave him a chance to look through any showcase material they might have. If he liked what he saw he might recommend this place to Linda. She was always on the hunt for good colors.
The waiting room had the standered fair of magazines scattered on the table, including a couple of binders that had examples of hair colors and haircuts for anyone that was undecided. Hanging on the walls was framed posters of models showing off their hair, along with a couple smaller ones that had newspaper clippings from it. One was from when they first opened up and another from a couple years ago regarding a competition.
"C-could you not embarress me in front of customers?" He hissed once his mom was done and the woman had left.
"How else am I going to get you to remember not to use up my dye like a bottle of ketchup? It's also my most expensive, the Indigo is twice of that of my other pigments!" She opened up her book to furiously tap at her notes. "Look at how much I have to use Franny!"
"I can't you're suffocating me with nerd notes!" He pushed at her, she was shoving the book in his face now.
"That how you're gonna treat your madre hrm? I may just put you on cleanup duty by yourself then." She shut her book with a snap.
"Aww how cruel, I heard from Marty the sinks were due for their declogging today too." Adan said as he tweaked his brother's ear, his other arm holding a clipboard. He ducked and covered his head for protection when his brother moved to put him in a headlock.
"Ugh! No please don't make me do that on my own, I hate doing those." Francisco made a face, smooshing the clipboard into Adan's head.
"Then don't make fun of your boss." She tapped him playfully on the shoulder.
Forrez flipped through the sample books until he heard Adan's voice and looked up. He waited a bit to see if he'd look over and gave a slight wave.
"Oh! Adan, your friend is here by the way." His mom gave his sleeve a tug and pointed over to the waiting room.
Ears perking up he leaned over to see around the pillar and waved back with a grin. "Heya! Just give me a sec to wrap up the forms here." He called out to him, tapping his clipboard.
"He isn't another book seller is he?" His brother asked, looking as well to see if he looked like one.
"I've got friends outside the library you know." Adan chuckled, pulling out a book and comparing it to the order sheets.
Forrez was in his day to day casual clothing, so he looked more like a farmer than a book seller. He let out a slight smirk at the thought of someone besides himself doing paperwork.
"Don't make me wait too long." He said mostly jokingly.
"Don't worry, I have incentive to avoid clogging day." He gave a squeak from his mother's poking. "Ahhhh don't distract meeee!"
"I just may, it'll be fun to give your friend a reason to stay longer so I can embarress you in front of him." Evelina grinned, obviously enjoying torturing her children.
"Aaaannd I'm done! OkloveyouMamabye!" He grabbed his bag and jacket, giving her a quick peck on the cheek.
"Terrible. You be safe alright Strawberry Pie?" She snagged him by his ears to give his forehead a kiss before letting him escape.
"Have fun picking turnips." His brother smirked, crossing his arms.
Rolling his eyes, Adan shrugged his jacket on and threw his bag on over his shoulder.
"Oh Adan! Can you drop off this deposit at the bank while you're out?" His Madre waved her hands to get his attention as she ran over giving him a leather pouch.
"Ah yeah I can." He took the pouch and put it in his bag.
"Quick and hurry out or I'll never be able to leave." He whispered to Forrez.
Forrez smiled and waved at Adan's.. mother apparently, and followed him out.
As soon as they were outside though the pleasant mask dropped.
"Fucker, I'll give him turnups..." Forrez hissed wanting to go back in and punch the idiot. He was a fucking wheat farmer and he was fucking proud of that fucking fact. Wheat was the backbone of the whole fucking country, and especially in these parts. He was sick of the work of it but it still demanded some fucking respect. Hair dye wasn't going to keep you fed on its own, that's for fucking sure.
Adan chuckled, amused at his reaction to what his brother said. "He must've been in the chemical room without a mask again to be confusing his produce like that." He did find it pretty cute how huffy he was acting.
"You alright with walking? Sorry about the last minute errand there, but the bank is only a couple of blocks down."
"Yeah that's fine." Forrez grumbled, he wouldn't mind blowing off some steam with a walk anyway. "I'm never meeting you here again." He clinched his fist and tried his best to not look visibly angry to passers by. He likely would come back, but right now thinking that he wouldn't made him feel better. He was still curious about their products after all, hard to resist a good hair place, even if Adan's sibling was an idiot.
He was sure he could convince him, so he didn't try to argue against it. It'd be easy enough to do it on a day his brother was off. Though he realized he was underestimating how pissed Forrez actually was by the comment. Good thing to note in the future.
Deciding to help him think of other things he commented, "Did you manage to tie Hieke back up at home, or is he hiding under the floorboards in your car?"
"What, you think I can't be without him?" Forrez relaxed a bit and gave Adan a friendly shoulder punch. "He's at work, or he should be. Why do you think I'm hanging with you instead?" He laughed.
"Ohhhh I see now, I'm your substitute Hieke for the day? I guess that means I need to start rubbing my ass on all the windows to make up for loss time." He rubbed his shoulder, acting like it hurt more than it did.
"There is no substituting Heike, just be my Adan today, that's enough for me." Forrez flashed him a brief smile. "So, what's with the pouch?" He changed the subject.
He wiggled at the 'my Adan' in delight really loving hearing that from him. "Hrm? Oh! It's last week's takings. Normally I'd take it in on Groundday, but there was a snafu with the books so we held off." Adan tried not to sigh as he answered, thinking back as to the reason why.
It seemed odd to Forrez to use a little pouch for this sorta thing, but he wasn't really used to running a small direct business, so what did he know. Most of the money he dealt with was on a larger scale, and most of it was not actually physically ever in his hands either. All just numbers on paper or on a screen. "Guess that's normal? Taking it on goundday I mean?" He should do some more research on how smaller businesses operated. He dealt with a few, but most of them only accepted digital credit or checks these days. Course he supposed the scale of the business made a big difference.
"Usually yeah, I'm sure my usual bank buddies were probably wondering where I was. I missed out on my lollipop." He sniffled sadly.
"Hopefully Madre behaved herself, I told her not to tease you too much when you came." Adan commented, not wanting to have them talk about buisness all day. He was off darnit! He wanted a full escape!
"She was fine." Forrez shrugged, he didn't really want to talk about business either. "I think she was too busy teasing your idiot brother."
"Better him than me! Madre gets jittery having to work the front, so family is usually a good distraction for her. It's cute she gets a stutter around new customers." He stepped ahead to hit the crosswalk button for them, shaking his tail at Forrez in victory as if he was fighting him for it.
"Heh, hope he has to unclog every fucking drain in the place by himself." It made Forrez think of poor Jema, but then again she was always a bit anxious. He hadn't cared about hitting the button, but now that Adan was making a show of winning he couldn't let him get off easily. So he gave his ass a light kick.
He gave soft delighted moan then grinned as he said, "Come on now, you know I can handle harder. I'm not that tender." He wiggled his butt in hopes to tempt him to try it again.
"We're in public dipshit, I've got an image to worry about, alright? Don't worry I'll kick your ass later."
"Right right sorry, only do terrible flirting in alleyways, gotcha." He made a cross motion over his chest. "I'll hold you to your end of the promise, hate to be good without a reward." Adan grinned, "So where were you planning on taking us today? It was your turn to pick."
"I had a few things I'd like to try and do with you today. Are you hungry? If not we can hold off on that one for a bit." Forrez kept it all vague, some of it was a surprise, and some of it was just him having more fun not being upfront.
"Oooo mysteries I love those!" He rubbed his hands together and walked across the street once the cross walk turned green. "Yeah I think I could eat, I had a pretty pitiful breakfast this morning. Those breakfast bars don't really keep you full like they say they do."
"I just remembered, when we get to your car remind me to give you the notes on runes I said I'd give you. It isn't everything, but it should be a good starting point to get you started." During their first meet up he opened up about use rune magic after he was questioned about all the rocks he had in his pockets. Even though he did ask for the notes, he had a feeling that Forrez didn't quite believe him just yet that they actually worked. Much to his credit though, he humored him and asked for the notes, so there was some hope yet of converting him.
Forrez might not really want to believe in magic, but after dealing with the things he did he would be stupid to not explore it when it deemed plausible. Any advantage he could give Assia he would. And the club too.. he guessed. "Alright then I have just the place I want to take you. It is more on the high-end though, so we may want to both change clothes first."
"Uh how high end? Best I might have at home is a vest and tie." He didn't have much reason to be wearing suits. "Which scales more on making me look like a stereotypical librarian than dashing eye candy."
"More on the semi formal end. A vest or jacket should be fine, but I've got some stuff you could borrow if you like." He'd not come unprepared, who knows what Adan considered formal. But it certainly wasn't work attire, that was uncomfortable at best.
"Ah yeah that'd be great, save us a trip from going over to my place." He looked a little relieved, glad he didn't have to remember exactly where he put those clothes at or if he still had it. They were probably tight on him anyway, it'd been several years since he last bought them.
Seeing the bank ahead, he dug into his bag to get the pouch out and rummaged for a pen. It was easy to see that in his bag he had a couple of spiral bound notebooks, paperback books, and a couple of library books from the plastic covering the dust covers had.
"You pull your shit out before you even get in side, moons you are such a nerd." Forrez teased with a sigh. "You just want someone to mug you, don't you? Is this my fault for not giving you the ass kicking you wanted?"
"How else am I suppose to meet new people?" He gave a tragic sigh, opening the door for him when they got close. "People are just so afraid of my adorable mug. It's amazing I haven't frightened you away by now."
"I don't run when frightened, I punch." Forrez smirked and allowed Adan to be his door holder. "Not that I get scared." He felt he had to add that, even if it wasn't true.
"Of course not." He agreed with amusement, going in after Forrez. "Though I wouldn't blame you if you were, the last thing I remember you punching warranted it. Probably be a ghost snack if you didn't give her that love tap."
"Moons don't remind me, it had to be up there on my stupidest things I've ever done list, and its got some real competition." Forrez shook his head at his past self, wondering how that guy made it this far without losing any limbs.
"Haha, I can't imagine what you've done that would almost compete with 'ghost punching'." He waved at the guard, them waving with a grin and a 'Hey Adan'.
"I'm glad you did though, I hate to think what we would've had to do if you didn't." There wasn't anyone in line, so he was able to go right on up to one of the empty tellers.
"Heeyyy cutie! How you been?" The woman at the window greeted with a little air kiss.
"Hey Bella! Doing good, just here to quickly make a deposit." He unzipped the bag and handed it through the slot to her.
"You plan on depositing your friend there too?" She whispered, flirtingly winking at Forrez.
Forrez gave her a smile, laying on the charm the best he could. He was in no way interested in her, but that was fine. It wasn't like he'd be here again.
"Pshhhh, you get your own eye candy. I already helped you out with getting Rowan."
"Hey a lady can dream." She laughed as she counted the money out and entered the amount into the computer. "One can't have too many boys to dote on."
"Hahah true true."
"Alright just sign this here." She gave him a receipt, which he signed with his own personal pen. He just liked the feel of his own, and he didn't have to fight with it being out.
"Here you go. Oh if you're wanting a follow up appointment I'd go ahead and get in now. Jordan plans on taking his vacation next month so he will be filling up fast."
"Shoot, yeah thanks I'll get on that now." She printed out another receipt and placed it in the bag before handing it back to him all zipped up.
