Roach had a nasty habit of show up early to places. Punctuality became a bit of a fault when one was driven by compulsion, and possessing of the trait of impatience. He'd already ordered food, eaten, ordered again, fashioned that order into a hat and was now ordering a third time by the time his arranged meeting time with one of his associates arrived.

He'd given the man the address of the mutant friendly establishment via text to his burner phone, as well as the meeting time, and a warning not to be late. He didn't like late. Pie was good, late was not. He ordered a pie.

The place was small. One of those family owned Mah and Pah diners, but in this case, it was Pah and Pah, and one of them had tentacles. By the time Rico would reasonably arrive, the table would be a bit of a mess, and Roach would be wearing a carefully placed salad on his dome. He was placed in a corner booth in the back room, but the text had given Rico instructions to ask for Frank. That would prompt them to lead him Roach's way.

They had a lot to talk about. Roach had a little pad of paper before him with some cliff notes; surprisingly it was clean of the mess the rest of the table had endured.

Rico hated drinking, yet he loved it. Every time he woke up feeling like death he swore never to drink again. Yet he always did. Such was the routine and this time was no different. "Mmmm" Rico groaned and stuck a hand out blindly to beside table. Cracking open a eye he examined the message and sighed. The boss man wanted him and he had a good idea why. The way Rico figured it he was getting impatient for the task to be completed.

Rico was pulled out of his thoughts though as the memory of last night came back to him. He turned to look at the human woman wrapped up in his bed sheets and sleeping right there with her back turned to him. He had gotten what he wanted and she was of little concern to Rico at the moment. But such was the way of things. Sleeping with someone and sleeping with someone you love were two different things.

She would wake up to a empty bed and a apartment with scarcely anything. Not even anything worth taking accept perhaps a few half full bottles of Jack. It was just the way Rico lived. It was easier to move around when you had little to anything and never put down some roots.

Rico arrived later at the diner wearing some old boots, jeans and a white wife beater. Upon entering he looked to the guy behind the counters with tentacles coming out there back and collecting up dishes and coffee cups. While it was not exactly a mutation Rico would have wanted it sure looked like it came in handy when you ran a diner. "I'm here to see Frank."

No other words were spoken and he was led to the corner booth in the back room. "Wow, and I thought I had a appetite." Rico said as he slide into the seat opposite of roach in the booth. Tilting sideways Rico pulled out a VHS tape that said "Joes apartment" and put it on the table. "Got this for ya bossman." Rico found the movie ok on his old TV with a built in VHS player but it was really only a watch once and forget kind of film. At least for him. Somehow though Rico thought Roach might like it.

Pulling out a altoids can Rico opened the cap to present Earl. It was safer to carry him around this way. That way Rico did not sit down or shift and squash him. "So what was the big rush for me to get over here boss. I am getting close to finishing that job you gave me and....." Rico went quiet and stared at the new hat on his boss's head. "You know what I don't want to know."

Rico kept his end of the deal. He was working his ass off and made progress in the job his boss assigned him. But If there were change Rico intended to break away as the deal as far as Rico was concerned was known and void. Deals did not change. Rico kept his end and expected Roach to keep there end.

Rico arrived, and Roach waved him in merrily when he did. "Rico, my good man! Come, come! Hve a seat! I've ordered you something already! I may have eaten it already. Oh well, I'll order you more. You always look so skinny."

The young man gave a bit of a remark an then set down a movie in front of him. He looked down at it for a moment and then grabbed it slowly. He wasn't presently in possession of a VHS player, but he could get a hold of one. "Ah, Many thanks. How are you? I hope the money I have been sending you has helped some."

When the Altoids tin was open, Earl hopped out immediately to join Roach. It chittered angrily about it's temporary home, and crawled up it's creators hand, onto his shoulder. The bug and he conversed quietly for a moment, and he turned, and nodded to Rico, as if he were ready to speak further.

"So what was the big rush for me to get over here boss. I am getting close to finishing that job you gave me and....." Rico went quiet and stared at the new hat on his boss's head. "You know what I don't want to know."

Roach absentmindedly cleaned an antennae while Rico asked what this whole thing was about. He looked up when he commented a bit on his hat. Perhaps he was too enamored with it to give it the praise it deserved? Excellent.

"I wanted to talk. To ask you questions. To allow you to ask me questions. These are things you should do when forming a working relationship in the criminal underground. Understanding, I've found, is terribly important."

Roach waved a waiter down, and allowed Rico to order... He looked out of sorts a bit, and from what he'd heard from Earl, he was likely recovering from a large bit of drink, and a night with someone flexible. A bender with a bender, if you will. Once the waiter left, his focus was suddenly, fully, on his associate.

"Rico, tell me what you've learned thus far."

"Rico, my good man! Come, come! Have a seat! I've ordered you something already! I may have eaten it already. Oh well, I'll order you more. You always look so skinny."

