She considered Nico’s offer carefully, her curiosity now thoroughly peaked. Whatever it was he wanted to talk to her about he seemed determined enough for it to be important, at least enough so that he had tracked her down like this.

“Fine” she agreed gesturing to his car “lead the way Mr Regale. I just hope this isn’t a waste of time.”

She wanted to know what on earth he was talking about, after all he had mentioned her living situation so she was starting to think this may be something worth the attention after all. That or as he said she could just leave if she didn’t like what he was saying, and now she might even be early with the short lift he was offering.

“You can drop me by the corner of Gates and 23rd” she instructed watching him and gesturing ahead as she did “so let’s here it, and you better make it good”. She placed emphasis on the word good and removed her sunglasses, letting her business-like guise drop whilst they talked.

Out of the corners of his eyes, Theo watched the transfer student at work. The note was retrieved with near excitement as Julianna seemed focused on its reply. He raised an eyebrow at her hunched form, the folded note passed onto his desk much quicker than he had expected. It was almost strange to see someone eager and swift in passing notes; although, writing a few words were bound to be a thousand times quicker than writing a letter.

Shrugging her eager actions as either a consequence of absolute boredom or the need to be more familiar with her surroundings, Theo carefully slid the note closer. Casually, he flipped through several pages of his notebook, disguising the opening sounds of the note as he did so.

He stared at the message with a slight tilt of his head. With a quick glance at the teacher and one at Julianna, he leaned back and started to write below her last message. Folding the paper once again, he peered at the teacher, watching as the educator occasionally faced the students and then back at the board.

Quickly, he handed the transfer student the message, setting it down on Julianna’s desk.

Sure.
But only if you take the lead out of here.

Clarinet smiled at him. "I play a few strings." She answered modestly. "Nothing professional, though." She glanced towards the counter, curious about how fast the line was moving. She liked to judge when she was going to be getting her pastry by. "I wish I was that good, though. It would be rather easy money. Play a few concerts, and there you go! Enough to sit pretty for a while." She smiled, thinking that one through. It would be a nice way to keep up the life style she was use to, at least.

"Anyway," She waved the previous thought aside with a gentle swish of her hand. "What do you do, Rush?" She inquired politely. "You don't look dressed for work, so ether you can make your own schedule, or you're still in school. If you're in school, which one do you attend? Know of any good parties tonight? I'm bored out of my skull most evenings, and I could use a little something fun to do. Homework is such a drag, and I don't have a boyfriend to take me to dinner or anything." She glanced again at the counter, noting how many people had moved along since her last peek.

Her gaze slid along the counter, and out the door. "It is a really nice car." She admitted hesitantly. "Do you own a dealership or something? Is that how you trade them so fast? You're trying to sell me a car!" She giggled, admiring his vehicle despite her accusations. "I would love to drive something like that. It's so hot. I might be able to convince daddy to buy me one of those."

Net shifted in her seat, finally returning to looking at her companion. "Is Rush your real name, or a nick name?"

Hmmm... it seemed that whoever this individual was he was going to meet, he paid very well. That said promising things for the payouts from these games. Of course it was usually better not to mess with the ones who controlled the largest purse strings, at least not too much. they tended to track you down and break your legs if you did too well. Or, sometimes, if you didn't do well enough.

"Don't suppose your boss sent an unusually well paid thug out to greet me in case I tried to buy you?" Gil joked with Enrique, putting on his best smile. Unfortunately it was forced at best.

The car continued on, Enrique and Gil descending into silence at his last comment. Though, before that happened, a small smile appeared on the suited man's face. “No, of course not,” he responded. “Our thugs are responding to a different order.” He didn't elaborate, letting that comment hang in the air. His mannerisms made it hard to decipher if it was a jest or not.”

Ten minutes passed in silence before the car slid into a slow stop. They had entered thin alleyways that were almost too tight for the car to fit, navigating the inner city quickly. Now, the car was parked before a large warehouse. The metal doors that could be slid open were rusted, the paint of the walls were chipped...the place was in clear disrepair. It was questionable if such a lucrative businessman would sink to using such an area for his base of operations.

Of course, the comment about the thugs was not so distant a memory that Gil could easily disregard it. He was in the middle of the scummier part of town, far from any signs of law enforcement. It was unlikely he would receive help if things went south from here.

Enrique exited the car without a second thought, straightening his tie as he walked to the door. “Hurry now. The boss was eager to meet you,” he called back, quickly sliding the doors open. The rusted metal ground against each other as it slid, the sound making even the man at the door wince. It was opened easily enough, though, in a show of force. What awaited inside was...

