roneal | (no subject)

The market is, objectively speaking, a miserable place. Precious few of the merchandise are happy to be there, nude and bound and collared - sometimes even caged - free for every prospective customer to examine. Few of the customers are happy either. Prices are high, and the press of so many bodies create a stifling atmosphere.

All in all, it is exactly what Jade had expected. He strolls leisurely through the market, not particularly bothered by what is going on around him. It was one of the reasons he had been chosen for this assignment. Today is his first day at the market; he's meant to speak with the vendors, make connections, and walk away with a cheap but handy acquisition.

He's working on the last part now. It's surprisingly difficult to find someone useful and docile, but still with some spirit left - he does not trust the older slaves who are complacent with the system.

It's during his second time looping through the market that someone catches his eye - for all the wrong reasons. He stops, stares at the familiar figure in front of him, an uncharacteristically surprised expression flashing over his face.

Then he's smiling again. He's still unsure if this is a good turn of events, but perhaps he could use this to his advantage.

"My my, I didn't expect to see you here."

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Good things never last.

His fight-or-flight senses kick in too late and his nails dig into Jade's shoulders only when the words fall into place. Despite the cold rush down his spine, Shinjirou makes no attempt to get out of the secure grip; useless waste of energy. He can't gauge Jade's expression no matter how hard he frowns at him so, eventually, he speaks up.

"Yes, I do. Why?"

It's not about the drugs, he reassures himself. They talked about that. But in that case, he's got no way to figure out what this is about ... unless Jade decides to talk. He forces himself to relax, get heavier in Jade's lap, and idly plays with a strand of hair. "What do you want to know?"

He hadn't actually known before now, only suspected. But then Shinjirou tenses up in his arms, going quiet and shuttered, and Jade knows the answer before he even replies.

Ah. So he had been right. This complicates things.

"Anything you can tell me," he says, mirroring Shinjirou's idle movements to push a shaggy clump of brown hair out of his eyes. His grip relaxes, a lazy embrace once more. "Their members. Their goals. Your association with them."

He thinks about making a game out of it, trading sexual favours in return for information, but Shinjirou seems to be doing fine without any additional encouragement. His relaxed form seems to mould against Jade's - rather heavily, in fact. Without a word of warning, Jade pulls the two of them down to lie on the bed, still face to face, his arms still wrapped around Shinjirou.

There. Much better.

Anything is a lot and probably a lot that Jade doesn't need to know. There's no time to decide what's worth telling Jade at all before he's flipped on his side, with the warmth of Jade's breath ghosting over his lips. Tapping his fingers on Jade's shoulders, Shinjirou averts his eyes. There might be harm in telling Jade about them, but for once he feels like he can be useful in a new, important way. Not just changing the sheets.

"I'm not friends with them, alright? So I'm not sure what they want. We only talk ... uh, business." He shrugs, expecting Jade to connect the dots himself. "And I guess you won't tell me why you need to know about them?"

Looking up, he brushes his bangs back and sighs. "They're about my age. A girl, two guys. One of 'em more insane than the other. I have nothing to do with the-- the jobs they do. You do know what they do, right? Probably not how they do it." That can't be, unless there's a secret he doesn't know about. Which isn't that unlikely. On the other hand, he would've noticed Jade being aware during the extra hour, right? He snaps out of talking mostly to himself and wraps an arm around Jade's middle. "Don't rile them up."

"Worried about me?" He presses a lazy kiss against Shinjirou's jaw as his arm wraps against him. It's easy to laze around like this, tracing idle patterns against Shinjirou's skin as he turns over this new information in his head. Shinjirou has told him a lot, and what he doesn't say out loud, Jade can guess at. Such as: Strega probably has something to do with that extra hour Shinjirou had mentioned before.

That explains why his coworkers had so much trouble finding them. Unfortunately, knowing the cause doesn't make it any easier to stop Strega - especially when none of them can access the extra hour.

"Unfortunately, I need to stop them." Which will probably be difficult, given what he knows. He looks at Shinjirou through half-lidded eyes. He could be useful. "We both know what they do. Given your history, I'm surprised you associate with them."