Dinner Date [Lex Luthor]

[anna]

Anna raised the glass to her lips, sipping the red wine as she took in the high scale restaurant she had been invited to. Her blue eyes cast around the private booth the server had ushered her to. Well, she could claim one thing about her soon-to-be dinner partner: he did certainly know to treat a woman. She was hoping he would show up, soon at least. Yet she wasn’t worried as she relaxed in her seat. If Lex Luthor had invited her to dinner, then he was certain to show up and she was interested to know just what LexCorp’s CEO wished of her. No, interested was too light of a word.

Anna Craven was fascinated, intrigued. She was hungry to know just what she had done to gain the attention of this man.

When she had received the invitation, lavish and written in a neat scrawl, her curiosity was piqued and she was quite the inquisitive creature. Rooks were a very curious bird and when it came to mysteries, Anna had an insatiable want to solve them, though that did not mean she had not taken her precautions. Any meeting or dealing had the potential of going wrong, and she prided herself at always being prepared for anything. Her outward appearance, however, was all cool and elegant poise. She had placed her glass back on the table and ran her fingers over the rim as she continued to think upon the events that had brought her to be sitting here.

The invitation had been plain and utilitarian, but she found it formal for the fact that it got to the point: that he wanted to meet her, but had not specified why. It had aroused her interest, and she was also beguiled in that he had taken the time to write the message himself. So she had gone shopping for an appropriate dress and then made the drive to Metropolis, bought herself a suite in a suitable hotel, and then changed before making it to the restaurant and inquiring as to the reservation.

It was just now early evening, and the place was thrumming with soft conversation between businessmen, couples, and the passing staff. Anna drew one long leg over the other under the material of her black dress. The hand that been circling the lip of her wine glass, fell to her lap and the other picked up the menu to peruse. She could not let her full interest get the best of her. This was especially true as she heard footsteps enter the private area and the voice of the waiter speaking to someone, announcing that their guest had already arrived. She waited an appropriate amount of time before she glanced up to greet the person. Her lips pulled into a smile and her eyes shone in the intrigue she held for the man’s motives because she recognized Lex Luthor when she saw him.

Her host had arrived it seemed.

[Deleted]

Lex entered the lavish and dimly lit restuarant quickly and quietly. The purple carpet and clean windows were the parts that he liked most about the place. This table was always reserved.. why.. well be cause he owned the place. Metropolis had three to five exquisite restuarants, and Lex owned three of them.

The restaurant was called, Don de Dieu, french for Gift of God. Lex had made sure that the restaurant kept it's five star rating... by any means. Lex was wearing a fine grey suit with a charcoal tie.

" Thank you for meeting me here Ms. Craven on such short notice." Lex sat down and pulled the chair foward. Dimly lit candle light made the room divine in an exquisite manner. "Your file was quite fascinating, all your skills and interests, along with your recent employment with the Gotham Police. Interesting work. I admire a women who has a chamealon like trait. It's what makes the best actors, bodyguards, and employees." Their waiter immediately came rushing over, tripping over a customers foot and landing on the floor. Lex barely looked down as the man came back up and over.

Dust surrounded his uniform and his hands looked tired. His blonde hair was a mess and his shoes were on the wrong foot. What a fool! How dare he decide to work in an expensive restaurant and make a mockery of himself and of Lex. How dare he!! Lex's eyes were a favorite instrument of power, inflicting wound, and curing sickness.

The waiter asked what Lex wanted, Lex spoke with clear distinction, all taking in Ms. Craven's looks and tactics that were too have come. " We'll first have Calamari, not too much grease with a side of lemon and sauce. We'll both have a glass of water. That will be all."
The waiter swallowed the lump in his throat and walked off. " I hoped that you have enjoyed Metropolis so far, it's quite a lovely garden of action, adventure, and fine dining."

Lex noticed her body language, the way she stared, and all the subtle actions that human beings were capable of. They all meant something. "So Ms. Craven could you tell me about your experiences in Gotham?"

