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Jack Hollis [Captain Hook] (floreat_etona) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2010-04-10 11:39:00

Entry tags:

black forest witch

Who: Jack & Vaughn
What: Talk
Where: @ Osha
When: The day after Jack meets Rosalie.
Warnings: None expected, but will be edited as needed.

Jack waited outside the Japanese restaurant, casual, but inside he was worried. He was chewing over his email exchange with Nicky and Rosalie's warnings from yesterday. For once, he was curious about a woman as more than just a hook up potential. Who was this Vaughn? Her name kept showing up on the forums as someone to dread and fear, but she wasn't in jail, so was she just just a menace or, as Rosalie said, someone truly dangerous?

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shebringscurses
2010-04-10 11:18 pm UTC (link)

Vaughn didn't know what Jack looked like, but there was only one person standing outside Osha with a splash of wariness across his eyes. If there was any time to be uncertain, Vaughn recognized that this was it. For both of them, really, as neither were very certain of the other's intentions. Like spies meeting on the front lines of war.

She was seated at the bus stop bench across the street, casually thumbing through a copy of the Times with one hand and ashing her cigarette with the other. All the while, watching him from behind a pair of Jackie O sunglasses. Traffic stretched frequently between them, Jack might not have even noticed her.

Until finally, after he'd been standing there for nearly ten minutes, Vaughn decided that it seemed safe enough to head over. She didn't see anyone else in the vicinity, although even she knew that hardly dictated safety. But, Osha was moderately crowded with the lunch hour business types, and plenty of watchful eyes is all she could ask for.

Vaughn crossed the street in a dress of ruffled black. It wasn't necessarily modern or flattering, and it didn't aim to be. The fabric fit a loose drape over willowy, endless bones. Even without heels, she was taller than some men. Whatever tastefulness the dress might have barely redeemed for itself, that was ruined by her choice of footwear. Laced up Doc Martens just didn't fit the broken elegance of her ensemble.

If Vaughn held any awareness that she was going to look out of place at Osha, she certainly didn't have an air of worry. She jaywalked like some women might hit a runway, as lazy and leonine as a queen.

When she reached Jack, Vaughn tilted her sunglasses up into that rotblack and kinky crown of hair. "Mr. Deluxe?" She asked with the sun glowing like a misinformed halo at her back. Her smile was easy, and other under circumstances and in another world, she might have been easily regarded as pretty.

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	floreat_etona 2010-04-10 11:41 pm UTC (link)
	He didn't know what to expect but the woman that approached him was a surprise. He straightened, hoping to disguise the surprise on his face, and he offered his winning grin, the kind he used on clients. "Lady Dangerous," he murmured, and he made of show of looking her over. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

shebringscurses
2010-04-11 05:31 am UTC (link)

She ticked a brow when Jack's eyes swept her in a distinctly masculine way. Her pale eyes didn't look surprised, but a little bored. As if waiting for him to finish - like this was common, expected, or maybe just confirming that she was incapable of flattering.

"Shall we go inside? I'm starving." Her smile was sudden, and warmer than whiskey.

"Unless you have intentions on being my meal, we can hit the alley." She was certainly dressed the role of a black widow spider, wasn't she? Just that little dash of red at the mouth was a functional, and deadly hourglass.

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floreat_etona
2010-04-11 02:43 pm UTC (link)

His first reaction was to agree with Vaughn's suggestion and duck off into the alleyway, but he reminded himself this was business -- ostensibly -- and he shook his head, giving Vaughn a sincerely regretful smile. "Maybe later?" He opened the door to the restaurant and ushered her in, then followed.

"Busy morning?" he asked politely. Mentally kicking himself for not rereading their previous correspondence, he tried to recall what -- if anything -- they discussed and what he should know about her.

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shebringscurses
2010-04-11 04:41 pm UTC (link)

His response actually surprised her, although her ghostly eyes only widened a sliver. As quickly as the expression arose, it was gone with a drop of her chin as Vaughn slipped past him and into the cool, oriental atmosphere of the restaurant. The hostess organized them a booth in the corner fairly easily, and Vaughn followed as she considered the motives behind Jack's question on her morning.

"Not particularly. Slow until now, I think." She ultimately settled on honesty as she sank into the booth. She consciously took the side that faced the front of the restaurant.

"Want to tell me what this date's all about, Deluxe?"

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floreat_etona
2010-04-11 05:02 pm UTC (link)

The blunt question set up the wrong tone, Jack thought, and he frowned a little, annoyed. He'd rather he took control of their date; worse, Vaughn's aggressiveness wasn't tempered with the kind of flirtatious promise he was used to from bossy women.

"We did some flirting on the forum," he started, as if offended at the implication that the date was anything but that, a date, and he leaned back into his seat to give her a crooked grin.

