Shady Business Dealings
♤ Darius M Cain ♤, ☽Masha ☾, & Logan Crowley
Time
Day 2~ Sometime Around Noon
Location
Darius' Manor within Ominar
The alarm on his phone woke her first, blaring away from the pocket of his pants a few feet away from her spot in the chair. He didn't hear it and after a minute, it turned off. She drifted back off to sleep, even though it was thin and would be easily broken. Five minutes later, the alarm went off again and this time when he didn't stir, she got angry. Standing up, she grabbed the phone from his pants and threw it at him spread out on the bed all by himself.
He cursed softly when the plastic of the phone connected with his stomach, sitting up and looking around himself very confused. When his eyes found the fuming Masha a few feet from the bed, glaring at him, recognition focused his eyes. “Shit, sorry,” he said, scooting to the edge of the big bed to try and gather up his things. “I ah...work ya know…”
Masha nodded and flopped back down into her arm chair, resting her head against the arm and watched him get dressed.
“I ah...I had a good time,” he said awkwardly, obviously not certain if he should be enjoying her watching or not. He cringed some as he pulled his undershirt over the fresh scabs that ran along his hack and chest. Wounds from her affections. “Maybe we can…”
Masha merely shrugged.
He smiled at first, but it faded a little after a moment. “I'll leave you my number anyways,” he said, regaining some of the confidence he'd had the night before. “Just in case that shrug becomes more decided. At the very least we can get some drinks again. You have to admit you at least enjoyed talking to me.”
This time she smiled and stood. “That I did,” she agreed, fishing her own phone out of the chair. He rattled off his number and she actually put it in, calling him to prove it. She grabbed a men's tie from off the dresser. “Here,” she said, slipping it over his head and starting to tie it for him, “at least have a different tie.”
“I'm not going to ask where this came from,” he chuckled.
“Probably best,” she smirked. “You can keep it though, he's obviously not missing it too much.”
When he leaned in for a kiss, she didn't stop him, but she wasn't as into it as she'd been the night before. “I'll see you around, Masha,” he murmured before heading out the door.
Looking to the clock she groaned at what time it was. Stripping out of her robe, she pulled on something between her dress from the night before and the lazy outfit she’d put together before that. She brushed her hair in the cab on the way over, and felt she was finally presentable by the time she was knocking on the door to the mansion that was Darius’ home and headquarters.
“I don’t like the look of dis,” Afua said as she examined the wound on Darius’ shoulder, her eyes narrowed on the hole created. It was discolored along the edges causing her some worry, her arm
then reached to apply a corpse patch.
She inhaled a breath before she took one of her few premade corpse patches- a few days old dead skin preserved and infused with her Vis- as she attached it. When she began to activate it. It was within that moment that the necromancer knew something was wrong. This wasn’t going to last very long and in a few hours, Darius would begin to bleed all over again and likely show worse symptoms much later. This boded badly to her.
“I think it might be time to call Dr. M’ve-” Afua began, then immediately was interrupted by Darius.
“I’m fine,” The kitsune stated when his figure rose, his paw reached for a wash cloth then dabbed at his makeshift patch. The bare shin looked strange against his reddish fur making it appear like he had a bald spot, “No need to call M’ve. It will heal and I’ll be good as new. I need to get ready for my next appointment.”
Boris looked at Darius, his hand gripped the Russian Vodka bottle, then poured Darius another glass. It wasn’t the poorly made American stuff but it would work for the pain. He passed the glass over to the kitsune as Darius held out his hand, denying it for the moment, “I need a clear head for the meeting.”
The kitsune tossed his wash cloth into the basin on the table beside him and gradually pushed himself upright. His right hand grabbed a more fitting shirt then tossed it over him to hid the mismatch skin to fur. A knock at the door caused him to shift, his awareness felt his two employees sizing him up and look to him for orders. After his wrapped up dressing, Darius began to form orders to the pair, “Alright, Afua and Boris, take a bit of time off and settle down. Keep your cells on hand however as I’ll call you later.”
With that, Darius walked through the living room and into the foyer. His paw reached for the door ornate door knob and carefully pulled it backwards, his eyes lowered to gaze upon the young woman that stood outside.
“When Vlad made this arrangement, I didn’t quite expect to see an interesting creature gracing my door and ready to talk business. I enjoy the surprise however. Now, please coming in. Shall I get you something to drink?”
Masha was a little surprised to see Darius himself answer the door, but she tucked away her blinking quickly enough and smiled up at him. They had of course met before. They'd spent some time with her brother and Sergei at least drinking and talking after business with her father had concluded and he'd gone off to do other things. But this was the first time she'd come to talk business of her own with him.
