“Ugh….”

“Good morning alex.”

The sofa groaned with his rolling “coffee… then” a cup was already being placed in his hand before he finished. “That was expected, so here is a cup of the darkest brew I could find in the kitchen.”

Alexander shrunk into himself as he sat up to drink his coffee. “So Alex, during your, rest, I may have found a possible solution for your case.”

“Alastor.. What is all this stuff? " Alexander was looking around the room with such tight eyes that I had to assume they were open.

“It's just a few files and some paperwork should you decide you want to invest in my proposal.”

He turned his slits on me now, “not, the paperwork… what's with all the, metal?”

Metal? We were in a tasteful living room done in a French Country- style; wood, stone and other natural materials were prominent with what little metal there was being found in clearly hand crafted antiques.

“Alex, did you, by any chance, have more than drinks last night?”

He turned slits slicing into his cup, “I, dont, think so.” that's wonderful “Well, will you be alright, do I need to call an ambulance?”

His focus remained on his cup “No, I'm good, it’s starting to clear up already.”

“Are you well enough to hear my proposal or do you need to take some time.” he did his best to down the coffee “I'll be fine just give me a minute.”

We sat there till Alexander excused himself “We can talk about your… thing, in just a minute I want to hit a quick rest before we ‘talk, shop’.” and he was off slinking to who knows where.

“Alright, when can I expect you to finish ‘resting’.” Alexander was still within speaking distants so my words were probably more discomforting than I had intended for him.

“I don't know, mabie.. two hours; I’ll let you know.” with that he was clearly thru talking his scuttling gained speed and he soon disappeared around a corner.

Hopefully he actually comes back and with any luck I can be one step closer to putting this case behind me and a new future before me.

Due to some incredible stroke of luck Alexander did indeed make a return appearance returning to the living room he had excused himself from, and it was only three hours later.

Alexander walked in wearing a,‘suit’; pants hem bove his ankles, tight jacket, floral shirt and slip on sockless loafers.

My quiet staring however clearly gave Alexander the wrong impression, shown by his puffed up tone as he took the seat across from me. “Well, Alastor since we will be talking business I figured I should fit the part.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“The gesture is, appreciated and if you are prepared I have a proposal of mutual benefit that should help to resolve your current financial situation.”

Alexander slouched in his seat but continued to attempt to imitate a professional “Well, such a proposal would be most welcome, assuming it has both short term and long term benefits that all parties would see as magnanimous.”

This was going to be a long meeting; “Well with hope it will be beneficial.”

Alexander crossed his ankle over his knee and sat back in his seat. “Splendiferous, please present your proposal and I will hear it out with the utmost, fixation.”

Alright i might strangle him “well, in today's world most xenos are forced into two very different categories with very few being close to or on par with that of a normal person, as we both know neither of these two categories are, consumer-friendly so to speak they both require connections and skills that the majority of xenos don't possess leaving one group with many xenos who are little more than mascots and the other with mostly homeless thugs who spend their lives in and out of prisons.”

I plucked a file off the coffee table beside me and handed it to alexander.

“However this business would allow new and inexperienced xenos to connect to those who are far more experienced and rooted in the ‘villainous’ scene along with gain on the job experience.” I wasn’t sure if he was actually reading it but Alexander was at least flipping through the pages of the file I had handed him.

“Through this firm new xenos could register their abilities and codenames creating a catalog for more rooted ‘villains’ to hire from, these candidates if selected would be offered a job through our agency on behalf of said ‘villain’, with a service charge of course.”

Alexander put the file down as he finished flipping through the pages.

“Ok, but isn't this already a thing, I mean my dad has hired known enforcers before.”

So the nibbling begins “That is a valid point, but not everyone can contact those who have made a name in freelance work much less afford them. This service would provide anyone with the ability to contact a freelancer within their budget as well as offer a large variety of skill sets and abilities to choose from.” Now if he would just pull on the line

“Alright , but why would a freelancer sign up? I mean most of them freelance because they don't like to be seen and prefer to be all mysterious and creepy.”

Real him in “Again, a wonderful point and there is a simple answer, benefits, most freelancer have no way to get materials, items or the care they need for their abilities or mutations, this service would also allow grant them documents of there financials allowing them to apply for villain loans helping those who want it to become residentials rather than freelancers.”

Alexander was silent for a moment before asking the one question I had been hoping for “how would we even do this, I am a little strapped for cash as you well know and I don't even know where I would start if I wasn't.”

“Well, I would act as your primary investor and co-founder, I have all the paperwork ready to go and all the connections we would need to set it up and keep it legally untouchable.”

“Ok, then why do you need me at all.” gotcha “Well, you would bring a trusted name in the industry as well as connections to actual ‘villains’ whereas my connections mainly deal with the business side of this work rather than the ‘villainous’ side.”

I could tell he was all but sold on the idea, with any hope my projections of this business would push him over the edge.

“Now, I understand your reluctance but I do ask you take a look at the projected income of the first year.” alexander straightened up in his chair and i held out a new folder that he of course he took with a bit more intent then the first.

“This file contains a projection a friend of mine helped run.” his eyes quickly became glued to the papers inside “ And as you can see if we are able to launch this and grow at a stable pace, we will both be major shareholders in a multimillion dollar company within two to three years.”

“Sold!” alexander was out of his seat hand outstretched so i joined him with a seal the deal, metaphorically of course as we had several hours worth of paperwork and legalities and financials to discuss.

So, Alexandre and I did just that, discussing pricing, our fee, how we would divide the profit, what would go back into the company and how we would leverage his name. After all, advertising our kind of business was quite a bit more difficult than most businesses so we eventually determined we would need someone who was already well established to get the word out, someone who we could trust ot at least would have alexanders best interests in mind in there own way.