she's a certifiably horrible dd. somewhere along the way of the bar crawl, she's lost ollie morales . he thought a night out might be nice and she'd agreed, if only because she's been trying to put herself out there more since the world nearly ended and she realized she'd seen very little of it. not that late night bars are really the 'you can't not experience this at least once in your life' kinda thing. at least, for her. 

after searching for a tedious twenty minutes and deciding he'll call or text if he suddenly realizes she's gone and needs a ride, she abandons the crowd and shuffles over to the end of the bar. 

the bartender doesn't look too pleased when she simply orders a water so she asks for a ginger ale too, glancing sideways to avoid his contempt that she's taking up a seat. and gets an eyeful of someone she doesn't recognize, not with her hair a curtain between them.

she sips her ginger ale and puts her phone face-up on the table. that way she'll see it if ollie does try to reach her. 

PENELOPE LIVY

☉

Idle fingers rapped against the bar top. For a second, she nearly had lost herself to the mundane static of typical bar music, had not for the sudden shift beside her.
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Curious, she lazily glanced up at them.
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"willow atkins?"
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The name reeked of dried crimson, remnants of wounds she had supposedly sewed shut. Like a name long forgotten, ripples of memories coarse through her head all at once. Dimly tinted memories of the future once stolen by a woman of similar hair, stature, and terrible taste in drinks.
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Penelope lifted up her head to garner a better look, her hair flowing back into place in large, incremental movements.

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[attr="class","ooc"] willow atkins[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

and now she gets an eyeful of someone who, unfortunately, does not like her very much. surprise makes willow's sip into a loud slurping noise and she grimaces, setting the glass of ginger ale down onto the bar. it doesn't help that penelope looks like actual shit. 

exhaustion drags at her face; disheveled clothes make odd angles, scrunching where they shouldn't. feeling embarrassed, realizing she's just staring, she looks her in the eye with regard. 

"yeah. penny? hi. uh, rough day?" she asks, by way of conversation, and immediately wants to kick herself. 

PENELOPE LIVY

☉

"Yeah," She admitted drily.
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Cold eyes raked the woman up and down, ready to discount her the same way she had done to her previous relationship, but as always, the woman was the glimmer of gold.
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What an annoying bitch.
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Ditching her brightly colored straw, Penelope forced it to the side before swigging back the rest of her drink, letting the burn soothe the already gaping wound eating up her chest.
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"And it's just gotten worse."
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She set back down the emptied glass and gestured for the bar tender to bring out another -- if they were going to continue this exchange, she was going to desperately need it.
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When he returned, he brought back two glasses, one of which penelope slid over to Willow.
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"Don't take up a seat if you're not going to order anything."
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Just like how you shouldn't take up someone's interest if you're not going to return them.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] willow atkins[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

willow would love to chalk the hostility up to whatever had led penny to the bar, alone, as ruffled as she is, but there is a personal venom laced in those words. a special dose of hostility saved just for her. it's surprising, the force of it, as willow can't remember actively saying or doing anything around penelope that warranted this. 

but it's so unsuspected that she can't even be affronted by it. when the drink is ordered for her, her lips tilt in a half grimace. she doesn't think explaining that she's not drinking at a bar would be the wisest thing to do in the face of this maelstrom of a woman so she takes it gently, thanking the bartender with a warm smile. 

"thanks," she says and realizes that, well, now she can't walk away. she stares down at the drink and thinks that maybe some liquid courage might be helpful here. 

"i'm a designated driver tonight, but i guess one drink won't hurt." she shifts. 

"i'm sorry you had a bad day." it's a lame attempt and try as she might, she can't sound as sincere as she might have were she talking to ollie. 

PENELOPE LIVY

☉

Her words of gratitude are grating on the ears. Like nails scaling down a chalkboard, Penelope's natural instinct was to grimace at the sound. If it hadn't been their awkward situation, Penelope might've found Willow's natural charm alluring. Maybe even she would find herself captivated by the dreamcatcher herself, another fly to her web of well-crafted lies.

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"The designated driver, huh? Nothing new there."
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Another harsh swallow loosened her lips far more than she had anticipated. Maybe her cocktail was stronger than she was prepared for, or maybe her company had finally given her an excuse to roll down in the mud after a series of frustratingly long dick-measuring contests.
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Rather than answering her continued words of kindness, Penelope chose to dig into her deeper. A piece of payback after years of abstinence.
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"You always did love forcing people to feel dependent on you. Who's the lucky guy tonight? boruta maher ? ollie morales ? Or is there a third guy in the picture now?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] willow atkins[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

unlike penelope, willow takes it slow. she has little interest in doing more than nursing the glass until ollie finds his way back to her. she questions whether she should also ask penny if she'd like a glass of water, then abruptly decides against it.

and is happy she does, because - 

oh. oh. willow does not like this at all. her head snaps back around in sheer bewilderment, feather earrings swinging against her cheeks. wide green eyes stare in unabashed shock at the drunken (because she must be, right?) woman in front of her. the jab balloons her indignation and her face scrunches with minute fury, fingers dimpling against the sides of her glass. 

the urge to snap, to churlishly defend herself at the expense of her pride almost overwhelms her, but her breath comes out forced and slow through her nose; she is not doing this with penelope. 

it's then, unfortunately, that willow's face-up phone decides to light up. 

