Have any Spare Souls? (Aristeides)

[Louis Facilier]

    "As I've already told you, I am trying!" Louis growled at the circle of inhuman shadows surrounding him. His hazel eyes were seemingly alight with an angry fire and the corners of the New Orleans native's mouth twitched slightly as he forced a smile onto his face, but it was clear his thoughts were not all sunshine and rainbows. Oh he would have loved to speak the angry thoughts on his mind, but he knew better. Louis had seen just how merciless his employer's could be, and even the dimmest light bulb knew that it was never a good idea to insult the Loa. Unfortunately the Shadow kid was teetering on the edge of this foolish notion because Louis hadn't filled his quota so far this season and the shadows wanted their due, now. It looks like Louis was going to have to pull some strings. 

    "May I remind you of how difficult it is to have a le petite reine ou roi entende to me?" He continued as his eyes looked nervously to the grand entrance doors. Of course he had a back up plan for when the Loa came to collect and he had nothing to give, but of all days to be fashionably late, she had to chose the one where his mortal life was one the line. "I will get you what I promised you. You will get your royal souls. I just need some more time." He reassured the shadows, who were becoming antsy. When Louis first came to Seacombe he had promised the Loa he would be able to get them at least one royal soul for each year he attended, but unfortunately due to his label he had to use quite a few rain checks. He didn't even see what the whole deal was anyway. They were a bunch of snobs, however the Loa wanted them and Louis wanted the power they gave him. So he was just going to think outside the box.  

    Which shouldn't be so hard since he was currently sitting on one filled with creatively made props. Why the Loa always insisted on meeting the villain in the Theatre was beyond him. Maybe they liked all the dark corners they could hide in. Or maybe the elaborate sets of villain's lairs intrigued them. Perhaps it was the fact that except for one hour of the day it was always empty so chance of them being interrupted. Regardless whenever the Loa showed up, Louis made his way to the Casey Jr. Theatre and on the way he sent one of the new villain sidekicks to send a message to the one person who could give him a way out of this mess. Mademoiselle death. 

    At that instant a large bang sound could be heard from the Theatre entrance, "Ah that'll be her gentlemen." Louis said as he waited for the blue haired girl to come closer to the stage where they all were. He didn't want to risk losing his head today, he was already in enough trouble with the Loa.

---

    Le petite reine ou roi entende- Princess or Prince listen

[Aristeides]

It would be foolish to assume that just because Aristeides did not place any importance in fashion or care what people thought about her appearance, she was somehow ignorant in the importance of image or theatrics. She knew how to make an entrance, and she knew how to dress to impress - when she cared to.

The Loa, as far as she was concerned, were nothing for her to fear, they were a committee at best, minions of a higher power at worst, and no match for her own abilities - or, if they were, they were certainly no match for her father's. Still, they had power, and they had usefulness, and it didn't do to underestimate those you had such a tenuous relationship with - they deserved the proper ceremony, especially if they would turn out to be useful later.

Louis, she knew, didn't care one way or another for the showmanship (at least, not on her part, she got the impression he was fond of it himself), but the Loa seemed to appreciate it.

This in mind, she shoved the doors open with a force her arms didn't look like they were capable of, allowing them to bang into the walls to announce her presence, and swept into the room. It was a pity she wasn't at home, where her flaming hair and smokey robes made for a particularly impressive entrance, so she had to make do with leaving her long blue hair loose so it flowed out behind her, and select a dress that floated around her legs with enough fabric to swirl dramatically whenever she moved.

She reached the stage in moments and stepped gracefully up the stairs to join him, unperturbed by the moving shadows out the corner of her eye.

"I'm here," she announced, allowing just enough cool irritation to enter her voice to let them know she couldn't just be summoned on a whim, but not enough to anger them.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Louis?" she addressed the boy directly; if the Loa thought she'd only deal with them through him, they'd be unlikely to pester her directly - besides, undermining him would be impolite, and working with other villains was always a delicate balance.

