tampered | Log; Complete

Log; Complete

When; Tuesday, April 22nd, evening
Rating; PG-13
Characters; Toshiko Sato

warped_inside and Mark Antony

romanleopard
Summary; Toshiko exercises her usual questionable judgment in dates and meets Mark Antony for a drink, and maybe more.
Log;

Toshiko hurried up to the front entrance of Lux, computer bag smacking against her hip. It and the leather jacket probably made an odd contrast to the dress (casual, nothing frilly) and heels (low, good for running). It wasn't that she was late, precisely. Just that she was afraid of being late.

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Toshiko didn't really have anything to worry about, considering Antony's reputation for lateness. If it wasn't a pretty sheepherder on the side of the road, it was a brawl or a free drink. But since this meeting happened to include the possibility of sex and drink he would deign to be on time.

He had already spent some of his expense account on a new wardrobe, although shopping had consisted of him walking into a few shops and telling them to pick things out for him. And of course anything he wore looked good by proxy. The shirt and slacks were so constraining, he couldn't help fidgeting a bit, and the leather shoes were just ridiculous, but the shopkeepers had assured him that sandals would not do.

He sauntered at a reasonable pace down the street towards the large sign, not at all looking like he had just spent a few good hours navigating his way from the Underground to here. After all that effort, he was looking forward to meeting this woman in person and hoped she was just as attractive as she seemed.

There was half an expectation in Tosh's mind to actually come upon a man in classical Roman garb -- for someone who worked around a time rift, it wasn't that odd an idea. So she did a bit of a double-take when she spotted a man who looked familiar from the network, although definitely dressed in modern clothes.

Nice modern clothes though, so that was all right.

She took a hesitant step forward and searched his face to see if he showed the same hint of recognition.

As soon as was possible, he was going to hire someone to make him proper Roman clothes, but for now he had to make do. For all he knew, the laptop bag was a fashion statement, so he wasn't exactly in a position to criticize. He certainly couldn't expect women here to meet his tastes from his previous life.

He spotted her rather quickly, and once he was close enough appropriated her hand and kissed it, gazing into her eyes with a roguish smile.

"You must be Toshiko. Your beauty is blinding, Venus would be envious."

It was a fashion statement, although one that mostly just screamed "geek".

And oh, he was kissing her hand! Tosh blushed at that, but immediately put it on her list of things people ought to do more of.

"Which means you must be Mark Antony. I would say something modest and argumentative right now, but I think I'd rather just bask in the compliment instead. It's nice to meet you... Mark? Antony? Mr. Antony?"

Mark Antony was good at pretending to be chivalrous for as long as it suited him, so there was more where that came from.

"Antony is fine, since we are to be good friends, nay?"

He placed her hand on his arm and moved towards the door.

Tosh was no longer naive enough to imagine the chivalry was entirely guileless, but knowing that actually made it easier simply to enjoy it. So she smiled up at Antony and took his arm, and let him escort her inside.

"This is the first time I've actually been in here as a customer," she remarked. "It's really gorgeous, though, isn't it?"

Surprised by the sudden change in size, but not about to show it.

"I suppose so, considering what else I've seen of this city."

It's true that Antony is a pleb at heart, and he certainly acts that way, but it doesn't mean he isn't attached to all the comforts provided by his loyalty to Caesar and then Cleopatra. How could marble, silk, and bright colours ever go out of style?

Tosh didn't exactly live in the lap of luxury herself, but she appreciated beautiful things.

"Well, if you've been mostly underground all this time, you probably haven't seen the best the City has to offer. There's some really beautiful green space, and some very pretty buildings."

They procured a quiet booth, and she tucked her bag safely away in the corner, although she kept her purse close at hand. Her gun was in there, and considering recent events, she wasn't about to be anywhere unarmed.

"Someone has warned you about the things that lurk down there, right?"

"Well, you'll just have to show me, then, won't you?"

He smiled slyly as he manoeuvred into the booth, mentally wondering why anyone would pay money to be crammed into a corner like this, but wasn't going to argue. He was experimenting, after all.

"Monsters, I'v heard. The lady who hired me is keeping some in her cellar."

Tosh smiled. "I think I could do that. Haven't really taken enough time to explore the city, and it would make Jack happier knowing I had myself an escort."

Nodding, she wondered what kind of monsters this lady was keeping. "Sounds like my old job. What sort of work did you find?"

"Who's Jack, your father? I'll be managing an arena, gladiators, venatio, that kind of thing."

Frowning, he looked around irritably, fingers tapping a tattoo on the tabletop. The way he was sprawled back in his seat brought to mind the big cats: even when relaxed he exuded an air of potential danger.

"This place needs more slaves if they're this slow to meet new customers."

"Jack's my boss, and sometimes thinks he's my big brother. He can get a little bit protective at times."

Tosh raised her eyebrows, looking decidedly curious. "An arena? I didn't even realize we had one. That sounds interesting."

