“Welcome to our establishment. We’ve heard so much about you three and are delighted you’ve come to hear our proposal.”
One smiled warmly.
One sighed, bored.
One stared.
“Yes, well, before we proceed, mother asks that we come to a bit of an arrangement so, if things don’t work out, nothing...regretful is done.”
“Is that a threat?” Bored turned into bloodlust. Things could go south fast.
“Of course not, it’s simply insurance for both parties to ensure no irredeemable decisions are made. On our part as well as yours. A simple agreement.”
“Okay, what is this “agreement”?“ The smile never faltered. It was much easier to deal with.
“Just your signatures on this here contract promising to protect our dearest mother. As you’ve no doubt heard, the threats and close-calls have been increasing and we’re not willing to risk certain lives for anything; even as world-changing as this opportunity. We can discuss such possibilities after we’ve gotten past this condition.”
One seemed to be in agreement.
One huffed in annoyance at the lengthy conversation.
One just stared.
The quiet one was...unnerving.
Pulling his collar, the leader kept his eyes from emerging that piercing gaze. Rather, he shifted his attention to the two on each side of it. His lackeys shifted in their seats on his flank, unnerved.
“Once this page is signed, we’ll be ready to proceed.” He pulled the paper out of his left grunt’s hand and slid it to the center of the table. An ink pen soon followed. “Whenever you’re ready to move onto more interesting business...”
The smiling one nodded and reached for the paper, only to have it pulled away suddenly, but the expression didn’t shift. Waiting paid off as, after a second, the paper was shoved back into range. It was taken and signed in loopy letters.
The angry one muttered a few choice words about this being “boring as all hell” and “just get it over with” as he snatched and scribbled harshly on the page before shoving it away.
The empty one didn’t move.
As the paper was being signed, the boss stood with a big smile towards the more pleasant of his visitors and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Now that all the hard work is out of the way, let’s get to some entertainment before the others show up.”
Movement filled the room and the same grunt to give the paper was takes with retrieving it once the table had cleared. The boss walked with an arm around the shoulders of ‘the happy one’ (his head deemed) while the two others followed close behind; their entourage ending with the two grunts.
They arrived at a mostly-empty theatre with a large stage and several scatters of tables/chairs. It was dim, but the lights on the stage were still dark.
The group stepped purposefully over to one of the front tables but, just as the boss pulled out a chair for his visitor, something stilled him.
“Hey, We’re sitting over here!” It was a bark for all intents and purposes.
“Oh, alright!” Came the lighthearted reply.
Still caught off guard by the change in plans, the boss simply stood unresponsive as the man he’d had his arm around slipped away towards the other two who’d chosen a table in one of the darker front-corners. Where they could watch the crowd, but couldn’t be seen.
“Is this gonna be a problem?” The growl was a threat and no one was going to bother saying otherwise.
“We can move there if you insist, but we’d feel more comfortable over here.” That was about as nice of an offer as they were going to get without a fight.
The third one simply sat down and watched them interact.
“O-of course, of course! My apologies for assuming. I went for the best seat in the house without asking your go-to first. Please, forgive me and feel free to choose whatever table suites your fancy.”
“Thanks!”
“That’s what I thought.”
The answers came at simultaneously, but so vastly different. These three were, interesting, if nothing else.
A quiet conversation started up at the table once all three sat down. The boss couldn’t hear anything specific, but he did notice that the quiet one move his hands. Perhaps he was a mute, though the boss didn’t know any sign language to confirm that theory.
As much as he’d like to keep an eye on these three, he had more work to do. “Glad you boys are comfortable. I’m gonna be off for a bit to get everything ready to proceed with the evening, but if you need anything at all, you just holler.”
One nodded with a thankful grin.
One rolled his eyes and waved him away.
One simply watched him as he exited the room.
Creepy.
————
The moment the room was empty, the three continued their conversation.
“This is a nice room. It was great that Mr. Tanner agreed with us switching tables. I don’t think we’d be as relaxed in the middle on the room.”
“Not like we gave him a choice. I’m not going to just follow his orders; I’m no grunt. Plus, if he starts getting on our nerves now, he’s gonna have to work harder to get us to agree to anything else.”
“I wonder what he’s going to propose? After signing that contract about his mom, I’m curious what else he’s going to ask.”
“Whatever it is, he’s going to have to do more convincing to get me to sign it. I don’t like being a lapdog to Mark Tanner’s mommy. Protecting her is annoying enough.”
“I didn’t sign it.”
Two pairs of eyes were cast worryingly across the room as if expecting some eavesdropper no one noticed. Unsurprisingly, the room was empty save for them. After that confirmation, the words spoken finally settled.
“Oh, I hadn’t noticed. Why not? Did you not get a chance? We left the room pretty quick after I signed.”
“What do you mean you didn’t sign it!? I thought you said to agree with this guy so we could have more opportunities to...you know. I thought signing was the plan!”
“I’m sure he had a good reason if we let him explain.”
“I read it.”
...
“What the hell is that supposed to me you “read it”? If it wasn’t what the guy said it was, why did you let us sign it?!”
“Couldn’t.”
“We did grab it rather quickly...and if you’d read it and outwardly refused, we’d be in a bind. Sorry, Cal, next time we’ll wait for you.”
“Whatever. I’m not going to take blame when you should have sa-“ his words cut of abruptly with the sharp look his always-happy brother shot him. “Right. Sorry, Cal.”
There was a silent shrug, but his head was down and neither brother could see his expression; or lack thereof.
“If you didn’t sign it, don’t you think they’ll notice soon? Should we leave?”
“I’m fine with tapping out. This whole meet-up is boring anyway. We’ll swipe that contract on the way and rip it to shreds. Nor harm no foul.”
“We should stay.”
A loud sigh followed the answer. “Fine. As long as things pick up a bit. This sitting around in making me want to kill things.”
Recent Comments