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shebringscurses
2010-04-11 11:47 pm UTC (link)

"You call that flirting?" Her smile was open-mouthed with a crack of true amusement in such a porcelain, stone cold veneer. If he wasn't beneath her and bleeding, Vaughn would hardly count it as flirting.

The barracuda's attention weaved when a waitress stepped up with a smile like the sun and asked for their drinks. Vaughn ordered a glass of vintage red wine without consulting the menu. Occasionally, her eyes flicked to the door any time a new person walked in.

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	floreat_etona 2010-04-12 01:16 am UTC (link)
	"Guess I was mistaken." He was thrown off by Vaughn's bored demeanor; it felt different than the kind of exaggerated sleepiness of a woman wanting to be swept off her feet. The waitress's arrival was welcome and he ordered the same wine as Vaughn, curious about her tastes. Then: "So, why do you think I wanted to meet you?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

shebringscurses
2010-04-12 01:56 am UTC (link)

"Well," she began with a rolling purr, "we've barely spoken, so I'm hoping it's not because you want to kill me.." Her tone was almost humorous, and indeed, the statement would have sounded like a joke coming from anybody else. But, of course, this was Vaughn - and she was always deadly serious even if she was laughing until it hurt.

She reached to unfold her napkin and slid it gracefully into her lap before she continued. "Which leaves us with the obvious reasons - you're curious, you want to make a deal, or somebody put you up to this.." Idly, she picked up a pair of chopsticks to play with as she spoke.

"So, which is it?" She lifted her eyes to Jack then, and pinned him easily under the weight of her focus.

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	floreat_etona 2010-04-12 02:20 am UTC (link)
	"I'm curious." That was true, even before all the excitement with Boyd, and he leaned forward, resting his forearms on the edge of the table. "And everyone keeps warning me off you." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	shebringscurses 2010-04-12 03:40 am UTC (link)
	"Why do you think that is?" She asked gently, setting the chopsticks down. She lost interest in them in favor of Jack's words. Everyone kept warning him? She could imagine who quite easily. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

floreat_etona
2010-04-12 01:37 pm UTC (link)

"You tried to kill someone." He laughed then, affected, pretend sheepish. "I keep thinking this is just some cat fight between girls--" He lifted his eyes then to watch Vaughn's expression. "--but I'm told it was more serious than that." Her demeanor was cool and composed and Jack realized he was dealing with a pro. She might be playing dumb but she wasn't going to give him an inch, and he tensed a little, as if anticipating a physical fight.

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	shebringscurses 2010-04-12 09:59 pm UTC (link)
	"I tried to kill someone?" She repeated with a slight widening of the eyes. As if amused by this rumor more than any of the others. Maybe she hadn't heard this one at all yet. Vaughn certainly seemed curious as to the details of this attempted murder. "Who?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

floreat_etona
2010-04-13 01:44 am UTC (link)

He was increasingly aware how ill-prepared he was for this meeting. Stupidly, he really did believe this was some spat between girls, over a guy, something like that. But the woman across from him had the cool grace of a panther, the kind of hunter he saw at board meetings and sales pitches. So he straightened and gave her a casual shrug.

"Does it matter?" His grin was long and suggestive. "You don't seem too perturbed -- is this standard fare for you?"

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shebringscurses
2010-04-13 02:05 am UTC (link)

"Of course, it matters," her posture straightened when the waitress returned with their wine. The waitress bowed and stepped back to give them another moment to peruse the menu. "I would like to know who's spreading these lies about me, but I'm fairly certain that I have a good idea."

"Let me say that despite what happened, I was never trying to kill that girl. We fought, that's it. She likes to play the victim and make it out to be more than it was." Vaughn took a sip of her wine. The merlot was deep and dry, with just a hint of blackberry to sweeten the sharp edges.

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	floreat_etona 2010-04-13 02:23 am UTC (link)
	He imitated her movements, casually sipping the wine, as if they were having an entirely different conversation. "She's young," he observed, as if that explained anything. "You obviously scared her." Waiting until Vaughn ordered, he made his decision -- steak tataki -- then drank more wine. "Are things finished between you two now?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	shebringscurses 2010-04-13 02:34 am UTC (link)
	Vaughn ordered a red curry dish and shrugged upon handing her menu over to the waitress. "Mostly?" She idly ran a finger around the mouth of her wineglass. "I try to ignore her for the most part, sometimes she makes it difficult." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	floreat_etona 2010-04-13 02:42 am UTC (link)
	"How so?" Boyd wasn't quiet about her feelings toward Vaughn, she made that clear. Was that what Vaughn meant? He watched her thin finger dance against the glass and he found the normally coquettish gesture to be annoying. He wanted to reach out and still her hand. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	shebringscurses 2010-04-13 06:10 pm UTC (link)
	"She like to goad me," Vaughn said with a sigh as she sank back against the plush back of her booth. "Because she's a child and thinks that makes her automatically innocent. And while everyone else apparently sees it that way, I do not." She took a sip, gesturing to Jack with her glass. "And what is your interest in Little Red?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

floreat_etona
2010-04-13 07:02 pm UTC (link)

