13103/Strange Reunions

Strange Reunions
Date of Scene:	17 October 2022
Location:	The Dungeon - Hellfire Club
Synopsis:	Roland bumps into June at the HFC and tries to explain his absence.
Cast of Characters:	Roland Livingston, June Connor

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Roland Livingston has posed:
It's night time. People are clubbing. Among them is one Roland Livingston. He's wearing a leather jacket that costs more than some full time workers make in a month. Currently, the Englishman is hanging out at the bar drinking a cocktail and watching the crowds. It's a good night for it, there are many people here to look at.

The other folks in the club are dancing and entertaining themselves. It's not too packed, being a Tuesday, but it's busy enough. A nice spot for a drink and a dance. A lot going on.

June Connor has posed:
    June wasn't here to drink. She was here for work. This gets her around the 21 and over rule. She isn't here to party, not strictly speaking. She is wearing a black denim jacket over a black The Strokes shirt, faded and having been worn too many times, it's frayed at the collar. Faded and shredded jeans are on her legs, though not as tight as others she's worn.

    She exits one of the back rooms. One of the rooms for members only. She folds a piece of paper into the inside of her pocket, not seeming to realize that Roland is even present as she walks in the direction of the bar, likely to pass directly by.

Roland Livingston has posed:
It's when June starts to walk past that Roland notices her. His eyes widen and he calls out, "June!" Rising from his stool with his glass in hand he approaches the young woman, "Hey. I tried getting in touch with you when I got back into town, but your number wasn't good any more. I'm sorry that I was away for so long." And he sounds genuinely apologetic, as least as genuine as one can sound raising their voice over the noise of the club.

June Connor has posed:
    When she hears her name, June's attention snaps over to Roland. She blinks, a confusion on her face at first. "Roland?" she says. "You said you were gonna be gone a couple weeks," she recounts. "That's a long couple of weeks." The narrowing of her eyes says that it wasn't something she was too keen on. "Where the fuck have you been?" Her stance is closed, and she folds her arms across her chest.

Roland Livingston has posed:
"I apologize for not getting back sooner, June," there's a bit of wince as Roland says the words. "I was delayed by some damage to my yacht. A couple of machine guns opened up on it and we had to hide for a while on this deserted island. I was living off of fruit and whatever I could spear fish, the occasional wild pig. Snake, once." His head shakes, "I'm really sorry. It was a shitty thing for me to do to not try to reach you, but I was laying low."

The young man looks around, trying to see if anyone's listening in. He did just mention his yacht getting shot up, after all. "Umm..." Loss for words. "Are you alright?"

June Connor has posed:
    June arches her eyebrows as the tale is retold. "Snake. Right," she says, clearly not fully accepting this as the real story. "Shit I gotta hand it to you, it's the first time anybody's used eating snake as their excuse for ghosting." She looks past him. "Well, maybe not the first time." That's a completely different context though. "So you got shot at and were stranded on a desert island and ate wild animals. I want you to just take a moment to ask yourself if that sounds really believable. For a millionaire. Yeah I'm just fine. I'm just bein' sold the most unbelievably ridiculous excuse I've ever heard, that's all."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"I guess it sounds far fetched," Roland says with a frown, slowly shaking his head. "But it happened. I mean, I have some pictures of the island and stuff."

He lets out a deep sigh, "Do you really think I'd just drop off the face of the Earth intentionally? You've seen how I live, I have a damn Bentley with a driver, why would I duck out on that. My driver did report me missing, by the way. I had to do a bunch of paperwork."

"Hey, even if you think I'm full of shit thank you for taking the time to talk to me," says the young man.

June Connor has posed:
    June gives a green-eyed study of Roland for several seconds. "Look, I've been ditched before," she says. "It's not the first time. Or even the tenth time." She sighs. "You're lucky you're hot. OK. So let's say I buy this. Who was shooting at you? And why? Some kind of treasure hunting pirates or something?" She still seems skeptical.

Roland Livingston has posed:
"The guys I stole a magical dagger from, actually," Roland says with a bit of a wince. "I didn't think I'd get noticed sneaking into their place, but they had more security than I was expecting. They followed me back to the boat that docks inside the yacht and I didn't realize they were still after me until a couple of their boats pulled up with big machine guns on them and started shooting. One of the engines took a round, the hull took a bunch. We barely got out of there."

