She was, indeed, getting frustrated. More so than he thought at first. Part of it was the language barrier; he made a note to find a way around that before their next meeting.

She asked him to write everything down, presumably numbers were a difficult thing for her. He nodded, and called a waiter over. A large elephant man lumbered over, and handed him a paper an pen upon request. Roach wrote down the numbers for her, ordering a coffee for himself while he was at it.

"As you can see, it all pans out. You get this number, I get this number, the launderers get this number." He had a bit of a beat. "If you spend money you stole without it being laundered, you will be caught." He'd forgotten to think about the possibility that she'd taken some money for herself. How to go about addressing that...

"I noticed you dropped a few stacks of bills on the way out; if someone grabs them and spends them, they will likely be arrested. If you ever recover some of those bills, bring them to me, and I will have them laundered for you." They were new business partners. They needed to build trust. He would forgive her this time if she tried to pull one over on him.

She insisted on alcohol, and he stared at her blankly for a moment.

"Valkyrie, there is a time for such things. I would never recommend drinking during a business deal; it's a great way for someone to take advantage of you. Always be careful when you are negotiating. I gave you a great deal today, because I wish to cement a good relationship with you. Others will not be so kind. Too many people are in it for themselves. Now, after a deal, you can celebrate, but places like this are not the type for that. If you'd like, I can point you to the bars that have rooms like this for our kind. Whether or not they will serve someone a bit younger is up to them." He had opted to talk to her in a straightforward way about such things. There was only so much padding he could do with his words before she wouldn't be learning anything and this was a valuable lesson.

Astrid picked up the paper and glanced it over. The numbers were even bigger than she had expected. She did her best to hide her glee, since it was a business meeting and all, and she didn't really want to betray her immaturity. She was extremely glad that Gregory had been there, and she couldn't help but note that the number on the paper really was all do to his help. If not for him, she would have ended up with nothing.

Immediately after he had moved on to the next topic, Astrid's ears perked and she looked up at him. How did he know that she had kept some of the money for herself? She had done it in privacy, nowhere near where they had met, so he wouldn't have been able to see.

...Unless he had followed her. Astrid's eyes narrowed at him, but she remained silent. She understood if he had followed her. It made sense, especially if she was still being vetted, but that didn't make her like it. She hated the idea that there might be someone watched what she did or went.

Nonetheless, his advice seemed to make sense. He could have very easily just made up the whole thing to get all the money for himself, but she didn't want to risk getting caught. She had come so far in such a short time, and it seemed like such a waste for it all to culminate in her going to jail. So, reluctantly, she nodded. "Will be bring the money at you next day." She wasn't about to leave and go get it, so saying she would do it later came across as the best option in her head.

Her nose wrinkled at his next comment. Stupid sound advice. Sure, maybe it wasn't the best idea to drink when negotiating, but it was what she wanted to do. She glared at him, but ultimately listened. "Coffee," she muttered to the waiter standing nearby and leaned back in her chair. In an extremely rebellious teen mannerism, she stuck her feet out and plopped them down on the table. 

She suddenly became a little more alert. Hmmm. Perhaps his attempt at being subtle and unaccusatory failed terribly. They really did have to do something about that language barrier, didn't they?

His mandibles clacked in satisfaction as she caved and ordered a coffee. Before long, the drinks arrived; another perk, as the humans out front had to grab their own damned drinks. He thanked the barista with a hearty tip, not from the money bag, and took a sip of his hot confection.

"Now, Valkyrie. Shall we get to our true business? You must know that I didn't assist you in your endeavors solely for a small bit of money, and a smile." He leaned back in his chair a bit crossing his legs. "I have been keeping an eye on you. I want you to know that soon... Very soon, an opportunity will present itself that could reap rewards that make this bag weep pitifully at the ineptness of it's contents. In short, you could be rich. You could be famous. What would you do if such an opportunity was presented?"

He reached down, and grabbed his cup once more, bringing it to his maw to sip innocently.

"In the mean time, I could teach you much. Do you want to know how do be a true career criminal. A... Villain?"

Astrid sat forward in her chair and she smoothed her skirt. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? There was a good chance that he wasn't, but she decided not to entertain that idea.

Rich? Famous? If they were the words that she thought them to be, then she was definitely interested. Beyond the point of interested, actually. She would have sold her soul and invested all the money they had just earned if he had asked her to. It was everything she had ever dreamed of and strived towards. It was why she had come to America in the first place.

