A Bitter Pill To Swallow

GRAYBRIDGE, 4 NOV 2023
Bree's Apartment

She curls her knees under her, half turning toward Bree, leaving three small zone between them. She clinks the glass and takes a tiny sip.

"I like performed music, you know? By that I mean to say, music where the artists are really emoting, trying to communicate something profound through their fingers. Doesn't matter the genre, as long as they make me believe that they believe too."

When asked about her place, she says, "It's a large studio loft, and most of it is windows looking west over green space at the mountains. My piano sits in the shadowed corner, north east, and I had an engineer come in with their software to set sound reflecting tiles on the two walls and ceiling around it to get the acoustics just right for practicing. My violin sits near, lit by an overhead light like it's the center of the space."

She closes her eyes, picturing it. "White leather couches, and two high back reading chairs. The bed is up on a loft, above the open concept kitchen area, and overlooks the open space."

She doesn't apologize for her money, her parents money. It's who she is, and it's either a problem or it's not.

ANNESBURG, 4 NOV 2023
The Park Outside Brian's Apartment on the way to Brewsum

"Death by windshield?" he chuckled. "It's hardly that easy...not for me, anyway. But, yeah, if something happens I do prefer the option of not being belted in." Dave turned in the seat to better face Melissa, "Good instincts about the car being rigged to blow. That'd be a bit too obvious in a neighborhood like this though. It'd upset too many people. Wealthy people, that is... If we were in Graybridge, that's a whole different matter. Still be a bit overly dramatic when a simple staged drive-by shooting would be sufficient." Dave deadpanned with what sounded like the voice of experience.
"You might think you're a 'nobody' but Floyd's interest in you and your new abilities say otherwise..." he countered her dismissal of her own value. "You've stumbled into a whole new level of reality. A pretty damned dangerous level at that. You're more capable than you give yourself credit for...or at least you'd better be. Otherwise those new abilities of yours are going to be more of a curse than a blessing." He let that news stew in the silent moment between them for a moment, "You're not going it alone though. I... we've ...got your back. Augusta, Eva and I."
He smiled, unconvincingly, and tried to change the subject. "Lunch?" He slapped the dashboard, ready to go.

ANNESBURG, 4 NOV 2023
The Brewseum Restaurant
Using Google Maps, Melissa finds the way back to the fancy restaurant where she and Brian had her date the other day, until he walked out on her and left her his credit card.As they park the car and enter the restaurant, a well-dressed waiter, tall but skinny, with short brown hair, steps into their way, blocking them from going further in. He looks Melissa over and gives her a very brief nod but then turns his attention to Dave. "Can I help you, sir?" he asks. The politely obscured edge in his voice and the way he looks over Dave's clothes are an unspoken but clear sign that he does not think Dave looks appropriate for this place.

ANNESBURG, 4 NOV 2023
The Brewseum Restaurant

Melissa stops short, frowns, and looks the waiter in the eye.

"Is there a problem? He's with me." This seems odd and her hackles raise in response to the man. She is so ready to let the waiter have it.

GRAYBRIDGE, 4 NOV 2023
Bree's Apartment


"Invite a Graybridger to my posh Anneburg loft? I'll have to check my tennant's agreement to see if that's allowed or if I'd have to sneak you in!" She giggles at her own silliness.

She is complimented a lot. Like really, a lot, all of her life. She even went through a period where she regretted each new compliment as being insincere, or as carrying an expectation for some overly witty and equally insincere comeback. She's past that though, or she thought she was. She flushes a little, this woman's praise seeming to make her glow inside.

"The Hop Spot, yes, well, I told you that Dave asked me to meet him there. He's a bit of a burr on an already rough edge, so he probably thought it was upscale, honestly. Hop couture. I don't mind though. What's going to happen?" She regrets that immediately, knowing that Bree has some issue with people spiking her drinks. "I mean with friends like him and Eva around, anyone would feel safe." Good save. Maybe.

