Knowledge is Power (Adrienne)

[Louis Facilier]

Louis no longer knew what was more tortuous; detention or remedial classes. Detention used to be fun believe it or not. After all it was just basically another study hall for the villains, and whenever a gem got into trouble the bad guys had so much fun in messing with them. Oh those were the good ol’days when he and Ari could scare the living daylights out of a weakling prince or pampered princess by just smiling and waving to them. Then they could reduce them to tears with a few well aimed spitballs. Now those stupid gems had to be brave and have the gall to send spitballs back. That wasn’t how things were supposed to be, and finally they did something about it and to their great joy those brats were the little terrified twelve-year-olds again. They traveled in packs and cried in the halls terrified that they too will go missing. However they won’t. Eli’s disappearance took a whole lot of planning and effort, effort which had come a cost, Louis’s grades. Which explained the remedial classes. While Louis and Ari had been planning the disappearance of the fish prince, they didn’t have any time left to do his homework. This hadn’t been a problem for Ari because she had so many goonies obsessing over her that they would just die to get the chance to do her homework for her if she asked. Louis, not so much. He was an one man show making an exception because the goddess saved him from his own puppeteers. She may have needed him to pull off this heist, but there was no way she was going to repay him by having her plebs do his homework for him.

So he failed a couple of his classes which included; monologuing, different morals and counter ethics, and surprise surprise English. (Even the villains had to know to read.) Villains were expected to fail at least one class, so there was no consequences when that happened. Two? You got recommended for extra help and had to spend your lunch with the teachers. Three? Remedial classes and one on one tutoring with the student who was getting the best grade in that class. Which irked Louis to no end. He didn’t need these extra classes he just needed the teachers to let him hand in the work late. But nooo they wouldn’t. Typical. They say they’re here to help you, but in reality they don’t care. Welcome to high school, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

So that’s how Louis found himself in an empty classroom in the Atlantis building waiting for whatever poor unfortunate soul was assigned to “help” the king of villains pass something he just didn’t do the homework for. 

[Adrienne]

Adrienne waltzed towards the tutoring room. She was to assist a failing student in their efforts to catch up. She didn't know much about the person, other than a name. It sounded French so maybe that could be their point of commonality, she thought.

She had often tutored some of the other students when they needed it. She found it helped to cement her own understanding of the material too so it was very much a win win situation.

She was excited and nervous at the same time as she opened the door to the classroom. Inside, was a boy, tall and thin. She wasn't sure if he was a prince, but he had an air of self-importance around him, so Adrienne supposed it was possible that he was royalty of some kind.

Ever careful of making snap judgments, Belle's daughter introduced herself; "Hello, I'm Adrienne. I'm your tutor".

[Louis Facilier]

Adrienne was a smart girl to not make assumptions about whether or not Louis was a royal, because according to these school records he wasn’t. However there was the Facilier family legend that he was related to a queen through his father’s mother’s side of the family. However it was not the type of royalty this school recognized though. They didn’t recognize any ruler without any land to claim as their own. There was no titles nor would you find castes in his family's “royal” blood. Instead his father’s mother’s mother had something far more useful and powerful; people. Louis’s ancestors had been deeply invested in the art of voodoo for generations, some of them even being called Queens by their faithful followers. So Adrienne was both right and wrong. He may be a royal, but he was no king. There was no such thing as a voodoo king.

However there was no mistaking what the girl who walked into the room was, not with the way she walked into the room. It was if she glided with her tiny princessy steps and straight as a ruler posture. There didn’t appear to be a single hair out of place and there were no wrinkles in her outfit whatsoever. Even her matter of fact, but still seemingly friendly tone screamed princess. There was no mistaking what this girl was and it just made Louis hate her even more than he already did. It was bad enough he had to have a stupid tutor when he could pass the stupid class if they just let him hand in his bloody work a little late. But no, they had to steal his precious time from him and make him spend it in another class! To top it all off he was now expected to work with and supposedly learn from this stupid princess? Not to mention she was probably friends with Isla and soon she would learn that in addition to be a kidnapper her not-boyfriend was also a failure of a student. Oh it was too much, just too much.

