.... Pizza Party?

[Adrian]

The little bell would ding as Adrian stepped into the eating establishment, although one would be surprised to know if anyone actually heard the thing. Far greater in volume than a small twinkling bell was the uproar of children laughing, playing, and shouting, much to the blond boy's dismay.

There was a birthday party going on before his very eyes.

A rather large group of children, most likely no older than 12, were laughing and carrying on, and their parents had spared no expense in making everyone look as stupid as possible, and to make enough noise to match: Party hats, noisemakers, and party poppers could be seen strewn across the four tables the families had pushed together to accommodate all the children, while the parents hovered nearby in booths.

Adrian's face fell, and a loud sigh escaped his lips, though that, too, was likely drowned out by the children. For a moment, he very seriously considered turning and leaving; however, he was already here, and this little pizza shop had been highly recommeneded by a good number of people. Plus, rumors around the town's darker corners had hinted that the place may be more than just a pizza place, and this was something Adrian felt he should investigate, if not specifically, then at least while enjoying a slice of pepperoni.

He let another sigh out, and walked up to the register at the front, waiting for someone to acknowledge him. He figured he could sit anywhere he wanted, but he wanted to make sure he got placed somewhere where he wouldn't be a burden.

[Mischa Badoer]

Mischa had a friggen busy day. She sat on the floor from the last place she slipped.

"Thank you for telling me you mopped the floor..." she was looking up at the chef who just smugly smiled and shrugged.

"I'm sure ya would of fallen any way, M," her eyes shot to the ground after he made his cocky comment. She got up and rubbed her ass a few times from the soreness and checked out at the birthday party. The little bastards wanted her to sing happy birthday.

Well, then.

She sang happy birthday for the little shit, in Italian too and horribly. She smiled and it seemed they enjoyed the authentic Italian-ness this pizza place had to offer. She went back to the kitchen obviously not happy to what kind of customers she was getting. It was hard running a drug deal in the middle of a ten year old's birthday party.

The ring of the door's bell caught her attention and she hurried out to see the customer. Though, again she slipped on the wet floor. Right in front of the guy.

"Ah jaysus!" she said in her thick Venetian accent. Everything was just pissing her off. Demetri was pissed at her for not bringing Reira back, so he had to do it his own way, which she thought was rather dirty.

She got up and approached the counter.

Here comes the cliche name.

"Welcome to Luigi's! How may I help you?" she couldn't think of a decent name at the time.....

[Adrian]

Adrian raised up to his tiptoes to look over the counter and down the back to see a girl on her bum, arguing with the chef over the cleaning.

"Hmm." He said to himself, a simple grunt of interest, meaning nothing in particular. From there, the girl came out and, in slightly garish Italian, sang happy birthday to the kid who was celebrating, causing him to look slightly embarrassed, but happy at the same time. Adrian bit his lip, trying to hold in laughter. The whole thing just seemed too surreal. Finally, the girl made her way over to the register to address Adrian, and he could get a better look at her. She was definitely pretty, but certainly seemed just a bit on the awkward side.

This fact was ascertained to be true as the girl slipped and fell, again, directly in front of Adrian.

"Whoa, hoshit," he said, leaning over the counter to see if she was okay. Before he could say or do anything, however, she had already scrambled to her feet and greeted him.

Luigi's, eh? Works as well as anything else, I imagine.

Adrian smiled, wondering why he hadn't noticed the name of the restaurant on the outside of the building as he walked in. Figuring it of no importance, the boy smiled to her and answered.

"Well, in a perfect world, you could eradicate the little shits in party hats you've got over there..." Adrian paused and smiled, indicating that he was only joking.

Or am I?

"But if you have an empty table in a quiet-ish corner and I won't be too much trouble to whoever's on the wait-staff today, I'd love to sit down try out this semi-famous pizza I've been hearing about."

Adrian shrugged, not really embellishing anything. More than few friends had recommended the place to him, and thus, he figured 'semi-famous' was an accurate enough descriptor.

[Mischa Badoer]

She smiled at his joke and even played along.