[Louis Facilier]

"Ah Mademoiselle, how kind of you to join us." Louis said with a dramatic bow as Aristeides climbed up onto the stage and he jumped down off the box he was on. Already the Shadow kid could tell she was not pleased by the fact that Louis had sent someone to tell her to come down here, and normally he wouldn't have done that, but desperate times call for desperate measures. It was his skin on the line after all. Though for someone who was pissed over being summoned, Aristeides sure knew how to dress for the occasion. She looked absolutely stunning in that outfit, and also very intimidating at the same time. It was a deadly combination when it came to Seacombe Halpworth's villains. Just standing in the same room as her made Louis feel as if his father's old suit was instead a mere pile of rags. 

"Ah that would be the Loa of course." Louis said as he waved his arm around the back wall of the stage where each shadow he passed made itself more pronounced that it had been before. Each of them had a grotesque and demonic shape, with no two looking the same. Scraggly toothed smiles and skeleton's bones were easily distinguished in each of their shapes, and if any of those perfect little royal spawn happened to catch a glimpse  of them, Louis suspected that they would not only be scared shitless, but would also puke from just how horrifying they were. However being the Greek God of Death's daughter, Louis knew that she had seen far worse in her home. "As you know they are my friends from the other side and my employers." He reminded her, though it was more for the Loa's sake then their own, for some reason they absolutely loved the ceremony and formalities that Louis was suffering through, but it kept him alive long enough to cajole Aristeides into giving him access to the souls the Loa were demanding from him. 

    "They have infinite powers beyond our mere comprehension as humanoids, and they granted some of that power to me." He explained, though he was certain Aristeides already knew all this information.  "However like all business deals, there was a small catch. I have to bring in a certain amount of new souls for them on a regular basis. As you know contact with those who aren't students or staff is extremely limited. As an unfortunate result, I have fallen short on the latest quota." He explained once again with the tone of a showman. It was a bad habit of his, as one might say, whenever he put his father's suit on it was like he became the man he never knew. Overly dramatic, charming, and extremely deceptive. However this time there was no deception here. Louis really needed Ari's help and that just wouldn't be possible if she felt that she was being lied to.  "I need your assistance Aristeides, you have access to what I do not. The dead. Now I'm not asking for much here, just a few souls from your Father's domain." He asked as he spun the top hat he had been in his hand like a pendulum, back and forth, back and forth. 

To hopefully to have her more inclined to help him he added, "If I can't get access to the amount of souls they need within the next few hours, I'll be dragged into their version of Hades' world where no Heracles will be able to find me. I'll be gone from the mortal world forever and you'll be stuck here on your own with Gigi and Cyrille."  He said the other villains' names with a bit of disgust in his voice. Granted back in their world maybe back in their world they were respectable villains, but here they were just a strumpet and the sidekick. They were nothing compared to what himself and Ari were capable of doing. Fire, Death, and Shadow Demons. Now those were the skills of real villains. 

[Aristeides]

Aristeides inclined her head at the Loa, barely blinking at their grotesque appearance. As Louis theorised, she had been surrounded by the grotesque her whole life, a few shadows on the walls weren't going to scare her, no matter how twisted their appearance. She did her best not to scoff at his claim that their powers were beyond her comprehension, she doubted their powers were any more impressive than the gods she was related to, but she managed to keep her face impassive so as not to offend them - an offended god was likely to start showing off just how powerful they were, and any god, Greek or Voodoo, pulling out all the stops was no good for anybody.

"A few souls, hmm?" she asked breezily, noting the almost hungry gaze of the shadows surrounding them, they wanted their tithe and without it they would get vicious. Louis would obviously be their target, but who knew how vengeful they would get? She knew plenty of gods who'd take out an innocent bystander just for looking at them funny, and if Louis asked her for souls and she refused, she was a little more than just a bystander. They would want their revenge on her as well. It didn't scare her, but it would be a terrible inconvenience at the very least.

"A tragic possibility," she rolled her eyes at the idea of having just Gigi or Cyrille for company, it was rather nice to have another proper villain around to keep her on her toes - even if he was almost as french as the other two. Of course, it didn't do to give up too easily, and Louis was a man who liked to make a deal - almost invariably in his favour, of course, but she was saving his skin here, she could probably wrangle something good out of him. "And what's in it for me?"