“I know who you are.” Louis bitterly spat in a frustrated tone. She was a princess, she was the fool they sent to make him do his homework and that was all he needed to know. thank you very much. “I don’t need you either. I can do my homework on my own.” He finished with a small sneer. He didn’t feel any of the consequences that he used to feel whenever he spoke so openly bitter about petty matters. Maybe it because of the fact he no longer had to hide the fact he was rotten to the core anymore, everyone knew he took Eli even though he didn’t openly admit to per Ari’s insistence. Princesses and Heroes alike now cowered as he passed them in the halls, fearing for either their lives or the life of their friend. That made him powerful. That made him feel like he was the top dog here, and it had been such a long time since Louis had been top dog anywhere.

It made him wonder why the girl didn’t recognize him as the wicked villain who stole the well beloved prince, and if she did why did she seem so nonchalant about it? Regardless though it made him realize maybe a little too late that even though things had changed around the school, maybe his personality shouldn’t have. After all charm and flattery got him much further along in life than frustration and bitterness ever had.

[Adrienne]

"Oh dear." Thought Adrienne, slightly surprised but not put off by his demeanour. "Villain. I can work with that though." It was only at that moment that she realised who the boy was and came to a conclusion as to why he was failing his classes.

Still, it was not her place to judge, merely to tutor. Who was she to say he hadn't got caught up in something bigger than him and dragged along for the ride. Clearly he wasn't a big fan of princesses, but didn't he have a thing with Isla? Adrienne thought it might be best not to mention it.

"Alright," she replied to him without her smile slipping, "well how about I just set you the work the teachers want done and I'll let you get on with it? I can just sit here and read for an hour after all"
Villain or not, she had a job to do and she didn't feel like letting the teachers know that she had failed with a student for the first time ever.

[Louis Facilier]

Okay so either this girl was a really good actress or she really didn't know what was going on around the school. He suspected the latter for some reason, maybe it was because she looked older Louis who was about the average age of the students here. She must be an university student, far too prim and proper to be seen around the likes of the younger students, or "Little kids" as he heard some of the college kids refer to their high school counterparts. This answer made the most sense because if she wasn't at prom or she didn't chat with the other little gems she wouldn't know what was going on. The school didn't care about this little mess, because as far as they were concerned the villains were doing their job and now it was the gems' turn to do theirs, even though for the most part their roles were reversed with the prince being kidnapped leaving only the princesses to save him. 

"Sure, whatever." Louis said with a small annoyed shrug when Adrienne suggested that she just essentially act as a baby sitter for the anti-homework villain. The work so much didn't bother him anymore, it was the fact that she didn't seem to care about what he had done that bugged him now. He had proved himself to be this dangerous to the gems and this girl was just so blind to not realize that she could easily be next on the royal hit list. After all Eli had no enemies, and his only flaw seemed to be he was just unlucky enough to be a prince. Though maybe, now that he thought about it, this might actually be a good thing. He could now possibly terrify her and he'd get to see the calm demeanor turn into one of horror and fear once this girl realized who Louis was and what he had done to a fellow royal. He didn't get that chance at the Prom, after all he only had a small window of time to get the fish under the water before his friends could find him. 

So he decided to open up the topic by saying as he started on the pile of homework the girl brought with her, "So did you hear 'bout that Eli kid? Did you know they think that Aristeides girl is behind it? You know the villain with the blue hair, walks around like she owns the entire school." He paused for a moment to see if she was following along. He was playing innocent at the moment as if he was nothing more than your average teenage gossiper, but if she listened carefully to his tone especially with what he had to say next it would become painfully clear that he was not. "It's such a shame that it happened at prom of all nights. You'd think that this school would keep their little royals safe, but nope. Seacombe doesn't even care that Eli's gone. It's just kids being kids to them. However I think it's much more than that. I think they don't care just because he's not that important compared to the others." He trailed off for a moment to let these words sink in under the guise of him working through some difficult answer on the paper. Louis was trying to gauge her reaction, to see how much she cared and what exactly he could do with that information. Because to a con man like Louis even a split second reaction could mean all sorts of things, and by things he was truly meaning dollar signs. 

