| Details for Uncaged |
| Summary: | Sam interrupts a date, and Audrey doesn't hold back. |
| Date: | March 4, 1938 |
| Location: | The Natrix |
| Related: | Famous Femmes, Controlling |
| Characters |
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Ranjali slips into the Natrix late this evening, just after Audrey's performance for the night. The club has been in full swing for hours, the band is once again drawing people to the floor, and Ranjali notes with a small sigh that she is far later than she intended to be. Dissapointed to have misssed the show, no matter how many she's already seen, she steps over to the bar to order a cup of tea, then searches out a table. She dressed tonight in a pale silver that contrasts starkly with her dark skin, and as she looks about at the mostly paler English faces, she begins to fret nervously with one of the shoulder straps.
When Audrey finally emerges from her post-performance decompression, she has changed out of the daringly low-cut gown she wore on stage. Now she favours a more conservative plum skirt and matching jacket. Her large, floppy hat adds a posh touch, but also serves to somewhat hide her face, allowing her to traverse the crowd mostly unmolested by fans. It's rare for the darling of the Natrix to actually avoid attention. But right now there is only one person she wants it from, and she's seating herself right next to her. "Hello, beautiful," she says softly to Ranjali, carefully checking to see that no one is within hearing distance.
"Audrey." Ranjali breathes the blonde's name, turning to give her an adoring, blushing smile. She searches the starlet's face happily, as well as the semi-concealing hat, "You look spectacular. I'm so sorry I couldn't come sooner, I just arrived. I missed your songs tonight." A hint of regret touches her eyes, though she's mostly just happy to see Audrey for now.
Audrey makes a mock pout, quickly followed by a happy smile. "Busy saving lives? Well, that just means I'll have to treat you to a command performance at home. You've earned it, I'm sure." She flags down a passing server, ordering her usual half glass of single-malt whiskey.
From the other side of the Natrix comes a cacophony of laughter and a woman dressed all in leather leaps atop of the table into a handstand. She keeps this pose for quite a bit and then moves to just one hand holding her up. Those that are around her have had just enough drink to loosen their resolve and they all applaud loudly. Indeed, it is Sam Trask in the middle of it all. She quickly punches down with that one hand and is in a flip and back on her feet in the middle of the table itself. She looks about a bit and then does a forward flip over the audience and lands on her feet with a grin, "And that's not even the finale." She says, lifting her arms in a victory pose. "You, hand me my cigar?" She purrs.
Ranjali gives Audrey a look that is full of heated promises, but (perhaps thankfully) before she can say anything, the laughter draws her attention. Her eyes slowly widen, first as she takes in the performance, then even more as she realizes who the performer is. Gasping softly, she glances from Sam to Audrey, keeping herself very still as she tries to think how best to avoid any unpleasantness.
What's this? Somebody is getting attention and it isn't Audrey? This will not do. Then again, Audrey is trying to be less than obvious right now. Then again…it's Sam Trask. "You have got to be joking. Am I being punished for something?" She looks upward, as if expecting an answer from on high.
Sam has her back turned to the ladies and is regaling the crowd about the time that she was dangling from the wing and it looked like she was about to fall off but it was all planned when her pilot flips the plane around and she landed upright on the wing. Such daring things and the crowd is just drinking it all in. The man gives her her cigar and she puffs away on it.
Ranjali reaches over, placing a discreet hand over Audrey's. "Its alright. Truly. Look, she's here with… her own friends. Surely she isn't here to… to bother us." She glances up as her tea is brought, and quickly requests Audrey's usual order from him as well. Then she's looking at Sam again, frowning slightly in thought.
Audrey harumphs, shifting in her seat. "She had best not be. This place is full of my friends." One more moment of petulance, and then she sighs. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to let it get to me. Let's…talk about your day. How was work?"
Sam does a spin around and lands once again but at the end of the spin she gets a good look at a certain couple, "Well, look there. Isn't that Audrey? Starlet and actress. Amazing." As she pops the cigar into her mouth and chews on it as she walks over to their table and leans on it, "Hello, ladies."
"Oh, it was- " Ranjali starts to laugh, remembering a particular story of her own. But then, they are noticed. Quickly, she squeezes Audrey's hand, then pulls her own back, mindful that now many more eyes will likely be on them. "H-hello. What… brings you to the Natrix thie evening?"
Audrey bristles under the brim of her hat, but when she lifts her head to allow her face to be seen, she is all smiles. "Miss Trask. What remarkable acrobatics. The circus missed a great opportunity in you."
