Written Wonderland

Juniper was grateful that the conversation was starting off in familiar territory.

"To be honest, I was grateful to get away from Chicago. For a big city, it has too much of a small-town social scene, in my opinion. The culture here is electric, full of life, and contagious, which, as it turns out, has been good for business." Juniper felt some of his anxiety melt away as if providing that minor critique had somehow soothed his nerves, and he couldn't help but go on. "Chicago could certainly learn a thing or two from New York. And yourself? Been in town long?" 

Peter nodded along with some of what Juniper said, hinting that perhaps he might have his own thoughts about Chicago as well, which presumably weren't far from Juniper's own sentiments.

"Pretty fresh this time around," he replied lightly to Juniper's inquiry, "I come and go a lot-- recently returned from tour with A Night Out. I like getting to see so many places, but coming home to New York always feels damn good. I'm sure this guy's warm welcomes don't hurt." Peter playfully gave Serio a pat on the back, to which the darker-haired man gave a soft shrug and an only slightly cocky smile.

"Glad to hear business is going well for you," the red-head pressed on, enjoying the smalltalk and knowing that Serio would yield it to him for the most part, but before he got out a follow-up question, the bartender was setting down his and Serio's drinks. Which meant, the time for smalltalk was just about to a close.

Peter went ahead and took a sip of his drink, and raised it in appreciation to the bartender.

"Thanks again, friend!" he said cheerfully to the tall stoic man, who spared an amused smile to Peter in return. Serio nodded to the bartender as well before picking up his drink, sliding out of the barstool, and gesturing lightly towards the stairs to the balcony as he regarded Juniper with another calm stoic smile.

"Shall we?"

((OOC: A Night Out is a musical from the 1920s that I just now learned about by randomly googling and lightly skimming the wikipedia article lol. If Juniper would know stuff and things about musicals I can elaborate on, y'know, what he could reasonably glean about Peter having been on tour with that musical, but figured by default I'd just let it stand on its own as a random tidbit.))

Juniper's stomach did an abrupt flip-flop, adding the many that had already occurred tonight. He tried to remind himself that he was in good company, but he still wasn't convinced. All the same, his curiosity, business sense, and--oh, all right, yes--some personal interest was all getting the better of him. 

"After you," Juniper said with what felt like a warmly authentic smile. He found himself rethinking the decision not to get another drink. Couldn't be helped now. 

Peter lightly pushed himself away from the bar to strut over next to Serio, but this time yielded for his dark-haired friend to lead the way, which Serio did with grace.

The balcony was much more dimly lit, and just a bit quieter, mostly thanks to the folks who had chosen to hang out up here preferring softer talking voices. The music still echoed up from the stage crystal-clear, but a bit quieter than when one was down in the thick of it.

Serio guided Peter and Juniper over to a small table along the side, one which wasn't directly next to anyone else, but also not going all the way to a far corner. They did want privacy for this conversation, but Serio saw no reason to broadcast that too loudly.

"So," Peter started in the instant they were all seated, excitement dripping from his voice, but his volume kept well in check, "Serio tells me you might be interested in a soiree."

"Interested in hearing about one," Serio cut in, his tone perfectly calm, but clearly wanting the record set straight about what he did or did not in fact say to Peter. Peter playfully rolled his eyes, finding Serio's pedantry about that sort of thing amusing more than anything else.

"Juniper and I were talking earlier," the darker-haired man continued, deciding he wanted to lay down a bit more scaffolding for this conversation before he let Peter and Juniper have at it, "about how little intimacy the available clubs in town offer, and how boring that's getting. I've mentioned to you before, Peter, that even the Mimosa Bloom is so... suffocatingly standard--" Peter nodded almost solemnly in agreement while Serio continued "--and that got me thinking about the soirees that we do, because they're... the closest thing, to the thing I want more of. The main issue I see is that we can do them because everyone basically knows each other, or is heavily vouched for, but that's not scalable in the way that I'd like."

"Mm." Peter nodded, mostly just as an absent-minded indication that he was listening and processing.

"In any case," Serio shrugged lightly, flicking his eyes briefly to Juniper as a sign that his addressing Peter specifically was coming to a close. "I thought it'd be more helpful to bring in another perspective on the soirees, rather than me just talking about what I hope they are for attendees."

"Mm. I think I understand," Peter nodded again, and turned up a smile to Juniper. "Well, I'm happy to answer any questions you have. Other than, I guess, the other guests that tend to show up at these things. My reputation's not quite as in danger as most other folks'."

Serio raised his eyebrow slightly as he took stock of Juniper's expression, trying to gage whether the scaffolding he'd laid out for the conversation would be sufficient to move forward, or if there was still more work to be done there.

"I am looking for investment opportunities," Juniper said, hoping that staying safely on the business aspect of this would protect his reputation, as it were, "and Serio made it sound like you've been to several of these soirees. What exactly goes on there?" 

Juniper was starting to feel as though he had fallen into some elaborate rabbit hole, but the flip-flops happening in his stomach were altogether too much for him to ignore. He was certainly hooked now, though the compulsion to flee still radiated in his chest.  

"Mmm, all sorts of things," Peter said in a lower voice as he leaned forward, his chin resting in the palm of his hand and his pinky just ever so slightly brushing against his lower lip.

It seemed entirely possible that Serio did something-or-other under the table to Peter, as the red-head leaned back again, sparing just a brief eyeroll at his friend before continuing on with a lighter expression. Serio played like he didn't notice, and just calmly took a sip of his drink.