ANNESBURG, 4 NOV 2023
The Brewseum Restaurant
The man again turns his eyes to Melissa. "The Brewseum holds itself as well as its guests to a certain standard," he explains as if to a child. Certainly, the condescension in his tone isn't supposed to show, but it undeniably does. "We are happy to host you and your friend here, but"—his eyes turn back to Dave—"he may want to consider changing into something more appropriate first."
Melissa can't help but notice that if she was with Brian, there would be no way they would be treated this way. Brian naturally demands respect of people like this snooty waiter in a way that doesn't come as easily to Melissa yet. Does that mean she's not cut out for this environment?

ANNESBURG, 4 NOV 2023
The Brewseum Restaurant

Dave stood by as Melissa challenged the hoity-toity waiter, amused and impressed at her asserting herself to the well dressed man. He smiled and tried not to glower, his natural expression, as the Matiré D pushed the matter further. He could almost physically feel Melissa getting emotionally wound up as the Matiré D kept talking. Brewsum was a high-class joint, the kind that Melissa was clearly drawn to and had clearly enjoyed dining at despite Floyd having been the person to introduce her to it. He sighed as the man talked, clearly weighing his next options carefully. On one hand, he could just let it slide and they could find another restaurant. On the other hand, making a scene here would probably get her barred from the place and a call to the cops. And in Annesburg, they'd actually show up. A couple of other options flashed through his mind that he immediately dismissed. The Maitré D was just doing his job, as snooty and discriminatory as it was, and didn't rate the kind of responses that came to mind.
He settled for the diplomatic response. Diplomatic for him, anyway... Dave plopped his big hand on the Maitré D's shoulder, gripping it with a menacing tightness. "Listen..." he growled lowly, calmly and through his teeth. "The lady wants to have lunch here. Just a nice, quiet lunch in your nice, quiet establishment. Capiscé?" Dave locked eyes with the man, his eyes icy and dangerous, "Now. Just take this fifty as a tip and find us a nice, quiet table." He clapped the snooty man on the shoulder to punctuate his words. He flashed a fifty dollar bill out of his pocket, wrinkled and folded lengthwise, and slid it into the man's suitcoat jacket and tapped it down behind the man's pocket handkerchief. He flashed another of those unsettling smiles at the Maitré D and waited to see how the man handled his suggestion.

GRAYBRIDGE, 4 NOV 2023
Bree's Apartment

It seems like an intimate spot. She leans a little closer herself, and sips the whiskey. Show sultry jazz gets her swaying a little in her seat, a rhythmic tempo that's all soul and heart.

"Tell me about the dangers of the city Bree." Her voice is duskier, eyes half closed, but she opens them to watch the other woman's lips form words.

GRAYBRIDGE, 4 NOV 2023
Sunny Side Up Diner
"I'm going to ration them," Eva says to Tanya about the pills. "I know these are hard for you to come by. I'm going to wait until I really need them before I take them."

When she and Dartella are speaking, Eva lowers her voice. "I know this seems weird. But this woman -- Tanya -- has some connection to my past I don't fully understand. I'll be careful. But I have to do this. And I will call you, and hang out next week. It's still a promise. Okay?"

ANNESBURG, 4 NOV 2023
The Brewseum Restaurant
The waiter shrinks under Dave's firm grip and cold stare, losing some of his composure as he clearly does not seem prepared to deal with guests like this man. When Dave slides the banknote into his jacket pocket, the man lets out a breath of relief. "Of course," he then says, swallowing nervously. Once Dave lets go of his shoulder, the man turns and leads the pair into the restaurant and towards a table at the very edge of the room, somewhat obscured by a pillar and hidden from the few other guests already here. The Brewseum isn't as populated during lunch as Melissa has seen it during dinner with Brian, but the waiter still seems to want to place them out of sight, hidden away a bit from the more respectable guests.

GRAYBRIDGE, 4 NOV 2023
Sunny Side Up Diner
Eva's words don't help to relieve Dartella's worry. "One second," the waitress tells Eva. She heads to the end of the counter where her purse is sitting next to two coffee machines. She reaches inside and pulls something out before returning to Eva and slipping it into the tall blonde's hand. It's a small can of pepperspray. "I know you can defend yourself, but take it. If nothing else, it'll make me feel better," she tells Eva before embracing her in a brief hug. "Stay safe, sweetie."
"I have no idea what that is," Tanya admits as they step outside into the drizzling rain. "I assume it's not literally a recording of British soldiers invading somewhere." She looks over to her bike, her glasses already covered in rainwater drops. "Do you have a car or something or should we call a taxi? Or do you live nearby?"

