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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 2774847" data-attributes="member: 63">Halloween8:03 pmThe restaurant is fabulously decorated for Halloween, resembling a sunken pirate ship, and someone even went so far as to paint a fake 'mold line' along the wall, obviously inspired by real flood damage all around the city. Waitresses shake their way through the crowd in pirate costumes, and the bartender looks positively like Orlando Bloom.Mr. Lee's bodyguard escorts Robert to a table where sits Captain Barbossa. The old man stands and inclines his head politely to Robert. Robert extends his hand, and they shake."Mr. Lee?" Robert chuckles. "Already in costume, I see.""I'm afraid I'll have to hurry back to my brother-in-law's party after our meeting. I'm glad you reconsidered coming to speak with me."Robert nods, hiding his displeasure. "You said you had questions."For a moment, the two men consider each other, Robert young and sly, Mr. Lee old and cunning, neither certain whether the other is honest, or just a talented liar.Robert orders a drink from a pirate wench swinging by, as well as one for Belladonna's father. They exchange small talk for a bit, politely acknowledging the oddness and danger of the situation Robert, Belladonna, and company found themselves in. The drinks arrive, and neither actually drinks anything. As the conversation develops, Mr. Lee frames their discussion as him wanting to protect his daughter and determine just how much he owes to the people who helped keep her safe, while Robert subtly and discreetly tries to find out how much Mr. Lee knows about magic, and just what the hell is up with this man, the father of a woman who carried copious amounts of poison in her purse.To an outside observer, their expressions and casual attitude would look the height of polite business, but Robert knows he doesn't trust Mr. Lee, and suspects Mr. Lee doesn't trust him, and guesses that Mr. Lee knows that he knows he doesn't trust him.At one point, Mr. Lee scratches his ear, a completely innocuous movement, but a minute later his bodyguard arrives with a phone, saying it's urgent business. Robert says he's fine to wait, and Mr. Lee apologizes as he heads outside to talk on the phone. For a minute, Robert sits, replaying the conversation in his head, looking for clues. It seemed like the man was most interested whenever Robert commented about Terry, which amuses Robert, because he hasn't been at all honest about his opinion of the young mage. Robert has been acting as if he does not know about magic at all, that he did not see anything suspicious in the past few days that could not be explained by perfectly normal, everyday terrorism and kidnapping.As Robert is trying to figure out why Mr. Lee would be so interested in Terry, something in his mind fits into place. The people around him, he realizes, have been watching him, all through the conversation. There are at least four tables, each with two men engaged in laughter-punctuated drinking, spaced around his own table so that, no matter how crowded the restaurant got, one of them would have a clear view.And, he now realizes, all eight of the men have concealed handguns. This doesn't scare him, though. If anything, it crystalizes his motivation. He's going to up his game.Mr. Lee comes back a minute later, and as he sits down, Robert speaks up."Pretty burly bodyguard you got there, Adrian. He looks almost like Rocky, y'know.""It's pronounced Adrien," Mr. Lee says, smiling at the joke. "Sorry about having to step away. My partner Maurice was just informing me of some trouble in one of our French investments. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, but-""Belladonna," Robert interrupts, "she has a fiance, right?""Remy, yes," Mr. Lee says. "Maurice's son. He's actually in France right now."Robert smirks. "Uncle Maurice. Belladonna's marrying her own cousin? That might explain a thing or two."His tone is harsh, dramatic enough of a change from the previous joviality that Mr. Lee looks flustered."Pardon me, Mr. Black, but what are you implying?""Oh, nothing. Just, what kind of person carries vials of poison," he laughs, "and, like, six concealed handguns? Your daughter's a little strange in the head."Mr. Lee's expression falls dark. "I like to keep my girl safe.""Oh, safe, sure." Robert smiles. "Most fathers, they'd get their daughter some martial arts training, or buy her a stun gun, like this."He pulls out the stun gun from his sweater, reveling in the brief start of movement from the four tables around him as the bodyguards almost attack him."Yeah," he continues, "by the way, your boy over there, Rocky, you might want to get a replacement. He didn't frisk me."Robert tucks away his weapon, and keeps talking before Mr. Lee can regain his composure."Your people sure own a lot of nice cars. Black cars, white suits, sort of thuggish attitudes, concealed hand guns. I'm asking myself, what kind of business would a man run, where his daughter carries, like, curare and stilettos, and he doesn't feel safe at a bar unless he has a half-dozen hired guns sitting around him."Mr. Lee leans back in his chair. "What are you trying to insinuate?""Me?" Robert smiles. "No insinuation. I've just got questions. Y'know, because I've been attacked a few times these past few days, and I don't know what people want with me, or Belladonna, or," he pauses briefly, "Terry. I'm just a normal guy, and I'm trying to understand what's going on around me. What kind of business do you have? What do you really do, Mr. Lee, because I can't seem to figure out why I'm getting this . . . vibe from you.""I own a shipping company," Mr. Lee says. To Robert's delight, the man looks confused, not sure how to respond to Robert."Yes, but what do you ship? What . . . now, I'm not trying to look at your books, or get in your business, but I'm a little more on edge than usual here, and I can't figure you out. "Like that guy out there you have," Robert continues, "what does he do for your 'shipping' company? Y'know, if you had to give him a job title, what would it be?"Something seems to snap in his Mr. Lee's gaze, and his composure breaks. Robert has succeeded in making the man so fed up with him that now he's too angry to lie."'Assassin,'" Mr. Lee growls."As-what?"For a moment, Robert blanches, and Mr. Lee's expression is one of satisfaction, of pride that he has finally frightened Robert into shutting up. Then Robert clears his throat, and Mr. Lee seems to realize just what he said."Yeaaaah," Robert sighs. He stretches his neck, pretending to relax. "I'm guessing, ah, I'm not invited to the party, then?""I'm guessing you're not," Mr. Lee replies.Adrien Lee looks like he's about to stand, but Robert lashes out with a hand. The quick movement causes Mr. Lee to sit back defensively, but Robert is not attacking. He simply has grabbed his glass. In one quick motion, Robert downs his drink, stands up, and plants the glass upside down on the table. He strides out of the restaurant, leaving Mr. Lee behind as the loser. But though Robert leaves with his head confidently and defiantly high, he's worried as hell. In his eagerness to one-up Mr. Lee and find out his secret, Robert had not, until this moment, realized what the consequences might be of him finding out that secret. He's quite confident Mr. Lee is going to try to kill him.Well, Robert thinks, not if he gets there first.He leaves the bar, tilting his head up with a smile to Rocky, and then he hails a cab. When he gets inside, he hands the driver a $50 bill and asks, "Do you know where the Boudreaux mansion is?"</blockquote>

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