He then finished off in a dramatic tone, like the kind you hear from the psychopaths who just killed a dozen people, but don't give a damn about what they've done, by saying, "Just think about it. He wasn't any heir, nor did he have any useful skills to the school other than the fact he could swim. Nobody's ever seen him swing a sword before, and he hasn't stirred up trouble with the villains like the other princes. He's not their definition of a prince, but if someone who did fit that description did goes missing? Oh Seacombe would tear these grounds apart searching for their little moneymaker, their little heir, their little. shining. gem." Without realizing it. Louis had been pushing his pencil against the paper so hard that at that moment it snapped, adding to the creepy atmosphere in the room.

After a moment of pure silence, Louis once more looked up at his tutor and asked with a sly grin, "So tell me princess, where does that put you? What are you worth to this school? What are you worth to a villain like me?"  Now all Louis had to do was wait for a reaction and figure out if this tactic was working or if a new plan was in order, but regardless though this was going to be fun. 

[Adrienne]

Adrienne was smart. Smart enough to know when she was being played. She knew Louis was feeling her out, seeing what buttons to press.

She let him finish his little speel with very little reaction, though if he looked close enough, he may have noticed a very slight raise of one eyebrow when he got to the part where he blamed it all on Ari. She began to doubt her "in over his head" theory. Perhaps he was truly malignant. She didn't want to believe that of people though. Not when they'd just met. It wouldn't be fair. She let his character assassination of Eli slip past her. It wouldn't do for her to strangle her pupil on the first class. She did the mental 1-10 and let it go.

She didn't appreciate his gem reference. He clearly had a massive chip on his shoulder about royals. Especially with the pencil breaking. That was some barely repressed rage there. Yet Adrienne wasn't scared of the villain in front of her. Scheming and irritating he may be, but he was no threat to her alone.

But what was that? What about her? What was she worth?

Adrienne genuinely considered the question. "I'm smart I suppose. I get good grades. And I give villains like you the time of day" she replied with a sly grin."but to you personally? Nothing. Nothing except a passing grade"

[Louis Facilier]

Adrienne may have thought that she had revealed nothing by keeping such a stoic expression as Louis talked, but in reality she revealed a great deal of information to Louis. First and foremost, she revealed that she was no ordinary princess. Any of those other little roses would have been cowering in fear by the end of his tirade. Adrienne didn't, that meant she was strong and that this would be a challenge for Louis. It had been so long since he had a challenge, even that fish prince didn't put up much of a battle against the scheming villain. All it took for Louis to make a deal was a stupid tarot card! Just one look at the "future" Louis could offer him, and Eli had fallen for his hook, line, and sinker... literally. So yes this was going to be fun. 

Also by determining that this girl was no ordinary princess made it clear that she didn't have the same princess-like goals that this school stressed more than anything else. He could tell that her main goal in life wasn't to be some prince's arm candy like some of the more giggly and girlish princesses were focused on. She had other plans in life, but no doubt she was probably frustrated in how she would never reach them here, but there was something that kept her here for the university. Whatever that was, Louis knew that would be the key in order to make this girl become nothing more than putty in his hands. Everyone had something that they would anything for. Louis was power and money, something he lacked in New Orleans. Eli? His was simple, he just wanted a tail so he would believe that he finally belong somewhere. He was born on the land, but his heart was in the water. The prince wasn't truly content with becoming a sailor or just having access to a large pool. However he had now probably learned the hard way to be careful what he wished for, the lake bottom had to be a very boring place indeed. 