Well, it was lavishly decorated. The floor was wooden, polished to a shine. There wasn't much in the way of furnishing, though it seemed the warehouse had been sectioned off as if it were a house or an office building. The room was much too small for this building. Six chairs were set up at the center of the room, facing two wide doors at the stop of a set of stairs.

Enrique smiled a bit at the boy. “Please, take a seat. The boss will be in to speak with you shortly. Though, explanations will have to wait until the rest of our guests arrive.”

~ ~ ~

Nico offered a small smile at her acceptance to his offer. He stepped back, opening the door to his back seat to allow her to sit. Once she was situated, he shut the door and moved to the front, taking his spot at the wheel. As one hand put the key in the ignition to start it up, his other reached over to the passenger's seat, grabbing a manila folder.

With the car started, he handed the folder back to his passenger. “As you can see, from reading those files, we know quite a bit about you, Miss. Wratherton...or do you prefer Wrath?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow from behind his sunglasses. “We know of your current employment and your employer. A scary man, from the sounds of it. Knight, was it? Well, you can see from the file that we have quite a bit on him as well. Information is power, after all, and if we're gonna take away his delivery girl, we need to have some precautions at least.” True to his words, the file had everything they needed to know on either of the two people. It had more detail than most would have on Teres, let alone Knight. Every past address, every job she had ever had, her family situation...they would have had to have some deep channels to dig up this information.

A shrug lifted his shoulder, easing the car out of its parked state. The two began to make the short drive to her instructed address. Nico didn't think he would need that much time to make her decide, though. “Now, I'm sure that seems creepy enough that my employer has so much information on you. He likes to make a point of what he's capable of, though,” the man explained. “He's also a man who enjoys games thoroughly. He would like the chance to invite you to play a set of games he is setting up along with a few other participants. The winner will receive treasures beyond their wildest dreams. Of course, you'll be allowed to keep any winnings you make on your own, regardless of if you win or lose.” He rolled his eyes at the spiel he had been instructed to give. “My employer has most of the information. He wanted me to present you the opportunity. If you accept, I will drive you to meet him and he will explain to you and the rest of the participants exactly what he is planning.”

A pause came at that before the man procured a phone from his pocket, tapping the power button to bring the screen up and quickly swiping through the password protection. “Of course, we know you have a job to complete. If you accept to hear him out, we have an associate preparing to...dissuade Knight from any vengeful action. If you still agree after hearing my employer's spiel, we'll properly ensure that he understands your change in employment.” The finality in his voice showed that he wasn't kidding. With the information they had on the man, information Teres wouldn't even be aware of, it was clear they could follow through with that course of action.

Julianna stared at the boy's desk, her gaze fixated on it with a sudden anticipation. The time it took for him to reply to her seemed like the longest couple minutes she had experienced in a long time. She was so focused on whether he had taken her bait or not. She fidgeted in her chair a little bit. She shouldn't have felt nervous, she realized.

Her hand grasped for the piece of paper with enthusiasm when he set it down. She had acknowledged how he toyed with the pages of his book while he opened it, but it took her a moment to understand why he did so. Her own fingers fidgeted with her book as she pried the folds of the paper open with her fingers.
The response took her somewhat by surprise. She thought she would have to try harder to convince him to leave the classroom. She made a display of keeling over, almost as though she were in pain.

“I think I need to see the nurse.”

Perhaps it wasn't the most foolproof of plans, but all she cared about at first was getting out of the classroom.

~*~*~*~*~

Rush nodded absently while she spoke. He didn't know much about instruments. He had a tendency to assume those that played anything other than a guitar, drums, or a keyboard only played classical music. He wasn't particularly interested in that style of music. He gave a noncommittal shrug when she asked about his profession.

“I guess you could say I'm a recruiter. I find people.” It was a vague answer. He wasn't sure how continue forward. He knew that he was supposed to persuade her for whatever reason, but shied away from wanting to say too much. He worried he would make her angry.

“No boyfriend,” he mused. “I'll be your boyfriend if you agree to meet my employer,” he joked. He laughed almost immediately and quickly apologized. “Sorry, I'm not trying to make fun of you.” He scratched at the nape of his neck awkwardly. He thought she would be furious with him for teasing her.

“I might know a party though,” he mused. That was if what had been planned could be considered a party. “Although the party I'm thinking of might start a little earlier than the parties you're used to. My boss is eager for some excitement, you see. I could introduce you to some of my friends.”

“I'm not in school,” he merely stated. He looked towards his car as she spoke. “No dealership,” he merely stated. “Tell you what. If you come with me to the party, you can have the car. No need to bother your dad that way.” He tried to ignore the guilt he felt for trying to bribe her. He wasn't good at the recruiting thing.

“Rush is short for Russell,” he finally told her. He grimaced at the mention of his name. “Do you have a nickname?” He pressed. “Clare?”

