1772/Membership Questions

Membership Questions
Date of Scene:	21 May 2020
Location:	Lobby - Hellfire Club
Synopsis:	A chance meeting at the Hellfire Club.
Cast of Characters:	Alexander Aaron, Nyssa al Ghul

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Alexander Aaron has posed:
    The Hellfire Club still gets busy on Wednesday nights. Just not as busy. The dance floor is thumping with people gyrating, the bar is hopping, and there's a mass of people still around the place lending to the white noise that is the ambiance of the Hellfire Club. The music is a steady oontz-oontz-oontz that can be felt in the walls and close enough to the speakers felt in the floor, but it's all focused inward in those long sweeps of aisles that lead to the central area of the club.
    But it's on the edges at the tables, the turned chairs, the conversational pits. There that actual discussion happens and people make their bids for power, gambling their fortunes upon connections and trying to get aspects of their businesses launched with the blessings of some of the world's elites.
    But for Alexander Aaron, it's where he usually does his homework.
    Though tonight he has none, the last day of school having passed for him after he took this last week off. His time being his own, yet there was still some small act of mundanity that he could indulge in while he was there. Some vague way to make light of the serious atmosphere. And that is as he fills out the myriad of information and application forms needed for the next semester at ESU.
    So he sits there in one of those conversation pits, having it for now all to himself. Some papers are spread on the low table before him where his drink rests. Beside him is a backpack, and in his lap is the closed book he uses to write on. He definitely doesn't fit in with the crowd...
    Maybe if he dressed up. But his blond hair is rough and wild, and he's wearing just jeans, a black t-shirt with a kitten upon it that is holding onto a cliff with the caption, 'Hang in there!' on it, a pair of white sneakers. And that's it.
    Very out of place.

Nyssa al Ghul has posed:
Nyssa has been a quiet presence in the city for some few years now. The flash and theater of the newly rich don't suit her ends. But this place...is interesting. It's been around in its various incarnations for nearly as long as she has, its own whispers in the darkness. So as events continue to draw her to the city here, she's chosen to investigate the New York chapter, to see if it's worth the very high price of admission.

She's a little old for the club scene herself - is that what they're calling music these days? - but blending in means being aware of your surroundings. She blends well enough, in a nondescript black cocktail dress and high-end heels, her hair loose around her shoulders and a flute of champagne held between two fingers.

Those heels tap lightly against the floor as she extricates herself from the noise of the dance floor, slowly pacing the perimeter of the room until the unusual sight of study catches her attention. "And here the media would have me believe the youth of America are only interested in decadence," she drawls as she comes closer, the faintest hint of a hard to place accent in the words.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    If she's able to look past the way he's dressed, the too loose t-shirt that's perhaps a size too large for him, the casualness of his garb, the way his hair could use a comb... then the first thing that might draw her gaze are those eyes.
    Hazel, starting with the pale blue on the edges flowing to a jade green but the depths have a golden ring that lends something eerie to them. And they're on a face that is handsome enough, if one can get past the paleness of features. But his smile almost instantly humanizes him. It's a curve given easily though carrying with it a hint of the wry.
    His head tilts slightly, one foot flat upon the seat he sits on, letting his thigh support that book and the paper he's currently working on. But otherwise he seems at ease, as if he were holding court only nobody was there to pay homage.
    That is until she speaks to him. The pencil flattens against the book even as the music is heard thumping distantly. "You misunderstand me. This is an act of rebellion." He tells her, though the smile might steal some part of the seriousness from his tone.

Nyssa al Ghul has posed:
"Ah, of course. That does sound more fitting to the locale." Nyssa takes a glance around the room once more, a slight curve of her lips expressing quiet amusement with the display of it all. "Perhaps you will enlighten me as to the nature of this great rebellion."

She doesn't wait for an invitation, taking a seat at the edge of the couch where she can see him and watch the room at the same time. It's an old habit, no matter how effortless she makes it seem. "Perhaps your family is...adamantly against education?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Oh no," Alexander's eyes turn to shift over the ebb and flow of people around them, but then he looks back with an eyebrow quirking curiously. "More..." He sets that paper down after considering it, placing the book over top the others and leaves them there, secure enough for now.
    He then turns his focus to her, those curious eyes meeting her gaze with a steadiness as he replies, "For a time I'd come here to people watch." He looks past her, to some of the people around, eyebrows lifting slightly. "It was interesting, fun. But then I felt I should try to do something useful with my time. And something about doing my homework here while everyone around me is..."
    He looks back to her, "So very serious about themselves, it just amused me." His nose crinkles a little and then he murmurs, "So I come here to do the most mundane things I have to, while a few floors up... or down people are indulging in the most wicked things they can imagine. And here I sit doing Trig."
    His lip twists then he lightly pushes one of the papers further under the book, "Or in this case entrance applications."

