Verinotte Hall

A fiery portal appeared and from it stepped the half fire demon Selena. Her eyes and tattoos glowed like fire as she stepped out of the portal. She wore a black dress that was low cut in front and showed off her back. If they didn't notice the portal they would definitely notice the dress.

"I so hope I'm not late..." Selena said with a smirk as the portal closed behind her.

How'd he wind up invited to this shindig again? Coincidence, obviously. Some random individual on a street tossing him their invitation, insisting he go in their stead. Something about the last time they'd gone, things had turned upside down and crazy events came to pass. Regardless, Alex found himself little to do that evening. Living as a pseudo-vagabond came with perks, but also mundane, agonizingly pitiful, lulls. He found little purpose these days, having stumbled into a narrow, dead-end, corridor. His leads having ran dry, he found little aspiration, and hope, in achieving his goal; to be entirely human again.

Now, existing as a pitiful mess with no purpose to serve, he simply wandered about enjoying what little beauty in life he could appreciate naturally; not that he could often with the mess of visual sensors and scans constantly whirring about. Still, he made do with what he had. And if anything, this event would simply derail his current brooding thoughts and give him ample distraction from his self-pitied woes.

Supposedly the occasion suggested that one dress accordingly, and so with relative ease he managed to put together a riveting outfit, something he'd appreciated in days of yore whence he'd been a child. Dressed as an Assassin, he came off rather accurately. Garbed in fine whites, accentuated in wine reds, and mottled with filigree; impressive couldn't hardly describe it. His onyx locks lay draped in various manners, bangs shielding a portion of his visage whilst ember-like neon eyes peered outward; luminescent in the waning light due to his non-biological make-up.

Passing through into the interior, he scanned the building rather swiftly; eyes dotted with various informative readings and the like, before he casually found a shrug leaving him. Impressive, but dull nonetheless. The audacious nature of everyone around seemed haphazardly contained. He could easily spy the ones who 'didn't belong' in a sense, and couldn't help but chuckle to himself. He found it a true shame, though, that not a single thing here would provide him any sort of amusement. He couldn't eat. Couldn't drink.

What use in a ball to an Android? Perhaps, in time, he'd figure on something worthwhile to occupy his time. Until then, he simply made to amble about and study everyone. Few had caught his attention, but until such a time as he found himself comfortable to attempt speaking to anyone, he'd keep to himself; hood drawn up over his head for good effect.

Vance watched in awe as all the guests poured into the Hall. Some with lots of showmanship, others like himself sneeked in with little to no revelry. He watched as Boo made friends with the fox at the table and he even got some food himself before returning to the shadows. He was glad to a point that no one was talking to him, but he wondered then why the masked man gave him the invitation in the first place. More out of habbit and boredom than anything else, Vance began to use his ice powers to create a dancing girl on th nearby table and made the ice figure dance across the table like a graceful ballet dancer.

Having made his way up the marble steps of the hall, his two sisters immediately behind him, Shimizu was greeted by the rapid-fire flashing of cameras, as media from all across Terra vied to get a good picture of him.

He did as any good Taiyou Emperor would do, he offered a smile, and a bow, shaking hands as he moved towards the doors of the hall, bowing some more, and shaking some more hands before two of his bodyguards moved with him, checking their radios, and ensuring that everything was moving smoothly.

Once inside the hall, he took in the sights all around him. Everyone was dancing, having a good time; something that, if Shimizu was in some different clothes, would gladly partake in. But for now, he was relegated to appearances, unable to sample the local finger food for fear it could be poisoned, and keeping a watchful eye on his sisters, who stayed behind him.

He stood out, in his traditional attire, but of course he was supposed to, as the Emperor.

He simply smiled and shook hands with all who approached him.

Akio watched as a dragon, who was older then time itself, came and spoke to him, before vanishing again. The entire time, his expression never changed once, indicating he had completely and totally remained composed during that entire conversation with an entity that was, for once, older then him. Clearly, it was his centuries of living that gave him this wisdom.

Well...that was....freaking awesome!!! I am like, a legendary knight in a fantasy story or something! I am literally the hero now!

