Pamela Swynford de Beaufort (walmrtsweatsuit) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-09-15 23:58:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, marian hawke, pamela swynford de beaufort |
WHO: Marian Hawke & Pam Swynford de Beaufort
WHAT: Meetings
WHEN: 9/7 or so
WHERE: A hotel bar in Irvine
WARNINGS: PG
One of the things Marian loved about being a private eye was butting her nose into someone else’s business. At the moment, that business was her cousin’s, who had mentioned having a vampire girlfriend and then refused to offer up a name.
Marian also loved a challenge, so she’d put her network of contacts to work on finding out who this mysterious girlfriend was nearly immediately. It took a bit longer than she’d expected - a few days instead of a few hours - but she found herself at a hotel bar before long.
It was evening, of course - she had been lead to believe vampires didn’t much like the sun. She sat herself down at the bar, ordered a drink, and started casting her gaze about the room. One of these women went by the name of Pamela Swynford de Beaufort. Marian certainly hoped she was as classy as her name suggested.
Pam was sitting at the bar as well, under the air conditioner. She was wearing one of her work outfits, so she’d kept her coat on. Just in case. She’d ordered a drink, but was only pretending to sip it. There were mostly women in the bar, but she kept looking for men. It wouldn’t be right to take a woman as a client. Not when she had Maia.
The coat didn't look out of place enough to immediately draw Marian's attention. She had a description of Pamela, though, and as she got a better look at the women who were present she started to remove certain women off of her list. The one in the corner was the wrong build, four of them had the wrong hair color, and another few were too young.
That left only a few women as possible candidates. She turned to the one closest to her, and decided to strike up a conversation, "You'd almost think the bartender'd mixed that drink up incorrectly, the way you've barely touched it like that."
Pam’s gut instinct was ‘What the fuck is it to you?’ but she kept her temper. “Changed my mind,” she said instead. “You’re welcome to it, if you want.” This woman was pretty, but a little sassy, she could tell. Pam hoped she wouldn’t flirt, at least not too hard; she felt weird saying she had a girlfriend, even if it was true and she was happy about it.
"Well, I was more wondering if I could buy you something you preferred more. It's a sad state, sitting at a bar with a bad drink in your hand," Marian replied, with a bit of a smirk. It wasn't necessarily a flirt, though a woman who liked women might consider it to be one.
"Though I suppose it's also a sad state of affairs to waste one... what's in this one then?"
Damn. Pam sighed. “Vodka and orange juice. Nice and simple. Just not in a vodka mood.”
"Quite understandable," Marian replied, with a nod. She pulled the glass over to herself, then motioned for the bartender to make the woman a drink she might prefer more, "Whatever she wants, I'm buying."
After she was done speaking to the bartender, she turned her attention back to Pamela, "So I was wondering, are you around this bar often? I know it probably sees a lot of traffic, being in a hotel and all."
Dammit, dammit, dammit. Pam waved the bartender off, hoping the other woman would think he’d simply run off. “I do come here a bit, yeah. It’s near where I live, and sometimes I’ll have dates here, or sometimes I work. And no, I’m not a hooker.” The woman hadn’t assumed that she was out loud, so she kept her tone calm, but people did tend to make that leap.
Marian arched a brow, "Well, thank you for letting me know, I suppose, though I have no idea where that came from. Do you get that sort of question often?"
She waved a hand in the air and shook her head, then took a sip off her drink, "No, don't answer that. It's rude and I'm at least somewhat apologetic for asking. You shouldn't, though. I never would have come to that conclusion on my own. I was only asking because I'm looking for someone that I know frequents this location. You might have heard her name, or maybe you are her. Pamela?"
Oh. That was maybe a little different. “I do get that question a lot. I work as a dominatrix, and some people don’t get the difference,” Pam said, looking at the woman. “My name is Pam, though I don’t know why anyone would be looking for me.” Was she some kind of hunter? With vampires came vampire hunters, she knew that.
A dominatrix vampire. Marian arched the other brow, though she didn't know why she was so surprised by this development. After all, Maia'd mentioned how very wide open her mind had been lately, and and it was Maia.
She took a bit of a sip off her drink, then extend her hand out, "Oh, it's because I'm Maia's cousin. It's a total pleasure to meet you in person. I know this is all wrong since she's supposed to introduce you to me, but I think she was a little scared to do that. So we had a bit of a challenge going. I think she forgot I was a PI."
“Oh.” Pam blinked, feeling her guard go down. “Oh. Okay. I thought you were flirting with me for a second. I may be a dominatrix and a bitch, but I’m not a cheater.” Maybe a little sappy, yeah, but it was true, dammit. “What’s your name, sorry?”
"Was I?" Marian tilted her head to the side, then made a facial expression like that was definitely a legitimate call on Pam's part, "I might well have been, It's a very bad habit of mine and you're quite attractive. Maia would kill me if I tried anything, however, so you can be assured it wasn't on purpose."
"I'm Marian. Marian Hawke. I have no idea if she's bothered mentioning me or not. Sometimes I hope she hasn't," She joked, dryly.
“She said her cousin was in town, but didn’t mention your name.” Pam turned to face her, amused. “Maia would kill you?” That was kind of cute. And now she could mock Maia with it.