Antony's irritation was pretty apparent, and she wondered if she was boring him already until he spoke, and then she covered her mouth to hide a smile. "I'm pretty sure it's all paid staff here, but I'll flag someone down. I don't think this is the type of place where you order at the bar..."

Antony always has another charming smile at the ready, even when he's being peevish. "Well, he's obviously not protective enough if he's forcing you to provide for yourself and allowing you to wander around on your own. Not that I mind, of course."

Seducing women was always easier when their chaperone wasn't looking, after all. Of course, Mark Antony had many tactics and techniques for working around such barriers. He'd had a lot of practice.

"It's underground, a replica of the Flavian Amphitheatre. You'll have to come to the opening. I'll make sure you get an invitation."

An empty promise, of course, as he had no idea whether Selene was even offering invitations or had any inclination to listen to Antony's recommendations.

Tosh flagged down a server to get their drink orders, and then turned back to Antony with a surprised laugh.

"I work for Jack, which means he pays me -- and pretty well, too. Or rather, back home he does. Here things are a little less settled still, but Jack's actually paying the rent and funding a lot of our expenses. But that's not really my point. My point is that I'm a grown woman, and in this day and age, that means I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself. Also, he doesn't force me to wander around on my own. In fact, he's probably about blue in the face from telling us not to go Underground unless we go armed or in pairs."

The light smile hopefully took the edge off her words so that it didn't sound so much like a lecture as an amused protest.

"I really think I'd like to do that, Antony, thank you. Do you have any idea when the opening might be, or is that still off in the unplanned future?"

Antony gave the server a glare of dissatisfaction and then turned back to his date for the evening. He had only really been listening to her speech with half an ear, but half an ear was enough to make a conversation.

"Well, women do like to do as they please. And in my opinion you might as well let them. It's easier than trying to talk them out of it."

The waiter returned with wine and Antony took a moment to admire the glass, much thinner than anything he had seen before, even if it was only cheap craftsmanship in modern considerations.

"Likely in a few days, I expect," he replied offhandedly, sipping the wine with the abandon of someone who drank it with every meal and generally got drunk on it every night. "Weak wine, this. Though meeting the type of people who live here I should expect no different."

Normally she didn't worry much about what people thought women should or shouldn't do, because in her line of work what mattered was that you were good at it. But the offhanded dismissal, even if it was couched in companionable conversation, raised Tosh's hackles a little.

"Actually, in my experience, men, women, and bloody weevils like to do as they please. The only real difference is that the men just spend more of their time worrying about it."

She set her jaw and inwardly scolded herself for losing her temper, and took a sip of the wine. "I think it's nice enough, but if you don't like it, I'm sure they'll bring you something stronger."

Antony showed no signs of being taken aback of offended by her retaliation, only knocked back the last of the wine in his glass and inclined his head slightly in what could be taken as a concession.

He waved down another waiter and attempted to order a stronger wine, and upon finding that there was no such thing, asked them to bring whatever they had that was stronger. He ended up with cognac, which he sampled and approved before letting the waiter go.

"So, does this meet your culture's standards in wooing requirements? Because I can think of at least half a dozen other things we could be doing right now."

It wasn't really quite the success Tosh had imagined, but then she did have to admit that she'd essentially bribed Antony into coming for drinks when he hadn't the least bit of interest in doing so. And she'd known full well what she was agreeing to when they'd made the arrangements.

"You're right," she said, with a nod, and a wry smile. "This is sort of silly, isn't it? Where should we go instead?"

Antony perked up immediately at the thought of going somewhere else. This was like the opposite of his kind of bar and he was beginning to reach the point where, unless there was sex to be had, he was better off in the Underground.

Speaking of the Underground.

"You should come visit the Arena. I'm sure Selene won't mind me showing you a little before the opening."

[ooc: AND BY "MORNING" I MEANT "EVENING". >>; orz]

Tosh was starting to decide that maybe the Lux hadn't been the best choice for the evening herself. The idea of visiting the Arena sounded intriguing, though, and she perked up a good bit as well.

"Oh, I'd love to see it! That's a fantastic idea, Antony, let's go."

[ooc: I'm sure it's morning somewhere! ;)]

Antony promptly pulled out a bag of this world's currency and tossed some on the table before rising. He had rooms in the Arena now, and with any luck the evening would end in them. He downed the last of his drink in one swallow before heading towards the door with a purposeful intensity, barely curbed enough to make sure Tosh was keeping up.

As far as Tosh was concerned, barring something unexpected happening to change her mind, ending the evening in Antony's rooms would be keeping nicely with the plan. Drinks had mostly just been so that she could pretend she wasn't running off to shag some stranger she'd met over the network.

She had to grin a little to herself at his enthusiastic departure from the club. Luckily, Tosh was used to keeping up with tall men who moved quickly, and Antony didn't have to curb his pace too much.

"You said the Arena's Underground, right?" she asked, slipping her handgun out of her purse and into her jacket pocket as she spoke. No point in taking stupid chances.

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