Queenie's Party:
Queenie looks out at Paragon from her penthouse balcony and reflects on the recent events her team mates in Project Rebirth have had to endure. The Code Unit problems and the multiple re-infections from Dr. Vhaz just to name two. As she takes the last sip of her morning cappuccino and delicately finishes her croissant , she makes up her mind. Yes, today is the perfect day to plan a party…it’s just what we all need! She picks up the phone and dials:
“Good morning. Paragon Hilton. How may I direct your call?” the voice answers.
“Yes...I need to speak with someone about reserving one of your ballrooms for a party”
“One moment please”
*click*
Ugh…muzak. “I can’t wait to hear The Cuckoo’s Nest play” she thinks to herself.
“This is Mr. Rego. How may I help you this morning?”
“Good morning Mr. Rego…this is Queen Bee. I was interested in renting one of your ballrooms for a party.”
“ I see. What size room will you be needing?”
“ Hmm..lets see. Big enough for say 100 people to eat and dance comfortably”
“Do you have a date in mind?”
“No, I haven’t dated since my husband died .”
“How tragic… I am sorry for your loss.” * He rolls his eyes at the stupidity of the wealthy*
“Now, was there a certain day you wanted to have the party?”
“Thank you for your kind words Mr. Rego. I would like to have the party this Saturday if possible”
“ Let me check…ah yes… I believe we have just the room for you … I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?”
“Queen Bee…from Project Rebirth”
*ahem* “yes…yes of course. Now Ms. Bee, were you thinking of having a sit down meal or a buffet?”
“Oh sit down meal would be lovely!” She envisions her friends at the Project being served by handsome waiters in crisply pressed tuxedos.
“Beef, seafood or chicken?”
“Yes...that’s fine”
Mr. Rego rolls his eyes again. “Open bar?”
“Yes …and a champagne fountain of course”
“Would you like the hotel to provide the flowers or will you be hiring a private florist?”
“ I will find a florist Mr. Rego…I’m very picky about my flowers as you can imagine”
“Very well then ,will you be needing a band or a DJ?”
“I have a band in mind already …I will be hiring them myself.”
“Okay Ms. Bee. If you would be so kind as to hold for a moment I will tell you what your total bill will be. Except of course for the open bar. You will be required to pay for that the night of the party.”
*click*
*sigh* more muzak. Did Lolly say they were a rock band?
“Very well Ms. Bee...your total is $7450 . Will you be paying by cash or credit card?”
“Credit Card…Visa # 3604 5528 9601 0042.”
“Expiration date?”
Queenie looks at the card…they expire?
“Oh I see…says it’s good through August 2005.”
“Please be so kind to hold while I call for authorization”
*click*
NO! More muzak…this reminds her of her psychiatrist appointment tomorrow. Maybe Dr. Kaplan will give her something to help her sleep. Darn that Fenris for even suggesting that Dr. Vhaz was taking tissue samples from her via those hideous tentacles.
*ahem* “I’m very sorry Ms. Bee…you’ve been declined.”
“What? I don’t understand. I can’t have my party ?”
“Your credit card has been cancelled Ms. Bee…Good day.”
*click*
Cancelled? How can that be? Daddy gave her that credit card as a graduation gift! A quick phone call will clear this whole mess up and she can call that smug Mr. Rego right back and book her party!
“Hi mommy!” she says with a smile in her voice.
“Mia?”
“Yes mommy…it’s me. I need to speak to daddy. It’s urgent.”
“Sweetie…you know daddy is very busy. Can I help you with your problem?”
“Oh maybe….I tried to use my credit card…you know the one daddy gave me for graduation? They said it had been cancelled! It’s just a big mistake right?”
“ No Mia…I’m afraid it’s no mistake. Your father has decided to break off all ties with you. He simply can’t risk upsetting his business partners by having a daughter that’s a super hero.”
“What??”
“ Well sweetie…calm down now. It’s no surprise that some of your father’s business partners are less than upstanding citizens”
She shakes her head in disbelief .
“Mommy… I have to go now. I’ll call you back”
She hangs up the phone as the tears start to pour down her cheeks.
The next day:
Queenie wakes up slowly on her couch. The phone conversations from yesterday still blurry in her not yet caffeinated mind. Was her party really cancelled? Her credit card cancelled? Her father no longer having anything to do with her and involved with shady business partners? The implications are too much for her to handle without her morning cappuccino. As she stumbles to the kitchen to make her coffee she remembers something about tentacles and tissue samples. Dr. Kaplan will certainly get an earful today!