3 new messages from: ollie 🍂
'i miss penny'
'should i call her?'
'no i shouldnt fuck'

"i don't think you know me very well, councilwoman," she says delicately and picks up her phone to start replying. 

PENELOPE LIVY

☉

The haze of alcohol was clear in her system, noted by the small sway in her every movement, and the incrementally increasing slur in her voice. But, more than that, the curl of her lip and the bite of her words were fueled by years worth of built-up resentment for a future stolen.
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Leaning forward into the bartop, Penelope's head snapped back as an interminable spat of laughter came roaring out.
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"How I wish that were the case," She finally allowed her fit of laughter to melt back down into a sigh. "But, thanks to your good friend ollie morales, I know more than I ever wanted to."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] willow atkins[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

penelope has most certainly had too much to drink. idly, willow wonders if she should call the councilwoman a cab. there's absolutely no way the redhead is getting in the back of the car willow's driving...with ollie sharing the backseat. if that isn't a recipe for disaster, willow doesn't know what is. 

no, don't call her while you're drunk. where are you? i moved on to the next bar so meet me there.

she feels bad sending ollie on a wild goose chase, but penelope's looking for a fight and after what ollie's told her, she's fairly certain they won't end the night all singing kumbaya together. 

the laughter makes her jump and she nearly drops her phone. annoyed, she flips it back onto the bar (facedown this time) and gives penelope her full attention. 

"is that what this is about? i'm not going to apologize for being friends with him." she pauses, takes a small sip and rejoices in the fact that she can still speak coherent sentences - more than her company can manage. 

"but i'll entertain the idea. tell me what you know about me, penelope."

PENELOPE LIVY

☉

The innocence of her words only fueled this bitter spat further, cycling into itself until a large burst erupted from its ashes. Every word, every glance back over, it all fed into the flame, lumber to it's engulfing resentment.
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"Born in rustboro," she began, dragging her drink back up to her lips, launching off the assault of character from the rockets of alcoholic courage, "manages some fucking shop in Fallarbor , met Ollie while he was working a job."
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Each point was counted off the tip of her fingers, the last one more bitter than its predecessor.
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"Oh, and you absolutely use ollie as a stand-in boyfriend without any of the drawbacks."
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More like a stand-in father, but Penelope bit her tongue on that one. Her kid situation wasn't a line she wanted to cross. Not yet, at least.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] willow atkins[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

okay, so maybe penelope does know something about her. but those are just facts. those are things you'd find on wikipedia pages - y'know, if willow had a wiki page (which she does not). and everyone in town knows about her flower shop and word of the mouth is the bread and butter of business and - 

"excuse me?" she says and nearly spits out her ginger ale. the drink penny had bought for her sits half-drank a hand's length away from her. 

"that's what this is all about? this is why you don't like me? he's my closest friend, penelope." she sets her glass down, fingers tense and white-knuckled. "it probably says more about you if you're talking about 'drawbacks' when it comes to relationships."


she flips her phone back up to see a few new messages from ollie. 

ok

but cn u call her?

& tell her that i miss hr

we dont even have to be frns

i just dont want her to hate me wils

she thumbs back:

i'll tell her. you're at the next bar, right? howling?

PENELOPE LIVY

☉

"Huh? Oh, right. I forgot. What would you know about a healthy relationship?"
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Slowly, the amusement of Willow's little naive act was drawing as empty as her glass. What use was there in arguing with a woman claiming to be blind?
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Better yet, were there even any prizes to be won?
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She already won the man of her dreams, she already accumulated a position with a great wealth of power, and despite what anyone might say, her career had been nothing less than fruitful. So, if nothing less, what was there to be gained from this?
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"Forge-"
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But then, just as she moved to shoo Willow away and finish off the night for herself, in the corner of her eye a familiar name caught her attention.
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"...so you still have him on the hook? "
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She bit her lips into a frown.
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[attr="class","ooc"] willow atkins [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

it takes a long time for her to type out that message to ollie, but only because her fingers are shaking so hard with anger. ghastly, primitive anger that comes with flashing eyes and heavy breathing. memories of her father's form come to mind and shift just as quickly, renewed reinforcement to help her stand her ground. 

because when he grew angry, he took a moment. he meditated. he calmed. he breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth, like she does right now. steels herself. tucks the bad thoughts (like how much she would love to sock penny in the face) away and leaves herself calm. focused. 

it takes effort. an incredible amount of effort because penny presses another button with her barbed fingers. 

"he misses you," she says instead. simply and plainly. "he doesn't understand why you won't be friends with him. you're foolish to hold onto anger and to hold onto the past. he's an incredibly good person - one of the best, i think - and your life is worse off for not having him in it."

she shrugs. "but what do i know, right?"

PENELOPE LIVY

☉