7370/Birthday at Sister Margarets

Birthday at Sister Margarets
Date of Scene:	14 August 2021
Location:	Sister Margaret's School for Wayward Girls
Synopsis:	April joins Vanessa for a night of drinking on Vanessa's birthday
Cast of Characters:	Vanessa Carlysle, April O'Neil

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Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
The text message from Vanessa had been short and sweet: I survived another year. 27, who would have thought? Going out drinking tonight. Sister Margaret's on 15th down the street from the movie theater. Come join me!

And on that evening, Vanessa can indeed be found in Sister Margaret's School for Wayward Girls, a little known bar that tends to cater to the rougher sort. Mercenaries in particular, though plenty of rougher street sorts do business there, and it's the kind of place a working girl like Vanessa can often find work, so no surprise that she knows it.

Tonight she's wearing a black skirt with thigh highs, and a black v-neck blouse with slashes of deep blue and silver. She's seated on a stool with a drink in hand, talking to a rather large biker with grey in his moustache. The man tells her, "So we caught up to the guy at the next rest stop. Claimed he didn't see us when he threw his drink out his window."

Vanessa gets a wry smile. "I imagine you didn't believe him?"

"Not after the rolling eyed look he'd given us," the biker tells her. "But we went easy on him. We removed his tires and sent them rolling down the hill."

"Where was this?" Vanessa asks.

The biker gives a shrug of his shoulders. "Blue Ridge Mountains. Tires are probably still rolling," he says with a laugh.

April O'Neil has posed:
There is some commotion at the front door when its opened for April O'Neil. She was identified outside by some of the men near their motorcycles as she was chaining up her yellow and black mountain bike beside them. No few snide remarks were spared, about her bike, and about the rest of her too. They were nice enough to open the door for her though and when she strides inside she makes a few ornery comments back at the men outside before she looks around the rough bar scene....

April pushes her loose hair back over her shoulders, wearing a dark blue tank top over some blue jeans with a yellow hoodie tied around her waist. She draws some eyes as she walks in, but her eyes are on Vanessa and her friend.

She ends up walking toward them and waving on her approach.... "Happy birthdaaaaay." April says as she comes in to hug her friend good and tight in front of all the bar goers who care to watch.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
At the sight of April, Vanessa is up and off her stool faster than a cheesy poof down the gullet of a space dragon. "April!" she says, throwing her arms around her friend and hugging her tightly, while rocking back and forth.

When she lets go enough that April can see Vanessa's face better, it'll be easy to spot the permagrin and relaxed manner that signal Vanessa has indeed started celebrating early. "So glad you made it!" she says, and then goes in for a second hug, with more rockings, before lettin gher go again.

"Drinks, April needs a drink," she says to the weaselly-faced bartender. He comes down, taking off his glasses to clean them and putting them back on before looking at April again. "Hey, welcome to Sister Margaret's," he tells April. "If anyone gives you trouble, just shiv them. Or let me know," he tells her, though he's probably the thinnest guy in the place. "What can I get you?"

April O'Neil has posed:
April returns the duo of hugs and returns the rocking joyousness of it too, because its Vanessa's birthday and she's here to celebrate it with her friend! When they ultimately part again, April's eyes go to the bartender as he greets her too. She offers the thin man a light smile and nods once to him. "Just a bud light is good for a start I think. Unless we're doing shots, now or later?" She grins at Vanessa. A glance is given around the bar. "If shots are safe for us here..." She states with a larger grin shown before she leans toward Vanessa and loud whispers at her. "I think some of those guys outside are wanted criminals!" She says as she accepts her bud light bottle when it arrives. She raises it up to her lips for the first swig and smiles to the bartender again. "Thanks, by the way, I'm April, Vanessa's friend, here to celebrate her 'She made it another Year' milestone."

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa keeps her arm about April's shoulder as she picks up her drink with her other hand. It's a mixed drink of some kind, something mixed with cola possibly from the color. "Shots, oh, there will be shots," Vanessa prophesizes with an inebriated grin.

