Oh, yes, it's Ladies' Night. And the feeling's right...

[bossyboiler]

Who: The Ladies (featuring Winter)
When: Tuesday Night
Where: Starting out a bar named TWenty-One and Cup and from there, who knows!?!
Summary: All of the girls have been invited. Now it's time for the Ladies enjoy a much needed night on the town. DRINKING GAME ALERT! Spot Winter, take a shot.
Notes: This is a mix and mingle style log. Post your own top-level, respond to others.
Warnings: N/A at the moment, will update if needed.


There's a new bar in Gloucester and the imported ladies mean to make the most of its first Ladies Night. Twenty-One and Cup promises half-off all pun-inspired drinks and shots are buy two, get one free. There are plenty of pun-inspired drinks such as Cinnamon Toast Punch, Tequila Mockingbird and Sauvignon Private Ryan. The puns don't stop there. Puns adore the various artwork surrounding the bar.

The rest of the bar's décor is casual. There are fairy lights that decorate the ceiling with a large disco ball in the center of the room that's meant to serve as the dance floor. Seating comes mostly in the form of tables but in the various corners there are booths to sit in. There are a smattering of couches here and there.

There's no need to worry about a designated driver. They all had to take the bus.

All signs point towards that it should be a fun evening for all though some may hate themselves in the morning.

Comments

[musicdied]

When Yelena exits the second bar about three quarters of an hour after they arrive, she only waggles her fingers in a small wave in the direction of Winter's perch before vanishing into the building across the street, which hosts a small café - less touristy than some of Gloucester's offerings, perhaps, but still good.

When she exits that building, however, it's to duck into the narrow alleyway between the bar and the tattoo parlor that's hopefully not going to need to serve as a sniper's nest tonight, cardboard cup and a small café bag in hand.

So, choosing option B, then.

[worthallthis]

Aw Yelena. This is why you're the best. He climbs down halfway to meet her, since there's really no on else she could be visiting, and clings to the fire escape a few feet above her head, for now. "Having a good time?" he asks, first and foremost.

[musicdied]

"It's fun," she confirms, tipping her head back to smile up at him. "Kate's idea was very good. I think we all needed the chance to relax."

She stretches up on her tiptoes, raising the cup and bag so he can grab them from the fire escape. She may be a little tipsy, but she's still steady enough on her feet that the maneuver has no chance of overbalancing her despite the chill damp of the concrete beneath her feet.

"They didn't have brownies, but there is cake. And some mixed nuts for protein. And hot chocolate, since you are out here watching over us in the cold and making it so that we can relax."

[worthallthis]

"You are my favorite person," Winter tells her, catching the bag first to set aside, and taking the cup with more care, before shifting to cling to the ladder with his legs instead so he can have a sip. He hasn't had much hot chocolate, being mostly a coffee guy, but this is actually really good. "So my being here is helping you?"

He sounds kind of hopeful, there. His presence is lessening fear, not increasing it. This is surely a good thing.

[musicdied]

Her smile broadens into a grin, that of the archetypically slightly bratty younger sister. "I know."

Once he's claimed the treats, she drops back onto her heels, considers leaning against the wall, then opts to just fold her arms across her chest, fingers tucked into her elbows for added warmth.

"Your being here is very helpful," she says. "I know that you'll notice if trouble's coming, and warn us if it's anything bigger than you can stop alone. So do Kate and Meredith. So we don't have to be as on our guard as we would be if we were alone."

[worthallthis]

He finds himself responding with something that might be a smile, back, though it's been so long since he made one in company he's kind of forgotten what it feels like. The expression is familiar, though he pictures it in a face topped with dark hair rather than light. Similarly round. Longer nose.

Who was that?

He covers the confusion and the smile, both, with another sip of chocolate. "Good. I will stay out here until you go home. I'll keep you safe. Will you be walking home?"

If the get too drunk walking may become a problem. He recalls carrying Meredith home, once. He'd rather not do that again.

[musicdied]

She shakes her head slightly. "There's a bus that will get us back to the apartments on time," she says. "And if anyone is too drunk for that, I have money for a cab."

Money that might have started out in someone else's pockets, but in the grand scheme of Shit Yelena Has Pulled, a little light pickpocketing doesn't even register.

[worthallthis]

"Me too. If you need it." He spends very little, after all, given how much ADI covers for them and how few pass-times he actually partakes in. Not that he'll judge her for pick-pocketing. (Not a lot, anyway.)

"So long as I don't have to carry anyone again," he adds over the rim of the cup.

[musicdied]

She is what she's been made to be. Procuring funds and equipment when stranded in hostile territory is part of the training, and Gloucester is nothing if not hostile.

