Joseph Tropiano (luckandchance) wrote in free_form2, @ 2008-01-13 13:44:00 |
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Current mood: | working |
Business Arrangements
[Continued from The Masquerade Ball]
Not one for social events such as this Joseph Tropiano was a rare face amongst a crowd more than accustomed to dining with the rich and the famous. He figured that given it was New Years Eve he should make some form of effort to acknowledge the last year and the year that lay ahead, wherever it would take him.
He'd gone so far as to rent a pitch black suit and he was a striking figure, from the broad shoulders to the narrowing pants and the rich golden skin. Joseph had a certain sense of humour so instead of the masks that he could have chosen, he'd selected porcelain white half of a mask that resembled the one from the phantom of the opera. No one could ever fault Joseph's air for the dramatic.
Joseph hung close to the edges, watching and sharing snippets of conversations with strangers, all of which were given with a charming smile and a confident demeanour.
"Comin' through, look out!"
Grace had squinted at the ad about the masquerade before saying to hell with it and deciding to attend. Costumes were not normally her thing, but she did like a good party when she could find one. Parties meant booze if nothing else, and a night out never got old. She'd found a plain black mask amid the chaos of her belongings, and she wove her way through the crowd before swiping a drink from a passing waiter's tray.
The vampire promptly backed into someone while trying to avoid a collision with another server carrying a full tray of small sandwiches, and she turned on one foot. "Sorry," she said tersely. "Crowds make me clumsy, I guess."
Joseph arched an eyebrow as a woman backed straight into him before his lips parted into a slow smile. "Don't worry about it." He glanced at his attire then lifted a rich brown gaze to the other woman's face. "It's not like I stand out too well."
He finished off his drink and rested the empty glass on a nearby tray, stealing another drink for himself. "You alright now? All steadied up?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Grace answered airily. "I was just kinda randomly fallin' over the way I sometimes do. It’s a hazard whenever I get near formal clothing."
She offered a slight grin when she said it, wondering if she'd met this one before. Las Vegas was filled with familiar faces, but you never could tell, really. "You're new," she offered, then amended that to, "I think. I'm willin' to pretend I don't know you, though. Go with the whole mystery theme of the night. Unless you're, like, in disguise or something."
Pause. Drink. "You're not, are you?"
"Know the feeling," Joseph responded with a small laugh and another look at his clothing. "It's rare that I ever put anything this smart on, but I wanted to embrace the whole idea."
He sipped at his drink then shook his head with a smile. "I'm not in disguise." The idea clearly amused him and Joseph's lips said as much, amazing how much a person could say with their mouth and their mouth alone. "I'm Joseph," he offered, extending a hand to the woman. "Does it ring any bells?"
"I'm Grace." Her hands, at least, were room temperature, she'd made sure to check before she waded into the crowd. "And no, it doesn't ring any bells, but the night is young. I love meeting new people, especially Italian men. I think it’s the accent."
Her mouth turned up at the corners, and one shoulder lifted in a shrug. Social, that was what she was. When she felt like it, anyway.
"Made your resolutions for the new year yet? Might want to get to that before the ball drops."
Joseph clasped her hand and noticed its strength but said nothing, allowing his callused skin to meet the hardened edges of her palm. "Nice to meet you, Grace." He withdrew his hand and offered another slow smile. "Hate to disappoint you but I have a New York accent rather than an Italian one, but it does change when I speak Italian."
He sipped at his drink and chuckled softly. "I suck with new year resolutions. I never keep them." He lifted his shoulders into a shrug. "I guess embracing the New Year is as good as mine are going to get. What about yourself?"
"Must just be wishful thinkin' that I can hear the Sicily in your voice," Grace said with another small shrug. "As for resolutions, the only thing I ever wish for is better days and better lays. Seems more likely to happen than anything else, with a little help."
The vampire paused long enough to empty her glass, then steal another from a liveried server, swiping it from the tray with an agility that belied her earlier grumbling about her clumsiness. Looking back towards the mortal, she made a quick check to his left and then to his right.
"Is there a Mrs. Joseph?" she inquired, trying not to sound too sarcastic. But she had had just about enough of significant others bracing her about this, that, and the other thing.
"Maybe," he agreed with a nod of his head and a brief smile. "Achievable resolutions seem to work better than those out of these world ones that people seem to set for themselves every year."