[Louis Facilier]

    "Just the ones that are just taking up space in your river... Acheron is it? Or is it the Cocytus?" He mused as he tried to remember which of the rivers was the ones where you could find all those souls that had neither done good nor bad in their lives. He knew the Styx and Phlegethon were hate and fire respectfully, so they were the ones who belonged in hell. Hades wasn't going to part with those souls. The Lethe was those who applied for rebirth, they needed to be left alone so Louis could cheat them when they came back onto the earth. However the last two were the rivers of sorrows and lamentation. Those souls were up for grabs because after eons their complaints and nagging must be driving Hades crazy. Unless he screwed all of that up and mixed the rivers with each other. Louis was never good with other religion's beliefs. He only knew that you talked about Heracles when Zeus was his father and Hercules when Jupiter was the baby daddy. That and how jealous Hera could get. Turning people into cows, tricking her husband into incinerating his lover, and driving her step-son insane not to mention some of the other atrocious stuff she did out of envy. Now that was one goddess you would never want to mess with. 

     Louis thought for a moment when Aristeides asked what would be in it for her. Ah he should have known he wasn't going to get out of this mess without throwing a couple of major IOU's into the air. Of course there was the usual offer of having control of the Loa for a certain amount of time, but that could spell trouble for him if they get too attached to the offspring of death and destruction. However the Loa were all he had to offer, he didn't have influence in high places like Ari did and he sure as hell didn't have piles upon piles of money lying around because of those wretched frogs. "How about I offer you the Loa for one task of you choice whenever you need them, no restrictions or limitations beyond only one command?" It was a pretty good deal figuring since even Louis himself didn't have the ability to send the Loa to do whatever he wanted them to do at this school. Only his shadow could do that, but it didn't have the intelligence to do anything too complicated. It was like his outfit, had some practicality, but for the most part it was just for show.

    He leaned forward a bit and offered her an outstretched hand, "So do we have a deal?" Although on the surface he seemed to radiating confidence, just one look in his eyes showed how desperate he was for Ari to agree. If she didn't who knew what would happen to the seventeen year old. After all Voodoo hell wasn't all sunshine and butterflies chéri.

[Aristeides]

Aristeides waved a dismissive hand at his musing.
"Not important," she declared, frowning thoughtfully. How difficult would it be to take a couple of souls and bring them here? Probably not all that difficult, and they certainly wouldn't be missed. A couple of people in the wrong afterlife, it wasn't like there was paperwork that wouldn't add up or anything, and it just freed up a little room for more people coming in, right? Maybe she'd ask her father, maybe she'd just take them, it didn't really matter to her because she'd get them anyway - she was sure he wouldn't mind, not if it would get her something she could use.

One use of the Loa without resrictions for a couple of useless souls, hmm? She was struggling to see a downside. Just imagine the havoc she could wreak with those shadows, the revenge she could get whenever she chose. She'd have to think carefully, she didn't want to waste the chance - but then, if he had this trouble again, she'd get another use of them... unless she decided on something else she wanted by then. She thought about it carefully, inspecting it from every angle, she didn't want to say yes without making certain she was really getting a good deal. She couldn't see a downside, and as previously theorised there was the probability he'd need this again, it wouldn't do him any good to screw her over this time.

"We do," she agreed finally, shaking the proferred hand. Exactly which one of them was making a deal with the devil here, she wondered.

[Louis Facilier]

    Louis grinned and the talisman around his neck flashed a bright crimson when Aristeides agreed to the deal, granted maybe it was more in her favor, but given the circumstances here that was something he could live with. After the only other option was to be dragged to the Voodoo version of Hell where he be eternally tortured right next to the father he never knew/probably didn’t even know Louis was technically his kid. Ah the complications of being the offspring of a dirty deal. When the two of them shook on it, the shadow demons went wild, pleased that they were finally getting their souls. They hated this place just as much as Louis did. Sure there was plenty of naive, gullible fools running around this joint, but they were smart fools. The worst kind of all. None of them would ever listen to him once they realized who he was. The medieval ones were somehow worse. They practically up and bolted when he walked in the room. Too many sleeping curses Louis supposed.

