tampered | Log; Ongoing

Jack had chosen Pandora's as it was a nice middle of the road cafe and would allow them to sit outside on this fine autumn day. Not too expensive -after all he wasn't trying to get in her pants- and yet not disgustingly cheap either, he had dressed up a little and instead of braces, had a waistcoat on over his dress shirt, the little silver watch chain jingling as he walked along.

WWII great coat fanning out behind him like a cape, Jack strolled up towards the cafe, smirking as he caught sight of the beautiful blond who was fidgeting with her phone.

"Keep staring at it like that and it might burst into flames," he called out as long strides closed the distance towards her.

If he thought all her attention was on the phone, good. Cindy kept her eyes and ears open wherever she went, even if it looked like she was distracted. She almost never was. It was how she survived all her missions so far. Well, most of them anyway, minus that annoying cab ride that seemed so long ago.

"Only if I'm lucky," she replied as she turned towards his voice, grinning as she waved the phone in the air. "They make these things so difficult to use sometimes."

Arching an eyebrow Jack decided there was no really safe response to that so he merely smiled as he closed the distance.

"Cindy, I'm safe in assuming?" He asked, extending a hand towards her.

"Congratulations, Captain," Cindy began, pausing to slip her phone into her skirt pocket before shaking his hand, "You win a prize for assuming correctly."

She eyed him up and down, taking mental notes here and there about his appearance in case she needed to call up it later. One never knew what they needed to remember.

Edited 2008-10-03 16:49 (UTC)

"Oh goody me," Jack said with a grin as he bent neatly to kiss knuckles and then released her hand.

Offering her an elbow if she wished to take it, Jack nodded to the cafe.

"I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long, shall we?"

Cindy would have swooned if she hadn't been married to the number charmer in the world. And if she was stupid. But she was smart enough to giggle and play the coy role.

"Not at all." She took the offered gesture and threaded her arm over Jack's. "I would have waited forever if it meant spending the afternoon with a gentleman."

"Most people would tell you, you're still waiting," Jack said with a rakish wink as he escorted her inside.

Once shown to a nice table out on the patio, however, he held her chair, like a gentleman should, waiting for her to take a seat before shrugging out of his coat -yes OUT of the coat!- and taking his own.

"So, what were we supposed to be discussing again?"

Chair out, coat off? And he said he wasn't a gentleman.

Cindy settled into her chair and crossed her legs as she watched him sit down across from her. She wondered how much he knew about the City and the Deities. If it wasn't a lot, she would have wasted her time. Hoping for the best, Cindy turned the charm on and leaned forward to answer his question.

"Oh, anything and everything. Mainly you. Are you really a captain or are you just fucking with my head?"

It was always best to stroke the egos of your victims by letting them tell all their business before going in for the kill.

Only Jack wasn't much for talking about himself on the first date.

Smiling with an easy and equally false sort of charm, he sat back with his hands folded politely in his lap.

"RAF retired," he said without missing a beat. "How have you been settling into the City? Are you here all alone or is anyone from your world here with you?"

She'd put forth a nice opening volley, he was more than happy to direct return it with an easy overhand shot.

"RAF? I'll have to admit. I don't do well with acronyms, Jack, which I'll be calling you from now on because Captain makes me feel uptight."

She was not going to answer the second question. Last thing she needed was to tell people her first week in that she was the ex-wife of that whore Prince Charming, especially when he was Warden and may or may not request her services in the future. Cindy didn't know what was going on in that brain of his and needed to keep the lines as open as she possibly could.

"I've been doing just fine. Spent most of my time checking out information on how to start a business and everything. What about you?"

As she moved the conversation onwards, Jack dropped off explaining about the RAF, since it would only raise more questions!

Instead he pursed his lips and gave his head a mournful sort of shake.

"Utter wastrel, that's me." He said with a shrug. The Spitfire, after all was a hobby, the house would soon be finished to establish Torchwood a base in the City but Jack never talked about Torchwood business.

As for the mischief he got up to down in the Underground to make money, well ... that he definitely kept to himself. So, as he had nothing to give her, he was more than happy to let her assume he was a silly, silly man without much worth.