She stepped into the house at his offer, shifting her bag a little in her shoulder. “Well, my brother likes surprising people. He neglected to mention to me that he'd done this until last night.” She looked around as she came in, only briefly though, before golden eyes framed in the smudges of last nights makeup came back to rest on Darius. There was something a little off about him today. He wasn’t quite the same as he’d been the last time they’d spoken a few years before. He must not have gotten much sleep either. But that wasn’t something she felt was her place to bring up at the moment. “I’d love a drink.”
“Likely hoping you would take the reins with the lack of information and be on your toes, at least those are my own theories. Many Licentia don’t have such...interesting dynamics when it comes to our own kind. Anyways, I’ll get you some water as you’re likely dehydrated and might help tamper off the side effects,” Darius commented as he shut the door, the handle clicked shut, then moved toward the liquor cabinet nearby.
He indicated for Masha to take a seat in the living room-more specifically on the loveseat- then took a glass and a plastic bottle from the nearby mini refrigerator before he followed her. He held out the water for his current guest on his way to his seat, casually lowering himself down.
“Alright, could you please begin? However, keep in mind you might need to repeat yourself since I’m expecting my business associate to show up at some point. Vlad didn’t want to elaborate over your intentions and merely said he wanted me to meet you over a business proposal that might be occurring in my territory.”
“Our territory.” Logan’s voice came from the hallway as he walked towards the room’s entrance. “The Prae would have gotten rid of you by now if I wasn’t around.” The man now stood in the doorway, a smirk lining his lips. “You must be Maryia Vladslavovna Vorobyova…” His pronunciation of Masha’s name was perfect. “I hear that you and Darius have already been… well acquainted.”
Darius sighed through his nose as he settled back into the seat. Mentally it was a temporary arrangement but correcting Mr. Crowley in front of the client was an ill way of doing business, especially with partners. His eyes darted toward Logan’s direction while he edged from seemingly nowhere and seemed unpleasantly pleased by his demonstration. However, Darius had been seeing this for a few months and the surprise had long ago faded in his reaction.
Masha had settled herself down on the loveseat as directed, placing her bag in the floor and against the couch with her legs in front of it. There wasn't much of anything that she was worried abou Darius either taking or knowing about, but it was habit nevertheless. Her nose had wrinkled up at the water, but she'd taken it and thanked him anyways. Logan’s voice made her flick her gaze over to him, looking him over like she was sure he'd done to her before speaking.
“My,” she said, sounding and looking surprised at the way her name was handled so deftly. “Someone's been practicing. You can just called me Masha. And we aren't well aquatinted, but we do know one another.”
“Ms. Vorobyova will do.” Logan remained polite. He called very few people by their self selected names. “Give the woman something stronger than water, Darius. Of all things to offer a guest, a nice wine, a bottle from your special collection, but water?” The man’s eyebrow raised, puzzled by Darius’ choice of offering. “I thought at this point you understood social etiquette.”
“Considering she’s been drinking and had signs of a hangover, giving her ‘hair of the dog’ didn’t seem like a good idea,” Darius stated, noting something that clearly Mr. Crowley overlooked or pretended to ignore. His figure lifted upright then left the two alone, disappearing into the foyer, as he went to get the woman something he knew wouldn’t help her hangover.
“I doubt Ms. Vorobyova cares about her hangover right now.” The man had a point, she wouldn’t be here if the hangover was a problem. There were far more important things to discuss right now.
“Nor do I think she appreciates talking like she isn’t here. I’m a host after all, if she would like something stronger than she is welcomed to ask for it. From what her father tells me, she is a vocalized individual and isn’t afraid to speak her mind,” Darius stated then turned to walk into the room, a wine glass in his hand and held out for her, “Unless you would like to correct what little I know of you? It would be helpful to get the information directly rather than from others. Also, I’m mostly following the promise I made to Vlad and your father. I don’t take advantage of those I respect after all.”
He once more took his place in his seat, his left leg crossed over and torso leaned against the chair back.His head briefly checked the direction of his breast to ensure there wasn’t a darkened, red spot leaking through his outfit. Masha, or Mr. Cowley, seeing blood seeping from his body would most distracting.
Masha raised an eyebrow and a hand up to speak for herself, but the two of them kept going like she wasn't there. “Men,” she mumbled to herself, shaking her head a little bit and rolling her eyes. When Darius returned with the wine she looked up at him with a very pleased smile. “Hairy of the dog is good though,” she said as her smile grew. She looked over to Logan and smiled at him as well. “Thank you,” she said with a little wink.