Or, it was just another case of "Akio takes it as praise and gets elated", and "Akio putting on an act". It should be noted the news crews were already commending him for what he did right there, apparently they were fully aware of that man's identity and were impressed Akio was able to keep his composure...on the outside, anyways.

"Master Akio! A large scale force is approaching the Ball! Permission to use full scale weapons on the Gigas Machina?!"

That was broken by a notification from Ruby using their special MagiComms, who was currently operating his Gigas Machina while it was in stealth mode.

"Hold it! Ruby, by chance, is it the parade you are talking about?"

"That...that large thing is a parade, and not an invading army?!"

"Yes, so stand down".

"But, if they are, and Master Akio got hurt...it would be sad, and we...we would have to nurse him back to health...understood, standing down!"

Akio really did not feel like commenting on that ulterior motive, so instead he moved to prepare for someone who was a big, important guest it would seem. Afterwards, the Emperor of the Taiyou arrived. Akio had spent the time between detection and arrival to learn everything he needed, make special preparations, and hope for the best.

And in his mind....

Daemala! You better get here right now and help me deal with this! This is totally something you should be doing!!

"Welcome to the Ball of Chaos. I am one of the hosts, Akio Revela. I do hope you enjoy being here".

He had practiced this line also for the past few minutes by repeating it to every single guest that had entered before Shimizu, until it was refined enough to be what he needed. One of the goals of the ball was to neither risk antagonizing people by talking down to them, or being submissive to people by talking up to them. So, Akio had done neither, using a voice so refined, so neutral, so respectful yet clearly not submissive or under in any way, one would think that if he wasn't a vampire, he wouldn't be a child but an older diplomat.

Meanwhile, because he kept his composure completely (on the outside), he was gaining points from the press like crazy. After tonight, there would be an Akio fan club, and many, many, many fanfics most of which he would turn red over and demand to be deleted, but that was a story for another time.

At the same time this was going down, CR was innocently smiling and conversing with the werewolves. He did not even know this, but it was possible for the Werewolves to easily sense from instincts that he was not some mere child, and in fact a dangerous entity.

"Oh good!" CR exclaimed, as he finally saw it on the food table near the werewolves. "They do have ice cream!"

Crimson Reaper (CR) immediately rushed towards the ice cream, with the intention of devouring it all. Yet somehow, he still managed to maintain a conversation.

"So, why are you here? I am here to represent my father, who cant make it since his mere presence in this world without enough energy spent and time prepared would result in everyone nearby going mad. Same with my mother. Also, this seemed like fun! They even hired me a chaperone...he is really good at keeping an eye on me from a distance, gotta say..."

Actually, Ivera's observation skills were so good, only experts or extremely lucky people could detect he had been observing CR this whole time. Meanwhile, Ivera was conversing with the woman.

"Man, I am here because I was hired to keep an eye on that kid. There was supposed to be something else, but if I am being honest, I think that was just used as a pretext to have me be his chaperone. Since, those two really are doting parents in turns out....anyways, what do you do for a living?"

Although he had no intention to hide it, Ivera did not go out and state he was a private investigator. The reason was that sometimes, people got weird around him when they found out, like they were worried he would investigate them...

...well, the only one he did bother looking into was a man who he realized was beating his wife and children, and got the evidence to send him to jail, but he decided to not bring that up as casual conversation.

"I gotta say, that light show earlier, they are really going all out for this party".

Notably, the way he spoke made him seem far smarter, wiser, and older for his age when he spoke like how he was at that moment.

Selena made her way into the ball a small flame dancing on her fingertips as she walked. Lots of people from lots of places. The Emperor caught her eye and she watched him. She knew very little about his Empire and cared even less. She just moved though the crowd as she headed towards the food portal travel took a bit out of you after all.

Midgra bristled as his back stiffened.
"No where! Nothing!" He dropped a few sandwiches back on the plate as his hands retracted. He looked warily at the girl before relaxing. She couldn't kick him out. As she offered, Midgra cracked a bit of a smile and and began to grab the food. He heard her ask where he came from.

"Ah, we are all from somewhere." He stated, taking two of the sandwiches and shoving them in his mouth.
"The bigger question..."
He said, chewing as he talked.

"Is where are you going? And what will you do when you get there?"

He swallowed and hungrily devoured another sandwich.