As Weasel gets April her beer, Vanessa leans towards April to loud whisper back, "Some of the guys inside are wanted criminals too!" Which is when the biker she's talking to lets out a laugh and he says, "Didn't know it was your birthday, Vanessa."

Vanessa's face lights up with that huge grin. "It is!" she says. "April, this is Fat Gandalf," she says of the big biker. His moustache and the grey-white hair do have a little bit of a Gandalf thing going on.

He coughs. "Or, Big Rick as everyone else knows me. That was what she called me when we first met," he says, shifting on his stool as if at an uncomfortable memory. "Weasel, a round of Vodka Surprise for her birthday," he says, sending the bartender to making the trio of shots.

April O'Neil has posed:
April is waggling her eyebrows at the confirmation of shots. "Well, I'm buying tonight, so you're having whatever you want." She nods to the bartender, Weasel. "Make sure that you harrass me for the money tonight, she's not paying on her birthday." She says as she stays right up beside her friend with an arm around her too.

At least until she's introduced to the bearded man. Its then that she takes that hand and offers it to him. "Oh.... well then, a Wizard arrives precisely when he means to." She says with a little nerdy laugh, because no matter what she may look like outwardly, she's a nerd on the inside.

She nods once to Big Rick and is happy to shake his hand. "If you're with us tonight then you're drinking free too." She tells him with that jovial tone she has right now due to being quite happy, and the awkwardness of a new place.

Another swig of her beer is had and she notes the pool tables and some of the other faces lingering around the place.... she is always observing after all.... part of that nosey reporter in her!

April looks back to Van then. "How long have you been here?" She has to ask.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
While the biker is shaking April's hand, Vanessa pulls out her phone to check the time. "Oh, only about two hours," she says. "I don't come in here a lot. It can get kind of exciting. There's usually a fight or two, though not full on bar brawl," she says.

April might spot one or two faces that she might think she recognizes. Mercenaries or even anti-heroes, along with an underworld figure or two sitting off talking business at their tables. Vanessa seems to just be enjoying herself though, as Weasel brings the shots over. "You got it," he tells April of her handling the bar tab, and Vanessa gives her friend a loud kiss on the cheek. "Thank you. You're the best," she says.

She picks up a shot, and waits for April and the biker to get theirs in hand. "To not being sick in the morning. Or, tonight," she says with a laugh and then down the shot.

April O'Neil has posed:
April is taking another drink of her beer when the kiss to her cheek comes which has her spilling a bit of the beer down herself and then laughing softly as it happens. She looks down at herself and sees the beer, well, yeah... she reaches for a bundle of napkins and starts to dab at herself. "Party is definitely starting already." She grins as she dabs.

"If we're avoiding hangovers then we need to have water on standby." She says as she looks at Big Rick. "I bet you'd like this. I interviewed John Claude Van Damne while I was in college, still setting up my Youtube channel." Yep she's one of those! "He said in his heavy partying days he would carry a gallon of water with him at the bar and would chug it every time he'd have a drink. So that's how he kept from being murdered by his own party ways." She grins then before looking back to Vanessa. "Oh, right." She was too busy telling a random story to have seen the shots arrive. Her beer is set down and she grabs one up then sniffs it and downs it after Van makes her toast. When she lowers it she's doing that scrunched-up expression of a young person not too great with liquor! "Wow....! Okay, yeah... Whew..."
"

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa Carlysle, on the other hand, lets out a whoop as she sets the upended shot glass on the bar. Quite used to liquor, and in a mood for drinking! "So glad you made it tonight!" she says with a grin to April.

Leaning back, Vanessa looks up at the wall above the bar, a small section of it that hangs down from the ceiling above where they sit. "They've got this deadpool, betting which of the regular is going to kick the bucket next," Vanessa says. "I only know a couple of people in here, but you have to admit. That's a pretty interesting idea for decor."

