Thompson and Cynthia had never been to Cafe Atebit. They
were college students and it was one of the more expensive trendy restaurants
in the area. The waiter led to them to their table where Professor Banister and
William were waiting. They stood to greet them as they approached.
“Thank you for meeting with us.” William said as they all
sat down after greeting each other.
Cynthia was all smiles even though the bruise was already
starting to darken her jawline. “Our Pleasure, what’s to occasion?” She asked.
Banister was caught in the middle of drinking water,
finished his sip and set his glass down. “I’m retiring from teaching for a
start.” He said. “It seems like a good time to move on, and work on a new
project.” He explained.
Thompson nodded. “Which is?” He asked.
William couldn’t hold back any longer. “We’re starting our
own independent production company. We used to talk about making off the wall,
original games, and we’re both finally in a place where we can actually do
that.” He explained.
The four of them shared lunch, talking about the school,
their favorite games, and the things they missed seeing in emerging and
finished projects. Toward the end of Lunch Cynthia asked the question that had
been on her mind the entire time. “We’re both still graduate students, there’s
nothing bankable about us, and we’re completely green, are you really going to
start off your company by hiring at best background fill in actors?” She asked
with all seriousness.
Bannister shook his head. “No usually in these situations you lock down your staring talent. The people you want to work with to build a brand and an expected level of quality that people rarely ever see. We’re not interested in selling millions of copies, we’re interested in creating engaging, well balanced, narrative experiences, and we want the overall experience to be the star.”
William picked up the conversation. “We don’t want you to get
the wrong idea, we want you because you’re both fresh and eager to work, you’re
both perfectionists, and we hope that you are both ready to take this chance
with us.” He explained.
Thompson and Cynthia looked at each other. Thompson picked up his water glass nervously.
“Well what do you think? He asked Cynthia.
She tapped her fingers on the table for a second. “I’m
interested. Do we need to give you an answer right away?” She asked.
Banister shook his head. “Not at all. We haven’t even begun
to put this thing together but when we saw you at the showcase we knew we had
found people we wanted to work with from concept to completed project. Please
take your time.”
