Alice Morgan (onlypractically) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-08-24 18:41:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, alice morgan, raven darkholme (mystique) |
Who: "Zoe" and "Irene" (Alice & Raven)
When: August 21
What: An understanding
Warnings/Rating: PG, innuendo
Status: Complete
Alice had gotten the roses earlier that morning, and she was laughing. She’d left a message on the valarnet for Irene, hoping she’d simply take her up on it and come to the door.
“Irene” arrived less than twenty minutes later, wearing a clinging white dress. She’d had a little incident on the way, when she’d reverted to her dream self, and had spent five minutes frantically trying to change back. She only looked a little flustered.
Alice heard the knock on the door and went to open it, leaning against the frame with a smile. “Hello, darling. Find the place all right?”
“You know how to give directions,” Raven replied, eyeing Alice up and down with a predatory expression.
“Come in, please.” She wasn’t worried about letting this woman into her home. This was home turf, after all. “Stay for a glass of wine, or something.” There had been fireworks between the sheets last time; a repeat wouldn’t go amiss, either.
“I hope it’s a good vintage,” she replied, stepping in, and tracing her fingers along Alice’s arm as she passed her.
Once the woman was inside, Alice took her arm and pulled her closer for a deep kiss. “I just knew I had to reward your thoughtfulness,” she murmured, smiling. She was curious, it was true - was it part of a greater stratagem? Or did “Irene” fancy her?
“Oh, that’s quite a good reward,” she breathed, her eyes fluttering at Alice with desire.
“I’d like to think so.” Alice smiled. “It was rather kind, nonetheless. It almost makes me think you want something from me, my dear!”
“I want you naked and begging,” Irene commanded, her expression half serious.
“I don’t beg.” Alice’s expression was all serious. “But I’ll give you a pass, as you don’t know me all that well yet.” She wasn’t angry, just matter-of-fact.
Raven laughed, expression almost delighted. “Well that’s good, I hate it when people are weak.”
“So do I.” Alice nodded. She came back over toward Raven, arms folded. “I think there are a lot of ways we can be mutually beneficial to each other, you know.”
“More than the obvious?” She asked, curious.
"You seem very intelligent and observant, Irene." Alice smiled almost genuinely. "I like that."
“Thank you, flatterer.” Raven leaned in. “Talk to me, then. How can we benefit each other?”
“You’re an information consultant, aren’t you?” Alice smiled again. “I’m certainly not suggesting any kind of trade - but I do intend, in my professional capacity, to see if I can’t send anything your way. Should it help you.” She was fairly sure she’d hear things - from Flemeth’s people and from other power brokers in this seedy town.
“And what shall I send your way then, Zoe?” She nuzzled her nose along Alice’s jaw, knowing there was always a tit for tat.
“The same, of course.” Alice shrugged. “I don’t work for anyone” - at least not now - “and while I don’t work for you, either, I do like your style. I’m just a poor waif making my own way.” This last was said without an ounce of pathos.
“A fair trade, it sounds like. Zoe, I think you have yourself a deal.” She pressed a hand to her own chest. “We’re all poor waifs.”
“You’re not poor at all, my dear.” Alice laughed, placing her hands on the other woman’s bum and kissing her firmly. She did prefer blokes, but this woman was very soft. And kissed well. And was extremely talented sexually, and didn’t blink at Alice getting bossy. She did have needs.
Little did Alice know that Raven could be a bloke, or part of a one, anyway. If she chose. But that would give away her new powers. She had to trust someone to reveal that. She kissed Alice back, with just enough eagerness to be tantalizing.
“Would you like that glass of wine?” Alice started to walk away. “Or something else?”
“Lets start with the wine and see about that something else, after.”
“Of course.” Alice knew how to play the gracious host. “I do have a fabulous pinot noir that would benefit from a discerning palate.” She beckoned into her kitchen, though she kept herself between the knife rack and Irene.
Raven noted that, and her estimation of the woman went up. They could be fantastic friends, and even lovers, but she suspected that for both of them, survival would take center stage. She almost wondered what that would be like… “Thank you. That’s perfect.”
Alice smiled, keeping herself positioned that way, even as she got the wine and the glasses. “It really is from Napa. I had a lovely gentleman to myself for two years, and he had a fantastic cellar. I may have liberated some of it when I left.” She handed the woman a glass, swirling it to let out the aromatics.
“I really don’t blame you. I’d do the same. And maybe I have in the past, though I prefer less cumbersome investments.” Jewellry, money...information... and most of the men were too ashamed to say anything.
“Oh, this is purely for sheer sybaritic joy.” Alice laughed. “He left me a few stocks in his will. Rather kind of him, actually, given that one of those was four hundred shares of Apple.” Not exorbitant, but rather solid. It would sell for roughly two hundred thousand dollars, if she decided to turn it over.
“Now that is impressive. Not bad for two years work, right?” She raised her glass in tribute.
“Not at all.” Alice laughed, raising hers in reply. “I did genuinely like him. Just, not enough.” Not enough to go legit, not enough to not kill him when he caught her doctoring his books for the vineyard. And so on.
