A Private Lounge at a Mainland Club, Thursday Evening

[brat_inslayage]

Kennedy was supposed to be home in New York tonight, helping with the last few days of moving preparations. In fact, that was what she'd been doing, but apparently all her well-meaning offers of assistance were really just wreaking havoc on Willow's carefully constructed System. So, she'd been persuaded (like that was hard) to go out and patrol, or hang out with her friends, or do anything at all that wasn't helping, please. She was cool with that, but that sort of left the question of what to do with herself: now that their departure date was looming she was more nervous about the whole thing than she'd realized, plus trying to stave off melancholy about leaving Fandom again. She needed to stay busy somehow.

What convenient timing, then, when she got a call from Raven asking for suggestions about a way to cheer Karla up, or distract her, or something like that. Simultaneously constructive and fun thing to get take-charge-y about? Sign her up, especially if she could turn it into an impromptu end-of-summer, totally-not-saying-goodbye thing.

A few phone calls and some credit-card flexing had scored the private lounge complete with its own private open bar in which she was now relaxing, helping herself to occasional hor d'oeuvres while she waited for her friends to show up.

Not bad work for the last minute. What, did you think Kennedy wasn't gonna make a huge production just for a girls' night out? Please.

[[for the girls' night out (and the token guys, hey) cohorts! up early for great sp justice, and nfb for distance, of course.]]

Comments

[longislandiceme]

Well, Bobby wasn't a girl, but come on. Like that was gonna stop him.

He briefly considered putting on a wig or something, though. But in the end he vetoed that idea. So now he was just sliding in to the booth next to Kennedy. "Whatever happens, don't let me suggest any impromptu trips anywhere," he advised.

[brat_inslayage]

"What did you do?" Kennedy turned to him and raised one eyebrow pointedly. "Person who, as far as I know, isn't a girl unless Fandom does that weekend wacky?"

Note the lack of complaint in her voice, though.

[longislandiceme]

"Uh, I think we decided to go on a safari last night?" Bobby said. It was all kind of hazy, really. "And... ended up in the Savage Land." He stuck his tongue out at her. "Also, you're the one who called me, remember? So my presence here is totally justified."

[trigons_child]

Raven was a tiny bit apprehensive as she approached Bobby.

"I hope you are recovered from being hammered," she said, keeping a straight face. "Who was it who mistook you for a nail?"

[longislandiceme]

Bobby was a little apprehensive himself, as evidenced by the ever-so-slight drop in ambient temperature. "Uh," he coughed. "There's no way I can answer that that won't sound ridiculously dirty."

[glacial_queen]

Karla had to talk to Bobby. Had to.

"What's this about slashing?" she asked, sidling up to him with a drink in her hand and an eyebrow arched with amusement. "Two minutes of it, what?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Personally, I think the wig might have suited. Maybe we all want to meet your secret twin sister Bobbina?"

Emma, stop reading people's brains. It was drinking time, not pick-on-Bobby-time.

[furnaceface]

"Oh, good. I'm not the only bloke who wound up at this thing."

That was totally a pleasant-as-Jonothonly-possible greeting, right there, complete with a little nod in Bobby's direction.

"If they come at either of us with make-up, I've got your back if you've got mine, mate?"

Karla was here. Anything was possible.

[trigons_child]

Raven was frantic to try to make Karla feel better about what had happened (and feeling a little guilty herself, of course, despite the fact that her presence wouldn't have changed anything, and she might've even made it worse by getting angry), so she was relieved when Kennedy offered to arrange an impromptu gathering.

She usually accidentally indulged in alcohol rather than drinking it on purpose, but tonight she felt she deserved a drink or two. And given how delicious this S'Mores Martini tasted, maybe three.

[glacial_queen]

Karla slumped next to her. Pouting. This probably shouldn't surprise anyone.

"I hate everything," she informed her. "Everything. And possibly everyone. I haven't decided yet."

[brat_inslayage]

"God, Raven," Kennedy called, because it was pretty much obligatory as well as called for. "Save some for three hours from now, will you?"