"Oh yes. She's quite fond of you, you know." Marian grinned, and took another sip of her drink. It was a really good screwdriver, though not her usual drink. A change was good, "Only the way Maia usually shows it is quite contrary to the way many people work. I think it's an Amell family thing. Many of my siblings inherited it from our mother."
“Maia grumbles. It’s kinda cute.” Let this Marian make fun of her for it. “So her mom is your aunt?”
"It's adorable. She really hasn't changed at all since University."
She'd probably tease her cousin a bit, yes, but mainly she just wanted to get a read on who her cousin was so serious about. She liked what she was hearing so far, "Yes. Though I've never really met her. Hawkes and Amells don't really host family reunions. It's probably better for everyone involved that way."
“Oh? Why’s that?” Pam was curious in spite of herself. “I didn’t have much family, just my mom, and we don’t talk.” For many, many reasons. Not least of all because her mom was a mean drunk who’d had a hard-on to make Pam be as “normal” as possible, and threatened to beat her every time she came home from the strip clubs.
"Well you see, long ago my mother had an inheritance and all kinds of fancy things. Silly woman decided she wanted to marry for love, instead, only of course my father wasn't exactly the type of man a woman of her station was supposed to go for. You'd think they'd have done away with that sort of petty classism already, but it's alive, well, and thriving in certain social circles." Marian snorted, and shook her head.
"Anyway, they turned her out on her ear and disowned her, so for several years growing up we'd never even heard a word about mother's family at all. It wasn't a great topic for dinner conversation."
“Well, you are British.” Pam rolled her eyes. “Seems stupid to get your panties in a wad over that kind of thing.” Family would have been nice to have. The idea of people casting theirs away kind of pissed her off. Hopefully she’d never meet much of Maia’s family.
"Uncle Gamlen then took their fortune and gambled them into the ground, so I suppose you could say they had their comeuppance. Oh I'm sure Maia's side made off alright. Well enough, anyway."
Marian waved a hand in the air, though she definitely agreed with Pam for the most part, "Maia doesn't believe in any of that stuff and neither do I. We found each other and struck up a friendship, and while I'm sure there are people on her side of the family who didn't approve, it was probably crusty old aunties and grandmothers or something."
“Probably. The people worth a shit didn’t care, I bet.” This woman and Maia, obviously. Pam wished she had a drink that she could actually drink. “So you’re a PI? Must be kind of interesting.” She didn’t really like small talk, but she could put up with it, to find out more about this family.
"It's a mixture. Sometimes you go a whole week without any cases at all and you're wondering how you're even going to pay the bills. Other times you've got all kinds of crazy things going on and you feel like you need a clone, or something."
Marian laughed, and set her empty drink down on the bar, then returned to her previous one, "Sometimes you're even getting shot at. Garrett was the mastermind behind the whole idea, really. It's his old business, I'm just reviving it."
“Is that your brother or cousin or something like that?” Pam asked, wondering how many Amells or Hawkes she might have looking for her. “He here?”
"He's my brother. But no, thankfully, the family's all back over in London now. Away from these crazy dreams and the other crazy people who live here. Present company excluded, of course." Marian replied, with a bit of a wink.
"I like you. I think I'll have to approve. Sigh, I was so hoping to give Maia a bunch of extra trouble just to pull her leg a bit."
Pam smirked a little. “Yeah, I’m good that way. To be honest, she was scared for a little while about my job, but I think she worked it out.” She didn’t want to go too far into it, but that much was the truth.
Marian nodded, though she didn't share Maia's concerns there, "I'm sure the two of you can work out things like that. You seem to have your head separated out pretty nicely. Professionals, and all that."
“I do.” Pam shrugged. “They’re clients. She’s not. I also don’t take women as clients. So she shouldn’t worry; I mean, I’m a lesbian.” She didn’t like men at all.
"As far as I was aware, BDSM has less to do with sex than most people think, and more to do with a certain mental space and the need to either lose control in a safe environment or take control back." Marian shrugged her shoulder, "You're probably more familiar with it and I'm sure there's a sexual side to it - but I doubt it's the core of it."
"It's admirable that you don't take female clients, though," She added.
“I sometimes used to, but then it would feel like cheating.” Her estimation of this woman rose when she spoke intelligently about BDSM. “You’re right, BDSM isn’t wholly about sex - it’s maybe two-thirds to one-third about control - but past girlfriends have gotten the wrong idea. I didn’t even want to give Maia a chance to get hissy.”
"... you must really care about her a great deal, then," Marian replied, with a nod. Her tone was a bit more gentle than before.
“I do, yeah.” She didn’t want to go into fucking depth about it, but yeah. Maia was special.
It wasn't something Marian intended to go digging about, either. Her family wasn't exactly the most effusive, and she understood wanting to play things close to the chest. So she simply nodded, and slid off her stool.
"I appreciate you taking time out to talk with some complete stranger. I'll let you get back to it, shall I?"
“Sure. Nice to meet, you, though.” Pam stuck out a hand, wondering if it was too awkward or mannish and deciding not to care. “And feel free to give Maia crap. Not like you need my permission.”
"I don't, but having it makes it that much more fun."
Marian grinned so widely that it made her nose wrinkle up a bit. She gladly took Pam's hand and shook it, "Nice to meet you, too."
“I look forward to hearing about it.” Pam smirked, turning back to order another drink, and wait for a suitable man to walk in.