31_days fic: Well, where did that come from??
I'm surprised that I got this one done, as I think my allergies have flared up horribly, or I'm starting another cold >.< I'm also surprised that it involves Kajii exclusively and while I don't hate the guy, he's not one of my favorite characters either (reminds me a bit too much of some annoyingly flirty guys I've known). However, the idea popped into my head and it was almost too crazy to keep to myself.
Title: "Shadow Box and Double Cross"
Day/Theme: Sept 27) ode to divorce
Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Character/Pairing: Ryoji Kajii/OMC
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: This might be a side-story, but I'm tempted to include this in the final version of "Neon Enoch Evangelion", aka the ambitious NGE project, particularly since it answers another NGE question of the ages: who killed the lights in Tokyo-3 just before Matarael appears in Episode 11.
Title is shamelessly ripped from Sade's "Smooth Operator", which may as well be Enniel's theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ3Qbqt6d7s
Special thanks goes out to the folks at little_details, for their advice on poker hands. If you know much about the symbolism of the suits, there's a bit of a coded message in the cards...
WARNING: Contains mild slash, nothing too graphic, but enough that it could be disconcerting to some readers, particularly those under age 18. Enniel is not above using any means possible to get what he wants from people....
"Go to Enniel Prussot: there isn't a piece of data he can't procure, and if he can't obtain it, then it doesn't exist." Keel's words were still running in Kajii's ears as he stood under an awning outside the Golden Dragon Hotel in Tokyo-2, the rain beating like distant drums overhead.
At length a glossy black Mercedes pulled up the curb and a valet scurried to open the rear door, admitting a tall slim man clad in a grey silk suit with a loose white overcoat draped about his shoulders. Prussot, if that's who it was, moved with an easy grace, but a regal aura seemed to hover about him. As he drew close, Kajii discovered, even at his height, he had to look up into the taller man's thin face, with it's nearly milk-white skin and crimson eyes, which looked down at him quizzically through the lenses of wire-rimmed eyeglasses.
"Ryoji Kajii, I presume?" the tall man asked in a nasally baritenor.
Kajii bowed slightly. "That would be me, sir."
The stranger returned the bow. "Enniel Prussot. Keel tells me you wished to speak to me about something that's evading your grasp?"
"That's what brought me here if you can spare me a moment of your time," Kajii replied.
Prussot smirked with pleasure. "That I can do, if you'll accompany me to my suite: there's far too many little listening ears out here."
"Lead the way, mi'lord," Kajii said, with an exagerrated bow. Prussot laughed gently as the valet opened the door for him; he stepped through, Kajii at his heels. Across the opulent, dark-panelled lobby and into an elevator, which brought them to a suite perched on the roof.
The air in the front room smelled of incense and the wine-red carpet underfoot felt thick and dense as moss. The valet who had accompanied them switched on a Tiffany lamp which stood on a table with two easy chairs in the center of the room before another valet came to take Prussot's overcoat.
"Would you care for a drink? Coffee? Cognac?" Prussot asked, puttering about a mini bar on the side board in the shadows.
"Coffee will do," Kajii said.
"Cream? Sugar?"
"Black, two sugars."
Prussot approched the table, a snifter of cognac in hand, and holding out a fluted glass "So what brings you to me this evening, Mr. Kajii?" Prussot settled himself in the further chair, draping one leg over the arm with a louche elegance.
Kajii seated himself across the table. "Well, I'm told you can get your fingers on any piece of information imaginable, and I have it on authority that if you can't get it, then it just doesn't exist."
Prussot smirked over his glass. "Flattery will get you anywhere. What is it that you want from me?"
"I need the access codes for the mainframes on the Tokyo-3 power plant," Kajii said. He braced himself for further questions.
Prussot lifted one eyebrow elegantly. "Such a small thing?"