He grinned at the princess's smart remark to his little speech. "That's where you're wrong Princess. You're worth much more than just a passing grade and you of all people should know that." He said with an equally sly grin, and he paused for a moment before continuing by saying, "But anyways that's not what I meant. I'm not speaking of what your classmates, your friends, will remember for, but instead I want to know what History will remember you for. Where are you in the line of succession cheri? Will you one day be a queen or are you just a younger sibling that will be married off and forgotten in your own homeland? Is your kingdom even worth history's already overcrowded pages? That's the value I care about, and what Seacombe cares about. So tell me, would the school even care if you disappear like the poor unfortunate Eli?" These were odd questions, but this was an odd time. Louis wanted to know if it was worth it making a deal with this lass or instead he should just keep trying to creep her out enough that she would actually fear him like all royals were supposed to, but for some reason this girl missed her memo. 

[Adrienne]

Adrienne almost laughed at those questions. What would she be? Villains were so predictable.

"The school would care, yes. But they would be the least of your problems if anything happened to me." She was almost enjoying dragging it out. She could see that he didn't know who she was and it was frustrating him no end.

She knew he was studying her instead of the books but she was ok with that. Her tutoring experience told her that he'd do just fine if he turned in the work.

Her confidence was not undeserved. Anyone who knew her parents also knew that you don't mess with them. That confused her slightly; this villain spoke with an accent reminiscent of her home and he called her 'cheri',yet he didn't seem to know her. At the least all citizens knew her mother. Her father was still reserved but he was improving for the years spent with his Queen.

She wasn't totally able to hide her amusement as she humoured him. "I will be Queen. I'm quite looking forward to it when I'm older" she added that last bit just in case he suggested that he kill off her parents for her or something equally horrifying and ridiculous.

[Louis Facilier]

Louis rolled his eyes at the empty threat of how if anything happened to her that the school would be the least of his problems. Yeah right, let’s keep in mind that Adrienne was currently speaking with the boy who had one of the school’s precious princes trapped at the bottom of the lake. There was nothing nobody could do about that either, Louis had made sure there were no loopholes when it came to fishy prince. He couldn’t speak above the water’s surface otherwise he would murder the eardrums of whatever poor unfortunate soul that happened to be in earshot. Eli also couldn’t go anywhere near the lake’s surface during the day, which was when his friends were most likely to be near the lake, or he would get one hell of a sunburn. Then to top it all of the lad could no longer breathe the air like before, no his new gills kept him trapped in the water where he would stay until he and Aristeides decided it was time to let him go. The brat’s parents could bring an entire army into Seacombe if they wished, but without Louis there was nothing they could do about Eli’s tail. That made Louis untouchable and after a lifetime of being kicked around and spat upon being the one to kick and spit was not going to be something he gave up willingly anytime soon.

So her supposed threat held no ground with him. Even though the statement was true, the implied statement behind meant absolutely nothing to him. “You’re right, the school would be the last of my worries. Just like how your friends would try to undo whatever curse that I had placed upon you, and just like how your parents would do anything and everything to do the same until they were reduced to begging on their knees for their precious daughter to be made right again.” He said with a sly grin as he let these words sink in before he continued by saying, “You think I’m just the copy of a villain your parents murdered when they were younger, but I’m not. I’m smarter than my father and I learned from his mistakes. If I want you to disappear like Eli, then I’ll make you disappear and there won’t be a single soul alive or dead that could change that. We’re always three steps ahead of you foolish royals, and unlike your parents when we are done there will be no. more. orphans.” He may have revealed more than he wished to reveal to this gem, but at least now they would know why at least Louis was doing this. He was striking vengeance for his father, for Louis’s what-ifs. He wanted them to know what it’s like to have no answers, to lose something so precious to them that they would do anything to get it back for even a moment. Louis was forcing them to realize that what they so selfishly stole from him, from Cosimia, from Josslen. The orphans were striking back, and these poor fools were never going to know what hit them.

Louis sensed the confusion coming from the princess when he called her cheri, however it wasn’t a typical type of confusion that usually came with him speaking French. That would be that whoever he had complimented had no clue what he had said, but there was something different about Adrienne’s confusion. It was like she knew exactly what he was saying, but was confused about something completely different. So curious as to why she was confused, he cautiously said, “Parlez-vous français?” Even some of the most basic of french speakers would understand what he was asking, does she speak French?

