10374/Stopover at Port-Lee's

Stopover at Port-Lee's
Date of Scene:	09 December 2019
Location:	Port-Lee's Road Stop, Port Newark
Synopsis:	Piper meets Eddie and Andi
Cast of Characters:	Piper Halliwell, Venom, Andi Benton

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Piper Halliwell has posed:
Newark's not one of Piper's favored stops, really. Living in Bloodhaven, NJ, Piper's not a fan of going around her state looking for talent for P3. That though is what she's been up to...and now she's come to Port-Lee's Road Stop. It looks.....well.....it looks like it could use some fixing. A lot of fixing. Beggers can't be choosers, which explains why Piper Halliwell, witch and cook is here, now,in a cross between a diner and a strip club. Mashed potatoes, chicken wings, mac n cheese, and....girls. Piper comes to some really off the beaten track (well for her) haunts. She's got her hair tied back in a ponytail, a winter coat on, and fitted jeans and slightly heeled boots. Plus, for now, she's got a look that asks 'what the eff am I doing here?'

Oh, right, scouting acts for P3. Great idea, till she took a wrong turn. And ended up here. She's headed for the buffet though, and she could totally go for anything food wise. Show and dance wise...nah.

Venom has posed:
New Yorkers avoid Jersey like the plague. But Eddie Brock is no native of New York, even if he has picked up a bit of a New York accent. Not that Californians had much of an accent. There's a reason that television loved people from California. It was as neutral as America got, tonally speaking.

And because he was a transplant, he had no problem crossing the river, well, rivers, since Gotham was between Manhattan and Newark. He was having a bit of conversation with the symbiote, wondering why they weren't heading back, but the symbiote was hungry, and it was either get some food that it would like, or it might take more drastic measures.

He used his phone to find some good grub in the area, and it brought him to this place. Looking at it, he had to double check the phone. "This passes for quality food in this town? No wonder people hate Jersey." As he leapt down from the building he had been perched on, he changed from the black suit, replacing it with a grey New York Knicks t-shirt, blue jeans, and a brown leather jacket, with a fur lining. He made the short trek, heading inside.

Unlike most of the patrons, he made a bee line for the buffet, where he saw a woman. In here? Must be a dancer on her lunch break or something. Or maybe she's with a boyfriend. He'd heard some women did that sort of thing.

Andi Benton has posed:
Talk about missing your stop. Andi had a day off from work and planned to go check out a popular music store in the western part of Gotham City. There were supposed to be a few rarities there she'd wanted for her small collection, but it first meant the subway, then a bus transfer that was set to continue on into Newark...and then she fell asleep with her headphones on, completely leaving Gotham itself before the voice of the driver was heard.

"...you! Hey, girl! Little punk girl! You have to get off the bus now!"

She woke with a bit of a start, looking around. The guy sounded annoyed, and she was grumpy all of a sudden. "Fine. Whatever. Just stop yelling at me already. Damn. Where are we?" Looking outside, she saw a sign: Port-Lee's Road Stop, advertising girls, a bar, and a buffet? "What the hell is this?"

The driver just pointed to the door off the bus, saying no more. Swearing to herself, Andi trudged off. She wore a dark coat over her upper half, and the lower part of her body showed the signs of a frayed purple dress, above the knees, black mesh-like leggings, ripped in places, and sneakers. She pulled up her phone and found the place. "Newark? Are you kidding me?" By then, the bus was already taking off.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper's not making a beeline. She hates bees. She looks for a spot ot sit and picks a chair that's just, just ever so slightly unevenly spaced. Glancing back to the buffet Piper gives a nod to the customers. Her plate's got mac n cheese and mashed potatoes, because the chicken was asking for a trip to the ER and bed rest. Totally not Piper's speed. Still, though she's reserving judgement on the food, well, until she's tried it and not been twitching aftr it. So she gets up to go to the bar, drinks are needed. Well, soft drinks at least. On her way past the buffet she pauses to look at it again, then the pole. "Ya'd think they stop at tomatoes but nah" she says with a shrug, resuming her stepping to the bar.