"It might seem small to someone who deals in things like sums of money that equal the GNP of a small European nation, but to a little fellow like me, it's been like lifting a mountain with a teaspoon." Stop grovelling, he told himself. He already has the advantage, and you don't need to telegraph your insignificance or he'll get suspicious.
Prussot set down the snifter and opening a drawer in the side of the table, took out a deck of playing cards, printed on the back with a pattern of golden angel wings, no doubt a custom-made deck. "Have you tried hacking into the mainframe?"
"That was my first course of action, and the firewall was too strong to get through," Kajii said.
Prussot shuffled the deck. "Hm, I would have thought you to be more persistant, given the things which my ward has told me about you."
"Miss Valiant? She's a charming thing, but her heart is out of my reach, though it isn't from lack of trying," Kajii admitted.
"Mmm, she would be the first to say you aren't her type." Prussot said, with emphasis, he added, "For that matter, she's all but promised to another man."
"I would ask what her type is, but I think I know what it is: she likes her men well-aged."
"To put it mildly," Prussot said, holding up the deck. "Let me test your persistance and also slap you on the wrist for badgering my ward, by challenging you to a five-card hand of poker: If you win, I give you the access codes, no strings attached. If I win, you still get the access codes, but in return, you have to give me one thing of my choice."
Something about the way Prussot looked at him, half over and half through the lenses of his eyeglasses, left Kajii uneasy. How steep could the price be? he thought.
"Test me as you wish, mi'lord," Kajii said.
"You give in so easily," Prussot said, shuffling the desk more in earnest. "I'd have thought you'd have put up a fight, but you must be desperate." He dealt Kajii's cards first before his own, then settled back in his chair, shifting his cards with a calm that bordered on stoniness.
I've heard the term 'poker face', but this fellow may as well be a waxwork for his cool collectedness, Kajii thought, eyeing Prussot over the top of his cards as he studied his hand. Three Jacks, Spades Clubs and Hearts, with a pair of fours, spades and hearts.
"Full house," he said, tossing down the cards. Unlucky at love, lucky at cards, as the saying goes, he thought.
Prussot's left eyelid flickered, then sitting up straighter, he proceeded to lay out his own hand slowly, one card at a time. Diamonds: nine, eight, seven, six and five. Only when he laid the last card down did the smirk return to Prussot's face.
"Sorry, Mr. Kajii, but straight flush beats a full house," he said. Prussot reached up and took off his glasses laying them on the table. "I can have those access codes ready for you in twelve hours; there's a post office box I use for this sort of thing, to which I shall give you the key: you'll find a flash-drive it in at 10.30 tomorrow morning. That is... if you aren't walking too crookedly when you wake up." Prussot eyed him with barely veiled desire.
Hoo boy, what have I gotten myself into now? Kajii thought, feeling his blood run a little cooler than usual. I didn't exactly sign up to play Mata Hari, but perhaps I can ad lib the script...
"Mr. Prussot, we've only just met: shouldn't we take this a bit slowly till we get to know each other? Why, we haven't even had our first kiss in the moonlight," Kajii replied, feeling a bead of sweat roll down the side of his forehead.
Prussot put his head on one side, giving him an "oh come now" sort of smirk. "Don't be so naif, Mr. Kajii. If you really want this information, and if you don't want Keel and his bloodhounds on your heels, this really isn't such a big deal. I'm only asking for one night in which you give me yourself."
"As willing as I may be to go the extra mile, this is one bypath that I'd avoid walking if I could, unless that walk happened to involve a lovely pair of melons with some fine stems."
Prussot made a harrassed noise under his breath. "You play a harder game than I, Mr. Kajii. Very well: one kiss and you will have the access codes. But do try to put some feeling into it: I'm not keen on kissing someone who feels like a statue."
Just imagine you're kissing Misato, Kajii told himself. Giving Prussot a seductive leer, he said, "I may be disinterested in the sterner sex, but I promise you won't be disappointed in the touch of my lips."