Ahh so finally she revealed something! So she was the heir back home so the school would care if something happened to her. Oh well it wasn’t he was going to actually do anything anyway. He could only do one big deal at a time and turning a prince into a fish didn’t leave much wiggle room for other deals. Well maybe he could do something with the pink powder, but it wasn’t really capable of doing that much anyway. So he quietly dropped the previous conversation and instead quietly bring a new one to the surface and see if it be possible to get an idea for a deal after the fish prince affair was done. “You can’t wait to be Queen? Are you sure about that? I heard there’s a lot of boring responsibilities that come with that.” He said with an indifferent shrug. He curious to see how she would respond. Would she defend her future job or would she reveal that maybe it wasn’t her dream occupation?

[Adrienne]

Still waiting to see if he would guess her heritage, she passed over his threats and insults and skipped straight to the next bit. She didn't feel like it was worth arguing with him.

Adrienne laughed as she lapsed into her mother tongue, the biggest clue she'd given him yet. "Oui, il est ma première langue . je ne l'entends pas beaucoup parlé ici ."

"I suppose you're right," she said returning to the English preferred at the school,"it is a lot of responsibility. But I believe it to be worth it. If you do it well, and with wisdom, you can really help people"

She was no longer so confident that she was keeping information from him. It seemed to the princess that this particular villain may be a force to be reckoned with. He was trickier than dangerous but it was starting to muddle her thoughts when he seemed to be reading her so well.

[Louis Facilier]

It infuriated Louis that this girl just completely ignored his rant, his masterplan. Of course she would ignore the most important part of their conversation, weren't the villains warned of the fact that the heroes would always ignore their monologues in that worthless class. It was to be expected, but that didn't make it sting any less. He had revealed his motivation, his plan essentially and this gem didn't care. In fact she seemed to be more focused on the french than anything else. That irked him beyond belief and it showed. His knuckles tightened around the pencil and turned a ghostly white, his jaw tensed, and his whole body stiffened. He had been slighted and ignored like this his entire life, and even when he was top dog, when he was the villain to be feared, he was still ignored. No more of it! He could no longer take anymore! In that moment he vowed in his mind that when the whole fish prince affair was done and overwith, this princess would be next. Nobody ignores Louis Facilier, this was not New Orleans anymore cheri. This was Seacombe Halpworth where the villains run wild and the school couldn't give a damn about what happened to it's precious little gems. 

However he knew, like any good villain, that he couldn't do anything right away. Not while the talisman around his neck glowed a vibrant blood red. He didn't have the capabilities to do anything at the moment, but no matter. Louis could wait. Louis was patient when he had to be. So he forced himself to relax even though he was still seeing red and said in perfect french back to the princess with a false grin, "Oh, si vous ne parlez français! Tout ce temps, je pensais que je suis le seul qui était pas un-
" He stopped himself from saying the french word for uncultured swine. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the princess would not take kindly to her friends being called a bunch of pigs who didn't know anything other than rolling around in the mud all day. Louis knew that he wouldn't... even though it was true for the sidekicks. He paused for a moment before continuing by adding, "Toutefois, votre accent, il semble différente de la mienne. Je devine que vous n'êtes pas de la Nouvelle-Orléans alors." Clearly she wasn't. New Orleans wasn't a kingdom, and there was no need for a queen. Instead all they had was a president that couldn't be damned about the fact that people who used to be lawyers and doctors were now begging on the street corners for a few lousy pennies. Now that he thought about it, both Hoover and the school administration didn't seem all that different. Maybe the both of them had attended a seminar on how to screw over everyone that they had entrusted their well-being's too. It wouldn't surprise Louis honestly. 

With wisdom. That part of the girl's affirmation of how she was ready for her future role stuck out at Louis. That wasn't something he expected an average princess, future queen to say when referencing what they would need. Normally they would have said something along the line of  good judgement, referencing the fact that they would have a council to guide them. Instead this girl implied that she expected to do all the advising on her own, that she would have the experience and the intelligence to do it all on her own. It also showed him that this girl valued a good brain, ah so this was the opening he needed! Now all he needed to do was pry and coax her to reveal more, to give him the idea for a deal. A deal that would make her pay for the slight she had caused him by "forgetting" to fear him and ignoring his goals like he was nothing. Louis Facilier wasn't nothing anymore, he was something and he would make sure this girl would never forget it.