“So to business,” she said without further pretense. “If you two are done trying to be alpha here.”
“Apologies for my behavior. I’ve been dealing with unsavory issues earlier and I’m a bit out of sorts, currently I’m waiting for your proposal. If you would be so kind to start off with exactly what you intend to do and how,” Darius calmly stated. The kitsune had little issue to admitting to be wrong, as he pushed down his ‘mask’ and gestured for her to continue. He made a mental note that she seemed to prefer the ‘Hair of the dog’ was preferred with Masha.
She nodded her head, shifting in her place a little bit so as to be able to see both of them a little more easily. “I'm relatively new to the city, and I already have an in flow of cash through a small fashion boutique that I bought out a few months ago. But my father has taught me not all my eggs into one basket as it were. So I'm looking to expand. And into less...ah fashionable avenues. Maybe something more in the club scene. Or dirtier.”
Darius placed his fingers together then put it upon his muzzle end. He tapped the end in thought for a moment and considered what would be suitable for her before he leaned back into his chair in order to reply in a blunt fashion, “I often call them high risk and reward avenues myself. It is much more appropriate. Though it’s ideal to know fully what you’re getting yourself involved with before you make a final decision.”
He shifted and adjusted his jacket, plopping the side over toward the center, “The best option is normally working directly for me which by default, includes my partner. This more direct work range from running money to key locations to even owning a location where items or individuals are stored. The running is expected for you make it appear to provide other services.”
The kitsune then folded his hands into each other then added one last thing, “What is your strengths? Depending on them will help determine which is best for you at the start, then you can learn to branch off.”
Masha’s smile faltered at the idea of doing work herself. She hid the look in her glass, keeping her eyes down on her lap for a second as he went on. “My strengths lie in being in charge of people, not being the grunt.” She flicked her eyes back up to his thoughtful face. “Not that I can't take orders though.”
“Being a grunt, as you kindly put it, does have its advantages. Especially when you’re placed under the right individual that you can learn from. I found more loopholes through working my way from the bottom, including how the system works best, then anyone who found themselves at the top,” Darius polite informed Masha, mindful to hide the hint of hurt at her statement, “It’s a better and kinder method than ones I was raised on to be sure. Another thing to consider is that reputation is everything in the risk and reward side of things and without it, you can’t get very far without becoming a scapegoat for greater ambitions.”
Mentally, Darius was hoping that Masha had more than commanding as a talent. Reputation given was not worth shit unless it was earned in his world and that might prove difficult if she wasn’t willing to get her hands dirty when it fell to her to keep it. Pausing a moment, he continued, “Do you have any specific experiences or talents you believe would be useful? Dealing with a ledger for your father or Vlad, even running small errands for example?”
Masha couldn’t help the smirk that crossed her face at the less than wholesome thought that came to mind at the phrase ‘placed under the right individual.’ She knew that wasn’t what he’d meant, but she had to admit, knowing what he was, and knowing him in general, she was not opposed to that sort of thing. The smirk shifted a little as he went on, but she didn’t let that become the focus of this. He’d made passing mentions before about what it had been like growing up for him, but now was not the time for that. She just filed it away for later.
Which reminded her as he asked what else she’d done. “I’ve been my father’s secretary for years, but I’ve done books for my own businesses, for Vlad’s even, for a long time. Got a head for numbers. I’m pretty good at getting information out of people too.”
“Tell me, Ms. Vorobyova.” Logan began. “Have you ever been to a Grand Cabaret? Or perhaps a Cabaret Club?”
Masha looked at Logan with surprise clear on her face. “Of course,” she said with a snort of a laugh. “What kind of socialite do you think I am to have never been to a cabaret?”
“Have you seen one on the way here?” Logan asked.
Her dark eyebrows pulled together before one raised up slightly. “No,” she said with a huffing little laugh. “I've been in town two weeks, and I've spent most of that time in a nice haze in my bed.”
“You see. That’s the thing. The entertainment district here in Ominar is nothing but Casinos, owned by the fox here.” Logan paused for a moment to look at Darius, watching his reaction. “Now what is a district dedicated to entertainment, without the entertainment? This place needs a Cabaret. At least as a start. So, tell us. Do you plan to invest in this unknown venture of yours with your own funds, or are you looking for a kickback of funds from us to help you on your way?”