[life_inshadow]

Tara came straight from work; she'd put on lipstick and braided her hair up, but she was still wearing the t-shirt and khakis that normally went with days when she might be digging things out of the storage room.

She looked surprised as she wandered in. "Hi," she said. "This is ... wow. Nicer than I expected."

[glacial_queen]

Karla chuckled at that and held a brightly colored drink out for Tara. "Really? With Kennedy at the wheel? This is almost tame for her."

[brat_inslayage]

Kennedy gave her a mock pout, but there was a grin behind it. "It's like you don't know me," she pretended to complain. "I wanted a whole club and catering, but this was the best I could do in a couple of hours."

[longislandiceme]

"I know, I know, I clean up pretty good, don't I?" Bobby preened. Yes, he was full aware that Tara meant the club and not him. Wasn't gonna stop him.

[trigons_child]

"Hello, Tara," Raven greeted her, hoping her smile didn't look too nervous. She was grateful, at least, that she hadn't tortured Tara in that other world. That she remembered, at least. She wouldn't have put it past herself.

[glacial_queen]

"I've decided this is my Pity Party," Karla announced to the room at large. "And also Kennedy's end-of-summer bash." Which was also making Karla sad, so she got to claim that to. "I don't know yet if drinks are on me or should be bought for me, but I do know I want all of them."

ALL the drinks.

[brat_inslayage]

Kennedy waved a hand. "Hey, go crazy at the bar. I got this. And no arguing, 'cause if we end up fighting over it, it's not gonna be pretty, and I really don't want to have to explain that to management, you know?"

[icecoldfrost]

"No pity, more drinking," Emma quipped. "Pity will be for when you see the store's ledgers and cry at how much I spent on inventory."

Which was all moving quite well and turning a good profit, but it was more fun to tease Karla to make her stop pouting.

[icecoldfrost]

A night out with the girls was exactly what Emma needed for tonight.

"Really, Kennedy, open bar?" Emma was already waving over tequila shots. "Who is going to try and match my magnificent mutant metabolism? Step right up, ladies."

[brat_inslayage]

Kennedy snorted, but jogged over to avail herself of some of that tequila. Her metabolism was pretty impressive now, post-upgrade, but sadly it hadn't affected her liquor capacity. Good thing that had been decent beforehand.

Emma would probably still beat her, though.

"If there isn't an open bar, I'm not doing it right," she retorted cheerfully. "Come on, it's the least we all deserve."

[furnaceface]

Jonothon was not 'one of the girls.'

Jonothon would probably never be 'one of the girls.' He wasn't even particularly feminine on those days when Fandom made him into one of the girls. And so, truth be told, he wasn't entirely certain how he'd wound up getting an invitation to this thing at all, except that... well... Karla had insisted. There had been sad girl eyes involved. Jono had no power against those bloody sad girl eyes. None.

If it was all the same to everybody, Jono was going to attempt to stay in a sort of shady part of the room, near the bar, with a bottle of lager in hand and his collar pulled up over the bottom of his face. One didn't lend itself well to the other, but even if this was a private room, he was a blue-grey man in a room full of women on a mainland where things like mutants weren't really a thing. He was allowed to hunker down and try to turn invisible if he wanted to. Right?

... Right?

[brat_inslayage]

Shyeah, right.

"Nice to know you're secure enough to hang out with a bunch of girls," Kennedy informed him as she came over with a drink in hand, and dropped down onto a nearby seat. "Girls and Bobby, anyway."

A little of the breeziness in her tone disappeared in favor of something more genuine. "Glad you could make it. Kinda felt like a thing that needed to happen, you know?"

What with the whole gang breaking up and going different ways and all. Dammit.

[glacial_queen]

"Mother Night, Jono, you look like I dragged you out to scrub floors with toothbrushes, not to enjoy drinks with friends." There was a Karla, Jono. And she was glaring at you. "This is my Pity Party," And also Kennedy's Goodbye Bash. So? "Make me feel less sad."

[life_inshadow]

"I'm so glad you came," Tara informed him, cheerfully taking a seat near him. "I leave Monday and I really didn't want to have to make the ... goodbye rounds. It's depressing."