a business arrangement

@"Jacques"

[ Marco "Greed" Lopez ]

Like any good mogul with business sense, Marco rarely did jobs he could assign to other people. His responsibilities simply involve dictating a general idea to his executives and arranging mutually beneficial business partnerships with fellow moguls. This only involved flying to other countries for lunch meetings, pulling out paperwork and shaking hands, done and done. Officially, he would be done for that month and receive paychecks with eleven digits.

But Marco was not old money. Unlike his cohorts, Marco wasn't the type to call it a day so he could lounge in a hot tub surrounded by women. He worked for his money. He liked to keep his hands busy and preferred to oversee whatever he could in his businesses.

He paid special attention to Sierra Madre. Now, Sierra Madre didn't make the biggest fraction in his income. In fact, it was hardly a noticeable sum. He could theoretically get by without it, but he paid special attention to it due to sentimental value. After all, it was the first hotel and casino he made on the island, one he completely owned and used to justify his family's stay there.

All of the important staff members were handpicked by Marco, but imagine his surprise when he received a call from his assistant about a raccoon of all things wanted to be a dealer at his casino.

Now, Marco wasn't a stranger to supernatural events. He was, after all, the family Patriarch of the Seven Deadly Sins. But... a raccoon. There were two ways this could go: He either unlocked a cash cow, or someone was wasting his time.

Marco preferred to be an optimist regarding financial matters. The interview proved to be promising.

Marco came to the office Monday around nine. The minute he stepped into the casino, his assistant rushed to his side to give him coffee and the day's itinerary — events, rentals, weekly reports. Aside from the raccoon, he was supposed to do damage control after a gambler lost it and mortally injured a dealer. He entered an elevator and looked over his reports for the day, calling someone or other, telling his assistant to call someone or other.

He spent two hours talking to the press, the hospital, the staff member's family members and the ongoing police investigation to put out some fires. Considering the connections he had, he was more or less successful, even if he had to bribe one or two people and intimidate several more. When the time for the interview almost arrived, Marco told his assistant to tell the receptionist to direct a certain Mr. Vadim Lahti to his office in the second floor.

Marco had Vadim Lahti's application right in front of him. Aside from him being a raccoon, his credentials was better than some of Marco's own dealers. He knew how to deal a wide range of card games, he was bilingual and he worked at a few sister casinos.

Speak of the devil, he heard a small knock at the door.

Did he detect a hint of Finnish accent?

He wasn't kidding, then.

"Mr. Lahti," Marco called back, standing up from his table. "Please, come in."

As standard interview etiquette went, the interviewee comes in, shakes his hand and Marco would offer them a seat. But after a few essential standard interview questions, Marco was going to ask whatever he wanted to see what he'll say when he catches him off-guard... if he catches him off-guard. Marco had good intuition when it came to people. He wanted to get a feel of the guy before he made a decision.

The truth was, Marco didn't have any sort of psychic awareness. He just kept his meetings well organized, and he was familiar with today's itinerary. The next meeting after this was two hours from now with a pretty redheaded dancer with four arms that wanted to entertain the people at his cigar bar. He'd be careful not to make this too long.

When the door opened...

He expected it, but he was certainly surprised. Mr. Lahti was certainly... quite adorable, truth be told. But he was still an interviewee. He mentally kept himself from commenting on that, focusing instead on the compliment he offered him, again with the Finnish accent evident in his tone. He stood up, shook his hand and gestured for him to sit down.

"Thank you, Mr. Lahti. Please, sit." He sat down himself. "I've read your resume and I'm certainly very impressed by your credentials. Did you know that some of the casinos listed here are owned by some of my business partners? They often have the highest standards of employment. The fact that you've worked in some of theirs is very impressive.

"Tell me, Mr. Lahti, why the interest in being a dealer?"

Marco took the card between his fingers, looking like he was examining it when he was really gauging how to feel about Vadim. He was quite charming and he had a flair for the dramatic, but business was a dance, and if you didn't know how to follow the steps, all of your talents and charm would be for nothing. Interviews were supposed to be grueling and unpleasant. It was a way to filter out the obedient and savvy from the rest.

He would let this pass, simply because his resume compensated for any flaws he might have. His strict assessment didn't show in his features. Instead, Marco gave him a smile.

"Impressive. I've always been a sucker for parlor tricks." He returned Vadim's card. "Do you often have... 'cards up your sleeve'?"