"I'm going nowhere, until someone makes me stop eating this food. I usually don't get to eat this until its a couple days old!"

He said with a laugh and grabbed another yet another, beginning to scope out the tables of meat as he chewed.

Vance finally came out of the shadows to enjoy himself as Boo had. It had been so long since he had felt any kind of joy that was his own and not the emotions of someone else, that he had almost forgot what it felt like. He figured if no one had tried to kill him or capture him yet, he was probably good for the rest of the evening. He sat down at the table where he had the ice sculpture dancing and decided to do something a little more showy. He made it start to snow above his table while the figure kept dancing. While the figure kept dancing he got up and went to the beverage area. There were a wide variety of brews and ales, fine wines, mead, and a number of drinks he couldn't identify. He found a bottle of a purple liquid that smelled like a berry that used to grow on his planet. It had sweetness and it burned slightly as he swallowed. He took the glass he had poured and went back to the table and ate more of his food as he watched the ice lady dance. "This isn't all that bad I guess. No one is trying to kill me at least." He muttered to himself.

A bulk of red shifted out from a back room door and onto the party floor. An android with no eyes adjusted the tiny pyramid-shaped cufflinks on his sleeves before he stepped out with an air of machine-like purpose. The android wore a stunning red suit jacket with matching pants, with a darker red dress shirt underneath. He did not bring his outer armour, but he did replace his armoured boots with a set of matching dress shoes, pointed at the toe, and polished to a mirror shine.

His attire was there for one reason: Jakob was one of the players, a musician, part of tonight’s entertainment. Until the time he would be up on stage as part of a band, he was simply another guest at this eclectic gala. While his snazzy look had a tendency to catch eyes, his synthetic hair was short, military-style, and impossible to comb.

The android bowed his head politely with a friendly smile on his synthetic face, as he plucked a shot glass from a serving tray being carried by a beaming, beautiful waitress. “Thank you kindly,” The android’s synthesizer emitted a calming harsh voice, like fine sand.

Boo giggled as she watched the fox eat. She had attacked the sweets in a similar fashion when she first arrived. When the fuzzy creature countered her question by dodging and adding his own, she tilted her head thoughtfully. "That's usually how Boo eats too!" Well, at least when she wasn't trying to pilfer fresh food outright or able to find cat people. Ha, cat lovers would almost always feed a 'stray kitten'.

"Boo came with Vance-kun! We are gonna go on adventures and stuff. He's over..." It took a moment, but the little girl spotted her new friend with his dancing sculpture and pointed. "There he is! Wanna come with us?
You can't be the first mate though. Boo is the first mate. And the general." She added proudly before hopping to her feet, careful not to knock the food over, and whistling loudly. "VANCE-KUN!" She yelled at as she hopped up and down; waving wildly. "Over here! Come meet the cute fox!"

The little girl wasn't exactly subtle. At least, not usually. She could be quiet and focused when she was on the hunt... if only for a little while. As she waited for Vance to join them, Boo turned her curious gaze to the Emperor and his sisters. "Teehee, what'cha think of all the fancy people?" She asked. perhaps the miniature neko-kin had momentarily forgotten that she herself was in a nice dress for a change. It wasn't that Boo disliked pretty dresses, it was just that a street child seldom got to wear one and, even when they did, a hard life outdoors would render nice clothes torn and ragged rather quickly.

Vance heard the sound of Boo calling to him. With the loss of his concentration the snow and the ice sculpture evaporated. "Why, hello there. You're a cute little fox aren't you?" Vance was starting to loosen up as he drank his purple booze. He smiled down at Boo and looked around the room in response to her question. "I'm not really used to fancy stuff like this. The people seem nice and all, but they're all caught up in their own stuff. I was hoping for us to meet some new people, maybe even make a friend. But it seems like you're the only friend I'm gonna be making today. I'm just not good at mingling. But that's okay, I'm glad I met you. I'm sure we'll have lots of fun adventures." He smiled down at her.

Carnidine smiled a bit."We just got the invite decided to show up. Our circumstances are a little weird concerning our society." He said, following CR over to the food table calmly."You seem very excited to be here." A small chuckle played off of his lips. "My name is Carnidine, the woman beside me is Temperance." He said with a slight bow.