Forrez waited patiently as they chatted and finished the transaction. He gave the woman a slight wave as it looked like they were about to be leaving.
"Hope to see you there." She waved her fingers back at Forrez.
"I'll most likely be." He snagged a couple of the cheap lollipops from the candy bowl and shoved the pouch back into his bag.
"Want the watermelon or razzlepop?" He asked, waving his loot at him as they left.
"Neither, you can keep them. I'm not much of a candy person, and when I am I want something better than that."
"Fair enough. I'll just stick yours in my bag for Hieke to find later. He likes nosing around in there." He took the razzlepop for himself, throwing the other into the very bottom of the bag.
"You given much more thought on how you're going to fulfill the ghost's 'request'?" Adan asked.
"You're rewarding him for that with treasures? This is why we can't have nice things." Forrez focused on the first statement, he had a few plans on it and all of them were terrible. "Don't suppose we could ask for it, do you?" He joked, wishing it was something so simple.
"I dunno, I mean I don't doubt your seducing ability. I'm sure you could if it was anyone but the Allirana. They'd might be too flustered by your smoldering looks to react rationally."
"Lets wait till we're not in public to talk about this, alright?"
"About your seductive ways? I agree, I can't help you fight off your new crushes. I have noodle arms of a nerd you know." He flopped and wiggled them at him to prove it.
"Moons you're annoying." Forrez chuckled and shook his head as they walked. "Why do I want to be around you?"
"Secret nerd fetish? I mean deny it all you like, but I saw the signs." He gave a shrug. "Bet you even want to make me wear glasses too, so scandelous!"
"Must be it, I do like glasses. Just don't wear any tweed though, then Heike won't let me near you."
Adan gave a fake cough and looked away, "O-oh s-sure, yeah never worn it... nope not meeee. So ahem, what's this place you're taking us that I have to be more presentable before I go in?"
"Its a place I'm scoping out for business reasons, mostly." Forrez admitted. "Looking for places for gatherings and after meeting chats. Assai really doesn't enjoy these sorts of things, so I want to find places where he'll at least get something out of it. Food and atmosphere and all that."
"I'm honored you deem that I'm well behaved enough to be restaurant testing with." He put a hand over his heart, truly touched. "I guess your boss doesn't find the social aspect of the job very fun?"
"Better behaved than my sister..." Forrez muttered to himself. "No, not at all. He would rather hide in his office under a pile of papers and send me and Romeo, that's my partner, out to them all. But sometimes he can't avoid it." As he spoke of his boss it was clear he adored the man, despite how neutral he planed to stay in tone.
His eyes crinkled in amusement, catching the tone. He noticed it the last time they hung out too, he never talked about his boss like most people would.
"Must be a pretty great boss for you to put in all this extra effort in for him." He asked, wanting to be abit nosey.
"He really is." Forrez looked a bit like he might swoon, just a little bit.
His tail wagged over seeing his expression, it made him want to lick his face. Though he knew he would be putting his tounge in mortal danger if he did. "Your face is adorable."
Forrez blushed slightly and tried to wipe the stupid grin off his face. "S-shut up ass hat, my boss is important. He's pulling our area up, he's amazing."
"My dear newly found friend," He put his arm around Forrez's shoulders. "My Madre is my boss and I think she's amazing, but I don't look like what you did just now. How long you've been crushing on him hrmm?" He risked his finger getting close to biting proximity as he poked his cheek.
"Mind your own business." On the one hand it wasn't something he wanted to talk about, but on the other he wanted to keep gushing to Adan about how amazing Assia was. "It doesn't really matter how I feel anyway."
He looked sad hearing that, his ears drooping in sympathy. "Sure it does, even if you don't think it'd work out with you two. Despite my teasing, I'm here if you wanna vent to someone about it. Fair warning though I can't guarantee I won't let a 'daw' or an 'aww' if you get that mushy expression again."
"Maybe I'll tell you about it later, can we drop it for now? I wanna enjoy our lunch." Forrez was too flustered to think of a smoother way to change the subject. Just thinking about being with Assai was enough to get him blushing and light headed.
"Hehe alright alright." He gave his shoulder a squeeze and let him go. "Where'd you park your truck? Or did you come in a fancier car to impress me?"
"Its around back. I don't think Assia would be to pleased with me using my work vehicle to impress random guys on the street."
"I mean what's the point of having a nice car if it isn't to impress them? It's like people think it's meant to make people think you're business professional or something, pshhh." He crossed his arms with a pout.
"Oh its for impressing, just not for impressing you." He smirked and gave Adan's ear a flick.
He flinched and grabbed his ear, pouting at him as he petted his poor abused ear. Adan then laughed, "You know me too well then, knowing it's your bookshelves you want to impress me with instead. Am I really that transparent?"
He laughed at that too as they rounded the corner on the parking lot and came up on his truck. "Yeah, I've gotten wise to you. Not that I need it though."
"I dunno that's like a deep dark secret of mine, truly you must've put a lot of time into having someone trail me around to find that out." He moved behind a light pole and pretended to have some binoculars. "With that kind of knowledge you could easily bribe me, moons I'm in trouble."
"Yeah, his name's Hieke, you might have heard of him." Forrez rolled his eyes and pulled out his keys. "Even if I didn't want to know your secrets he'd tell me just to get me to shut him up."
He went about getting the door opened for Adan before going around to his side. He had considered teasing that Aden had to ride in the back, but he might actually do it and Forrez wanted to ride with him.
"Whaaaat? Hieke is giving out my secrets for free? My secrets are at least worth half a credit." He harrumphed and crossed his arms.
"I like to think I'm special." Forrez said as he went round to his side. Sometimes he wasn't so sure. Was he that special to Heike? Or was everyone special to him? He shook his head, no sense suddenly getting upset over nothing. He was going to be normal for one fucking day and it was going to be fine.
"Siiiighhhh, you are that is true. It would be a lie if I were to deny it." He sighed as if saddened as he got into the truck, using the side to help him get in. Once he buckled up he dug around in his bag to pull out the notebook he mentioned.
The red notebook was a decent size, thick enough to have vanilla folder separators inside. On the outside it had a colorful array of flags sticking out, each one with a neat little section name written on them. Adan was pretty sure that Forrez was going to tease him over how he formatted it, what with the first page having a table of contents for each section in the notebook.
"Just let me know if you have any questions, I tried covering as much as a could."
Forrez was impressed with how organized Adan was. This wasn't just some passing hobby, this was his life. He felt a bit more respect for the goofy idiot and wasn't exactly sure how he felt about that as he got in the truck and buckled his own belt.
"How long this take you?" He was eager to get where they were going so he could take a look at the thing. Adan really was a nerd, wasn't he? It was actually kind of cute.
He scratched at his ear as he thought on it. "Couple of weeks I think? It's hard to tell, I kinda get lost in all of it. Though it was mostly just reorganizing and condensing the notes I already took through the years. Working on it really helped me out with that so I made sure to make two more copies of it just in case."
Adan flexed his hand remembering all the copying he did. He should've tried just making photocopies at the library, but writing it all out helped him remember everything better.
"By hand?" Forrez asked, watching him stretch. "How long you been into this kind of thing? Like to the extent of taking notes and such?" He really shouldn't get impressed yet, for all he knew Adan's notes were shit and garbage. 'Don't get ahead of yourself' he told himself as he pulled out and headed down the road. Luckily they didn't run into Linda, he knew she worked around here and he didn't want to have to stop and explain his friend and why she couldn't come along.
Leaning back he thought on it, "Ummm I know I started researching into it when I was in elementary school, but taking the extensive notes....probably not until middle school. That was when I was able to get access to the restricted section at the Ellnas Library."
"You have access to that? Since Middleschool?" Alright, feeling impressed was back on the table. "Talk about nerd..." He had to add, just to balance out his positive feelings.
"Sniffle, it's true. I was probably born with a book in my hand. Probably was super uncomfortable to my birth mother." He laughed. "Well I got pretty chummy with the staff by that point so they figured I could be trusted back there when I started asking if I could. You're not allowed to check any of the books out in that section though, so that's why I had to take the notes."
"That's very impressive. Don't sell yourself short. You earned that access all on your own." Forrez took Adan's book and bopped him on the head with it before letting it go and focusing on driving. "I'm glad you were at the cave that day, I don't know if we ever would have met or have reason to hang out otherwise."
"Dawwww I do too, though we probably would've met eventually considering we both know Hieke." His tail wagged at the compliments, very much liking it from him.
"He's had me run into a few of his other friends at the clubs. Probably good that you didn't see me there though, I'm a dorky dancer and you would've been too appalled to want to associate with me."
"I'm a monster at the clubs..." Forrez admitted. He'd likely abuse Adan on the dance floor. "Heike has a lot of friends, and I'm not too into many of them." It wasn't pure jealousy.. probably.
"Oh man, so I passed the Hieke friend test then?" He put his hands to his face looking on at him in glee. "Sounds like a very high honor, I'll treasure it!" Adan was meaning it when he was saying it, he wasn't saying it just to be silly. Or well...okay a little silly, but he did mean it.
"Speaking of friends... thanks for taking Gaiea out for lunch the other day. She was telling me about it last I saw her."
"What did she say? I didn't upset her did I?" Forrez was suddenly on edge, forgetting to be annoyed at the silliness from before. "Do you think she'd ever want to do that again? She doesn't dread being around me does she?"
He blinked at the sudden frantic questions and did rather well of not looking super pleased that Forrez was so concerned in regards to Gaeia. Oh this might work out after all!
"No no not at all! She said she really enjoyed herself, she really liked the place you took her to. I think she wouldn't mind if you did it again." He smiled to himself remembering her expression when she talked about it. "I'm glad you like hanging out with her, I haven't seen her talk that excitedly in a long time."
Forrez tried to relax. Adan was probably saying that to save his feelings. But it did make him feel a little bit better. Something about that woman was intoxicating. He was glad she wasn't into sexual things herself or he'd have had some trouble keeping his hands off. He didn't want to betray Linda by messing around with other girls. Then again not being able to touch Gaeia was part of what made her so enticing, though only the smallest of parts.
"I wouldn't mind doing it again, soon." He tried to act somewhat indifferent to save some face, though really he'd given himself away already. Adan probably thought he was weird or creepy by now. Ugh why couldn't he keep his shit together around the stupid wolf?
"Alright we'll be there soon, you can turn on the radio if you want."
"That's great! Though I'll have to give you the location of her new place, the city is demolishing the building after some kids went wild vandalizing the place." That was what Gaiea told him, but he doubted it was kids from what he saw the kind of damage the place took.
"Oh Moons, this is a test isn't it? Wanting to see if we have the same tastes in music." He teased, reaching for the radio.
Forrez was good to keep himself from offering to let her stay with him. He barely knew them, and he wasn't sure how Linda would feel, but it was there on the tip of his tongue. He was sure one day he would slip up and offer and double down on it.
"Maybe I just want a reason to smack you." He mused, "I don't like people touching my radio."
Unable to help himself he wiggled his hand temptingly at the knob and slowly reached for it, wondering if he was going to play along or not.
"Just can't keep your hands off me huh?" He winked.
"Seems not." Forrez decided he would play along, it would help take his mind off of all the 'what if's in his head. He smacked Adan's hand away with a smirk. "What sort of music do you like anyway?"