[anna]

Anna placed the menu aside as Lex spoke, lips quirking at his compliments as he took his seat. Her hand joined its companion resting her lap, but she kept her words to herself. To any that may have been watching at a distance, it seemed for all purposes that she was playing the polite guest, a demure little wallflower, but she wasn’t being polite, and she didn’t mind that Lex was aware of her true intentions. She didn’t hide what was really broadcasted across her face.

With the subtlest of movements she shifted closer to the table, proving that she was giving him the attention deserved, but her gaze was calculating. It wasn’t particularly cold, but just as he was taking her looks and body language, she was doing the same to him. They had never met before and thus he had his own first impressions on her. He spoke of her possessing a quality that allowed her to fit into various situations and she could note the same attribute about him. He was absolutely involved just as she in less than savory dealings, but he was in a vast position of power. Power. He was CEO.

The server then made his first appearance, disheveled, looking nothing like he was fit for his job. Anna glanced up at him, but when Lex began to order for them, her gaze easily slide back to his, smile switching from the derisive one she had offered their waiter to the that spoke of interest.

Lex Luthor possessed power. That was always attractive in a man, especially when he knew he possessed it and just how to use it. He never lifted his finger to deride the man, his voice and the way he stared at him was enough to send the man walking off, looking absolutely frightened, but trying to put on a brave face that was failing fast.

Anna uncrossed her legs beneath the table, only to recross them again in the opposite direction. “Since my experiences in Gotham are what drew your attention, I suppose they are a lovely opener,” she spoke, voice smooth and even, touched just appropriately with her smile. “I must say, however, that it’s not every day a girl finds her file on the desk of someone like yourself.” She gestured to him and then tilted her head, revealing her interest. “The reasons why intrigue me.” She raised her brows before chuckling.

“I not originally from Gotham, I’m sure you’re aware. I was born in New Jersey and moved to Gotham when I was eighteen for college. Oh it’s certainly nowhere near as impressive as your Metropolis, but it’s where I call home for now, and when I was just out of high school it was as far as I could get from my farmhouse home in Keyport.” The server from before appeared then, offering a natural pause in the conversation. It appeared whatever he’d seen in Lex had shaped him up as he took care to place their glasses with extra caution on the table before announcing that their Calamari would soon be out.

She didn’t look to the server as she spoke her thanks. She simply picked up the water, took a sip, and replaced it atop the table.

“I came to Gotham to be a doctor.” She smirked when the waiter was out of earshot. “You can see how well that turned out. You’re not here to listen to me recount my entire police career, though. We both know, if your research is worth its salt, and let’s face it, with your money and power it is, you know everything from the hospital where I took my first breaths to the incident that shaped me into the woman you see before you, a woman much better than the one Hush decided to play with.” She shifted comfortably, but with precision. “So how about I stop wasting your time?” Her smile went rueful before becoming absolutely business-like. “When I decided that there was no profit and only sheer disappointment in tending to the broken of Gotham, I discovered a new love: Power, and ever since I have worked to slowly amass it. My skills as you call them are the product of police training and dealing with those I do in Gotham. I have learned from interaction how to wear my mask. From my meetings in the underground, I have learned how to punish. I know how to use my sex to both make myself unassuming, and to manipulate.” Her lips went wide in dark glee. “But what I learned was all from experience. I learned that in the end to trust myself and very few others. Every man for him or herself.”

Her fingers fell to the rim of her glass. “Obviously you’re interested in what my ‘experiences’ have taught me, Mr. Luthor, else you’d not have asked me here. I like that trait in a man. You’re direct, so allow me to be with you. What got me on your radar,” she leaned closer to him over the table, “and why have you invited me here?”

[Deleted]

Lex's eye's slightly sparkled as the women became far more direct and straight to the point then he had foreseen; It was a skill that made things interesting, but Lex, being a God among human beings, didn't flinch.

