I Would Give Everything

Kait · May 3, 2018

It had been a while since Chloe had visited the strip. A part of her expected that she could walk into her father's club again, get free food, chat with the strippers or the waitstaff. She walked past the lot that used to contain Gomorrah, and she saw that it was already being replaced by another establishment. What were they building there - another strip club? A brothel?

She hated that she felt nostalgia for that part of her life. Her mind kept ringing with, if he was still here, he would have been able to fix Dalia. I wouldn't need to be doing all this. She hated that she made that realization, and the more she hated it and wanted to push it out, the more it wormed its way into the front of her mind. She thought about her savings again - how much of it was already liquid, what she would need to do to write a check for the rest of it.

She walked on.

Gilded Blades was still under construction, but the decor that was already in place drove home the point that she was dealing with a big shot. Golden trim lined shiny black marble surfaces. She recognized statues of Mammon, and statues of old gods, one or two of which Chloe had suspected may have also been Mammon himself.

She found the secretary. "Can I help you?

"Ah, yes, hi, I'm Chloe Black. I had an appointment with Corvo."

Max!! · May 9, 2018

Manta Carlos, it was nice to be back here on the island. He was still in the process of settling in, however he would argue that was mostly done. For now his primary focuses were making sure his business venture was coming along smoothly. Logistical things and number crunching were two of his favorite pastimes. Today however he had a rather different sort of meeting with a different sort of person. Normally it was contractors and the like coming into his office. Today it was more of a family affair.

His secretary was already probably about to send her back, but the demon prince needed to stretch his legs. Chloe was there right on time... excellent.

"No need to call me, Naomi, I was just stretching my legs," Corvo grinned turning his attention to Chloe. "Miss Black, I hope you didn't have any trouble finding your way here."

He gestured for her to follow him back to his office. He led her down a hallway and into his office. "Would you like some tea? Or shall we get right to it then?"

@Kait

Kait · May 12, 2018

"No trouble at all, Mr. Wintergreen." Chloe nodded once to Naomi, then followed where Corvo led. "Seems like I had some good timing, too." If he was actually coming out to stretch his legs, and not just coming out to meet her.

... Oh, right. If he was telling a lie, his face would be bleeding. He had said so in their first meeting, and his old business contacts confirmed it when she tracked them down. The demons she spoke to confirmed that Corvo was who and what he said. She should be able to trust him.

He was offering tea. "Tea would be lovely. Do you have any Darjeeling?" She could use a second to calm down. She was ready to clean out her bank account for this.

Max!! · May 29, 2018

"I do in fact," he answered, opening a cabinet and taking out a box. He'd go through his precise steps to making them each the perfect cup, she was an esteemed guest after all. He served Chloe her cup and taking a seat across from her.

It was time to get into it. Seemed like she had a great deal of things happening since their talk at the community center. A dying daughter was one hefty task to deal with. Lots of factors with issues like this too. Corvo took a sip of his tea, savoring the flavor before he asked his first question.

"So what exactly is it that you're trying to accomplish? I know the overall story, but what is it that you want to do?"

@Kait

Kait · May 30, 2018

Right into it, then. A part of her had been hoping for some small talk.

"Royal demons like my father or myself can do just about anything in our hell. I could even cure Dalia. The problem is, you need a kind of power source to accomplish that kind of thing, and it's difficult to cultivate and build up one of your own. Without taking some kind of shortcut, I could never hope to get enough power in time. So, right now, my best hope is to get temporary control of the power I need, just long enough to fix her. There are a few ways I could do that, like stealing, but trying that would probably just get me killed. The more honorable options involve either getting extremely lucky in the wilds of hell, or making powerful enemies by taking sides with one lord against another. And both of those are risky too, of course."

Chloe sipped the tea Corvo had given her. "This is great tea, by the way. Thank you."

Max!! · Jun 5, 2018

Corvo listened intently to this situation with great interest. Occasionally nodding as he seemed to be doing mental calculations. Other hells were always just so fascinating with their politics. People were always willing to put themselves into deep debt if it meant the betterment of a loved one. Frankly, he practically thrived off of this. It was always exciting seeing what they'd do, how much they were willing to offer.

"Oh! Why thank you," he said in response, taking a sip of his own.

"You must really care about her if you're weighing options like this. The smallest bit of luck would only be about a hundred bucks. Actually that's the general starting rate with any "I'm about to do something super risky" plan. Now you can start anywhere from that to about five grand," he paused as if consulting with some unseen force. "Yeah, that's your range. That being said, I'm a bit of a bleeding heart, I'm also vaguely related to Dalia. And you're an interesting one. So I'm willing to go in half what you pay out of my own pocket for this."

He very rarely did it, but every so often he'd offer these discounts. They came out of his own pocket, and his money wasn't all his father's. Corvo took another sip of his coffee and waited for Chloe's response

Kait · Jun 7, 2018

Chloe expected a big number, but actually hearing it had a different effect on her. She could do a lot with 5 grand, and she was blowing it all on what amounted to a gamble for Dalia's life. Or, something irreplaceable of Malara's. Either of those things would be worth it.

Plus, if Chloe failed, she wouldn't need that five grand anyway.

After spending just enough time in quiet consideration for it to get uncomfortable, she spoke up. "Alright. Let's say I give you five grand. Or two thirds of five grand, if you're matching half of what I pay. What does that get me, exactly? And... aren't I paying you? Why would you have to match half of what I'm paying?" That would be a pretty roundabout way to describe a simple 33% discount.

Max!! · Jun 20, 2018

Corvo sat leaning forward, steeplng his fingers as Chloe made him an offer. 33% off was something. Not quite lucky, but not quite unlucky. This wasn't the type of thing you wanted to just scrape by on. He considered a number of answers to her question when he heard a voice:

Tell her about the thing!

He raised an eyebrow and sat back in his chair. Should he really? It was a simple enough riddle to solve if you could grasp the right context. Chloe was definitely on the smarter end of the spectrum. "Well, I don't know how much time she has, but there is a much easier route to the ends you seek. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but I am a wish granter."

@Kait

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