WHO:Emma Frost & Kate Bishop WHEN: Tonight WHERE: Victrola WHAT: Emma has a valued client; he's just sort of annoying. Kate's unfortunate enough to be on the bar. RATING/WARNINGS: Low/None STATUS: Complete
Kate was working a late shift on a weeknight, and it was almost closing time. The place was slowly emptying, and the dancers were a little tired. Not overly so, but Kate could tell. Everyone just wanted to go home for the night. Clearing the tables, Kate noticed there was a pair in one of the booths along the wall. She wandered a little closer, and saw that it was Emma Frost and, presumably, a business associate. Kate didn’t want to interrupt, so she gave them their space, continuing her cleaning and clearing of dishes nearby.
Emma was starting to get to the point where she was ready to stab said business associate. They’d come in early, she’d called Charles earlier to inform him of her bringing a very lucrative investment to his club, the owner setting up the full VIP treatment for Mr Nashimi. Of course that was almost four hours ago and by this point Emma was wondering if a strip club wouldn’t have been fine for this sleaze.
Especially since she knew they were approaching close, and Emma wanted to leave just as much as the staff. A curt nod and half-laugh at Nashimi, Emma pointed towards the bar, as if she’d get them more -God knew she was about to drug the man to get him out- and she excused herself from his side while he entertained himself.
Getting to the bar, out of the way of Nashimi’s view, Emma just groaned and let her head fall to the polished wood. Uncharacteristic, but she wanted to go home to her girlfriend for God sake.
Kate saw the platinum-blonde woman climb from the table and head to the bar, and took her cue to rush over. She set down the tray of cleaning rags and used glasses, and straightened her apron as she moved quickly and silently through the bar to where the woman was standing. Kate knew her name was Emma Frost, and had heard of her from her Dreams. She thought. Unless this was actually someone else and Kate was going crazy.
“What can I get for you?” It was only minutes away from last call, and then the bar would be officially closed. But Kate had been known to slip an extra drink or two in for her best customers.
“Chloroform. GHB. A nice heavy bottle.” Okay, Emma wouldn’t be knocking out Nashimi with violence, but she was two minutes away from some psychic suggestion, really. She was trying not to go down that line and manipulate people that way, she knew just how dangerous and heady it could be. But this was beyond ridiculous now.
Wits ends were not good on Emma. “In lieu of that, I’ll take a double of whatever is the most expensive whisky you have.” Not her usual drink, but she was making an exception right now. “I swear I’m trying to get him out, but I don’t know if he’s been this close to semi-clothed females in a while.” Least of all when those females weren’t on his payroll.
There was a thing about bartenders, especially female ones, laughing at their customers jokes. It meant better tips, and more repeat business. Kate could be fairly fake with some of the clients, but none of them seemed to notice. She had a feeling Emma would absolutely notice if she fabricated a laugh, so it was a good thing the joke was pretty funny. Kate chuckled, thinking maybe she should keep some date rape drugs behind the counter for just-in-case situations. Then again, that might be a bit of a liability.
“Whiskey it is,” she said, smirking, and moved to pull out the bottle and the glass. She poured a double shot for Emma. “It’s all right. Some of the girls are finishing their shifts, so there’ll be less distractions to keep him here in a few minutes.”
Emma wouldn’t put it past this one to be happy with one woman, and paying enough in tips to get her to not mind being there longer. If that were the case she’d just need to mind-bolt the perv and get him out. “Yes, the less the better.” At least that way she could call in her own security to get him out without too much of a fuss and pay the girls to stay quiet. Emma wasn’t above bribes.
With a sigh, giving him until she finished her drink, Emma turned towards the bar, leaning tiredly on one hand. “Kate, isn’t it? I haven’t seen you the last few nights.” Because Emma had to entertain clients while regaining her footing from Adrienne’s betrayal, and Victrola was the best place that didn’t come with grease stains. “Vacation?”
Hey, Kate would take a bribe. Absolutely. She had a great deal going with the guy who was hired by her step-mother to sully her good name, but she’d like to be able to sweeten the deal with him, too. And a little extra cash in her pocket wouldn’t hurt things on that front.
“Sort of. Unpaid leave. It was a disciplinary action taken by my boss because I broke a customer’s nose in the parking lot.” She set the drink down in front of Emma on the bar. “He wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I forced him to.”
Drawing the drink towards her, Emma cocked an eyebrow at the girl, “Well, bravo, dear.” She gave a slight mock salute before sipping at her drink, knowing better than to toss back whisky this good and ruin her throat. “A pity any action had to be taken at all, I can’t stand men who think they’re entitled to something.” Least of all when they didn’t take a hint.
Maybe she’d have a quiet word in Charles’ ear about undue punishment of at risk people. “I’m sure his lesson was learnt a little more forcibly than yours. And I do hope your lesson learnt was don’t get caught?” Absolutely not a case of not doing it, simply don’t get caught doing it or face charges.
“Well, thank you,” Kate felt a little bit of pride mixed in with the guilt over what’d happened. She wasn’t going to apologize for breaking the guy’s nose, but she did regret that it had to happen at her place of business when she’d just finished her shift. Emma definitely had a point--the lesson was don’t get caught or walk another fifteen feet so you’re not on Victrola property before cracking the drunk bastard’s tooth.
“When I’m on the clock, I have to say the lesson was violence is never the answer.” Kate said, though she gave Emma a knowing smirk. “I hope he learned to keep his hands to himself, and I hope my fist taught him that lesson.”
“In my experience, no, he most likely did not learn anything.” Other than to duck. And even that was questionable. Of course, Emma had the luxury of working with a slightly higher class of men when she was in the business, more often than not they weren’t there for the alcohol in the least. Sebastian had a tendency to bring in the weaker of men, even if they held power elsewhere.
“At the very least, he’ll probably think twice before accosting females in parking lots.” A good swift punch had a tendency to do that. “I do hope he’s not attempting to press charges?”
“No. He’s the kind of man who doesn’t want to admit that a woman broke his nose.” Kate supplied. “He wouldn’t be able to win that case, anyway. His actions toward me were highly aggressive, and I could simply say he’d started the fight. He just got the worse end of it.” She realized she was probably talking too much about it, and she didn’t want to get in trouble for it.
“Can I get you anything else, Ms. Frost?” She asked, trying to stay on safer ground.
Oh, if only the world worked like that. Emma just gave a small smile because it would be nice if that would’ve been how it would play out; man approaches woman in car park, woman rejects him, man gets aggressive, woman shuts it down, man crawls off to lick his wounds and learn his lesson. Instead of the man in question taking offense, calling into question what happened, playing up his injuries and dragging things out. He didn’t need to win a case, just ruin someone else’s life in the process.
Emma’d just keep a little bit of an ear out for anything that might come up.
“No, thank you, Kate. I think I’m going to go and lure my drunken companion to his car.” Taking out some money from her purse, Emma left money for the drink and more than enough to tip Kate and the other bar staff (if they pooled tips) fairly well for the waiting around. “There may be another brawl in the parking lot, but don’t tell Charles.”
Kate chuckled softly, accepting the money to pay Emma’s tab. She nodded. “Your secret’s safe with me,” she joked, then gave Emma another smile. “Good luck. Let me know if you need any help. I hear I’ve got a pretty amazing right hook.” She turned to put the money in the cash register. It was just about time to close up shop, anyway.
Emma wouldn’t bother mentioning that she could turn into an organic construct and literally break the little man, or that she could control his mind if she put enough thought or pushed hard enough. There was no need to freak more people out. “I’ll be sure to keep you in mind.”
And off she went, because it was definitely time to get his ass out and get her own butt home.