His boss had seemed happy enough. But with the things Rico had hard on the streets about his mysterious employer Roach was good at hiding his mood. He could act friendly and kill you seconds later. That made him dangerous as far as Rico was concerned but he still went along with it. But the boss was right about one thing. He was skinny today. The problem with that was he was at risk of shifting to his dragon form if the hunger took hold. Human, mutant, it mattered not. Meat was meat.

"How are you? I hope the money I have been sending you has helped some."

It seemed a normal enough question. But again, what Rico had heard of his boss on the streets nothing was ever normal. "I am pretty good boss man. I am above ground, have a roof over my head, and have good company. So I have nothing to complain about." The good company could be assumed to be Roach. But that was not what Rico meant. Good company was the lady that entertained him last night.

Rico was a bit nervous about the roach watch dog as it conversed with Roach in there own way. He had ditched the thing on more then one occasion. All those occasions were so Rico could learn to control his shifting. And in truth all ended in disaster with some poor souls bones being picked out his teeth except for one. It was a encounter Rico did not regret. A encounter out of chance and depending on who you asked. A encounter of fate. Rico was generally concerned the roach watchdog had managed to follow him and find that out. But the next statement put his mind as ease.

"I wanted to talk. To ask you questions. To allow you to ask me questions. These are things you should do when forming a working relationship in the criminal underground. Understanding, I've found, is terribly important."

Rico listened to his boss and nodded. "Fair enough." He said flatly. Rico was a reasonable creature, but was Roach? Rico opened his mouth to speak but not quick enough before his boss flagged someone down to serve them. He took it as a blessing to collect his thoughts and form the words he wanted to say. He had made some progress. But it was probably not the kind of progress his boss expected.

Rico ordered a heavy meal mainly made of meat and pasta. Heavy in calorie count to replace what he had lost in last nights vigorous activity's. As they waited for the food to come Rico finally spoke.

"These guys you are looking for are not exactly recruiting in booths on the corner like the army and marines. I have been spending some of the money you gave me on food and the basics. But most of it is spent in funding what I am doing on the streets. I have been tagging buildings using the groups mark. I came in contact with some low level members but they are very secretive. From what I have gathered these guys are not the kind of people you go looking for......" With that he paused. "They come looking for you." It sounded ominous, but it was the truth.

"I am trying to climb the ladder at the lowest level to get there attention but it is proving difficult. I am about to do some drastic measures. Some friends of mine in little Kingston scoped out a warehouse storing un programmed META bots. Its low key and under the radar for obvious reasons. I plan on hitting the place tonight and blowing the place to hell."

"With any luck they MIGHT take notice of me. These guys are not easy to impress." It made sense it was so hard. They did not survive this long by accepting just anyone. But would Roach understand that?

The Roach nodded and tipped his hat at the good company comment. Of course he took it as aimed at him, he was a megalomaniac. His salad hat fell apart when he lifted it, and he stared at the mess for a moment, shaking his head.

All seemed well. Earl had confirmed some things, stated that Rico had a tendency to try and slink off, with some success, but the bug was fine with that; some times people needed their privacy. He'd instructed his children to give the people who knew they were being watched some space at times for just that reason.

Why, then, was there a bit of... tension in the air? Was he simply imagining it? Rico seemed composed, but underneath that layer... what was it? He saw his chance to nab a waiter, and did so. The atmosphere seemed to calm down a bit after they ordered food. Ah, Perhaps he was just what was commonly referred to as 'hangry'?

Roach's antennae perked up as Rico went into detail on his professional exploits. Ah, progress! He did like progress! It seemed, though, that Ragnarok wasn't an easy group to infiltrate. This new information informed and influenced some thoughts he'd had before. The dynamics were shifting, and he felt the need to perhaps... pull more troops to the front lines, so to speak.

This included his spy. Had Rico made more progress than that, he would have gladly encouraged him forward, but it seemed as though no effort Rico could make would guarantee Ragnarok's undivided attention.

"Rico, do you like your assignment?"

"Rico, do you like your assignment?"

It seemed a foolish question to Rico and he did not answer right away. "Well...." He said and trailed off. "Not really. How exactly can I bee happy dangling my tail out there for everyone and waiting for these cats to take a bite. Even if I get there attention and they are interested in me joining I can imagine they have some kind of security screening process."

With that thought he added. "Like a psychic having there way with my mind. Pretty sure I cant hide my intentions from that. My cover would get blown and my skull will probably be decorating somebody's wall. Or drinking out of it like some trophy." The more he learned about the group he was trying to infiltrate on the streets the more they scared him.

"No offense boss, but I really think you should leave these guys alone. They probably have folks on your payroll watching you already." Rico cut the conversation short as the food came and was put on the table among the clutter of plates from Roachs meal before. He did not waste time in eating it either. Rico's appetite was about as ravenous as Roachs if not more. At least the two of them had that in common.

"I aint the type for this cloak and dagger stuff." Rico paused as the stuffed more food in his mouth and swallowed seemingly without even chewing. "I'm a matter of fact kind of guy. You point me at someone and I will get the job done. May not be pretty as I aint no trained fighter. But it will get done. Been practicing some things in my other skin and still pretty rusty. But I'm sure I could give a good ass kicking to anyone you pointed me at."