Joseph watched as Grace looked to both his left and right and lifted an eyebrow, chuckling softly at the question that was asked. "Uh, no." He shook his head and sipped at his glass of champagne. "There is no Mrs. Joseph."
"Sorry. Issues." Grace's voice had become terse again, and she gestured at nothing in particular with her own glass. "I can't seem to talk to anybody anymore without someone else gettin' their nose out of joint about it." Shrug. "I guess I'm just a little too social sometimes."
She paused long enough to watch some of the dancers out on the floor, then asked, "So what's New York like these days? I haven't been that Far East in years. Is it still like Vegas, just with less neon?"
Joseph lifted his shoulders into a shrug, leaning against the nearby wall before taking a sip from his drink. Relaxed and seemingly at home in his unfamiliar surroundings. "New York? Still alive and kicking, and a whole lot less neon." That much he hadn't missed about Vegas. "I kinda forgot how the city has a life of its own, been living in Vegas too long."
He seemed like a street guy to Grace, someone comfortable in any and every situation. Any possible discomfort caused by the swanky get-up was muted by his super-casual manner and, if she'd been in the mood to wonder, she'd have been wondering quite a bit about that.
"Is it business or pleasure keepin' you in the city?" she asked Joseph. Maybe he was connected with the casinos somehow. Mafia? Did anyone even call it the Mafia anymore? Damn, she might be falling behind the times.
"Maybe a little of both? This is a good place for that. Doesn't always hurt to mix the two."
Joseph finished off his drink and reached out to place it on a moving tray, giving the waitress a smile before returning his attention to Grace. There was something different about her, from how she moved to the way her skin felt. Maybe Joseph was reading into things too much, but he'd always believed in following his gut instinct and it was currently screaming at him.
"Never hurts to mix the two," he assured her with a smirk that dimpled one cheek. "Wouldn't be much point living in Vegas if you didn't." He eased his hands into the pockets of the form fitting slacks and then tipped his head. "What about yourself, Grace? What keeps you in the bright sometimes gaudy lights of Vegas?"
"Work. Got a few close friends in the area. A few enemies too, but what's life without a little excitement?"
Grace was settling in now, being at ease inside her own skin as she nursed the second drink along. She might not be the most talkative creature around, but she could hold her own when she felt like it.
"What's your business, Joseph? Or is that prying when we’ve only just met?"
"Boring," Joseph shared with a wry smile.
He glanced around the party and his brow furrowed for a moment as he thought he saw a flicker of brunette hair that looked familiar, but he passed it off as nothing. "My business?" He reached up and brushed a ringed thumb over his lower lip, obviously in thought. "Guess you could say I do a bit of everything." He glanced up at Grace through a couple errant strands of hair and the white porcelain mask. "I'm the guy people come to when they can't get what they want through regular means."
Okay, then. Kind of like Darian, except also kind of not, because he smelled human. Not that it wasn't possible he was of mixed blood, but her nose seldom lied. Grace lowered her voice a notch as a sudden influx of couples made their way onto the well-lighted dance floor. If nothing else, he could wind up being a professional connection. Maybe she should get some business cards printed up. Grace Hutchinson, Fight Promoter. Had kind of a ring to it.
"Legal or illegal? Or both?" she asked Joseph conspiratorially. "I mean, no offense or anything, you seem stand-up, but 'regular means' could be taken a lot of different ways." The vampire poked an elbow very lightly into the man's ribs, mindful of how breakable the human form could be.
"Would it be bad manners to discuss business durin' a celebration like this?"
Joseph chuckled and leaned in as Grace poked his ribs. "I lean more towards the illegal than the legal side of things." His shoulders lifted into a shrug. "Just the way I've been raised." He pushed away from the wall and fell in beside Grace, indicating with a tip of his head that she should follow him if she wished to speak with him further.
"And any time is a good time to discuss business," he remarked as he stole another drink off yet another tray, bringing it up to his lips to take a swallow. "What did you have in mind?"
Mafia. Definitely. She'd known some Mob guys back in the day, mostly when she was still running around in Dallas. Grace wandered semi-casually after Joseph, setting her drink down as the two of them meandered over to a more private spot.
"Guns," she admitted once she was certain they couldn't be overheard. "I got a business thing comin' up, and it seems like it'd be a bad idea to go in without protection. I had a really nice Desert Eagle a few months ago, but I lost it in an altercation and haven't seen it since. For the right price, d'you think I could get another just like it?"
