Patience Kowalski (eternalpatience) wrote in btvsal, @ 2009-08-31 17:15:00 |
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Current location: | Avarice |
Current mood: | curious |
Entry tags: | ben bale, patience kowalski, place: la |
In his debt
Who: Patience and Ben
Where: Avarice
When: Sunday afternoon (shortly after Patience left The Sugar Shack)
Sunday afternoons were often like this at Avarice. The club itself was mostly closed down, but the bar was open, to allow for the occasional straggler who wanted something to drink, or a good, inexpensive lunch. It was open, yet quiet enough that Ben could do his paperwork right out at one of the tables, without having to sit in his office to avoid all the noise. Besides... right now, he was more focused on revenge than on money. For now... Bretton could handle the paperwork. He was the more level-headed of the two, anyway. Ben looked a little frazzled, his hair slightly mussed and his tie undone, shirt sleeves rolled up as he stared at a folder in his hands, sighing with aggravation.
After leaving The Sugar Shack, Patience had told Pat she had to run a few more wedding planning errands before she could meet him at home. It was mostly true. She'd had a date with Gwen to look at more dresses, but something about talking to Pat had sparked a different idea in her brain. She figured she could fit it in before meeting Gwen, so she'd headed over to Avarice, hoping that Ben would be around. She'd been meaning to talk to him for a while, though today's quest was a little different. She was still dressed in the short denim skirt and a body-hugging white camisole she'd been wearing earlier, but it dawned on her, if what people said was true, she should have slutted it up even more if she wanted to get Ben's attention. Oh well. She could only work with what she had. It wasn't like this was a pleasure call. SO NOT. The bar wasn't totally empty, but it wasn't full of people either. It was actually easy to spot him at one of the front tables and she pulled out the chair opposite of him and dropped into it before saying a word. "You're not the easiest guy to get a hold of. I've been wanting to talk to you. Is now an okay time?"
"As much as it's gonna be, anytime soon." He replied, raising a brow as she just plopped herself down. "Everything alright? Still planning on working here?" He gave that damnable grin that usually meant he was up to no good. "Feeling alright? Everything... working like it's supposed to?"
"Working here, yes, and everything's in tip-top shape. Haven't had any complaints yet. No organs missing, no orifices leading to unknown places." She sat back in her chair and eyed him, really not sure at all what to make of Benjamin Bale. He didn't strike her as the type to just go around raising people from the dead. "Why'd you do it?"
Ah. He knew this would likely come up at some point. Why not now, hm? Ben was not the lying type, so why not be as blunt as she'd been? "Because I needed your brother focused. I needed him to know he could trust me. Possibly... to owe me a favor. And I know many, many necromancers. And several had told me about... for lack of better terms, a time-burp. A lot went down while you were away, girl. And our timeline, as we know it, was messed with to a very dangerous degree. Ends up that one of the time-burps caused a few previously deceased people to be... easily plucked back into our world. When the necromancer realized one of those people could give me some peaceful ground to work with Ashton with... I had to take it."
It was ALMOST hard to keep a straight face when he kept saying "time-burp", but...this was a SERIOUS matter. And what she had to talk to him about was a grave matter...pardon the pun. "So my brother's important to you. Why? And why should he trust you? Besides the fact that you had me brought back. Is this the part where you tell me that if he doesn't ultimately do...whatever you want him to do...you'll have me taken out again?" So maybe she was paranoid. Or maybe she was just trying to get a real read on the guy.
"I'm not a good person, Patience. But I'm not evil, you know. No... this wasn't so much leverage towards your brother... as much as a show of good faith. A hope that he would perhaps feel the need to repay me. If not..." he grinned again, trying to lighten the mood. "Then at least the world is better for having one more sexy woman in it."
She shook her head, relaxing somewhat. "What they say about you is true." There was a vague hint of amusement in her voice, but her smile faded slowly. "So then...tell me. What's it take to get a favor out of YOU? Say, if I wanted to ask you to do something for me?"
"If I didn't have such... currently damnable respect for the man you're marrying, I'd say an hour in my office with me. But alas... I have no desire to lose my ties to him or his band." Ben actually seemed legitimately upset that this wasn't an option. "Tell me the favor... and I'll name my price"
"You're going into this thing, aren't you? This whole battle?" She didn't know all the dirty details, not yet, but she had plans to hit up Gwen about it. "I want you to look out for Ash. And Gwen. If anything happens to my brother, I...." She stopped and swallowed. She didn't know what she'd do, really. With a little smirk, she eyed Ben again. "Besides, if anything happens to him, it kind of makes all your hard work with me null and void, don't you think? Please."
"I... I already planned to look after Gwen." He said, not even ABOUT to tell her why. Nobody needed to know that. He knew he'd watch for her... because if Skylar's heart was broken, he knew he'd just want to die. "I will do what I can for your brother. I mean this with all due respect, but..." his eyes turned dark then, and he actually snarled, his wolfen side showing a bit. "I have my own agenda as well."
"I think everyone involved does, right?" Patience wasn't a stupid girl. In fact, she could be quite calculating, but it wasn't something she indulged. She had no reason to. Half the time she acted on impulse anyway. But this was something she'd been thinking about. "He's powerful, I know that. And I know he's been training. But if it gets to be too much...if he loses control...or worse...it's not going to be good for anyone. I'd trust him with my life, under any circumstance, just...yeah. Do what you can. That's all I can ask."
"If this helps.. I strongly suspect that the person he's targeting is the teacher of sorts of the person I'm targeting. I think we'll end up... fairly close to one another in battle." He knew without hearing it that Ash wanted a piece of Lindsey and Candi. And they were the same two Ben was after. "I'll do my best. As for payment...." he stopped, trying to think of something that was *him*, that wouldn't get him skinned alive. "I think I'll have to get back to you on that."
For some reason, that made Patience smile. No, it wasn't a self-satisfied smirk or the look of the cat that ate the canary, it was just...a smile. "I'm sure you will." She stood up and turned, but then paused and looked back at Ben again. "For what it's worth, I love Pat with everything I am. I'm ecstatic to be marrying him and I wouldn't give up one day that I have with him. And I would do everything in my power to keep Ash safe and grounded...and happy. But in the future, bringing people back from the dead? Not always all it's cracked up to be. So if I kick it again? Barring an apocalypse or something in which I'm a necessity - which, let's face it, is pretty unlikely - save yourself the trouble. Just, you know, don't go out of your way to plant me six feet under again either. Oh. And I'll be back this week to see CJ about the job."
"You know... speaking of jobs..." he grinned a cheshire grin as he looked her over. "I'm going to be opening a new place soon... ever done any dancing in your...." he caught the hulking form of his uncle David out of the corner of his eye, just shaking his head no with a disapproving glare. Dammit. "You know... nevermind. Yeah... just come see her. She's good, she'll get you all the training you need."