Oh, so this is how it was going to be. Cindy noticed he never actually answered any of her questions and it was starting to get a bit irritating. If she didn't know any better, she would have assumed he was a pesky politician.

This was heading nowhere fast and Cindy had to pump the brakes sooner or later before it all spun out of control.

"Oh, I doubt that," she replied with a flash of those pearly whites while nodding at the waitress who had arrived to fill their water glasses. "You're going to sit here and tell me you do nothing all day? You don't look like the professional slacker type. Tell me how you spend your days."

Aww but this was amusing him and let's face it, it wasn't hard sitting across from the pretty face of Cinderella!

Jack flashed back an equally white smile and bowed his head as if he were a naughty boy caught goofing off instead of doing his homework.

"Surely there are more interesting topics of conversation?" He evaded with instead. "Such as I believe I saw mention of a shoe store? Will you be carrying men's high end hand stitched leather dress shoes? I have a good friend who wears the nicest suits and he's hell on his shoes, it would be good to know a place where I could get 'gift' pairs for him."

"But they're not as interesting as a man named Jack," Cindy waved off his avoidance with an actual wave of her menu. It was odd how he just wouldn't say anything about himself. Most men she knew, both Fable and Mundy, would kill to yammer on about themselves. What was he hiding? Her mission point was slowly starting to move from the City to Jack, if not because she already had some information on the place, but because her curiosity was piqued.

"Yes, a shoe store. I ran one back home and figured I should stick with what I know. And I'm sure I will. But enough about shoes. I'd rather not talk business on such a beautiful day."

She was willing to give a little by dropping some tidbits about herself. And there wasn't much one could do with tales of small business ownership. The store would be a cover just like her Fabletown one, anyway.

"A man named Jack?"

Oh but Jack wasn't just any sort of man. He'd made a life out of deflecting attention away from himself, while at the same time being as charismatic as possible to get the job done.

"Actually, now that you mention it, there is this man named Jack. Jack Bourdain, he's accounted to be one of the best chefs here in the City. He and his sous chef are opening or have opened a resturant called the Artichoke and from what I've heard, it's fantastic food. You should check it out. Though be careful, I understand Mr. Bourdain is not above using his chef whites to seduce anyone who takes his fancy, male or female."

She'd asked about a Jack right? She got a Jack!

Smartass. One big fucking smartass sitting across from her and it took all it had in her to not reach over and slap that stupid smile off his face. Cindy calmed herself down by pausing to give the waitress her order-- a tuna niçoise salad. Cindy made sure to tack on a glass of the most expensive wine they had on their list. She should have been a bitch and ordered lobster instead since she damn well sure wasn't paying for this lunch and he was making things harder than they had to be.

"I meant the Captain Jack Harkness that's sitting across from me. Unless there's another Captain Jack Harkness in this city and still sitting in front of me. I want him to tell me about himself because shouldn't friends know about each other?"

Cindy was interested in seeing how he weaseled out of this one.

Edited 2008-10-03 20:02 (UTC)

Jack ordered a nice chicken salad for himself and was of course fine with just the water.

Once the waitress had moved away, Jack leaned forward putting his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his folded hands.

"Now, what sort of gentleman would I be if I sat here and prattled on about myself, boring a beautiful woman with such mundane details of how I take my coffee? Black, by the way. I take it black."

He paused and then lifted a finger before he risked getting that expensive wine dumped over his head.

"Ahh but it would be equally rude of me not to answer the same lady's question now wouldn't it? I've been here in the City for about 7 months, I live in building number 7 but am getting ready to move to a house down on the beachfront. I have no dedicated employment in the City but I get by and I have arrived and returned home twice over the past 7 months."

She was really starting to hate him. Cindy knew damn well that he was trying to placate her with his answer. To normal people, it was a satisfactory answer. To her, it was a bullshit response geared to throw her off track.

Too bad for Jack. Cindy was a popular Fable and wouldn't croak anytime soon. She had a lot of time on her hands and could sit here until the cows came home and she was stubborn to boot.

"Yes, but as I remember, you claimed to not be a gentleman, so prattle on, darling," she smiled, putting on her classic 'This doesn't bug the shit out of me at all.' face. "You're a bit too young in my eyes to be retired and do nothing all day. What did you do back home after leaving whatever the RAF is?"