    Once the Loa calmed down a bit, Louis turned around to them and said “Alright, alright you’re getting your promised souls. Now clear out before some goody two shoes wanders in and spots you.” He said as he shooed them away. He wouldn't have dared treated the Loa in such a manner back home in New Orleans, but figuring since Louis was technically only supposed to be limited to the talisman and his own shadow while here at the school meant that if someone who wasn’t supposed to see them, did, and then they go blabber to their precious council then life here would become more unbearable since they would take away the talisman. He needed it in order to make deals.

    When the shadows disappeared, grumbling and groveling of course, Louis once again leaned against the boxes and asked the girl with the electric blue hair, “So Cyrille for a minion eh? Care to divulge reasoning for choosing a kid who’s last name quite literally means ’the fool?’” True it really wasn’t any of his business and quite honestly if it was anyone else he wouldn’t have cared, but Cyrille? Seriously didn’t Ari know she could oh so much better in minion choice? Though honestly the options may be limited now that he thought about it, thank god his own buffoon who did his dirty work was quite literally a part of him. No need to vie for some idiot who was bound to screw things up at the last minute.

[Aristeides]

"And yours is a letter or two away from meaning 'easy'," Aristeides pointed out with a smirk, flicking her hair over her shoulder "you can't judge a book by its...title. Cyrille is the best of a bad lot." she shrugged.

Cyrille had a lot of good points that made him an excellent minion, but she wasn't about to go singing his praises - partly because she just wasn't inclined to be that kind about another human being, and partly because she wasn't going to reveal just how useful the other boy had the potential to be, not when there was already slim pickings on the minion front.

"Besides, stupid people are disposable, and disposable people can't get you in any sticky situations. It's the reliable ones you have to watch out for, never know when they're going to switch sides and spill all your secrets." she supposed he didn't really have that problem, the Loa were just as much tied to him as he was to them when he was here, and the majority of the time he didn't need anybody else to do anything for him, she didn't imagine his shadow was going to desert him any time soon.

[Louis Facilier]

    When Ari pointed out his name was just a 'butchered' version of the English Facilitator, Louis gave her a small shrug and said nonchalantly "Fair enough." Although he was tempted to throw some comment back about Aristeides' name, however there was two little problems, first of all he didn't speak Greek so her name could mean knife-wielding-bunny-killer for all he knew and she could say that instead it meant fiery-blue-hair which meant he would have no choice, but to believe her. Also there was the minor detail of her being a goddess. She had more natural power in her little pinkie finger than Louis would ever have in his life. Not to mention his voodoo trickery came from shadow demons. Not himself. So he would have to let the name calling thing go. 

    He snickered though at the mention of Cyrille being the best of a bad bunch. It was true the villain's sidekicks at this school were notoriously stupid bumbling idiots that couldn't think their way out of a paper bag. Thank god he had the Loa and his trusty shadow, although they may not physically have brains they were still far more capable of doing things correctly than some of the fools that ran around this school. "You can say that again. Too bad I don't need one of them, I would probably just mess with them all the time if I did." He couldn't do that with the Loa though, constantly reminding someone of the fate of their father was a pretty good incentive to keep someone in line. 

    "Yeah you're right, the dependable ones are the ones who always turn in the end. It's better to keep the foolish ones under your thumb. They're too dim to realize we're playing them until the last second." He said with a small evil grin. Louis viewed minions like his victims. Gullible fools who practically worshiped the ground you walked on if you said the right words. The skeptic ones were the ones he had to keep an eye out for, "but like bugs, they can be dealt with if you have the right pesticide." He said in reference to the dependable ones. Everyone was disposable in the world of a villain. No one was safe, not even each other. 