Prussot narrowed his eyes, but the smirk of delight did not leave his face. "I'll believe your words when you back them with actions," he said, rising and coming around the corner of the table. Kajii started to stand, but Prussot pushed him back into the chair, leaning over him. Kajii smirked up at the taller male, but he felt the corner of his mouth tremble as Prussot lowered himself over him, straddling his thighs, then relaxing his weight against Kajii. He leaned his face closer to Kajii's, his crimson eyes narrowed to burning slits; Kajii, propping himself with one elbow against the back of the chair, pulled himself up slightly and putting a hand behind Prussot's head, met the taller male in the middle. Prussot's lips pressed against his hard, hard enough to bruise. Kajii parted his lips slightly, tantalizingly, letting Prussot think he was yielding. Prussot made a "what have we here?" grunt deep in his throat and slipped the tip of his tongue between the shorter man's lips, caressing the lining. Gotcha, Kajii thought, relaxing his jaw. Prussot's tongue slipped between his teeth; at that moment, he gently closed his teeth, trapping the other's tongue. Prussot gathered himself, slightly annoyed, but more surprised than anything else. Kajii relaxed, releasing him. Now I've got you at your own game, he thought.
"Hmm," Prussot said, rising, impressed, and reaching for his eyeglasses, replaced them on the bridge of his nose. "You're either a very good actor or there are undiscovered corners of your psyche, Mr. Kajii." Prussot strode to a desk in the far corner of the room; loosening the knot of his tie and undoing the top button of his shirt, he took a key from around his neck, and unlocking a drawer in the desk, took out a small keyfob.
"Catch," he said, and tossed the key to Kajii, who fairly snatched it out of the air.
"Small things for small things," Kajii said, pocketing the key. "I'll see you get this back."
"Keep it, in case you should ever need it again."
"You're too good me, Mr. Prussot, but I would not wish to inconvenience you further," Kajii said. "I can find my way out: it's a bad night out there and I wouldn't want to trouble your manservants."
Prussot eyed him curiously. "As you wish, young man."
I'm going to have to divorce myself from Prussot as a fount of information before he pops the question... Kajii thought, joking to himself as he let himself out and made a dash for the elevator.
Title: "Shadow Box and Double Cross"
Day/Theme: Sept 27) ode to divorce
Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Character/Pairing: Ryoji Kajii/OMC
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: This might be a side-story, but I'm tempted to include this in the final version of "Neon Enoch Evangelion", aka the ambitious NGE project, particularly since it answers another NGE question of the ages: who killed the lights in Tokyo-3 just before Matarael appears in Episode 11.
Title is shamelessly ripped from Sade's "Smooth Operator", which may as well be Enniel's theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ3Qbqt6d7s
Special thanks goes out to the folks at little_details, for their advice on poker hands. If you know much about the symbolism of the suits, there's a bit of a coded message in the cards...
WARNING: Contains mild slash, nothing too graphic, but enough that it could be disconcerting to some readers, particularly those under age 18. Enniel is not above using any means possible to get what he wants from people....
"Go to Enniel Prussot: there isn't a piece of data he can't procure, and if he can't obtain it, then it doesn't exist." Keel's words were still running in Kajii's ears as he stood under an awning outside the Golden Dragon Hotel in Tokyo-2, the rain beating like distant drums overhead.
At length a glossy black Mercedes pulled up the curb and a valet scurried to open the rear door, admitting a tall slim man clad in a grey silk suit with a loose white overcoat draped about his shoulders. Prussot, if that's who it was, moved with an easy grace, but a regal aura seemed to hover about him. As he drew close, Kajii discovered, even at his height, he had to look up into the taller man's thin face, with it's nearly milk-white skin and crimson eyes, which looked down at him quizzically through the lenses of wire-rimmed eyeglasses.
"Ryoji Kajii, I presume?" the tall man asked in a nasally baritenor.
Kajii bowed slightly. "That would be me, sir."
