please notice me! [kole]

Reid stood over the bloody, lifeless body of Bill Bilbus, watching as the man slowly bled to death from his many stab wounds. Poor ol' Bill had been a regular "customer" at Shadow World who got himself noticed for asking a few too many questions. Sure enough, turned out the guy was a mole investigating the disappearances that had happened here. Well, now Bill knew exactly what had happened to those missing clio, didn't he?

Now what? Rory, in the form of a gray cat, asked him once Bill finally stopped breathing. Now we have to do something about the body.

Oh yeah, Reid said, staring at the corpse. He looks kinda heavy.

You never think these things through, Rory sighed.

That was probably true, Reid had to admit. It was just, he got so worked up when he found out this guy was betraying the overloridian's trust, he just had to do something about it, you know? He couldn't just let the guy walk out of here alive, could he?

Before he could decide what to do, the door to Shadow World opened and two large men stepped out. They looked down at Bill, then up at Reid, who was holding a bloody, serrated knife. Then back at Bill. Then each other. Back to Reid.

"You should come with us," one of them said to him. Before he could even react, they each grabbed him by the arms and forcefully lead him inside (after taking away his knife, of course.)

Kole's spirits hadn't dwindled much after his encounter with Hadley at the hospital. Until he heard about the ugly little creature named Bill Bilbus. Bill had been a regular at Shadow World, but he started to get a little bit too nosy. Boredly, he sent away two of his men to find and kill the little weasel.

"I hate when clio are nosy," he said to his daemon, sighing. "Bad things happen to nosy clio."

Briar was about to reply when the henchmen came back, with a boy?

Kole stood up from behind his desk, a look of obvious agitation on his face.

"What is this?!" He spat, gesturing to the kid in his office.

A normal person probably would have been scared shitless to be dragged into the overloridian's office, especially given the agitated look on said overloridian's face. Reid, on the other hand, was in total awe at being in the presence of his idol. Although he came to Shadow World fairly often, he wasn't important enough to ever actually get noticed by the man running the entire thing. And now here he was, standing right in from of him!

"He, uh," one of the big guys spoke up, "He killed Bilbus before we even got there."

"Well yeah," Reid admitted instantly. Was he not supposed to do that or something? "But he deserved it, though."

He looked right at the overloridian, waiting for his reaction. Would he be happy with Reid, for killing the spy? Making him happy would be like a dream come true.

The look on Kole's face didn't change much, but he was also intrigued. Why did this kid kill Bilbus? How did he kill him? He was interested now.

"Leave us," he said with a wave of his hand, speaking to his henchmen. "I want to speak to this clio."

When the two men left, Kole pointed to a chair on the other side of his desk. "Sit," he commanded. The boy sat, and he studied him for a moment before going on, "Who are you?"

Reid was more than happy to sit and talk with the overloridian, even if he still had that agitated look on his face. "Reid Lessing, sir," he replied in his most respectful tone of voice, which only mostly hid his excitement. "I found out that that Bill guy was spying on your fine establishment, so I thought, you know, I should probably kill him."

It seemed like the logical progression of events, after all.

The last name Lessing sounded familiar to Kole, but not enough for him to care. He was more interested in the boy sitting in front of him. The kid obviously was a little insane to say the least, but Kole sort of liked that. Maybe this Reid kid could be useful to him.

"So tell me Reid," Kole finally spoke. "Why are you so concerned with the well being of my night club?"

"Oh, well I guess because, um, I kinda owe it to you," Reid said thoughtfully, thinking back to the night that his life had been changed forever. The night he saw both his parents and his parent's murderers killed in front of him. That one night had really shaped who he was today. Not to mention he wouldn't even be here today if it weren't for the man in front of him. "You prob'ly don't remember, but you saved my life actually."

It didn't bother him that the overloridian almost definitely wouldn't remember anything about that. He was probably a very busy man. All that mattered was that Kole Roden was the reason he was still alive.

Kole did not remember. He's killed plenty of clio in the past, so of course Reid's attackers were no different. This kid could be of some use of Kole, though. "What kind of fighter are you, Reid?" He asked. He probably wouldn't use him like Yuri, but maybe he could work with Yuri. The more members of his Elite, the stronger his army could become.

