Welcome to Gaia! ::

"As much as I would like to stay, I need to get back to talk to Frank straight away. Dis whole mess hit him really hard, of course. I'll stop back by in a day or two. If you're not busy or if you have some news for me, we'll talk then. Until then, it has been very nice meeting you, Mr. Cobblepot," Joe Rispoli spoke with a slight nod and smile, "Also, I know you have people waiting on you, sos I'll get out of your hair."

Edmond's smile widened when she brought up the conversation from earlier. He did not think over the response much before answering "Oh no, it's not that they disapprove of my work, they just would rather I give the diamonds and gems to them. They tend not to ask about the other parts of my work. So no, one does not have to be a good girl for me to like her. I am a very casual person. If I like someone, they will know." Edmond did not realize he had set himself up for a trap in that statement, but odds were the waitress across from him would not realize either. He was playing with fire at this point, it would be fun unless he got burned.

"Mostly jewels. I work in a very discrete line of artifact acquirements. An artifact could be anything worth a lot of money. I find it and I acquire it. Then I come to places like this to sell it." Edmond explained the lie he had created years ago. I was simple enough and sounded better than saying he finds and steals stuff.

"I don't always get into fights but sometimes a deal goes south. Someone brings a gun, someone wants to negotiate about price, little things like that normally start it. One time I was shot, took my eye. That is when I decided on learning how to fight." Edmond lied casually as if it was something he did everyday. He tapped the eyepatch he was wearing when he mentioned losing an eye.

Edmond paused for a moment as he thought about what she had asked. He formulated a logical response and said "Well I was in a coma for about a year which burned through most of the money I had saved up, then once I awoke the rest of the money went into more surgery, physical training, and other hospital bills. On the upside I did a little messing around in the stock market which helped me gain a few thousand dollars. That money I put towards continuing my work and here I am now, almost as if nothing had happened."

Sammantha watched Joe as he spoke to her. Her eyes fell on the card as he handed it to her, then back up at him as he turned and left with the other men. And stood there looking back down at the card after he and the other men had vanished from sight.

It was... strange. Most men who came in here didn't usually act like that. And if they did, they just wanted to buy a pretty girl to be on their arm for a while. He seemed.... genuine. Something she didn't see very much of these days.

"Send for my next meeting, my dear." Cobblepot said out loud from inside the room. "Might as well get everything out of the way before I settle on the task at hand."

Sam looked back into the room and bowed her head slightly. "Yes, sir." she said, keeping the card out of sight. When she turned to head back downstairs, she carefully slipped the card into the only place she could.

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"Smart of you." the waitress replied, seeming genuinely interested in the story. "Same to think what would have happened if you hadn't had the money to pay for surgery and everything..." she added.

The guard standing outside the door moved a bit, then turned to the side and fully blocked the door. A set of heels echoed down the hallway again, and stopped right outside the door next to the guard. Whoever it was spoke softly to the man, enough so that it couldn't be made out.

The guard nodded, then turned to Edmond. "The boss is ready when you are sir." he said.

The waitress keeping Edmond company pouted a bit.

Unfortunately the concrete was still later to come. The waitress returned first, carrying a try with two glasses, and two bottles of alcohol. She carefully made her way to the table, then sat the whole tray down so that she could take the glasses off without dropping them. "Here you are, best we have in the Lounge." she said, then took the tray when the glasses were off. "We can bring in part of the concrete now if you want, the rest of it is back in storage, so it will take a little longer to get here. But we can bring up what's down in the supply room so you have something to eat until the rest of it gets up here." she offered.