She leaves Dr. Kaplan’s office with a prescription for Restoril and samples of Xanax. The Xanax should help calm her down a bit and the Restoril will most certainly help her sleep. She finds the nearest coffee shop and takes a Xanax. On her way back to her apartment a sign catches her eye…Warehouse for rent.
“Hmm…that’s interesting. Don’t see many warehouses for rent in this neighborhood” she thinks to herself as she continues walking down the street. Too bad about the party…it would have been great to hear Lolly’s band and have some fun for a change. All this crime fighting stuff has really killed her social life not to mention her family ties.
“Okay Queenie…snap out of it girl!” She says aloud.
She wonders if that’s a new inner strength speaking or the Xanax.
Then it hits…the warehouse!
She runs back to the warehouse and writes down the phone number.
Filled with a new determination she never knew she possessed she flies back home to make the call.
After several rings a sultry female voice answers:
“ Remington Weaver and Associates...how may I help you?”
“I ‘m interested in renting your warehouse in Steel Canyon…the one on Bismark.”
“You need to speak to Mr. Weaver about that particular property. He’s not in at the moment. Is there a number where you can be reached?”
Queenie gives her the number and hangs up somewhat disappointed.
She decides to call her friend Lolly. A shopping trip is just the thing to lift her spirits! Even if she can only afford to window shop.
She opens up the communicator given to her by Project Rebirth:
“Lolly you there?”
“Yeah I’m here Queenie…whats up?”
“It’s been a bad day. I could use a friendly ear and a trip to the mall.”
Eyes still closed in her sleep, the big red-head rolls over onto her stomach so she can reach her nightstand. Her hand fumbles around until it finds her alarm clock as she pushes the snooze button.
*Ring*
Again the arm reaches out, this time hitting down on the off button.
*Ring*
Reaching under her bed she feels around. Finding what she wants she bashes the clock once with Betty as it shatters into a hundred pieces.
*Ring*
Eyes opening reluctantly she raises her head and looks around as her brain finally forms the thought "telephone". Stretching out she picks up the phone praying to god that that will finally stop the infernal ringing.
"Hello? ...Queenie? ...Do you realize what time it is, it's..." Lolly looks over at her nightstand just in time to see a stray spring from her clock fall off the table, "...err..what time is it?...12? Which one? NOON??? Queenie, the suns still up!...OK, yeah the mall, Bye."
With a sigh, Lolly reaches a foot out tentatively toward the floor, misses, and ends up rolling out of bed with a crash landing on her rear. She sits there a minute contemplating the reasons that the all mighty possibly could have had for daytime. Finally she slips on her Bugs Bunny slippers and stands up.
Lolly isn't a morning person.
Shambling over to her sink she grabs her coffee cup. Filling it with hot water from the tap, she pours in a generous portion of instant coffee, along with a shake or two of Tabasco sauce. Taking a big sip, she opens the fridge and grabs a slice of cold pepperoni and mushroom pizza as she completes her breakfast. She wonders for a moment if Joe Perry started this way.
"The mall. You can do this." Lolly considers a minute then picks up the phone. "I need reinforcements." She quickly dials a number. "Hello, Ama? This is Lolly. Hey a few of us ladies are heading over to the mall, hope you can come."
After leaving messages on the other message machines of the women of PR, Lolly puts on a pair of jeans, a black Rolling Stones T-shirt from their third farewell tour, and a pair of white Nike tennis shoes. Fumbling around in a drawer she finds the darkest sun glasses she owns and she's ready to roll.
Downstairs she braces herself as she steps out of the door and into the sunlight. She whistles for a cab and is surprised as she gets one right away. Stepping into the back she
grumbles about leg space a minute then settles back into the seat. "The mall please. No hurry."
Re: Queenie's Party:
Ama sits at her makeshift lab bench in her apartment, staring out the window at the trees outside. A soft wind caresses her face as she breaths in the cool air as a call from a sparrow echoes in the background.
Suddenly, the scene changes, and she’s looking at a pond filled with many colorful fish, with a small waterfall on one end with a source seeming to originate out of nothingness. Large koi, each with a different color pattern, mouth at the food on the water surface. A few goldfish swim past, also partaking in the meal floating on the surface of the pond.
Ama stares at this beautiful scene for a long while, till a bird song interrupts her. Ignoring it, the bird calls once again, the same song as before, only louder. Suddenly realizing that the bird song was a phone ringing, Ama flips a switch in front of her and the scene disappears, leaving her sitting at her windowless workbench.