Weasel spins a beer bottle in his hand. "Thank you. Know your audience," he says, and then opens the bottle with a bottle opener. Causing the beer to foam out all over. "Crap," he says, fumbling the bottle and dropping it to the sounds of a few people laughing at him.

Vanessa turns her attention back to April to grin at her. "So, Scoops, what've you been up to lately? Any celebrity gossip to share, or got any big pieces you're working on?"

April O'Neil has posed:
April is still shaking her head to get the liquor taste settled in her mouth before she reaches for her beer again and washes it down with that. Her gaze goes back to Vanessa when the question about scoops is asked. She huffs out a laugh. "I uh... broke in to a lab, recently... and let out a bunch of animals that were in cages. Including one that was..." She leans in to whisper again. "Half human." She leans back and winces. "He got away, but I managed to track him down near Lloyd's Junkyard over near Casey's garage?" She nods her head lightly a few times. "I brought him back to my place to set him up in the store show room, but, I think he slipped out a window in the night. He was very feral... I dunno if I'll see him again or not, but yeah, better than being in a lab where they were doing god knows what to him, right?" She huffs out a sigh.

"Harley and I are still trying to track down leads on the Rat guy too, we could sure use your help with that too. You kinda got skills, ya know?" She asks before Big Rick chimes in with a 'Damn right she does.' Which earns a smirk and a elbow bump from April to the big guy's shoulder.

"Not like that. And like that too." She adds that last part with another grin.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Though Vanessa lets out a grin and a laugh at the exchange between April and Fat Gandalf, there's a brief, more serious look given towards April at the mention of her having skills. "Well, you know, people forget what they don't use. And, that applies to me in spades," she says, and gives April a subtle, tiny shake of her head that seems to have more significance on the state of her skills.

Vanessa regards April overtop of her drink. "You always find ways to get in trouble though. But, I'll help if I can. Just, don't expect me to be able to help how I might have once," she says. "So this animal-person, if I hear anything on the street I'll let you know," she offers.

A game at one of the pool tables breaks up, leaving it empty. "Want to grab the table while it's free?" Vanessa suggests.

April O'Neil has posed:
"Can't be too easy for a six foot tall cougar man to blend in, can it?" April mrmurs mers before taking another sip of her beer and looking over her shoulder to the table that was open. "There's blood on it." She says dryly as she turns to start to walk toward it and pauses as a pair of biker-types walk past her who get a smile from the Reporter. She looks back over to Vanessa. "This must be a Channel Six kinda bar." She states. "I think people are recognizing me..."

Her eyes go to the Dead Pool board then as she looks at it more closely once standing near to it. "He must really know his customers if they're okay with ... wait, does that say Bill Cosby?" She asks before a couple patrons start to shout at each other in the corner.

This of course gets April's attention as she turns to watch them with wide-innocent-girl eyes.... this is not her kinda place!

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa Carlysle takes a closer look at the board. "It does," she agrees. "Not sure who R. Reynolds is," she says with a shrug before grabbing her drink and following April over to the table. "Oh, it wipes up easily I'm sure," she says with a slight wince, as Weasel comes over to do that just that.

Vanessa sets her drink down and then goes to grab the rack and starts placing the pool balls into it. "It's kind of a rough place, but also somewhere you can let your hair down. Though -you- my friend will probably get hit on non-stop in here. I mean, not like that doesn't happen everywhere we go," Vanessa sys, giving a grin towards her much-more gorgeous friend.

April O'Neil has posed:
April watches the two settle their argument with one out threatening the other and then the group settles back in to their table. "Yeesh." The reporter mutters before she notes Vanessa passing her by. Confirming whose name was on the board, April glances down at her beer. "I'm suddenly worried about whats in the shots...." She mutters yet more before going to the table with the other.

