4972/Old World, Old Money

Old World, Old Money
Date of Scene:	21 July 2018
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	M, Lara Croft

---

M has posed:
Elaine's is definitely one of the more exclusive clubs around New York. It's the sort of place that doesn't advertise, doesn't recruit. It doesn't even hang a placard out front, and one has to go in through the building entrance, past security, and into an elevator with an actual bellhop.

But once in the club, it's the sort of luxury that only Wealth-- with a capital 'w'-- can buy. Deep red velvet, gold trim, old mahogany. It drips with ostentatious wealth and old privilege.

Monet st. Croix is amonged those privileged few, and sits at the bar in a tan skirt just a hair lighter than her dusky flesh. It wraps around her hips and is worn stylishly high, with a silk blouse tucked into it. Heels, a touch of makeup, some very expensive jewelery, all mark Monet as one of the elite. She seems to be waiting for someone, as well-- the sort of social obligations that come from being Old Money and from the Old World in America. The St. Croixs and the Crofts had done business together in the past, and somewhere in the dim antiquity of youth, Laura and Monet had met at some event. So, naturally, it was only polite to renew some of those alliances.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara hadn't touched a single dime of her parent's wealth since they'd both passed away. She'd entirely distanced herself from it in fact, and hadn't even returned to her family home until earlier this year when she got stuck in a ownership feud with her extended family over the property that Croft Manor rests upon back in Surrey, England. Her own money was coming from the jobs that she manages to acquire for herself. Before college, it was bike messenger and after that, she worked as a bartender for a little while. Post college... she's a bonafied explorer now, and after Yamatai? She was brought in to work for SHIELD, specifically in their WAND division, which deals with the darker side of life's mysteries, mainly in the occult.

But now that she's settled that family feud over the rights to her family's manor, Lara knows that she needs to up her game at least some when it comes to her family's name and its reputation, so when the invite came to meet here, she'd accepted it.

Arriving, Lara is dressed in a simple dark steel blue dress and her hair is tied back in a bun on the back of her head. Since its summer, the dress is sleelvess and ends at the knees, with simple shoes on her feet. She strides through the club, directed where to go by one of its employees and she arrives at the bar next to Monet. "Miss St. Croixs?" Lara asks as she arrives, a smile showing and her right hand extending to the other.

M has posed:
Monet rises smoothly to her feet and flashes a smile at Lara. She's definitely no wilting socialite, either, unapologtically tall and with an athleticism that her relatively modest attire cannot fully conceal. "Lady Croft," she says with a heavy French accent. "It is so good to see you." She squeezes Lara's hand and leans in for an air-kiss near Lara's cheek, European style, and seats herself. "I am having a drink, would you care to join me?" she inquires. She looks to the bartender. "Gin, please, with a splash of lillet," she tells the fellow.

The tall Monagasque beauty swivels to face Lara. "I was surprised to find out you were living in New York," she tells Lara. "Congratulations on the move, oui?" she inquires. "I was so sorry to hear about your parents, they were very well-regarded people," she says, tilting her head forward sorrowfully. She doesn't touch Lara, of course, because aristocrats never need physical reassurance. "And now you are... an adventurer? Travelling the world, exploring exotic ruins?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara returns the polite air-kiss gesture with a graceful precision, even if on the inside she wonders if she did it right because she was always a rebel when it came to the aristocratic training placed upon her in her youth. The British woman slips into the chair beside Monet's and places her hands down onto th edge of the bar, while she listens to the other place her order. Lara asks for a simple white wine, nothing overly fancy.

At the part about living in New York, Lara smiles and gently nods her head. "I was surprised to buy a home here. Then... rent it out to others, now be back in my father's company building here in Manhattan, shopping for another home." She shows a faint grin before she shakes her head lightly. "Thank you." She quietly says about her parents, but doesn't say much more as its just too much for her to emotionally deal with even all these years later. When her drink arrives, is when Monet asks that last question and she looks back to the younger woman to smile more openly. "Of sorts, yes." She says. "Following in my father's footsteps... though perhaps more accurately a bit off to the side of his. Technically I'm an Agent of SHIELD, though really I just work for them to find and collect the items that they deem most needed to be out of the hands of those who might use them for ill purposes." Lara nods her head gently a pair of times. "Its... intriguing work." She sips her drink and then looks back to Monet.

"What about yourself?" She asks the other. "I'm afraid I haven't been caught up on your recent achievements and accolades." A little grin is shown then.

M has posed:
Monet doesn't express a sign of irritaiton, but something does flash around the corner of her exotic eyes. "I... well, things are somewhat complicated. I was sick for some time, and then my brother and mother passed away. It's been... a somewhat complicated few years. But now I'm facing that terrible burden of being ze most senior of the siblings. On the one hand, I'm no longer being pepperd with suggestions to be married off," she says, with a soft laugh and a flick of her hair behind her shoulder. "But I'm quite done with the Academies and it's been strongly suggested I start looking at colleges. Harvard, or Yale, I suppose-- I declined Oxford. I didn't want to spend time in stuffy, damp England," she remarks.

