Owner	Pose
Luke Cage	Luke's bar, hands on the clock say eleven forty five, but last call is hours away. Its quiet, just Luke and the TV turned down low, sports highlights, talking heads. Luke's behind the bar, moving things around slowly, taking his time. Deliberate. Bar tending lets his mind wander. He might be tall and handsome with smooth black skin unmarred by time or the damage of his other occupation, but his eyes are miles away.
Patsy Walker	The door opens and a figure enters. Immediately, she stands out as one of /those/ people. The ones that run around in costumes. This one is feline-based in terms of the cowl she wears, red hair spilling out of an opening in the back. The rest of the suit is golden butter yellow with black 'gloves' and 'socks' that end with claws tipping each finger and toe. "I swear," Hellcat says more to herself, grumbling, "If I see another mouthy little punk again, it'll be too soon." With a huff, hands come to rest at her hips as she has a look around, her body language all but challenging someone to get on her bad side. What she's doing here, one could take a guess or two.
River Banks	"I promise you, Babe, this place is the *best*. IT's not got watered down beer, babe! You're gonna love it!"     In walks a skinny, more-than-slightly-drunk fellow wearing an Empire State university shirt with tattery blonde hair and nicer blue jeans, leading in a blonde-haired, brown-eyed freckled woman wearing a knee-length red skirt and black cami under a denim jacket.     She doesn't seem to impressed with him, but she doesn't mind the bar. While he scopes out the men's room, the blonde sits at the bar, looking up to Luke, and gives an upnod.     "Whiskey, straight up." she asks, and she looks over to Hellcat, eyebrows rising up at the feline theme.     "Rough night, girl?" she inquires, sliding a debit card over to open a tab.
Luke Cage	Luke Cage makes short work of the drink order, brief eye-contact and then a murmured "I see some I.D.?" as a matter of course, she has the drink and he's already setting up her tab.
Patsy Walker	Hellcat passes closer, the whites of the eyes in her cowl narrowing slightly beneath the stylized brows. "What did you just call me?" Ooh, somebody is irritated, yes. An overreaction to what's likely a harmless question? Sure, probably. Attention shifts from River to Luke, back again. Just imagine the hiss.
River Banks	"Sure thing, boss." the girl states, and she produces a New York City non-driver's ID. It looks pretty official.     "Ah called you 'girl'. As in, 'girl, you look rough, you wanna drink on me 'cause obviously you're not havin' a good night. Judgin' by your outfit. Ah'm tryin' ta be friendly-like." the Southern twang comes out strong as River looks back to Hellcat.
Luke Cage	Luke Cage glanced to Hellcat, "Hey slow down, aight?" his voice low, deep, rolling out of his chest. His eyes are soft on her for now, absorbing heat, keeping the peace. He seemed just as placid as before, he wasn't going to make moves, he didn't think he would have to. She could escalate, he might not be ready, but there was an intensity in his eyes that captivated even for just a moment. "Yall got beef?" he wondered, glancing between the two.
Patsy Walker	Hellcat goes quiet, at least for a few seconds. There's a scowl that fades before she waves a hand that could be seen as dismissive. "Eh. It's not you. People are being annoyingly...annoying. I don't do well with 'girl' from someone I don't know first." Touchy thing, combined with irritation, can one truly be blamed? Just take a deep breath or two. Let it go, just like that one song says. "No beef. But I /am/ a little hungry. What's good here?" Then she snaps her fingers. "Oh, you're him. I wasn't even paying attention to the name of the place."
River Banks	"No sir, never seent this woman in my life, an' if she's got beef, well, I'm a vegetarian." River states, and she gives an upnod to Hellcat. "Ah can understand that. My bad, lemmie buy your first drink tonight in apology." River states to smooth things over and soothe Hellcat, and then she pauses a moment. Him /who/? She looks at the sign, then looks back at Luke, and then looks to Hellcat again and asks:     "... this a bad time for someone not in the know ta be in this bar?"
Luke Cage	"All we got is each other tonight." he reminded them both of the sorry state of things, he nodded toward the bathroom, "I'll check on Kevin." he said, applying the universal whiteboy moniker. "But let me get you something. We got a decent bar pizza, wanna split it?"
Patsy Walker	"If you insist," Hellcat relents to the offer of the drink. "No beer or anything though, not when I'm 'on duty.' I could be cliche and go for some milk, but I'll have a coke." To Luke, she adds, "I'm not gonna be too picky about a bite to eat. I'll give it a shot." Looking around again, she's having a peek at what games there are here, if any. Something to distract with.
River Banks	"Easiest apology Ah've ever made." the girl replies, and she gives a wry smile, and sips her whiskey. "I'll share a pie. Don't mind the company."     Kevin is currently evacuating his stomach upwardly with all the charming sounds that accompany it, that shall not be described here in further detail.     "Ah'm fine with just cheese. Best pizza is 'free' followed by 'hot' after all."
Luke Cage	Luke unwrapped one of the pizza's from the stack that the old lady makes every couple days and put it in the toaster, a slightly fancier model that makes quiet wooshing sounds. He glanced over at the wretching sounds, looking ruefully to River as if to say 'You did this to me.' but relenting as the oven chimed. He washed his hands in the sink and then plated and sectioned the pie. Delivered hot, steaming slightly, just the slightest tinges of dark on the dough where it rose and crested in little cystic bubbles. "Damn, making me hungry." he admitted.