A big smiiiiiiiiiirk is shown to Vanessa. "Yeah right, like that doesn't happen to you all the time either." She nods past Van's shoulders to the guys watching her friend set up the table. "Just like that." She adds with a nod before she looks to her right at the pool cues. She reaches out for one and looks at it. "There's blood on this too!" She announces before wiping it on her pantleg, her jeans have holes in the knees and on the side of her thighs here and there too, so maybe she doesn't care about htem that much! "I gotta be honest with you. I'm terrible at this game." She admits before sipping her drink and setting it aside again.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Once the balls are all in place, Vanessa gets them in the right spot and removes the rack, sliding into its slot beneath the table. "Not nearly as many as you," Vanessa admits, poking her friend in the side as she passes on her way to garner a cue for herself.

"Nah, the place is kind of rough, but in a way we're probably safer here than we would be in some high end night club," Vanessa says. "While they are rough, they kind of are a community. I think if they saw a guy walking off with a barely conscious girl they'd probably step in," she offers.

Vanessa adds some blue chalk to the tip of her cue. "And pool's great for business, whether you're good at it or not. I mean..." Vanessa says, and then goes to the head of the table, leaning down to line up her shot. It garners a few people checking out her ass as Vanessa casts April a meaningful look, demonstration of what she meant.

April O'Neil has posed:
April just snickers as she stands beside the tall table by the pool table they're at. She feigns injury at the poke when the other walks past her and delivers it, but otherwise she just observes from the table as Van lines up her opening shot. Once its taken she feels her phone beep in he rpocket and she suddenly realizes. "Oh. I got youa present." She tells her before reaching in to her hoodie tied around her waist and she pulls out a receipt. "I didn't wanna bring it here cause well... Look-it." She offers the receipt (with the price markered over) "I waz gonna have Casey come over to help put it in..."

Its a brand new air conditioner for Vanessa's apartment.

"It should have you frozen solid for the rest of the summer." She says with a big grin whilst leaning on her bloodied pool cue..

"And yeah..." She glances around again. "I guess thats a good point about this place... I'll relax more then!"

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa Carlysle moves beside April to check out the phone. "Oh, damn April, you shouldn't have," she says, though Vanessa is obviously overjoyed at the thoughtfulness of the gift. April of all people knows how often Vanessa's air conditioner goes out, given how many times she's come by to crash on unbearably hot summer nights.

That garners April another quick hug. Weasel comes by with two new drinks for them. He stops to watch the hug. "Keep doing that and I can probably swing you a discount on the drinks," he tells them. Drawing a smirking laugh from Vanessa and a movement of her hand as if he should scurry back to the bar.

"How is Casey anyway?" she asks. "And, anyone else knew in your life besides those you pick up from labs?"

April O'Neil has posed:
April returns the hug and is in the process of giving Van's back a soft rub when she hears Weasel's reaction upon bringing them drinks. She openly laughs at him and as she pulls back from her. "Discount? We're going for full free tab here, remember I'm the one who has to pay? I need to step it up then clearly." She grins as she takes the last of her previous beer and then sets it aside to reach for another. "Well, it was a busy day, but that arrived on my door step as I was just getting home from Manhattan, I needed to clean up and get over here... but yeah, its waiting for you back at my place." She states with a quick smile.

"Casey is... good... he's not been the same since he hit that innocent kid last fall though. He's quieter, not as wild. I'm not sure what to think of that either. I kinda miss the wild Casey, as fudged up as that is." The new beer is sipped again and April looks at her cue. "My shot?" She asks.

The young reporter walks over to the table and leans over it for her shot, sorry folks she's got a hoodie hover her butt, no easy views here!

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa Carlysle slides onto a stool at their tall table while she watches April take her shot. "Well, that'll do that to you," she says, Vanessa looking to the side and down. Her voice loses some of the gleeful inebriation from its tone. "Hurt someone else, or fail them, and... and it can really eat at you," she says softly.

The fresh drink is picked up and Vanessa takes a long pull from it, drinking nearly half of it. She sets it back down and then slips off the chair to move around the pool table. "So," she says, lowering the volume of her voice a bit more. "I won't be able to help the boys like I used to. Turns out, that... stuff... I pick up sometimes. It wears off. And I haven't been back around certain people. So for the moment it's just, me, you know?"