Temperance bowed as well, although just slightly lower than Carnidine. "I-its a pleasure to meet you." She said, as if she were a child trying to remain on her best behavior in case she did something or said something wrong. This was a fancy place after all, and she didn't want to seem like a delinquent.

The ball was evidently reaching the heights of its excitement and enjoyment as the people within mingled with each other and partied. It was a strange thing, a place where some people would be mortal foes on the field of battle stood side by side pretending to tolerate the presence of such a sworn foe at their shoulder. No doubt, though the physical wars were something of a distant world beyond these walls there was something of a more intricate battle taking place here. Here in this place of swirling colours and dancing lights there was a war of wits, minds and tongues as people interwove politics and intrigue together in a carefully woven tapestry of deceit.

One of these very same weavers was of course present to this most prestigious of events. A black robed figure, covered from head to toe in dark clothing and with a simple, undecorated plain black mask covering his face, stepped between small gaggles of people milling about in their own personal conversation. He certainly stood out as odd against those dressed in rich finery yet for those individuals who were too plain or common or even that he deemed uninteresting they simply didn't notice him. It wasn't that he was invisible to him but rather that they felt overwhelmingly compelled to simply look away and forget about him, which of course they did. It was a very useful talent, being able to go unnoticed by the eyes of simple mortals by simply telling them to.

He seemed to guide himself using the goblet of red win in his right hand, using it to subtly push people out of the way whilst his left was hidden somewhere within his robes. It was an ornate thing, this golden goblet in his hand, embossed into it were images of dragons and wolves dancing across lions and stags in silver and gemstones that glittered in the dozens of lights. Where he was going wasn't entirely clear as he weaved his way through the floor, perhaps he was simply signalling to the invisible hosts of this gala that he was present, it was entirely possible as he wouldn't be the only one doing so. That was of course before he finally halted next to a strange assortment of individuals, a fox, a child and a blue haired figure.

"Vance, I am glad you made it." How exactly he knew that name despite never having being told it wasn't entirely clear and his impassive features were giving no clue as to how it could be. He spoke in a low voice that normally wouldn't be able to be heard over the noise of such a large gathering and yet carried clear to all of them as easily as though it were silent. His voice carried a strange accent, certainly not one from anywhere around here or indeed anywhere at all, it was a mystery that would only deepen the longer one thought on it, like a lost thought just outside of reach. "I must confess, a part of me had thought that such a promising invitation would prove almost too inviting and frighten you away. But please, do introduce me to your companions here, I believe as the... Let's say patron, for your being here tonight you at least owe that much."

Boo smiled brightly when Vance came to join them. As he got closer however, Boo could tell he looked a bit disappointed. "Aww, if you're sad we could still make friends! Wanna talk to the pretty man with the doll ladies?" The child asked, motioning to the Emperor and his sisters. She continued on without waiting long for an answer though."Boo likes the fancy stuff. The dress is so pretty! Even if it's kinda hard to climb in." Boo lifted her skirt slightly as if she were going to curtsy but she only batted a few crumbs away before returning her gaze to the captain. "They have so much good food too!" The little girl motioned for Vance to lean in. If he did so, she would whisper to him. "Boo took a plate of cookies." before giggling wildly as if she were an evil genius.

Once the miniature feline gained control of herself, she remembered her fuzzy, fox friend. "Yes, We will have lots of adventures! An you won't have to worry about anything cause. Boo will protect you." The little girl seemed to think she could do it too. "Oh! Boo invited him too. That's okay right? If he wants to come? did ya want to come?" Boo motioned to the fox she had been chatting with, a bright smile on her face.

It was a strange thing when another joined them. One moment there was no one in particular close by. Then BAM! man in black. He had quite a smooth voice and Boo wandered at how easily her delicate ears could pick it out against the background noise. He hadn't even raised his voice. While surprised, the little girl was as cheerful as ever. "Hello! Boo is Vance-kun's first mate." She announced proudly. "A general too! Vance-kun said so." Well he said she could be his first mate at least. The cat sized girl had just sort of decided she was a general too when she couldn't be captain. "We just met cute fox-kun. Teehee! We don't even have your name yet Fox-kun." Boo added. The mini-feline looked to Midgra with a light tilt of her head, hoping he would give a name, then returned her gaze to the hooded man. " What's your name? How do you know Vance-kun? Oh! Where did you get the pretty cup?" The curious kitten didn't mean to overwhelm the man with questions, she was just excited. The goblet was something Boo would have loved to 'collect' but she couldn't just snatch it in front of everyone. Besides, if he was a friend of Vance he was a friend of Boo and couldn't be a target.

