Lucio Gallo's page

Not quite a mile away, in the heart of Colossineum, Baron Lucio Gallo sat gritting his teeth, wringing his expensive gold and velvet cap in his hands. "Y– you mean she– you want me to pay them to work for... for free?!"

Sweat now pouring down his pudgy face, his eye moved from Lureene's shapely calves to the curves of her hips, and lingered on her inviting bosom before finally meeting her seemingly innocent eyes. Breathing hard as if he was running a race, the hefty entrepreneur managed a weak smile as he mopped his forehead on his sleeve. Pivoting to face the royal Lady in Waiting, he almost stumbled but instead ended up on one knee, holding Lureene's dainty hand within his large, sweaty paw. "Truly, it will be a great sacrifice, and sure to slight those who have paid their just dues... but if it would please my beautiful, enchanting, shapely–"

The sound of Sasha coughing brought Gallo's eyes back to Lureene's face. "–ANGEL, andthePrincess then how could I refuse? At least until the Porters can themselves operate under government finances as before, eh? My oh my, what a difficult sell, I will surely need all the good fortune I can muster... Like say a kiss for good luck..."

Closing his eyes, Lucio leaned forward, wet lips puckered and drawing closer!

"Yes, yes," Gallo said emphatically, sweat now beginning to bead on his forehead as it seemed Lureene might be of a mind to leave, "we can work out details later. I just don't understand what you want from me, my beautiful lady! The Porters Guild was destroyed by ruffians and so trash began to build up with no one to clear it away. People in the city complained and those communities with the means came forward with a proposal, but there were none who could satisfy it."

"Being an enterprising man myself, I saw that the good men who worked for the Porters Guild were out of work, and as the Viamaré Concern was also having difficulty delivering customer shipments in their absence, I saw an opportunity and intervened. Stay a while and tell me, what opportunity would you have me enterprise upon that would make you happy?"

"Eh?" His face was construed with confusion at the succubus' words. It was beginning to become clear that they were speaking past one another. "But the Viamaré Concern is willing to do business with anyone in the city. Well... so long as it is all legal, of course. We would never wish to tarnish our good reputation by dealing with criminal elements, you understand."

Lifting his gold-trimmed hat a bit, he scratched the side of his head with fat fingers and said, "Surely you don't suggest I should take people's money and then disregard them, I would have a mob after me..."

Gallo nodded deeply and patted Lureene's thigh with his meaty hand. "Yes, yes, I should not wish for my Princess, my beauty, or my customers to be less than well pleased. Consider, it handled."

Scooting closer and putting an arm around her shoulders he asked in a low voice, his lips drawing close to her ear, "And what else shall we discuss now, my Lady?"

Lord Gallo frowned and scanned at his chin. "I'll have to scold these porters to do a better job. My clients pay good money for that service and if they are doing a poor job..."

Suddenly taking Lureene's hand in his, he declared, "I will see to it that the men who have been shirking their duties are brought to task! Thank you for bringing this to my attention, my great beauty. You have saved me from embarrassment, how shall I repay you?"

"W– wait, the city?" Lucio stammered. "But I thought– didn't you just–"

"Now, I heard from Princess Kirmoon she was thinking of asking the Concern's ground fleet to assist with the garbage collection as she is unhappy with the priority assigned by the Viamaré Concern for that task. ... As a favor for ME, do you think you could help out the Princess here?"

Lord Gallo paused for a moment before waving the serving girl away. "Ah, so her Highness values sees the worth of my efforts to get keep commerce flowing in this city, but still she desires more of the Viamaré Concern's services, eh?"

Patting Lureene on the thigh, he asked, "I take it she wishes my men to aid in cleaning up the mess left by the Builders, yes? Well that is certainly an understandable desire. I would of course be happy to help our new ruler in this embarrassing situation as a sign off my... good will."

Indeed, during the course of their carriage ride, Lureene had deduced that her ravenous friend had, in fact, snacked upon some wax fruit. Thankfully, if there was one thing Lord Gallo was wont to splurge upon it was food. So it was that within an opulent, if not gaudy, courtyard within his villa, his scantily dressed servants now plied the two with all the wines, meats, fruits, and confections they could desire.

"Mmm..." Lord Gallo's hum as he licked his fingers had all the seeming of some well-pleased fat cat, his gaze lingering upon Lureene's form as her wine-glass was replenished by an adolescent Zuck girl bedecked in a gilt halter and swirling harem pants. "So, I take it the reputation of my great wealth and generous nature intrigues you, does it not, my breathtaking and beauteous lady?"