[Aristeides]

"It's a delicate balance," she agreed smoothly, "Mess with them too much and they go running to the good guys, desperate for attention and spilling all your secrets on their way. Don't mess with them enough and they lose all respect for you, or rather fear, but that's much the same thing." she waved a dismissive hand. She was experimenting with attempting to engender love instead of fear, amongst those people who felt themselves higher than they really were, but her disregard for most everybody had a tendency to shine through, so it didn't exactly work as well as she'd hoped. Her lack of crown at the winter ball had proved that.

"I am considering," she started slowly, casually, careful to not make him think she was too attached to the idea "Given the poor selection of minions on offer at this school, and the overabundance of well-meaning idiots, perhaps... a little more in the way of an alliance would be... profitable, while we are here..."

The fact that he'd already asked for her help was promising, it suggested he wouldn't be adverse to the idea. There were too many heroes here, the villains needed to stick together if they were really going to do any damage.

[Louis Facilier]

"Yeah delicate. That's a nice way to put it." Louis stated as he thought of what Ari had said about dealing with minions. It was far from delicate. It was more like riding across a tight rope on a unicycle during an earthquake while underneath you a dozen sharks swam in a vat of lava. Yeah sure it was delicate. He once tried to have a minion once during his early years of being a student here, some scrawny twelve year old eager to please and the kid of some buffoon. It didn't work. Louis was a bit too harsh and he went bawling over to the good side where he was welcomed with seemingly open arms. Bah he knew the kid was kicked out the first time his evil DNA decided to finally kick in.

However Louis had a more current example to compare it to. The loa. They threatened him all the time, and he knew he was merely their puppet, but the shining allure of power is too bedazzling to resist. Besides he got all these cool abilities from it that made him one of the top dogs at Seacombe. He didn't regret it for a second. Since after all before all this he was just an orphan now he was a voodoo boker. He had power. He had respect. Only a fool would want out at this point. 

Louis leaned on one of the many boxes and looked at Aristeides with an amused grin on his face, but a look of disbelief or even possibly suspicion in his eyes when she finished proposing her offer. "Aristeides, we both have been here in this hellhole for approximately five years now. Not once have you ever suggest an alliance before. So what's going on. Got your sights set on a target that you can't catch yourself?" He asked her trying to figure out just why the Reine de Morte wanted an alliance with him. True Louis knew that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. The villains were vastly outnumbered at this school thanks to the fact those thick headed royals normally ended up killing the bad guys at the end of their films. Louis only existed because his mother mad the dirty deal before Prince Naveen landed in the port. (Aristeides' dad was immortal so he was exempt from the rule of villains dying at the end of the movie.) However did the heroes ever die? Heck no. Maybe the sidekicks, but never the princes or princesses/ They all got their wretched happily ever after. All the bad guys -the true heroes- ever received in exchange for their actions were worms and dirt. 

However since the only villains at this school were an immortal goddess, a voodoo puppet, and a strumpet maybe it wasn't a bad idea to combine forces and squash those little bugs together. Though Louis couldn't reveal that he thought this was a good idea right off the bat. Number one rule of being a villain, never ever place your trust into anyone until you're positive they will never have an opportunity to stab you in the back. So pulling out the old nonchalant facade, Louis pulled the tarot card deck from his pocket and began to shuffle it as he looked at Aristeides with a bored expression as well as a matching tone, "So if I were to agree to this so called 'alliance' what would I gain from it hmm? You know I don't like to agree to anything without seeing the full picture..." As he said the last line he pulled a card from the deck seemingly at random and showed it to Aristeides. It was a future card and seemed to show some glorious fate. It had a fat geezer on it that was practically swimming in piles of money. However a closer look would show that the bills had the wrong president on them and two shady men were hidden in the background. It turns out the man Louis showed that card to got arrested for counterfeiting while the teen made off with the cash the man had that was real. 

"See what I mean?" He asked after explained the story to Ari. "I'm no fool. show me the bigger picture you have in mind and then I'll tell you my decision. Regardless though you have my word that whatever is said between us will not be shared to another soul." He said with a sly grin. Hook, line, and sinker baby. Ari needed him, she offered a deal, and now she's got to them him the plan before he would even give her his decision. That was the one downside to being a villain. They were always able to think several steps ahead in order to preserve their own damn skins. 

