Cainan With A Cause

Posted on 03 Dec 2021 @ 5:11pm by Rogue Cainan Sauvage
Edited on on 03 Dec 2021 @ 11:52pm

1,091 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Summerday La Fête
Location: Jader
Timeline: Cloudreach 25th

OOC: Just trying to get back in the swing of things, sorry for being gone for so long.

Cainan watched as the woman entered the bar, slid through the celebrating crowd and come to sit on the settee across from Cainan. The Petit Garçon Batteur was one of the more upmarket wine bars on the lower west of Jader’s town centre – the sort of place respectable people would go to live life just a bit on the edge, but not leave any of the comforts of higher society behind.

But in this case it was quite the opposite; Karoline liked to pretend to be high society, while not being far from the squalor and dank of downtown – the bridge between both worlds that she navigated with ease. High society tolerated her in dresses and corsets because she could get things and know things that were inaccessible to the ‘legitimate’ channels they needed to skirt; the underbelly tolerated her for the same reasons, and she stayed in the middle, facilitating each side using the other, and making a good amount of profit from both.

She had worn the lower cut blouse he liked, framed with the type of corset that was in fashion right now; in many ways, she was the exact opposite side of the same coin that Cainan was; he lived between the worlds of higher and lower society because it was fun, she did it because it was how she survived.

She looked at him for a moment; dark, flowing hair that he knew was a fashionable wig left curls of 'hair' framing her bosom, the red velveteen of her gown highlighting her pale complexion. She was playing with him already, he knew – the fake beauty spot, pretending to be out of breath so her chest heaved, and the way she perched on the edge of the seat, so she teetered towards him; they had both played these games before, and under other circumstances, he would have been happy to indulge; though only as practice. Karoline and Cainan had danced that tune before, as well; though never as anything more than a bit of fun.

Something in the way he wasn’t leaning in caught her interest, but also caused a flash of subtle disappointment. With a final look at his eyes, she stopped pretending and leaned back, all business. It was impressive how with just a change of posture she was able to change the perception from sultry high society to fashionable business-woman.

“Well, here I was thinking this was a… social call,” she said, pouring a glass of wine from the decanter and leaning back to appraise him. “Not to say I’m disappointed for the work, but you could have mentioned before I made the effort,” she chided, though they both knew she would have anyway; Karoline was not dressed if she wasn’t dressed.

“I did use your work contacts,” he reminded her, raising his glass to say ‘cheers’. “No offense intended,” he added, though they also both knew that wasn’t an issue; Karoline would accept a lot of shit with the prospect of gold in mind, and she knew that if he were reaching out for business, she’d at least be getting paid; Cainan came from money, and was happy to spend it.

“You did, but a girl can dream.” She sighed, in mock dramatics, before appraising him again. “Something’s different about you,” she stated, drinking a sip of her wine. Cainan had the feeling he was being weighed for auction under her gaze; she had that effect.

“Different?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said slowly, eyes roving as if looking for the offending article that had changed. “You’re not as aloof as you usually are.”

“Oh?” he asked again, letting this play out. She had been ‘fashionably late’ for this meeting, and he was going to miss some of the celebrations as a result. He was going to miss some of Jaslyn as a result.

“Yes, your posture… it’s…” she read him a bit, her face growing serious. “Someone’s pissed you off.” She observed him for a moment longer. “And it’s not a small matter,” she stated. He nodded his agreement, and slid her a piece of paper.

“This is the name I have, the details I need,” he said, tapping the folded parchment. “He killed someone. Runs in some bad circles,” he said, keeping his fingers on the paper, and letting the note hang in the air. She needed to know this would be dangerous work, if she didn’t take the proper precautions. “I need to know where he is, where he’ll be going – anything that might help me… repay him the debt I owe.”

Karoline looked at the paper, licking her lips. She was making calculations in her head. Finding information was her business, and he knew she was up to the task of working with information that might involve the carta, or other such organisations. He also knew how much she charged for such services. A lot of subtext transferred between them in the look she gave him. Without words, they reached an agreement as to how far she should go, and how much he would pay. Surprise flashed in her eyes, but it settled and she reached for the paper, sliding it into her cleavage without looking at it.

“Well… Cainan with a cause. This should be… interesting,” she smirked, sipping more of her wine. She paused as if considering, but this was merely a formality. “…Alright, I never could say no to that pretty face of yours. But you’re going to owe me. Something… big.” She winked, but despite the innuendo, Cainan knew she was referring to the size of the coin purse he’d be giving her when all was said and done.

They managed a little more preamble, a little more meaningless flirtation – Karoline knew somehow there wasn’t any real point in it, that Cainan wasn’t up for entertaining such dalliances. He told himself that it was due to the nature of his request, due to having a business arrangement, and did his best to ignore the small voice at the back of his head that kept whispering a different reason for his reluctance to spend an afternoon taking Karoline out of her pretty dress.

It was afternoon when he began making his way back to the celebrations, looking for Jaslyn.

 

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