As Lordian made his way into the restaurant that afternoon he was stopped by a bus boy. "Sir? That man at the bar was asking about you."

A brief glance to the bar and Loirdian nodded. Whoever the man was, he had never met him before, and he had clearly brought someone with him, but there was an air about them, one that told the kind of life they led. They were involved in someone, somewhere, now the task was to find out who pulled those strings.

Lordian handed over his briefcase, and his hat and coat to the coat check girl. Out of habit she made to hand him a ticket and he chuckled as she blushed. He then turned to the bar and donned an apron, making his way to the new customer.

"Everything satisfactory sir, madame?"

"Are you the one sir? I've been looking for a man named Lordian, I've been wishing to meet him for a while. Your name reminds me of someone, an era long since passed in the journals of my ancestors."

Scott spoke, his eyes gleamed with excitement and it seemed like he was not the only one holding to that. Brisa also had a small smile in place but she had kept herself a bit reserved, knowing how Scott was at times and it seems like now was no different. 

"Sorry if I seem a bit...excited, I've just heard so much about you....if you are the correct man, I am looking for and the one my ancestor spoke of."

Once again, that smile was in place as Scott pushed away his plate. He seemed to be a bit too excited, all but forgetting to finish off his steak. It seemed like he was truly focused on the man in front of him, if Brisa didn't know any better, she would say the young man had a man-crush. 

"I wanted to discuss some business, it was something of importance and the state of Detroit and what can be done for it...I wish to see it thrive in many ways, something I would truly wish to help out in."

With that smile in place, Scott leaned back now and kept himself reserved. Almost as he had finally gained control of himself after that moment of fan reacting, he blushed in embarrassment before simply directing his attention elsewhere.

"Apologies, my employer wears his heart on his sleeve and sometimes he forgets that he must first introduce himself, his name is Scott McCall. He works out of Las Vegas, he approached this place because it held something important to him or one of his ancestors. We did not wish to disturb you but we do wish to work together, my name is Brisa by the way."

Brisa using her skills had known that Scott would have been a bit too out there, she would do damage control, knowing that someone being a bit overexcited could cause some kind of ruckus that would not suit them well right now.

Lordian sighed and doffed the apron. "I suppose it's too much to try and disguise myself as a barman then huh?" he extended a hand and shook each of his guest's hands. "It's nice to meet you Miss Brisa, Mister McCall. I am Lordian. In so far as what ancestor of mine you might be talking about I don't know. My great-grandfather, the one who I was named after was a watchmaker in Chicago. Surely you're not suggesting he had anything to do with a place so lavish as this?"

He made his way back around the bar to the same side as the two of them.

"You say your ancestors had a hand in this place though Mister McCall? Do you mind if I ask who, it would seem those people are coming out of the woodwork as of late." He smirked a bit to himself stealing a glance over to the booth he was in the other day.

"Unless you want to dive directly into business, but let me assure you, I have no political will when it comes to Detroit, I'm just a business owner, I can't make things happen, nor bend the ear of those that be to give anyone the right to get anything done. For that you would have to talk to other people." He shrugged and opened his palms apologetically to the couple. "I'm sorry if this was a waste of your time, but at least you know where I stand and my value to the city is not that great, so you won't waste further time with me if that's what you're looking for."

"No, I am not...I just remember he worked with my great, removing however many greats, Ancestors. Charlie Pavanno, a long time ago...he was pretty sad when they died...of course, he had never known the man that long but here the line is now as if we were fated to meet...I find that to be quite funny. Of course, I know who had a hand in this and I have to say....my ancestors had forever felt in debt to the Isabella Luciano line."

Scott looked at Brisa, both of them looked at the man with a smile still in place. It seemed like they had known the man for a while, with that, they could not help it but they knew they had too and instead they just sat there for a while listening to him. 

"Ah, I seem to be meeting all kinds of people...I would truly wish to meet these people, my family has lost contact with these people. I do wish to make sure that the contact remains, I do not wish to be left without connections in this society."