He brought his hand back and rubbed it as if it smarted. "Hrmm, well I do like the music they have at the clubs. The hard techno stuff. Though I like a little bit of everything. I've got a big soft spot for the foreign music from Yuanji, I blame Gaiea for that one."
"Yeah I like traditional mongoose music too." Forrez nodded approvingly at the industrial comment. It was all over the pirated radio channels that were popular in mongoose areas. "Alright I'll let you touch it, but you have to be gentle."
"I'll be very very gentle." He said as he lightly carressed the radio, then slowly pressed the volume button.
"You have any clubs you'd recommend? I didn't realize I was missing out until Hieke dragged me to the ones on your side of the country. They're like ten times better than the ones in the wolverine territory."
"Damn right they are." Forrez said with pride. "I don't go to the best ones really, because when I go out to party I sort of like to trash things." He admitted, though he wasn't sure why. "And I don't want to trash anything good."
"So I guess I really should be asking which one you REALLY like to trash so I know that you really dislike that one then huh?" In the attire he was wearing now it was hard to imagine him being a wild boy that trashed places, course that outfit he wore when they went to the caves a second time he could.
"Phft so you can catch me being an ass? No thanks. You'll never see me at the club unless Heike betrays me and brings you. And he better fucking not." He grumbled, griping the wheel. "Or.. I mean there's the one we're building, that's going to be a good one. I hope..." He didn't really know much about running a club, but for Assia he'd find out.
"We should totally go visit the good ones in town for 'research' purposes." He suggested, "That way we can make sure it's the best club. It'd also help us circumvent any newbie mistakes." Adan was already coming up with questions in his head, looking pensive as he did. Digging into his bag he pulled out a little leather bound book and started jotting his ideas down before he forgot them.
"I should look closer at the runes that are all over the walls there, I bet a lot of them are security related that we can use."
Alright it was a bit self serving in that the both of them seemed to enjoy clubs, Adan had a point of going and doing some in-person research. He'd had to plan for that then. He wasn't sure if Don and asshat where up for club hopping, what with trying to stay low, so that left himself, Adan, and Heike. That sounded like it could actually be fun as well.
"Do you think its worth it to get pictures of all of them for documenting or taking to the library?"
"Good idea! It'll definitely save my neck doing it that way. Though...should I get some of those disposable cameras or one of those insta-snap ones....It would be nice not to have to go get them developed." He tapped his pen to his chin, then started nibbling on the cap.
"That place is so huge, though if Hieke can pinpoint all the entries then it'd be a good start with securing it."
"Hrm.. Yeah disposable would be best i think, we can pick up a bunch after we eat." Forrez suggested. "I wonder if it connects at all to the current train system, or if its it's own thing."
"It'd be cool if it did, make it an easy way for people to get to it. That's something else we need to think of, is this suppose to be a secret club or are people allowed to know where it's at?" He stopped his scribbling to look over at him.
"Huh...thinking back on it, it did do a strange cloaking thing for a little bit when we went with Gaiea. Wonder if we can make it do that again or not." He wiggled in his seat, just getting excited thinking of what possibly else the old train hub was hiding!
"Hidden, it's tradition." Forrez said, half being truthful. Mostly it was going to be a partly way for Don to hide, but Adan didn't need to know that stuff. The less he knew about who Don really was the better. Hiding in an exclusive club as a mongoose might have been a bit impractical, but Forrez felt it was much better than anything else they could have come up with. And he could be under Assai's protection this way, as well as the Donati.
"I wonder if it does start working on command, if we could replicated it for the other entrances... or use it for other things." His mind was immediately on governmental uses for it. Anything that might help Assai out in some way.
Adan immediately pulled another spiral notebook and jotted stuff down in it as well, that one was for specifically magic related things. "It should be able to, if you set it up properly. Just have to attune it to a specific person so that no one else uses it by accident. Of course they'd have to know what they're looking for, but if they're putting enough will behind their command they could." He waved a hand around as he spoke, getting really into the topic.
"I've never done anything that big, so to see how it was already made would be very helpful. Anything we do outside would have to be weather resistant...probably need spray-paint or something equally long lasting. Should be doing that anyway for anything we want to be permanent." Now he was switching between the two notebooks, making sure to keep his magic questions in one and his thoughts for the club in the other.
"So how did we activate it last time? Any ideas? And why was I able to turn it off? Is that the will thing you're talking about?" Forrez tried to keep mental track of the implications the answers to these questions had. It was alot to take in, but it was too late now for him to try keeping his sanity by pretending they didn't exist.
"That is a good question." He wiggled his pen as he thought. "Maybe it had lost alot of it's 'juice' and coming into contact with a magic source reactivated it? Or maybe someone touched the right rune like a on and off switch? You were over there, did you happen to catch who touched it first or where?"
Thinking on Forrez's other question he pondered it over then nodded, "Yeah I think that's what happened, though we could have you try it out again to make sure. I mean I'm not surprised, you do have a way of making people pay attention when you want it." He winked flirtingly.
"It might have something to do with who owned the place before." Forrez found it hard to believe that he could just command magic to do what he wanted. Though... That was kind of how it worked, at least that was the jist he was getting. "I did some digging into railroads and things, and the ghost telling Gaeia I was its servant.. I think she's an ancestor of Assai. According to what I read, back before the first blood war the Velliara where supposedly all about magic and trains. There were like four siblings who's names keep popping up, and they've got reason to hold grudges against weasels personally." He left out that it was a very specific family they might have issue with, since that was not something Adan needed to know had anything to do with Don personally.
"I just don't get why I can't communicate with her. Are there better ways to talk to ghosts? The screeching and wailing sounds are getting kinda old. Wonder if getting her head back will fix that..."
"Anyway I don't know, I was last to the building. I got caught on the other side of it from you guys."
As Forrez was giving him the background he was writing it all down so he had something to reference later. He'd definitely have to start looking into that, hopefully looking into them would help them figure out the train station better and maybe even the ghost.
"It might? Though in my experience hanging with Gaiea I've never been able to talk with them personally, so it's odd that Don was the only other person that was able to understand her." He sighed, still upset with himself that he never found much that would help Gaiea out with her ghost issues.
"Ah right, forgot that part." Unfortunately he wasn't paying much attention to what was going on to catch what happened. "I guess I'll have to ask Hieke and Gaiea and see if they can give us a clue to what they did."
"Nothing ever happened when Heike was there alone. You were in the area both times these things happened, so it could just be you doing it some how." Forrez mused.
"I....guess? I mean I did help get into the ghost's traincar when Hieke was having issues, but I didn't do anything the second time." He admitted, since it was safe enough to talk about it to him now. "I wasn't thinking of making the runes doing anything though..."
"I guess it could only work when there's multiple people.. but you'd think that would be before they found it.. or Heike can get past magical securities when he's alone, I don't know. There's not enough information to really give me an idea, and this magic stuff doesn't work on regular logic."
He pulled into the parking lot of a nice looking restaurant and parked before turning his attention back to adan fully, now able to look at and talk to him better.
"Well doesn't help that we don't have all the information just yet, just bits and pieces. It's going to all be a jumbled mess until we research it all properly." He waved his hands over his notes to emphasize.
Looking up he noticed they were parked by a restaurant and started packing his notes back up into his bag. "I can tell it's going to be really fun once we do though! That place has so much potential!"
Forrez felt it was all a bit more of a hassle than a fun thing, but nodded in agreement.
"Alright, you'll have to get dressed in the truck." He reached to the back seat and grabbed neatly folded pile of clothes. He was going to have to change a bit himself so this was going to be an adventure.
"Damn, a full set huh? If you wanted me naked you could've just asked, didn't need the props." Chuckling he unbuckled his seatbelt and took his jacket off. He folded it up and placed it on the dash before taking his shirt off next, careful not to mess up his hair as he did.
"I like the game." Forrez smirked, taking the teasing in stride for now. "Its more fun to play a scene than just get what you want." He watched as Adan took his shirt off before getting changed himself.
"Hehe yeah I guess that's true." He did the same with the shirt with folding it up once it was off. Something that probably would've caught Forrez's eye was the giant scar on his chest. It was clear it wasn't surgical, it was about the size of a man's palm and had thin claw like lines out from the edges.
Looking through the stack he pulled out the shirt first, holding back a tease that there wasn't underwear in there too.
Forrez wondered how he'd gotten it, but he could ask that later if he ever wanted to get to know Adan better. Though, something that bad might be hard to want to talk about. He wasn't ready for the story of that just yet, whatever it was. There wasn't anything so interesting under Forrez's shirt, just the muscle ones gets from daily farmwork.
Adan thought he was doing pretty good with just subtly ogling Forrez's body and not licking him like he really wanted to. He didn't feel like they'd known each other enough just yet for him to be messing with him that intimately.
Slipping on the blazer jacket he tugged at the ends to make sure it didn't bunch up in the back. "Man you sneak into my room to figure out my measurements?" He joked after noticing that the outfit fit him just right, especially around the arms.
"Easily enough to guess, but I'd still check your windows and look under the bed before sleeping. Heike might get your toes in the night."
"Usually I'd take that as teasing, but after finding him using my toilet at 3am I know better now." He went ahead and opened up the door to hop on out. Once outside he gave a twirl.
"Think I look like a more presentable Lunch date now?"
"You'll do." Forrez teased as he finished dressing himself and got out. "The hair goes a long way."
"My Madre will be pleased as punch hearing that. The color is one of her formula's." He gave it a preening fluff. "Been tempted to try other colors, but I just can't make myself give it up just yet." Adan pulled his bag out of the car and closed the other door to meet him in front of the truck.
"It looks really good on you, I hope it stays around a little longer." Forrez couldn't help but be genuine about that. "Alright, lets do this. I hope they're as good as I've heard... Be ready for me to get picky, hope you can handle it."
His tail wagged at the compliment, glad he didn't suggest he change color.
"Long as you don't steal my food out from me I think I'll be able to handle it fine. I can't guarantee I won't be giggling if your fussing is amusing to watch." He put his arm around him and gave him a one armed hug.
Forrez was a bit stiff and awkward at first, still not sure what his feelings on Adan even where. "Uh, yeah. I was going to go traditional and just share everything, figured we'd get the best idea of things that way."
"Sounds good to me, better to get two different people's perspectives than just one." Giving him another squeeze he let him go, rearranging his bag into a more comfortable position.
Once they were close to the door he went ahead to reach out and open it up for Forrez.
Forrez liked that, getting the boss treatment. He headed on in and looked around at the waiting area, getting a feel of the place.
The style of the place went for the rustic southern style of the Violli vineyards done with a red color pallet and a deep colored wood. The reception area felt like a cozy living room with a fireplace and with enough couches for a large waiting party. On either side of the fireplace was two doorways which led into the rest of the restruaunt.
Adan gave a low whistle under his breath and gave a quick fluff at his hair feeling a little self conscious.
Just before the fireplace was the hostess table where two people were standing. One was a skunk who looked nervous and was listening intently to the other who was an otter. When they came in the otter immediately looked up with a charming smile.
"Good afternoon gentlemen, welcome to Vesetti's. How many in your party?" His eyes very slowly peeked out to the man beside him and gave a subtle nudge with his elbow. The skunk jumped then his face went hot in embarrassment as he glanced at the otter then at the two of them.
"Y-Yes welcome! H-how many sirs?"
