"It doesn't matter if you can feel or not, Mr. Weasley."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Looks are everything. If you're not normal, why should they care?"
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"You want me to what?!"
Stan pinched the bridge of his nose and peeked at Charlie over his fingertips. The young man looked absolutely terrified by his newest assignment. That was a feat in itself. It took a lot to scare someone who willingly stuck his head in a dragon's mouth once every couple weeks.
"I don't see why it's such a big deal. You've done plenty of trading and purchasing for me before, Charlie."
"Well yeah!" The red head leaned back in his seat, running a hand down his face, "but that's not the same! That's legitimate business, you want to send me in to a swarm of smugglers!"
Stan sighed and shook his head a little. "I'd hardly call fifteen to twenty a swarm."
That sentence seemed to cause more panic than reassurance in the young man's mind. Sure, being involved in the deeper end of the beast black market was something that Charlie knew came with doing what they were doing, but he'd never done it before. Stan's senior handlers were the ones that got involved in that sort of thing. They had more experience in that field, and they knew how to handle people.
Unfortunately for Charlie, all of them were state side in Arizona dealing with the transport of a Horntail who was a little too keen on staying put. With the five of them gone, that made him the oldest and the one who had been there the longest at a little over a year. While that was ample time to have some close calls with death, he didn't exactly have any field experience with what Stan was asking him to do.
The whole thing sounded simple enough when you wrote it out like any normal purchase. He was supposed to deliver the payment for the Chinese Fireball Stan had bought and make plans for her transport. From there, he'd get the team he was being sent with a bring her back. The site was a couple miles away from their own, meaning it wouldn't be too difficult with the proper equipment. The biggest issue with that was the fact it was mating season, and the females were always extra temperamental around that time. They were irritable enough without a couple people drugging them and moving them somewhere else.
To any sane person that would've sounded like an insane amount of work to put towards an animal that could potentially kill them if the ordeal went sour. To Charlie, it sounded like a Tuesday, and he was honestly hoping for a new scar to brag about next time he saw his older brother, Bill. He was originally excited for the whole thing; and then Stan described the actual situation.
"Look, Charlie. Richard is many things. He's a foul, manipulative, lying, cheater, but at least he doesn't have a temper. You'll be perfectly safe through the whole thing. Besides, he wouldn't touch you knowing he could loose my business."
"If he's that desperate to keep you around, he must not be the most popular bloke."
"Not many people want to work with someone they could go to jail for associating with without proper clearance." Stan sighed again, leaning against the desk in his office, the only neat thing in the entire building he stayed in. The man lived in chaos, but he worked in the most pristine conditions on the grounds. "Charlie, is there any particular reason this is bothering you so much? You're dealing with a person, not a Chimera. The former will be much easier to get along with if you do what he asks. I've seen you stick your whole head in a Ukrainian Iron-belly's mouth before. That was just on a dare. Is there any particular reason the thought of talking with a man far less daunting than an Iron-belly scares you this much?"