She'd have to check and see what those letters stood for. Might prove to be interesting.

Immortal vs immortal, stubborn vs stubborn.

They could be here for awhile.

Of course, if what he's heard from Blue was true, she could break him in little pieces and tie him in a knot but hopefully it wouldn't come to more violence than a slap in the face?

"Bah, didn't you say no business talk?" He fired back without missing a beat.

Cindy gritted out a smile as her own phrase was thrown back into her face. He was good. She had to give him that. But he was also lucky there wasn't any major benefits to this meeting than satisfying her own curiosity. If there were, he wouldn't have survived long enough to see the bread basket.

"Indeed I did," Cindy confirmed as she took a sip from her water glass. "But I wasn't talking about business. I was talking about day to day life. Golf. Crosstitching. Brain surgery. Orgies. That type of thing."

It was time to try another tactic. Start off low with useless hobbies and hopefully build up from there.

"Oh orgies are always fun," Jack said cheerfully, sitting back with his glass of water.

Studying her thoughtfully, he pointed a finger in her direction.

"However, you don't strike me as the crosstiching type so I'm going to guess, brain surgery?"

He'd gotten a wiff of the huntress and was now curious himself as to why she was working so diligently to get him to spill something. He honestly couldn't think of any genuine usefulness he could be to her, beyond the most basic of information so Jack had a feeling that it was getting to be personal.

She did seem to be a lady who liked to win!

"You're wrong in assuming this time. I'll have you know I am very handy with a needle. Don't let the long nails fool you," she answered raising her hands to emphasize her point. Cindy was telling the truth. She did know how to embroider, past life and all. However, little did he know that with those same hands, she could pluck his eyes out faster than he avoided her questions.

She pushed away from the edge of the table to sit back into her chair and thought of what her next move would be. Maybe hinting around things wasn't going to work with this fool. Straightforward was what she had left.

"You never did answer my question, Jack."

Edited 2008-10-03 21:58 (UTC)

They'd grow back. He wasn't quite sure how but he'd die and wake up and they'd be back. That had been a creepy revelation the first time it had happened, let me tell you.

"Which question?" He said in return, arching an eyebrow. "You've asked a few."

"All of them."

Cindy was at the end of her rope. She almost bet herself on the level of possibilities of Jack dancing around the questions now that it was staring to come head on. If nothing else, the guy would probably crack under torture, but it wasn't that serious for Cindy to get to that point.

After 365 days straight of it, Jack was pretty immune to torture. In fact, he was positively annoyingly cheerful about it.

"So," Jack said, picking up his water glass. "Is this where I bring up the weather or would you like to know about curses?"

A straight forward response. He wasn't talking about himself. But he'd give her more information about the City, how was that?

The fake smile that was plastered on Cindy's face during the whole conversation was replaced with a more neutral look that belied her anger bubbling up inside her. She picked up her wine glass as soon as the waitress had plonked it down and pointed it at him before she started speaking.

"The weather never really interests me unless it's my wedding day and I already know about the curses." Her tone was tight and her words sharp around the edges. The underlying message in her answer was that Jack was a right asshole and even if he won this round, Cindy wasn't going to let him win the next one. "Has anybody told you that changing the subject is very, very fucking annoying?"

"Usually," Jack began as he sat forward. "They just cut to the chase and call me very, very annoying."

Lifting his water glass, he lightly clinked it to her wine glass, before sitting back and taking a sip. Somehow, it really would be either a miracle or a testament to just how good an actress she was if Cindy didn't toss that wine right in his face.

"You forgot the 'fucking' part."

Lucky for him, the wine gods decided that it was miracle day for Jack and thus, Cindy resisted the urge to find the entire bottle and lob him over the head with it. But oh how good it would feel to bash his brains in.

The smile made a comeback. She just needed a bit of time to think of a backup plan, perhaps go back to her original goal. Rome wasn't built in a day after all.

"So tell me something else I don't know about this place."

"Gentlemen ~~and Doctor Who characters~~ don't cuss," he explained with a smile.

Pursing his lips, Jack took a sip of water and eyed her thoughtfully.