Grinning, she says to herself “interfacing the phone into the simulator was a useful addition, but the scene generator still needs a little work”. She jots down a few notes on a faded pad of yellow paper, as she fumbles with her left hand trying to find the ringing phone. She moves a pile of papers containing sketches, notes, and schematics out of the way and picks up the handset.
“Hello, this is Amaulia. Hi Lolly, how are you? Well, no… you don’t sound so good. I see… She woke you up, huh… Well sure, I’d love to go to the mall. Uh-huh. Ok. I’ll meet you there in 10 minutes.”
Ama looks around her small apartment, littered with miscellaneous inventions that didn’t quite workout. She cleans up her workbench to her best ability, stacking notebooks on top of each other, and shuffling papers around. She moves one notebook to the top of the pile, with a hand written label stating “Teleport device”.
She grabs her small pocket organizer in which she keeps her ideas in as she travels around Paragon City, as well as any problems, err, undocumented features, she finds with her inventions.
Amaulia carefully walks over to her closet, avoiding the miscellaneous parts scattered on the floor, and swings the large wooden double doors open. Rows and rows of clothes are brushed aside as Ama looks for a suitable outfit for today’s shopping trip. Finally she decides on a simple outfit, a modest wine red skirt that drapes down to her ankles to fully cover her legs.
“Someday, I’ll have to see a cosmetic surgeon to see if anything can be done so I can wear my shorter skirts again”, she mutters to herself.
She digs around in the bottom of the closet and holds up her discovery like an archeologist finding a fossil; a pair of black flats perfect for walking around the mall in. “I thought I lost these!”
She returns to the second row of clothes, and finds a light-red, summer weight, short-sleeved sweater. The mall is usually a little cool this time of year for Ama’s comfort.
“Ok, I think I’m ready to go shopping”, she says as she walks out the door of her apartment, securely locking the 3 deadbolts, and 2 electronic locks behind her. “You can never be too secure”, she mutters as she punches in the final keypad code to activate the custom built alarm.
She walks down the stairs of her apartment complex; nodding politely to anyone she catches eye contact with. “They probably all think I’m a tad off. Maybe I shouldn’t be so quiet all the time”, she says under her breath. “Then again, if they catch you talking to yourself, you’re only going to add to their speculations”, she thinks.
Reaching the bottom of the stairwell, she opens the door leading outside and begins her walk to the mall. “I knew there was a reason I bought this apartment!”
As she walks down the sidewalk she thinks, “Hmm... The mall, I haven’t been there since, ummm, yesterday I guess. Has it really been that long?”
Re: Queenie's Party:
After waiting outside for what seems like forever, Queenie enters the mall . She finds her last $20 bill and tries to decide what will make her feel better...capuccino or ice cream. A new pair of shoes would do it for sure but not a $20 pair. She lets out a long sigh and heads for Ben and Jerry's. She's greeted by a pimply faced teenage boy:
"What can I get for you lady?"
"I'd like a gallon of Cherry Garcia please...and a spoon"
"one spoon?"
"yes...you do have a spoon don't you?" She snaps.
"yes ma'am"
Finding the nearest table she sits down and digs in. What am I going to do? Her mind races. "I can't afford the penthouse on my stipend from Project Rebirth and the rent is due tomorrow." She shovels in more ice cream as she wonders if she will need to get a job. Queenie realizes she's eating the ice cream at an alarming rate and decides to do some window shopping until Lolly arrives. People shoot strange looks at her as she walks through the mall eating from the gallon of Cherry Garcia. Ocassionally she gives them her best prom queen smile just to confirm her obvious insanity. She stops outside her favorite shoe store and becomes entranced by the most gorgeous pair of Italian leather sandals she has ever seen in her life!
Lolly flips the man a 20 as she exits the cab. "Keep the change." She stretches her legs as she gets out, feeling the blood return to them in tingles. A blast of cool air hits her as she opens the glass door at the entrance. "Why do they keep these malls so blasted cold..." she thinks to herself, "... Don't I get enough of that from Windy, Wargo and Easy?"
Looking around at what seemed never ending rows of teeny boppers, goth kids and assorted teenage herds, Lolly looked for some sign of adult habitation.
"Now where would I go if I was Queenie?" Lolly thought to herself. Turning instantly she made a bee line for the nearest shoe store...and there she was. Looking over her newest buy no doubt. Italian of course.