He takes a deep breath, "We found an island a couple of miles away that was uninhabited and spent the next few months avoiding notice and fixing the yacht. Well, the crew fixed the yacht, I spent all day hunting and fishing and patrolling."

June Connor has posed:
    June winces at the explanation. "Sounds like a movie plot," she confesses. "So these guys didn't find you all that time and then you...just left? Are they chasing you now or somethin'? Coming to the HFC to get a body guard?" she asks. She clearly knows the Hellfire Club is more than a simple night club for kinky folks. There's some shady business happening here. Of course, she herself isn't dressed like she wants to go clubbing tonight.

Roland Livingston has posed:
"It's definitely possible they're after me," Roland says with a frown. "I'm here to enjoy myself in a spot it's unlikely they'll try to come after me. Now, when I leave..." A shrug. "Well, I've got an armored SUV and I'm armed to the teeth."

"The trunk of the vehicle has a vault with a suppressed semi-automatic short barreled rifle and a plate carrier with level four plates in it," the Englishman explains. "If they try to come after me here in New York I imagine they'd be quite screwed."

June Connor has posed:
    The redhead gives a mock frown. "Well," she smirks. "It's true nobody is likely to have the balls to come after you while you're in here," she confesses. Pricy place to just lay low, but..." she gestures to you. "I guess you're not worried about that part." She shakes her head. "Kind of a wild story, you gotta admit," she says. "So I got ghosted because you were getting chased by pirates." Don't forget that ghosted part. She seems to want to make sure it's not forgotten.

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Yes. I ghosted you because I was hiding from pirates," Roland says with an air of defeat. Then he perks a tiny bit, "I'm planning to ambush them in my penthouse, should they show up. I once fought a gargoyle in there and since then I've stashed more weapons around the place. In addition to all the medieval style weapons on the walls."

His chin lifts at June, "How have you been? Staying out of trouble?"

June Connor has posed:
    June laughs, "Yeah, I'm not really known for staying out of trouble," she says. "After all, I fell in with you, and now it sounds like a good chance of being shot at," she comments with a finger gun point, sighting down it with one eye. "Honestly, it's probably not even the most dangerous thing I've been involved with in town. I guess..." she motions inspecifically around. "Cat's out of the bag." She's under 21, and for some reason is permitted in the HFC. Their standards of allowing anyone under 21 in this place are very strict, which means she has been permitted for some very specific purpose. And none of the purposes here are good.

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Once I get these pirates taken care of I'll be at your disposal, should you need any sort of assistance," Roland tells June with a little bit of a chuckle. "I've got good lawyers who keep me out of trouble. Did you know I once killed some men who were robbing a bank and didn't even end up in handcuffs? Thought I'd have to bribe the cops, honestly." A tiny smirk appears, "Nope. My lawyer just appeared at the police station I was being debriefed at, did a bunch of paperwork and then I went home. I was down a gun and a knife, but they're replaceable."

June Connor has posed:
    June glances at the dance floor, then back to Roland.. "Something holding you back now?" she asks, a bit of a challenge in her voice. She starts walking toward the floor, though likely the most dressed person under the holographic storm that displays overhead.

Roland Livingston has posed:
"You know what? There is nothing holding me back," Roland grins and follows June out to the floor. He looks around at the other patrons and staff as he paces behind the young woman, nodding very faintly to himself. "You'll show me how to dance, right?"

June Connor has posed:
    June is not dressed the way that most of the patrons are. Too modest for the more extreme girls who wear little more or less than underwear on the floor. The well-dressed patrons in the next room are far more elegantly dressed than her grunge appearance. She laughs. "You can't tell me you don't know how to dance," she accuses. "You can sworfight and fix yachts and fish with twigs or whatever," she calls out over the electronic music as she starts to move. "But you can't dance?"

Roland Livingston has posed:
"I just kind of rock back and forth, side to side," Roland demonstrates, doing a terrible job of dancing. He claps his hands as he steps to the side. "I can waltz, if you're interested, but if it's not ballroom dancing I'm at a total loss." There's a chuckle, "I never really needed to dance like this. I wasn't allowed to date anybody who'd dance like this as a teenager so I didn't have a reason to learn." Now that his family's dead, though, he's free to dance how he wants to.

June Connor has posed:
    It earns a genuine laugh from June. She doesn't give genuine laughs very often. "Oh shit please stop," she declares. "Okay, look," she puts her hands on your biceps. "It's not like there's a rule for this. You move like you wanna move, and you just do it. It's like sex, the only rules is what you both like," she starts moving again, pretty freely and coordinated, but at the same time with a lack of restraint, just where she wants, how she wants.