"Oh, I'm just waiting for the opportune moment." she picked up a cloth and began wiping down the counter until he asked for a seat. She stopped cleaning and smiled at the boy.


"Well, I'm the waitress tonight-" then she heard the back door shut closed. "-and apparently the chef... the hired help have been draggin' ass lately..." to tell the truth they were always dragging ass. They didn't entirely liked to be bossed around by a seventeen year old girl. Maybe they are just pissed she has more money, power, and pizza making skills than them.

"Oh, and the only seats I guess we have is out back.. its an outside seat and it over looks the water. Don't know if that's what you like, but it is reasonably quiet there. I like to do a lot of business back there." she gave him a wink to top off what she just said. He could take it many preevey ways, but what she meant was the illegal deeds.

"So what would it be, dine with the devil's spawn, or outside on a beautiful day?"

[Adrian]

The girl explained that, for all intents and purposes, she was running the show today, and all Adrian felt was necessary to reply to that was a simple nod.

When she went on to explain their seating situation, complete with the wink and the mental 'nudge nudge hey hey' that she seemed to be trying to give with the bit about 'a lot of business', Adrian smirked as he pondered the words. Was she confirming his suspicions? Did she even know he had suspicions? If she WAS with the mob, would they have already known his intentions for coming here? Had he even really had those intentions in the first place? Too many questions, not enough answers. Adrian decided to start with pizza first, and get to business if that opened its way up eventually. For now, he'd fish for more clues as he went on, if the opportunity arose.

"Not sure if there's even a choice, there, Miss," Adrian said with a shrug. "Lead the way to your outdoor seating, please."

[Mischa Badoer]

He nodded to her explanation for the place, then he eventually asked her to show the way. She grabbed a menu as she headed out to the porch. The wind was light and it brushed against her skin, making her feel somewhat relaxed. It was fuckin' hot in the kitchen and this was like jumping into a pool. Well, the sun wasn't helping entirely.

She leaned over the table and popped the umbrella up to give the guy some shade.... and maybe an accidental booty shot.

"You can sit yourself here... look through the menu, and tell me what you would like to drink." the menu was placed near a seat and she smiled at him, "You can take your time."

She was about to leave to the back then realized she forgot something.

"The special of the day is Hawaiian."


(OOC: did NOT know what to do XD)

[Adrian]

Adrian's eyebrows shot up as she leaned over the table to pop the umbrella, and he couldn't help but wonder, in all his vain glory, if the girl was trying to flirt with him with all these subtly suggestive maneuvers. He let the thoughts die in his mind, but they wouldn't stay dead. If he caught another flirtacious move, he'd act upon it.

For now, he'd simple nod and smile. "Thanks a lot, I hopefully won't be too long," he said, as she walked away to tend to the raucous lot inside. In the relative silence of the midday air, Adrian thought he heard voices. Leaning off to the side, Adrian attempted to peer aroudn the corner of the building, until he saw a table set up in the back, behind the establishment. Two well-dressed men were seated there, and continued their conversation, unaware of their overlooker, in hushed tones.

"...twenty six kilos.... pizza shop.... front for..."

"These fucking kids..... deal.... girl better come through."

Adrian's brow furrowed. He couldn't tell exactly what was happening from what few words he could pick out, but he did know he wanted to know more. He was halfway out of his chair and planning on sneaking over when he noticed the girl coming back around outside to take his order. Adrian plunked himself back in his seat, hoping she didn't notice.

"Ah, hey there," he said, maybe a little too quickly. "I just want a Dr. Pepper to drink, if you've got that here, and, well, I was admiring this prosciutto and gorgonzola with caramelized onions... the Amore, it looks to be called? If it's not any trouble, I'd like a small one of those."

Adrian decided to show off just a little, using his skills from private school and private language lessons from his father's language coaches to pronounce the Italian words very accurately, sounding almost like a native speaker and not like some dumb American tourist pretending he could speak the language. With that, he leaned back in his wire chair, smiling at the girl.