"I still need to make up my mind. It's not quite as exciting as being a ... 'tomb raider'?" she says, lips quirking into a grin. Seems she's read the tabloids on Lara's escapades. "Who knew archaeology was so exciting, oui?"

There's a prickling sort of frission at the back of Lara's head-- or behind her eyeballs. It's a peculiar sensation, one that doesn't have an immediately visible source.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara sips her drink while she listens to the younger one speak and then she smiles brightly at the 'tomb raider' part, which makes her look away and shake her head side to side. "I assure you, the average archaeologist spends their time in work that the vast majority of the world would consider to be 'boring'. And to be entirely truthful, I had expected my life to go down that very road... and I was completely content with that. To me, it was exhilerating to study and learn from the past, to unearth it and feel its presence for the first time in thousands of years." Lara pauses then. "But, life chose a different direction for me." She released a light exhale then and turned to look to the younger one.

"I don't blame you for avoiding England, there's a reason I haven't gone back and its partly due to that same sentiment. But there are many wonderful colleges in and around this area, if you enjoy it here. Which overall, I'd say that I have enjoyed it, aside from all the random chaos from there being so many super powered individuals localized in this area. It wasn't like that back home, I'll afford England that much at least."

Lara doesn't seem to pay any mind or show any physical signs to reacting to that prickling sensation, she may just write it off to be a little uncomfortable in this very upper society location.

M has posed:
"No, it wasn't much different for me in Monaco," Monet agrees. "Perhaps... a dozen? Maybe?" she says, diffidently. "Here, hundreds, and remarkable ones everywhere I go. And many more that are unremarkable in their own way, but still quite a bit more than 'average'," she says. There's a little pride in her voice as she speaks of that group.

"So, as you 'ave been living here for a little while now, tell me what you think of the schools here," she tells Lara. "I would prefer to remain near New York-- I'm quite fond of Chelsea and the Island of Manhattan-- so I should find a program suited for me. Business, I suppose, as I expect I should be taking over my family shipping concerns in a few years. I think my father always wanted my brother to--" she pauses, a little wall coming down behind her eyes. "Wanted my brother to take it over, but with him passed, I suppose ze burden falls to me." She sighs. "I often resented Marius being given that opportunity, his life laid out for him with an easy path. But now I am on that path, and... I am a little loathing it, I admit. I cannot say quite for sure why." Her gin arrives and she takes a rather large gulp of it, eyes flickering to the drink in her hand. Despite her effortless cultured manner, Monet /is/ several years younger than Lara, and it shows for a moment in uncertain vulnerability.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara remains posture-perfect in her chair to the right of Monet, she looks to her left as she listens and sometimes forward to the mirror behind the bar as well. "Berkley is a fine school, if I were to recommend one in the Manhattan area, it would likely be that one. I've met many of its faculty at the Natural History Museum here, they're all very wonderful people." The bit about super heroes and the unremarkable ones gets a soft smirk from Lara, she knows precisely what the other woman means by that.

"I would have to say that that is an element of life I have no experience in... that of having siblings." Lara looks to Monet and exhales softly. "My parents felt one was enough, I suppose. Though perhaps things may have been different, if they were still around. Who knows, yes?" Lara watches Monet take a sip from that gin, she isn't quite sure how old the younger one is, but she assumes she's 21!

"I will say though, that you need to look inside yourself and choose a path that -you- want to walk down, irregardless of expectations from others. Its your life to live, Monet." And Lara says her name with a perfect French accent to make the name sound proper and true to its roots.

M has posed:
"Oui... and non," Monet says, smiling gratefully at the careful pronounciation-- and the reassurances. "Nobless oblige, as the English say, no?" she says, one immaculate brow hiking a bit. "I owe it not just to my parents, but to our employeees. The businesses that rely on us and the industries we support. I have no doubt that our shipping corporations and other holdings could be managed perfectly adequately by the board of trustees, but-- I am a St. Croix. I am the heir to the family name and titles. It has historically ended poorly for the nobility when we wander off in search of personal indulgences instead of attending our duties, no matter how banal or prosaic."

She sips more gin, allowing her lower back to rest against the stoolback she's sitting on. It'd be unladylike to slouch on the bar. "I am considering, also, sociology. Education in economics and anthropology. The mutant community... they seem imperild here, even in America. And the Yankees see themselves as guardians of human rights. In the Balkans, it must be so much worse. Perhaps there is some good to be done for them, oui?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's glass is about half finished when she glances over to the other when she mentions mutants and their struggle. A little smile drifts across her lips before she shakes her head. "It is the American-way isn't it? To charge across the world, spreading 'freedom' and 'justice'." She lets her smile morph into a sly grin before she then changes subjects. "You know... along those lines, I taught a semester at Charles Xavier's school in Westchester. Just a short drive north of here. It is primarily a school for mutants and to help them better adjust to a life with those radically different mutations of theirs. I believe they have college courses now as well, and to my understanding they'll accept anyone, even non-mutants because they believe it fosters a healthier society for people to socialize together, educate together." Lara has no idea if the person she's speaking to is amongst the mutant community or not, its generally quite rude to ask such a thing after all.

