OPEN | prompt one | RAIN

[wrens]

prompt one | R A I N I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain - and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light. I have looked down the saddest city lane.

 

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[backstreets]

[There are parts of Kookaburra that remind Felix of himself, a long time ago. They had different beginnings, different sides of the scale, and maybe she decided to fall where he decided to climb (violet in everything except colour, the way he lives), but the point was that there was a decision there. He'd had the determination and cunning to make it, but even he had to cut his teeth somewhere, had to look on more powerful criminals with quietly earnest eyes, aching for approval until he was climbing on past them and not looking back at all.

He's not so arrogant to think that won't happen to him one day, and in truth, that's one of the reasons why he's lasted so long. Ambition left unchecked will kill a man as quick as idleness, and Felix has never let his ego get bigger than his strength or his wit. He looks at Kookaburra and sees himself, and he knows the trick isn't to take her out back and cut that bud off before it grows into a weed he can't manage. It's to train it, treat it well, see it flourish - by his hand. Maybe one day she'll be burying him, but if that day ever comes, he'll damn well deserve it.]

I've got eyes. [He looks away from her as he says it, catching the eye of a passing waitress. A flick of his fingers and she's heading to the bar to get him another drink. When his gaze settles back on Kookaburra, it's something else for a moment - the look all her flirting's been fishing for, raking over her chest and shoulders, neck, face. Appraising and appreciative. But it's a moment, that's all she gets.] And you don't have anything I haven't seen before.

[extortion]

[ It's a moment, that's all she gets, but it's all that Kookaburra wants, really. She doesn't need Felix Laurens' eyes to tell her what she (and a handful of carefully chosen higher-ups) already know. And the point isn't to be reminded, the point is the acknowledgment that comes with it. However brief (like a carrot on the end of a stick), it's there and that's more than enough to get her to hum like a cat purring with its mouth around a canary.

Once (just the once) she'd thought to try and trick Felix into bed with her, try to connive something out of him like so many of the others that came and went (mostly went). But then she'd met the man who'd been so long merely a name whispered in back rooms. She'd met him and in meeting him, realized there were some men who were good for more than just a night out and a few laughs. A man, if he wanted to be, could be driven and inspiring.

So that's what Kookaburra is now, with Felix's help; she's inspired. ]

It might not be anything new, [ she says, her fingers reaching to toy with the dangle of one her earrings. ] But you have it admit, it's rather good.

[backstreets]

[The hand at her earring is meant to attract his gaze there, look at the shape of her neck, her hair. Felix knows how it works, and it's not often he lets it work on him. If he likes a woman, he likes her with little preening (or talking, usually), and he likes her gone again as soon as he's done with her. Kookaburra isn't his type, as pretty as she is. Which is just as well, considering how useful she's turned out to be.]

You know what to do with it, I'll give you that.

[The waitress is back, delivering him a new drink, quicker than anyone else in the club is being served. There are perks to being Felix Laurens; there are perks to working for Felix Laurens. He wonders whose money paid for those pretty earrings, but if she earns it, he doesn't question what she'll do with it. The dress is a different matter.]

Don't worry. [He lifts the glass with half a smile, taking a sip.] I'll make sure it suits.