"Me? Oh I may not look like it but I am quite the hunter. So...I just hunt for a living. I left my bow home of course because we don't really need our weapons at a time like this." Ondona replied. It was both a truth and a lie at the same time. "Oh heavens me! I forgot to introduce myself!...Ahem...My name is Ondona. Sorry for not saying my name sooner." She gave a small bow of her head.

Of course after her bow, she took a small sip of her Vodka Black Tea and instead of a cough she gave a small sigh. Was it a good sign that she was growing used to it? Perhaps not.

Vance looked at the man in black once and his voice was something that seemed to cut through him. "This is Boo. I met her at the festival on Origin and invited her to to join me on my "adventures" in helping others. To be honest I wasn't sure if I were going to come or not either. I still don't see how my being here makes any kind of a difference to anyone." He spoke plainly. "As for you, Mr fox, if you would like to come with me and Boo, you may come along as well if you wish." Vance smiled politely. His guard was on full alert at this point with the shadowy figure there once again. He awaited his answer to Boo's question as to what his name was.

Midgra sat silently until he was called cute. He laughed and rolled his eyes. He knew he was pretty worse for wear as most living things goes, but he enjoyed the compliment. Usually he was being chased out of the venue at this point. His childs tuxedo he had found must have really done the trick.

"There is only one person allowed to call me cute, and that is your mother." He grinned and let out another almost forced laugh.

He was not fully comprehending how abrasive he or his sense of humor could be at times. As more people joined the group, he nodded along with the conversation but only half listening. Should he go with these people? He sure as hell didn't have anywhere else to go at the moment, and once this party was over he would be stranded here. Wouldn't be the first time, but this was almost perfect for his current situation. He looked up to Vance and back down to the little girl. "Em... It would be most benificial to me if I could. Besides... Being out 'On the road...'" He did a finger quotes motion with his deformed hands, to show he knew it wasn't literal. "is way more fun than being around stuffy suits like this, no?"

As the man in black appeared Midgra jumped, clearly still on edge for the food police to come and find something he was doing wrong. He eyed the man warily, his blind eye still remaining half closed as his ears pinned back slightly. He was ready to leave, now that his belly was full. While he may have only spent an hour or two here, the ordeal was much more successfull than he thought it would be. But, now he was in a group, he was willing to be polite and wait for the largest of the group to lead on, because the largest was always in charge... Right?

The black robed figure shifted his head to look down at the small pink haired girl as she suddenly burst into a babble of excited noise and chaos. His golden eyes blinked slowly as he listened to her, a cold look that shuttered for only a few brief moments of exposure and yet despite the seeming disinterest in them there was a slight sense of a predatory hunger the longer he looked at the girl, the look of a hunter when he stumbles across a great herd of grazing creatures. Though he listened to her chatter he made no attempt to answer any of it yet, simply politely listening until Vance once more spoke up.

As he blue haired boy talked once more he looked back over to the one he had given the invitation to this very ball to, as he did so the movement shifted a few locks of hair silver as the light of a summers moon drifted down from under the hem of his hood to waft lightly atop the upper ridges of his mask, though there were other lights around the room that should have warped the colour of his hair it seemed to defy it by remaining ridgedly silver and indeed now with the contrast against it it seemed almost, as if by some maddening design, that his mask alone was drawing in, draining the very light around him like a sinkhole, though it was only barely noticeable.

"What difference you make? Well just look at yourself, in the span of your coming from here to there you have already picked up one companion and am in the process of acquiring another. The ability to draw others to yourself is a powerful thing, and certainly one I very much look for in those I would seek to employ." Here he turned back to look at Boo, the look in his eyes know replaced with the sort of faint saintly kindness of some distant uncle who only graces the world once but every few years and travels to great and wonderful places of the world. "My name my dear? I'm afraid I found little use or need for one a long time ago, I have been called a great many names and titles that remembering my first is lost to me anyway. Now I simply allow people to know of me how ever they wish to know and name me. As for how I know our dear Vance here, I was the one who gave him the invitation that allowed you both to be present at this fine evening, at the very same place you two met in fact. And as for my cup? It is a goblet child, a very intricate form of cup indeed."