GRAYBRIDGE, 4 NOV 2023
Bree's Apartment
Is this something I want to do? Am I attracted to her, or just the thrill? Augusta doesn't know but when Bree mentions 'kissing' and 'thrill', she burns, thrums, and leans closer, stopping with her lips a hair's width apart. "Breee," she purrs again, delaying the moment. The ice in her drink clinks stirred slowly by her own strange magic.

ANNESBURG, 4 NOV 2023
The Brewseum Restaurant

While Melissa was impressed with Dave's approach to the snobby waiter, obviously asshole Brian won out in the classy department. That didn't mean Melissa didn't get a charge out of the exchange taking place before her. Dave's subtle strong arm tactics along with a bit of bribery were kind of exciting. It all felt like something from a movie and she was in the thick of it.

Dave was supremely confident and that always earned gold stars in her book of men as the pretentious waiter tried to hide them away from the main part of the restaurant.

Once they were seated and after multiple dirty looks had been cast towards the jerk, she looks at Dave.


"So ... tell me what exactly I am about to get involved in. Don't sugar coat it. Give it to me straight." She wondered if those were lines from a film she had seen.

ANNESBURG, 4 NOV 2023
The Brewseum Restaurant

Politely following the Maitré D to the secluded table, he plopped down his chair while the man seated Melissa. He not-so-secretly enjoyed the hushed voices and furtive glances shot their way and he went out of his way to make direct eye contact with any of the other patrons unfortunate enough to let their glances linger too long on the pair. He was reasonably sure that might deter any eavesdropping or overt scrutiny of them while they dined.

There were no menus on the crisp white table linens, no silverware, no glasses, nothing but the low and tasteful centerpiece on the immaculate expanse between Dave and Melissa. He had the impression that after the pair left the establishment the staff were probably going to burn the tablecloth to expunge their sullying presence.

"Oh, hm." Melissa brought him out of his reverie with her request. "A lot of that depends on you. What kind of stuff you're cut out for. How exactly your ability works and how you're willing to use it...". For about the tenth time today, he chewed on the moral quandary of dragging Melissa into his world. "I mean, you really have to find that out for yourself. You have to find your limits and that ain't fun and it sure as hell ain't easy...and it's not even under your control most of the time." He struggled with how to explain it to her in terms that she'd understand and that wouldn't send her running out of the restaurant. "There are things that I think you'd be great at. Like picking locks or busting safes. What you can do would make that easy as pie. Good money in it too but that's just the tip of the iceberg, kid. The rest of it...that gets messy and the people you'd have to deal with get a lot less nice. Espionage, gathering blackmail leverage, security casing, all that's on the next level. Beyond that..." he hesitated to even continue. "Beyond that, there's wetwork. Contract killings, sniper work. With a good bit of training and practice, you could be a top tier assassin. Now, that all sounds exciting and glamorous but it ain't. Takes a deep toll on you even if you are cut out for it and that doesn't even count the kinds of people you'd have to deal with in that world. Step down that path and you're not going to be the same person you are now. You can kiss the counter clerk life goodbye." He furrowed his brow wondering why it sounded like he tried to sweeten the deal there at the end.

GRAYBRIDGE, 4 NOV 2023
Outside the Sunny Side Up Diner
Taking Dartella’s pepper spray only to appease the woman and allay fears Eva didn’t fully understand, the tall woman shrugs her powerful shoulders as she and the other science project from Wyvern Lake move out into the rain. "I think it’s like British music from the 1960s that was popular here, in America."

When Tanya asks about a car, or a taxi, Eva grins. "No — I don’t have a lot of money. I live like fifteen blocks from here? It’s not around the corner, but it’s not too bad. You could just walk your bike, or leave it here if you have a lock? It’ll get taken otherwise. People steal like crazy here."