"Honestly though," Peter continued, his tone back to normal, "Sometimes we just end up chatting and catching up. It's freeing knowing we can share details of our lives with folks there that wouldn't be particularly appropriate in most company. But, when we're feeling less sappy..."

Peter trailed off a bit, sparing a brief glance to Serio as if to check in. Serio didn't particularly respond, which presumably in itself gave Peter what he was looking for.

"I'm mostly in it for rope play," Peter said, his tone dipping just a bit again as he returned his eyes to Juniper, and definitely paid close attention to the man's expression. "There's a few people who frequently attend who share that interest, and it's a way we can meet up without the appearances of making private calls to each other's residences. Other folks have their own proclivities they show up for; everything's on the table as long as it's reasonably safe and consensual. A few folks have only ever showed up to watch, but they do keep showing up."

Peter paused there, figuring that was probably enough to throw at Juniper for a first pass. He even briefly worried it might've been too much, but Serio hadn't swooped in to stop him, so... no skin off his shoulder, he supposed. He certainly wanted to help Serio out with whatever the guy was aiming for, but in the end, Peter was just here to answer questions and have a good time. Worst-case Juniper got freaked out and left, but Peter didn't feel too worried about the guy deciding to go try to drag an actor through the mud over it. Serio might be in more danger regarding that, but as far as Peter was concerned, his friend had put himself there, and far be it from him to decide what risks Serio should or shouldn't take.

Serio for his part calmly swirled his drink around a bit, giving his eyes something to look at. He was certainly able to see Juniper's expression in his periphery, though, and it was a reasonable guess that that was where his focus actually lay, even if he was being expertly coy about it. He knew Peter wasn't getting at the precise thing that he and Juniper had discussed earlier, but he figured that was just as well; he wanted this to come across as Peter's honest account, without too much coaching.

Juniper's face fell slightly listening to Peter's description of the events. It wasn't really what he had expected. But, he tried to remind himself, he did say pretty much everything was on the table. Still, he worried this wasn't so much his crowd. He really wasn't sure what it was he had gotten himself into. He tried not to let any of his reactions to the information show up on his face, but his stoicism may have given him away regardless.

"And how do you find people to invite?" Juniper said, attempting not to suggest he was asking for an invitation.

"Very carefully," Serio answered, deciding this was more his wheelhouse than Peter's. Peter didn't seem to object.

"Right now it's probably about... 40 folks, on the outside? Several of whom come and go like Peter here. We've kept it a pretty small operation to ensure everyone's safety. The heuristic we've set up which has worked pretty well is that three folks who've already been to three parties have to vouch for someone, so that if one person wants to bring someone new, they have to find two other folks who'll also say to me, 'yeah, this person should get an invite.' So it's a bit of a process. I feel it remains necessary, though, given the risky nature of many of the activities we do, not just socially but also physically and emotionally. That's the other balance I'm trying to find - how to walk the line between dangerous enough to be interesting, but not so dangerous as I'd feel irresponsible allowing strangers in."

Peter blinked curiously between Juniper and Serio, starting to draw some conclusions from a few things that they'd each said.

"You'd have to have layers, to some extent." He offered, "Like, obviously, the very front layer would have to be palatable to folks just walking down the street, just like any joint right now. A layer or so under that could be, like, spaces where folks could at least talk about things that happened in layers further-down. Mimosa Bloom does a bit of that, you'd just have to add a few more, maybe."

"Mm, that's one possibility," Serio replied, but he wasn't sure Peter was taking them down quite the right path here, noble though his intentions may be. "I've also been chewing on limiting the scope to activities that aren't physically dangerous. Among other things, I know some of the soiree attendees are mostly there for same-sex connections, and I've reason to believe there's a market there."

"Mmm," Peter nodded, "For sure." But then, playfully stuck out his tongue. "Not my speed if rope's a no-go, though."

Serio turned up an amused smirk.

"Yeah, I'm not worried about you having a place to be yourself, Peter. You've got plenty."

"Ha!" the red-head shrugged somewhat melodramatically, "Fair enough."

Juniper was grateful the two men were primarily engaged with each other as he would not have known what to offer the conversation.

This is fine, right? he thought as he pushed the awestruck parts of his brain aside. He collected himself, though, keeping a fairly neutral facial expression. 

"I actually appreciate Peter's layered idea," he said, cutting in. He took a breath. "Giving the participants invitations deeper and deeper in as they become regulars could give us both the privacy and the scalability we would want for something like this," he finished but suddenly realizing Peter might quickly reason out that Juniper was part of the market Serio had mentioned. He didn't imagine an actor would have much cause to out him, though. The business side of him recognized he was going to have to vulnerable if this was going to be viable. Plus, it would be his word against Juniper's, so that wasn't going to get far. 

There was also the discretion in Serio's vouching process to think about. If Serio understood the need for secrecy from their other angle...

Yes, it was crazy, but Juniper felt eager to see where this could go. He hadn't been this excited about a business proposition in... well, ever. No stuffy old men here. And Serio had a good reputation for his business sense. 

Serio hid a smile behind his glass as he took a sip of his drink. He'd absolutely taken note of Juniper using 'we'; that seemed like an immensely good sign.

If Peter took any special note of the pronoun, he didn't show it.

"Right?" the red-head nodded, somewhat excited to be agreed with. "Besides, it sounds fun to be invited into, like, a club within a club, dunnit? Descending into the depths~" Peter leaned back and took a sip of his drink, looking pretty pleased. "Maybe I'd come check out the place after all."

"Don't expect an invite into the depths just on account of our friendship," Serio spoke up playfully. Peter gave him a sly grin in return.

"You kidding? That'd ruin the fun, anyway."