Roland Livingston has posed:
After a moment of laughter at June's remark Roland nods and glances at one of the hand on his arms. Then he starts attempting to dance. The first few steps, if you can call them that, he attempts to mirror June. With all his physical training he does a not half bad job, but he soon instead begins attempting to lose himself in the music. "I feel like I'm liable to make a mess of this. Don't let me step on your feet."

June Connor has posed:
    "Don't copy me," June critiques with a condemning slap on your arm. "Just move like you want it." She rolls her hips and moves in close. "Like you want it," she says again, looking determinedly up at him.

Roland Livingston has posed:
Roland does his best to do his own thing. "If I wasn't being hunted by pirates I feel a couple more drinks would help me with this," he chuckles. Livingston starts trying to move in time with the music, in time with June's movements. As she gets close to him he smiles and looks at the young woman's face, trying to read her expression to see if he's getting any better.

June Connor has posed:
    There's a little more satisfaction in June's face, despite the still clumsy movements. "There you go," she says. She starts getting handsy in her own moves. Not something rare for this scene, she touches, turns, backs up, slides down, slides up. "You're dancing, just let go, surely you don't need a drink for that, if I remember correctly." There's a tease of a smile that comes at the end of that.

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Alright!" Roland sounds happy as he twists his body back and forth, knees bent a little so he can kind of bounce slowly. As June starts touching on him he moves to slide a hand to her waist, smiling. "I feel several times less awkward than I did before."

June Connor has posed:
    June encourages further affection, and returns it. There's a reason this place is reserved for 21 and up. It's definitely not the cleanest form of dancing, and most likely the reason his parents refused his permission to take part in it. By the time the song finally finishes, it's been quite a workout. June gives a whoop and holler with the crowd's cheer for the DJ.

    "See?" she says, shedding her jacket to relieve some of the heat that she's built up from the dancing. "Nothin' to it."

Roland Livingston has posed:
Damn. That was fun. Roland actually started to really cut loose. Sweat even begins to bead on his forehead.

The Englishman almost looks relaxed, like a guy who wasn't raised in a literal castle might. Through the big grin on his face he says, "Nothin' at all!" Then he lifts his chin at June, just for a moment, "Next time I can take you somewhere that I'll have to teach you to dance."

June Connor has posed:
    "Oh yeah?" June queries. "Dress me up in a fancy gown? You think I can handle it?"I might be bad for the atmosphere of a place like that, y'know," she warns. "I ain't stuffy enough for most of them."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"We'd need to get you a gown over in Italy, perhaps," Roland says playfully. "We can fly there whenever you'd like. And I don't fly commercial ever since I was taken hostage."

"It would be fun to watch some feathers get ruffled. If they kick me out I'll buy them a new dancefloor or something should I need back in," he explains. "Let me see when the next ball is in town..." His cell phone, the newest one on the market, comes out of his pocket and gets swiped and tapped. Eventually, Livingston says, "Ah. Next one is... Anime Convention Extreme." Roland furrows his brow as he frowns. Clearly not something he was expecting.

June Connor has posed:
    "Anime?" There's a smug laugh. "Get a bunch of horny schoolkids who dress up like Naruto?" She laughs. "I figure Richy Rich like you got like a few dozen of these you can go to just about whenever you feel like it. Eat your snail eggs and all? Hell this place has enough black ties going down, just not in this room."

Roland Livingston has posed:
"I dropped off a lot of people's invitation lists when I disappeared, unfortunately," says Roland with a bit of a shrug. "Didn't inform everyone that I'm still alive, yet. Though I suppose I could do so in the morning." He nods, "Alright, I'll find us an occasion to dance at. I do imagine you'd be more likely to get into a fist fight dealing with the entitled snobs than you would with the anime aficionados." He holds up a hand, "But don't worry, I've got your back."

June Connor has posed:
    "I bet you do," June answers. "I gotta get goin', I got work to do," she comments. "Kind that people don't like seein' wait til tomorrow." It's already late at night, so who knows what that might be at this hour. Probably nothing she's supposed to do. "I'll hit you back soon, aight?" she asks, starting a casual pace away.

Roland Livingston has posed:
"It certainly is," Roland says. "Alright, that is."

As she walks off he lifts his chin at her and calls out, "Goodnight."