The stranger returned the bow. "Enniel Prussot. Keel tells me you wished to speak to me about something that's evading your grasp?"
"That's what brought me here if you can spare me a moment of your time," Kajii replied.
Prussot smirked with pleasure. "That I can do, if you'll accompany me to my suite: there's far too many little listening ears out here."
"Lead the way, mi'lord," Kajii said, with an exagerrated bow. Prussot laughed gently as the valet opened the door for him; he stepped through, Kajii at his heels. Across the opulent, dark-panelled lobby and into an elevator, which brought them to a suite perched on the roof.
The air in the front room smelled of incense and the wine-red carpet underfoot felt thick and dense as moss. The valet who had accompanied them switched on a Tiffany lamp which stood on a table with two easy chairs in the center of the room before another valet came to take Prussot's overcoat.
"Would you care for a drink? Coffee? Cognac?" Prussot asked, puttering about a mini bar on the side board in the shadows.
"Coffee will do," Kajii said.
"Cream? Sugar?"
"Black, two sugars."
Prussot approched the table, a snifter of cognac in hand, and holding out a fluted glass "So what brings you to me this evening, Mr. Kajii?" Prussot settled himself in the further chair, draping one leg over the arm with a louche elegance.
Kajii seated himself across the table. "Well, I'm told you can get your fingers on any piece of information imaginable, and I have it on authority that if you can't get it, then it just doesn't exist."
Prussot smirked over his glass. "Flattery will get you anywhere. What is it that you want from me?"
"I need the access codes for the mainframes on the Tokyo-3 power plant," Kajii said. He braced himself for further questions.
Prussot lifted one eyebrow elegantly. "Such a small thing?"
"It might seem small to someone who deals in things like sums of money that equal the GNP of a small European nation, but to a little fellow like me, it's been like lifting a mountain with a teaspoon." Stop grovelling, he told himself. He already has the advantage, and you don't need to telegraph your insignificance or he'll get suspicious.
Prussot set down the snifter and opening a drawer in the side of the table, took out a deck of playing cards, printed on the back with a pattern of golden angel wings, no doubt a custom-made deck. "Have you tried hacking into the mainframe?"
"That was my first course of action, and the firewall was too strong to get through," Kajii said.
Prussot shuffled the deck. "Hm, I would have thought you to be more persistant, given the things which my ward has told me about you."
"Miss Valiant? She's a charming thing, but her heart is out of my reach, though it isn't from lack of trying," Kajii admitted.
"Mmm, she would be the first to say you aren't her type." Prussot said, with emphasis, he added, "For that matter, she's all but promised to another man."
"I would ask what her type is, but I think I know what it is: she likes her men well-aged."
"To put it mildly," Prussot said, holding up the deck. "Let me test your persistance and also slap you on the wrist for badgering my ward, by challenging you to a five-card hand of poker: If you win, I give you the access codes, no strings attached. If I win, you still get the access codes, but in return, you have to give me one thing of my choice."
Something about the way Prussot looked at him, half over and half through the lenses of his eyeglasses, left Kajii uneasy. How steep could the price be? he thought.
"Test me as you wish, mi'lord," Kajii said.
"You give in so easily," Prussot said, shuffling the desk more in earnest. "I'd have thought you'd have put up a fight, but you must be desperate." He dealt Kajii's cards first before his own, then settled back in his chair, shifting his cards with a calm that bordered on stoniness.
I've heard the term 'poker face', but this fellow may as well be a waxwork for his cool collectedness, Kajii thought, eyeing Prussot over the top of his cards as he studied his hand. Three Jacks, Spades Clubs and Hearts, with a pair of fours, spades and hearts.
"Full house," he said, tossing down the cards. Unlucky at love, lucky at cards, as the saying goes, he thought.
Prussot's left eyelid flickered, then sitting up straighter, he proceeded to lay out his own hand slowly, one card at a time. Diamonds: nine, eight, seven, six and five. Only when he laid the last card down did the smirk return to Prussot's face.