[Mischa Badoer]

Mischa went back into the kitchen and just leaned against the counter. She squeezed the sides of her temple with her index and thumb. The kids were giving her a headache. She should turn this into a pub or something.... Ah shit... she was seventeen... not legal.

Well, half the stuff she did here was illegal...... but a pub would be too upfront and would get her in trouble; along with an unwanted drug bust. The kids seemed done so they were all leaving. Mischa got out in the front and gave the family the bill and they paid, leaving a minimal tip.

Ass holes.

Now they were gone, she was able to finish her deal with the men outsi-

Shit she put that guy out there!

She grabbed the mens' "pizza" box and headed out the door. The customer seemed alarmed and quickly made his order. She put down the box on his table and wrote done what he had.

"No problem at all." she smiled at him and picked up the box. On her way to the other gentle mens' table, she tripped and a small bag of the many, had fallen out. Hopefully the other guy didn't see it before she managed to swipe it from the ground and stick it back in the box.

Shit shit shit shit shit.

"Here is your cheese pizza." she said clearly enough, so blondie over there would hear and suspect nothing. They handed her the money, hiding the fact it was a huge wad. She stuck it in her apron and walked by his table to go back into the kitchen. Before she left she gave him another wink to somewhat say.

"Nothing illegal just happened."

She filled in his order and waited, once it was finished, she brought it out to him.

"Here you are. Enjoy. If you need anything else you can ask, and if not at this moment, I will come up and check on ya."

[Adrian]

The actions of the seemingly clumsy girl would've likely gone completely unnoticed by any other person, and, perhaps, even one who was more perceptive than Adrian, since the boy never considered himself to be the sharpest knife in the crayon box, or whatever the expression was.

However, Adrian had walked into this shop suspecting the possible presence of illegal activity, and as such, everything seemed to be just a little bit off. He hadn't noticed the bag, and nothing the girl had said or done with the other men had seemed too particularly out of the ordinary, but what Adrian had heard earlier coupled with the certain surreality of what he felt he was witnessing mixed together to form doubt and suspicion in the boy. So he decided to press her further.

As she gave him his pizza, she politely asked if there was anything else he needed. Now, Adrian had eaten out before, and, nine times out of ten, the answer to that question was 'no', and as such, most every waitress never expected someone to have a more positive answer. So Adrian hoped to throw her off guard by suddenly replying.

"Actually, yes, I would like something. Information, I suppose you could say."

He would pause, but only for a moment. The word 'information' would bring along a much different context to someone who dabbled in illegal acts than someone who simply owned, or waited at, a pizza shop. Before she could reply, he would continue.

"The gentlemen across the way, they ordered a cheese pizza. I'm just curious, maybe just between you and me, from what I heard of those guys, they seemed to be a little more Italian than that. I've been to Italy, and generally most of them think the more toppings the better. So... why cheese?"

Adrian set the words down quickly, asking her a question that, generally, as a waitress, an answer of "I don't know" would be perfectly acceptable. If he had managed to put her on the spot, however, she'd feel more inclined to come up with an answer, and perhaps help play into the boy's suspicions about the true nature of this little family-friendly pizza shop.

[Mischa Badoer]

Mischa went to turn, half expecting him to say yes.

Low and behold, he did. she was caught off guard a little and suspicion flared within her mind. He then brought up the customers that had just left with their "pizza". She could just as easily lied to him, but she knew he caught something important... by eavesdropping. Mischa cocked an eyebrow and licked her upper teeth.

She turned without answering walked through the restaurant to the front door. She tugged on the string to the open sign, turning it off, followed by locking the door. Quickly, she walked back to his table. A grave expression was apparent on her features and she sat herself in a chair across from him.

"So..." a smile came to play, though to anyone who had any sense what so ever, could tell it was a smile that spoke of the silent truth, anger. "You're... not a nark are you?" while saying that she pulled a pistol out of her apron and on to the table. While biting her lower lip, she used her index finger, to have the end of the barrel, facing him. "I wouldn't like any information to spill out. It is quite annoying to dispose of dead bodies." Mischa never fucked around with her job. She took it very seriously, due to the fact she grew up in that enviroment. As well as not taking too kindly to "bad" customers. Last time she had a bad customer... it lead to her mother's death before her eyes on her own birthday.

