bloodandflowers | (no subject)

(no subject)

Kell feels a touch of nerves as he ascends the fire escape outside Lila's apartment. He's visited before, of course, but generally through a door he's made in the hall. It's Lila who comes to his window looking for mischief, not the other way around, but today Kell is feeling adventurous.

Reaching her window, Kell settles his hip against the glass and taps it, making himself plainly known so that he doesn't get stabbed or thrown off the ramparts.

"Lila," he calls, lowering his voice after, "I'd like to commit a crime."

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Lila looks over at the tapping on her window, her curtains only partly drawn. The tapping is followed by Kell calling her name, and her eyes widen in genuine surprise at what comes next.

Dressed only in black leggings and a sports bra, Lila gets off her bed and walks over to the window, pushing the curtains apart and opening it for him. A gust of cold wind greets her along with Kell's flushed face.

"Are you drunk?" she asks, her smile crooked.

"No," Kell answers, though he's certainly distracted when she greets him half clothed. The tights only make her long legs seem longer, and for a moment he forgets why he's come.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a small chit, the plastic sort they use in Darrow for commerce. "A cruel man dropped this whilst berating his girlfriend on his phone," he says. "I thought you might know what's to be done with it."

Lila can't help grinning at what Kell's brought her. She takes the card from Kell with one hand, giving it a quick, curious look, and then grabs the collar of his shirt with the other. "Get in here, you sneaky fox, it's cold out."

Once he's through the window she pushes it down and looks at the credit card once more. "We could go shopping. You could pretend to be...Terence Crawford."

"That's awful," says Kell of the name, pulling a face as she hauls him through the window. They could use it, however - he made certain to enchant a plain business card in the man's wallet to look like this one so that it wouldn't be missed.

"It's platinum," he notes, "That means it's worth quite a lot." Kell brightens. "I bet he's called Terry. Does it suit me?"

"No," Lila laughs, as she can't imagine him as anything but Kell. Any ordinary name that can be found in Grey London doesn't suit him, and Terry is definitely an ordinary name. "But for the sake of stealing, I'll pretend."

"Only one problem," she adds, offering him the credit card back. "Can you enchant your ID to say his name? They check for it, you know, if you're buying something expensive. And I want a fur blanket for my bed."

"Ah. I could, but it would take some time." Kell looks up with a sharper smile. "Wait here," he says, pressing a still bloody thumb to her wall to paint a symbol. He disappears through the door and is back in less than a minute.

"Sirius was only too happy to oblige," he says, brandishing his newly transfigured ID with a flourish. "Shall we?"

Lila watches the wall curiously in Kell's absense, wondering what sort of trick he has up his sleeve. When he returns and the trick turns out to be Sirius she huffs out a small laugh. "Of course he was," she says dryly.

Her smile curves into a smirk. "Let me just put on a shirt," she says, and goes over to her closet, pulling on a tank top and then a long henley. Socks, her boots, and jacket follow. With a practiced step, she pats herself to make sure her knives are on her.

"Ready. Are we going the way you came? Because there is an elevator."

"And quicker routes," says Kell with a quick flash of his bloody thumb. He sticks out his arm for her to take.

"I think you should pose as my girlfriend. Her name is Janine. Or Jesus Christ Janine! as he was fond of saying."

"Oh, of course," Lila says with a cheeky smile, taking Kell's arm and stepping through the door when he opens it.

Once they're free of it, she snorts. Terence and Janine, they both have terrible names. She keeps hold of Kell's arm, as a devoted girlfriend would. "So, dear boyfriend, where to first?"

"Am I meant to know where one buys fur blankets?" asks Kell with a faint smile, steering them onto the main sidewalk. It's strange - they've not altered their appearance at all, save for Kell's ID, yet just now it feels to him as if they're someone else.

"Jesus Christ, Janine, you'll have to lead the way."

Lila fights a laugh, trying to school her expression to something less amused. "Ter-ry, you know I can't find anything on my own," she says, leaning heavily on Kell's arm, her voice a delicate whine. She doesn't know how the real Janine acts, instead basing her portrayal on the rich London ladies who used to mistake her for one of their gentlemen.

"Take me somewhere expensive," she says exuberantly.

"Very well," Kell answers, leading her towards the mall. Despite being raised in a palace, his own tastes are fairly sedate, and he's no idea which store within is the most expensive. If necessary he'll wave the credit card about until a clerk comes to direct them.

"You're lucky I'm feeling exceptionally wealthy today."