"But cheri," He started off still using the term of endearment although it felt weird in his mouth because it wasn't Isla he was saying it to, but he ignored it for now, "Being a queen isn't all about helping the people. There are the galas, the visiting diplomats, and all the boorish, brainless rules that would prevent you from even speaking to the commoners in the first place! It's not what this school sets it out to be. Are you sure you're prepared for such a job after all, nobody can remember everything that pertains to running a kingdom." He said with a forced, fake laugh that almost sounded real, However his voice suddenly turned serious as he leaned in and whispered as if the walls wouldn't be able to hear, "But, I may know some people that can help you with that... but of course if you're positive you can do it on your own..." He said a bit louder as he leaned back in his chair, perfectly at ease.

Hook, line, and sinker baby. Oh the gems here was such an easy catch. After all, most of them were as naive as a toddler at Christmas time. However maybe that wasn't the best metaphor to use, because even though Louis might be able to grant his victims whatever they most wanted from life; he was no fat man in a red suit.
 

---

Oh, si vous ne parlez français! Tout ce temps, je pensais que je suis le seul qui était pas un -
Oh, so you do speak French! All this time I thought that I was the only one who wasn't a --

Toutefois, votre accent, il semble différente de la mienne. Je devine que vous n'êtes pas de la Nouvelle-Orléans alors. 
However your accent, it sounds different than my own. I'm guessing that you are not from New Orleans then.

[Adrienne]

With naiveity characteristic of her mother, Adrienne knew not what she had done. By ignoring the boy's outbursts, rather than avoiding a confrontation, she had caused one. She knew what she had done from the change in his features, and yet continued to underestimate him. To her thinking, there was no one that was wholly bad. And this boy had been the interest of Isla not too long ago, perhaps even still.

"Non,Je viens de France. Je ne savais pas qu'ils parlaient français en Amérique" She replied to his questioning.

His description of Royal life was not quite the way her parents had made it seem. Her mother for example, visited the village at least once a week, mostly for new books. They did often have visitors who kept her parents' attention for many day's at a time though, and a seed of doubt that perhaps this boy did know something about her future role after all. It couldn't hurt to ask, right?

"Help? How could you help? And why would you do that? Five minutes ago you were threatening to make me disappear." Her voice betrayed all the scepticism she held for the offer and just a tiny bit of the curiosity.

[Louis Facilier]

Louis could see in the Princess's eyes that she had caught on the blind fury within him. It was literally his job to read people after all, he had to find out their weaknesses and gauge their reactions to his statements, his actions, in order to see if he was heading down the right path, if he was striking the right nerve, or should he abandon his course. However instead it was Adrienne, oh wait Princess Adrienne, that had sent them on the path that lead away from the guidebook. She was naive enough to believe that he was no threat, despite the evidence stacked against that notion. After all he was the shadow kid which stemmed from shady actions and he made it no secret that he had something to do with Eli's kidnapping -without of course fully coming out and claiming that he was the one who did all the work. He had even directly threatened this girl, and he swore to himself that he would make good on these threats because of this insult, but she didn't care. In her perfect little world no "bad guy" was truly a bad guy. Unfortunately for her, the truth would be a lesson for her to learn the hard way.

However he kept his tongue in cheek at the moment. It was clear to him that anything he said that remotely showed his burning hatred for her kind, it would sail right over her head absorbed by her clearly bruised brain - an injury that undoubtedly came from the weight of her precious crown, but she couldn't even see. Louis was done wasting his breath on idiots like these gems, but she wasn't done wasting hers with him. "Ah, je m'y attendais." He calmly responded, looking down at his work instead of looking at his tutor. He knew that if he looked at her the anger he was hiding would overwhelm him and seventeen years of being ignored and rejected could be such an ugly sight to see. "Il n'y a pas des Rois ou reines à New Orleans. Nous avons cette chose horrible appelé la démocratie à la place." He said democracy with contempt because it was the whole system that brought the idiots into the white house, and they were the ones who brought about the Great Depression. As much as he hated royalty, he hated democracy just a little more and he would hate it until Hoover was in the ground and would be unable to do anymore damage to the American people. 

