Boscha stood in shock that the two gamblers had followed her back to her home and had made themselves comfortable in her kitchen. Instinctively, she dropped the items in her hands and began to form a circle in the air with her finger. "Relax kid. We aren't here for a fight." Dieter said, causing her to pause momentarily.
She figured if they weren't outright hostile, they were only here for one thing. "I don't have the money, okay? It's gone. My friends took it and they're probably a thousand miles away by now." Even she didn't believe that swift attempt at a lie but she could only hope that they might partially swallow that one.
Dieter chuckled a bit, getting up from the table. "Not here for that either. If we were you'd have gotten a lot worse already, Boscha Hasdrubal: Enlisted in Hexside's potion track and their top grudgby player."
"What do you want?" She asked.
"Well I'll get right down to it." Dieter removed a ring on his finger that had a blue stone embedded in as his compatriot at the table did the same. For Dieter, the blonde man's clothing merely changed from a black suit to the recognizable gray and blacks of a member of the coven scouts, complete with the signature white cape. His silent partner's outfit similarly changed to that of a scouts, but his physical appearance changed significantly as his build altered to resemble a teenagers about Boscha's own age. He had jet black hair on his head that was swept back and braided into a long ponytail that went down to his mid-back. He also sported a pair of black tinted round shades that concealed his eyes.
"As you can see we represent the Emperor's Coven." He said confidently with a smile. "You already know me and that's Ridwan. He doesn't talk much but he's reliable when you need him." He casually pointed over to the blue skinned teen still seated who looked to Boscha with a large scowl as he angrily growled in her direction, two pairs of rather sharp fangs in his mouth. She noticed a pair of dice in his right hand that he was continually twirling through his fingers. His partner took notice of the bizarre look she was giving him. "Oh, he's just a bit upset. He hates losing and he hates cheaters even worse."
Ridwan finally ceased fidgeting with the dice and clenched his hand into a fist. Boscha was unnerved as she heard the sound of the dice crushed in his palm before he loosened his grip and white powder trickled through the gaps in his fingers onto the table. His action drew the attention of Maya who skittered to the tabletop and clicked and snapped at him angrily for the mess. He went to brush her away but once his hand made contact with the crab, he immediately pulled his hand back in pain as smoke emanated from it. The blue skinned teen hissed at her in retaliation as she scurried and jumped into Boscha's arms.
"Ah, a palisman. Rid's a Jiangshi and they don't do too good around palistrom wood. It's like boiling rain to them." Dieter said as he looked back at his companion's angered look and merely shrugged. "In any case, we're actually here to talk business... with you. We were at the casino last night undercover because we had reports that wild witches frequented the place and gaming the system. Turns out our info was false, though there was definitely some foul play going on. Case in point..." He pointed to Boscha. "But after the whole thing I started thinking about the possibilities. I thought, 'this kid's got talent'. You and your mystery friend are resourceful. We love seeing that, especially in a student and we'd like to make you an offer."
Boscha put a hand up to pause the scouts words as she had recomposed herself. "Firstly, there is no 'friend'. I don't do friends anymore. I just have people who can get me what I want. Secondly, I'm a solo act so any offer you have is going to be for me and me only." Her words had enough force and confidence behind them that she hoped Dieter would not press any further involving Celine. Boscha still wasn't sure what the offer involved, but getting involved with the Emperor's Coven couldn't be anything worth getting more people dragged in.
"Fair enough. If that's the way you want it. One will do just fine." Dieter shrugged his shoulders gently.
"And third, I've got zero interest in joining the Emperor's Coven. I've got my own plans, so thanks but no thanks." Boscha said dismissively. Her reaction and behavior did not sit well with Ridwan as even behind his shades she could feel his glare.
"Hold on just a sec." Dieter said calmly. "I'm not asking you to join, we just require a little help from you. We are aware that a human attends your school."
"What about her?" Bosha responded with a bit of disgust in her voice. Just thinking about the human that was responsible for her troubles got her worked up.
"We know she apprentices to the Owl Lady. Despite Emperor Belos giving her a reprieve, I still don't trust her or anyone associated with her. She's even been expelled and allowed back into Hexside. There was a time we could trust Principal Bump with any news but he's become... uncooperative as of late. And planting one of ours into the faculty or students wouldn't go unnoticed so I thought it best if we already had the cooperation of someone inside."
