IC: Return to Soho - Maksim & Nethaniel

[Raiko]

In the Bentley - Near the Blue Pyramid Club
7:25pm - Thursday 28th January, 1925

As Maksim and Nethaniel chat they see one of the bouncers light up a cigarette as the other heads back inside the club.

OOC,I'm following your lead here, whether you enter the club or wait until closing time. This post is just so you know I've not forgotten you.

[DSIGFUSS]

Nethaniel looks a bit stuffy with his bow tie and tweed jacket. Though if he removed the bow ties put some water in his hair and undid his shirt he could be considered smartly dressed.

ooc- How long would it take for Maks and Nethaniel to pick up some high class call girls? Or do you want to just walk in laraqua? I'll do either but i suggest we hurry if we want to try and save Gwen.

[Laraqua]

Maksim takes a look around the street, wondering if there are any smartly dressed girls heading to the club. He's pretty confident that with his stellar good looks and great conversational style, he should be able to strike up a conversation. He is, after all, fallen Russian nobility and has learned thoroughly how to court a lady. Surely he could draw their attention now.

[Raiko]

OOC,Soho is the centre of Bohemian culture in London. In addition to the Blue Pyramid there are several other night clubs and music halls, so Maksim can easily locate a couple of well dressed good looking girls to chat up. So feel free to charm away! Soho has also always been famous as a notorious den of prostitution, so finding girls for hire won't be a problem, they can be found on backstreets throughout Soho; but high-class escorts or call girls might be. It really depends on Nethaniel, this is his city, so either he 'knows who to talk to' to hire some high class girls, or he doesn't. It's up to you. The concierge at the Ritz would probably have been able to help with that.

[Laraqua]

Maksim hops out of the car and loiters by the side of the street for a moment. He checks his wristwatch (yes, he has one of those filthy American contraptions!), and tugs out the little clippy thing that you rotate to change the time. Now that the watch is officially stopped (and an hour off), he waits, gesturing Nethaniel to come out and then talking to him about the interesting situation of surviving the Russian Revolution as a Russian nobleman's son. It doesn't really matter if the targets overhear it, but if they do, it couldn't hurt. When a pair of likely ladies come by (single women being notoriously more shy around a pair of men), he checks his watch, feigns surprise then annoyance, and hails them. In his gentlest and most sincere voice he asks: "Excuse me, ladies, but I think my watch has stopped." He shows them his watch and gives them an easygoing smile and a shrug of his manly shoulders. "Any chance either of you have the time?"

OOC: Appearance 16 should be more than beneficial here.

Hopefully......

[Raiko]

OOC,APP 16 certainly helps, and Maksim is lucky enough to time his mention of Russian nobility just right.

Maksim targets a pair of attractive young ladies, who look well-to-do and ready for an evening of dancing and partying. Of course they can't tell him the time, but they are obviously impressed by the expensive watch and by Maksim's exotic accent, and of course his confidence and good looks. Both girls are in their early twenties, one blond the other brunette, their hair cut shoulder length and styled in a manner that was fashionable in New York a year ago.

They giggle and the brunette asks Maksim, "Did you say you are from Russia? Is your friend from Russia too?"

[DSIGFUSS]

Nethaniel blushes.. This was not his game.

Err.... Uh.. No Luv! I'm local as they come and as they go.. My Russian friend here was looking for a little English hospitality is all. Told the lad we'd look see the Soho right?

[Laraqua]

"No, no, this man, chap as the British say, has been harboring me since I came in from my stint in America. London's so much lovelier than New York, I think ... the city has a level of sophistication." Maksim glances up and around at the city. "Jack here wanted to show me this Blue Pyramid Club." His eyes widen a little as though he just had an idea and he asks, somewhat hopefully but with an obvious level of cool confidence - if they say no, he won't pressure them (which is true). "I don't suppose you were going that way?"

[Raiko]

"We weren't, but we are now," says the brunette girl, as her blonde friend puts a slender arm around Nethaniel's waist.

"My name's Alice. Harboring Russian Aristocrats sounds terribly exciting!"

The as yet unnamed brunette smiles and offers her arm to Maksim.