Teres moved past Nico as he opened the back door for her, sitting and glancing around the interior of the car as he climbed into the driver’s seat. She wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but he wasted little time in starting the car before handing her a folder. A bemused look on her face she took it, she resisted the urge to make some joke at the prospect of ‘proposals’ and shady file exchanges in cars. Her smirk soon faded as she opened the file and glanced through the assortment of pictures and documents, seeing both her own and Knight’s face several times.

“As you can see, from reading those files, we know quite a bit about you, Miss. Wratherton...or do you prefer Wrath?”

She looked at him as he cocked his eyebrow, it was obviously his turn to be smug now, after all – he wasn’t kidding that they obviously knew more than quite a bit about her. She flicked through her list of past addresses, records of the numerous jobs she had attempted, known aliases, and more. Nico now thoroughly had her attention, and she listened to his every word carefully as the car pulled away and into the light traffic of the morning.

“We know of your current employment and your employer. A scary man, from the sounds of it. Knight, was it? Well, you can see from the file that we have quite a bit on him as well. Information is power, after all, and if we're gonna take away his delivery girl, we need to have some precautions at least.”

He still wasn’t kidding, she flicked through the rest of the file which seemed to have just as much information on Knight if not more. There was a record of where he lived, where his safehouses were, where his supplies came from – everything about his operation and more, again personal details about him as well. “Timothy Eugene Knight?” she read with disbelief from a copy of his birth certificate. “No fucking way…”

The shock was clear in her voice, she had thought that Knight was smart, and she knew she was even smarter. But apparently whoever Nico was working for was a freaking genius when it came to finding out what he wanted to know.

She continued to listen as Nico explained that his employer was inviting her to play some kind of game, a game involving treasures beyond her wildest dreams apparently. Normally this is where she would call bull-shit, but it was already clear with the file clasped in her hands that these guys didn’t deal in bull-shit, and so she held her tongue as he continued.

He finished by telling her that if she were to accept this offer that Knight would be taken care of and prevented from taking any action against her, something that again normally she wouldn’t have considered possible, but was now willing to believe as she again glanced through the file.

She sat in silence for a moment as they got closer to the corner where she was supposed to be exiting the car and she thought for a few moments. She already knew that she couldn’t turn this down, and even if she could, she was pretty sure already that she didn’t want to. This was exciting and interesting, she was holding a file that could probably be used to put both her and Knight in prison or worse, and all she had to do was play some game and possibly obtain treasure beyond her wildest dreams.

“Treasure beyond my wildest dreams?” she asked feigning uncertainty as she began to twirl the end of her hair with a finger, already knowing that the offer was far too tempting for her to pass up as her curiosity was now genuinely peaked. She decided that she would definitely hear his ‘employer’ out, and if it still sounded good to her then she would agree to take part in this game, whatever it was. Drumming her fingers on the file once she sighed and said “Okay Mr Regale” her tone showing that she was agreeable to his suggestion “you know how to make a girl say yes, though I should warn you that my wildest dreams involve more than just treasures.”

She gave him a lingering gaze, letting him know that he had peaked her interests as well as this offer from his employer – after all it always made sense in her mind to get closer to someone in an organisation she was considering working for, and what was the harm in having some fun at the same time.

“Take me wherever you have to take me” she said intentionally leaving her words somewhat ambiguous as she took out her phone and hit the power button. The screen faded to darkness as she made herself un-contactable before stuffing it back into her bag, along with the files, after all they’d have copies of all the information anyway and she would be interested to read through in more detail at a later time. Information is power, she thought to herself mirroring Nico’s words as she smiled and leaned back in the backseat of the car, watching to see where they were going, eager to meet the person who had managed to find out so much about her.

Theo was busy jolting down notes, his chicken scratch-like writing filling the lines; although, to be honest, he wasn’t paying any attention to the teacher or his lecture. The word he had written down weren’t even words – just a bunch of scribbles and loopy lines to put up an act.

Suddenly, the sounds of hushed chatter broke the monotonous atmosphere and the lecture abruptly stopped. He looked up to see all the students turning in their seats and staring at him – or rather, someone next to him. Slowly, he followed their gazes…

Oh crap, is she really--? He gaped at the hunched figure of the transfer student. She was keeled over with an expression of pain being very prominent on her face. Was she really doing this!?

Honestly, he was just humoring her, thinking it was a joke or some idea brought about by boredom. He didn’t expect a person to really skip out on class on the day that had just transferred. But, was she really that bored? Did she take it as a challenge? Crap, if he had knew, he wouldn’t have gone along with it.

