Kitiara Uth Matar (dark_lady) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-07-04 10:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, d'artagnan, kitiara uth matar |
Who: Kitiara and D'Artagnan
When: Recently
What: Kitiara and D'Artagnan have their eye on the same piece of real estate.
Where: Potential business location
Rating/Warning: Fairly low
Status: Complete
It hadn’t taken long for Kitiara to decide that Orange County was exactly where she wanted to settle in. Really, she had made the decision soon after discovering that her brother had some very useful magic up his sleeves, though she’d stuck it out a bit longer to make sure that there were other reasons to stay.
Evidently, she had found them, because it hadn’t taken her long to find a house to rent. Once she had settled in there, it was time to find a shop to set up a tattoo studio in. Tattooing was really more of a hobby for Kitiara, but she did need some kind of legal business to front her dealings with the Blue Dragon Motorcycle Club, and tattooing was a profession that afforded very flexible hours and not too many questions if it was unexpectedly closed up for a few days.
Her realtor was showing her a property now. It was a simple store front, but it was cheap and she thought that it might suit her needs well.
D’Artagnan figured while he’d been out running other errands he might as well look at the building he’d seen online, in person since it was near the things he needed to do anyway. Two birds, one stone, all that jazz. He was feeling optimistic about the place he’d found. The only thing that worried him was the fact that it was so cheap. Usually there had to be a reason for that. His own apartment was proof of such reasons He paid 600 a month in rent, but it was barely liveable. It had been almost embarrassing that he met his husband and friends there.
When he showed up he saw the car of the realtor and peered inside. “Hello?” He hadn’t made an appointment for today, but he wasn’t one hundred percent on the place yet either.
The Realtor was explaining to Kit about the property and the businesses that had once resided here. They’d all been quite successful, the location was prime, he assured her. She smiled, though the realtor was obviously full of shit. If the location was so prime, the price tag would be higher and it wouldn’t have sat empty for the last year.
Kitiara and the realtor turned as one when a voice came from front, and they both headed toward the front of the shop. Kit made it into the room before the realtor did, and she eyed up the newcomer, obviously liked what she saw, and flashed the man her rougish crooked smile. “Well, hello there,” she said.
“Can I help you?” the realtor asked from behind her.
D’Artagnan looked up at the sound of a young female voice. She seemed too young to be the person showing this place, but who the hell knew in this city anymore. He returned that smile with one of his own. “Hey, ah..sorry. I’m supposed to come by later in the day to look at the place but I was out..it was near by, so is it too much of a bother to listen in?” He had a grocery bag in hand, one with unnecessary things inside that were sure to make Athos roll his eyes. Stuff that definitely wasn’t on the list. Things like chocolates and candy, but what could he say he had a sweet tooth.
He peered around the office even as he waited for a response. It was nice, big enough for at least three desks maybe four if they wanted. And there was a place to put a table, or some sort of mutual meeting area for clients to wait...he wanted it.
“Ah, we usually like to show to one person at a…” the realtor started, but Kitiara cut him off with an impatient gesture.
“The more the merrier,” she said, shooting a look to the realtor as if daring him to disagree with her. He wisely chose to instead change to a polite smile.
“Well,” the realtor said, switching tracks. “I was just showing Miss Uth Matar here the back rooms if you’d like to join us,” he said.
The brunette glanced at her with a smile of his own and nodded. “Interesting name.” he commented, as though he could really do so on someone’s name considering his own. “This saves me, I don’t exactly live close to town It takes me a while to drive in.” D’Artagnan normally liked it that way, kept them out of the crazy after their last place fucking exploded. But this place looked promising, and he was glad the girl seemed nice enough to wander with. Not bad looking either. Hey, he was gay-not dead, he could still appreciate beauty when he saw it.
“My first name’s even better,” Kitiara said. “Kitiara,” she introduced herself, offering her hand to the good looking guy. “But it is a rather nice location, isn’t it? It’s not too far from my house. Not central enough to have prices through the roof but not remote enough that no one would ever come here either.” Not that it would have mattered much to Kit either way if people came through the door.