Boscha continued to listen with wrapped attention though the calm look on her face didn't match her feelings inside. "All we ask is that you keep us abreast of the human's activities there and anything else going on in the school that may seem out of the ordinary. Of course we'd be willing to make it worth your while. A word from the Emperor's Coven could go a long way to getting you on any team of your choice right after graduation."
He smiled as that seemed to capture Boscha's interest. The scout was well aware of her love of the sport of grudgby and figured that was the way to get the student to play ball, so to speak. The girl seemed to think on it for a moment, gently stroking the palisman in her arms. "No thanks." Her response visibly shocked him more than he should have let on as she smirked at the expression on his face. "I don't want charity from anybody. If I'm going to make it in professional grudgby, I'll make it on my own." Dieter had to admit that he was impressed with her resolve in that matter. Most kids would have jumped at the opportunity of a free ride to the big league.
"But, there is something that you can do for me." She continued, giving the scout a flash of hope that this deal could still be made. "I'm making some... potions and I require a few hard to get ingredients." Maya began to chirp with concern, her owner ignoring the sounds and continuing. "If you can guarantee those, whether I get you any useful information or not, than I think I can help you out."
Dieter let out a brief laugh. "You're quite the business woman. Alright. We have a deal then. You give us a list and we'll get to gathering them up. In the meantime, you just go about your daily school routine and keep notes on anything involving the human or any other out of the ordinary things you might see." She nodded in confirmation.
It didn't take long for Boscha to head down into her lab, grab the listed ingredients and hand them off to the pair of scouts. Dieter looked it over and gave a whistle of amazement. "This is some high-end stuff for a kid your age. I might actually ask what it's for, but a deals a deal. Oh and you'll need this. It'll be easier to communicate with you from a private line." He pulled out what looked to be a standard scroll, no different than the one Boscha and everyone else had. She could see that the one in Dieter's hand was solid black as he brought over to her. "Give me your right hand."
Boscha gave him an odd look before she did as he requested and extended her hand to him. With a quick motion, Dieter took out a needle and pricked her thumb. "Ahh! What the heck was that?"
He remained silent before taking her now bleeding thumb and pressing it on a circular pad on the black scroll as it gave a high pitched beep. "There we go. Blood print lock. Now nobody can use the scroll except for you."
Boscha glared at him as she clutched her thumb. "You could have just said that in the first place." She looked over to see the silent Ridwan wearing a wide smile.
"Yeah, but it's always more fun this way." Dieter admitted. "Well Ms. Hasdrubal, I think we've taken up enough of your time so we'll be on our way. We'll get about getting those ingredients for you and like I said, just go about your day in the normal way and report if you see something valuable to us. Good day." The two exited the home, reactivating their stones to conceal their identities as scouts as they reached the door.
Boscha went to the bathroom and got a bandage to wrap her thumb and went back to the kitchen to clean up as if nothing had happened. She bent down to pick up a package of vegetables only to find Maya crawling on her hand and letting out more clicks as her eyes showed a large amount of concern. Her owner rolled her eyes and let out a loud groan. "Will you relax? This all works out. I was running low on ingredients anyway and all I have to do is rat on the human when she does anything weird, which shouldn't take long. It's a win/win, Maya."
Maya clicked several more times as Boscha began to get annoyed with her partner as she gathered up the items. "If you want to say something just spit it out!" Boscha shouted as she slammed the items on the counter top. Her palisman let out more clicks and chirps. "Maya, enough!" Her furious outburst caused the crab to shrink back in fear.
Boscha's expression began to soften as she looked down to the crab with a bit of regret. "Maya, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lose my temper, especially not with you." She got down on one knee and offered her hand to her palisman who cautiously looked up to see a genuine smile on the triclop's face. "But it feels like everything in my life is falling apart and this is the only way to fix things. I know how you feel about all of this, but I'm just asking you to trust me. Please, partner." Her sincere tone eventually won over an initially hesitant Maya as she crawled into her hand and Boscha scooped her up in a warm embrace. "Thanks, girl."
The three eyed girl released a loud yawn before realizing she had been up for about twenty-four hours with no sleep. "I'm beat. Food later, sleep now." She said as she put away the food she had planned on cooking and headed to her room with Maya on her shoulder. "Thank Titan it's a weekend."