"Two for lunch, but I'd like to eat in your VIP or meeting area, if its empty." Forrez said in a way that suggested he was not at all self conscious like Adan, and felt he should get access to the area. It was a bit of a hit or miss with the request. It was the sort of thing you reserved for, but he doubted anyone would be in it this time of day. So they'd have to see how it was handled.
The otter lifted an eyebrow at the request, as his trainee looked up at him in question. It took a second before he reached over on the podium and flipped through their bookings.
"It'll be here." He muttered to the skunk, tapping the spot.
"Fortunately we do have a few openings in our VIP area's today, if you'll follow us we will get you seated." He said, interrupting the trainee before he could say anything whom gave him a bewildered look as he grabbed up a couple of menus.
"Ah, yes um please follow us sirs." The boy smiled and lead the way beside the otter, heading into the left doorway.
Forrez did his best to act like this was normal and he didn't care, while also trying to gauged reactions and service. This was why he didn't take many people to places he was scoping out, it was a bit stressful trying to do so many things while looking like you were calm and relaxed. He wasn't sure how well he was doing, so long as he didn't look how he felt he'd be fine.
Adan wasn't paying much attention to Forrez, he was fixated on how classy the place looked. He never been in anything that required a formal dresscode before, and the place was just really jivving with him. He nearly got lost them when after they passed by the open dining area to a set of stairs.
Once at the top they went to the last room at the end of the hall. A few of the other rooms had their doors closed with muffled talking and laughter coming from them.
"After you sirs." The otter gave a little bow and a motion with his hand to encourage them to enter first.
The room was obviously made for more than just two people with one side having a long banquet table and the other side having a couple smaller tables with a bench seating. Along one wall was barrels of wine and on the other was a large window that was framed by a flowering vine and looked out to a beautiful view of the outdoor seating area where it was made up to look like a vineyard.
Adan really wanted to go in and check out the window, but he hung back and waited for Forrez to go in and follow his lead. He felt like he needed to restrain himself while these two other men where here or well at least with the Otter. The trainee just made him want to give him a hug and help him relax.
Forrez started heading in, then a thought crossed his mind. He stopped and eyed the newguy. "How long has he been working here?" There were just too many things to consider when deciding a place that was a good fit.
The otter didn't bat an eye as he replied, "He's been working here as a server for three years now. This is his first day training as a host, hence his jitteryness. Though I'm confident after today he will be over it."
The trainee couldn't help but flinch a little.
Forrez nodded, liking that answer. This was definatly a place used to having business conducted in it.
"Don't worry sport, you'll get there." He gave the trainee a flash of warm smile before heading on in.
Adan followed in after Forrez, venturing over to the window on his way over to sitting where his friend chose to sit.
The otter gave the trainee a bemused look, making him feel even more mortified as they followed in. He waited for them to choose where they were going to sit before putting the menu's down onto the table for them.
"What would you like to drink to start things off sirs?" The trainee asked, making sure to avoid making eye contact with Forrez.
"Two waters, and I assume the wine list is on the menu?" He knew it was a bad idea to drink, and he was more partial to his family's drinks than any wine. But the place was clearly Violli themed, so he knew what to judge them on at least. "But, I'd like to know what beers you carry as well, if that isn't on the menu." What? He could hold them to that too if he wanted.
The trainee seemed to be less nervous now as he answered, since talking about the menu was more in his wheelhouse. "Yes sir, the wine and beer list is at the beginning of the menu. We carry a variety of both, but for beers our top ones are the Gienevia, Ubria, Berlusconi, and Erfurt."
"Our head chef takes her beer selection very seriously." The otter added.
Forrez let himself smile at that. "It's a serious subject." He'd have to see what flavors they carried before getting himself too pleased with them. Though he already knew what he wanted. "A Gienevia DarkGold for my friend and a Ubria malt light for me, if you have them. Otherwise I think we'll take a moment."
"Very good sir, I'll have your server bring your drinks in a few for you." The trainee gave a bow of his head and headed off back downstairs.
The otter hung back though as he said, "If you have anymore questions please feel free to ask, or if you have any later on in your stay you can have any of the staff come to get me."
"Before you go, what are your suggestions as far as wine and a meal?" Forrez asked as he sat down, pulling his chair out for himself instead of expecting Adan to do it.
Adan went to go sit at the table as the otter came in closer to take the other menu and open it up so that he could point out the dishes as he spoke.
"I would highly suggest the Garganelli with Ragù Antica with the Cio Blue White wine, it is a favorite with our patrons including myself. Though I may also suggest the lunch pasta sampler which has not only the Garganelli, but also the Tumacë me tulë and Arrabbiata and your choice of two sides, since I have a feeling you want to test the range of the food we have here. With that I would say either the Violli red blush or the Tietro dark."
"I'll take your suggestion on the lunch sampler, but please leave us with the menus for a while." He must get this sort of thing often, he was right on the money with his assumptions. Forrez could appreciate the dedication and craft that went into that sort of service. Hopefully the food was as good as the host.
"Take your time." With a nod of his head he turned to head out of the room.
"Oh! Uh, sorry I don't think we caught your name?" Adan asked, realizing that if Forrez wanted to ask for him that'd it be easier if they knew who the man was.
"Ah, my apologies. It's Eusebio Viggiano, though you can tell the staff to just ask for the owner and they'll find me." He gave them a smile then shut the door behind him.
Forrez relaxed as soon as the owner left. "Bold, asking for names here." he chuckled. He already knew the man's name before he even thought about choosing the place to test out, but that wasn't something Adan would know.
Adan gave him a big shrug with a sheepish grin, "Well he did say to ask him anything, that's fair game right?" He was glad though the man didn't seem to take offense to it, then again it could be just professional kindness on his part.
Picking up the menu he flipped through it, looking to see if there was anything that he'd be interested in. "Don't think I didn't notice you trying to seduce me with your beer."
"You'd better fucking notice." Forrez smirked and leaned back in his chair. "The sampler plate not what you want?" He raised an eyebrow. He picked up a menu himself and looked over the wines and beers, to see what the offered, as well as skimmed through the food menu to see if anything stood out to him as something Assai would particularly enjoy.
"Doesn't hurt to see what else is there. If I get lucky enough to come back I may want to try it out." He then thumbed over to the window. "Though I may really consider having my parents come here for their anniversary, that outside seating area looks super nice." It been a long time since they got to do something for themselves, and he was already plotting in his head of having his brothers help chip in to treat them for a night on the town for just the two of them.
"Plus you're forgetting the most important part, dessert." He teased, tapping the menu. "Not unless you were planning to also drag me to a super fancy bakery afterwards."
"Nope, you're on your own for sweets." Forrez looked at him over the menu. "Separate check."
"That hurts my little sweet indulgent heart." He pouted at him, "I can't believe your boss also doesn't like eating sweets if you're not willing to test it out too."
With a sigh he rested his hand on his chin, "Oh well... now I can get whatever I want and it'll be all mine! Haha!" He cackled in victory, though he did secretly hope Forrez would try playing keep away with it when it came.
"He's got nothing against sweets. Its my sister, she eats his desert, so looking isn't really worth the time." He smirked. "It's your health, I did my part."
"Oh no, my doctor hired you to scold me didn't he?" He puffed out his cheeks, "Moons he really does take his job seriously, can't even have a cheat day."
Just as he was putting the menu down there was a knock at the door. There was a pause then the waitress came in with a tray of drinks.
"Good afternoon sirs, you have any questions regarding the menu?" She asked with a friendly smile as she gave Adan the Gienevia DarkGold and Forrez's Ubria malt light. For both she gave them also a icey glass of water and a fancy pitcher for refills if they needed it.
"Unless my friend here has a question, I think we're good." Forrez smiled back before looking to Adan.
"Well I am undecided between the Lemon Semifreddo or the Torta Della Nonna, which one would you recommend?" Adan asked, pointing to it on the menu. The waitress looked to be polite, but she only glanced at it as if she didn't really need it for reference.
"I've had both and they're equally good in my opinion. Though if I had to choose it'd be the Semifreddo since I'm more partial to fruity flavors myself."
Adan nodded and closed it up, "Thanks! I'll order the dessert closer to when we leave."
"Other than that I think we'll be going with the owner's suggestions as far as lunch goes." Forrez chimed in when they were done. He wanted the place to themselves again as soon as possible so he could get to what Adan had in his notebook.
"Very good sir, I'll get that put in for you." She took out her notepad and scribbled down their order. Adan couldn't help but notice the difference in service here. Usually whenever he went out the staff was flirty or tried to strike up a conversation. So far the waitress was to the point and didn't even give them 'the look'. He wondered if that was just this place, or all high end restruaunt expected their servers to be like this.
She left them to go outside for a second, then came back with a small cutting board that had a hot plump bread loaf on it. Setting it down on the table she gave each of them a small plate, then set down a bottle of olive oil, butter, and a traditional spread that was usually seen more in the mongoose territory.
"I'll be back when your food is ready sirs." She said with a nod, leaving them finally as she shut the door behind her.
"Should I cut into that or would you rather not see the carnage?" Adan asked, pointing to the bread.
Forrez would have asked where they got thier bread materials, but he knew that one for sure already. He wouldn't have even checked out a place that wasn't using Velliara bread or noodles.
"If you're going to murder it, let me. I can't stand to see an amature trying to handle bread." He said with a smirk, mostly teasing.
"I was teasing, but it wouldn't hurt to watch you do it so I don't embarrass you in the future if we are somewhere with company." He pushed the cutting board towards him.
While he watched Forrez he decided to try out the beer, giving it a sniff first before taking his sip.
"Mmm! Moons that smooth." He smacked his lips and took a bigger sip of it a second time.
Forrez cut only a few slices off the bread, not wanting expose it all to the air just yet. "The DarkGold is my father's creation. I haven't made my mark on the family line yet." As much as his dad got on his nerves he was still super proud of how good the man's personal beer was.
"Still working on yours? Is that something everyone in the family has to do? Coming up with their own?" He asked after taking one more sip before reaching for one of the slices, he was curious what the spread was since he wasn't familiar with it.
"You have someone else in the family who advertises the beer to buisnesses? Or do you have to do that yourself?"
"Its not something everyone has to do, but it sure is annoying living under the shadow of someone who's done it." Forrez gave a half chuckle. "Creating them isn't really my passion though. With sales its a bit complicated, but I'm not super interested in telling you all my families business practaces. Tell me about your note book."
He would've pried abit more, but once Forrez brought up about his notes he instantly forgot about it. Ears perked up he reached over to the notebook he brought and flipped it open.
"You'll have to let me know if you find it easy to follow or not." He started, his tail wagging as he leaned over and pointed out to spots.
"I tried to keep it simple with talking about the basics of the symbols and what they can do before talking about how items you apply it to could amplify your rune." He flipped around to show him what he was talking about, the tabs he had in the book was easy for him to pick out the right spots.
"Hopefully by the time you've gotten this down pat I'll have finally translated this book I found. It gets into seals which combines all of this to make more sofisticated spells." He was grinning with glee, practically radiating in his excitement.
"Pretend I've never seen magic before and I don't get any of this at all." Forrez frowned slightly at the squiggles and the words describing them that were clearly words.. but seemed to say things that he couldn't really grasp.