He gave her a warm smile as he accepted the handshake. “D’Artagnan.” He returned the introduction as he lowered his hand a moment later. “What sort of place are you looking to open?” A business he assumed, it wasn’t really that suitable for living, unless one wanted to live with a giant window facing the street….and then well, that would just be awkward really. Although he once knew a detective who did that for a time when his business got dry . He even put in a shower in the back and doubled the place as a house/business front.
“Well, just over here is the-” started the realtor.
Kitiara’s handshake was firm, powerful, and she made sure to look him in the eye when she shook his hand. But when the handshake was released, she let her fingers lightly brush D’Artagnan’s palm before she dropped her own hand back to her side. “D’Artagnan?” Kit said as though the other man wasn’t even there. “Is that French?”
She glanced around the shop now, smiling lightly to herself. “I was thinking this would be a great space for a tattoo parlour.”
He raised an eyebrow, he had become friends with Clara-but other than that didn’t really know many women. This one however seemed fairly strong willed, and it intrigued him. The way she looked directly at him with such confidence was something that caught his interest. It reminded him a lot of Constance. The woman from his own dreams who dared not let a man tell her where her place was. That sort of woman was admirable. Clara also fell under that umbrella, he was sensing a theme here with the few women he met and briefly wondered if it had to do with the dreams. He quickly shook off the thought however when she spoke and broke said thought train anyway. “It is yes. Most people just call me D’Art. It gets slaughtered so often in full…” He mused.
“Tattoo’s..hmm. I’ve got one of my own actually.” He admitted, he hadn’t wanted many like he knew often occurred. But maybe another wouldn’t hurt. “You’re an artist then?” Wait, he also wanted that building..why was he making small talk with the competition? “Did you put an offer in on the place yet?”
“Well, people who I like can call me Kit,” Kitiara said, and so far she liked D’Art just fine. “Oh, I’d like to see your tattoo sometime. Call it a … professional interest,” Kitiara said, in a way that implied that there was nothing at all professional about her interest. “I’m not sure if I’d call myself an artist, though I’m good at what I do.”
She couldn’t help but chuckle a little when he asked her if she’d put an offer yet. “Hmm, it would be a bit of a waste of your time if I had, wouldn’t it?”
D’Artagnan raised an eyebrow at her, that was ..interesting. Was that what he thought it was? Had he sent out some kind of weird signal? Oh crap what now, a brief pause had occurred that he wasn’t entirely aware of until the brunette heard her voice again and finally responded with a grin of pure flustered embarrassment. “It’s nothing special, well I mean it is to me but it’s just small. I got a fleur de lis.” He wouldn’t show her just yet considering he barely knew her, it wasn’t terribly embarrassing where it was-but he’d only ever shown Athos.
“Little bit.” He wasn’t stupid, he knew if the woman placed an offer she was likely to get it judging by the way that guy was drooling over her and seemed put out that D’Artagnan was even there. “He’s creeping on you.” She probably knew, but that older man had eyes for her, he obviously hadn’t minded showing her around.
Now, that was just adorable. One of Kitiara’s greatest joys in life was flustering men. She loved a confident man who didn’t get embarrassed by her advances, but the other ones were just so much fun. “Oh, Fleur de Lis are notoriously difficult to get right. At least, it is if they’re drawing it and not just printing something off the internet.” She’d seen plenty of crappy fleur de lis tattoos that should have never happened.
Kitiara flashed a disarmingly charming smile over her shoulder at the realtor. He flushed a little and averted his gaze. “Oh, I know he is. Unfortunately for him, he’s not the one in this building I’m interested in.”
“Yeah, this one just drew it.” He’d been fairly good, only looked at a reference once or twice. He was a little old fashioned when it came to showing skin. Believed that sort of thing ought to only be reserved for his husband.