Nyssa al Ghul has posed:
Nyssa laughs softly, raising her champagne flute in a quiet salute to the idea. "I can certainly see the appeal," she agrees. "Though this noise is slightly excessive, even in these seats."

"Power does interesting things to people," she adds, wrinkling her nose with a look up and down, as if she could somehow see what the more depraved members are doing elsewhere. "So much potential here for things of greater import, yet some..." She sips again then sets down the flute, looking over the papers once more. "ESU is an excellent school, certainly. And I assume that if you've the luxury of doing your homework here then you should have little difficulty with admissions."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    It's strange perhaps, the youth she's known in her days and since, she has an effortless beauty to her. And she could easily turn the head of anyone his age with a smile, a laugh, a tilt of the head. But he... seems utterly at ease, speaks with her as if his were the many years and she was the youth. But then again there is much to be seen in the grand sweep of humanity, especially in a play such as this.
    Though when she does laugh his smile broadens a little, if perhaps curving a little crookedly. "It is noisy," He agrees, his eyes watching her closely. When she speaks he follows the movements of her lips, perhaps because of the room's noise. Or perhaps some other reason though he does not seem deaf.
    As for ESU being a good school he murmurs to her with that same smile, "It's something to do for a few years. I chose them because I like their mascot."
    And if that doesn't get her to snort or turn away then he'll continue. "My name is Alexander. Alexander Aaron." And he extends his hand.

Nyssa al Ghul has posed:
"What //is// their mascot?" Nyssa muses. She doesn't look like the sort of woman who spends a lot of time on college soprts, after all.

"Alexander?" she echoes. "Nyssa Raatko," she introduces herself in turn, leaning over to take the offered hand in a cool, professional grasp. "Raatko Arts and Acquisitions."

And formerly the League of Assassins, but that's not the sort of thing you throw around lightly, even in a place like this. Still, she carries herself with far more self-assurance than anyone her age should.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    The young man gestures with one hand toward the pamphlet and packet he has upon the table under the book as if she could see it, but he tells her, "It's a bluebird, I just liked the look of it." Then he takes her hand and gives it a gentle squeeze, business-like in its touch and with three pumps then down before he eases back in his seat.
    Though now he's turned a bit to face her, leg drawn up a bit almost like a half-lotus from yoga as he looks to her. Though in that moment the music does quiet, either as the DJ begins to build the bass or perhaps embarking on a lighter bit of techno music.
    "Ms. Raatko." He says as if trying to make sure he has the pronunciation right. Then he nods, "And what brings you here, if I may ask?"

Nyssa al Ghul has posed:
"Researching a business investment," Nyssa answers, a small smile curving as she crosses her legs. "I deal with a generally...select clientele," she explains. "Fine art and unusual artifacts are usually the domain of the rich and powerful." One hand gestures toward the crowds, then she nods more pointedly to the booths and the people chatting in them. "This would seem like an ideal place to find clients."

Leaning forward, she reclaims her champagne to take another small sip. "But it is, after all, no small cash investment, in addition to the time and effort of actually //being// here to make those connections."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "My father has quite a collection of things from his youth, he had a small part in some archeology I've been told, John Aaron." Though it's unlikely she might have heard of him in that capacity, considering he is mainly known as a construction worker/union boss. "But," He adds with a small smile, "Probably nothing the like of which you deal with, I'm sure."
    Though her answers, if she is an old hand at reading people, she can likely tell that he is looking at her anew. His eyes drifting along the line of her arms, her hands, the curve of that dress. Perhaps not seeking those tell-tale highlights that men usually peer at her for. More looking to see something to affirm his suspicions. Small callouses upon her hands. A strength to her form, a strong reach. What might make her something of a threat and less...
    A purveyor of art.
    "I feel as if I should apologize for distracting you then from your efforts to find clients."

Nyssa al Ghul has posed:
"Not at all," Nyssa assures, smile flickering once more as she looks out over the crowd. "These sorts of moves are always a slow game. The rich and powerful aren't known for being easy to reach. And this particular theater is...I think aimed at a different target regardless," she points out, laughing softly.

Those hints are there, at least for someone familiar enough with them to know where to look. An archer's calluses in the folds of the fingers of her right hand. The sort of definition to her muscles that doesn't come from spin class and pilates. Though she seems to lack the scars that usually accompany such things. Or else she hides them well.