M has posed:
"Quite the chastisement, coming from a Briton," Monet says-- but there's a little grin to go along with the wicked glimmer in her eyes. She laughs, though, and touches Lara's forearm with a gentle apology.

"I... had heard rumors about Westchester," Monet says, furrowing her brow. "But it strikes me that such a place-- if they were really intent on aiding mutants, would be much more prominent, oui? It seems so well guarded, this 'mysterious school' somewhere near New York. You are the first to tell me quite where it is at, which makes me wonder whyfore all the secrecy. It's peculiar, non?"

Lara Croft has posed:
When Monet reaches out to touch Lara's arm, she might note that on the back of Lara's hand is a series of bruised and battered kunckles that look as though she'd punched something or someone within the past week. She smiles softly at the gesture though and the comments that came ahead of it, but didn't comment on that. The British people certainly have their own history around the world...

The subject of Xavier's seems to intrigue her though and she nods softly at the other's words. "And a surface level, you're right that does seem a bit odd. But if I were to say that after my experience there over the course of several months, the perceived secrecy is merely a measure to keep their school as peaceful as possible. I never got any ill-feelings while I was an active faculty member, even if there were a few odd faces around the campus..." Wolverine in particular. "It still felt like it was a place meant for children who want to live and feel safe, to have that."

Lara's glass comes up to her lips again for another sip and then she shakes her head. "Maybe I got it all wrong though. Maybe they're training future terrorists in a bunker out in the woods beside the lake somewhere." She grins softly. "But lets hope not."

M has posed:
"It seems a little unlikely," Monet agrees, with an easy chuckle. "Such attention would be bad for the community at large." She frets her lower lip, eyes sliding away, and rolls a fingernail around the edge of her martini glass in thought.

"I'll... look into them, then," she tells Lara. "Provisionally. I do not know how I'll feel about such a place. Years of boarding school were bad enough, and it seems I'm a little old to be going back to a private academy," she says, primly. "And the Americans, they do boarding schools so poorly. At least in Europe you know you're among social peers. The Yankees barely bother at all. All the industrial barons from the Baltic states and Russia started sending their children to the montessoris and academies in Europe. Terrible," she huffs. "Billionaires with no sense of... of ... /decorum/. And no pedigree to speak of-- merely the noveau riche buying their way into polite society."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara has to smile lightly at the other's words while she glances down to the bar's top and to the various things resting atop it. "I believe the society that you're hoping to find is one that is slowly being bled out of this world." She responds before looking over to Monet again. "And the easy target would be that of the interent, its combining everyone together into one singular people rather than how it was before it, where the different 'classes' were self segmented away from one another." Lara's bare shoulders lightly shrug then before she sips the wine once more.

"Then again, I'm not a sociologist." She states with a hint of a grin. "So I'm likely way... way off base." With a light exhale then, Lara continues. "You're right about American boarding schools, by and large, but this one might surprise you. Nevertheless though, I think you're better off finding a college here in Manhattan overall. It seems as though it would serve your needs a bit better than Westchester County would. Even if it is one of the wealthiest counties in America. It has a bit of a... small town feeling to it."

M has posed:
"Perhaps college," Monet agrees, nodding. "But I will at least look into Westchester," she promises Lara. "Even if it turns out not to be a good fit, it will be worth a trip to see the countryside-- however briefly. This pastoral setting, it is good for the soul. It reminds me of the southern coast, in summer-- perhaps even Naples. But," she concedes, "it is hardly the Mediterranean. Only the Gulf seems to share those blue waters, and ... I cannot imagine who would live in /Florida/."

She laughs again, an easy sound, and finishes her drink. "Regrettably, I do need to be off-- I have a fitting at Bergdorff's, and that always ends up with me getting trapped in ze Louboutain store for a few hours trying to find matching shoes. Exhausting, no?" She gets to her feet and offers both hands to Lara for a squeeze and another airkiss to the cheek. "It is so good to see you, Lara. Let's get together soon, for dinner or drinks, oui?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara releases a light bit of laughter at the bit about Florida too... she hadn't gone to that state in the Union as of yet, but it often seems to be a butt of jokes even to those from this country." With a slight shake of her head she acknowledges the other part spoken of Westchester. "Definitely go in the fall when the trees begin to change to autumn hues. You'll really be blown away by the color palette of it all as I was last yer when I first got up north during the start of that season."

When Monet rises and offers her hands and the airkiss, Lara does the same and then grins at the other words about the shopping. "I understand completely. Contact me any time and let me know have any and all updates as to whats going on and what decisions you do make, I'm eager to know how it all pans out." She shows another more wicked grin. "There's always room for more archaeologists as well."