Patsy Walker	Hellcat makes a face at Kevin's troubles. "And that's why you watch how much you have," she states, directing a claw his way. After Luke finishes up with the pizza for the two of them, she rests an arm against the bar counter. "Then make yourself one? If you have to account for it, I'll spot you. Venmo, Zelle..pick your poison. I'm Hellcat." In case the costume didn't give it away. "She isn't wrong, either," she adds to River's pizza opinion. Pool table, dart board, there's gotta be something to unwind with before she goes back out.
River Banks	"Hey, I just found him wanderin' 'round in the street and tried to get him a cab. He's not my type." River's nose wrinkles at Kevin's (and now Luke's) predicament, but she does look with a little happiness over at the pizza coming out.     "Hellcat. Good name. I ain't got nothin' fancy like that." the other girl at the counter sips her whiskey and gives an amused look to Hellcat. That's a damn lie.     "Was hopin' maybe he'd realize his actual date ditched him."
Luke Cage	Luke leaned on the bar with an elbow, helped himself to a slice of their pie, which he'd had no intention of charging them for anyway. Slow night you bend the rules, makes things intimate, and intimacy draws out the conversation. Made him feel like a person, the glorious ordinary that meant he could laugh at a joke, or smile for a smile; if he wanted. "Hellcat, that slick." he said, approval tinging his voice. "Luke." explained Carl. He slid River's card back to them, unmolested by the point of sale machine. "He's fuckin up my bathroom." Luke said, complaining absently.
Patsy Walker	Hellcat squints again. "So you're not..? Oh." She shakes her head after River denies any knowledge of or friendship with Kevin. She doesn't know enough to say whether it's true or not. Simpler to accept it at face value. Then, a shrug. "It's just a name. Maybe it's how I look when I'm fighting someone." Maybe it's more than that. Just a nod as Luke gets a piece for himself. "That works, too. And maybe you should make sure that guy cleans up after himself before you let him go." After a sip of soda and a bite of pizza to test its temperature so far, she adds, "So I was on one of my patrols. Came across some brats who didn't think no meant no. Had to educate them." The costume looks flawless, for what it's worth.
River Banks	River wrinkles her nose in disgust.     "Ugh. Yeah, no, I wish you were drinking something stronger, I would definitely buy you a round or two for that. I know enough of them that don't take 'no' for an answer. I've rearranged some faces before. Ain't nothin like a deviated septum to remind 'em that they're squishy. No offense, Luke. You don't seem like that type." she states, and then she motions to herself "River."
Luke Cage	Luke Cage chewed on his sliver of cheese and baked dough, the small slice made him look bigger than he really was, despite the fact that he was something of a hulk to begin with. "None taken." he said, pushing the food into one cheek to speak without spraying. "Mine usually comes to see me." he explained, "Gotta take care of business when she comes by, but no need to beg." he wagged the remaining bit of his slice toward Kevin, indicating that he didn't think much of Kevin's potential.
Patsy Walker	Hellcat waves it off. "Part of why I patrol. I can't stop everything, but I can stop some of it. That counts for something, right?" At the name given from her female counterpart, she quips, "Oh, it sounds like Mr. 'I Can Handle It, Really' is making a river of his own over there." She can still hear the sounds. "Heard you do some of the good guy thing too, Luke," the costumed woman adds, indicating him with what's left of her crust before popping that into her mouth to finish off. Then she rubs the back of a hand. Maybe she /did/ hit a couple of them a little harder than necessary.
River Banks	"That's my dose of heroism and altruism for the night. Maybe he'll realize Ah don't go to his school." River drinks her whiskey again with an amused expression, and she shakes her head. "Some boys jus' can't hold their... what was he drinkin' again? Ah yeah... Jaegerbombs. Do things, stupider, with more energy." she gives a slight roll of her eyes as she reaches for a slice of the pizza.     "Managed ta get his wallet and his ID at least so ah can send him to the school."
Luke Cage	Luke snorted quietly in derision, refilling Hellcat's glass with a gun like nozzle from under the bar, and then River's from the bottle previously used. "Jaegerbombs." he said, eyes dim with amused disappointment. "Spend our whole lives picking licorice out of whatever we find it in just so some college boy can mainline it and the spray it all over the floor." To Hellcat he nodded, confirming. "You need a hand with something?"
Patsy Walker	"Starting to wonder if we were in the same area," Hellcat muses to River, giving Luke a nod of acknowledgement for the refill. "Anyway, I'm sure they'll be thinking twice next time. Hope they've got good insurance." Shaking her head Luke's way, she answers him. "Not this time, thanks, but maybe soon. What do you do best? Bash heads together, or do you get a little more subtle when you need to?"
River Banks	"Dunno, I've met an awful lot of fellas moving up here that don't like taking no for an answer. Some ladies too." River explains with a small smile, and she tilts her head back to finish her whiskey.     "'Nother if you would, Luke, please." she asks, sliding the glass over. "Gotta make sure Mr. Popularity in there gets back an' then takin' the Loop home."
Luke Cage	Luke looked at Hellcat as she requested his skill inventory, he finally smiled. It was nice smile that lit his face up handsomely, "Give me a big enough lever and I can move the world." he said, paraphrasing Archimedes as he poured one more fingers worth for River. "Guys who can't take no for an answer ain't welcome here." indicating he was on River's side in this instance.
Patsy Walker	Hellcat says, "Then I guess we'll see," giving Luke a small, brief smile of her own. It makes her look less irritated than she came into the place as. "And that's probably one of the best reheated pizzas I've ever had." True or not, compliments can go a long way. Pushing up from the bar, she gestures toward the door. "Better get back to it. I've got a couple more hours ahead of me tonight." While Luke got the smile, River gets the mild smirk. "See you around, girl. Good luck with your new pal."