What kind of fighter was he? That was kind of a hard question. He didn't really have a fighting style; in fact he didn't even know if he'd call himself a fighter. He was more of a sneak-up-on-someone-and-stab-them-in-the-back sort of guy. Only if the person deserved it though. He wasn't some sort of psycho who just ran around stabbing people.

"Well, I usually use a knife, I guess," he replied, reaching for it, only to realize that the henchmen never gave it back to him. "But when I settle as Deilig I'll prob'ly switch to using shadows."

He had wanted to be in Deilig his whole life, even before that one night. He couldn't wait to finally settle.

"Oh so you're unsettled?" Kole asked, growing even more interested. Maybe he really could become some use to Kole afterall. Kole had been scheming a lot lately, and he had plans for the weak little overloridian of Solas. "Would you be interested in working for me?" He asked suddenly.

Reid perked up immediately. "Work for you?" he repeated, hardly able to believe the words he had just heard. Him, work for the overloridian? The thing he had dreamed of doing for years? "I would love to! I'd do anything for you, sir!"

This was incredible. Just a few short moments ago he had just been a random clio stabbing a guy to death. Nothing special. And now he was going to be working with one of the most powerful and respectable clio in all of Amelia, someone he had admired and looked up to for years.

Perfect.

"You would do anything?" Kole asked. "Even if it meant giving up some of your plans for the future?" As he waited for Reid's response, he wondered what he would do with the boy if he decided he didn't want to work for Kole. He could kill him, but then again he helped Kole. Maybe he would spare him.

"Huh? Give up my plans?" Reid asked in confusion. What sort of plan could he possible have to give up by working for the overloridian? Especially considering his main plan was...to work for the overloridian. He didn't have much of a plan besides that. Maybe Kole was just asking hypothetically to test Reid, to make sure he was truly loyal to the cause. Which he most definitely was, of course. "Um, but I mean, yeah, like I said, anything. Anything you want. I'd even die, if I had to."

"So you'd settle as Solas?" Kole asked immediately. He wasn't going to play around anymore, he was ready to get on the point. He originally had plans to send somebody from Deilig to Solas, but now that he's found an unsettled clio, this would work even better.

"I--what?" Reid asked, even more confused this time. "Why would I do that?"

He couldn't fathom any possible reason why the overloridian of Deilig would want him to settle as Solas. It was well known among the clio here that Kole recognized how superior their eilemaiden was compared to the others. It was one of the reasons Reid wanted to be Deilig so badly, along with the fact that he had lived here his whole life, and his whole family had been Deilig.

"Well I have a plan," Kole began to explain. "And while I admire your choice in Deilig, in order for my plan to work, I need to you settle as Solas." He then began to explain what his plan was. It was a damn shame that this young man would have to lower his standards, but it was all for the greater good. It was almost as if Kole felt bad that Reid would have to be Solas, almost.

Reid listened to Kole's plan, completely enraptured by the brilliance of it. His amazement at the fact that the overloridian would trust him with such a huge responsibility made up for the fact that he would have to settle as Solas, Deilig's opposite, in order for it to work. It would be worth it in order to pull this plan off.

"I'll do it," he said without hesitation, once Kole had finished his explanation. "You know, you're a brilliant man, sir." He wasn't just ass-kissing either, he meant it.

Reid wrote: "You know, you're a brilliant man, sir."

Kole smiled, a genuine Kole smile. "Well thank you, Reid," he replied. "I tend to agree with that." Not only was Kole evil but he was also conceited. "But I'm very please you can work with me," he said. "I think you'll make a great addition to my Elite."

His Elite.

Reid grinned. This was all just one big dream come true. Who cares if he had to settle as Solas, he was going to be part of Kole's Elite. He was going to carry out his plans and make him proud. "Wow," he breathed, almost unable to believe this was happening. "You, you have no idea what this means to me. I won't disappoint you!"

Reid wrote:"You, you have no idea what this means to me. I won't disappoint you!"

"Good," replied Kole. "I really hope that you don't, and for your sake you better hope so as well." He stood then, and held out his hand to shake. "It's good to have you on my team, Reid."

Reid stood up and shook Kole's hand enthusiastically, completely unfazed by his vague threat. "Thanks!" he replied eagerly. He absolutely could not wait until he settled and could carry out Kole's plan. Hopefully it would be soon!