"Eh?!" Lucio's right eyebrow arched so severely at the rebuke that one might have wondering if it was going to knock his hat off. When he turned to find the petite elf glaring him, he snorted and shook his head.

"You see?" He asked, holding out a meaty hand, "If this insolent woman does not even know her place enough to speak with respect to her betters, and she knows our tongue, why should we expect her rabble to behave any better in her Highness' court?"

"Speak with the commoners?" Lord Gallo was the first to voice his misgivings. "Such discourse should come up thru the appropriate channels. It shows contempt for our stations to suggest such a thing."

Smoothing the pleats of his toga, the large man nodded in self-agreement, perhaps oblivious to the irony of such a statement given his earlier embarassment.

"Hmm, there is a great deal of wealth that flows in and out of Dafar thru this city," Lord Gallo commented. "A city of this size could never flourish if cut off from such resources. We may have enough farmland along the bay, but we would lose most of our exports. Unless our King intends sustain such a state at a loss, it would never survive. We would still need to maintain trade within the current borders."

"Hunnh?" Lucio practically choked in surprise as the red head darted away, the large man having paid no heed to anything but gorging himself since the main course had been served.

Wiping the grease from his mouth with the side of his thumb, he looked at Lureene, eyes finding a good angle on her cleavage, and asked, "Heh heh, your guard woman, she has a lot of energy, doesn't she?"

For a brief moment, Lord Gallo made eye contact with Sasha, who returned his glance with a wolfish grin. When the red-head quickly raised and lowered her eyebrows in excitement, he gave a cough, anxiously looking at the chef who now made a show of sharpening his blade as the Princess looked on unperturbed. Slowly, as if trying to avoid drawing the attention of a predator, the sotted nobleman withdrew his arm by feigning to scratch an itch on the opposite shoulder.

"Sooo..." he began, "it sounds like your group must have had quite the adventures while shipwrecked on the Reaver's Shiv. Was it truly haunted as the legends say?"

"Wuu-uh-uh-uh..." With a shudder, Lord Gallo had swallowed his ginger blossom, drawing closer to Lureene and pulling one of her wings around him as if trying to fend off a chill. As the tipsy beauty looked up at him, he bulky nobleman, he put an arm around her and said in a loud whisper, the large amount of wine with which he and the succubus had been plied evidently affecting him as well, "Y- your P-princess is as scary as she is beautiful, my Lady. D- do you think the Zucks could really rise up like she says? And wh-what of the p-pirates? We are beset on all sides it seems!"

"Slavery? How awful!"

The Director of Gulf Coast Ventures turned to the sensual goddess beside him, lower lip a-quiver as sweat beaded on his forehead beneath her gaze. "Y– yes! Terrible business indeed, my great beauty! But never fear, a well-connected and prosperous man such as myself would never debase his clientele by getting his hands dirty with such business!"

"Well, that is certainly a much needed service you provide Dafar! I do look forward to talking with you later about this later. I hope we can build a good relationship for the future."

"Mmm, yes," the trade baron's agreement sounded more like a grunt. "My villa is not far from here — due south, in fact, just next to the coliseum. We can speak in greater comfort there."

"Excuse me, Gallo?" She handed the half filled goblet to him, even as she shifted her wing so it brushed against his left arm. "Could you be a dear and get this refilled for me?"

The man scratched his chin for a moment, clearly enjoying the attention he was receiving from the exotic beauty. The fact that she now called upon him for aid only sweetening the moment. Taking Lureene's glass in his right hand, his left finally abandoned her thigh as grasped her fingers to place a slobbery kiss upon the inside of her wrist, wiggling an eyebrow suggestively as he did so.

Even as others in Lureene and Alis' exedras cringed, the overly 'husky' man shifted the goblet to his left hand and looked out into the grand dining room, snapping his fingers at a servant and calling out loudly, "Oy, girl! The Princess' retainer needs more wine! Is this how you treat your betters?"

"Well, Lucio I suppose you could blame my Mother for these wings, although she always used to call me her angel" She wipes away a (fake) tear, "I miss her sometimes..." then her face brightens up, "Soooo, Lucio, can you tell me more of what the Concern handles, and what your duties are with them?"

Lucio's lower lip jutted and he nodded slightly at Lureene's explanation. "There, there," he said, patting her thigh with his large, meaty hand.

