19741/Try the Linguine

Try the Linguine
Date of Scene:	24 December 2024
Location:	Harry's Hideaway (Bar)
Synopsis:	Alison traps Henry in her media appearance
Cast of Characters:	Alison Blaire, Henry McCoy

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Alison Blaire has posed:
Alison Blaire texts Henry almost immediately upon sitting down in the ole Harry's Bar, a small place that is cramped with Dazzler fans who want her to try the new linguine.

"I knew our new linguine would bring in the celebs. I just knew it! Okay okay, you sit. Just relax. I'll bring you some linguine," the waiter says. He starts to hurry off and she adds:

"And bring some for my friend!" Alison says.

Alison is sitting at a table strategically placed smack dab in the middle of the bar. She says hello to someone who comes up to shake her hand and she smiles politely at someone else. He texts Henry again and send send sends.
"Hey you guys, Dazzler wants the new linguine dish! Yeah pronto!" the waiter yells obnoxiously in back.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank was wondering why Harry's was seemingly so packed this close to the holidays. But once he opened the door the reason became clear. He was smacked in the face with the smell of cheese and pasta, followed quickly by a press of bodies. All of this on top of the usual alcohol, polished wood, and other normal bar smells.

"Oh my stars and garters." he said to himself as he tried to make his way into Harry's proper to get a table where he could get a drink, something unhealthy to eat, and to soak up being out and among people that didn't work for him and/or were members of an elite mutant strikeforce.

But then his phone played a few notes from one of Alison's more obscure tracks from Back In The Day, which caused him to raise an eyebrow curiously. He wasn't normally one for getting texts from Alison. Mostly his texts were from Kate and work-related or from his mother berating him for not calling more often.

Alison Blaire has posed:
The waiter quickly returns to Alison's table with a glass of wine, "Here you are. I will tell the front to look out for your friend. We have two linguines coming up. I will get him extra wine. No problem! What is your friend's name?

"His name is Henry. He's...blue," Alison explains helpfully. She looks a bit uncomfortable as she takes her glass of wine and buries herself in her phone:

"HANK! WTF! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD! COME TO HARRYS" she says in all caps. She has a long sip of wine and the waiter fills it up again obnoxiously.

Henry McCoy has posed:
When one was seeking out an Alison, one simply had to go to the place where the most people were crowding into a small space. Odds were good that that's where she'd be. "Excuse me." he said politely as he worked his way though the crowd, the image inducer taking something of a beating trying to maintain a congruent image despite all the physical contact he was enduring.

"Ms. Blaire." he said, the image inducer holding on (barely) and still presenting the image of his pre-experimentation human form. "May I join you?" he asked politely.

Alison Blaire has posed:
Alison Blaire shakes her head, "Oh my gawd, Mistah McCoy..." she mutters, "I uhh...told them you were blue," she explains. She motions to the seat at the table repeatedly, "Yes please, please sit. They're already bringing the dinner. I actually...didn't know it was linguine night."

"Oh! Hey Hey! Another of Dazzler's friends! We got linguine, sir! Brand new! You'll love it!" the waiter shouts from the other side of the room.

"Try the linguine," Alison mutters embarrasedly.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank stifled a laugh. "Well, that's dinner and company sorted for the evening." he said. Then he turned to Alison more directly. "I ... thought you were still on tour." he admitted. "Or if I'd known you were in town I would have called."

This version of the image inducer, dammit, was very good at replicating changes in physiology. Which included his cheeks heating in embarrassment.

Alison Blaire has posed:
Alison Blaire mutters, "Media tour. Not really what I meant, sorry," she explains, which is another thing that's embarrassed her, "Yeah so that means I go around and shake hands, say 'hello there, buy my album, get ready for the next one' and crap like that. Sorry, I was sorta feeling like the Mona Lisa on display and I remembered you were downtown."

Alison motions to the wine the waiter brought, "At least we get wine," she adds.

Alison finally takes a moment to adds, "You look...nice. I forgot you used that camera thingamabob," she comments.

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Sometimes my tolerances for being a visible mutant is larger than others. This close to Christmas I thought it wise to not risk setting off a disturbance by wearing my normal face." he said. still embarrassed.

"You look good." he told her, giving her a quick once-over with his eyes. "Always did love touring, less-so the media blitz parts, but overall I'd say stardom agrees with you." he said with an easy smile.

Oh, look. Wine! Hank grabbed his glass and took a healthy swallow of the beverage and just managed to force it down before spraying it all over Alison. "Interesting vintage." he said with a look on his face.

Alison Blaire has posed:
"Oh THANK you sir!" the waiter says, butting in on the conversation, as he was listening in. He fills up Henry's glass of wine with some more from the bottle, "It's Cher De Tour," he explains. He nods his head.

"Lineguines coming right up!" he lets out as he walks to the kitchen, this time out of sight.

"Sorry about this," Alison says after taking another swig of her wine, "My next album is totally back to basics. No high-falutent UK busybodies, no upper class editors and writers, just me in the basement like I used to do it."

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Well, at the risk of turning the pop-star into an offended diva, I personally preferred your earlier work." he said modestly. "Got rips on the lab jukebox." he confessed. "Had to bump Lila to make room for it, but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make." he said with a wink, then he leaned in close so he could pitch his voice much lower to keep his words more private. "Did that make that wine in a prison toilet?" he asked. "It's awful."