A smirk appeared on Lex's face, things were becoming interesting. " What got you on my radar? Why I thought you would have figured it out? Afterall you are the officer of the law, I'm just the powerful elite.''

Lex's hands graced his glass as he drank some more of the water. It was nice, but it felt unrefined; Oh how that word made Lex's skin and eyes itchy. Unrefined meant raw, weak, broken... everything but perfection. Perfection could not be unrefined. Even when he used the word for insult, it still made him pissy.

The calamari was tender, crispy, and full of flavor. The last time he had seafood was in Gotham; The Gothamite definition of Seafood, let alone squid, was packaged fish that make fish sticks seem like succulent catfish.

Disturbing described the city and the food perfectly. As Lex chewed and began wiping off the sauce with his napkin, he looked at the time on the far wall. It was thirty minutes past nine, and they were still talking. He was already fifteen moves ahead of her. She had to be innately smart, she was decently good looking, and she came her with her best dress.

His thoughts drifted back to Cobblepot and Mercy. He was going to Gotham in two days for another business trip. Lex had never met Former Dr. Jonathan Crane. A man fueled by small intelligence, he indeeed had an interesting resume. Locating it wasn't hard at all, Mercy said his was one of the easiest that she had to find and replicate.

"The GCPD is a depressing example of a police department, everyone knows, however you possess a strong spirit and keen eye that puts your placement in that department..a...waste of time and resources''

Then the question of, "If you have one of the most powerful and fastest growing companies in the entire world, why do you need the service of an interesting cop.. Well Ms. Craven you are not a cop, despite your current job title, you are an individual who is going to be put to use; That statement should help you decipher my intentions."

[anna]

Anna hadn’t expected him to flinch, in fact that had not been her intention to cause him any sort of that reaction, but his lack thereof of one, made her own gaze far more intent. A god among human beings was he? She could believe that. He wielded power and authority and few dared question him. All of this made things far more interesting and it was becoming more and more than she had expected as well. This pleased her greatly.

She returned his smirk. He was good, but so was she. “You are the powerful elite. Power,” she emphasized the word, “I imagine if you were to ask any of your city’s police, they’d bow before you like you were a king, but you’re right there, Mr. Luthor, I’m more than certain that I know just how I came to be under your watch, but I decided not to show my entire hand until I got a feeling of you.”

While he took to sipping his water, Anna daintly took a bite of the calamari they had been served. It was succulent, robust in flavor. Metropolis knew how to serve seafood and be undoubtedly perfect at it. Unrefined would be too soft an insult for Gotham’s seafood, but disgusting and trash were more fitting words. She picked up her napkin and dapped at her mouth for the sauce and crumbs that may have been left there. “But now that I have, I don’t mind revealing it to you, because I think poker isn’t the name of this particular game,” she saw his eyes glance at the clock, “and I don’t plan on wasting your time. I know it’s valuable to you.”

With that said, Anna sat in perfect poise and waited as he began to speak again. She turned her head away slightly at the compliment afforded her when he called her placement in the Gotham Police Department a waste on different levels. She did not blush, Anna was not a bashful woman and embarrassment was hard to cause her, though she would admit to being humble, but she did appreciate the compliment and rather than show it in pinking cheeks, she expressed in her bright eyes and the curve of her mouth. As well as her words when he was finished.

When he was finished…oh when he was finished, she was fully facing him again, blue eyes alight in intrigue, and a restrained excitement. She took a sip of her water. “The police department is rather depressing, few know what they’re doing in that place. I had aspirations when I joined to make it better, but now…now I use those weaknesses to my own ends. I may be a waste to them, but I make none of their weaknesses waste as I exploit them,” she grinned, “every single one of them.” She folded her arms back into her lap. “You know Mr. Luthor, you do impress me, finding out what I really do under the guise of a casual, everyday citizen. Yet you’re not the only one who’s been running scenerios in their heads.” He had thought he was moves ahead of her, and maybe he was, but she was either on par or quickly catching up.