"I have no political moves to make in Detroit either, this would simply be a business move that we would make as a team. Of course, I didn't simply come here to talk business...I heard rumours that this place was still running."

Scott leaned forward, shaking his head, he did wish to enter a business agreement with the man but of course, that could waiter. He didn't simply come here for some business. 

"I actually wanted to come here and see if you wish to discuss family lines and who else has visited you in your time since you took up ownership. Of course, you do not have to mention some of the names, I simply want to make sure that some things remain okay with these lines."

Scott took on a curious and sincere tone of voice. Tilting his head, he leaned forward. Deciding with that he could see what was going on with the others, he did wish to make sure that they were at the very least, thriving.

Lordian smiled and shrugged.

"If I'm being completely honest with you, nobody has approached me that has outright claimed to be from any family or ancestry. There's a reporter woman came in the other day though that knew a whole hell of a lot about my family, and the Luciano family, and the Lucania family that married into the Luciano's. If anything, she's the gal to talk to. I have her number though, I could set something up."

He then paused a moment, recalling a newspaper article he had read.

"Come to think of it, I might not need to. You have her number too. She interviewed you for her paper just last week I think." Lordian turned then and motioned to the bartender. "Mickey, could you go grab that paper from my office and bring it out here?"

The bartender nodded once and then made his way toward the office. Lordian turned back to his new friends.

"Not that I collect newspapers mind you, but since I just bought that one, I figured I should at least learn what kind of writer my Editor was." he chuckled and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. "You want something to whet your whistle?" He pulled out three glasses and filled them with ice, slowly pouring the aged liquor over it to chill before sliding a glass to each Scott and Brisa.

"To family."

"Isadora...woah, she has connections to the past? That is definitely something I never knew when she approached me for an interview...I had never ever thought that she was someone who knew of the past so well. With the way she spoke though with my certain racket coming into play, I have to say, it's certainly something that piqued my interest in her."

Scott would have to make sure he could see what else she knew, he had always wondered if she knew more than she let onto. He smirked, maybe he could do something for the future of things, see what else she could do as an editor and writer of a rather prominent paper. 

"Huh, I'll have to reach out and see what else she knows. Anybody who knows about the past connections with these kinds of things, it's certainly someone I want to know."

Scott looked down at the liquor, his eyes twinkling in merriment before he took a sip and shivered ever so slightly. It was good, though he didn't drink that much. He had to admit, it was good and hopefully, there was no more...he was never much of a drinker, more of an ice cream eater. 

"I have to say, she's certainly someone you want on your side. Of course, don't get her wrong, she's not someone to hold back the punches. This is something that she does, and she has given light on certain things in this world. Of course, I am thankful to her for what she has done for a few of us."

And Scott nodded his head in kind. He muttered his cheers in response, maybe that type of thing came with time. He was a bit at odds with having a family right now. 

"Back to what we were discussing before Lordian, I have to ask, you said something about not having that much of a power bloc within the city. What about in terms of bringing back old businesses, remodelling them and giving them a new look?"

Brisa had been the one to get things back to what Scott was here for, she seemed to be doing that a lot. Of course, the young man didn't seem to mind as his thoughts were elsewhere.

Lordian furrowed his brow.

"I've got a little bit of money stashed away, but money isn't everything. I could buy places up, even hire people to run them, but without customers, well then it would all be just a front you know? I never really had the kind of knack for that sort of thing that other people did. My family isn't exactly well known for running businesses."

He sipped at his own glass of whiskey then.

"I was thinking I might try and re-vitalize the watch repair shop that my great-grandfather had. It was up in Chicago, nothing to do with Detroit. Other than that though, the cigar factory here soon should be back in family hands, and that's about all I had plans for."

He looked to Brisa then, clearly as she had the topic at hand.

"Why, you got bigger plans? I don't know how much I can help, like I said, no pull, but if I can, you'll let me know right?"

"We were just looking to invest in something or get you investing into something of ours. It would have been a good business plan for me and Scott...we just wished to make some money, I believe he went to the Tops for that."