"Sure!" He flipped back to the beginning of the notebook where the first section started. "I guess the easiest way to look at these is that they're a language. Each one having their own meaning and ability that goes with it ." Reaching into his bag he pulled out his sack of rune stones and gently let them spill out onto the table, picking out a few to give examples with.
"Like this one which is 'light'." He put it in his hand and it slowly glowed with a soft light then grew as bright as a lightbulb.
"Or this one which is 'growth'." Picking up another he demonstrated it on the little vase of flowers that was at their table, making them perk up and grow new leaves and buds.
Forrez was instantly interested in the growth one when he saw what it could do. "How long do those effects last? Do they have sideeffects?"
"Long as plants usually last?" He was thrown off by the sudden question he had. "Uh...I don't know if it has any? I used it a few times on some house plants that I almost killed while housesitting for a friend. That was a few years ago and they're still going strong."
"Are these rune's effets scalable? Is there a section on that?" He bearly kept himself from yanking the book out of Adan's hands to look for himself.
"Ah yeah there is." He flipped for him, "I haven't played too much with it myself, but with the right setup you can apply it to an area you want it to affect. The downside though is you'll need more people involved to give it the power it needs to make it work."
"I see.. interesting. How many are we talking per square footage? Would they all need magical abilities? Would they need to belive it would work? That 'Willful' stuff or whatever? Are these thigns variable?" While these were things he'd need to know about for the club, and he was interested in that, he didn't really care untill he realized what it could do for the family business.
"That's the beauty of this kind of magic, you don't really need to have any natural ability to make it work. If you do have it, then it helps like with what you're wanting to do." He was getting the idea now of what Forrez was probably thinking of, with how fixated he got.
"It really depends on the individual person, so you'd probably have to experiement to see how many you need or which people are able to contribute more." He held the growth stone to Forrez in offering, seeing if he wanted to try it out.
Forrez took it without hesitation, he 100% wanted to try it out. He thought about what he wanted it to do, thought he wasn't sure if you had to do that, and held it out to the plant. Instead of doing as it had done with Adan, growing some leaves and buds, the flowers wilted. Forrez watched in horror, that was not something he wanted.
The flowers wilted, but inside the vase the roots were moving. They pressed up against the container untill a few shot out the top and tried to wrap around Adan's arm.
Adan looked on, fasinated by what Forrez had accomplished. He thought that Runes either did what they were suppose to or not at all, so to see it do the opposite was surprising.
"How strange, it's not- WHOA!" He jumped in his seat so fast that he knocked it over and tripped over it, falling to the floor as he clutched at his hand that was gripped by the roots.
"Seven!" Forrez threw the rune down on the table like it was on fire and held his hands up. "Adan! What the fuck!? You didn't say it could do that."
"I didn't know it COULD do that!" He frantically ripped at the roots, they seemed to stop moving around after Forrez threw the rune down. Getting the shivers from it he rubbed his arm to get the senstation out of it.
Getting to his knees he peeked up over the table at the vase, giving it a critical eye to make sure it was really down. "That's soooo strange! What were you thinking when you were activating it? How hard were you consentrating?" He ran his hand through his hair then lept to his feet to grab another rune stone.
"Try it again with the 'light' one! I'm curious if it's a fluke or not!"
"I just wanted it to grow! I don't know!" Forrez paced a bit, fustrated and a bit scared. Magic was not a safe thing, at all. "I don't know.. what if it explodes or something?" He wasn't sure he wanted to try again. He took a deap breath and snatched up the light one anyway though. He held it out in his hand and thought about the little glow it had when Adan first used it. He focused on jsut that tiny light, hopeing that would keep it small.
It didn't light up at all.
Instead the shadowns in the corners of the room and under the table reached out like lots of little hands and enveloped the room.. everything but the rune. Leaving it as the light spot in the darkness. The room was also getting Cold.
It reminded Forrez of how cold Heike had been when the ghost reurned him and he threw the rune across the room this time.
"Seventh Moon!" Adan exclaimed as the room darkened and he shivered.
Once again as soon as Forrez let go of the stone the room went back to rights. He heard a wooden 'thump' sound, making him think it hit either the wood paneling or one of the barrels.
"Oh man! That's so cool!" Adan gleed, he went for his notebook to write his experiences real quick. "I never seen it do that! I wonder if what you're doing would be different each time you use it or be affected in the same way?" He chewed on his pen thinking.
Looking up he said, "You must have some magic ability possibly? Can explain why it got warped like that."
"Fuck that, I'm done touching them. Dammit." He was mostly upset he wouldn't be able to use the growth one on the farm. But also the thought of fucking up some how and getting a loved one hurt scared him. "No more runes for me. You do them... Fuck. Is it me or is it your stupid runes? Has anyone else done them?"
"Gaiea and Hieke....and ummmm..." He scratched his head, "My papa, but he thought it was some science trick." He closed the notebook and frowned, worried some over how upset Forrez was getting.
"Maybe we can try it a different way when we are somewhere they don't care about property damage?" He hadn't really given up hope yet that Forrez could use runes, and he was already forming ideas of how they could get around him twisting the magic around.
"And nothing odd happened when they did it?" Forrez looked at his own hands then ran them over the sides of his hair. "Yeah, this isn't really the place for that stuff anyway I guess."
Adan shook his head, "No they didn't have anything odd happen. I've been using these for years and I haven't seen anything like what you accomplished." As he talked he went over to the barrels to look for the rune, hoping it didn't slip into a place he couldn't get to.
"These things are pretty simple and basic, like flipping on a light switch."
Forrez grumbled to himself. Couldn't even turn on a fucking light without fucking up, is that what Adan was saying? "I'm willing to try the plant one again, I guess. If you want to see if it happens again. But I'm weary as fuck about that light one or any others. What all do you got? What all can they do?" He tried to calm himself with asking questions. But he was still upset and unnerved by the whole thing. Magic was kind of terrifying... no wonder no one used it, if it could go bad like that. It couldn't be just him.. right?
"Yes!" Adan gleed, feeling the stone and grabbing it. "If you're comfortable with it then yeah! I'm curious to see if it's just a first time using that particular one fluke or it would happen consistantly with the same one." Getting back to his feet he went back to the table.
"Letsee....these are the ones I usually bring with me. I have more at home, but I haven't found much daily use for them as of yet." Sitting he push the pile to the side and brough them over to the right side so it was easier to point out.
"Oh! Sorry before I get into it, there's one that's not on a stone, but I use it all the time at work." He took the notebook he gave to Forrez and went to the section. "This one I use to keep glass from breaking. I write it on the bottles or anything I don't want to break if someone drops it."
"Shit that sounds useful. Can you use something like that to make.. I dunno.. clothing say bullet or stab proof? Or even like beating proof?" Despite his reservations Forrez could see so many useful things in these runes.
"Like to dance with bullets huh?" He teased, "Yeah I bet we can make them do that. It would be a matter of pairing up the right ones together." Keeping the notebook open he pushed a couple of runes to the side and flipped a couple of pages.
"Letsee...protection for sure....resistance....heal...stone skin?" He pointed to each one, as he mentioned them.
"What with the Velliara moving up the ranks, I worry about Assai's saftey." Forrez admited. "And my sister's too, she's a trouble maker."
He had to smile when he heard who he was intending it for, but was good to not tease him further on it. "Your sister like punching ghosts too?" Hey no one said he wasn't allowed to tease him about other things.
"We would need to test it first to make sure it works. Sometimes I find I have to take some runes out or add different ones to get it excatly the way I want it." Taking his bag he carefully emptied the contents out, turning it inside out to show the stitched runes in his bag.
"Can't tell you how long it took to find the perfect combination just for my bag."
Forrez frowned, his sister better not be punching ghosts...
"What does that one do? Prevent fraying or something?" He asked, genuanely curious.
"Fraying, preventing tears and holes, waterproofing, and uh heh fireproofing." He gave a little nervous laugh at the last one for some reason. "What took me the longest was finding a combination that could make it so my bag would stay a consistent weight despite how much I put inside." He put everything back in and then handed it over so he could see for himself.
"I was starting to hurt my back with how much I always wanted to carry on me, so I thought of making the bag at least easier to lift."
Forrez's eyes went wide when he took the bag. He didn't know magic could do that. Granted he didn't know much or really anything about actual magic. But still.. it blew his mind. No wonder Adan was so entranced by the stuff.
"Seven.. you had better be careful who you show this to, you might get snatched up. I want to snatch you myself."
"Oh I don't mind if its you snatching me up." Adan grinned, wagging his tail. "Other than Gaiea you're the only other one I've really shared this in depth with. I've learned to be cautious who to open up to about it."
"Not even Heike?" Forrez found that hard to beilve. "Why trust me? You idiot, I work for the government."
"Well...I've shared a little bit with him, but he never really asked me past the stone stuff." He had more fun playing with a few of them and then started telling him about fun places that he would enjoy looking at.
Tilting his head he thought on it a little as he thought up on his answer. "I figured you probably did, but....hrmm how to explain it? I dunno I can just...tell that I could trust you with it? I mean today kinda solidified that already for me."
"Guess fighting ghosts brings people together." Forrez smirked. They had to have some sort of bond formed, because Forrez had told Adan things about himself he hated sharing too. "Just don't trust any others without me there to claim you." That last part was mostly a tease.
"Getting territoral over me already hrmmm?" Adan knew what he really meant, but it was more fun to pretend it was flirting.
"Well that and also a few other things too, but yeah Ghost butt kicking is a good first one."
"It's the hair, its your one redeaming quality." Forrez teased. "I get territorial over hair." He carefully handed the bag back to Adan and gave the open book a good looking at, careful not to touch anything on it that looked runelike, just to be safe.
"Can't imagine if you're this poessive over my hair now, how you might've been when I was in middle school." He picked up another piece of bread with the nutty spread on it.
"How was it in middle school?" Forrez asked without thinking. He didn't really want to talk about hair, he wanted to talk about magic and how he could use it to make life easier for those he cared about. But.. he couldn't help himself. "No, forget that. You can show me later. Back on topic." There, see? Self control.. He could have self control.
"Too afraid to find out what dorky haircut I could've possibly had to match my personailty?" He teased, not willing to let it go just yet.
"I assure you the other girls were envious over how long it was. Course I did hate it whenever I'd accidentally sit on it or get it stuck in car doors."
Forrez had to focus to keep himself from imagioning what that might have looked like. "Topic. Get. Back. On. It." He hissed, letting his mask slip a bit more before getting a hold of himself and adding, "Before the waiter gets back." As if that was the only reason.
"Alright alright, I'll be good." He giggled, "For now at least. Ahem! So yeah, you seem like a careful guy so I trust that you'll be cautious in what you try to use and who you think to share it with yourself. "
Forrez was quiet a moment. He hadn't been expecting a complement like that. Especially from someone who'd seen his impulsive wild side more than once. He wanted to say something but he wasn't sure what.
And, of course that's when the wait staff returned with their food....
They knocked on the door first, very loud to draw their attention, and gave pause before coming in with the tray of food.
Adan quickly pushed his bag back onto the chair beside him and stacked the notebooks closed ontop of it so the waitress had enough room to put their food down.
Along with the main dishes she set a empty plate in front of each of them so they could portion out what they wanted onto them. After she made sure that their glasses didn't need refilling she gave a slight bow and asked, "Is there anything else I can get for you sirs before I leave you to your meal?"