When she suddenly brightened up and asked about his business, his grip grew tighter even as he placed his other hand to his chest as if speaking with humility. "Well you see, the Viamaré Concern is a very vast and powerful organization. We have holdings throughout Elsemar. Where there's a deep water seaport, there's the Concern. We ensure that people the world over can buy and sell goods between distant lands. Why the number of ships we have in rotation at any time would put most navies to shame!"

The hand on Lureene's thigh growing warmer, he continued, "For my part, I am the head over all operations here in Dafar. You might think of me as a governor in my own right where trade is concerned! Naturally, that makes me a valuable ally to the right people."

"Bah!" Lord Gallo waved a hand dismissively as he leered at the nubile young servant pouring the wine, "Everyone worries too much over what Naiobe thinks of them. Dafar has plenty of trees. If the Zucks liked them so much they'd have stayed in the jungle!"

His own gut shuddering with laughter, Lord Gallo slapped the serving girl on the rear as she departed eliciting a squeak of surprise.

"Now then," he turned to Lureene, "enough about old men and in-fighting. How did a pretty girl like you come to have such big wings? Some kind of a spell, or are they part of that gown you wear?"

"Ehh?" Lucio crooked an eyebrow as he flicked some earwax from the tip of his pinkie finger. "What enemies are you talking about, Elendreth, the Concern scarcely does business with the Enclave, not for a lack of effort on my part, mind you."

"Ah, glady!" Lord Gallo chuckled slightly, sneering at Luca Petronius' indignation. "You show good taste to acknowledge a man with my connections, woman. You know, most of the fine goods that are imported into Port Eldarion come thru the Viamaré Concern. Silks from Khultan, tea from Loxphari, mead from ­Æscia... if there are exotic goods you need, then Lucio Gallo is your man!"

"Hrrmm..." Lord Gallo seemed to almost growl as he walked up, running a thick, stubby finger along his jaw, "It is understandable to desire the company of a man of wealth and reputation, but if I sit beside where you would have me, how shall the Princess see me?"

Lord Gallo's right eyebrow crept higher as he looked at the woman with one eye. Evidently not as well-versed in protocol, he commented, "Indeed, woman, why have you heard stories of the wealth and prestige of my family?"

"Please, please," the large man waved his hand as if to dispense with such formalities, "Lord Gallo is fine, and it's Director of Gulf Coast Ventures if you must know."

"Ahem?" From behind the whaling baron, a heavy-set man wearing an excessive amount of gold jewelry and a blue toga cleared his throat, doing his best not to be left outside the growing circle of important personages.

As the man shouldered his way between the two taller men before him, he stopped to give Lady Ourson an appraising look, one pudgy hand stroking his well-groomed beard. He murmured, "Ah, very nice, very nice," perhaps unaware that he was thinking aloud.

With a toothy, leering smile, he gave a slight bow and whisked off his ornate hat to reveal a receding hairline. "Ah, so this is the great beauty I have heard stories about! I can only imagine what our wealthy Princess must look like with such resplendent aides. Even your bodyguard is not bad in spite of her obvious lack of good breeding, though obviously not everyone can be as fortunate to be born with both great wealth and good looks, eh?"

The veritable wall of arrogant blather from the man very nearly stunned Lureene before, the feeling of a sweaty hand grasping hers registered, a pair of wet blubbery lips quickly approaching the back of her hand.

"Fair city indeed," the hefty man mumbled as he examined his finger nails. Even a blind deaf man could have picked up on his lack of enthusiasm.

At the Baroness' introduction, he gave the shorter elf an appraising look, fumbling with the pendant on his heavy gold chain as he did so. "A hero? Ahhh, well play your cards right, woman, and you might come out of this with enough coin to get ahead in the world. Of course it's not just wealth but contacts and class that really matter. Still, not everyone can be born with such benefits, but I'm sure Lady Mondracus can give you some pointers. Isn't that right, Rinaldo?"

Where the older man had all the bearing of a big-game hunter boasting of his accomplishments, the other seemed as if he'd rather be anywhere else but here. Thick fingers laden with gold rings, a rich blue toga and hat trimmed with gold, and a fussily trimmed beard were insufficient to distract from the fact that he was uncomfortable and irritable in the heat.

"Ah yes, Carlina... Well back to that burning rubble, just remember the Viamaré Concern will be happy to rebuild those docks, and we can certainly help you to procure those new boilers you'll be needing..."