[Laraqua]

"Shall we go?" Maksim says, gesturing toward the club and then taking the lead in an imitation of his older twin brother.

[Raiko]

The Blue Pyramid Club – Soho, London
7:35pm – Thursday 29th January, 1925

The two couples enter the Blue Pyramid Club, the girl on Maksim's arm introducing herself as Agatha; they pass by the big doorman without any problem, he pays much more attention to the shapely forms of Alice and Agatha than the two men.

Inside the Blue Pyramid is rather quiet, unlike on Maksim's previous visit the majority of the patrons look like tourists, there are virtually no Egyptians in here other than the staff. The air is thick with tobacco smoke and the aroma of hashish lingers in the club, although no one is visibly smoking from a Hookah anywhere in the club. Less than half of the tables are occupied, but it is still noisy with the sound of chattering and shouting patrons, and a band playing traditional Egyptian music. Scantily clad belly dancers move from table to table performing for the patrons, but their aren't enough patrons to go round so a couple of the girls stand idly by the bar chatting to the barman and the other doorman.

One of the girls at the bar Maksim recognises as Yalesha, the dancer who spoke to him earlier.

Maksim scans the club nervously, but there is no sign of either the club's owner, or Tewfik al-Sayed and his thugs.


Yalesha

[Laraqua]

Maksim tries to find a discreet corner to sit within in case any of those thugs enter the area. Preferably a place with his back to the wall and a straight route to the door. If Yalesha decides to come by and talk to them (which he assumes that if she's truly fearful, she probably won't), it'll hopefully provide some privacy. Of course, if she doesn't, they can just return to their original plan and talk to her after the club closes. Gwen may live or die ... but it's up to the Gods to decide.

And by Gods, he's really referring to a belly dancer.

[Raiko]

It takes about five minutes before Yalesha makes her way over to the corner table. When she gets there she glares at Maksim, she looks frightened and totally ignores the girls, "What are you doing back so quickly? If Tewfik returns he will kill you! I was worried that you were already dead!"

[Laraqua]

Maksim smirks at the girls as though its simply lady trouble. "Ladies, please, I need to briefly speak with an old flame of mine." With practiced, Timour-ish ease, he slides out from the table, gently grasps her arm and leans in to whisper to her with a confident air that belies his actual nervousness. He's so hyped up on adrenaline, he could jump out of his skin. "They've taken a friend of mine. A woman. Gwen. We need to know what we can to save her. I need to know what you know ... fast ... then I'll get out of here."

[Raiko]

Yalesha looks really terrified now, she whispers urgently to Maksim, "I cannot risk talking here, meet me at the back in five minutes!"

Then she fakes anger, ripping her arm out of Maksim's grasp she pushes him away shouts, "bastard!" and storms off towards the toilets, none of the clubs customers give the altercation a second glance.

[Laraqua]

Maksim shrugs. "You win some. You lose some. Look, I'm going to go for a quick walk. Be back in five or ten minutes." Then with a nod, he heads outside.

[Raiko]

OOC,I'm going to wait until my lunchtime tomorrow before replying here, to give DSIGFUSS a chance to post for Nethaniel before Maksim leaves the building. I've pinged him a PM.

[DSIGFUSS]

Nethaniel eyes the establishment while making nervous small talk with the two girls. He looks for an office that Tewfik al-Sayed may be using or for any suspicious writings or cultish decor that the over confident cultist may be displaying about the club.

[Raiko]

Behind the Blue Pyramid
7:44pm – Thursday 29th January, 1925

Yalesha emerges from the club's back door a minute or two after Maksim reaches the alley. She glances around to ensure that she is not being observed before approaching him. The dancer wraps her slender arms around Maksim's neck when she reaches him and presses her body against his.

"This will look less suspicious if we are spotted," she whispers into his ear.

"Tewfik is a most dangerous man, you are lucky to have survived earlier. I will tell you what I can to help your friend."

[Laraqua]

Maksim responds with an equally enthusiastic hug and gives her a doe-eyed look that can normally charm any woman into putty in his hands. "I'm all ears," he says in a slightly seductive tone like she's just told him something naughty.