Sam gives a little laugh and puffs on her cigar, "They have offered and I have turned them down." As she looks between the two ladies, "Actually, I saw Ranjali here and the other could have only been you. I'd know those anywhere." She points right at Audrey's chest and grins wide.
Ranjali smiles politely, though the smile tightens with Audrey's comment. And outright disappears at Sam's pointing. Her position changes not at all, but the look that she lifts up to Sam's face is a hard warning.
Audrey lifts a brow in momentarily surprise. She's not exactly the bustiest of women. Still, that's when her polite smile fades. "That's a shame about the circus. With manners like yours, you'd fit right in. I'm sure they'd set aside a cage for you."
"What do you need manners for in a world like this? I know what I want, I go for it. Nothing wrong with that." Sam leans down against the table and plops her bottom in one of the chairs, "Can't cage me, love. I'm all out there."
Ranjali continues to hold her calm position, only her face betraying the tension coiling in the pit of her stomach. Her eyes dart from woman to woman, and her voice, when she speaks, is careful and hesitant. It also holds some of that warning from the look she gave Sam. "Manners are needful… in any world. They are how we show each other respect."
Audrey's mouth curls into a wry smirk. "No, no…she's right, Ranji. When one's profession is imitating a gorilla, one is permitted to act like one. Miss Trask is merely being kind enough to show her true colours, so we know to be mindful of fleas."
Sam just laughs a good bit and then her tone softens, "How you two doing? Getting along well?" She sounds as if she actually means it to see a nice lesbian couple doing well.
Now its Audrey's turn to receive a warning look from Ranjali, if a less harsh one than Sam was given. When she turns back to Sam, she offers a wary smile and a nod, "We're quite well, thank you Miss Trask. And you?" Yes, please, polite conversation!
Audrey doesn't back down easily once her ire is raised. "We were doing just fine. But now I've got this stink in my nostrils. What do you want, Miss Trask? You seem to delight in the discomfort of others, and that makes you boorish, and is very quickly making you boring."
Sam draws in a breath and looks to Audrey. She purses her lips a bit and shakes her head, "Afraid I have insulted two people I would hope would be friends." She looks down to the table, "I have an image. The brash athlete and to get respect from some men I have to keep it this way." She crushes her cigar into an ashtray. "But now I have offended two people who have what I precisely want… But I am not able to in this day and age. I am sorry." She smiles a bit and then begins to pull away from the table and looks at them for another moment, sad a bit before she turns, "Right boys! Who wants to buy me a drink?!" And she's all grins once more.
"You haven't offended us both." Ranjali closes her eyes briefly, pressing her lips together after she speaks. I should have known this was the more likely outcome. They are far too similar. A tiny sigh escapes her, but she makes no move to bring Sam back to the table, and only sits, keeping herself still as she attempts to regain composure. Before she, too, says something she will regret.
Wolfgang comes out from the back of the club when one of his goons informed him that, "Some gorgeous broad is doing handstands on the tables." He had to see it for himself, so he's slightly disappointed when there seems to be no hand standing anymore. But the goon points towards Sam and Wolfgang smirks and nods in a dismissive way to his man. He then spots that two of his favorite ladies in the world are joined by the Handstander. As he approaches he is stopped by a fan and is pulled down for a 'smack' to the kisser - the stolen kiss prolongs the autographing process so he misses most of the Discussion Extravaganza all together. He finally gets through the fan base to the ladies table. "What would you like?" Big charming smile is offered to Sam as he's now the one to lean in to steal a few greeting genteel kisses to Ranjali's cheek and then to Audrey's. "Seems I've been missing out on some free entertainment earlier."
Audrey slowly turns her gaze toward Ranjali, eyebrows lifting with growing incredulity. "She hasn't?" But then Wolfgang is there. She receives the kiss of greeting, offering a polite smile, but her body language is clearly tense, her arms firmly crossed.
Ranjali looks up to Wolfgang, smiling uncertainly as she attempts to decide if she is relieved or worried to see him joining them. She accepts and returns the cheek kisses with apparent gladness, all the same, "You have, indeed." Audrey is given a glance, but she keeps the emotions behind it deeply hidden.
Sam is off and back with the boys and becoming her randy self once again as she moves around and plucks a cigar from one of their pockets once more.
