[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/WLTRsyo.png[/img][/center] [color=CadetBlue] [center][color=black][sup]____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sup][/color][/center] [center][color=IndianRed][b]Location:[/b][/color] The Pink Room • [color=IndianRed][b]Time:[/b][/color] Nighttime[/center] [center][color=IndianRed][b]Interactions:[/b][/color] A nameless girl in the wrong place at the wrong time, [@helo] Noah & [@Tpartywithzombi] Wren • [color=IndianRed][b]Mentions:[/b][/color] N/A [/center] [center][color=black][sup]____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sup][/color][/center][/color] [color=silver]The dancer reached him right on cue. Not too fast, not too shy. She’d been sent, and she knew it. Locke could see it in the way she hesitated near the booth, like she expected someone else to be watching. Maybe they were, but he didn’t bother glancing to find out. She approached with a try-too-hard-to-be-sexy kind of sway, hips catching the slow pulse of the music, eyes half-lidded and glossy with intention. Her fingertips traced the edge of the table as though she just knew he’d wish that touch was against his flesh. He didn’t move, not even to address her with his eyes. He let her come in close, let her tuck herself just beside the booth, her hand brushing the back of the seat near his shoulder. He could smell her perfume now, soft and sweet and layered over [b]way[/b] too much hairspray. She leaned in slightly, lips near his ear. [color=HotPink]“Can I sit?”[/color] Locke finally turned his head her way, there was nothing but apathy in his Auburn eyes…and something about that drove the woman crazy. He let his gaze settle there for a bit, and offered a smile just charming enough and just juxtaposed enough from his eyes to make the girl second guess if she even knew how to speak. [color=cadetblue]“You can,”[/color] he said, quiet and calm. [color=cadetblue]“But don’t get comfortable, darlin’…I won’t be staying long.”[/color] The woman blinked, caught off guard not by what he said, but by the way he said it. Like he already knew what was going to happen next. She gave a slight nod, almost a bow, and eased down onto the seat beside him. He pushed his drink her way and let his hand settle on her thigh as though she belonged to him. [color=cadetblue]“Have a drink if you wish, love. These next few minutes have the potential to get quite interestin’…If you’re gonna be here, you better relax.”[/color] Locke turned back toward the hallway without another word as the girl took a long swig of his drink with a confused smile. Just in time, too, because they were getting close now. He reached for his glass again just as the girl set it back down, took another sip and let his hand slide another inch up the dancer’s thigh. When Noah finally stepped in, Locke didn’t stand. He didn’t shift a muscle, he just looked up with that same lazy charm he flashed the woman, calm and collected as always. [b][color=C60000]“Been a long time, Lucky. Glad you showed. I was beginning to think you didn’t like me anymore.”[/color][/b] Locke’s smile tugged a little deeper, though it never quite reached the warmth it used to. [color=cadetblue]“Evenin’, little brother.”[/color] he said, voice soft, easy, and just familiar enough to perhaps stir up old memories. [color=cadetblue]“I wouldn’t have missed an invitation from the [i]Prince of Halcyon[/i]...No, no no, not for the world.”[/color] His gaze slid to Wren, slow and deliberate. Her eyes were already locked on his, and for a moment it felt like time slipped sideways. She didn’t speak, didn’t move…just looked. And he let her bask in his fucking glory. There was no challenge in him, no reaction. Just an awareness that ran deep and steady. She could stare all she liked. Because he always stared back in his own way. Locke tilted his head slightly. [b][color=C60000]“Wren, this is Locke. Locke, this is my Wren.”[/color][/b] Locke offered a small nod. It was polite…well…just enough. Then he reached into his coat and pulled a card from his deck, [b]the Jack of Hearts[/b], and let it turn lazily between his fingers, spinning slow with a flick of his wrist. The card caught the low light, reflecting pink, blue, and the sharp glint of something colder. [color=cadetblue]“Charmed,”[/color] he said. [b][color=C60000]“I’ve got business for you.”[/color][/b] Locke left his old friend’s statement suspended there, in the air for a beat or two. The club moved on around them, unaware of the monsters that lurked in their midst. He leaned back just a little farther in the booth, letting the card fall back into his hand and disappear like it had never been there as he reached for his drink once more. He took a sip and then turned to the dancer beside him and offered her another drink. [color=cadetblue]“Interestin’…”[/color] He said as his eyes watched the way the girls lips grasped the glass as she took in the whiskey. He moved the hand from her thigh up to her face as he brushed a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. [color=cadetblue]“You hear that, love? Little bro has job for ol’ Lucky Locke.”[/color] He turned his eyes back to Noah with intent. Still as relaxed as before, but obviously curious. [color=cadetblue]“Then let’s talk, brother”[/color] [/color]