Darius gradually realised the reason Logan chose this specific avenue of discussion. Primarily to determine Ms. Vorobyova’s intentions and direction with her business, something expected since Vlad didn’t have personal connections with the Director of AIII. Very little was expressed on his muzzle, making it difficult to tell if the name fox insulted him or not, as he used to be called much worse. His eyes studied Mr. Cowley for a moment and allowed the conversation to continue.
“I’m looking for three P’s,” she started with a little chuckle. “People, property, and protection. I have money, and plenty to invest in this. I just don’t have the connections for the rest here. I wasn’t specifically looking for entertainment in that sense, but I’m not opposed to it either, I suppose.” She shrugged a little and sipped at her wine again.
“If you are looking for more… illegal ventures, that’s Darius’ forte.”
“I wouldn’t say the district is all Casinos, but a good portion is. There’s also clubs, particular dens, and other adult entertainment scattered throughout this district that I have invested in. However, the last nightclub’s owner seems to have experienced an unfortunate and rather terrible accident within the last week. I’m currently in the market for someone to replace him,” Darius calm offered, hinting for Masha to give him reason to consider her for the job, “Its name is ‘One Night in Hell’’, a pun on the fact I hold a high amount of stock in the establishment and likely the means of how I did. A lot of my more unpopular business runs through there which means a lot of work and encounters with myself while checking on my investments.”
Logan chuckled at Darius’ proposition. “No pressure, Ms. Vorobyova.”
She turned her gaze back to Darius and smiled brightly. Almost childlike. “Now see, that’s a bit more responsibility than I had in mind, but the exact sort of thing I was thinking of.” She finished her drink then and put on a thinking face that was obviously a bit more show than reality. “ ‘One Night in Hell,’ “ she repeated, humming, “I certainly like the sound of that, if you’re interested in letting me give it a go.”
“Yes. I was considering giving you a week’s probation to see how you do. You have one day to get ready and prepare for it, getting your affairs in order before I give you orientation. Then I’ll send Afua to work with you in order to help you get organized,” A predatory glint flickered on his eyes, a warning that if she wasn’t worth the effort then she would be removed to something likely less pleasant, “The staff requires a firm hand, something I hope you will provide to ensure they listen and Afua will be there to help. Through keep in mind, she’s there to observe and report back to me over your progression. The probation will increase or decrease based on her report.”
Masha grinned, even at the look he gave her that implied that she'd not be dealt with kindly if she failed. “Thank you,” she said with a nod of her head. “Thank you both,” she went on, smiling just as slyly at Logan as she did at Darius.
“Just keep in mind what I said. If this position doesn’t work out, you will find yourself in another and likely less desirable one. I expect your best and full effort because it will reflect upon what trust I placed into your father’s and Vlad’s words over what you can handle,” Darius said as he lifted upright from his seat. Immediately he paused, his figure briefly tensed then gradually relaxed in less than a few seconds, his hand reached up to casually rub the area where the arrow had shot earlier. After a moment, he then made an elegant bow and offered a hand to help Masha up, “I would also encourage you not to depend heavily on Afua because she’s got additional duties and will be gone sometimes. In addition, I can’t always spare one of my people to assist you so you will need to develop respect, in many forms, with these individuals. If you can’t, I will find someone else.”
His golden eyes turned to Mr. Crowley for a moment, “Anything you would like to add, Mr. Crowley.”
Darius resisted pointing out that this fox was done, jabbing at the name and view of the unique individual.
“Nope. She’s all yours.” Logan replied to the kitsune.
The tensing didn’t go past Masha’s notice and she looked Darius over again with that information in hand. His night had been rough, but not in the fun way it seemed. But shouldn’t someone of his abilities have been able to heal whatever it was that had happened? She took his offer up, standing fluidly. “I can stand on my own, given time,” she said with a little smirk. Turning to look at Logan she pouted a little. “Your loss I guess,” she murmured with a little wink. She knew he hadn’t meant what she was implying, but she wasn’t about to let that go past without a joking comment either.
Darius’ thumb gently stroked the top of Masha’s hand as he released, then pulled his arm behind his back. He gestured to walk ahead of him, holding back a chuckle, and officially escorted her out. The transaction complete in both their minds.
She smiled at the squeeze and followed him to the door, pulling out her phone to call up a cab again. When she stood at the door, she dug through her purse again to find a little metal case. She popped it open and pulled out a business card with her name, phone number, email, address back in London, and the hint of skulls and typical followers associated with the dead embossed into the paper as well. “Obviously the address is a little out of date, but everything else is still valid,” she said as she haned it over to him, held between two thin fingers. “Thank you again, Darius. Truely. I won’t let you down.”
