tampered | Log: Completed

Log: Completed

When; July 16th
Rating; PG-13. Maybe an R.
Characters; Hiou Shizuka [

madly_blooming] and Luck Gandor [

fortuna_eterna]
Summary; Shizuka demands yet more from Luck.
Log;

The income she had been receiving courtesy of one Luck Gandor had been more than enough for both her and her ward. She was a modest woman - a modest woman who just happened to enjoy the finer things in life. And what was finer than receiving money for something she would've done anyway? Hiou Shizuka had been keeping secrets for the better part of her very long life. One more meant nothing to her, though admittedly, this particular secret was an especially dirty one.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for her to simply have this secret. Once it was leaked, what else would she hold over his head? Naturally, she'd planned ahead.

It was after hours when Shizuka arrived at Cassagioso, dressed as usual in ornate traditional garb. Her hair hung in organized disarray; perfectly straight and tangle-free, but almost whimsical in where it fell over her shoulders, before her face. The lights were dimmed but the door unlocked and she slipped inside, hands hidden by sleeves and head down.

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Luck was framed by the lights behind the bar, his coat off, for once, outlined by the holster he wore beneath his usual suit and the gun tucked in it, kept tight to the side of his chest. White dress shit, suspenders, moving with his back as he fiddled with a troublesome cufflink, chasing it about his wrist.

He turned, not surprised by her, because a Gandor, in his composure, was not surprised by anything.

"Miss Hiou." He greeted her, a nod. How he viewed this creature, one could not say. He was a kind man, beneath the veneer of mafioso, and he was not a man who forgave violence of an unnecessary kind. Whether he considered hers a level of necessity or not was undetectable as of yet. But his secret... that was another matter.

He was not quite as warm as he had been during their first meeting, but that was to be expected. She had taken to blackmailing him, hadn't she?

"Mr. Gandor." She greeted him in kind, dipping into a prim bow. "I trust you are well?"

Shizuka took a seat at the bar uninvited, posture flawless, hands clasped in her lap. Small talk. A man as proper as Gandor would likely appreciate it, though he likely viewed her as a threat rather than a conversation partner. She didn't blame him. Oh, how much easier things had been in Maria's body...though she'd been without some of her greater powers, the innocence the form provided had been more than enough to make up for it.

"I am, thank you. I have the same trust that you are, Miss Hiou?" Of course, with his money supporting her, why would she not be. And that was the issue. Truly, supporting her was no bane of his. His business pulled in more than enough money for him to live on, Claire of course would not take anything he was given, and who else did he have? No one. Not a soul other than Claire from his world whom he trusted above all others. Berga. Keith. Firo. It was... disheartening, to say the least. What use was immortality, he wondered, without those around to share it?

And she, well. She was his blackmailer, but she had not committed the cardinal sin in his eyes, the harming of those under his protection. But the secret... it was a matter of his own convenience that it did not leak, his own preference, and for that, he would pay his own way, and it would be no great matter of concern.

"Far be it me to sit you once again at the bar, Miss Hiou. Would you prefer one of the back rooms?"

Convenient. It was almost as if he knew what she had come for. She didn't expect it to be easy - not with him - but the challenge was appreciated. Nothing in life worth having was easy. Whether or not Luck was actually worth having was yet to be seen, but his income certainly was.

She stood in one smooth motion, her clothing not so much as shifting.

"That would be very nice, Mr. Gandor. Then we will discuss business?"

"I was unaware there was to be a change in our arrangement." But what should he have expected? Of course he expected it. Blackmailers would never stay content with their lot. But push for too much, too far, and they often lost. Here, they would not die, but. Luck had ways to assure himself that he would not be bothered. A six letter name starting with C, sometimes V, sometimes R. Claire. Vino. Rail Tracer. He hoped she would not push him far enough to call upon the Gandor family assassin.

"But, of course, if you wish to request something..." He left it open, leading her behind the bar and to the hallway beside, passed a few closed doors until he opened it and let her in to the room. An oak desk, two chairs and a sofa, leather, and an oriental rug, as well as the bookshelves identified it as his office.

Shizuka followed him into the room, silently appraising the room. Tasteful, comfortable. If she were a man, she would likely decorate in the same way.