Lila sighs in a dreamy sort of way. "I'm lucky I found a boyfriend who's so handsome and strong," she says, giving his bicep a squeeze. And rich, of course, which is what all the ladies cared about most. They'd rather find a man to give them what they want instead of taking it for themselves. To her, even on the streets, it never seemed like a worthy trade-off.

Kell is sure she's kidding - he's slim no matter what he eats and he knows it - but he's pleased by the compliment all the same. He sets them off towards a textiles store, but he stops cold, blushing when he realizes the woman outside of the lingerie merchant is waving at them.

"Sir!" she calls, "Sir! What a lovely date you have," she says as Kell looks past her to stringy lace fabrics he can hardly understand. "Wouldn't you like to treat her to something nice?"

Lila's eyes widen when she takes in the display window. It's like a frillier version of the sex store she got her fake cock from. Less leather and more satin. She tempers her expression, smiling angelically. She's not Lila, she's Janine.

"Oh, what a coincidence!" she says in a sweet voice. "We were just shopping for new bedding, weren't we, honey? Shouldn't we get something to go with it?" She looks to Kell with wide, innocent eyes.

Kell's blush deepens for the insinuation, but he leads Lila towards the store. "I don't see why not," he tells the clerk. "But there are so many garments." He looks at Lila.

"Perhaps my date could model them, and we can choose together."

Lila shares a smile with Kell, interrupted by the enthusiastic attendant.

"Of course, of course," the attendant says, ushering them in, telling them about the store's sales, where the changing rooms were, that her name was Susan and if they needed her assistance to just ask.

"Well, Terry, what should I try first?" Lila asks once they have a blessedly quiet moment alone, holding up something pink and lacy with a quirk of her lips.

Privately, Kell can't believe they've just been let back here all by themselves, but he's quite glad for it when Lila holds up a garment. "Is it a bottom or a top?" he asks, genuinely bewildered, but interested all the same.

"Certainly start with pink," he decides.

Lila holds in a laugh at his question, but can't hide a face when he requests pink - even if she's the one who picked it out. "Only for you," she says in a low voice, breaking character, and picks up the other half of the outfit, ducking into the changing room.

"You'll have to wait and see," she calls.

It takes her a minute to figure out how exactly the thing goes on herself, but once she fastens each strap and adjusts herself. Poor Kell, she doesn't have the sort of breasts she thinks men prefer, which she is glad for but doubts he is. She looks at herself in the mirror and makes a face.

"This is ridiculous," she deadpans, opening the door a crack and peeking out at Kell.

Kell pulls the door open wider. At first, all he notices is her skin, pale and exposed beneath the flimsy bits of fabric, but at length he frowns.

"It looks like something a child would wear," he says, poking at the skirt. "Or a doll. Is it meant to?"

Lila bursts out laughing, but tries to keep it quiet so she doesn't draw the attention of Sharon or Susan or whatever the attendant's name was. "How should I know? That's damn creepy, K-- Terry," she says, swatting his hand away.

"Go pick me out something better, then," she tells him, leaning against the door.

Kell nods, dragging his eyes from the sight of her long legs to venture back into the store. Susan gives him a wide smile and Kell nods again, turning abruptly to the first display he sees. These garments are lacy, too, but there are no skirts that he can see, and the fabrics are red and black. They certainly seem more fitting.

Kell grabs and armful and carries them back to Lila. "Here."

"Do you think you've brought me enough?" Lila snorts, but she's smiling as she takes all the intimates and closes the door behind her. It takes a few minutes to sort through the small pile to discern the different pairings. She chooses one and opens the door again.

"This better?" she grins.

Kell's mouth goes dry. It's true that Lila hasn't much in the way of breasts, and Kell has never minded. He gets more enjoyment form the way he can make her feel when he touches them than from her breasts themselves, but pushed up like this, they're so much more substantial. He wants to pull her to him and bury his face between them. He wants to rest his cheek on them. He wants to touch.

"I like that one," he says, a little coarse.

Lila might feel a bit silly dressed in something like this, but not when Kell looks at her, his normal eye nearly as black as his Antari one. She opens the door a little more and leans more suggestively against it. "So this one's a keeper?" she says, reaching forward to touch the edge of his jacket collar.

"Should I try on another?"

"Yes," says Kell, though he's no idea how anything will top this. Still, he's eager to try, even if it takes him a moment more to remember to step back so she can undress.

"I'll just be out there," he says, licking his dry lips.

Lila is grinning as she closes and re-fastens the door. Suddenly it doesn't matter that these underwear are ridiculous and girly, not when Kell is looking at her like that. It's its own special sort of power.

She puts on the next and first peeks out the door to make sure Kell is still there, and that no one else is, and then opens the door completely.

"And this?" she asks, posing.

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