[closed]

[harrow_gate]

WHO: Shagojyo (inthecenterfold) and Felix Harrowgate (harrow_gate)
WHAT: A business meeting. Of sorts.
WHERE: At a cafe on the corner of Via Brindisi & Viale Italia.
WHEN: Day 10. Evening. 7pm.

Comments

[harrow_gate]

Felix smiled at the compliment. Both of them, verbal and mental. He didn't yet know how Gojyo would feel about him prying around in his head, but then Felix didn't have nearly so many qualms as people seemed to wish he did. He picked up the small espresso glass and gave Gojyo a little toast. "It made business hard, staying off the radar." He took a small sip. "Hard... but not impossible."

He'd been right about the coffee, he decided. It was certainly better than what he managed to make himself. His smile turned into a grin as he contemplated the man across from him. "I admit, I have seen some of your work. I was rather impressed." And maybe it wasn't the best opening gambit, but if pressed he would have admitted to locking himself in his room with some of the movies.

[inthecenterfold]

Gojyo gave a hearty laugh, barely hanging on to the cigarette. "Impressed, huh? With what, may I ask? Ah you don't have ta' answer that if ya' don't want, I'm just teasin'..."

He crushed out the cigarette and cleared his palate before taking a drink, completely oblivious to any powers Felix did or didn't have.

"Any reason ya stayed off the radar on purpose? I've found hiding in plain sight works just fine fer me - an' that's fer both jobs."

[harrow_gate]

Felix was nothing if not stubborn, and it was through sheer stubborn will that he held off the flashes of memory that threatened to assault him. And though his smile faded slightly, it never changed in how sincere it was. Or... in how sincere it seemed.

"I had some particularly unpleasant experiences," he said after another sip of his coffee. "And I am not eager to experience them again." Not for the first time he considered just how fine the line was between those experiences and what he had chosen to continue doing. It was control, he decided. That was the difference.

But there was time for that later.

[inthecenterfold]

"Sorry to hear that," Gojyo replied, a smile also on his face - but on a totally different level from Felix's. Gojyo was... not incapable of lying, but tried his very best to never have to do it - after all, one truth was easier to keep track of.

Ah the difference between prostitution and pornography. Somehow, some way - and Gojyo was aware of this - all of his bad luck never manifested during the short time he'd worked the streets by himself. Rather, it had been channeled into good luck when he stumbled on the porno world and what it could provide him: namely a higher income.

"I know how that is, though, which is why I hated letting some of my kids go... you get so attached to 'em..." He shook his head wearily, "but in the end this is still business an' if they're more interested in their drugs than what they owe me, well... I stop owing them anything either."

[harrow_gate]

Felix noted, with some amusement, as Gojyo's words lost their strict formality and took on a more familiar cadence. He knew that if he wasn't careful, his own speech would slip back into the lower city vocabulary he had once had. There was no one to dictate his speech now, only his own habits and pride.

He made a vague noise, remembering his own encounters with drug usage. He resisted the urge to rub his arms and settled for tapping his long fingers on his elbow. "I imagine you're eager to replace them." His tone of voice mae it both a statement and a question.