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Corbeau had just taken over the Rust Syndicate and he’s been flying solo on a few meetings now. Philippe was so proud of the way Corbeau handled himself, but there was always one thing that intrigued him: the laugh. He was honestly fascinated by the way Corbeau would let out a single-pronged chuckle and nearly every emotional response under the sun would come of it.
Today’s meeting was with Taunie for a loan for promotional video money. The young girl walked through the massive doors already shaking and Corbeau already had her scared.
“Relax, there’s nothing to be afraid of.” Corbeau made an attempt to reassure the girl, but to no avail.
“S-sorry,” Taunie started her apology with tears threatening to come out of her eyes, “‘m still kinda new at this, and I just wanna make sure I do things right.”
“Y’know what?” Corbeau calmly stated, closing his eyes and letting out a fond, single-pronged chuckle, “You remind me of me when I was your age. I just wanted to be someone and help others. I can see you want to do the exact same thing with your little videos. I will give you $50, okay?”
The wet-eyed Taunie responded with enthusiastic gratitude before Corbeau quickly cut her off.
“There’s no need to thank me. There’s a store that sells some special equipment pretty cheap and I know basic content creation doesn’t require too much. There are some free platforms online to teach yourself the basics. This was a one-time deal because I can see you have potential to make it big, but if you come back here, I am going to make this a proper loan, okay?”
Corbeau handed her a crisp $50 and went about his business.
“Uh, Corbe- sorry, boss… why did you just give her money with no expectation to pay it back?”
Corbeau chuckled once again and Philippe was still confused. “I can see her potential as someone who can help Lumiose, Philippe.”
“If you say so, boss.”