takecourage | (no subject)

(no subject)

Slow nights are the worst. Alex does her set and then comes out into the club proper, another hour and change on her shift and finds herself with slim prospects for lapdances. Her outfit is relatively conservative - a black sheath dress and heels. She wanders over to the bar and leans her weight on her elbows.

"Can I get a drink or something, Reggie?" She says.

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"Define 'or something'," Reggie says, already slapping a glass down on the bar as Alex rolls up on him. "Because I've been... experimenting."

Maybe it's strange, to be so satisfied in a job that anyone back home could only see as a massive step down for him, but Darrow runs on different stakes, and he really missed having a space he could actually look forward to occupying on any sort of professional pretext. Maybe he's just still in the honeymoon phase and he'll want to rebel against the yoke of employment again soon, but for now, he's actually really enjoying himself.

"No alcohol on the job," says Alex, sliding into a stool and flipping her shiny black hair over one shoulder. "And remember I'm an addict. But, other than that, I've got zero parameters."

"Perfect," Reggie purrs, rubbing his hands together and busting out the simple syrup. "You can be my guinea pig when it's quiet like this!" He pauses, lime in hand. He's still learning the rhythms of the place, after all. "It... is quiet tonight, right? It's not just me?"

"It's totally quiet," says Alex, leaning her chin into her hand as she watches him move around the bar. "If you're using me as a guinea pig, does that mean you're going to return the favour?"

"That... would only be fair, wouldn't it?" Reggie admits, cracking a grin after a long, reluctant second. "Fortunately, I'm history's greatest monster and care not for fairness. Now try this and tell me what you think," he adds, sliding a reddish-looking drink over toward her.

"Didn't take you for a scaredy cat, Reggie," she says, picking up the glass and taking a sip. She smiles. "This is fucking good. What's in it?"

"Mostly just cranberry juice and salt, I'm trying to stick to things that mix well until I get good at this," Reggie replies with a shrug. "Would it be better with cucumber? Here, try it with some cucumber slices in it."

Now is that something a scaredy cat would do?

Alex rolls her eyes, and she smirks as she holds out her glass to him.

"I can't believe you won't let me try out a routine on you."

"C'mon, what sort of feedback do you really expect to get out of me?" Reggie laughs as he cobbles together attempt number two at whatever it is he's got going on. "'Ugh, no, disgusting!' 'Pathetic, start over!' I just question my own ability to be constructive under certain sets of circumstances, is all."

"You've already seen me way more naked than I get at work," she points out, still smirking as she takes another sip of her drink. "Just saying."

"Yeah, and I try to save my hot tips for personal improvement under those circumstances until at least the third date," Reggie teases, still watching her reactions to his drink closely.

"You know, I don't think I ever went on a lot of fourth dates? Probably unrelated."

"I'm sure it was really constructive criticism," says Alex, rolling her eyes at him, smirking against the rim of the glass. She sets it down. "It could do with something to cut through the sweet, I think?"

"On it," says Reggie, clapping his hands together as he starts searching for something to take the edge off a bit. Or maybe add more of one? He'll figure that part out on the fly. "Two words that also factored pretty strongly into most of my critiques, actually."

"That sounds more like a request, dude," says Alex, smirking. Over her shoulder one of the other dancers starts a lapdance and Alex watches with idle, professional curiosity.

"Is that not the same thing?" Reggie asks, all mock innocence as he shrugs and follows Alex's gaze over her shoulder with somewhat less professional curiosity.

"Whatever. Your kinks are you own business, dude," says Alex, her eyebrow raised. "She's getting through this waaaaay too quickly. Cutting into her profit margin."

"Excuse you, my kinks are everybody's business," Reggie jokes, trying not to look too into the view as Alex offers her critiques. "So it's about quality, not quantity, huh? Milk 'em for all they're worth?"

"Capitalism, baby," says Alex, reaching for her drink again. "The key is to draw it out so they don't feel like they're being hustled while doing as little work as reasonably possible. Looking like you're into it but conserving energy."

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