When she looked over at him like that however, he felt his cheeks suddenly hot as a red hue lined them. Her words caused him to stop and stare for a moment in disbelief like a deer caught in headlights. “I-I doubt his manager is interested? He’s like eighty.” He said cluelessly stumbling over his words, the only other one in that room was him, and surely she must have noticed his ring right?
Kitiara rarely paid attention to wedding rings, especially since she learned very early on that the people wearing the wedding rings rarely put more thought towards them than Kitiara did. “I should be insulted that you’d think I’d be interested in an eighty year old,” she said. Honestly though, this man’s naivety had been kind of cute at first, but now she was getting the impression that he was playing dumb on purpose. “But you on the other hand...”
D’Artagnan grinned a little at the response. “I’m mostly teasing you there anyway.” He laughed a little nervously. He was still flustered but not entirely stupid. “I’m flattered, but er-I’m married.” He’d married young and fast, but he was happy in it. A friend had once tried to convince him it was a terrible idea, but he didn’t buy it.
Kitiara’s smile disappeared when he mentioned that he was married, and her posture changed slightly. She stood a little straighter, her legs a little further apart, giving her an aura of power instead of the seductive tone she’d been going for before. It was a little humiliating, frankly, especially with that grin. He was clearly mocking her. Maybe D’Art should have mentioned the fact that he was faithfully married before Kit wasted her time. But if he was going to waste her time, then she’d waste his as well.
She turned so that was facing the realtor again, who’d been pretending not to pay attention to them by scrolling through his phone. “I’ll take it,” she said to him, suddenly enough that he hadn’t even realized that she was facing him. He hurriedly put his phone away. “Do you take cash, or would you prefer a cheque?”
When she changed like that he raised an eyebrow. People were definitely not his strong suit lately, he hadn’t meant anything malicious by that last comment he’d just been teasing a little there. But, his experience with girls wasn’t exactly wide ranging either. “Oi, wait.” He was initially thinking of a counter offer to whatever she laid down, but he didn’t think Athos would like that much if he got into some ridiculous bidding war with money that wasn’t officially his. Instead he offered something else. “I’m sorry, I only caught on a minute ago. Enjoy your new place.” And he was sincere about it. He hadn’t actually meant to hurt her or insult her. “I don’t exactly have a lot of experience with women.” He picked up the bag he’d been shopping with preparing to leave. “I’m sure your place will do well.”
Kitiara gave him a considering look. She was still pissed, but he did seem apologetic. Kitiara didn’t get where she was by being soft, but she didn’t get there by being completely unforgiving either. “I find that hard to believe,” he said. He was a good looking man, though maybe he was one of those saps who found just one person to be with for the rest of their life right out of the gate and were content with that. “If you ever want to add to that Fluer de Lis of yours, you know where my shop will be.”
“I’m gay.” He shrugged, if that helped. “I wasn’t insulting you. I just don’t get out much.” He admitted. “I didn’t mean anything by it. “Sign me for your first customer.” He’d get something, unsure what but maybe if it helped mend things a little more, he was for it. There was literally nothing malicious in D’Artagnan, he couldn’t bring himself to counter bid even if he liked the shop too. Aramis was going to laugh at him over this. So so much.
Gay. Well, that certainly explained it. She let her stance relax a little. “I’ll do that,” Kitiara said. She reached into the back pocket of her very tight jeans, and withdrew a couple of business cards. “Give me a call and we’ll set something up.”
He accepted the card and pocketed it, handing her one of his own. It didn’t have a business name on it just now but it did have his contact info on it. “ I will, good luck.” He offered a slight wave as he left her to it, no fuss over losing the building even if it was nice. He wasn’t going to be an asshole about it, there were other buildings to be seen. “Watch him.” D’Artagnan commented as he neared the door about the Real Estate agent, he didn’t think he’d do anything especially now that D’Artagnan had brought his attention away from Kit’s ass embarrassingly loud enough.