He lifted an eyebrow at her response, canting his head in a kind nod of acknowledgment. "She blew me off in the middle of a date," he replied with a chagrined smile and a casual shrug, as if to say Can you imagine?. "I upset her. Your name slipped as she darted away, and," another shrug, "I wanted to know what that meant." He drained his glass of wine, in need of the fortification.

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	shebringscurses 2010-04-13 07:18 pm UTC (link)
	His admission drew a pinch between her eyebrows, genuinely perplexed. "Why would she have mentioned me?" She nudged her half empty glass toward Jack when he drained his own. He looked like he could use a little more. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	floreat_etona 2010-04-13 08:08 pm UTC (link)
	"I don't know. I thought it was odd, too." He accepted her glass with the lift of an eyebrow to confirm her generosity, then he drank the rest of the wine. Like the rest of his life, this was turning into a bizarre, confusing dance and he wanted to be done. "Are you in touch with her? Have you seen her recently?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

shebringscurses
2010-04-13 08:19 pm UTC (link)

When Jack asked about her being in touch with Boyd, Vaughn broke a simper on the cusp of a laughing exhale. "We're not exactly pen pals, Deluxe."

The waitress brought their food in that moment, but Vaughn found she was without an appetite. She sat back from the table and continued, "If she took a long walk off a short pier, my day would only get better. We have a great dislike for one another, and that's no secret. So while she's apparently acting odd these days, I don't care. She's so mentally unhinged-" Vaughn smiled with an interjection, "- and yes, I sense the irony there- that this doesn't surprise me. It shouldn't surprise the rest of you, either."

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	floreat_etona 2010-04-16 09:50 pm UTC (link)
	He couldn't argue with that, really, and to belabor the point would seem odd. So he asked, point-blank: "Have you been going out of your way to bother her?" Leaning in, he offered a dry smile and a half-hearted shrug. "Really, I don't care one way or the other, but I'm trying to figure out if this is a one-time thing with Boyd, or if I should brace myself." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	shebringscurses 2010-04-17 11:16 pm UTC (link)
	"I don't know how much more clear I can be with you, Deluxe," she said with a whip's hiss of annoyance. Tentatively selecting a snap pea from her curry dish, Vaughn ate it in one clean, preying mantis bite. "I don't care about Boyd. To busy myself with bothering her would be counterproductive to pretending she doesn't exist." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

floreat_etona
2010-04-18 09:10 pm UTC (link)

The bloody, nearly raw steak on his plate was unappealing, even though his stomach rumbled. "Right." He nodded at Vaughn's blunt response, feeling ridiculous. He wished he thought to invite Rosalie along, so the other girl could see the way Vaughn was responding. If this wasn't clear enough that there was nothing going on, then nothing would be.

"Thanks for humoring me." As was his habit, he leaned and smiled, automatically flirting, but his heart wasn't really into it; it was an insult to the both of them, and he lifted his hand to catch the eye of a passing waiter.

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shebringscurses
2010-04-18 10:38 pm UTC (link)

She watched him with a curious and almost patronizing glitter of amusement in her eyes. The way he leaned and smiled was inherently charming and surely habitual - for who would ever make an effort to flirt with Vaughn? She remained as impervious as any carnivorous man-eater. The subtle smile on her red mouth never quite reached her pale eyes. The way she looked him over, she could have been daydreaming about things darker than just the skin under his overpriced clothes.

"You're a handsome man, Deluxe. I would stay away from Boyd, if I were you."

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	floreat_etona 2010-04-20 02:10 pm UTC (link)
	He lifted an eyebrow in response and gave her a knowing look. "You jealous?" he asked lightly, aware that wasn't the case. Still, he was pretending this was an entirely different conversation, one that was fraught with less tension, perhaps. One that was really all about flirting. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

shebringscurses
2010-04-20 07:37 pm UTC (link)

She easily read his intentions. The flirting was second nature, and therefore comfortable for him. He did it so easily, she imagined that those knowing looks of his were as inherent as breathing. Vaughn feigned a soft smile, and it looked sweeter than anything from her ever should.

"Maybe." She gave him an easy out with her dismissive reply. Even if her warning had been warranted, Vaughn didn't explain it further. Jack's problem wasn't going to be Vaughn's jealousy in he pursued Boyd, but Shane's.

Jack would learn that eventually. Vaughn might just make sure of it.

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