April O'Neil has posed:
April straightens up after her shot, it didn't go so well. She turnsthen as Vanessa approaches her and admits that status of her powers. This admission has the reporter frowning at Van as she plants the butt of her pool cue down between her sneakered feet. "Vanessa..." She softly shakes her head. "You not having awesome powers means you're a boring normal person, like me." A grin starts to spread over her lips at the other woman. "So welcome back to the world of mundaneness." She leans her pool cue forward then to tap Van on her chest and then turns to go get her fresh beer again.

"I'm sure thats weird and sucks, but I mean... at least you're here, and there weren't any negative side effects, right?"

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
A shake of Vanessa's head confirms the lack of negative side effects. "No real downside so far that I've noticed," she says. "I don't just, that is, it isn't happening randomly, have control of things," Vanessa adds, being careful of her choice of words.

"When I was out on the road, I mostly didn't. Just a couple of times. Someone who was kind of distraught that I was able to help a little when I understood better. But... yeah. I really didn't want to, you know?" she says, shaking her head.

Vanessa lines up her shot then. She hears a murmured comment from a table behind her, looking over her shoulder and winking at the two Latinos at the table, then turning back to take her shot. She walks back over to April. "Not planning to work tonight, but never hurts to advertise, right?" she says with a grin.

April O'Neil has posed:
One full beer and one shot has April already feeling utterly tipsy and she's trying to not show it, standing beside the table with her hands on the pool cue as Vanessa responds and she nods softly a few times to what the other says. "Of course." She says back before her eyes go to the men that Van speaks to, then the quip from her friend has her laughing again. "Harley is trying to convince me abou the OnlyFans still. So thats you /and/ her attacking me on two fronts about that site. God if it isn't tempting too..." She moves to take her shot now, not even sure if its the right 'rules' or not.

"I had someone on my podcast the other day who has their own show and their assistant is a young woman about my age and she earns, apparently, like /a hundred grand/ just showing off her /feet!/"

April has huge eyes and silly expression stating that income before she turns around to take a shot and completely misses the ball illiciting a few laughs from those who were near enough to notice.

"Oops..." April says as she lines up another swing at it... this time she hits it across the table and off over the bumper causing the cue ball to roll toward someone's foot.

"Uh oh..." The dark haired reporter utters then.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa Carlysle gasps. "For just their feet? Damn, Eddie sure got me into the wrong racket," she says with a shake of her head.

Vanessa heads over to the table, where an annoyed man has reached down and grabbed the ball after it bounced off his foot. Having the pair of attractive young women be the cause doesn't seem to impress him either. "If you don't know how to play the game, you shouldn't play the game," he tells Vanessa, holding the ball out of her reach.

"No way to learn if you don't play," she tells him, reaching out a hand for it. Only his friends at the table grin at his behavior, egging him on into not handing it back. He tells her, "Girl like you, there's better uses to put a pool table to with you-"

He doesn't quite finish his thought, as Vanessa reaches down into his lap and seems to take tight hold, causing him to sit up sharply. "I'm going back to the pool table with a ball, one way or another, dipshit. Your choice which one." He hands the cue ball back over and Vanessa walks back to April, leaving the man wincing and holding his crotch.

"See," Vanessa tells April, handing her the pool ball back. "It's a great place."

April O'Neil has posed:
April straightens up and starts to walk toward where the ball went when she sees Vanessa swoop in like a super hero and the ensuing interaction with the man at the table has April's gawking from a few feet back near the tabler's corner. When her friend comes back with the ball April tilts her head at the man and shakes her head at him as if she was disappoitned before she looks back to Vanessa grinning.

"I am definitely the Good Cop in this duo." She says then before motioning to the table. "You're gonna kick my butt at this, clearly." She laughs a little more about what happened back there but makes her way back to their table to get another sip from her beer. "I, uh, but yeah.... I guess that website is the future of a sort for what you got in to back whenever.... Harley is on it, but all she's doing is singin' cover songs for her favorite bands. At least I hope thats all she's doin' in her room..."