Out of the corner of his eyes, the teacher was fumbling with the marker and looked panicked. Just as the teacher was about to regain his composure, Theo stood up and was by Julianna’s side within moments. He lightly bit his lips as his eyes flickered between Julianna and the adult, carefully watching their expressions while somewhat panicking on the inside. It was too late to back out now so might as well go along with it. Her acting wasn't all that bad either since a lot of the students were looking worried. If it weren't for the fact this situation had occurred right after she read his message, he would've believed it too.

“Teach, I’ll take her to the nurse.” He offered, gently holding her shoulders as he tempted her up and guide her to the door. The teacher – who still looked unsure as what to do – snapped out of his thoughts, nodded quickly, and took a step away from the exit.

[Edit]

One of the young servers brought over Net's drink. "Thank you." She took a small sip, her gaze focused on her companion. A recruiter? That sounded interesting. He didn't look much like he was in a position to recruit anyone right now, but she supposed that if he was under cover, he wouldn't want to look that way. She swished her drink through her mouth, testing to see if they'd added enough caramel for her. This time, they seemed to have done a good job. She always asked for two pumps, but sometimes she was pretty sure they only put in one. "I don't think I need a boyfriend," She admitted, laughing softly, "I just want to be treated like a princess."

That was what most girls wanted, right? To be treated like queens, and to be taken care of. She didn't think the request was unreasonable. Although, his counter was shocking. She'd just taken a sip of her drink when he suggested it. Coughing, she looked up at him, unable to believe what he'd said.

"Have...the car?" Clarinet's eyes went wide, shocked by his suggestion. Yes, she'd been given a car by her parents, but it wasn't normal to her to just be offered vehicles. Especially ones as nice as that. She'd been willing to agree to the party even without the offer. Was she even allowed to accept? She wasn't sure she could feel right agreeing to something like that. If she took his car, he wouldn't have one, and then he'd have to walk everywhere. She didn't want to think about having to walk all over the place. Shoes were so uncomfortable for walking.

She shuttered slightly at the thought of the blisters he'd get if he did that. They'd be terrible, she was sure of it. Although, she supposed that she could drive him places, if she had to. It would only be fair, after all. She mused silently over the options for a moment or two, letting him talk. Thankfully, his final question snapped her out of it.

Clarinet pulled a face. "ew, no." She replied as she shook her head. "I'd never go by Clare. It reminds me too much of the Breakfast Club, and while that was a good movie, she was kinda bitchy. I don't wanna be bitchy!" She smiled at the boy. "I go by Net, usually." She stood up, forgetting all about the fact she'd requested something to eat, as well. "Come on, I'd be happy to go to that party with you. I'm sure it's not a problem. Is it an office party? Like, a luncheon? My dad use to take me to his." Holding her drink, she cast a distracted wave at the girls behind the counter, then moved towards the door.

"As long as it's not some lame party. Like, I wanna be doing something fun. Not drug or alcohol fun, though! That's just bad, although, if your boss is there, I doubt you're doing anything." She chattered happily as she exited the little cafe. She took another sip of her beverage, then turned towards the right. "Are we going to play monopoly? I love monopoly! I always like the little dog piece. It's so cute! Cats are better than dogs, they're nice and quiet, but the little piece is still as adorable as can be." She giggled, moving down the sidewalk and digging out her keys. "You like monopoly too, don't you? You look like the kinda guy that would enjoy it."

Stopping at her car, Net glanced both ways down the street, then stepped out onto the road so she could unlock the car for him. "Anyway, you'll have to tell me where to go-" She stopped. "This isn't my car! Oh, shoot! I forgot!" She sighed and returned her keys to her purse. "I'm sorry. I walked today, I completely forgot. I always park here. Do you mind driving? My car's at home." She sipped her drink again, then smiled. "I'm glad they remembered all the caramel this time."

"Others," Gil noted aloud to himself. That was interesting. The concept of others. They made it sound like they were after him fro his ability at the games, or perhaps the other skill. The skill that had almost let him save his brother, but not really. It was his skill with games that let him earn the money, but it was the other skill that let him survive the experience. For a certain value of survival.

But this was different. If there were going to be others, that meant that he hadn't been recruited to play against the proprietor. Not exactly, or at least not definitely. It could just as easily be him against these others for the amusement of whoever had summoned them here. A different man might have hopped it was Gil's skill with games that had been the true deciding factor, that Enrique wasn't enhancing the truth somewhat on the matter. The other option was less pretty He could just as easily have been summoned here because of the other skill.

But Gil wasn't most people. He wasn't put under any major duress by the idea. No, Instead he turned the idea over in his mind like a coin with an imperfection on the other side. A coin worth far more because it was flawed, and one of a kind. The other side of the argument. If they were here, it might be interesting. They could be players like him. He wondered what that would be like, playing with others who were willing to lose.