Alison Blaire has posed:
"Yeah so they're trying something new. I remember when this place used to have booze and we could sit at the bar," Alison explains disappointedly, "And you know what--" she begins but eyes the waiter as he slides up to the table.

"Hey HEY!" the waiter says, plopping two plates of Linguine down in front of Alison and Henry, "We got some linguine. Enjoy. Do you need anything else?"

"Yeah, we need two vodkas with some booze in it. And a lime," Alison says, nodding to the waiter as if that's a priority.

"Right away! No problem!" the waiter says and darts off.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Oh no. Shots. Someone was looking for that one-way trip to the intersection of Inappropriate and Mischievous. Welp, this brought back memories. Most of them extremely pleasant, some of them covered by chemical oblivion. Hank took up his fork and a pasta spoon in preparation to do battle with the gigantic pile of carbs he'd just been presented with. At least there was vodka incoming.

Alison Blaire has posed:
Alison quietly eats some of her pasta and then says "Yeah so we're making an announcement at the New Years concert," Alison explains after she forks some of her pasta. She then points at Henry, "But I didn't say anything to you about it, Right?" she grins. The waiter brings the vodka drinks and Alison immediately takes one and smiles at Henry, "Cheers!" she says and drinks it.

"Hey check it out," Alison begins, "You wanna go sit at the bar like we used to with Tabs and Monet and Sam? Come on!" she asks him. Maybe the affectionate nostalgia in her head is made up or maybe she vaguely remembers a bar with good times where she didn't have to follow a schedule and be in a media spotlight. She grabs her plate and carries it off to the bar without waiting for his comment.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank sighed, but he smiled when he did it, grabbed his place, and stood to follow her. The toilet wine got left behind, but the vodka? That he tossed back in a single swallow before joining her at he bar. This was going to be interesting, no matter where it ultimately wound up. "Believe it or not, Harry's generally speaking has no problems with patrons sitting at the bar. Pop starlets with large entourages, maybe less-so."

Alison Blaire has posed:
Alison Blaire chuckles at Henry, "Okay, look like my entourage," she tells him, as if it was a little joke. She plops her linguine down at the bar and sits on the stool. She motions to the bartender and tells him to bring two more vodka with some booze in it, apparently liking that joke too.

"Yeah so hopefully this media thing about the shooting has died down by the time the New Year comes around," Alison explains.

Henry McCoy has posed:
"I've been a little head-down in my lab." he confessed. "Working on a refinement and fabrication job for a student. Someone took a shot at you?" he asked, no realzing that his voice had dropped into a decidedly more Wolverine-esque register at the end. "Are you OK? Did you get shot?" he asked.

Alison Blaire has posed:
Alison Blaire shakes her head, "No, my security manager did. In the arm. Backstage in some sort of chaos. He's okay, don't worry," she explains, "I thought it was these weirdos working there but now I don't know," she explains.

"But you're gonna take the week off right? Vay cay!" Alison lets out. The bartender brings them two more vodkas and she lifts it in another toast to Henry.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank took a moment to get himself under control - all that useless adrenaline was not going to help anything. "I hope your man recovers quickly and well." he said, in a more normal Hank tone. He sighed again, also remembering these old arguments from Back In The Day (tm). "Between Xmas and New Years I will endeavor to stay out of the lab for anything sort of an emergency."

Oh, look, more shots! Hank reached over to clang his down in a single swallow.

Alison Blaire has posed:
Alison Blaire drinks hers down too, and squints at Henry because of the strength of the vodka, "Yep, a couple days would be golden," she explains.

The waiter butts in to their conversation and grins, "Hey HEY! Linguine was good right? Can I get a selfie? Oh I see you had a refill," the waiter notes as he puts down another vodka for Alison and Henry. He then looks at Henry, "Thank you for coming sir!"

"Sure sure, no problem," Alison says and shakes hands, takes pics and finally the man is off.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank made sure to stay well out of the range of Ali's fan-selfies. They wanted pictures with her, not him, and he was not interested in that life. But there was passale linguine and vodka and Hank busied himself with both while Alison dealt with her questionably-adoring fanbase. He even managed to sit on his irritation at he one fan who seemed to be constitutionally incapable of raising his gaze to Ali's face.

Ali always liked being appreciated but it still got up his nose even now.

Alison Blaire has posed:
"Thanks thanks, yeah you guys are great," Alison says to the bartender. She then drinks down her latest vodka and plops it down on the bar, "Okay cool, mission accomplished. I know you're uncomfortable so let's slide out of here," she explains. "Sorry abou that," she adds.

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Not at all necessary. We don't need to depart on my account." he said. "Harry has plenty of vodka and carbs to buffer our bodies against being slowly poisoned." he pointed out helpfully. Any other reason she may or may not have had he was remaining cheerfully oblivious to.

Alison Blaire has posed:
Alison Blaire points at Henry, "Okay, I tried to warn you! Get ready for more selfies!" she explains cheekily and chuckles. She motions to the bartender to get a refill for Henry and looks around for the waiter, "At least the waiter took off," she comments amusedly.