"No carrying," she promises. "If anyone needs to be carried, Malcolm Bright can earn his keep, since he isn't sensible enough to surveil from a distance."

[worthallthis]

"I don't think that's in his skillset," Winter agrees. Then, maybe only half-serious, he adds, "He looks bored. And ineffective, in there." How do you properly see threats from in the middle of all those people?

Maybe if the threats are people, but he's pretty sure Yelena, even fully drunk, could handle the actual people threats.

Plus, Winter has a rifle. He can always shoot troublemakers. (With darts, not bullets. He's not heartless.)

[musicdied]

"I think he thinks we're the threats," Yelena confides, expression solemn but eyes still gleaming with amusement.

"Which, if I have to be fair, is not completely wrong."

[worthallthis]

Winter squints at her over his cocoa cup rim. "You won't try to shoot anyone in there," he says, half a question. "Why would you be a threat."

He does not quite put together that "threat" in this case does not mean to one's life. She might need to explain, which may or may not ruin the joke.

[musicdied]

"I will not try to shoot anyone tonight," Yelena confirms. "Unless they're worshipping some sort of fire demon and try to kill us all. Then I will definitely shoot them."

Good behaviour, apparently, ends where human sacrifice begins.

"But I didn't mean that kind of threat. More...a bad influence."

[worthallthis]

"Well, yes, that's different." That is a valid exception to any rules of good behavior. "I would think you would be a good. Influence. Against fire demons and hurting people needlessly. Helping me with Stranger shit."

This is before Yelena and Meredith had their kiss, obviously, or he would more clearly understand this mindset.

Also, yes, he's pretty sure his Entity is the Stranger by now, and has certainly told her, unless she told him first.

[musicdied]

A shadow crosses Yelena's face, and she shakes her head slightly.

"I'm not a good person to follow. But I'm not trying to influence anyone tonight to do anything other than have a little fun."

Which they all badly need, after the last several months.

[worthallthis]

He frowns down at her, not liking the shadow. Not liking how she talks about herself, sometimes. "Yelena. You are not a bad person to follow, either."

[musicdied]

"I think maybe you're a little biased," she says, with a faint huff of laughter.

It's fine. She knows what she is.

[worthallthis]

"I know many, many worse people than you, Yelena," he says, earnest and honest. It's not even just HYDRA; he's met worse people here. Maybe he is biased, but also: "You care about people. Even if you are sometimes practical about them. You protect them. That's what matters."

[musicdied]

She blinks at him in puzzlement for a moment, head canting slightly.

"I'm not saying I am a terrible person," she says.

(She's fairly certain she is a terrible person, but that's beside the point.)

"Just that I'm a bad example to follow. No one should look at me and think 'that is what I want to do with my life'." She pauses, then grins. "Fortunately, the people there are grown women who are not completely insane, so that probably isn't a problem we're going to actually have."

[worthallthis]

Winter gives her a 'you're being very dense right now' kind of look. "Yelena. You were forced into your life. So it is not an example to follow because no one else is going to be forced into that life, if we have anything to say about it."

He pauses, narrows his eyes, and asks, "Is someone giving you trouble over your life, Yelena?" Because he will punch them if so.

[musicdied]

"Yeeeeeeeeeeees." She draws the word out slowly, then sighs. "That is my point, Winter. I'm a product of..."

She cuts off, and shakes her head again. "Never mind. It is...an old sore spot, from a long time before we came here. And no, no one is giving me trouble about my life. I haven't told anyone much about my life, just little things, and the parts anyone could infer from the things I can do."

A brief pause.

"Anyone still here. Wanda knew some things, but she never judged."

[worthallthis]

"Good. I think you are a perfectly fine person," Winter says firmly. "And anyone who says otherwise. Is wrong." Including you, Yelena, so stop putting yourself down, dammit. He may indeed be biased, and have a slightly twisted version of what counts as a perfectly fine person, but he's still firm in having this particular opinion.

[musicdied]

"I know when I'm beaten," she says, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Sure, it's more like 'I know when someone's stubborn enough to argue until we both pass out from exhaustion', but that's close enough to the same thing to count.

"I should probably get back inside before anyone notices I'm missing and tries to send a search party."

[worthallthis]

It is indeed close enough, and Winter will take it as a win. He nods. "All right. I'll be out here."

He leans down, holding out the flesh hand for her. He's trying this touching thing again now and then with her, and a hand around a wrist, or maybe clasping a hand back, is safe enough when it's Yelena.

[musicdied]

Her smile blooms into something brighter, and she rises up on the balls of her feet again to reach up and clasp his hand, squeezing gently.

It's such a small thing.

It means so very much.