Ten minutes passed with Tyler and Laszlo discussing various things. They spoke of Tyler's parents, his grandparents and family in general. Ultimately, all Tyler had to say was that his family was the same as they always were, something that Laszlo accepted as answer, while showing annoyance as well. When asked about his friends, Tyler simply said they were fine, which likewise left Laszlo annoyed, yet still he accepted the answer. When he asked if he had a girlfriend, Tyler said: "I hope to some day."
A knocking at the office door caused the attention of both to shift. Standing in the doorway was Laszlo's secretary. "Mr. Cagliostro is here to see you, Mr. Dimitri."
"Thank you, Dorothy, send him right in."
So, this Cagliostro whom Laszlo wanted him to meet was now here. Tyler wondered what manner of person this Cagliostro was. Upon the man's entrance, he saw for himself.
Cagliostro was a man of thirty-five years and stood at a height of six feet and half an inch. He looked to be a man of West Asian or Southern European ancestry, somewhere from that general area of Afro-Eurasia. He was bald, either by choice or by losing his hair early, and clean-shaven, but even then, from his eyebrows Tyler could tell the man was black-haired. He was a hazel-eyed individual, nothing particularly out of the usual about such an eye colour, and he was well-dressed, wearing a green suit, a white shirt, a red necktie and black shoes. If he had a cape, his attire would have reminded Tyler of that character from those episodes of "Batman" who brought Fu Manchu to mind, but Arabic. His physical appearance on the other hand? If Tyler didn't know better, he'd say judging from Cagliostro's countenance and build, he was the man whom the artists at Marvel had physically based the supervillain Apocalypse after. Sure, his skin was not grey, his eyes were not red and his lips were not blue, but otherwise his resemblance to that fictional character was astounding.
Next to Cagliostro was a man who was definitely of the same ancestry and seemed to be a year older than Cagliostro. He was shorter than Cagliostro, standing at a height of five feet and eleven inches, and he was not as muscular, looking to be nearly as lean as Tyler was. In contrast to Cagliostro, he had a full head of brown hair with eyes of the same colour. He was not as well-dressed as Cagliostro, but well-dressed nonetheless, wearing a black suit and shoes, a white shirt, but no tie.
Standing up, Laszlo said: "Tyler, allow me to introduce to you Alessandro Cagliostro and his assistant… Uh… So, sorry, I can never remember your name, what is it again?"
"Adamu." Answered the other man, his tone somewhat annoyed.
"Cagliostro, this is Tyler O'Donnell, the son my friend Agamemnon O'Donnell."
Cagliostro stared at Tyler, while the latter stood up and extended a hand, while wondering wherefore the appellation of Alessandro Cagliostro sounded so familiar. When Cagliostro shook his hand, saying: "A pleasure to meet you, Tyler. You may call me 'Cagliostro' only. 'Alessandro' is for family members, romantic partners and people who knew me since childhood. I have no family members left, I have sworn off female companionship ever since a woman betrayed me and none of my childhood friends still live, therefore everyone calls me 'Cagliostro.'" His voice was rich and dramatic and his accent sounded like any other Canadian's, except for Tyler's, whose accent had somehow come out sounding ambiguous enough to be mistaken for British, New Yorker and German, despite him having lived in Canada his whole life.
"I am sorry to hear that, Cagliostro." Tyler could not imagine what it would be like to live life as the last of one's family, having no surviving childhood friends and having sworn off any sort of romantic companionship. It sounded close to lonely. Of course, there would be friends to make and Cagliostro had his assistant Adamu, yet it still sounded as Tyler thought it did.
"It is nothing to apologize for, Tyler." Stated Cagliostro, letting go of the younger man's hand and walking past him, Adamu staying in the doorway. Taking a moment to look around, Cagliostro then uttered: "Laszlo, your collection of small things is astounding. With your money, I would think you would go for something bigger."
"Less is more, Cagliostro." Laszlo was not even looking at Cagliostro as he spoke. He was currently looking over something on a sheet of paper, a schedule Tyler believed. "You collect what you want and I'll collect what I want."
"You collect as well, Cagliostro?" inquired Tyler, curious as to what this individual collected.
"I do indeed, Tyler." Replied Cagliostro. Staring at a model of the Gillman, he shook his head before looking at Tyler and saying: "I collect artifacts, usually something big, but I only have some much space. Neo-Assyrian, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, things from the Crusades and the French Revolution, I have my favourite time periods."
Again, Tyler found himself wondering where the appellation of Alessandro Cagliostro sounded so familiar. Wherefore should the mention of the French Revolution make him wonder once more?
"Any, uh, crown jewel of your collection?" Tyler asked.
"Crown jewels, Tyler. I own several statues of Ashurbanipal." Cagliostro smiled as he answered with a proud look in his eye. "Now there was the worthiest leader that any nation ever had! Builder of the Library of Ashurbanipal! A great zealot and patron of the arts! The greatest King of Assyria!"
"A carless and decadent king." Commented Tyler, folding his arms as Cagliostro quickly turned his gaze upon him with hatred in his hazel orbs, as if he himself had been insulted.
"What did you just say?" Cagliostro's tone even sounded as if he had ben the one insulted instead of some long dead monarch.
"A careless and decadent king… under whose reign the Neo-Assyrian Empire had already began evincing blatant clues of approaching dislocation and decay."
"Thou impudent savage!" Cagliostro exclaimed, raising his voice and flexing his fingers as if he was about to try and strangle Tyler. Tyler took note of this and wondered wherefore Cagliostro acted as if he was the one being criticized rather than the long dead Ashurbanipal. "When your ancestors were abominable barbarians in an uncharted atoll, the Neo-Assyrian Empire was the largest empire in the world!"