Here he did something very odd, his arm snaked back into the darkness beneath his robes, vanishing into the shadows like an eel lurking back into its rocky nest, goblet and all. And after barely even five seconds had passed his hand emerged once more, still clutching the goblet. Though this time, the goblet had drained entirely of the red wine that had sat within in its depths, indeed it was entirely bone dry as though no liquid had ever once touched it, there wasn't even a patch on the floor that could have indicated that the masked man had poured the wine onto the floor at his feet, it was as though the blood red liquid had simply vanished into nothingness. With a delicate twist of his wrist he offered the goblet down to the small girl, now that it was closer she would be able to see that what would have seemed like glass was in fact crystal, diamond to be specific, cut so carefully and so fine that the inside was perfectly smooth to both touch and the eye.

"If you are so interested by it, by all means take it for yourself, it is only a cup is it not? And more to the point only a small amount of the vast generosity I can provide to those around me of course."

"So, you wish to employ me... us?" Vance asked not completely certain of what type of employment he was thinking of."And what exactly do you wish to hire us to do?" He was intrigued by the the amount of wealth he must have in order to be giving away diamond goblets. "It's clear you know of the things I've done in my past, but I don't wish to go down that path again. Not when I have others with me. I won't put others in danger no matter the reward." He spoke. He wasn't sure that the Shadowy Figure wanted him to do any mercenary work, but he wanted to make it clear that he wasn't going to do it anymore.

Midgma's 'yo mama' joke went over Boo's head, but his laughter got her going again as well. "You'll come with us then?! We will have all of the fun on the road! Vance-kun says we won't ever run out of food ether." Despite this statment,
the miniature neko slipped a few more finger sandwiches into her bottomless pouch... just in case.

The hooded man's gaze seemed rather intense, even though his strafe mask obscuring some oh his features. Boo may have brought her guard up more if it had continued, but suddenly the man was acting more like an old friend than anything else. "Oh?" Boo let out with a thoughtful tilt of her head. Then, the little girl smiled brightly again. "Boo will call you Hood-kun then!" The child nodded after this statement as if it was the best idea ever.

Boo had to wander what Vance was talking about when he mentioned his past. She was also curious about what exactly Mr. Hood had in mind for them. Instead of being able to ask this questions that danced around inside her mind, Boo became distracted when the hooded man withdrew the goblet, only to empty it and offer it over to her as casual as could be. The little girl squealed in delight as she took the magnificent treasure. "Wow! Thank you!" Anything said after that was lost on Boo as the mini Neko-jin turned the goblet in her hands to study it more closely.

Midgra smiled and thought about it. Endless food. Surely she was lying... the coulnd't be such a thing. If there was, he swore his nose would have found it even halfway across the galaxy. Davien didn't like this character in the robes... something about him made his skin crawl, and his magic trick didn't help. But... A man who could afford to give away a glass like that was surely rolling in it. Him and Midgra were polar opposites financially, if that were the case. While he may give Midgra the willies... He did like food. And money, if pressed for a second choice. Midgra's good eye remained fixated on the hooded figure however, trying to gauge how he should feel by the reactions of the others.

Midgra had been around the block a few times, not all his scars were ones he was born with. Between Vance and the figure he could feel the tension of a shady deal being made. He had to force himself to not interject, and simply stood, watching and listening to the surroundings before answering Boo.

"Yes, I think it would be nice to have a change of company." He said in his thick, unplaceable accent, trying to hide the fact he had actually been all alone for months, was penniless, and might not be of any help at all to the group.

"Put others in danger?" The masked man asked from where he was bent over, having just relinquished his grip upon the priceless goblet. He slowly straightened back up to his normal, hardly impressive height. "If I had the wish to harm others I would not have issue hiring those that would be more than ready to do so. No, your abilities and skill set would in fact be easily harnessed into a force that would be entirely capable of helping others. In fact that is what I would rather I employed you for."