“I doubt there’s anyone I’d like enough to go that far for,” Raven murmured. At least no one in this world. “Staying around that long, I mean.”
“I didn’t think there was.” Alice shrugged. “But he was very intelligent. Older. African - he came from Uganda, I believe. Maybe I was simply born in the wrong culture.” She chuckled. “Caucasians are so stupid at times. Present company excepted.” This woman, she figured, was many things, but definitely not stupid.
Raven thought about the idiocy in her own homeland and chuckled. “I agree wholeheartedly, but humanity as a whole is vastly idiotic.”
“Oh, agreed. I just happen to know the most stupid people of my own race, understandably.” Alice chuckled.
“I hope I can change your mind.” Raven sipped at her wine, closing her eyes to enjoy the taste and smell of it. She set the glass down, tapping her finger on the table. “Did I choose the right flowers?”
“Of course.” Alice chuckled. “Red roses are the flower of lust, of passion. Never mind the sexual; we both have a lust for learning and life.”
“You got my message then,” Raven said, thoughtfully. She reached up to toy with Alice’s hair. “Life, learning and sex. What else is there to live for?”
“Power.” Alice finished her wine, setting the glass down and leaning into Irene’s fingers. She still kept herself between Irene and the knife rack. She didn’t think that Irene was a very docile sort. Call it a hunch.
A slow smile spread across Raven’s red lips. “Now power is something I think we have in common. At least a certain sort. There is all kinds of power. I’m well acquainted with the power of knowledge.”
“It’s one of my favourite kinds.” Alice smiled sweetly. “I mean, everyone has a tale of being powerless and then rising to the top. But it’s how you do it that counts. You need to be loved.” She looked up at Irene, resting one hand on her hip. “Or feared.”
“If you do it right,” Raven pointed out. “You can be both.”
"Can you truly, Irene?" Alice cocked her head to one side. "People who love you can fear what you might do, but they won't fear everything you are."
“The right kind of person with the right kind of charisma can be both. Maybe I’m not that person, but I certainly think they can exist.”
“I’m willing to be proven wrong.” Alice said lightly. “At least you admit the possibility of it existing and not being you.” She poured herself another glass of wine. “Pride is necessary, ego is dangerous.”
“When it’s something I’m proud of, I sing it loud and long, darling.” She held her glass out for more, eyes roaming over Alice’s face.
Alice obeyed, pouring a bit more into Irene’s glass. “But not at the cost of your freedom. Or your soul. If you believe you have one.” She chuckled.
“If I have one, I’m sure it’s rather tarnished,” Raven joked.
“One can polish tarnish.” Alice chuckled. “Just, I don’t know. People like us aren’t normal, and I’m pleased about it.” Normal wasn’t working. Normal was most of society, and look where that got everyone.
“I suspect if I was normal, I would have been born in a different place in a different time, and have quite a lot of different life experiences,” Raven mused, in stark honesty.
“I was born in the most normal of circumstances.” Alice made it sound like a dirty confession. “A nice, neat little council flat on a grimy road in England. And yet I’ve risen above it. Or I’d like to think I have.” She wasn’t looking for validation, just stating a point.
“You don’t look grimy, normal or particularly mundane,” she assured Alice, stepping back into her personal space.
“Thank heaven.” Alice laughed gaily. “You don’t, either, my dear. I assure you.”
“And what do I look like, Zoe?”
“You look rather beautiful.” Alice said. It was true, just not the whole picture.
Raven gave her a mock bow. “Why thank you. You’re drop dead sexy, and yet refined at the same time.”
“I try.” Alice batted her eyelashes, then held up her glass in a toast. “To a mutually beneficial arrangement.”
“Why don’t we stop complimenting each other and get down to ... business.”
“What manner of business?” Best to be safe. Alice set her wineglass down, leaning back, waiting for Irene to make a move.
“Well I was hoping to get to the recreation first, and then we could have some...sharing in our pillow talk.” That was one way to put it.
“Is there something specific you want to know?” Alice had to ask.
“That depends on if there was anything specific you want to know,” Raven countered.
“Is Irene your real name?” She asked it calmly. It might very well have been. But there were factors - being an “information consultant”, being a bit shifty, the fact that Irene wasn’t a Slavic name.
“It’s probably as real as Zoe is,” Raven countered, raising her eyebrows but willing to be frank, if Alice was frank.
Ah, so she’d been right Alice laughed. “Occupational hazard,” she said. “I’m Alice.”
“Raven. My mother liked birds, I think.” She held out a hand, like she was introducing herself.
“It’s nice to meet you, Raven.” Alice kissed her hand. “We all must be careful in business, after all.”
“In business, and in pleasure,” Raven purred. Alice. It had a nice ring to it.
Alice smiled, but it was more leonine than actually pleased. “Do you think we can have a friendship with our mutual policies of being wary?”
“I don’t see why not, as long as we watch each other’s backs.” Raven smiled, and added. “And our own when around each other.”
“To friendship, then.” Alice held her glass up, smiling sweetly now. “And enjoyment.”