Tyler rose his right eyebrow. Cagliostro sounded almost like a man engaging in some ethnic posturing. His name was Italian in origin, but the Neo-Assyrian Empire had been a Mesopotamian empire. As Mesopotamia was a historical region that occupied Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Syria and Turkey, it stood to reason that Cagliostro had ancestry coming from one of those regions, Iran, Turkey or Iraq most likely. Still, something had to be said to Cagliostro's insult to his ancestors, thus did Tyler return with: "Newgrange was founded in 3200 BC while the Neo-Assyrian Empire was not founded until 911 BC. Even the Early Assyrian Period is not so old, only having begun in 2600 BC. You may call the ancestors of the Irish 'abominable barbarians', but these 'abominable barbarians' were building grand monuments before the Assyrians had even emerged as a civilization."
Cagliostro rushed forward with hands outstretched, aimed for Tyler's neck when Laszlo stepped in between them, stuttering: "N-Now, lets be nice young men, no fighting or anything like that. Cagliostro, why don't you tell Tyler about all of the exotic, far off-places you have seen."
Cagliostro did not give a verbal response. He simply glared at Tyler with such intensity, that the latter could have sworn that Cagliostro's had changed from hazel to damask. Finally turning his attention to Laszlo, Cagliostro commented: "Dogs like these should not be taken off their leashes." Then looking to his assistant, he barked: "Adamu! Come!" And with that he made his exit, Adamu following after him.
Following after, Laszlo called out: "Wait! What about lunch! I thought we were meeting for lunch!"
Running a hand through his hair, Tyler did some pacing in Laszlo's office. Well, that was certainly not how he expected things to go. Where did Laszlo even meet someone like that? A cult meeting? Tyler had seen some nasty pieces of work in his twenty-three twelvemonths of existence, but Cagliostro must have been the nastiest one period.
And that assistant of his, Adamu. A quiet man, but a man whose appellation one did not come across very often.
Appellations… Wherefore should the appellation of "Alessandro Cagliostro" cause so much wonder for him? Why did it sound like it rang a proverbial bell? What reason did it have to? A name was just a name, wasn't it? It didn't mean anything.
Or could it?
No, it couldn't have! This was real life, not a work of fiction, names did not prove to be significant that often.
Still, why did he feel like he had heard the name Alessandro Cagliostro before? Why did it sound familiar?
As Laszlo entered the office with an exasperated countenance, Tyler asked: "So, how did you even meet a guy like that?" Laszlo did not even answer, he merely sat down in his chair and stared at the ceiling. Tyler then inquired: "Are you and him members of some sort of cult?" Still, Laszlo stared at the ceiling, the same exasperated expression upon his front. Finally, Tyler asked: "It isn't apocalyptic, is it?"
Sighing, Laszlo answered: "No, Tyler, neither he or I are members of a cult. Do I look like someone who would be in a cult?"
"No."
"Does he look like someone who would be in a cult?"
Tyler answered honestly: "Yes."
Laszlo shot the young man an incredulous look before saying: "He does…" The incredulous expression soon turned to one of dawning realization. "A-Alright, maybe he does, but he's a good guy, he isn't the Jim Jones of the Nineties or anything like that… At least I hope not."
"Somehow I'm not convinced." Commented Tyler, his expression more deadpan than any film star of the Silent Age.
"I play golf with him, Tyler! He isn't so bad! He doesn't cheat at the game or anything!"
"So, you two met at a golf course?" Tyler inquired.
"No, no, we met at a charity gala at the museum a few months back!" Laszlo answered. "He did voice a general disinterest in most of what the museum had to offer though, he only showed interest in the Roman gallery and the European galleries."
It was a boring person who did not love all that the Royal Ontario Museum had to offer. Tyler had always loved all the galleries and still felt like a trip to the museum was an adventure, a small thing maybe, but it was still something he enjoyed, much like going to the Metropolitan Toronto Zoo. Not all adventures had to involve something such as mountain climbing or hiking, though Tyler did enjoy the latter, and that was something Tyler was quite alright with. Like anyone, Tyler had his favourite galleries at the museum, but that did not mean he would skip others. He would not go to see only the fossilized bones of prehistoric beasts, the Egyptian gallery or the Bat Cave, he would go to see the entire museum! What sort of person would even go to a museum without the intentions to see the entire thing? Only seeing a few galleries made for a short trip and just going to see an exhibition exhibit made for an even shorter trip. Tyler had known such people who in both cases only went to the museum to see their favourites or only to see exhibition exhibits. He was only left to wonder why bother if you do not bother to see the entire museum?
"A strange man, did he make any donations?" Tyler asked.
"Not that I noticed." Replied Laszlo, scratching the back of his neck as he thought. "Though, I did see him scanning the crowds a lot, almost as if he was searching for someone."
"Did he seem to find who he was looking for?"
"Again, not that I noticed, Tyler. People are as they are. Everyone has their odd mannerisms, their quirks."
Perhaps, but Tyler could not help but shake the feeling that there was something not quite right about Alessandro Cagliostro, something terribly sinister, strange, somehow evil. Strange? Somehow evil? Sighing, Tyler shook his head. He was starting to think like a character from some damn comic book or something. Cagliostro was probably just some jerk, the world was full of them. Why should one more have stood out so much?
"I suppose." Admitted Tyler.
"Now come on, lets go for lunch!" Laszlo stood up and added: "If Cagliostro won't be joining us, then there is no reason that we cannot go out and have something to eat at all!" That was fine logic that Laszlo had. Perhaps after lunch Tyler would forget completely about this silly feeling of his. What was he expecting Cagliostro to be? A horror villain?