Scott looked up and was already out of his thoughts, his eyes looked between the both of them. Seemingly knowing what they were trying to discuss, he had kept up as his thoughts were elsewhere, thinking about his family. 

"The Tops was something old, a relic of a bygone era. We, well, I wanted to see what it could now in this day and age. Only I wonder if those efforts would not be suited for right now. I don't see it being that lucrative or reaching for some of the newcomers."

Scott was being serious, back in the days of Charlie Pavanno, a casino for the family and for a few of the new guys, it would have meant big money for all of them involved. Get them a big chunk of the business, now? That wasn't doable, he wondered what he could have done to make something else viable in this way. 

"I wanted to take the investments out and leave the tops to be something old, forgotten and let it rest. Even if a few players come here and there, it's not something I want to report about all the time. I wanted to make an investment into something, I thought we could have come to a solution in how to invest."

Scott shook his head, maybe he could have done something but he did realize that this would have been a very bad idea. An investment that just wouldn't happen right now or ever. 

"I know you said that this isn't really your thing Lordian but do you have any ideas? Something that could help us with the money we got stashed away?"

Scott asked, his eyes met those of the man opposite him. He wished to make sure that they had all their bases covered, there had to be something that could have been done here. 

Lordian shook his head. He had read through his grandfather's journals, and through the ledgers of Levey Posner. He wasn't sure he wanted to dip too deeply into that just yet.

"I don't have a lot of outlets for money either. Best bet I can make is to hope that the people above me know what they're doing. I know my grandfather was a big gambler. The man who ran his business out of Chicago, he was into the stock exchange more than anything, and he made a killing doing it too. Me? I've got no knack for that sort of thing. I'll figure out my own trick I'm sure, but for now, I'm as lost as you are. It's why I made sure to come here and spend some money of this place. I've got money from my family, I just don't know what to do with it."

He pulle dout the bottle and re-filled his glass offering it to each of the other two in turn as well.

"Huh, that's not something I wished to hear, I guess I'll have to find something that can handle the investment I wish to make here. Of course, I'll have to make sure that it's something people would be interested...I wonder, huh, that one lady had done something in the streets, seemed a fun thing that a lot of people had done before."

He shared a look who shook her head, he pouted but maybe she was right, not many mobsters or even civilians had that kind of thing on their minds. A board game would do nothing, probably piss off a few people, something like this could have been pretty fun for the ones with a more whimsical side. 

"Hey, you don't know, he might like it and trust me! IT'S A GREAT INVESTMENT."

Brisa shrugged, she just knew that Scott was always a fan of those things. Maybe he wanted to make sure that others could have fun, she just knew some things were meant to be kept to the house, of course, Scott didn't. She did love that about him, so she turned her head to Lordian, shaking her head. 

"Don't listen to her, I just wanted to know if you had an interest in board games..."

Brisa placed a hand on Scott's shoulder and he sighed....he knew that was something that was silly, so he sighed to himself and kept himself back. 

"Nevermind Lordian, it was great speaking with you, Scott had something on his mind, nothing much. I just wanted to thank you for meeting us now, and should you ever wish to talk again, let us know. We would be ready to do business if you ever had anything mind."

Lordian nodded.

"Of course I'll keep it in mind. And for the record I do enjoy board games, probably more than the next guy, though how that might be an investment, I don't know. Not many people out there playing them nowadays, too much struggle just trying to make ends meet it seems."

He finished his whiskey then and turned toward the door to see the band starting to drizzle in.

"If either of you, or both, want to stick around anything you want is on me today. Enjoy the music, dance a little, live a little. Life is short, enjoy it."

He smiled and made his way over to talk to the band to get them settled for the day.

"So what do we do next Brisa?"

Scott gave her a small look that had both of them shrugging for a moment, they had gotten that offer in New York, it was something that had stuck to them and maybe it could have been something better for their future. Maybe that could have provided something for them. They didn't exactly know how to go about that but maybe they could see in the future. 

"We could always do this a little differently, it's up to you, Scottie. I'm just the tag-a-along and I do wish to make sure you get the best deals possible, just be ready to make sure you can have a few things prepared for what you want in this way of life."

