"I can of course add that in. No problem, in fact."

"SPLENDID!" He could be heard jumping up and dancing in the back ground.

"I suppose I can do that. I'm not sure when I will be able to start on it again. I have another commission that I am currently working on. I may be able to pick it up in the next few days. I could send you a picture of it when I finish, if that works?"

The dancing halted suddenly in the background.

There was a solid moment of silence, as if in memoriam for the good news he'd heard before.

"Hmmmm... Perhaps I can convince you to work a little overtime on this, then? I really was looking forward to seeing how it looked with the alteration... $1000 for a text by... say, tomorrow morning?"

There was the distinct sound of a loud crash, cursing, and scratching as Shelby dropped the phone and scrambled to get it again.

"p-pardon!?" She only paused momentarily, before starting to drag out her supplies. "I mean, yes! Of course that works for me. I'll send you a picture of it by 9am tomorrow morning."

She was having trouble settling everything up one handed. "Are there any other things you would want me to add in while i'm already at the easel?"

Where were her paints? Where were her paints!?

"SPECTACULAR, HEIDI!" He counted out the money, and gave it to a minion, who would load it onto a temporary card, and have it sent to her paybuddy account. Money really was no object; running a drug ring tended to leave you with some spare change. Selling weapons made for nice icing. He twirled the feather boa around his shoulder in his hand absent mindedly as he talked away, his words emerging like verses of a sweet song.

"We'll see when you have it painted! I relish in the chance to see how this work grows with your further cooperation! Together, we will fly!" He hummed merrily, looking over the vast network of cat trees that surrounded him. His associate Bubbles stared down from the tallest one, licking its paws clean of little spider bits.

He was glad he'd decided to bring the kitty home. A terrible opponent had become a particularly good seeker of the pesky little arachnids. They'd been quite frequent lately, hadn't they?

She quickly said her goodbyes, more than happy to finally be off the phone with the man, and tossed it onto her bed. A grand extra was not something she had rightly planned on, given that the painting had already been around $800. Shelby chewed on a nail anxiously as she finally fished her paints out and got her space ready. Laundry could wait for another day.

Still, there was strangeness to the whole thing she couldn't put her finger on. She'd been getting a lot more commissions lately, which wasn't inherently strange... but there had been two now that had offered her more money than usual. Generally people tried to get more out of her for free, or tried to haggle for a lower price for the painting itself.

She was not used to people throwing hoards of money at her.

Still, it didn't stop her from getting the painting set up and plopping herself down on the stool. So what if it was already 8pm? Who needed sleep anyway!

---

It wouldn't be long before her phone rang again.

"Yeah, hey, hi, gonna make this quick." The voice that spoke through the phone was hard edged, and fast, like machine gun fire. It gave the air of a quick-talking businessman.

"Names Rick. You ever heard of Amicoba real estate outa Jersey, yes, it's that Rick. Not beating around the bush, I want five prints of the piece the, uh, "Jesters Lament" for some demo homes. The wife wants it. Says it's a real example of anquish nior or some sh- stuff. Pardon my speech."

Finally, the tidal wave of talk ended, and he waited for a response.

"I want to talk price."

By now, she was getting used to her phone constantly ringing, She'd even changed her ring tone so that if someone unknown was calling she'd know without looking. This was one of those instances. 

"Hello?"

"Names Rick. You ever heard of Amicoba real estate outa Jersey, yes, it's that Rick. Not beating around the bush, I want five prints of the piece the, uh, "Jesters Lament" for some demo homes. The wife wants it. Says it's a real example of anquish nior or some sh- stuff. Pardon my speech."

What? What? She struggled to piece together what he had just said to her, and then struggled to reply. FIVE PRINTS!?

"Five prints? I suppose I could do that." She set her tooth brush down and glanced out of the bathroom she shared with Saph, please to find him still arguing with the cockroach in the background. Wandering out she headed for her bag and procured a pen and paper. "Does she had a specific timeline for when she needs them done? The original took me about nine hours to complete from start to finish. I could have another four done in, uh..." What else did she have on her plate currently? One other commission, which she had a few days to complete, and a date in the morning with Saph. 

"Five prints? I suppose I could do that. does she had a specific timeline for when she needs them done? The original took me about nine hours to complete from start to finish. I could have another four done in, uh..."

"What, you can't just print them out?" The voice on the end sounded a little agitated, but slowed down after a breath. "Sorry, I'm doing this anger management thing, working on stuff. Maybe just... Make the first one a PDF file, we can print. I'll throw you... say, 2k for it. That way we can put them in all of the offices as we make new ones, and I don't hafta trouble you with all that bullsh- stuff. Stuff. Sound good? I can give you my card info over the phone if you want. And listen, I'm only paying this much because you're blowing up right now. People are talking about you. New artist on the scene, dreary, high brow stuff. I don't get it all but the wine sippers who my wife invites in do. You should consider yourself lucky, huh?"

Was he snorting something in the background? Wow.

"Anyway, we got a deal?"

She pulled the phone away slightly from her ear, casting an intense look at it, before drawing it back. He was still talking.

"I certainly can do that, sir.. but I will also have to forward you a document to sign first. Basic rights usage terms for the pdf." She jotted down his name on her paper, glancing over her shoulder momentarily before turning back. One of her old art teachers had warned her about people like him. "I don't have a method for pushing through payments on my end, but I can give you my paybuddy account information. It's a lot easier that way, anyway."

She wasn't sure of what to make of the last few comments. She was blowing up right now? Was that good? That was good, probably. "We have a deal. I will send you the PDF file as soon as the payment reaches my account." She paused again, tapping her pen on the paper.

The voice on the other line was quiet for a moment. When it spoke again, it was a lot more relaxed.

"You drive a hard bargain. I'll have to warn people about you. Great deal, though. Works for me. IF. You send me the original as well. Sound like a plan, Jan? I can have the money wired to you tonight. It's pocket change to me."

He sounded ready to shake on it. You know, if they weren't talking on the phone instead of in person.

Saph looked up from his argument with Eric and gave her a thumbs up while sipping his drink.

She smiled at the wall in front of her, "Yep, Sounds like a plan. I'll get the original packaged up and I can have it in the mail by tomorrow."

She jotted down a few notes about the address he provided and a place to send the pdf when she had it ready. "Thank you for your business, Rick." She nodded, hmmed, and then hung up when he had. Overall, not a bad business deal! Weird, but not bad!

She set the note pad down, her phone alone with it and let her head hang between her knees for a bit. "...Two... thousand... dollars." Then she was up and tackling Saph in the blink of an eye. "Two grand!" She may have cried on him, a little bit. Then she scrambled for her laptop and got started getting the work order ready.

--