"Sorry, Mr. Kajii, but straight flush beats a full house," he said. Prussot reached up and took off his glasses laying them on the table. "I can have those access codes ready for you in twelve hours; there's a post office box I use for this sort of thing, to which I shall give you the key: you'll find a flash-drive it in at 10.30 tomorrow morning. That is... if you aren't walking too crookedly when you wake up." Prussot eyed him with barely veiled desire.
Hoo boy, what have I gotten myself into now? Kajii thought, feeling his blood run a little cooler than usual. I didn't exactly sign up to play Mata Hari, but perhaps I can ad lib the script...
"Mr. Prussot, we've only just met: shouldn't we take this a bit slowly till we get to know each other? Why, we haven't even had our first kiss in the moonlight," Kajii replied, feeling a bead of sweat roll down the side of his forehead.
Prussot put his head on one side, giving him an "oh come now" sort of smirk. "Don't be so naif, Mr. Kajii. If you really want this information, and if you don't want Keel and his bloodhounds on your heels, this really isn't such a big deal. I'm only asking for one night in which you give me yourself."
"As willing as I may be to go the extra mile, this is one bypath that I'd avoid walking if I could, unless that walk happened to involve a lovely pair of melons with some fine stems."
Prussot made a harrassed noise under his breath. "You play a harder game than I, Mr. Kajii. Very well: one kiss and you will have the access codes. But do try to put some feeling into it: I'm not keen on kissing someone who feels like a statue."
Just imagine you're kissing Misato, Kajii told himself. Giving Prussot a seductive leer, he said, "I may be disinterested in the sterner sex, but I promise you won't be disappointed in the touch of my lips."
Prussot narrowed his eyes, but the smirk of delight did not leave his face. "I'll believe your words when you back them with actions," he said, rising and coming around the corner of the table. Kajii started to stand, but Prussot pushed him back into the chair, leaning over him. Kajii smirked up at the taller male, but he felt the corner of his mouth tremble as Prussot lowered himself over him, straddling his thighs, then relaxing his weight against Kajii. He leaned his face closer to Kajii's, his crimson eyes narrowed to burning slits; Kajii, propping himself with one elbow against the back of the chair, pulled himself up slightly and putting a hand behind Prussot's head, met the taller male in the middle. Prussot's lips pressed against his hard, hard enough to bruise. Kajii parted his lips slightly, tantalizingly, letting Prussot think he was yielding. Prussot made a "what have we here?" grunt deep in his throat and slipped the tip of his tongue between the shorter man's lips, caressing the lining. Gotcha, Kajii thought, relaxing his jaw. Prussot's tongue slipped between his teeth; at that moment, he gently closed his teeth, trapping the other's tongue. Prussot gathered himself, slightly annoyed, but more surprised than anything else. Kajii relaxed, releasing him. Now I've got you at your own game, he thought.
"Hmm," Prussot said, rising, impressed, and reaching for his eyeglasses, replaced them on the bridge of his nose. "You're either a very good actor or there are undiscovered corners of your psyche, Mr. Kajii." Prussot strode to a desk in the far corner of the room; loosening the knot of his tie and undoing the top button of his shirt, he took a key from around his neck, and unlocking a drawer in the desk, took out a small keyfob.
"Catch," he said, and tossed the key to Kajii, who fairly snatched it out of the air.
"Small things for small things," Kajii said, pocketing the key. "I'll see you get this back."
"Keep it, in case you should ever need it again."
"You're too good me, Mr. Prussot, but I would not wish to inconvenience you further," Kajii said. "I can find my way out: it's a bad night out there and I wouldn't want to trouble your manservants."
Prussot eyed him curiously. "As you wish, young man."
I'm going to have to divorce myself from Prussot as a fount of information before he pops the question... Kajii thought, joking to himself as he let himself out and made a dash for the elevator.