Scott nodded, he knew that some people had looked out for him the way Brisa was doing right now. He was still young and had a lot to earn in the way of making cash, connections, and seeing what people could help him on his way to greatness. Maybe he would have to start that boardgame room.

"Now, if only some people were interested in Monsters and Mobsters, it's a multiplayer dice game....I still have to defeat that Empire-Level Boss. Damn those fucking Las Vegas Casinos...make him too much money to bulk up his army."

Brisa had shaken her head, she knew that something like this was not something she usually enjoyed. Only Scott had gotten her excited, he had managed to get her to create a pure intrigue character. So they stood from their seat, heading out of the Blackhawk. 

"I'm just saying, he rolled a 100 plus criticals....your character got fucked up. You just got really lucky he didn't outright kill you...."

Scott laughed, heading out and wondering if Brisa was just building her character's stats...he shrugged, he really needed to find out if Sully and Sally were able to play a game or two...soon, they would have to be leaving, seeing what they could elsewhere.

Lordian drove up and parked the car directly in front of the restaurant. As he got out, he tossed the keys to the valet who nodded to him and then he made his way to open Talia's door. As she stepped out, he stopped in front of the restaurant.

"Now, I might know a couple of people here. I frequent the place quite often. Oh and uh, the guy who used to manage the place? Fanucci? He went missing about a week ago. I heard the new management didn't take kindly to the guy and ousted him for one of their own, so you might run into a little hurdle getting to know whoever owns the place now." he shrugged. "Better to know now than find out inside though huh?"

He smiled and offered Talia an arm then as they made their way inside. The band had already been there a bit and was playing, but hadn't quite hit that three drink stride just yet that Lordian had gotten used to. It would get really fun once they hit that, sometimes they even played some jazz which he enjoyed, not to mention the fact that it brought in a crowd.

The line of folks waiting for a table was split by the maitre'd who waved Lordian and Talia in and sat them in a booth near the rear wall with a beautiful view of the entire place, and the main entrance, as well as it being only a few quick steps from the kitchen in case of a much needed getaway. It was the prime location for people of a certain leisure, and they had it tonight.

Betty, the thin waitress with the skirt just half an inch too short for her own good and short blonde curls that lapped at her ears came over directly. She made eyes at Lordian but seeing that he had a woman with him, only placed down his whiskey and then turned to Talia. "Good evening Miss, welcome to the Blackhawk, as our special guest tonight, can I get you anything?" Betty glanced toward Lordian then as if to ask him a question, but he didn't make a motion. he wasn't entirely sure what the answer to the question was yet himself, so no reason to give anything away.

"Betty, this is Talia, Talia used to come here to meet with Mister Fanucci, she need to speak with the owner, or the manager, are either of them here?"

Betty's eyes sparkled with delight as Lordian asked her the question and she nodded. "it just so happens that the owner is in tonight yes, but he refuses to do business unless there are drinks on the table I'm afraid. So Miss Talia, what can I get for you?" Lordian gestured as if to say there was nothing to be done, and that Talia might as well order a drink.

Talia took in a slight deep breath, she wasn't looking to make a long venture of this but seemed it was already starting to look like it. 

"I'll have a glass of red, whatever the best is that you carry."

It wasn't because she was uptight but the best wine always tasted the best. It was one of the things that she never scrimped on, cheap wine just shouldn't be a thing and for her it wasn't. 

"Oh and.. Betty was it?" Talia didn't let her speak up before continuing. "I need you to tell the owner that I'm getting a drink and that I need to speak with him. It's rather important."

Betty listened but directed her attentions towards Lordian, as if to seek his approval for the inquiry. It didn't sit well with Talia, who felt a bit slighted by the glare. 

"Excuse me! Why the hell are you looking at him for approval? Does my word mean shit?"

Talia was about to get up from her seat but could feel a grip around her hand, causing her to look down. 

"It's ok, she was simply mistaken. Weren't you Betty?" Lordian looked up at Betty nodding in her direction. 

"Yeah... I'm sorry I... I... didn't mean to offend ma'am. I'll go get those drinks and the owner." Betty said mumbling her words a bit. 

