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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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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