“What do want, Mr. Luthor? Obviously as you’ve hinted and blatantly said I have skills that are of interest to you and you plan to me and them to use. I’m quite the master of infilitrating, my skills can be used for surveillance as well. And I’m more than efficient at tracking. You intend to hire me or at the least beseech that I do you a favor.” She raised a brow, “Am I keeping up so far, Mr. Luthor?” She gave him a knowing little smile. “You can give me the details here if you’d like, including just what I’d receive for doing your favor, or you can perhaps rely them to me as you be a gentleman and perhaps escort me to the hotel I’ve made my temporary residence at.”

[Deleted]

Lex was indeed curious about a women who directs her life in search of power, and goes to the place where power can be bought but not gained. Oswald Cobblepot is a fine example of buying and murdering his way to the "top". Was she a pawn? No, she was more useful than a mere thug or hacker. Was she his queen? Lex paused and thought about it. The waiter that had served them ran past Lex's gaze to talk to one of the managers; What a skinny tool he was. Anyone serving in his restaurant need only to have decency.

He was a small bug in a small world. Firing him here would create a scene, a scene that would force customers to reject the restaurant, rejecting the restaurant would cause money to stop coming in.

Lex's face curved only slightly, his powerful cheekbones showing with devilish delight. Lex glanced at his watch, it was now 10:30 and he was ready to leave, picking up his napkin he wiped his mouth and finished the water, placing the lemon on the plate, which was surrounded by the golden brown Calamari crumbs. "Ms. Rook I'd be delighted to take you to your hotel where we can continue our business." Lex stood up, held out his arm and waited for Ms. Craven to make the next move.''

[anna]

Whoever said power couldn’t be gained in Gotham? Certainly Oswald was the type who made it his life to buy power, but despite that yes, she’d bought some, Anna had a better taste for intimidating, using all the tools in her arsenal to take it. She’d much rather use her feminine wiles to have a gang boss invite her in, dote on her, and then she’d pull her pistol. She played chess with what she could, dominoes too, and then sometimes, sure she played monopoly; she bought what she couldn’t, but money wasn’t her first choice, though she knew its power and the man before her was a perfect example of that.

She saw the waiter fumbled past them, but she was watching Lex, watching the lines of his face and when it lit up in fiendish glee, she sat up straighter, her own lips curling. She picked up her own napkin and wiped her lips before placing it down, daintily atop her plate of crumbs.

She stood, upper body and lower rising from the seat. She took the proffered arm, threading her own through it. “Thank you, Mr. Luthor. I would be honored for your company and further conversation.” Her voice was respectful, but her mouth was filled with just as much mischief as his. “Also allow me to offer my gratitude for the wonderful food.” She took another glance around the restaurant. It was truly a marvelous place.

“Please lead the way.”

[Deleted]

Lex nods and smirks as Ms. Craven takes his arm. Lex had met more than his fair share of women, but Anna was interesting. He didn’t want to say more about it, because he hadn’t fully put his trust into her. Trust was a value that Lex held to the highest order. Mercy knew that, he knew that, his entire company knew that. So when he calmly walks out of the marvelous restaurant, he is sure to glance at her. Her body language was that of a charmed or delighted cat. She was taking in everything- just as he planned- with a curious demeanor. Mercy was waiting outside of the limo, her expression going from bored to interested in a matter of seconds. The ride to Ms. Craven’s hotel was a moment filled with a brief awkward silence; awkward wasn’t the right word… it was a silence nothing more than that. With slight gravel, Lex asks, “Ms. Craven I’d love for you to meet my assistant and personal bodyguard, Mercy Graves.” He intently looks forward to Craven’s reaction- both the interior and exterior one’s-. Mercy, briefly nods her head, giving a smile that looks far more insulting and annoyed at once; however the smile isn’t seen by Luthor.. thankfully.

