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| Scene Title | Not As Planned |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Mixing business with pleasure never seems to quite work out for Kain. |
| Date | September 11, 2008 |
The pulsing beat of bass throbs through the walls of Rapture, a high-class nightclub in the heart of Harlem. Rows of expensive cars line up out front of the exclusive club and a crowd of would-be patrons wait outside, cherry-picked by the bouncers to have only the cream of the crop on the interior, while leaving just enough eye-candy outside to entice other patrons. On a chilly night like tonight, the club serves as a respite for the trendy and the influential from the grind of daily life.
On the inside, Rapture is as much a spectacle as it is a structure. Multiple dance floors in tiered balconies overlooking an enormous central dance floor ringed by plush leather-upholstered booths. Pale blue light shines on the wrap-around bar that curved around the back of the establishment, and the entire building is filled floor-to-floor and shoulder-to-shoulder with the pulsing, flowing sea of people dancing to the rythmic beats of electronic dance music piped through the expansive sound-system.
Seated at one of those round booths by the central dance floor is one of many patrons in the club, a sandy-blonde haired gentlemen in a slick dark suit. He's leaning back, craning his neck to watch two young women dancing together suggestively amidst the crowd, a sly smirk plastered across his face as he does. Flanking him on either side are a pair of enormous thugs, each wearing matching suits with earbud recievers in their left ears. They look the part of cromagnon bodyguards, both of them eyeing a pair of older 40-somethings seated at the booth a swell, dressed more like businessmen. The pair seem to be having an animate discussion, one of them — a man with salt and pepper colored hair — motioning towards a briefcase on the table as he talks.
Even Company operatives take days off, and that is exactly what Claudine plans on doing tonight. She had to wait outside for a while, thanks to the long line out front, but such is often the case. She saunters in to the club dressed to the nines in attire that looks like it was pulled out of a naughty-teacher fantasy; a button-down white top with the sleeves rolled up, a black vest over that and a short black skirt and dark stockings with black heels. Her hair, wound up into a messy bun, bobs up and down as she moves, glasses resting lazily on the bridge of her nose.
Claudine makes her way over to the bar, eyeing the crowd, and finds herself a seat, "Midori Sour," She orders, crossing her legs and leaning against the bar, looking out over the crowd of people gathered here tonight, a soft and tired sigh escaping her as she does. Eventually, her eyes settle on the booth across the club, watching the two men in suits discuss as they gesture back and forth, then on the man sitting between two rough looking individuals.
At the distance, and over the music, it's impossible to overhear what they're discussing, but Kain seems to be only partially listening. As another pair of people obstruct Kain's view of the two women dancing, he wrinkles his brow and looks disappointed, downing the last of his martini and slamming it down on the table. He motions to the two men across from him, then shoulders into one of the enormous goons at his side, then waves at the bar. The huge, bald man looks over to the bar, groans, and slides out from the booth, allowing Kain to slip out — but not before he snags the olive out of his martini with the toothpick, popping it in his mouth and winking at the people he was actively ignoring before sauntering towards the bar.
On the way, Kain has a predatory look in his eyes, shifting the toothpick to one side of his mouth as he chews on the end, both hands slipped into the pockets of his slacks as he walks, sliding between thick crowds of people in a confident and "in charge" manner. By the time he makes it over to the bar, his eyes are invariably caught by the bespectacled, exotic looking woman with the midori sour, a sly grin working its way across his lips. Well hello legs, the sound of Kain's thoughts as he got closer was easier to tune into than the music, I think I just found some plausible deniability for tonight. He purposefully diverts where he's walking, moving over to lean between Claudine and the man seated at the bar beside her, motioning to the bartender, "Hey pal, another dirty martini." His southern drawl is as strong in vocalization as it is in thought, "Two olives this time." His eyes shift sidelong over to Claudine, "Well how-de-doo little lady," He feigns having missed her up until now.