Talia watched as Betty walked away then quickly whipped her head back around towards Lordian who was now slowly releasing his grip upon her.

"If you ever grip me up like that again, you and I are gonna have issues." She said just looking into his eyes, it was rather quiet for a moment before Talia spoke up once more. "I think she likes you though, you could probably bed her rather easily if you wanted to. Then again maybe you already have?"

Lordian nodded. "Have." He said very dryly. He picked up his whiskey and sipped before continuing.

"She's rather a good employee if I'm being honest, and she is trying to climb the ladder so to speak. She's only a waitress for the moment, but she knows who pulls the strings in the place. She might be in charge of the entertainment by the end of the year."

He let it sink in for a moment as the glass of wine Talia ordered came to the table. He smiled at Betty who smiled back, but got the hint that it was business time, and left before Lordian spoke again.

"So, now you've got your drink, the owner will hear what you've got to say." he put up a hand first. "Although, if you make a move to intimidate my employees like that again, you and I are gonna have issues." He leveled his eyes on Talia's for a moment to let her know he was serious about that before smiling and sipping his whiskey again. "You hungry? I could have the chef whip us up something. Or, we can get straight to business, your choice."

Talia was listening to what he was saying, he knew quite a bit about this place and the employees. Especially this one, this Betty character. She’d just assumed he was a frequent guest of this place and possibly knew Betty on a more personal level. The glances and the glares keyed her into that, there was a bit of subtle flirting going on, it was something she knew all too well. 

”You frequent this place quite a bit, huh?” Talia stated while reaching for the glass of wine that had just been set onto the table in front of her. 

She slid her hand under the bowl of the glass, letting the stem of it slide between her fingers. Just before she was to pick it off the table something came out of his mouth that momentarily made the world stop. Did he just say his employees? Did he just basically threaten her as well? It was only a one sentence line but it had a lot of content to it. 

It was the glare in his eyes though that cemented it all in, he was serious. 

For a moment she was at a loss for words, only thing she could think of doing was sipping on the wine. It was a good way to divert a few moments of time, so that’s what she did. Sipped on the wine and gave it a quick thought. 

It all started to come together in her head. He had connections at the smoke shop, he owned this restaurant and who knows what else he had his hand in. Was there meeting at the coffee shop really a coincidence or was it his way of seeing how she handled herself throughout the day, collecting from his establishments? 

He was powerful and he was a made man, was this a test? 

She had a lot on her mind but from the outside looking in you would never known as she kept the same facial expressions. 

”Your employees, huh? So this is your place?”

He nodded 

“I didn’t mean to intimidate her.”

Lordian cocked his head to the side, indicating that was bullshit.

”Alright... maybe it was but it came off disrespectful, at least to me. Though I’m sure I looked like an idiot, considering I’m sitting across from the man in charge and I didn’t even know it. You’re a man full of surprises, what else you hiding?”

Lordian shrugged.

"Nothing that you can't just ask me about. That's the thing, I don't really hide anything, but you know full well I'm not exactly the most intimidating individual, so people don't ask a lot of questions. That works for me."

He chuckled and sipped at his whiskey.

"I'm a man who got born lucky, that's really all it is. My family owned this place before they put Fanucci in charge. When I showed up, I decided he was an asshole and got rid of him. Of course, you and I both know that wouldn't have ended there, so in getting rid of him I greased a few palms and nobody asked questions. Smoke shop, same thing, only Katie has been in charge and she's a doll."

He leaned across the table.

"What about you? You're hiding plenty I'd say. You have lots going on inside that head of yours, I know you do. Mostly because I know you're not stupid, if you were I wouldn't be following you around like a lap dog all the time. Second, since you're not stupid you did you absolute best not to give anything away, and you did, I have no idea how you feel right now other than maybe a little bit on edge about the fact that you intimidated Betty. She'll be fine, I promise."

He reached out an patted Talia's hand.

