A very romantic restaurant

I smiled internally when I realized Cynder and I had been in sync. What a dumb as*, trying to separate us.

Valentino shrugged, rolling his eyes.

Brent the demigod waiter came back, balancing the chicken platter and steak on one arm and carrying the turkey leg with the other hand. He set the turkey on the table first, as his boss was the most important guest at the table, then the steak, then the chicken. He turned and left quickly, suspicious that the strange demigods might pull some sort of nasty trick.

I picked up a fork, and prodded my steak. I didn't like it when it was cooked too much and tough and stringy, or when it was too raw and just tasted like blood. This seemed to be alright, if a little over-done. Meh.

I looked at my chicken, and thought about making some stupid complaint, before my stomach growled a little. I grabbed my knife and fork and started to cut and eat, respectively.

Valentino picked up his turkey leg and laughed. "Brent should have remember that I'm a vegetarian. Someone send Brent out here." He said, raising his voice.

Brent walked back with an even more sullen expression and a salad, replaced the turkey plate with the salad bowl, and left again.

I took my knife and sliced and edge off my steak, holding the meat steady with my fork. I put the newly severed piece in my mouth and chewed, trying to decide if it was any good or not. I supposed it was passable. Better than anything I could make, anyways.

"Clara?!" Valentino yelled, calling for the manager. She walked over, and he smiled pleasantly at her.

Clara sighed and mentally prepared herself for talkig with the boss. He'd always been nice to her, admiring her intelligence ans planning ability. There wasn't much room for success at camp for someone who was just an Athena kid, and not Annabeth. So she defected. She'd found a palce here, and taken well to killing off useless teammates. "Yes, sir?"She asked, smiling. She was rather sure these were initiates, but she didn't want to be too forward about what she would be doing.

Valentino sighed. "Brent just isn't meeting par anymore. I think he need to be demoted."He said, and smiled again.

I figured demoted meant killed and I raised an eyebrow. "He forgot that you're a vegetarian, so you're going to kill him?"I asked, confused. Did that really warrant death? My morals didn't seem to cover this area.

"No, he's going to be demoted! "Valentino said, smiling.

Clara nodded awkwardly, and walked away. She grabbed the shotgun that was hidden by the back door, and called for Brent to come with her.

"Demoted from waiter?" I asked, and ate another morsel of the sub-par steak. Like Lee, I assumed that that actually meant that he was going to be killed. But killed, just for forgetting something like that? That seemed a bit harsh. Although... the satyr might be trying to intimidate us by killing off an employee who slipped up slightly.

Brent, feeling a tad confused, followed Clara to wherever she was going. Not thirty seconds later, there was a shot, and the son of Triton lay dead on the foor.

"Oh look, a convenient shooting nearby. Couldn't possibly have been yoyr minion dying."I quiped, and ate some more chicken. This was in my moral gray area, so I tried not to think about it too much, and just accept it.

Valentino shrugged. "Shootings happen everywhere in New York."He explained away the killing, "Could have been anyone."

Clara walked back into the restaurant, wiping off her shoes outside. She walked out of the kitchen and went over to the Godfather and said, "Well, sir, Brent didn't take the news too well, and stormed out. On his way, he slipped and spilled the cherry filling for our pies everywhere. Im just glad I didn't get any more on me."She said, which was the typical explanation. "He's fine now, but a bit more angry. He stormed off into an alleyway to clear off the filling and was kugged. They shot him when he didn't have any money on him."She continued, and wrestled up some fake tears. "I'm so sorry, sir."She said, and walked away.

"Well, that was a rather. .sweet story."I said, and laughed. "So, so fake."I muttered.

Well, obviously these two weren't phased by the killing. "I really don't like most of the staff here. I think I'm going to have them all killed." Valentino muttered.

Clara was walking by and heard that, and wasn't particularly pleased. She went into the back to fetch a refill for the boy, and snagged an extra set of arms.

"You know, independant of the loyalty your followers have, saying that around them probably isn't the best idea."I said, rolling my eyes.

Valentino laughed. "None of them would kill me!"He said confidently.

Clara walked out and gave the boy his refill, and promptly shot Valentino's head off. "We have a Hermes kid who's practically a Hufflepuff. He's a particularly good half-blood finder, better than that old goat. He was unnecessary, and that coment took him right over the edge. Hello, I'm the new Godfather of this Mob, Clara Carrion. Daughter of Athena." Clara said, smiling.

I jumped a little at the unexpected gunshot, and then watched the girl suspiciously. "Lee, Son of Odyne."I replied. I trusted a demigod a Hell of a lot more than a stupid, fat, old satyr.

"Would you like another?"Clara asjed. She pushed the goat's blood onto the floor and wiped the blood off of the seat with a napkin. Most of it was on the ceiling and walls. She could delegate a minion to cleaning it off later. The blood wasn't dripping, so it wasn't a problem at the moment. "So, Valentino was talking recruitment?"Clara asked.

I started eating my un-bloodified chicken again. Poor Cynder. ."Yes."I replied to Clara's question. I went to take a drink of my soda before noticing that there was blood in it. I knocked the cup off of the table, and the soda spilled all over the floor.

I realized that she'd gotten me a refill, so I drank from that instead. "Yoy want some chicken, Cynder?"I asked, offering her a piece on my fork. I couldn't stand the fact that Cynder's food had been ruined, so I had to help somehow.

Claralaughed when he knocked the soda onto the floor. "I couldn't help but notice you setting the drapes on fire earlier. That was pretty good."She said, and saw a ring on the guy's finger. Married? Really? Damn. I mean, she knew she'd be a few years older, but hadn't been expecting hin to be married.

I decided not to comment on the compliment because I didn't give a f*ck. I also didn't want Cynder to kil the personl who might end up hiring us. I ate a piece of my chicken and then offered Cybder another.

Clara twiddled her thumbs for a second. "So, are you going to join or not?"She asked, after an awkward pause.

"We might not be talking for all of it, but please, wait until we're done lissing before you talk to us."I said, smiling and eating more chicken. It was fun to talk casually about being physical with Cynder. Which was also a weird way to think that. .

Clara sighed and left the table, walking into the back where a tear rolled down her face.

I smiled widely before leaning in the last little bit and kissing Cynder. It wasn't like in the hotel, but it sure was nice to have some semi-alone time again. Stupid goat.

OOC;Sorry about le poof. My mom was up so I had to be quiet, and she stayed up for like a half an hour, and I fell asleep. Blah.

OOC: Turtle-mom, Turtle-mom, wakes up whenever a Turtle-mom wants.

BIC: I kissed him back, and my thoughts wandered to... ah, the hotel. This wasn't the best place to think about things like that, though. We weren't exactly alone.


A waiter who, obviously, wasn't Brent went over to the table and took the dishes away.