The sweet green liquid is poured into the glass, and the young Filipina reaches out, taking a sip as she definitely has to 'lower the volume' of the various surface thoughts she's hearing. However, the lecherous thoughts do catch her attention and she raises her brows, wrinkling her nose as she peers over towards Kain, seeming to size him up. As he approaches, a wry grin curls onto her lips before taking a sip as she bows her head before setting the glass back down onto the bar. "Why hello there.." she says, her soft dulcet tones quite crisp with no trace of an accent in her tone. She looks over towards him, now seemingly interested in his thoughts, wanting to know what he's wanting. So she reaches out with her mind just to listen in while leaning on the bar, crossing her legs ever slowly, ala Sharon Stone while gauging his reaction.
"Can't say ah've ever seen you here before," Kain rests one elbow on the bartop, leaning against it as he raises one brow while he talks, "And ah' reckon ah'd remember a…" He lets his words linger, lecherously eyeing Claudine's legs before looking back up to her, "Face like that." Cracking a smile, Kain holds out one hand towards the bartender as his martini comes up, rolling the glass around in one hand, swirling the clear contents before bringing it up to his lips for a sip. "So, what brings a pretty little thing like you out here, alone, on a night like this?" Kain you are a genius, this one looks like she'll be easy pickin's, and those two yahoos will keep Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dee busy for a couple of hours. His thoughts betray his intentions, as though he wasn't somewhat transparent anyway, Ah wonder if she's a screamer? Ah'm gonna have to find out, to ease mah curiosity. Remarkably transparent. "Name's Kain," He offers his free hand to the dark-haired woman, "Kain Zarek."
"Claudine Salonga.." the young woman replies, forcing a bright smile on her lips as she tries to feign ignorance of his thoughts. So he thinks she's dumb, and well, that doesnt reall bother her, and to play it up, she runs her other hand through her hair, doing that hair-flippy thing that women often do when in front of men they find attractive. "As to what I'm doing here, it should be obbvious. I'm looking for a good time, and well, my colleagues" yes, she said colleagues, "Wanted to stay home, and I heard about this place. So I decided to come check it out.."
Sipping his martini again, Kain lets his thoughts wander as Claudine talks, She's got a sharp eye and snappy dress, gal's tone of voice indicates some sharpness behind those big doe eyes. He's strangely analytical, despite managing nothing more than a lecherous grin, Colleagues?, his words echo his thoughts, "Colleagues?" He leans forward a little, sliding his martini across the bar as he moves closer. "Now what kinda' colleagues does a beautiful lil' flower like you have?" He rolls his right shoulder, slipping one hand back into the pocket of his slacks. C'mon sweetcheeks, gimmie somethin' to work with. You more than just legs and lift?
A soft and amused chuckle escapes from her lips as she looks over him once more, her eyes moving up and down his form as she giggles impishly. She idly runs her fingers through her hair once more and shrugs her shoulders, "Yes, colleagues. I hope you just dont think I'm a pretty face with nice legs" she asks, waggling her brows as she could have coincidentally come up with that afterall. "I should have introduced myself as Dr. Salonga, I'm a resident at Albert Einstein CoM." she says, smiling warmly the entire time.
Both of Kain's brows raise as he listens, well hot damn she's got some brains too, though as she continues, Kain just smiles, but inside there's a more noticable reaction, shit, this is so over mah head. Kain grins, taking a sip of his martini as he rolls one shoulder again, this time a bit more anxiously than before. "Well ah can't say ah thought you were jus' a night set of sticks, but — " Kain stops, jumping for a moment before reaching inside of his right front pocket, pulling out a buzzing cell phone. As he eyes the front, a disgruntled look comes over his face and he looks at Claudine apologeticly, "One second." God damn it's her, "Kain here." Forgot she was going to call.
There's a reason why she typically doesnt mention her status, as that typically makes men not interested. Le sigh. Claudine nods as she continues to look him over, seeming quite amused with his reaction as she motions for the bar tender for a pen and scribbles something down on the napkin before sliding it over towards him. "Girlfriend?" is what's asked on the napkin as she takes another sip of her drink.]