Forrez looked at the things on the table, then looked at Adan before answering, "No this should do it."
"Yeah I think we're set, thanks!" Adan nodded in agreement, everything looked like it was there.
Bowing her head she said, "I'll be back in fifteen to check on how you are doing." With that she left them, making sure to close the door behind her.
"Is it usual for the upscale resturaunts to be this to the point?" Adan asked curiously.
"In a vip area like this? Yes, if they're any good. This kinda place is reserved for family heads and bosses and shit, you really want your staff talking with them all free like? Could be rude, could get them owning favors. And they'll hold the owner responsible for all debts too. Can get pretty nasty depending on who you're dealing with. They play it safe here, they know what they're doing. Feel bad for some of the newer foreign places that poped up lately, they don't know how to keep themselves safe. Luckly most of them are smaller and less likely to get anyone important enough eating there in a business sorta setting." All this was pretty standard to Forrez ever since he started working for Assai, but it was likely new to Adan.
Adan unwrapped his utensils as he listened, and nodded as he understood since it did make sense. He never really had to deal anyone that was family level or higher on a daily basis. While they were in a pretty nice part of town, they weren't exactly frequented by any high level people.
"Guess if I have to ever deal with anyone at a family level I'm going to have to drag you along with me, I'd definitly be slipping up all over myself." He said as he put his napkin in his lap.
"I don't even want to think about you dealing with that stuff. I'll have to give you some manners lessons so maybe you'll survive." Forrez looked over the food. It sure smelled prefect. This place was defiantly worth him coming to in person. He started dividing some of each thing out onto his plate as Adan got his napkin in order.
"At least you'll know I'll take good notes." Chuckling he watched Forrez get his food portions before he went in to get a little of everything himself.
"So I know this is random to be asking out of the blue, but I was kinda hoping to be able to ask you something." He looked up at Forrez as he asked, "Are you still serious about that offer you made to Gaeia? About her staying at your place? I mean it's fine if you aren't."
"Why? Did she seem interested?" Forrez's whole body stiffened in anticipation of an answer. His mind was already going to her refusal. He was simeltaniously dreading she'd refuse and was upset he'd even mentioned it, while also so hopeful she'd agree that his heart was in his through and his stumic was turning with butterflies. "It will always be open." He said confedently, though... really he hadn't even spoken with Linda about it yet... not really.
"Last time I asked her she seemed interested, or at least how she answered." He rubbed the back of his neck, "I will be frank with you, I'm mostly asking on her behalf. She doesn't know I was planning on asking you if it was a serious request. I'm sure you know how she is by now...I think?"
"I wouldn't have offered if I didn't mean it." Forrez doubled down. Even though it had been a less than thought through offer at the time, the more he did think of it the mroe he knew he wasn't going to change his mind. "I'm getting an idea of it, yeah."
"Alright cool." He let out a sigh and went in to get his food, glad to have something to do with his hands. "I know you put alot of effort into helping her get prepared to be able to live out in the countryside, but I feel like she'd do better living with other people. I just worry about how there is little out there for her to fall back on."
Once Adan got his food he didn't dig in right away, instead he sat back and drank some of his beer. "Though...sigh...I guess I'd be a terrible friend if I didn't give you abit of a warning first. While I don't think you'll have issues out in the middle of a wheat field, there is a possiblity that she might attract violent spirits to her and cause some property damage. I can do my best to put up some protection wards around your place if you like, but we haven't quite found the right combination to 100% keep them at bay."
"If she moves in she should keep the camp stuff, so she knows she's always got a choice to leave without ending up as she was." Forrez wasn't worried about having just bought her stuff. "And we can go camping."
"I'd like some wards, for her peace of mind if nothing else. If me getting near them won't fuck them up. I sort of already guessed that she had something like that going on. I mean she lives alone and can deal with ghosts, that's a pretty easy leap."
Adan's shoulders relaxed a degree, seeming to be put at ease some by Forrez's comments. "Yeah, I just didn't want to assume in case you hadn't. I just don't want to get her hopes up with getting a place to live and then getting kicked out because you weren't aware. She's been burned too much already in the past and I don't want to add to it."
"If she doesn't like living with me, she can go to the club. As long as she stays out of Mimi's car she should be fine. Just.. as an back up option." Dammit why was he offering so many options when he just wanted her with him. "My house is alot more finished than the club though." He added, hoping that would help his case.
"I think having options will make her more at ease. Though I hope it works out at your place." While the club was a good option, Gaiea didn't know Don or Trent yet so she would probably feel a little uncomfortable around them. At least with Forrez it was someone she knew and was interested in.
"If you need help with paying anything for her just let me know, I'll contribute what I can."
"I'll let you know if she needs her hair done." Forrez rolled his eyes, clearly not accepting the offer. Atleast not openly.
He barked out a laugh and picked up his fork, "Moons my Papa would be delighted if she did come in, though I think he'd cry over the butcher job she's done to it since he last saw her."
Forrez dug into his food grumpily, not liking the idea of someone else touching her hair. He shouldn't be so possesive, he needed to get over himself. But fuck, it was hard.
"Not like he got to mess with it much even before she cut it all off, she gets sensory overload easily so she never could sit still long enough for him to do much with it." He paused in his chatting to take a bite, closing his eyes abit. "Mmm! Damn that's good!"
Forrez nodded in agreement. It was so good he didn't want to break anyone's fingers for touching things he couldn't, that was a feat. Assai was going to love it, he hoped. "I'll have to request something that pairs with the beer specifically, but the sample plate really is a good variety."
Taking his time he ate through his first bite before moving onto the next. "You'll have to tell me what you end up settling on so I can try that next time. Mmmm!" He wagged his tail, the next plate was just as delciious as the first.
"How soon do you wanna have me bring Gaiea over to your place?"
"As soon as she wants to come, just give me a call first. Need to make sure I'm home."
"Alright...." If it was up to him he'd be doing it right after their lunch, but it wouldn't be nice of him to spring it on him like that. Also he had to come up with a sneaky plan to get Gaiea to get in his car with him. It wouldn't be very nice, but she'd put up a fuss despite wanting to.
"How about in two weeks? So that you can get prepared?"
"That should be enough time.." Hopefully that would give him enough time to get Linda okay with the idea, and keep her from harassing Gaeia. She was very in your face if she liked you.. and if she didn't.
Should give him time as well to formulate his plan. Shouldn't be too hard to convince her to let him treat her out for a meal, and she never could resist an offer to going to the Yuanji cafe either.
Adan thought on anything else that he would need to know before taking her in, though he wasn't coming up with much. Except for the spirit related stuff she was pretty easy to accomidate for.
"If you wouldn't mind getting some at your house, she really likes having hot chocolate."
"You mean the instant stuff?" Forrez had a pained look on his face for a moment then asked, "What brand?" Hopefully she didn't care, there were some higher end brands he knew of that actually had flavor to them. The wolf familiy brands were always the best, they had so much depth and flavor.
"I don't think she has any brand that she's particular to." He smirked when he caught that look on his face. "I can say though to not get Miss Sweetbelle's, she said it tasted like sugar mud water."
Adan rememeberd it vividly too, it was one of those instant packs the hotel lobby's always had for guests. They were outside on a balcony when she took a sip and instantly choked on it. She sprayed so much of it everywhere that it got all over the railing and made dirty looking iciciles.
"Oh thanks the moons, that shit isn't even coming in my house." Anything in a packet he was just going to toss out.
He laughed and reached one handed into his bag, looking for something. "Nah you can woo her with your fancy recommendations. I'm sure she'll appreciate the effort you put into it."
Taking out his pill bottle he popped the cap off and shook one out into his hand. "I bet if nothing else convinces her to stay with you, then whatever you find for her to try out will do the job." He took the pill with his glass of water, making a face as he did since the pill was big and caught in the back of his throat.
"Hopefully..." Forrez trailed off, considering it a moment.
He didn't want to insult her with his pushing for better quality things, but he also didn't want her settling for low quality if she didn't have to. He couldn't really help himself. He could afford to shop around for the best, and he was going to take aggressive advantage of that at every opportunity. Heike was the worst about clinging to his nasty cheep stuff. Price wasn't really the issue, it was quality. Forrez didn't want that shit in his house.
He eyed the bottle, nosily trying to catch a glimpse of what it was without being obvious. He wasn't sure if he succeeded though.
The bottle was set on the table as Adan worked on not choking to death. Unfortunately for Forrez the label of the bottle was turned away from him, best he could possibly make out was a warning label.
"Bluh!" He coughed, thumping his chest. "Ugh, sorry." He apologized as he put the bottle away and wiped at his eyes.
"I feel a little jealous, Gaiea is probably going to be seeing your house before I do." He teased with a grin.
Forroz frowned to himself, he hadn't had the idea to snatch it up fast enough. He didn't feel like just asking yet though, maybe next time. It really wasn't his place to be nosing into Adan's life. Not this early in knowing him. "I'd invite you, but you make friends too fast and I get jealous around my fiancé." He half teased. Linda was so hard to make friends with, if this twerp managed it in one day he really would feel a bit possessive.
"Oh so if I ever meet her I'm going to need to wear my kneepads then?" Shaking his head at him he picked up his fork to continue eating. "Poor girl, to have you be fretting and pampering around her. Must be absolutely terrible."
As they were talking there was a slow increase of raised voices coming from the room next to them. The walls were thick so nothing could be made clearly out. It went to being quiet right before there was the sound of glass shattering.
Forrez rolled his eyes, trying not to actually be hurt by the joke. He noticed the raised voices and was a bit concerned. These rooms should be fairly soundproof, so if someone was shouting that loudly there was a chance of violence. And he had no idea if the walls here would stop bullets. He tapped a finger on the table trying to guess the layout of the room next door or make out any of what was being 'discussed'.
He resisted the urge to get to his feet at the sound of the glass breaking, and tried to look annoyed or bored instead of anxious. Willing himself to not not be bothered, as much as he was able. He glanced at Adan to gauge his reaction.
He jumped in his seat, making a pained face as his knees hit the underside of the table. "Owwww what was that?" He asked, getting to his feet to go check out the window to see if he could see anything.
The only window in the room wasn't the same side as the one next to them, but he could see there was several staff members and some people in suits running to the other side of the building.
"It was none of our business." Forrez took a drink from his glass and tried to relax a bit more. He tapped his fingers on the table and tried to weigh his options, it would really depend on what Adan did.
Adan gave him a surprised look over his shoulder, then looked over at the door, looking unsure if he should follow his friend's advice. On the one hand he was right, it could be more trouble than it was worth getting nosey. Then again he couldn't help himself with wanting to offer his help to people that might want it.
"Couldn't...hurt to just take a little peek....right?"
"It could, actually." Forrez sighed and put his glass down. "But if you have to stick your nose in it, I'll go with you."
"Aww you don't have to." His tail swishing he went over to the door and slowly opened it a crack, peeking out with one of his orange eyes.
He had to creak it open a little more to see around one of the pillars. Staff was trying to come up the stairs as people from the other room spilled out to keep them at bay. There was sounds of fists hitting fleshy objects along with grunts and growls.
It was trying to determine what family could be over there, most he saw was the back of their heads so it was hard to tell. One did come into full view, showing that it involved a skunk family at least.
(OOC NOTES: Roll indicates the Rasoio (skunk, sub fam to Ellnas) and Ballare (butchers sub sub family under the Ricci) are involved.