"Hm. No change in the arrangement. Not entirely." She chose one of the chairs and sank into it, legs crossed. "But yes, a request."

How to phrase this? She tapped a finger to her chin in thought, eyes roaming across Luck's figure without reserve.

"Surely you know what loneliness is like, being immortal like myself."

Luck took in her gaze, eyes reserved, face without judgement, noting how hers wandered. It was not odd, for women to find him attractive, but such blatant appreciation, yes, that was more odd. He did not reply a moment, instead he took the seat behind his desk, leaning his weight on his elbows.

"I am afraid I know little of loneliness. Though I can not die, I am not yet past my natural prime, Miss Hiou. I have two brothers, and to men I consider brothers. I have family. And so, I must confess, I have never been a man inclined to lonliness."

Until he had come to this place, that is.

"If that is what you are experiencing, then, you have my condolances."

For the first time, she paused to consider the man's true age. Younger than her, certainly. He simply seemed so world-weary that she had assumed him closer to her age than actuality. She bit her lower lip, teeth scraping across flesh that wouldn't tear.

"My loneliness is of a physical sort. I don't suppose you know the trouble of an empty bed?"

How interesting, that she would proposition him in this manner. He imagined, with all of the immortal beings possibly living in this place, that he, a human, was a might poor catch to a woman seemingly so refined. But, he would play along. For now.

"I am not married, if that's what you mean. My brothers would love to see it happen, I suppose, Keith especially, the family life, the wife, but. I have not yet taken to anyone, and so."

He gave a small shrug.

At this, Shizuka allowed herself a small laugh more akin to a snort than anything else (but of course, far more lady like). He certainly did come from a different era. She had been so far removed from tradition for so long that she had forgotten how some people lived their lives.

"My darling, who said anything about marriage. Surely, you're no saint. What does pleasure have to do with matrimony?"

"A lot, or so I am told." He would be a liar to say he had never lain with a woman, it was the rare man his age who had not. But he was rather insulted by her even thinking that he could be so easily swayed or blackmailed in to a woman's arms.

"Think of the scandal, Miss Hiou. Any respectable woman would be traumatized to know I had been indiscriminate before marriage. A Gandor, having trouble with such a thing as marriage? Unheard of."

Shizuka pursed her lips slightly. If her ego wasn't so very cushioned, she might have been offended. Most men in her world - and quite a few in this one - would have fallen over themselves at the chance to even kiss her hand. Besides his immortality and charm, there was nothing extremely special about Luck Gandor. He was mortal, after all.

"Hm. Perhaps I am not as respectable as I thought myself to be. And perhaps I am naive to think that the City would not be too disturbed. A scandal is only a scandal if it is discovered."

"You see, Miss Hiou, it's not that you are lacking." He sighed, and made a deal of leaning back in his chair, eyes closing sadly.

"It is merely that I am all too aware of my own shortcomings. A man can easily be too proud, and I find it important to be humble. I am surely humble enough to recognize that, a man like myself, I am nothing special. Especially in the comfort you seek me for. Unless... there is another catch."

"Humble." She repeated, allowing her amusement to be evident in her tone. Shizuka could think of many ways to describe Luck, but humble would not be her first word of choice.

"There is no catch. I desire you. And I'm afraid the more you resist, the more I want. Though I do find it humorous that you have such little faith in your...talents."

"I said I was humble, did I not. Far be it for me to assume women enjoy me." He flicked a match, lit it, and considered a cigar.

"You know what they say about assuming."

"Then how about I try and I tell you if I enjoy it? You can trust me to be honest, Mr. Gandor." She rested her chin on her palm, hair falling forward and over her face.

"More like my concern for your virtue, Miss Hiou." He did not overly fancy more of her metaphorical claws in his back. Nor necessarily her literal ones. A stupider man may see this as a heyday, sexual favors, in return for his secret kept? He was not so idealistic.

"For you to stoop to my level... Are you feeling well?" He lit that cigar, with a fleeting frown.

"My virtue is the last thing you should be concerned about. You don't think me a blushing virgin, do you?" He was speaking to the woman who happened to fall in love with a manservant, share the beds of numerous teenage boys, and coerce the blood out of every tempting young morsel she met. What virtue?

"I'm feeling quite well, thank you. And I wasn't aware that your level was so very low."