"Hey Queenie, if you're thinking birthday present for me I wear a size 12!" With a smile Lolly hugs her friend, all thought of her early day wake up call, mostly, forgotten. "And I'll take a new purse as well."
Re: Queenie's Party:
Queenie is shaken from her trance by a familiar voice and a hug. Whats left of the gallon of Cherry Garcia ice cream falls to the ground.
"I'm so glad you came Lolly...I don't know what I'm going to do!" She says as the tears begin to well up in her eyes.
They walk to a nearby bench and Queenie relates the events of the past 2 days.
Reaching into her purse for a kleenex,she notices the green light flashing on her phone indicating a message. Maybe it's daddy...surely he changed his mind!
"Excuse me a second Lolly while I check my voice mail....maybe it's good news"
Her heart leaps when she hears a male voice start to speak and then realizes it's not her daddy calling to say it was all a big misunderstanding.
"This is Remington Weaver returning your call concerning the warehouse for rent in Steel Canyon. I would like to meet with you as soon as possible to work out a deal."
"Thats odd. It was the real estate agent I called earlier about renting the warehouse for the party. He sounds rather anxious to me" she tells Lolly.
Queenie shrugs "doesn't matter really...I have no money to rent a warehouse now...or throw a party for that matter"
Flight of the Bumblebee sounds from her purse..this time she hears it and answers.
"Hello?...Yes this is she......... Im sorry Mr. Weaver but I've run into some financial problems and I won't be able to rent your warehouse at this time.......Really? You'd be willing to do that?...can you hold a second?"
She covers up the mouthpiece on the phone and says to Lolly" He says we can work out the financial arrangements later...what do you think...want to go see it?"
Re: Queenie's Party:
Ama continued her normal walk towards the shopping mall. It was a bit further than she remembered it being in that it took her fifteen minutes to get there instead of ten. “I must be slowing down” she thought, paying no heed to stopping in at the electronics store for a moment looking at new components for an invention she’s been working on.
As she neared the entrance to the mall, she spotted a big red head slowly getting out of a cab. “There’s Lolly, looks like she hasn’t quite gotten moving at full speed yet” Ama said as her friend proceeded through the large glass doors.
Walking at a brisk pace so as not to be too late, she approached the glass entrance to the mall. “I hope there are some good sales today”, she quipped as she passed through the first of two sets of glass doors. A young woman ahead of her was already opening the second set of doors as Ama approached. As a pleasant surprise, the young woman held the door open for her instead of letting it close just out of Ama’s reach. The woman smiled for a moment, and then seemed transfixed on something on Ama’s sweater. A look of disgust appeared on her face, and she quickly turned and said something about freaks and walked quickly away.
Ama stood there in the entrance to the mall slightly stunned, not understanding what happened. She felt a cool breeze blow across the top of her left shoulder, and the answer snapped into her mind. Quickly, she pulled the shoulder of the sweater backup to its rightful place to cover the scars that were evident there. “I knew I should have worn something with a turtleneck”, she muttered.
Ahead of her, she saw Lolly and Queen sitting on a bench outside a shoe store. Ama made her way over to them quickly and quietly, as is her fashion.
Re: Queenie's Party:
Briare slams the door to her apartement with a frown. Looking around, she scowls at the broken window that the landlord has yet to repair. Flopping down on the lumpy couch, she looks at her answering machine and notices the blinking light. She hits play and crosses her fingers that this time she'll be able to understand the message.
Lolly's voice crackles through the static of the tape, but Briare can make out just enough words to know that "the girls" are getting together at the mall. The time of the message drones after the static stops. With a glance at the clock, she debates briefly if she they would still be there so long after Lolly left the message.
"Its shopping and Queenie. Of course they are still there." she decides, and heads to her makeshift closet for a quick clothing change. Dropping the denim dress over her head, she gathers her purse in one and and her hair up in another. The purse slides down her arm to her shoulder as she ties her hair up in a ponytail. Without further thought to her appearance, she heads out the door for the short jog to the mall.
The cold air surrounds her when she steps in to the crowded shopping center. With a sigh, she starts walking through the crowd hoping that she recognizes Lolly or Queenie in their "normal" clothing, because after thinking about it, she doubts that they will recognize her.
Re: Queenie's Party:
Queenie looks up to see her friend Amaulia standing in front of her. It makes her smile just to see Ama's big grin.
"Hello Ama...what a wonderful surprise!"
After exchanging hugs she quickly fills Ama in on the last 2 days events.
"So what do you two think...shall we check out this warehouse?"
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