"Well, the Underground can be very useful for finding, odds and ends. Xanadu is lovely and has an amusement park, at least I think it stayed after the last curse. There are elements of good and evil in this City and for the most part the Deities keep out of their business so sometimes it's good to be on your toes."

See? He could be a fount of information when he felt like it.

They don't cuss, but they could put their dick in any and everything? Sounded like Jack went to the School of a Certain Ex-Husband to Cindy.

Oh and now he wanted to be chatterbox. She didn't think she could hate him more than she did right now.

"Odds and ends, you say?" she questioned curiously. "Like what?"

To hell with the amusement park, the Underground sounded like a place to think about looking into.

So long as they weren't talking about him or his business, Jack could be quite the little chatty biddy!

"Like just about anything you could want, plus a few things you shouldn't have," he offered, sitting up politely as the waitress returned with their meals.

"Aren't there things you want that you shouldn't have?"

"Yes. Details. Information. Gossip. I'm a nosy old bitch. Can't help it," Cindy remarked, spearing a cherry tomato with her fork a bit too violently.

Hopefully, that would open the door a crack and let him know that just because he didn't say anything about himself wouldn't mean that Cindy wouldn't go looking for it. This wasn't even an official mission and she was acting like it was. She was, indeed, like a pit bull: once she got her jaws on something, it was hell to get her off.

"Sounds like you go down there quite a bit."

He might have been getting an inkling but it wouldn't be the first time he'd pissed off the wrong person!

Ducking a flying seed, well it looked like it went flying, maybe he was just being an ass, Jack began to neatly cut into his own food.

"I've had the occasional trip, yes." He admitted. "There's also some wonderful gambling to be had Underground."

Wasn't why he was there but maybe she'd think it was why he was there and she could spend some time chasing up that dead end.

...

Which would piss her off more, wouldn't it?

If Jack thought she was that stupid, then he was the stupid one. All the time he spent skipping around questions and now he finally gives her a direct answer expecting her to fall for it? Bullshit. There was no way he was going to throw her off like that. Cindy had spent too many years in episonage to fall for an old tactic like that. Hell, it was shit she'd done herself.

But Cindy smiled her little smile as she shuffled around the tuna on her plate, putting on the act that she really did believe that all he did was gamble. "Shame you have to do all the fun stuff behind closed doors. Must be some pretty interesting gambling."

Hey, he didn't think she was stupid. He just hoped that maybe she'd fall for it?

Giving an innocent sort of shrug, Jack shoveled a fork full of food into his mouth, because it would be rude to talk while chewing, right? He was not above using food as an escape tactic!

She was going to strangle him and then break all his fingers. No, the fingers first, then his neck, shoot him for good measure and top it all off with a swift kick to the family jewels. Not because he wouldn't tell her anything, but because he wouldn't tell her anything and he was being an asshole about it.

In the meantime, as Cindy watched him over the rim of her wine glass before draining it, she hoped that he would choke on that damn salad. Last thing she wanted to do was go the sex route for information that wouldn't do anything but satisfy her curiosity. He wasn't that important to Cindy.

"I'm done," she announced, punctuating her point by slamming the poor glass on the table. It was a wonder it didn't shatter in her hand from the force.

Edited 2008-10-05 00:24 (UTC)

Jack arched his eyebrows and tried to look innocent. It was probably failing wasn't it?

"Salad not to your liking?" He asked politely. "I'm sorry about that, usually they have wonderful food here."

She was going to cut to the chase and just rack him, wasn't she?

"There are a whole lot of things that aren't to my liking."

There was an silent addition of 'Mainly you.' danglng off the end of her sentence like an ornament on a Christmas tree. She didn't say it or slam her fist into those stupid fucking eyebrows of his, as much as it killed her not to, because she didn't know if burning this bridge would come back to haunt her. This was only act one. There would be another day, another time, for her to be on top. Very few of her missions were one day things and this was just another one of them.

"You can have it in a doggy bag. I have an appointment I'm late for," Cindy said as she pushed back her chair and slung her purse over her shoulder. "You have a nice afternoon."

With those final words, she got up from her seat, making sure to slam the chair into the table as a final note, and walked stiffly out of the restaurant.

Edited 2008-10-05 00:48 (UTC)

Log; Ongoing

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