"I didn't say anything about me helping you." Louis pointed out when Adrienne began to question just how the shadow kid could help the princess could "help" the princess with her future role. It was true, Louis had only mentioned he knew people, or at least things that were once people. Of course he was speaking of his friends, the Loa. They were the miracle workers after all. They were the ones that gave Louis the power to fulfill your wildest dreams, the boy was just their connection to this world. Without Louis the shadows were nothing, and without the shadows Louis was nothing. However this girl didn't need to know that, in fact nobody really knew the full extent of his shadow tricks. Sure he had shown both Isla and Cosimia what they could do, while Aristeides had put them to full use, but none of them lived with the shadows, no one knew the price Louis had to pay and how that in fact he was not an orphan as he lead everyone to believe. The truth was that Dr. Facilier was still very much alive, but he would never set foot on the earth again. He was carrying out his sentence for breaking their mutual friend's property. A punishment that would continue until the fabric of time began to unwound and would also be Louis's fate if he wasn't extremely careful. No one knew any of that, and that was the way he liked it. 

"I have friends that can give you anything your heart desires, miracle workers some call them." Louis explained with a nonchalant air about him. "It can be your biggest dream or tiniest whim, it doesn't matter to them. They don't ask for anything in return either. They do it all out of the kindness in their hearts." Louis said the last bit with just a touch of sarcasm. The Loa didn't have hearts, after all they were just shadows, but it was true the Loa themselves didn't ask for anything. Louis just took what he wanted when they were helpessly confused about what had happened. Louis was a con man through and through. It was in his blood, you could ironically say, he was just born to do it after all. He was born to only be the Loa's puppet after all. As for the sudden change in his demeanor, Louis was easily able to shrug it off by saying calmly as he still refused to look up from his paper, "Pensez-vous honnêtement que je ferais quelque chose comme ça? Je étais en colère qui m'a dit que je besoin d'un tuteur, alors bien sûr je prendrais ma colère sur vous. Je te voulais pas de mal, et d'ailleurs vous êtes un homme francophone. Nous devons rester ensemble dans un endroit comme celui-ci." Louis mentally scoffed at the notion of caring about this girl just because she spoke french. There were other villains who spoke French at this school, but you don't see him being buddy buddy with them do you? No, Adrienne was just vengance against naivity and foolish gem opinions. He didn't care about her. The shadow kid just could not care about those that he blamed for his misfortunes. It just simply wasn't possible. 

---

Ah, je m'y attendais. ---- Ah, I expected as much.

Il n'y a pas des Rois ou reines à New Orleans. Nous avons cette chose horrible appelé la démocratie à la place. ----- There isn't any Kings or Queens in New Orleans. We have this horrible thing called democracy instead.

Pensez-vous honnêtement que je ferais quelque chose comme ça? Je étais en colère qui m'a dit que je besoin d'un tuteur, alors bien sûr je prendrais ma colère sur vous. Je te voulais pas de mal, et d'ailleurs vous êtes un homme francophone. Nous devons rester ensemble dans un endroit comme celui-ci. --- Do you honestly think I would do something like that? I was angry that I was told I needed a tutor, so of course I would take my anger out upon you. I meant you no harm, and besides you're a fellow francophone. We have to stick together in a place like this.

[Adrienne]

"I wouldn't know what to ask for," The girl began after a fashion. Her head was muddled by the quick changes between her native tongue and the "proper" language for school. She was interested to know more about this "democracy" thing they have where this boy-who-was-trying-very-hard-to-be-a-villain came from. "and to be frank, I am no longer sure of what you would or would not do".