Which in other words; she wasn't going to let this guy fuck around with her.

Disclaimer: I won't shoot him.... xD

[Adrian]

((I'd rather you did!))

When she didn't answer, not even with a fluster or some kind of stutter, when she went completely back into the pizza shop and shut things down for the moment, Adrian knew he was onto something, at least.

When she came back and laid the pistol down on the table, Adrian knew he had just jumped into the middle of a most dangerous game.

She questioned him, wondering, more or less, what the hell he was doing snooping around. Before answering her question, Adrian just looked down, and took a slice of the pizza in hand before taking a bite.

"You know, this really is delicious," he said after chewing and swallowing. "My compliments to the chef." He was deliberately avoiding the question, another play for power in the game of words. As far as he was concerned (and perhaps, as far as he made it feel for himself so that he didn't feel in danger), this was just a business deal. It just so happened illegal business deals, more often than not, involved firearms.

Oh, father, if you could see me now.

His eyes perked up, as if suddenly thinking of something, but it was all just another step in his own side of the game. "Oh, disposing of dead..." His eyes gazed down at the ham on his pizza in wide-eyed mock horror. "Don't tell me..."

His voice trailed off, before a sly smile began to creep across the edges. Her hand has pushed the barrel to face him, but it wasn't hovering over the trigger. Adrian couldn't honestly say he had much experience with being held at gunpoint; but from where he was sitting, she was more interested in his words than his mortality, at least for now.

[Mischa Badoer]

He wasn't taking her seriously. Big mistake. He complimented the pizza, all considering her threat. Her teeth clenched as she spoke.

"Thank you. I'll be sure to tell her." Of course the whole dead body ordeal hadn't got him one bit scared. Well, there was mock terror, but this was just getting annoying.

"Don't get smart, you cocky son of a bitch." quickly, she slipped the gun off the table, to have it hook to her index finger. With one complete spin she stopped it, by holding it properly and aimed where she wanted it.

*Fewm*

She shot right by his foot. The bang had not echoed and cracked through the air due to smart thinking. She had placed a silencer on it long before this meeting.

"Answer my question or I will put a hole through your head." she brought the gun's aim up higher, and with her other hand, she flicked on the laser. It just so happened to be aiming right between is eyes.

Mischa was good with fire arms, and she liked to play with the mouse before she killed it.

"Don't fuck around."

[Adrian]

Now, Adrian was a tough son of a bitch. He played fast and loose with the rules when it suited him, and generally, he felt himself protected enough that it was easy to not show fear in the most difficult of situations.

All things considered, however, the boy still very much wanted to continue living his life, and so when the idea of that was suddenly threatened, by a bullet sinking into the ground next to his foot, Adrian jumped, leaving the chair as it crashed backwards. If she was trying to be quiet with the silencer, Adrian wasn't exactly playing the same tune as the chair bounced backwards and he almost stumbled out.

The girl spoke again, to the point as usual. Adrian's heart was threatening to explode through his chest, but the smartass in him couldn't help itself. He let out a few long breaths, trying to calm himself, before finally speaking again.

"Well if you're putting it that way," Adrian said, his eyes crossing to try and see the location of the red dot between his eyes.

"No, I'm not a narc. Search me if you want, you won't find a badge or a wire. Believe it or not, I came here of my own free will."

Since they were talking business, Adrian decided to just get down to it.

"Look, I'll be straight with you. I'm opening up some businesses, and, to be frank, the money in legal business practices ain't all it's cracked up to be, as the gun in your hand tells me you know all too well. So maybe, just maybe, I'm interested into expanding into something a little shadier. How's that ring in your ears?"

And like that, he was in business mode. He wasn't playing coy, or flirtacious, or even smart-ass, not when it was time to deal. How this went, however, would be entirely up to the Italian girl before him.