'You don't have to' he says. Yeah right. Forrez already made it clear he wasn't about to loose a gold mine like Adan to anyone else. And him getting sucked into big family drama, without someone to back him up, was the fastest way to loose him.
"I think all that hair dye has melted your brains." He muttered as he got up to take a glance along side his 'friend'.
"My brains are quite fine thank you." He stuck up his nose in a dramatic fashion, pretending to be hurt. Not his fault he was as much nosey as he was helpful.
As he looked back at the fight, one of the scufflers got thrown against the hallway wall, knocking a painting down on top of his head. He was a big beefy guy, with braids done up the sides of his head to make a very curly mohawk fluff on top. With that hairdo Adan very much doubted the painting hurt as much as it could've.
Forrez muttered a curse under his breath seeing a mongoose involved, from the hair he could tell the mongoose was from the Ballare family, They were under Romeo's family, and more importantly to him, under the Lavenora. That particularly had him since he had to deal with the Lavenora often, what with them giving up two of their hardest working farmhands to personally guard Assai and his house. Many of those years they did it for free too. He'd had to look, now he couldn't ignore this. He didn't know what the right thing to do was, or how insulting he'd be stepping in for someone else's family without asking. But doing nothing wasn't really on the table anymore.
"What is going on out here?" He asked the combatants in a calm and soothing manner. He was going to try diplomacy, for Assai. But part of him was secretly wishing to get into the brawl, He shushed that part and forced a concerned expression.
If the mongoose hadn't been so tall he probably wouldn't have seen Forrez among the crowd. He did abit of a doubletake, as if unsure if he was seeing things right. He was about to start speaking before a fist hit his jaw, knocking a couple of his teeth out.
"What does it concern you?" One of the skunks asked over his shoulder, arms crossed as he watched the fight continue. He was much shorter than Forrez with a very short swoopy haircut and a couple of notches in his ear and a busted up looking nose.
Out of character
Roll - Did they notice Forrez? Yes
"Well, that depends on what's going on, now doesn't it?" Forrez chuckled as if this wasn't a tense situation. "For instance if this was a family matter I think I might have some reason for concern. Anything that might reflect poorly on my Boss is always something I need to know about. You know how it is."
"Which boss would this be then?" He asked, not really recognizing Forrez off the bat. He would've ignored him further, but considering he was up in the VIP area of the resturaunt he had to hold some weight. The owner of the resturaunt didn't just let any rando's have these rooms.
The big mongoose retailated back by punching the other guy in the gut making him wretch all over the floor.
Quietly he came over to stand behind Forrez, flinching at the sight of the two men kicking the tar out of each other. Ohhhh ouch, that big guy was going to have a nasty dentist appointment later.
"Boss Velliara." He clearified, then motioned to himself. If these guys were Donati he was fucked, he hoped they weren't. "Advisor Genevia, Forrez Genevia." He held a hand out for a hand shake. Naming himself was a risky fucking move. If they were over him he'd look disrespectful as shit. Assai was going to have his ass for sure if this didn't play out right.
He looked at him for a moment then uncrossed his arms to reach out to accept his hand. "Nice to make your aquaintance Advisor Genevia, I apologise if we were...loud." He gave a glance at the brawl then back to him.
Out of character
Asked Generator who threw the first punch? Skunks or Mongooses? - Mongooses
Forrez smiled, hiding the sudden relief at their reaction with a nod. "Is this something I should be concerned about?" He didn't address their apology, but kept any direct malice out of his voice, going for bored. He'd picked the boredom reaction response up from Izzy, seemed to work well for him. It was alot harder than looking mild and vuagly appreciative. Those he had down since he was a kid. Amused but disappointed he had down too. Neither really fit tis situation.
"Mmmm...." He seemed to think then gave a shrug, "Maybe, considerin who's involved here. I can take you to Alessandro if you're wantin to be curious." On the one hand he could hopefully get the big brick brain to calm down, though on the other he didn't want it to seem like he was asking a favor by suggesting he get involved.
Forrez gave a nod, careful not to thank him lest he think he was doing Forrez a favor.
Moons why did he let Adan get curious? Was he going to survive working in this business? Didn't matter, he had to. For Assai.
He stayed behind Forrez, thinking he best look like he was with him than some rando. Couldn't be nosey if you were shooed away right?
Rolling his shoulders he jerked his head to indicate for Forrez to follow him. He moved around behind the crowd that was closest to the fighters, heading over to a man that was leaning against the doorway. He was gingerly holding a handkerchief to his nose, whether it was fully red before or after the fight broke out was uncertain. Another skunk and he were talking just as he and Forrez came over and the two men quieted.
"Advisor this is Second Alessandro Rasoio. Second Alessandro, this is Advisor Forrez Genevia."
Forrez nodded in greeting, letting Alessandro diced if a hand shake was warranted or not. He was already second guessing his decision to get involved. If his people had started the fight and he bailed them out then he'd be condoning that in a way. He wasn't sure if that was something Assai would want or not. He needed more information on this situation.
Eyeing him for a moment Alessandro then took the hankercheif away from his nose and held out his free hand to him, luckily unsoiled by his bloody nose. The hankercheif revealed that his face was already getting puffy from where he got hit.
"I was not aware that you would be joining us today." His spoke slowly, confusion on his face as he looked behind Forrez, as if expecting possibly Assai to pop up as well.
"That's something we have in common." He gave a slight chuckle, as if this was something he wasn't anxious about. He sobered up quickly though, he wanted to put the man more at ease, not insult him as if he thought his troubles were amusing.
He relaxed a hair, relieved that he hadn't forgotten about an added guest. Last thing he needed was to piss off the local families even further.
"I apologise if our...meeting disturbed your lunch. I didn't expect our negociations to get so heated." Would it be more trouble if he got the Advisor invovled? This was suppose to be a simple renegociation, but thanks to the cave brutes they made everything into a public mess. That's all they knew was farming and creating messes, not much better than the farm animals they raised.
"If talking is still on the table, perhaps I can mediate." Forrez sugestd, trying to see if he could corral them all back into the room or not. He glanced around to see if any staff was hovering near by. "I'd like to treat our guests to a round of Gienevia DarkGold, if you please."
"I'll be more than happy to have someone bring some to your room." The restaurant owner replied as he came over to them. He eyed the scuffle, his face blank as he took it in then gave the men his full attention again.
"I hope that you are finding your stay with us satisfactory, we pride ourselves on our quiescent atmosphere that all our patrons here enjoy."
"Yes everything is wonderful Mr. Viggiano, we were just about to have our guests come back into the room with us." Subtly he tugged on his guard's sleeve, whom silently moved around him to work on breaking up the fight.
"We'd be more than happy to have you join us Advisor Genevia." Hopefully he wouldn't regret it, they said that the new head and his top people were a far cry better than they people they tried to lead. Maybe there was hope that there was enough civilized mannerisms in the Advisor to make his people come to heel.
It was hard to keep a neutral face when he heard what he felt must have been a subtle burn from the owner. He was really going to need to go practice his business faces at the club later. Hopefully he wouldn't be on the restaurant's blacklist after getting involved with this, he really did think Assai would enjoy it here.
"Hopefully we can resolve things quickly, I do have a schedule to keep." He lied, mostly so it didn't seem like he was too eager and they weren't doing him any favors. But also because he really did not want to be stuck in there with them for long.
"It is my hope as well." Alessandro said before going back into the room. His bodyguard had peeled the two brawlers apart, keeping the mongoose pinned against the wall as the other Rasoio members escorted his dazed sparring partner downstairs.
Pleased that things were getting settled he gave a nod to Forrez. "Your drinks should be up momentarily." With a bow of his head he went over to his staff, quietly talking with them over what was needed. Two of the staff had cleaning supplies in hand, whom got to cleaning immediately after Eusebio released them.
The large mongoose was still struggling against the bodyguard, still wanting blood for whatever it was that set him off. The staff was careful to give the two of them space as they worked around them, picking up peices of plaster and ceramic from the damage they did to the decor.
Forrez went over to Adan and spoke to him in a low tone. "You're my body guard as far as anyone knows. If i let you in there you have got to keep a strait face and your mouth shut no matter what, you understand?"
"Ah uh yeah sure." He felt a smile creep into his face which he had to force back into a straight one. It just amused him that anyone would think he was a bodyguard from how he looked.
"Promise I can do that." Or he could make a serious attempt with imagining his Great Grandmother's face. She was a chatty old lady who's voice put him to sleep all the time.
"Good, cause if I get you killed Gaiea would never forgive me. I don't think I could handle that." That was mostly true. He was also fond of Adan on his own, but that wasn't something he was going to go admitting so blatantly.
He took a deep breath and put his business face back on before turning around and heading to the mongoose and bodyguard. "I'd like a word with him alone before we head in, if you don't mind." He put a hand on the mongoose's shoulder just in case he decided to run off as soon as he was let go, and waited.
The mongoose forced himself to relax when he saw Forrez, gritting his jaw painfully tight to force himself to calm down. Seeing this change the bodyguard gave a nod and slowly backed a few steps to wait before returning back to the room.
"Advisor Genevia." The mongoose mumbled in greeting, not making eye contact.
Forrez waited for the skunks and their guards to get back into the room before speaking. He let go of the guy when he heard his name and ran his hands over the sides of his hair.
"Mind explaining what is happening here?"
He wiped the blood on his face with his sleeve, hesitating as he fiddled with his suit to get it back to rights. The fussing allowed him to process his thoughts, on the one hand he didn't want to admit the troubles his family was going through, on the other Forrez was over him and he had to answer.
"We were renegotiating terms we previously had with the Rasoio."
Forrez thought about that a moment. The Ballare had a deal with the the Rasoio? He needed to get caught up on these things.
"Are they trying to go back on a deal? Who's wanting the renegotiation?" He was trying to piece it together, one doesn't usually toss a business partner out a window unless they were an enemy fucking you over or something.
"Are they trying to go back on a deal? Who's wanting the renegotiation?" He was trying to piece it together, one doesn't usually toss a business partner out a window unless they were an enemy fucking you over or something.
"We are. We wanted to get a better deal or get out altogether since we are in a better position than when we first partnered with them." It would be rude at this point to withhold information. Especially if he was here then he was interrupting whatever he was previously engaged in.
"They aren't exactly making this process easy for us."
"That why someone went out the window?" He asked, forcing his face not to smirk at the question, though he did raise an eyebrow. Made sense, a lot of the families were in better positions financially now that Assai's hard work was starting to be noticed.
He finally looked him in the eye as he answered, "They insulted Boss Velliara. We did ask that they didn't, but they ignored our request and continued on." He shifted, trying not to get worked up again.
"I'll admit maybe we reacted poorly, but we just couldn't stand there and think they could talk about him that way either."
Forrez's eyes flashed with rage and his fists clinched. "Good, toss em out all the fucking windows." He hissed under his breath before getting control of himself.
He took a deep breath and cleared his mind. "Keep us appraised of your deals from now on. Your family has been supporting Assa- Boss Velliara, the least we can do is back you in deals like this. Its what we're there for. In matters like this, the Velliara owe it to your family. Assai meant it when he said if he was risen we'd all rise." He relaxed his hand and put it on the other mongoose's shoulder, in solidarity this time.