---

 Reine de Morte - Queen of Death

[Aristeides]

Aristeides waved a dismissive hand at his objections, she was still keeping things casual and not giving away too much, but he at least deserved some kind of explanation - and more importantly, she knew he wouldn't be satisfied until he got one.

"It's not that," she shook her head "I was living in hope of some kind of decent sidekick showing up before my time here was done, with enough time left to train them up to my standards. That time is ... diminishing. I'm bored of waiting, and I'm bored of not getting the respect I deserve from the plebs at this school."

Not winning Winter Ball Queen had been the last straw, she hated to admit that she was losing her grip on the students at this school but she was, they were all insufferably goody-goody heroes who thought they were too good to be intimidated by her, even though they absolutely should be. She needed something special to show them she meant business, and that kind of thing took a little theatricality - something Louis clearly had in spades.

"The idiot heroes and princesses at this school have flourished in their complacency, they don't give either of us the proper respect, it's time they learned to fear us as they should. Us working at cross purposes isn't going to achieve that nearly as much as us working together."

[Louis Facilier]

Louis was tempted to scoff at the notion of a decent sidekick showing up. As if those words could ever be put into a positive sentence. There were no good sidekicks for a reason. They were undependable, they were expendable, and if they weren’t so damn good at doing the true villains dirty work then they would be useless too. Like the two of them had said earlier sidekicks were bugs. The kind that bit you and stole the blood from your body. They didn’t respect you. Just like these perfect little dolls who pretended to actually be important. Didn’t they know that they were just props for the cameras? They were just little puppets designed to look pretty and smile when told. They didn’t realize that they had no true power, that in reality they meant nothing. That didn’t stop them from being disrespectful little brats though. 

It would be oh so nice to put them right back into their places. Their true places mind you, not at the top of the pyramid, but instead it would be their turn to haul the stones.

It didn’t take a genius however to deduce that this all rooted from Aristeides’ lack of a so called “proper” crown at the Winter Ball. For the last four years, Ari had been top dog because of the fact everyone was too afraid of her to even be within a hundred feet of her. (After all even in the diverse universe as Disney is, just how many kids have the power to create fire from nothing?) Louis had also been in that category however things had become a bit more lax over the years. The students got used to the shadow kid and fire girl. They became jaded to the pair’s powers as they grew from wide eyed twelve-year-olds to the rebellious teenagers they all were too. It also didn’t hurt that the villains were vastly outnumbered when you factored in the sidekicks on both sides. It just reflected a sad factor that came into play and prevented their side from getting too much power; villains die at the end of the royal’s stories.

However a red flag was sent up in Louis’ mind if her second place win was the root of all of this. Was Aristeides really that obsessed with the Winter Ball court results? That had been months ago, and it was a one night thing too. Everyone had forgotten about it by the next morning, except of course Aristeides. Maybe it had something to do with the fact she was a Greek Goddess technically. Louis remembered reading somewhere that the ancient Greeks could hold onto a grudge for quite a long time…

“And with the Prom coming up soon you want to show these little gems how vulnerable they really are?” He continued with a raised eyebrow. It would make sense for them to strike during the festivities, everyone’s guards would be down and it was almost guaranteed that all the royals would be there. The two villains could come up with quite a scene with these conditions. Plus with all the party lighting, the Loa would have plenty of shadows to hide in and scare their classmates. It would be easy, everything would stay in their favor if they planned this correctly.

It was a brilliant idea and it would finally get Louis some of the respect he deserved rather than just being looked down upon because he wasn’t like the rest of them. It would finally be payback time, but yet something in him just wasn’t completely on board with this idea. Something he had never felt before…

“Tell me though Aristeides,” Louis started to say without really thinking and once he realized what he was going to ask he couldn’t stop his own mouth from gabbing on, “Who’s the real target here? The Gems or Is-the Girl who stole your crown?”