"I'm in no hurry, to be honest," she confesses. "As it happens, time is an ally in my business. Valuable old things tend to only get more valuable with time."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    The young Olympian lets his smile drift easily, becoming a hint more pronounced as she offers her answers and he follows along watching the way her lips form those words. For a few moments as she speaks he bites his lower lip thoughtfully letting his gaze drift to the others there as she considers them, her potential customers and merchants of the ancient. Though when she mentions the room being perhaps for a different kind of clientele he smiles and nods.
    "I would agree with that assessment."
    But then he turns to face her more than the crowd, resting his arm on the back of that benchseat that's below and away from where the rest of the crowd walks. They are sunken in that conversation pit on one side, but the other opens to the dance floor which is below them.
    "Then what do you do, if I may ask Ms. Raatko, when you aren't hunting for business?"

Nyssa al Ghul has posed:
"Well, inventory is always an issue in this business," Nyssa chuckles. "I spend a good deal of time locating items, of course. We also donate time to other causes." Like the assassination of despots. But also... "We're particularly involved in locating works of art or family heirlooms that were wrongfully claimed by the Nazi party during the second World War, in the interest of returning them to the rightful heirs. Difficult business, but quite rewarding."

The music shifts once again and she winces, head tilting. "I must admit, this is //not// the sort of music I generally listen to in my free time. Then again, this isn't really music for the sake of //music// so much as...the drumbeat of the ancient circle."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Or the pounding of the drum around the watchfire," Alexander says with a slight tilt of his head, "To keep the eyes in the dark away." For some reason those words seem to come to him rather easily without reflection nor introspection. His curious gaze upon her steadily. Then he lifts his chin and turns to consider their surroundings, letting his eyes wander.
    Only for his attention to return to her as he quirks an eyebrow. "Would you prefer to go somewhere else to talk?" His head tilts to the side, letting his gaze flit to the door she came through, then back to considering her. "I mean there would be decidedly fewer art aficionados to consider during our wanderings."
    His smile is a little wry, "But it'll be quieter at least."

Nyssa al Ghul has posed:
Nyssa looks back to him at the offer, arching a brow with a quietly amused smile. "Alexander, it sounds almost as though you might have ulterior motives," she drawls, tipping her chin toward his papers. "I wouldn't want to interfere with the plotting of your future, after all."

The way she watches him seems like idle curiosity, something to pass the time while she takes in the air of the place, but if he watches carefully enough, he may pick up on the sharper edge beneath it, weighing him.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Well," The youth meets her eyes unwaveringly, even when she oh so casually strikes something almost coy in her manner when she asks him of having ulterior motives. "S'more that this is the second time you spoke so about the noise in here, the music. It would be ill suited of me as your host, as it were, to ignore your comfort." For she did join him after all, but curious that he recognizes that implication of the social contract.
    "I am content to sit here should you so wish." A tilt of his head to the side is given to look upon his papers, "Though do not let that grant you hesitation."
    But when he looks back to her and those curious eyes with their golden depths meet her gaze, he smiles and then finally remarks, "But if you feel I am flirting with you I should tell you I hadn't started yet."
    He straightens a little as his smile broadens, teasing in a way that few eighteen year olds would have the courage to do so when he says, "Did you wish me to?"

Nyssa al Ghul has posed:
Nyssa laughs, though this one is freer, surprised by the honesty. "If we are being honest, I think you are perhaps a //bit// young for me. Though you do seem more sensible than most your age," she allows, leaning back against the sunken booth a little more comfortably.

"It isn't the noise, really," she muses on the topic of the music. "Not the volume, at least. They've done an admirable job with the acoustics here. More the quality of the music that isn't entirely to my taste. And one person's taste is hardly sufficient to impose my will upon another."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    That curve of his lips is a wry thing settled on his features, she can tell by the way his smile reaches his eyes, lending them a vibrance as he watches her. "Ah, should I take that as a challenge now?"
    His features change a little as he affects an 'oh so wounded' look to himself as he murmurs, "Ah, I am too young, my self-love is injured, I must somehow prove myself now to be deeper than my years, broader than my age, and oh so terribly interesting."
    He finally only /then/ leans forward to take up his rather slim glass with ice and a straw in it as well as something suitably bubbly. He takes a sip and swirls the cubes around as he looks to her. "I'm tempted, I admit." As if they had some sort of detente, where flirtation is there somehow, on the table, but they also meta the flirtation as if it were all a game.
    "Just I would have been a bad host to ignore your concerns." He says with a nod, seemingly content for now to stay where he is.

Nyssa al Ghul has posed:
"Well, you have proven yourself a contrary creature already," Nyssa points out. "But no, you needn't feel any obligation to soothe my ego with such things," she says with a wry smile of her own, shaking her head. "As we've already established your contrary nature, the next step was of course to see how precocious you are."