Then he lowered his voice and leaned in. "No matter what happens in there, know they will pay for insulting our boss. One way or another."
His ears were ringing too much to really make out what he was muttering, which was probably good for Forrez that he couldn't.
He nodded to his words, feeling a little guilty they hadn't come to them about it in the first place. They just didn't feel comfortable getting the Boss involved since it was their problem before he had taken over. It was still all so new to them of having their own Boss that they could go to for help. Unlike the rest of the country they didn't really get the support, not unless it was so dire that they were forced to step in. The Violli was probably the closest they had, but they hadn't involved themselves very much in the past.
When he was pulled in he gave him a perplexed look, then he gave him a smirk. "Thank you sir. I hope it's a lesson they will learn very well."
Forrez gave and nod before leaning back again and working on putting on his work face. It took longer than he'd have liked, but he managed it.
"So, what terms were you aiming for?" He asked, straitening his clothes.
One stressful meeting later...
Forrez melted unceremoniously into his chair once they were back in their own vip room and alone.
"Seven this is going to be my life from now on, isn't it?" He already knew going in that the job he had was a stressful one, but moons above he hadn't really prepared himself as much as he'd have liked.
Adan flopped back into his own chair, glad that he didn't have to keep his face in check anymore. It was stiff and funny feeling now from the effort of not smiling or wincing during the whole ordeal. He slapped his cheeks to perk them up then massaged them with his fingers.
"Did a pretty good job though, sorry about accidentally pulling you into it. Didn't think it'd be....all that." He made vague gestures in the air. Snagging his beer from the table he gave it a long slow sip, making a happy sigh as he did.
Forrez let out the nervous energy he had been holding in by laughing, "Fuck man what did you expect? They tossed a guy through a window, and that we knew going in." He leaned back, tilting his chair on it's back feet, and rocked his chair a bit. "Next time we eat out, its on you."
He gave an embarrassed laugh of his own, "Oh moons....I totally forgot that happened! Goodness my brain must've really been scrambled from that meeting." He tilted his head back, emptying his glass.
"Hope you like Burger Hut." He grinned at him, waiting to see his reaction before continuing. "I have a few places I bet you'd like, nothing this fancy though, but the food is pretty good."
Forrez made a face at the mention of the Terren fast food chain. "If you take me to a burger hut I'll burn it down." He threatened, mostly joking.
"I'm regretting my words." He stopped playing with his chair and leaned forward so all tis feet were on the ground. Reaching for his own bear, Forrez caught a whiff of his now cold lunch. Sigh.. He didn't feel like calling for replacement food, that would be rude after all the fuss they'd been involved in. "What sort of place did you have in mind? I don't like surprises."
"What don't you trust me?" He fluttered his eyes at him sweetly. "Well I guess depending on your mood I was thinking either this Krushivan place near my parent's shop or if you don't mind a little bit of a drive there's a smoked meat place a friend of mine runs." He had plenty of other suggestions, but just off his initial impressions of Forrez he felt those two would be a good start. Once he got to know him better he could get a better feel of what else he'd be into.
"This Krushivan place, is it family run?" That sounded promising. They were close enough that they could get proper ingredients fairly fresh.
He sighed and picked up his fork to give his cold food a try. It still smelt amazing, just not as much as when it was hot.
"'Smoked meat' huh? Just what kind of place does your 'friend' run?" Forrez asked, putting an emphasis on friend as if he didn't think Adan really had any.
"Yeah, they've been around for awhile so I think they're the third generation that's been working at it?" Sad that his drink was gone he went to his water before going back to the food as well.
He chuckled at Forrez's implication, "Hehe well he works in lumber and runs a little smoke shack in his off season. It's a shame he doesn't do it year around, but he's been happy just having it as a hobby."
Forrez considered as he took another bite. "I'm willing to try that..." He said wearily, although he did like trying new places and finding new gems. It was just more amusing to him to question Adan. Also he wasn't sold on Adan's food tastes. He was the kind of guy to say a place was good because a friend ran it and his testbeds went blind. 'It tastes like freindship!' He chuckled imagining Adan saying that.
"Speaking of, what should we do about this?" He gestured to the food before them.
He looked at the food and frowned, "I don't know about you but I definitely want to take this with us." He figured he'd be bringing some to go, this was way more food than he could eat in one sitting.
"Was kiiiinda hoping of sharing some with Gaiea." He looked hopeful at him with a pretty pout. He didn't think he would need much convincing, but it was fun to pretend he had to. "Though....sigh....if you don't want to I know my brothers would be happy to have it instead."
Forrez didn't care if they got take away, he wasn't sure why he was being asked... and then Gaiea was mentioned and he got a bit flustered. He was about to ask if he could come with when the brothers were mentioned and his infatuated feelings turned to frustration.
"Your brothers can fuck a badger for all I care." He kicked Adan's leg under the table for emphasis, "With spikes."
If he was supposed to be punished it wasn't working very well as he gave a laugh as he winced. "Wow that's some hardcore fucking my brothers are doing there. Would explain why they walk so funny all the time." Man his brother must've reeeeeally pissed him off with that comment earlier to be condemning all of them. He didn't think he was there long enough for him to meet all the others. Hrm....maybe he should ask just in case, if they did he'd have to ask them to behave if they were going to interact with him in the future.
Forrez grumbled a bit under his breath and tried to put his mind back on Gaiea. He pictured her hair and felt a bit silly in his guts, moons how he'd like to touch it. That wasn't good to focus on either right now, best change the topic.
"Well, since lunch was ruined, want to head to our next destination, or do you want desert first?"
He glanced at the food as he thought on it then answered, "I think I'm good on dessert for now, I'm feeling a little antsy to go ahead and head out in all honesty." He could do with a good walk, or something that wasn't sitting here. If he was truthful he was feeling lowkey nervous about still being in the restaurant with the Rasoio family still eating down the hallway.
Forrez nodded, understanding the feeling. "Maybe we can stop by a bakery I know on the way." He still wanted to treat Adan today, despite the trouble he'd gotten them into. It was trouble that getting involved in would only been beneficial for Assai to know about anyway.
He used the phone in the room to call for the check and some take away boxes. He was going to make Adan do it, but decide against it at the last moment.
"Sure! I wouldn't mind that." He started in on putting all his stuff back into the bag and keeping inventory to make sure everything was still stowed away. Opening up the little sack, he checked that all his runes were there then with a nod retied the bag up.
"Feel free to show off any places you want to try impressing me with."
"You'd be impressed by Terren fast food deep friend pie." He snorted and rolled his eyes. "I could take you anywhere and get the same result. We're going there for me."
As he was talking a waiter came up and left them the check and started boxing their food up for them.
Forrez paused in his teasing tirade, not wanting to look unprofessional in the eyes of the staff here.
He pretended to look appalled and hurt that Forrez was suggesting that he was "easy" with making disgusted faces behind the waiter's back. He had to stop though because he was having a hard time keeping the grin from his face and the giggles inside.
Well if he ever needed practice keeping a poker face for work, he sure was getting it now. He managed to keep it together while the waiter packaged up their meal, and had to pull an Assai with a fake cough at the end, but he managed. He was going to murder that damn wolf one.
He left a hefty tip for the waiter, he wanted this place to look on his family fondly if he was planning on bringing his boss here. A tip seemed the best way in his mind to tell them he wasn't holding them responsible for the trouble that had been caused, without saying anything of accepting any blame himself.
Finally it was over and the could leave. He didn't relax until they where back in his truck.
"I'm going to end you." He laughed, letting his anxiety go the best he could.
"Eeeee nooo! What did I do?!" He cackled, leaning as far as he could away from him in his seat. "I'm innocent I swear!"
Forrez casually swung his arm over to the passenger side to slam it into Adan, or what of the wolf he could reach anyway. "I'll innocent you." He growled playfully before starting the truck up. He probably should take a bit more time to unwind, but he wanted out of that place for the time being.
He fake yelped as he caught him in the face, then grabbed onto his arm to give it a big lick before returning it to him. "Yeah you should! Cause I totally am!" He sniffed placing the food down on the flood before carefully shrugging out of the jacket. It was too warm in the truck for him to be having the layers on.
"Oh uh, should I be keeping on the nice clothes for the rest of our outing?" He wasn't sure if it was only meant for the restaurant or he wanted to make sure he wasn't embarrassed to hang out with him in general.
"Yeah yeah that's what they all say." He poked Adan in the ribs just to see him wriggle. "No, we can change back, just not in that parking lot." He wasn't keen on staying in his dress clothes either. Mostly the shoes, he hated his work shoes so much. He just didn't feel right in anything but boots.
Making a funny noise he wiggled, hiding himself behind the jacket in a attempt to block him from further assaults.
"Gotcha, I'm sure they've seen enough excitement for one day." He peeked over his jacket to wiggle his eyebrows at him.
"I'm glad I can change, my Madre might not recognize me otherwise."
"Moons forbit you look presentable" Forrez rolled his eyes. "You look good in a suit, but I have to agree, that one isn't you."
He looked down at himself, trying to judge even though he didn't have the jacket on anymore. "I'll have to let you pick which one suits me better, I think this is the first time I wore one." Even at the school dances that he had a longstanding tradition of dressing up in silly outfits. The only one he took seriously him and his date switched outfits so he wore the dress.
"Though I'm sure I'm doing people a favor to look like a goof next to you, have to give people some reprieve after seeing how good you look."
Forrez rolled his eyes thrm smirked. "There is no reprieve from me. Might as well overwhelm them."
"I think something vibrant and bold would fit you better. Maybe a Shallen cut with all the frills."
While he knew he was good lookin he wasn't at all close to Forrez's level. Everytime they got together he had to remind himself not to look at him too much lest he get overloaded. Heike must have built up quite a resistance to be able to handle getting into licking range to his sexy face.
He reached up to mess with the seatbelt as he rearranged how he was sitting, "I didn't know they came in brighter colors." He then narrowed his eyes at him, "You aren't trying to make me look like David Zocco are you?"
Forrez rolled his eyes and made a face. "I want you to look stylish, not silly. I was thinking something blue, match your hair. He has some decent looks, but ug he gives us a bad name. Wishes he was a mongoose."
"My Papa has a client that came over from Terren, she thinks we all love him and tries to treat him with tickets to his movies or concerts." He giggled remembering the constipated look his Papa had when she kept trying to get him into a conversation about him.
"I think if he was he'd be kicked out so fast I bet. His hairstyle from his last movie poster was really a crime."
Forrez's face when from annoyed to disgusted. "He has no hair as far am I'm concerned. An affront to all that is good and right in the world. The word style doesn't belong in the same sentence as that abomination on his head."
Out of character
now he has his own page lol
He laughed and grinned, it was roughly what his brothers and Papa were venting about too the other day. They had a grand time just dunking on the guy and spending all night coming up with goofy collages of what his next hairstyle would probably be. The one his younger brother did of three birds in a laundry basket was his favorite.
"Should revoke any hair privileges he still has huh? I wonder if he actually had someone do it for him or he did it in the dark himself?"
"I hope he did it in the dark by himself, but if you read about a missing stylist in the papers don't look to me." Forrez said as he pulled up to a little bakery.
"That's assuming if it even gets in the papers. If I was them I'd pay through the nose for my name never to be associated with him." He leaned forward in his seat, trying to read the name of the building.