He almost said Isla’s name. Louis couldn’t say Isla’s name in front of Ari. She hated the girl for something that was out of her control and no doubt just the mere mention of her would throw the daughter of death personified in a fiery rage. It wasn’t safe to do that. So he pretended as if he didn’t stutter at all and he patiently waited for an answer. Hopefully she would think he was just planning what was going to go down. Aristeides couldn’t know the real reason why Louis nearly said her enemies name.

For a moment, just a moment, Louis had felt the strange need to protect the princess from the blue haired girl’s path of destruction.

So as a temporary distraction, the New Orleans Street Rat finished with. “I think we might have an agreement on our hands my dear comrade. However I want to know exactly what I'm getting into...” He trailed off looking at the goddess with a serious expression on his face. Louis didn't want to be left in the dark about any of Ari's intentions. That's normally the part when the trusted partner became the perfect fall guy. After all there is no such thing as trust in a villain's world.

[Aristeides]

"Prom..." she said slowly. She hadn't actually yet thought about when they might strike, she'd needed to get him on-side before she could do that, any kind of plot she came up with would just fall flat if she didn't know exactly what kind of skills she was working with to pull it off. "What a perfect idea..."

When he questioned her motives, her eyes flashed and her jaw set, there was a certain tension that suggested she was doing her level best to not explode. This little shadow brat thought he could question her? How dare he... and yet... she had worked very hard to avoid everybody in this damn school knowing just how volatile her temper was, she was very careful to keep tight control over her emotions whenever anybody else was around - oh sure, later on she'd go back to her dorm room and fling plates at the wall for a while until her screams of rage subsided and she felt calm again, but for now she swallowed back her rage and smiled sweetly.

"Make no mistake, Louis, every. single. one. Of those pathetic goody two-shoes is my target. I suggest you listen carefully because I don't intend to repeat myself again. We deserve their fear and their respect, and we are going to get it. I am going to get it, so you can work with me or not, because either way things are going to change around here, understand?"

Like she cared about some stupid little crown, it was what the crown meant that had incurred her ire. Not winning meant she didn't scare them, and that needed correcting.

"What you're getting into is a partnership. We work together to show them what we're made of, and then we both get the respect we deserve. I doubt there'll be any profits but if there are you can have them, I don't care about money. Anything else you want... we can discuss." The details they could work out later, but she was decided that prom should be the place. She was sure they could wreak enough havoc and destruction at the supposed celebration to make their point.

[Louis Facilier]

“Don’t treat me like a minion Ari.” Louis cautiously warned with a tone that made it clear to Ari that this was non-negotiable. Despite what the fiery sixteen year liked to believe, she was not top dog when it came to everything just because her father was a Greek God. She may not have realized it, by her wording and her tone made it clear to Louis that Ari was thinking that she was the lead here and Louis was just a prop man. No, if they were going to do this , and it was soon very clear that they were, Louis wanted to be half of the team. Not one-third, three-eighths, one full half. It was the both of them or just Ari, and unfortunately if it was just Ari that meant no Loa. Ari needed him in this plan and at the moment all he wanted in return was Ari’s respect as well as those snotty brats’ in the end. Was that too much to ask for?

He nodded though in understanding, it was perfectly clear to him. Ari wanted to this plan to go off without a hitch, and by no hitches, that also meant no questions from Louis. Even if it was kind of an important one. It didn’t take a genius to see that was Ari’s way of making sure that she was in charge of this plan. Though Louis was still bound to ask question from here on out. He wanted to know exactly what he was getting into and if Ari wasn’t going to open up willingly, then Louis could just make her reveal what was one her mind. After all that was the one true way to make him shut up.

The mention of Louis getting any profits to be gained made him perk up a little though. There was nothing like gold to this teen. “It’s about damn time too.” He said after Ari finished her little motivational speech. “But if you can keep you promise of giving me any gold gained, and not treat me like a minion then we got ourselves a deal.” He said reaching out his hand for the two of them to agree to the arrangement. The moment Ari grasped it, the amulet around his neck flashed a brilliant red. The deal was sealed. Aristeides and Louis Facilier were now allies.

“So,” Louis started while leaning up against one of the crates with an evil grin on his face, “What exactly did you have in mind?”

((and FIN! ))