The smile twists a little deeper as she tips back her glass to finish the champagne inside before setting it safely aside. "Young men, after all, do run the full gamut."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "We do, we really do." Though she might well have caught his curiousity now. She might be able to tell, so many times has she read someone over the years and seen them reach that threshold where her counterpart at a meeting or in a conversation had held her at a distance, and then seemed to consider the alternative. It was there in the slight tilt of his head even as he takes another drink before setting his glass down.
    "Precocious," He says the word as if rolling it around in his mouth. He shakes his head slightly then looks across the table at her as he murmurs, "I don't know that I care for that word. Seems too close to precious and that carries a hint of condescension to it."
    "Though," Alexander turns and as she's setting her glass aside and then turning back to him, he'll lightly reach forward and for a moment... his fingers will lightly touch the palm of her hand, just four fingertips light there, thumb turning to very gently touch the knuckles.
    It is a bold thing, presumptuous, though his touch is warm. Curiously so even as he says quietly, as if the words were not meant to carry. "I am curious as to this." And as he says those words his thumb will gently find the small callouses, the marks of long hours training, working, the tell-tale firm ridge along the underside of the hand or around the knuckles. To anyone passing by it might almost be a romantic gesture. But when he meets her eyes she can tell he is taking her measure as well.

Nyssa al Ghul has posed:
"A function of linguistic drift, as words come in and out of fashion," Nyssa waves a hand to his objection. "Though it does carry the implication that one is young. After all, one must be young in order to be advanced for their age. Generally speaking."

She arches a brow at the first touch, though the expression smooths ever so slightly as he turns it to a question. The dance of the truth is a familiar one, though few recognize such small signs so quickly. "I am a student of antiquities," she answers with a small smile. "At times, that has included studies beyond simply art."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    The way he considers her hand in so thoughtful of a way, it might seem as if she was bringing old thoughts from his past to the fore, his mind wandering as that touch was there. Though only for a moment. She offers her explanation and his eyes lift to meet hers even as he then slowly draws his hand back.

    "I would say archery," Those hazel eyes hold hers, "Perhaps some fencing. Martial arts." Another glance given to her other hand, then his gaze sweeps along the long lines of her legs before he looks back up to her eyes from under half-hooded eyelids.
    Before she asks he offers the answer with the explanation quietly given. "My education has been elaborate and intense." And if she looked, really looked, she might well see small hints to the same. The same hints of callouses though perhaps not as obvious. Perhaps a glimpse at the collar of that t-shirt might give a hint to the physique beneath the slightly too large shirt.
    But then he smiles.

Nyssa al Ghul has posed:
"So it would seem." There's no superficial amusement now, no play in Nyssa's response. Her feelings on weaponizing the youth are complicated at best, given her life experiences. "That does explain some of that precociousness. I've found that such studies tend to focus the mind, impart lessons that put the rest of the world into a very sharp perspective."

She retrieves her hand with a smooh gesture, setting her elbow on the back of the booth and propping up her head as she watches him. "So what is it you think you'll study so intently at ESU?" she asks, almost pointedly ordinary.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "People," He says without hesitation, still watching her. But they can tell that some conversational Rubicon has been passed, and his eyes are bright with curiousity and that subtle hint of danger. He has no hesitation, no qualms about speaking to her so easily or in such a manner. No hint of fear in those young eyes.
    But then he smiles and says quietly, "Ms. Raatko, do you prefer surprises? Exploring a trail, puzzling what you can about something? Working out the details yourself?"
    He draws his leg up closer, resting his hands upon his shin with that one foot upon the seat beside him. "Or did you prefer to just tear open your Christmas presents as quickly as possible?"

Nyssa al Ghul has posed:
"I prefer the knowing over the mystery," Nyssa answers, smile curving once more. "As to whether I prefer figuring it out or being surprised..." She lifts a hand, wiggling it from side to side. "For the important things, I find it better to know as far in advance as possible. For the less important, I can admit that there is a certain joy in being surprised."

Letting out a breath of a sigh, she looks back to the crowd. "If it's people you intend to study, there are likely better places than a university to truly get their measure. But there are other benefits to a university."

Uncrossing her legs, she starts to sit up a little straighter, as if she's made a decision. "But speaking of people, there are some I should investigate here."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Well," Alexander nods as she starts to gather herself. "Then I shall stay here under the tree waiting." He says that with a smile, amused for a bit but he draws back to give her what room she needs to prepare her departure.
    "It was nice meeting you, Ms. Raatko."

Nyssa al Ghul has posed:
"Well. Or at least finish your application," Nyssa laughs, smile wry as she stands. "You are most interesting, Alexander Aaron," she says with a dip of her chin. "Try not to grow up into a boring adult too quickly."