a business arrangement

Poppy

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Mar 18, 2015
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@"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.
 

Jacques

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There was a certain line at which luxury became excessive in Vadim’s mind, and the Sierra Madre casino was flirting with it as the raccoon looked at the area around the reception table. The high ceilings, liberal decorations (however classy they might be) and slow classical music playing in the background irked him slightly, although not enough to make him voice any disgust he was feeling towards the place. After all, it wouldn’t serve him well to openly criticize the place he might be working at.

“Mr. Lahti, Sen͂or Lopez will be seeing you now. You can find his office on the second floor,” the receptionist said, setting the phone down. Vadim only gave an appreciatory nod towards the lady as he walked over to the elevators, fidgeting with the red cravat around his neck to make sure it was just perfect.

As the elevator moved up to the second floor, the raccoon took the moment to look over his appearance. It was his usual attire for a day on the town; white button up with a wing-tipped collar, black slacks and vest, and nice leather shoes, with the aforementioned cravat around his neck to give it some color. With the elevator’s announcement that he had reached the second floor, Vadim let his cravat alone, and made his way to the office.

“Sen͂or Lopez?” he asked in his rather thick Finnish accent, knocking lightly on the door in front of him. It’s now or never… he thought.
 

Poppy

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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.
 

Jacques

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The fur on the back of Vadim’s neck stood rigid for a moment as the raccoon heard his name spoken on the other side of the door. Was it a mere guess that it was actually him behind the door, or did Mr. Lopez have some sort of telepathic mind? Shaking his head, he took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping inside the office before him.

The office itself kept the posh and pompous look of the rest of building; there was a sense of luxury spread throughout the room, from the smooth tile floor, right down to the seats. As much as he disliked the immense amount of wasted money put towards a simple office, Vadim did have to admit: Mr. Lopez had taste.

“I see you didn’t spare any expense when you built this place, Señor,” he said calmly, flashing a courteous smile as he stepped towards the large bureau that dominated the room to shake the man’s hand. It always paid to start with a compliment of the establishment and its owner, regardless if the place was a trash heap, or an overly decorated palace.
 

Poppy

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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?"
 

Jacques

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Vadim did not even blink at Mr. Lopez’s question as he took his seat in one of the leather office chairs in front of the man’s desk. He had anticipated that sort of standard interview question from the moment he walked in, but, judging at how well he had been received based on his résumé alone, the raccoon was expecting something a little more off the wall. Reclining in his seat a bit, a sort of feral chuckle came from his lips as he formulated his answer.

“Ah… Yes… My reason for wanting to work here… A fair enough question, although quite cliché isn’t it, Sen͂or?” he said with a smirk. With a flick of his wrist, he pulled an ace of spades from his sleeve, holding it up with two fingers before continuing, “But, to give you an answer, I prefer to make a bit of money while playing cards, and while running an improvised peliluola is certainly within my means, it offers no guarantee of a paycheck.”
 

Poppy

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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'?"
 

Jacques

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Vadim stuffed the card into his pocket as he thought of an answer to Señor Lopez's question. It was quite an off the wall inquiry and it had Vadim's eyebrow raised. This interview just got much more interesting.

"Señor... Are you asking if I cheat? I might keep a few cards up my sleeve for a good parlor trick, but cheating is not a level I sink down to," he calmly replied. His statement, of course, was absolutely fallacious, as he had been cheating at any card game he could play since he was ten. However, the raccoon knew that what he actually said, and what he would actually do on the game floor would be two completely different things. That was just the nature of giant casinos: profess honesty and fair games while secretly swindling the masses' money out from under their noses.
 
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