"Are you f*****g with me?"
Grant was taken aback by the question.
"I-I'm sorry?"
"Are you f*****g with me? It's a simple question."
Brian said like it was obvious.
"There's no way something like that could happen in real life."
"Yeah."
One of his friends piped out from behind.
"Timing that perfect could only happen if it was staged, like with the Just tin knight!"
*Groooooooan
Everyone went as they heard that name.
"Eustace."
Brian said as he slowly dragged his palm over his face.
"You know we love you."
He connected the tips of his fingers together and turned to face him.
"You are a very important person to all of us, and we are glad that you have something special you can relate to your girlfriend with."
"And that's fine. It always was."
He paused to try and dissuade any fears that may have occurred.
"But all of us..."
He said gesturing to the rest of the group.
"Don't have that kind of connection to that particular person and their work. And it gets really annoying to have to listen to you talk about it all the time."
"I don't talk about it that much."
He gave a feeble protest.
"You literally just brought it up in the middle of a very serious situation and destroyed all of our credibility."
"But weren't you the one that paused the entire conversation to bring this up?"
"Yes, but even I know when to do my job."
'But you were the one who paused it!'
He protested in his mind as brian continued.
"We are on a mission right now, and have just been broached about it by a random stranger."
He raised an arm to tick off the following points.
"It could have been an assassin. It STILL could be an assassin. It could have been a contact or a mole.-"
"Or he could have been f******g real."
Grant's voice cut in like a knife as his tone left no room for negotiation. He raised one arm forward, straight as an arrow.
In his hand was the Amberston family crest.
"Is this some kind of joke to you? Coming into our territory uninvited. Talking about some secret mission. And completely disregarding the very important messenger, WHO HAS A MISSION FROM THE PATRIARCH, that has come to ask you for aid."
"Instead of asking for identification, or figuring out our 'true'..."
He paused to make air-quotes.
"... intentions. You instantly decide to ignore everything in front of you and deal with your subordinate's love triangle instead."
"Well let me make this clear."
Grant moved closer to Brian and grabbed him by the collar of his robe. He went directly into his face and spoke in a soft but threatening whisper.
"We are not at war, but I will not hesitate to go to war with you if it means preserving the Amberston family name."
"I will make it my personal mission to make yours completely and utterly untenable. You will not be able to find your target. You will not be able to find any leads on your target."
Brian tried to leave but, to his horror, was unable to escape from Grant's grasp as not a single mote of mana could be moved.
'What is this?'
The thought barely even had time to exist before Grant continued.
"You will not be able to tell what I am doing. You will not even be able to take a s**t unless I say so."
"And trust me, I do indeed have a list of every working outhouse in the city. But I am willing to be generous and give you a second chance. This is not an attack, this is a negotiation. And I expect you to act like it when on our front doorstep."
Grant roughly shoved the trembling Brian and returned to Wanda's side.
"Understood?"
"C-crystal."
Brian stammered out.
"What?"
Grant asked, almost offended by the response.
"Crystal, sir."
He said, taking a wild guess.
Grant nodded in satisfaction.
"Excellent, remember this.."
He paused to light a cigar with one of his enchanted couplings and took a long drag.
As Grant let out the smoke, it formed the shape of a dragon before fading away.
"You aren't dealing with your daddy anymore. You're dealing with an opposing political party of a sovereign nation that is as bloody as the enemies we face. No one is gonna give you face if you don't demand it by force.
"But to do that, you need to know how to play the game. 'I' certainly do."
He waved the remaining smoke away with his cigar hand.
"Since your new, I'll give you the benefit of those that fall under said description. But one false move..."
He took another drag.
"And I'll break your legs."
The smoke spewing out of his mouth as he said it.
*Cough cough cough
Grant went as he waved the smoke away. After a few seconds, he continued.
"No, not really. I'm on my best behavior, you see."
He shook his head as he said so.
"Lucky you, you got the good one."
Grant said while gesturing towards him with both arms. He wore a bright smile and cheery tone.
"I'll give you boys a few minutes to readjust yourselves and then we can start our meeting... if that's fine with you?"
He said with a particularly toothy grin.
The group quickly agreed and scrambled into a huddle to figure out what to do.
Seeing this, Grant hastily coughed up phlegm and quickly downed a bottle of something from his pouch.
"*Ugh I hate smoking."
He said as he drove the very expensive cigar into the cobble with his heel.
"You see Wanda."
He said to his nervous helper.
"THAT is how an Amberston works."