But in trying really hard not to give anything away, you gave away one crucial detail. You don't want me to know how you're feeling. On one hand that's probably very smart. On the other hand, we work for the same guy, and I thought we were working really well together, like partners almost. I trust you, and I hope you can trust me too. So how about it? Let's have some dinner, and we can talk about it. Or, if you don't want to do that, I can just hand you your weekly take right now and we can leave. Up to you."

He took an envelope out of his pocket and slid it across the table, then he grabbed a menu and slid that across too. That way Talia could make her decision non-verbally should she so choose.

At the very least though, you should finis your wine before we leave, you did get the good stuff after all, don't let it go to waste." He lifted his glass. "To you Talia, may you live a long and healthy life of comfort."

He was right, it was the good stuff and would be a terrible shame to let it go to waste. It wasn't really even a thought that she was entertaining, she had already planned on drinking the wine before he even mentioned anything about it. She didn't say anything though, just sat there pondering everything. Taking every little stitch of detail he just told her and trying to process it piece by piece. 

It was during this time that she reached over, picking her glass of wine up. The entire action of it including the toast and the sip, gave her just a little bit more time to think on things before speaking. The one sip quickly turned into two before she placed the glass back down in front of her, right next to the envelope and the menu. 

Nonchalantly, she picked the envelope off the table and slide it into her bag with the others.

"I'm not that special but we can dive into myself later."

She gave the place a quick look around before directing her attentions back onto him. 

"Why me? Perhaps I'm missing something here but there is one thing I just can't place my finger on. This is now the second place in my pick ups that you own. Which is great congratulations. We work for the same guy, yet I still need to come collect from your places. Enlighten me with this and then I will, give you whatever piece of information you want about me."

Lordian squinted slightly as he pondered his next words carefully. He could, most certainly run along with a ruse for a few moments and see where that took the two of them, but he doubted it would end up in the manager's office. No, probably best to run the course true.

"Honestly. I could ask you the same question. It might be just dumb luck. You see my family owned this place, my family owned the cigar place. When I came to Detroit, I took them over, simple as that. You probably just got this area of town to collect from and they happen to be in the same couple of blocks. If I was a betting man I'd say it was coincidence. If I was a skeptical man, I'd say you did your homework and started pressing on my family's businesses because you knew how much money my grandparent's had and figured there had to be something left over to squeeze from these places."

He shrugged and gestured with his glass to her purse.

"You're not wrong, there's plenty to be made, you got what you wanted out of them if that was your aim. If not, then you got more than you bargained for and didn't have to do any of the heavy lifting. I say that's an easy paycheck."

He sipped on his whiskey then and looked toward his companion.

"I want this to be a good partnership, a very lucrative one, hell, maybe something even more fun than that once in a while if I'm being honest. I didn't follow you around and buy up these places, they belong to my family, so I inherited them. It just so happens you're the lucky sap putting the screws to a Made Man."

He smiled then and gestured toward a plat of food going by to another table.

"You have time for a bite to eat, or do we need to finish our drink and leave? You're still the boss, I'm still the muscle, I haven't forgotten my place. I just happen to be able to pull strings here is all."

He looked her in the eye then, making sure to capture her attention.

"If you're serious about that information about you though, I might take you up on it, though you won't like the question."

Talia digested the words that he just spoke, taking only a brief moment this time to say something. 

"Fair enough. We will chalk it up as a coincidence, cause I know from my end that I didn't purposely seek your properties out. In fact, when I first started working with Jack. This place along with the others we've visited and a couple more we have yet to were given to me. Kind of funny, they were written down on a pub napkin. Must have been one of the random things that Ood was thinking of while having a drink. Anyways, I'm getting a bit of topic with that."

Once again she reached for her glass, sliding the stem between her fingers and holding the bowl of the glass within her grasps. She gave the wine a bit of a swirl before taking a sip. Making sure to give her watch a glance at before placing the glass back onto the table. 

"We are doing okay on time, perhaps a little bit wouldn't hurt. Though we can't sit here all day, got it?"

She glanced down at the menu then back up towards him. 

"This is your place, you know what's good. You can do the ordering. Oh and yeah, I was serious."