After arriving to the “Illuminous Angels” (A name that reminded Lex of a battered Anglican church that his father once took him to. The nuns were pleasant to the visitors, but the books that they taught out of were awful and badly outdated) Lex approaches her hotel room door.. Lex focuses on the mission at hand- not at her physical features. Seduction was a prostitutes dice – a genius among living beings would not succumb to it- He pauses and powerful states upon arriving outside of her room, “What do you know about the FBI and their involvement with Gotham.” He isn’t looking at Craven, but he suspects given the kind of work that she does, and the intentions that she wishes to act on, she knows a good deal about the FBI affairs in Gotham. But it wouldn’t be unlike her to hide her cards… if only she had any to hide.

[anna]

Anna catches the smirk of Mr. Luthor from the corner of her eyes, though she’s not exactly looking to him, instead she is just seeming to be politely waiting to be escorted out. She smirks as well, albeit the expression is much smaller than the male’s. She’s just along for the ride, she knows, she finds Lex Luthor intriguing, but like him she is naught to voice it yet or maybe ever. Trust is not something crows are known for, and she certainly agrees. Trust was gift, a respect and it had to be earned. She had learned the lesson of being too easily trusting and naïve long ago and learned quickly from such a mistake. She is aware that Mr. Luthor is hesitant to give her any trust, and she is fine with that. In fact, she’s impressed. It makes him more alluring to her, more valuable, but it also makes him more dangerous. Yet this game she now imagines herself in with him as gotten all the more interesting. They both understand the weight and importance of trust. It is not candy to be thrown out to the random stranger. She is in fact taking in everything with a curious and practiced eye, though taking in everything means she’s more than aware that while she is watching her surroundings, she is also under scrunity as well. Perhaps Mr. Luthor knows, perhaps he doesn’t, but she adds him to the list of things she’s continued to take in. Her attention has never truly shifted far from him. He is benefitting her, she is being lead by him, he has physical contact, and because of that her attention should be on him. She is a creature of suspicion and as said, she doesn’t trust him yet.

The next person to draw her interest is Mercy. She knew of the woman, she was one of the more important people to Mr. Luthor so her interest is quickly pulled towards her as they assemble in the limo. Anna sits in her seat politely, smiling at the woman every so often in the silence that ensues for a period of time. One could have considered the hush awkward, Anna certainly ponders if she should take the initiative and introduce herself to the woman, but Mr. Luthor soon takes that upon himself.

She catches Mercy’s insipid smile. Yet she is unaffected by it because she understands it. She is a strange woman who is intruding in their lives and Ms. Graves probably wasn’t expecting that they would be chauffeuring her around when she came to retrieve Mr. Luthor. She could be dangerous. Mercy is just doing her job, and doing it well. Yet so is Anna. She crosses her opposite leg and nods in return to Ms. Graves with small, pleasant animal. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Graves. Might I say you’re doing your job brilliantly as far I can tell and I did my homework. I wouldn’t want to come in here without knowing at least a little.”

Anna had chosen the hotel for its name. It reminded her of masses when she’d gone with her family to the Catholic Cathedral. It reminded her of nostalgia for her past when she could have been ignorant and naïve, when trust still easy to give. She did miss it sometimes, but yearning for her simple past was always short and then she would forget. Life was too short for regrets. You learned and you moved on. As they near her room, she herself isn’t thinking of seduction, it is a whore’s game to flash leg and cleavage, and though she knows that game, Mr. Luthor would not be sold on it. It was better to seduce the mind and that’s her game. He wouldn’t be one for usual seduction and neither is she; it’s not her favorite. She turns to him when they arrive at her room and despite that he’s not looking at her, she smiles and shifts her shoulders comfortably. “I know plenty, and one such as yourself could discover it just as easily, but you haven’t or you wouldn’t be asking me. Why do you want to know so much about the FBI’s failure in Gotham, Mr. Luthor? Perhaps I’ll tell you what you want to know if you tell me why you wish to know it. I don’t want any trouble on my part, I have an image to maintain you understand.”
She raised an eyebrow. Her attention is on Mr. Luthor as she awaits his answer.