Adrienne tried to add a smile to that last comment. She wasn't trying to give him in to trouble, he clearly had a chip or two on his shoulder and that can make you act in strange ways. There was something more to the boy that sat in front of her. She was unsure of whether she really wanted to know what it was, but there was definitely something different, something out of the ordinary about him. Perhaps it was these *friends* he alluded to. An air of magic could be what she was sensing. She was beginning to see that it would do her well to be wary of this boy.

And yet, he was required to ask for her help to pass his classes. There could be no immediate danger, and while it gave her no power over him in any magical or royal manner, this was still high school. Everyone was in this together, in a way, and just trying to make it through to a future that suited them. While he needed her help, or at least while the school mandated that he receive her help, she had the upper hand; even if it is in a rather superficial way.

[Louis Facilier]

"Well don't we start with your heart's deepest desire." Louis suggested in response to Adrienne's indecisiveness. He watched her closely, studying her face and hands for any sign of what was going on beneath the skin. Louis knew how this banter game was played, the particularly noble people would often try to avoid outright saying what they wanted from the bokor. Instead they wanted Louis to pry it from them which was sometimes easy, and sometimes difficult. It was a honor thing apparently for them, as if it them not being the ones to suggest it didn't make it dabbling in blood magic. He always had to suppress the urge to laugh whenever those fools fell into his grasp, once they heard once they wanted to hear they were all over Louis, like a kid in a candy store. However every now and then he would get a full blown idiot like Eli. There had been no prying with that fool, all it took was a trading card and five minutes to turn the Prom King into a Fish Prince. That had been so easy that Louis almost believe that it didn't happen. Then on the other end of the spectrum there were the ones like Adrienne who appeared to have no bloody idea as to what they wanted from the seventeen year old. Well at least Louis had come up with a few ideas after suffering through this conversation. She was a smart girl, but Louis could easily see that it wasn't enough for her. She wanted to be smarter. 

He couldn't help, but smirk at Adrienne's last statement. Of course she wouldn't know where his head was at and a that grin of his spoke all the words he decided to leave unsaid; and that is how I prefer it to be. Whenever Louis could keep his emotions in check, or if he was capable of performing an one-eighty on his personality he was essentially unreadable. It was just like the voodoo powers he had, he could use it on others to his heart's content, but you could never turn the tables and use it on him. Louis held all the power and he wasn't going to let go of a single chip.

However he sensed he was going to have to be a little more careful of his moves from this point forward. The naive girl was starting to grow suspicious, he could just tell. He wondered what exactly set her on edge, but then again he wasn't exactly too concerned about it. Let her be suspicious, suspicion turned into fear and Louis absolutely loved it when people feared him, it made him feel important. Being feared didn't mean that he was beneath people's notice, instead it meant that he was at the forefront of their minds, that he was haunting their thoughts. Would he... could he... Haha it was almost like being loved, but only much better. Love? That can fade away, it can change, but fear? Fear my darling is forever. It is a constant suffocating feeling that can be passed down from generation to generation even though the source can be long dead and their bones little more than a fine sand. Louis would like to be remembered for that long, longer even, and that just wouldn't be possible if the villain was loved instead of feared. He would be disgraced, foreshamed, and for what? It's not like people back home would view him in the same light. So in his mind fear was perfect, in Louis's little world fear was good.

Homework was not though. He did not want to sit here trapped in this room with a princess of all beings. Maybe it might be different if it was Isla instead, but she wasn't the fish princess. Instead Adrienne was just some other utterly forgettable gem. He turned his nose up in reaction to the situation. He did not want to have any part of this and instead he would have just loved to work on this on his own or just simply not at all. However he didn't have that luxury here. According to the school rules he had to do his work with her in the room, but when did the rules apply to villains?

So after a few moments of trying to do the work, Louis sighed rather loudly and dropped the pen on top of the paper before loudly professing, "I am so sorry mademoiselle, but I simply can not work when others are in the room." He then leaned back in his chair to make it clear that he wasn't even going to try. If he wasn't able to leave the room, then by god he was going to make it be like hell for whoever was trapped in here with him. Louis Facilier obviously didn't know how to play nice.