"I sadly, try as I might, cannot be everywhere at once, and though it is true I am knowledgeable in a great many things, namely the exact specifics of your unique abilities, I cannot see everything. It is for that purpose I would seek your employ, word it how you would, little bird, spy, eyes and ears, the title is not relevant to me. But rather I would have you identify peoples of interest and note and gather them to you, so that both you and they would benefit from my patronage. And of course such an offer of employment would extend to all you chose to associate with, for you will find I'm very much generous providing your intentions do not set yourself against my ideals. It would be a paltry thing to provide food and riches, glittering gold and lavish tapestries, tomes of forgotten knowledge and glimpses of the forgotten worlds of the past. Anything you could really desire really would be entirely your payment if you but sign the contract per say. Of course you are perfectly able to refuse my offer, foolish though it would be, and though I will of course be disappointed for such lack of vision I will naturally accept your decision. Though of course, this offer of employ is open to all present company."

"So let me get this straight? I only have to meet and recruit other people to join me and you're going to pay all of us?" He thought about it for a few seconds. He knew there had to be some sort of catch but he had to think of the others involved. "I don't see how I could refuse an offer like that. Provided that the people I help don't get hurt in the process I see no harm in this. Just let me read over the contract first and we'll have a deal, at least you'll have one with me. I can't speak for the rest of my people." He motioned to Boo and Midgra.

Midgra was still wary, but found himself slowly warming up to the man as he spoke. Spywork? Hrm. He had done that for some cash before, it was almost too easy, being small, well sensed in the scent department and capable of moving almost silently. Whats more is this man, Midgra could plainly see, was loaded. Probably to the gills. He looked again at his current company. They obviously thought he was adorable, bafflingly to him. He was used to hearing the opposite, sometimes even comments on the wet dog smell. He was just a little tougher and more experienced in some of the shadier parts of the galaxy than he would let on.
He knew there must be more to what this mysterious man wanted, but Midgra's mind was on getting those credits. The man said anything he wanted... And Midgra had always wanted his own ship. He would play along. Standing beside Vance and Boo he looked across to the other man, and directly up to Vance as he spoke.

"Em...."

Midgra spoke up quietly.

"How much food would we be paid with?" He chimed in, attempting to seem as clueless and green as he possibly could.

He knew that even a kick in the face was better than the situation he was currently in, and would accept any form of payment. He could always attempt to re negotiate later. For now though, he supposed he would act like one of "Vances people".

Boo continued to look over her new treasure for the longest time. She was clearly in awe that it had been handed to her. When the little girl finally looked up she hugged the goblet with both arms as if worried it would run away while she wasn't looking. Given that she had only just met Vance, it was easy to see why she would be so happy. This could feed her for years! Not to mention get her clean, warm cloth and shelter when it rained. The miniature neko-jin hated the rain. Well, she hated being cold and/or wet in general; typical cat really.

Vance seemed rather nice. He had not only let Boo tag along and got her a nice dress but seemed worried about others getting hurt and, despite his penchant for just picking her up, didn't volunteer her when he agreed to make his own contract with the hooded one. "Hood-kun, Boo can work too! Boo is a good spy! A good general too!" The first comment was true at least. No one expected the crying child who only wanted a meal and a hug to be up to... well anything really. At least not usually. It was something the little girl had used to her advantage quite often. While she would seldom steal from someone who fed her, what would be the point? Boo was more than happy to to target anyone else nearby and add to her collection of shiny things.

Midgra's speaking up made the little girl glance down at him from her perch on the table. "Yay! Boo's glad you're coming!" She chimed in cheerfully. His question was a good one, but as the little girl looked back to her cup, she realized it probably didn't matter much. The man could obviously afford basically whatever he wanted. Boo opened her magic bag again, this time slipping the goblet inside instead of cupcakes and sandwiches. The little pouches mouth opened just enough to let the goblet in, then returned to normal before the child closed it. "This will be so much fun! When do we start? Do we go where you say, or wherever we want?" Boo asked, bouncing in her excitement. Boo was so eager to start that she crouched on all fours, flattened her ears, and flicked her tail in concentration before pouncing at Vance. If he didn't move or otherwise stop her, Boo would land on the captain's shoulder to sit like a cat once more.