She smiled when she said it, but behind her own mask there was a serious expression in her eyes. She was willing to part with a fair chunk of money to get a replacement for that gun, if only for the sake of her own ego. Whatever it took.
Joseph turned on the heel of his foot and leaned against the wall nearest to Grace, making sure they were close enough so that the two of them didn't need to talk too loudly. "Desert Eagle?" He let loose with a low whistle and nodded his head. "Nice." He sipped at his drink and then glanced over his shoulder, just to check that nobody was standing too close.
"You have any specific details on the gun itself? Insignia, colour, model, that kind of thing." Joseph believed in making clients happy after all.
"Sentimental value, mostly. My old man gave it to me. Matte black finish, silver wolf's head on the butt, modified it myself to fire more than one caliber of ammunition. An all-occasions handgun." Grace's voice had a barely subdued note of pride when she spoke, and her mouth turned up at the corners. "I'd really like to have the original back, but that doesn't look like its happenin'. Guess Santa didn't get my wish list."
She took a drink from her glass, draining a third of the contents, then eyed Joseph. "Are you sure we haven't met? Don't suppose you've been to Dallas in the last few years, have you? I get my New York Italians mixed up sometimes."
Joseph listened to her description of the gun and gave a low appreciative whistle. He loved guns after all, and he could more than understand Grace's obvious pride in both the gun and the modifications. "Impressive," he murmured after a few moments of turning the details over in his mind.
"I'm pretty sure I've not been to Dallas," he remarked as he turned his head to look at Grace. "Not in the last couple years anyways."
"Huh. I must be thinkin' of someone else. I meet a lot of people in my line of work, and supposedly everyone's got a twin. Hate to think it was just old age settin' in." Grace shrugged off her own curiosity in the next minute, giving the dance floor an once-over. Still a couple of hours until midnight. She'd grab a couple more drinks, then wander off home.
"How much would somethin' like that run me?" she asked Joseph. "I only deal in cash. I'm sure you understand. No paperwork means no one lookin' over my shoulder, which makes my life easier. I have enough enemies."
"Huh. I must be thinkin' of someone else. I meet a lot of people in my line of work, and supposedly everyone's got a twin. Hate to think it was just old age settin' in." Grace shrugged off her own curiosity in the next minute, giving the dance floor an once-over. Still a couple of hours until midnight. She'd grab a couple more drinks, then wander off home.
"How much would somethin' like that run me?" she asked Joseph. "I only deal in cash. I'm sure you understand. No paperwork means no one lookin' over my shoulder, which makes my life easier. I have enough enemies."
"Guess mine's in Dallas," Joseph answered with a smile. He fell silent for a few moments, doing the maths in his head as somewhere up there God had seen it fit to give him that ability. "Couple thousand." He glanced at Grace. "I'd need to check in with a couple people I know, determine how easy or how difficult the product is to obtain and then figure out what kind of price range." The mention of only dealing in cash brought about a knowing look, Joseph never dealt with anything else.
"You can pay me half at first when I have a proper figure for you and half when you get the gun. That seem fair to you?" Despite his roguish appearance and cavalier attitude Joseph was astute and particular in his dealings.
"Works for me." A couple of grand. That was like grocery money as far as Grace was concerned, and she had already written off the amount as soon as Joseph quoted it. She dug out a scrap of paper and a pen, scrawled down a phone number.
"I can probably be reached there," she said, handing it off to Joseph. "If I don't answer after four rings, lose the number and I'll track you down, 'cause it probably means I had to drop the phone down a sewer." The vampire rolled her eyes a little, her sole gripe about the cost of doing business the hassle of having to keep getting new phone numbers. Thank fuck for prepaid calling plans.
"Just let me know and I'll get you your money."
Joseph took the piece of paper from Grace and looked over it once before tucking it away into a pocket. "I'll keep in touch." He turned his head and caught the flash of brunette hair yet again and he decided that he needed to check it out, see if it was who he thought it was.
"Now if you'll excuse me," he muttered with a smile. "I believe it's time to enjoy the party." He held out a hand. "Pleasure doing business with you, Grace. I'll talk to you soon."
"Have a good night, Joseph," Grace said with a nod, and as she shook hands with him she also caught sight of brown hair. Well. Well. The company some people kept. Eh, whatever. As long as she got what she was planning to pay for, it was all good.
The vampire eased off in the opposite direction, mindful of not needing to make a spectacle of herself. A peaceful ringing in of the New Year would be nice.