Kain leans away while he's on the phone, but he can still be heard, "Well hey there," He says with a distracted tone of voice, "I was wonderin' when you were gonna call." You always come at the worst times, babe. At Claudine's interjection, he pulls the mouthpiece away and arches a brow, "Huh? Oh no, no — Business." Business a'gettin' into her pants. Heh heh. He feigns a smile and puts the reciever back up to his mouth, rolling his eyes as the conversation goes on.
A wry grin curls onto her lips as she just shakes her head. Oh how little he knows just how transparent he is. She sighs softly and runs her fingers through her hair once more, just nodding. For now, Claudine just sips on her drink looking around every now and then.
"Yeah sure," Kain continues his conversation, though in a manner in which he's trying to force someone off of the phone, Jesus woman shut yer yap., "How's about I give you a call later and see what you're up to. I'm kind've busy right now, though." Busy tryin' to not get cockblocked again, goddamnit, "Alright?" He sounds strained, forcing a smile as he glances back up to Claudine, then that expression slowly shifts to a grimace as the phone flashes once and goes dark. Slapping it closed, he lets out a sigh and shoves it back into his pocket. "Bosses, right?" He lies through his teeth, "Never off the clock, I tell ya. Sorry about that."
Her brows quirk a little as she was lost in her own thoughts for a few moments before looking back over towards Kain with a bright smileon her features. Claudine shrugs her shoulders as she polishes off her drink and sets it down on the bar with no Asian 'glow'. "I know how that can be, but fortunately I'm not on call right now..lest I wouldnt be here. So, what do you do Mr. Zarek?" she asks curiously
Kain relaxes a bit once he's off of the phone, finally getting back to his hardly touched drink. At Claudine's question his thoughts swim for a moment in a manner most unbecoming, break legs, bust heads, put bullets in folks that need a lil' iron in their diets, and make it all disappear, "I work in Public Relations." He says with a winning smile, "For none other than the Linderman Group." His brows raise with a charming and suave attempt at sounding important, "Off the clock too, myself, at least for now." His eyes wander back to his booth, long as Igor and the Hunchback don't come drag me back over there.
"Sounds interesting…" Claudine chirps brightly, knowing that people tend to have their own secrets. It seems she's just found out a bit too much and withdraws mental contact, trying to silence the thoughts, but she'll always hear the surface thoughts, it's not something she can turn off afterall. There are times that ignorance is bliss, and this is one of those times. "You think you'll get an MBA later on or just stick to the PR that you do now?" she asks curiously before looking over towards the two men at the booth.
Kain grimaces again, downing the last of his martini in a single swallow, snagging one of the olives in his mouth as he does. When Claudine looks back to the table Kain came from, managing glimpses of it between the shifting crowds of people on the dance floor, she can see two burly men in black suits with ear-pieces seated opposite of a pair of businessmen in their mid forties. The pair of men are having a rather animated discussion, one of them repeatedly motioning to a briefcase situated on the table. "Ah ain't never been much for school," Kain admits with a charming grin, "Ah'm pretty happy with where things are at right now for mah business-dealings," He slides the olive off of the toothpick, chewing between his words, "Linderman has me set up with enough cushion that looking to the top, all ah see is more responsibility," He shakes his head, snagging the other olive from the glass before the bartender cleans it up off of the bartop, "An' more responsibility ain't mah style."
"Responsibility can be a bit overwhelming I suppose.." she says with a shrug of her shoulders before motioning for a refill of her drink. The bartender heads on over to make yet another one as she continues looking over him, wetting her lips with her tongue as she listens. "I see, well if you like what you're doing and you're happy, then why bother moving on up if it just means it's more work you dont want. I can respect that.."
"Spoken like a real thinker," Kain smirks and leaves the toothpick from his current olive in his mouth, replacing the one he chewed apart earlier, "So how long are you off the clock for, darlin'?" Trying to work past the intimidating level of intellect, Kain straightens his jacket, not motioning for a refill of the martini. "If this place is a little too noisy for ya, ah' know a few more discreet locations we could continue the night at," won't that put a shine on the wonder-twins, ha ha! Kain rests both elbows against the bar, cracking a smile as he eyes Claudine intently, "You don't seem like the dancin' type…" He raises one brow slowly, "Or am ah readin' too much into the school-marm dressing?" One hand motions flippantly to her clothing, teasingly.
