The Poison of Pleasure (M)

[Lion]

"I don't need to know her personally to know the truth of my eyes and ears.  She's been very busy as of late with all these functions that wretched aunt of hers drags her too.  I saw her, Miss 'Thames'.  With my own two eyes.  That little gift of hers.  And out of the corner of my eye, I'm certain someone else saw her too.  A shadow moved hastily away and disappeared before I could get a better look.  But she...was none the wiser," Jude said as he peered at her intently.  He even smirked a little.  But it quickly faded as he remembered the wine on the table.  He needed a drink, a good one at that and took the opportunity to take the whole bottle and bring it too his lips.  He drank heartily before setting it down.

"I've been busy of late, trying to pin down just who might be."

[visualspice]

The way he worded it made her eyes narrow on him with suspicion, but that didn't stop her from approaching with a generous sway of her hips.
"And just why are you," she began to say, grabbing up the wine bottle and drinking down a hearty swig. She wiped her lips off on the back of her hand. "Looking?"
It made her wonder just who was in his book... And what.

[Lion]

He looked at her a moment before taking the bottle himself drinking a hearty swallow.  "To protect her," he answered simply.  "If need be.  And to protect myself, insurance.  I find out who they are, I can find out all the dirt that follows their slimy trail."  He peered at her as she came closer, raising a single brow.

[visualspice]

"And which 'her' are you trying to protect?" she asked, snagging the wine from him again, and taking in a long drink. "You mentioned you barely know Renna..." And her eyes challenged him. Clearly he couldn't care enough about 'just another courtesan' out of the 'goodness of his heart'. Considering, that'd be the LAST thing she'd buy from him.

[Lion]

Jude glared at her and gave an unsteady breath.  "Renna," he growled and watched her chug the wine like it was nothing at all.  "I told you, my reasons were personal.  Why should I explain myself to you?  Why did you even come here if not to find out what my true intentions were?  A wanted woman, risking her very life to come here.  I can tell you don't have much to lose, but she does.  Why else did you come here?"

[visualspice]

Jinai held the wine bottle down, but at his question, merely stared at him before swallowing. Then she held it back up to her lips, taking in some more.

"I don't know you. You have to explain everything to me, or I'll find a way to get that pretty face of yours on wanted posters, too." Then she grinned, more playfully this time then sinister to see she was making him angry. Good. A man as rich as him SHOULD be angry.

She looked away from him just then, her green eyes listlessly traipsing around his house.
"So you mean to tell me some expensive male whore actually cares about other people, even those who have no real relation to his own, or no real acquaintance?" She held the wine bottle back to her lips, but paused to raise her brows at him, waiting for an answer expectantly, and also in timely nonchalance.

She did have all night to pull questions from him....
Though she wondered how upset he'd be when he wouldn't get any of that coin?

[Lion]

She was getting on his nerves but if there was any man who could keep his cool under pressure it was Jude Armand.  He kept his frown and watched the bottle leave her lips and the moisture linger there as she spoke.  He smirked a little and let it quickly fade before the took the bottle himself and took another, smaller swig, setting it aside.

"I know it may be hard to believe and I'm not asking you to believe it," Jude said, not wanting to give it all away.  But he knew she'd be as stubborn and persistent as he was.  That actually made him smirk and watched her lips again.  "Renna just...she reminds me of someone I once knew.  And I'd hate to see someone so young and innocent get hurt over careless people with little more intention other than helping themselves.  I'm not saying I'm innocent of that.  But this is different."

[visualspice]

"Oh, she reminds you of someone?" Jinai goaded. "How convenient." And she reached for the bottle of wine he set aside. It was good stuff, and she wasn't drunk enough to survive this.

[Lion]

Jude sat up and turned to eye her.  "I'm sorry if that answer doesn't satisfy you," he said with a forced grin.  But his eyes turned solemn suddenly and he turned them down toward the glasses he'd left on table.  "Renna reminds me of my sister," he admitted with only minor hesitation.  "I haven't seen her in eight years.  But when I look at Renna, the same smiles, the same attitude.  She was five years old when they took her away.  I don't know where she is.  Maybe I think if I can help someone like Renna, maybe it would make a difference.  But maybe it doesn't, after all, and I'll never know what happened to her."

[visualspice]

Jinai just stared at Jude, and well, laughed.
"And you expect me to buy that bull shit? Come on, I'm sure you've got a better story you can come up with than that," she said, snaking up the bottle of wine and stealing more for herself, then she offered it over to him. "Maybe you just need more to drink."

[Lion]

Jude stared at the bottle and then back at her.  "I wish I was," he said blankly, eyes half-lidded.  "I wish it was all just a figment of my imagination."  His eyes burned and he stared at wine, before taking a sip for himself, giving it back to her.  "But I wouldn't expect you to understand something like that.  You'll see me as you want to see me.  Besides, what have you lost?  Do you know what it's like to watch your mother raped and murdered in front of you by Mordecai?  To see your sister dragged away and never see her again?"