"I will areing interesting. I wanting being famouser and richer now," she told him excitedly, wiggling her toes in her leather stilettos. She was so excited for whatever it was. "I is helping your blowing up the things? Killing of the peoples? What being things we doing?"

A cup of coffee was placed in front of her, and she looked at it disdainfully. Thankfully, she was on too much of a high for her mood to be brought down by the fact that it wasn't spiked. She looked back up at Gregory with a hopeful expression, waiting to be told her next steps. 

Well. That got her attention, didn't it? Were a cat, he'd be a purring one. He silently sipped his drink, and slowly set the cup back onto the table, containing his excitement with expert ease. He liked people like Astrid. More specifically, he liked people with clear things that motivated them; they were easy to deal with. If you wanted to make a deal with them, you offered them what they liked, and they delivered to the best of their abilities. It wasn't complicated.

In the world he lived in, anything that wasn't complicated was a treasure.

"I will areing interesting. I wanting being famouser and richer now, I is helping your blowing up the things? Killing of the peoples? What being things we doing?"

Roach chuckled, shaking his head a bit, and waving her off. "No, no, none of that... yet. The first thing you will need to do is learn. I can teach what you need to get these things yourself. What do you say to that?"

He watched her in silence, his antennae poking about innocently as he tried to gauge her reaction. She was clearly somewhat impatient, and very much impulsive. He could see her being less excited about not being able to just march up and grab what she wanted. Her reaction here would tell him how badly she wanted it.

Astrid's upper lip curled in annoyance upon being told what he wanted her to do. Learn? Seriously?

It was starting to look like a trend, people wanting to teach her things. She didn't quite understand why, though. She was doing just fine on her own (if you ignored a few mishaps), and it was much easier to learn things while doing them. Abstract theories were just so... Abstract. Valkyrie fancied herself a bit more of an action type.

The teen slumped back in her chair, folded her arms over her chest, and rolled her eyes. She was far from impressed with him at that point. It was a pity, too. Things had started off so well. 

She eyed the bug silently for a minute before picking up her coffee and taking a long, drawn out sip. She wanted to let her actions speak for a minute, so she gave them time to sink in.

Finally, she said something. "Learning is being not help with not doing things. If not doing things, then I not being help."

Cue the second noisy sip of coffee. 

Hah! She was the very picture of an impatient youth~

He would have to model his approach after that.

She sipped noisily, spoke in her broken english, and sipped again. He noted her response, digesting it for a moment, and then nodding slowly.

The giant bug then spoke, slowly, thoughtfully, deliberately.

"Of course. To learn and not do would be a waste of mine, and your time. So, I propose we learn by doing. The objective here is not to be known as a mass murderer, or a criminal. Not fully. Instead, you wish for people to hear your name, and not resist the shiver that runs down their spine. When you kill, you want people to know it was you, and why you did it, but have no proof that you did it. When you steal, there should be no question... They cannot, and will not try to take back what was lost. When someone slights you, you don't only kill them. You find their family... their significant others... that lady they fancied at the coffee shop. You show them what crossing you means, and in the end, they will blame themselves for their losses."

Roach clacked his mandibles slowly for a moment, and then began talking again. "My Lady, I would not presume to stick you in a classroom for crime and let you rot. You are more valuable than that. In fact, you remind me much of Aura, whom I taught a fair bit as well. What I'm offering, Valkyrie, is to show you how to to be very, truly, evil. Would you like that?"

After that monologue was finished, he reached down to his lap, producing a napkin, and wiping his maw politely with it before placing it on the table.

Well...

That did sound a little better...

Astrid tried not to look too interested as she shrugged and sipped her coffee. That was what she wanted, to be learning on the job. It was what she'd been searching for all along. In fact, it was one of the reasons she wanted to come to America.

Aura. He had taught Aura. She'd met Aura. She'd admired Aura. If he had taught her things, then what could he do for Astrid? There could be so much in store for her.

There were butterflies in her stomach, and she could hardly contain herself. However, she didn't want to seem too eager and get shortchanged in whatever was going down, so she hid her feelings. To the mutant on the other side of the table, she would seem stoic and impassive.

"That is sounding like doing this," she nodded slowly, placing her coffee down on the table. She was trying to imitate the people in movies as they talked about their plans. The way that nothing seemed to phase them, and they talked slowly. She had no idea if it was coming off the way she wanted it to, though. She would have to gauge from his reaction.