[Mischa Badoer]

That knocked some sense into his small and thick head. He almost caught her attention though, with the whole business ordeal, but at the same time, she didn't know who the hell this guy was. He could have said all those things, but there was only one way to truly find out. It was to do as he said and check him.

She walked towards him, stepping over the chair and still had the gun aiming at the desired place she got closer. Eventually the cold metal of the gun was kissing his forehead.

Mischa would get down to business until she was fully aware of anything. With her free hand she pulled off his shirt and fully exposed his torso. Yeah, this was serious business, but it was hard not to stare a little. Meh, he would just take it as her checking for wires. Quickly, she would grab unto his arm and pull him so he would fall into a somewhat tumble and shaved against the table.

"Put your hands on the table," Mischa would stick the gun in her jeans behind her back, then place her hands to his hips. Mischa would run them to his front, and over his pockets, when there was nothing suspicious in there, she slid them down his leg.

He was clean.

Mischa unsheathed the gun and aimed it at him, taking her place in her chair.

"Take your seat, enjoy your pizza... and continue with your business proposition. I am intrigued to hear it out, and don't do anything snappy that will force me to the decision of killing you." she would only put down her gun when she felt more comfortable with him. "And tell me your full name."

[Adrian]

She moved forward, coming close enough to him that she could touch him, and so she did, first with the gun, much to his dismay, and then with her hand. If Adrian thought he caught her staring, he couldn't be sure, he was much too busy dealing with the fact that six inches of cold steel was pressed against his head. Not even his own vanity could push through his worry for his life here.

When she twisted his arm and threw him down, somewhat, Adrian complied, not only wanting to live by this point, but wanting to show his compliance. After all, he had nothing to hide from the girl, and hopefully something to offer.

The girl finished frisking him, and finally took a seat in the table across from him. She ushered him on, told him to eat his pizza and tell her of his idea. Adrian smiled, politely, and picked his chair back up and sat down, and took another slice of the pizza.

"Alright," he said, holding the slice in his hand as if it were some sort of pointing device. "I'm opening a business. Networking, consulting, things of that nature. Basically, when you get right down to it, I'm following in my father's footsteps, and selling information."

Adrian jabbed the pizza slice at the girl, non-threateningly of course, before he took a bite.

"Good stuff, seriously. Anyway, I can't say I'm particularly interested in whatever goods you may be peddling here apart from pizzas. But, knowing when and where these goods should be peddled, those are important things to know. If I'm going to be setting up networks and putting together lines of communications for other businesses, then, with a little digging, I could potentially be first in line to know how many other little rival pizza shops are doing things like this, you see?"

Adrian set the pizza slice down and took the glass of soda in his opposite hand, tilting it towards the girl as he continued.

"Of course, when you start small, no one notices. And once you grow, you're working with shadow businesses run by shadow managers, and the only people who can trace it back to me, will be working for me anyway. The problem, I suppose, is capital."

Adrian shrugged, almost sheepishly. "I don't know who you work for, and maybe, for anonymity's sake, I don't wanna know. Maybe you're your own boss, maybe you're not, none of this matters to me right now. You talk it over with yourself, or whoever's over you, and if you can get me enough money to hire.... fifteen legitimate employees at a competitive salary, I can have the first office up and running. At that point, I'll repay you what I owe, and from there, we could work out some arrangements where I could sell you whatever information you may need, at the kind of rates I'd give friends who help me out, you know?"

Adrian took a sip of the drink and set it down.

"So, for a barebones idea, what do you think? You think you'd like to work out the specifics on something like that, or what?"

The lure had been set, and the bait had been placed. All that was left was to bring one last tug, and fulfill the last request.

"My name, by the way, is Adrian Hanlon. If you know anything about me, you'll know that I'm the last person anyone expects to take up a Networking and Media giant."

Adrian shrugged. It was true, too. News of Hanlon Networking's Golden Heir having been disowned had traveled fast, which would mean that no one, least of all Bill Hanlon, the current leader of Networking in California, would be able to foresee his rise, regardless.