[visualspice]

Jinai grew silent at his words, and swallowed them down with an acidic zing. If she had to guess, he didn't seem to be lying by the way he was speaking- then again, he could be a good actor. She turned away, idly brushing off dust that wasn't there on his shirt she was wearing.

"I don't care much for my family, and what family I did care for is dead."

[Lion]

"I cared for mine," Jude said, staring at her with hard eyes.  "I still do, though they're gone now.  But what's in the past is in the past, and now I'm worried for Renna."  He laughed a little, though it was obviously forced, if in a sad attempt to lighten the mood and he frowned again before peering back at her.  "So what are you doing here then?  What do you want?"

[visualspice]

Jinai could sense the tension, feel his pain, and it made her sour to her stomach. She turned away, to hide her face as blonde hair fell over her eyes. Remaining quiet for a moment, eyes glued to the bottle of wine, she simply answered, "To protect Renna from you, and any other miserable toad out there who thinks he's clever enough to take advantage of her- and expose her for whatever they believe she might be." After a while, she hesitated, threading a hand through her hair and pulling stray hairs of blonde from her face before glancing over at him absently. "The information you have is rather sensitive. Having it fall into the wrong hands could have her hang." Then, as she studied his face, her own a mask of ice, she added, "And I'll do anything to find that little book you have and see it either destroyed, or used against those who deserve it. So I guess we can either do this the easy way, or the hard way." And she smirked, though it was forced and no longer really playful.

"It's your choice, big boy. What sort of deal can we strike?"

[Lion]

Her words and her tone made him feel like a cornered rat and he turned to her immediately with a soured face.  A peculiar smirk played on his lips for a moment before he spoke.  "I'm afraid that's not an option," he said.  "That book is mine.  Insurance you know.  But I wouldn't mind striking a deal for certain aspects of its content if you help me find the other person who spied on Renna.  Whether you believe my intentions are pure or not, I want to help her."

[visualspice]

Jinai stared at Jude for a moment, her eyes flicking to look him over but once before those green eye snapped back to him.
"And just what makes you think I'd be able to help? Unless I really do look better than my pictures," she said in a cold flirt as she pushed up her shoulders, letting just one sleeve fall off and expose a bit more of her cleavage, but her eyes never left his. "Have you forgotten I'm a wanted criminal?"

[Lion]

"Oh I never lie about beauty, darling," Jude said, unamused and his eyes grew colder, eying her skin as if he could freeze it by mere eyesight.  "But it was your play to deal, so let's deal.  We've already established that you have little to lose.  You risked prison enter the city.  How you entered the city so well-protected in a time of war also indicates resourcefulness.  But exactly how resourceful remains to be seen.  You can help. I see it in the way you try to steel your expression in ice.  But the real question is are you willing?  I think because you're a wanted criminal makes you exactly what I need."

[visualspice]

Jinai gave a pretty bat of her long, panted lashes.
"I only play the most dangerous games." ANd she forced another sour grin. "So you're aiming to make this worth my while? You're telling me this might benefit Renna?"
She'd cut him if it winds up he was now using her to turn Renna in, and the threat was there in her eyes as she kept that fake smile upon her lips.

"I wouldn't say no to such... a proposition." Then she paused, barking out a laugh. "And here I only came for sex and a book... looks like I'm in for yet another mission."
She seemed only to live for those things, but here she was making a mockery of herself, and she didn't know why. Perhaps she felt bitter that a man like him was conducting it, asking HER to risk her neck. Normally it was those of poverty, those who would eat off the streets that begged for her help, those of the Free Folk, at 'Home'- so she naturally obliged. They suffered, she suffered..
and despite his story- what real suffering had he gone through?

Though she had seen the pain in his eyes and her expression faded as she turned away, her own memories peaking through, memories that she had a hard time digesting.
She didn't need to be thinking of Havanlaar at a time like this...
of all of the blood shed, the death... and all that she lost in one grave moment. Her brother had been a fool, and died a fool- so why were her eyes glossing over with fresh tears?

[Lion]

"Yes," he answered solemnly.  "I can bargain and barter with the rest of them.  But my offer is simple.  I could give you choice cuts of information in exchange for your help.  I wouldn't even offer it if it wasn't valuable.  And you wouldn't be the only one taking a risk."  He saw her tears glimmer in her eyes and he took the sleeve of the shirt he'd discarded on the ground and reached up to blot her eyes, pulling away the paint of her lashes.  "I wouldn't offer if I believed it wouldn't benefit Renna."

He pulled the sleeve away and peered at her eyes, saying nothing.

[visualspice]

Jinai tensed and jerked away from him at his gesture, not realizing what he was doing until after the fact. She frowned bitterly and turned away from him, wiping at her eyes and muttering, "I think I got some vase dust in my eyes."
Lame excuse, but hey, it could be true?

Then after composing herself, she looked at him.
"So what exactly are you wanting me to do?" She was giving him a sneer, but might as well hear him out.