"Compared to a woman of your stature, Miss Hiou, I assure you, I am still quite humble." He sighed softly, leaning back in his chair again.

"I shall ask you straight. Why?"

"Because you are difficult. You are attractive. You are an acquaintance, and most of all, you are a man. A woman of my stature can only play with children for so long before she longs for a playmate nearer to her own age."

A pause and a smirk.

"And why not? I won't charge you."

"And if I am not attracted to you?" He looked at her over the interlacing fingers of his hands, elbows on his desk, the cigar smoking slow against the crook of his thumb.

"I find it somewhat unsettling, to see a woman look at me so."

Oh. She hadn't considered that.

"I've never met a man who didn't find me attractive. Unless, of course, I destroyed everything he held dear.... And I haven't done that to you, have I? You're different, Mr. Gandor, but not so different as to not think me aesthetically pleasing. Though your tastes may run a separate course...."

She bowed her head, gazing at him from beneath her lashes.

"Like prey, Mr. Gandor? Forgive me. I'm a predator. Do remember that this is how most men tend to look at women."

"You are attractive." He gave her that easily. "You are an attractive woman, but I must say, there's a difference between admission of such beauty and desire."

He stood, running a hand through his hair wearily.

"Is there much pleasure to be derived, from this sort of business transaction?"

"You do not desire me?" There was a touch of bewilderment to her expression and tone. Had there been anyone in her long life that did not want her in some form or fashion? Even women had vied for her attention at one point, she being a pure-blooded princess with all the beauty and power that came with.

"I am not so humble as you, so I can freely say that yes, there is much pleasure to be derived."

"Have you done something, for me to desire you?" His tone was somewhat cold, somewhat chasting, standing there by his desk, loosening his necktie with one hand.

Blunt.

"Beauty is not enough for you?" And yet she was still wearing the same basic expression she had worn throughout the entire encounter. She stood abruptly. "Obviously, verbal persuasion is not enough for your bed. Shall I try another tact?"

Her hands went to the tie at the back of her obi.

"The fact that you seem to desire a place in it so bluntly is enough to unsettle me, Shizuka." Miss Hiou would not do, any longer, not if she behaved this way further. His eyes did pick out the way she moved, but he was a man with pride, as well, a kind man, beneath it all, but he would be a hard man for this woman's insistence.

"It's become a matter of pride, Luck. I do not take no for an answer." Was he growing angry now? She had never had a taste for rape and she wouldn't begin to now, but really, he was being far too stubborn. It was no longer about ownership or lust. Shizuka did not know rejection, had never experienced it in any shape or form.

"Pride." He closed his eyes, weighing the options. The fact that people did not die in this place... it was troubling beyond measure. The fact that he did not desire his secret to, in the slightest manner, be revealed, also caused him a great deal of trouble. This woman had been bought, and she upped the price. Should she attempt to gain more, he would stop her. This was his final concession.

"Hopefully," Eyes still closed, "Does not expect romance."

She almost sneered at that.

"Romance does not exist for monsters like me. Monsters like us."

Victory. A small one, but it would be enough for now. She graced him with one of her rare smiles, an indulgent one, almost-pitying, before striding toward him, undoing her obi as she walked.

"I apologize for not caring much for your virtue, Mr. Gandor."

"Monsters like us..." He mused as she strode forward, pausing to snuff out the cigar in the ashtray, straighten a stack of books.

"I never considered myself a monster in that manner." He met her gaze with a smile of his own. Almost kind.

"Apologize to my accountant, perhaps."

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Log: Completed

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AH MAH GAD. I STAYED UP TIL 11:30 THIS MORNING READING CLAYMORE.

GOOD, RIGHT?

SOOO GOOD.

APPL- I MEAN. YAY!

I WAS RLY PINGED BY RIFUL AND HELEN. AND CLARE A LITTLE BIT.

OH MAN, I USED TO PLAY RIFUL HERE, SHE'S FUN. HELEN IS SO COOL TOO

RIFUL...MAAAYBE... YOU KNOW HOW I LIKE CRAZY LOLIS.

WELL IF YOU DO GO THAT ROAD, I HAVE ICONS. ... FOR EVERY CLAYMORE CHAR.

I SHALL CONSIDER IT~!

<3

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