Wolfgang watches Sam canoodling with the fellas with a smirk, not minding his offer to get her a drink was ignored for the greater glory as it were. He slides a chair over and positions it between Ranjali and Audrey's seat. Arms slung over both of their shoulders. The boy should grow a beard for how he does a rather convincing job flirting with the two lovely ladies that are still at the table. "If you'd like, I can have Sweeney show her a good time." He offers over to Audrey with a charming smile. "Not in Sweeney's usual way. But just for the fireworks display, might be worth it." He picks up his usual drink that a waitress sets down. He thanks her by name and gives a wink before taking his first sip.
Ranjali settles in with only mild discomfort for Wolfgang's chosen seat and the arm over her chair. She has hopes that polite conversation might accompany him. But instead he makes his offer, and Ranjali finds herself sitting up a bit straighter to give Audrey a worried look. "I really don't think that will be necessary. She may be… bolder than she probably should, but we've no proof that she is anything else."
Audrey shrugs dramatically, making a show of looking anywhere but at Sam. "It doesn't matter to me in the slightest. She's beneath my concern." Going from feigned ambivalence to sudden frustration, she snaps her head toward Ranjali. "How can you say she didn't offend you? She…" Audrey shuts up a moment, glancing around before lowering her voice and leaning in, right in front of Wolfgang (who makes a lovely sound buffer). "She was talking about my bosom like it was some sort of street sign!" she hisses.
Sam keeps on with the men in on the side of the room. She's got a light for her cigar and she is waving it about like a Japanese traffic cop. She's laughing and all smiles except when she takes a little look back to the table and sighs a bit to then go back to the boys and continue on with her tales.
Ranjali flinches, pressing her lips together. Her voice is clipped and each word she speaks perfectly pronounced, the only current hint of her own levels of upset. "And when she does so again, she will have /far/ more to deal with than myself being offended. But I would really prefer not to continue discussing this in public."
Wolfgang might look like he's overly just caressing Audrey's back as she leans, he's actually in feel just pressing his hand to her shoulder blade in a soothing supportive way. "How about your two ladies let me whisper in your ear and lead you upstairs for a lovely night cap and soothing tea? Then you two can discuss anything you like, including your lovely figures and not give our Handstander the satisfaction of knowing she ruined your night."
"I should go over there and give her a piece of my mind," Audrey huffs and mutters. "Friends, indeed. Why in the world would I want to befriend such a brazen…immature…self-entitled…hmph!" The attempted string of ranting peters out.
Ranjali looks from Audrey to Wolfgang, then over to Sam, and sighs faintly. "Perhaps… " Another glance at Audrey, "Perhaps we should step away from your floor, Mr. Montague. And return when we are ready to face the public again."
Wolfgang gestures with a suave debonair air to the back of the club. "After you then ladies. Let's get you some place a bit more quiet and private. Our Star just needs a chance to breath some fresh air that's not filled with the feeding frenzy that Dame is conjuring up over there. I'll make sure Sweeney keeps her entertained."
Audrey rises with a heavy sigh. "Thank you, Wolfgang. But I think we'd better just go home." Her glance to Ranjali is filled with sudden uncertainty. "If…you want to come along, of course."
Ranjali rises, nodding to Audrey. "Of course I do." Briefly, she gives the starlet an apologetic look, before turning to nod gratefully to Wolfgang. "Thank you, however. I appreciate the offer. But… please, I would really prefer that she… not come to harm because of us."
Sam is still raising all sorts of a ruckus of noise when she looks to a man and goes, "Really? You don't think that I can?" And she backs up a little bit and gets a really good run going and does a flip up and onto the table to stand in the middle of it again, "Simple." She says to the man and holds out a hand for a bill of money. Obviously… There was a bet on it.
Wolfgang blinks at Ranjali, "Harm?" He looks truly insulted. "I hope you are only fearful that Sweeney's submarines for feet won't trample hers." His tone is rather 'what sort of monster do you take me for?'. "You two know you're welcome here any time. I'm very sorry that tonight wasn't a good experience for you. If there's anything you need in the future to see it not happen again. Just have to say it." He takes another drink, draining his glass and says, "Excuse me. Good Night." Leaving without giving Ranjali much time to reply if she was going to before he's off to offer up his hand to help Sam get down off his table.
Audrey steps up beside Ranjali to escort her out…in a perfectly platonic and not-at-all-romantic way, much to her chagrin. Sam earns a sidelong glare on the way out, and Audrey makes note of a few faces in the gaggle of men surrounding her.