"Why, are you a dancer? If you are, then show me what you got.." she says with a coy smirk and a flirtatious waggle of her brows as she leans forward and wets her lips just inches away from his own. "However, if you want to go some place more… quiet, I suppose I'd be fine with that as well." She pauses a little as she sits up once again as she continues to look him over, grinning the entire time. "What do you have in mind, Mr. Zarek?"
Kain raises one brow slowly, well shit, call my bluff why don'cha, "If you give a man a choice like that," He grins, tilting his head to the side slightly, "You ain't givin' a man a choice." Both his brows raise as he moves away from the bar, holding out one hand towards Claudine, "Now what do ah have in mind…" At that, Kain's surface thoughts are a minagerie of thoughts that run the gamut of men's fantasies, flashing by like a rapid-fire film reel of salacious intent.
I'm gonna' shove his dick so far down his throat he's gonna have to sit down to piss. These strong and angry thoughts come from an enormous man pushing his way through the crowd of dancers, a muscular and hulking bald man with an ear-bud in his right ear. "Mister Zarek."
Kain's eyes roll back in his head as he lets out a low groan of disappointment, "You gotta' be kiddin' me, don't you have a belltower to climb up or somethin'?" He turns with both hands sliding into his pockets, staring sidelong and up at the towering man, "Seriously, go on and shake someone else's tree will ya? Can't y'see ah'm busy?" He nods his head in Claudine's direction.
Her cheeks flush a bright tinge of red as even though she's not actively reading his mind, his thoughts are some of the most obvious out of the ones she constantly hears form those around her. She giggles impishly, waggling her brows the entire time as she leans forward until the big hulking brute comes on over.
Claudine's taken aback for a few moments as she peers up curiously towards the Hulk. This would be one of the best times to ask something like 'is he your boyfriend' but that would ruin the mood and would probably make it to where she went home alone as well, and that's just not good. So for now, she just smiles and gives the hulk a friendly little wave while letting the two men settle it.
"Mister Linderman is expecting that this meeting goes as expected, and since you have been gone, Mister Civella's representative has taken a sharp disliking to our client." I can't believe how much you get paid to be a piece of shit. The huge man motions back to the table, where the two businessmen are clearly arguing, "Perhaps you could grace us again with your presence?" Or you can mouth off and I can knock your teeth into the back of your neck.
"Look Quasimodo," Kain raises one hand, waving dismissively, "Take a hike or I'll — " The hand is snatches out of the air, turned around and squeezed hard at the wrist, sending Kain down onto one knee, "Augh watch the paws McGilla!" Kain yowls out, having his hand released immediately afterwards, "I'll have your — "
"That is from Mister Linderman. He told me to make sure you keep your dick in your pants tonight and focus on business." Folding his arms, the mountain of a man looks up towards the woman behind Kain, then back down to Kain on the floor, "Let's go."
Kain gets up, shaking his hand to get the numbness to fade into that familiar throbbing sensation, I'm gonna bust you backwards the first chance I get Frankenstein. "Yeah, right, whatever." Snapping back to Claudine, Kain looks flustered and embarassed, having been thouroughly emasculated in front of the woman. "Sorry, doll," Real sorry, "But seems like business calls, and who am ah' t'argue with a charmer like this?" He motions over his shoulder to the stoic man with the earbud, "But here," He reaches inside of his jacket, producing a card with his good hand, holding out out to her, "Maybe gimme' me a call sometime?" Play it cool, maybe she didn't see that. Oh like hell she didn't.
"I suppose I can, or you can always give me one.." she says with a wry grin as she reaches into her purse and pulls out her own card, letting out a soft chuckle from her breath. She smiles warmly and bows her head before giving the pair a friendly little wave..
 September 11th: Family |
 September 11th: Wish to Forget, Remember to Learn |