Venom has posed:
The review said to try the Mac and Cheese, so Eddie made sure to get a fair helping of that on his plate. He also got a selection of the other things on offering. Some barbecue chicken, some mashed potatoes, even some green vegetables, but it was mostly meat, starch, all the bad stuff that tastes good to an American palette. And then, oh, and then. He did something really weird. Heading over to the desert table, where there was chocolate fudge to coat ice cream, well, he took a ladle of it and poured it over his food as if it were some kind of nice sauce. Well, at least the symbiote would be happy.

Heading over to find a seat, he ended up taking the table next to Piper. He did not seem terribly interested in the dancers, even as one came up to him, offering a private dance, "thanks for the offer, but I'd hate to let this good food go to waste." Though when the waitress came by, he did order a Coca-Cola to go with it.

Andi Benton has posed:
By now, Andi has made her way into the place, tucking the phone away and ignoring any potential signs about age limits. She isn't old enough to drink, but..whatever. Really, she doesn't care all that much right now. The food doesn't smell that bad, at least, and while she appears surprised at the area for the dancers in a place like this, she mostly ignores that as well.

The food draws her closer, at which point she spots someone dumping a bunch of chocolate over a plate of food. That's enough to cause her to stop and stare, blinking. "Okay, so I've heard of people who don't like Whiz on their cheesesteaks, but that's a little weird." Eddie might just pick up on it. Eyes take note of others nearby, skimming past Piper.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper glances over her shoulder. A punk girl and....fudge. On food? Okay that's new. Surely it can't be /that/ bad to need copious amounts of fudge on it? Well....Piper looks to the punk girl and then the buffet. Piper's not moving, well, aside from turning to face the two others. "Hey, is the food that bad?" she asks. "Or is it just a case of I really, really need a sugar high right now?"

Both plausible. Both make sense to Piper, though being a cook herself she's a little worried about how it tastes. She does though look to a dancer. "How much would it take for you to dance your as over to somebody else and leave me be? I just want food. I'd scout you for my club but I like not being in jail" Piper smarts, shaking her head. She's tired, grumpy and, oh yeah, not looking forward to being hassled by dancers. Instead, Piper finally begins stepping towards the bar again.

Venom has posed:
Eddie replied, both to the punk girl, and the not so punkish girl, "maybe, maybe not, but definitely the latter, and now that you mention, it, I'm starting to worry about the former." He began to dig in, using a knife, fork, and napkin, having pretty decent table manners despite how hungry he was. After swallowing some, he said to the punkish girl, "have a seat if you want. Looks like we're the only three here for the food," though did he mean his other, or Piper, who had since gone to the bar. Shortly, his Coca-Cola would be dropped off by the waitress, which helped wash down the chocolate covered food.

Andi Benton has posed:
Unzipping the front of her coat revealed more of the light purple dress, but Andi also sported a few piercings - two in the bottom lip, one in a nostril, and one at an eyebrow. After tucking the headphones away, she continued to eye the mix of chocolate with foods that wouldn't normally have any reason to be covered in the stuff. "So I mean, chocolate's great and all, but I don't think it's /that/ great. And if the food here is /that/ bad I don't think that's going to make it any better." She tries to make herself sound all blunt and cool and even a little standoffish but it comes up a bit short, just like her.

The 'entertainment' is something she makes a point of ignoring as she tells the two of them, "I think I missed a bus stop. I'm not even supposed to be here." Piper gets asked, "What's this about a club?"

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper returns with a water and looks over her own, fudgeless, food. Eddie's not the only one worried. Piper's eyeing it with a cook's eye and running the fork through it like chefs do on TV to ensure things are properly cooked. Hearing about a club Piper looks up, "Oh, I own P3 in Bloodhaven" she says and then smiles. "You're right, chocolate's great, but you noticed the bar? Cheap beer is meant to wash down food. Well at least, if you believe what people tell ya" Piper nods. "Though...if the food is that bad....beer won't help. I should dig in and see if I convulse on the floor or stick my head out the door and help repaint the area" Piper points out. yep, she just went /there/

Venom has posed:
"Suit yourself kid." Eddie says between bites, chews, and swallows. It wasn't terrible. He'd had worse. But it might have helped that the symbiote was starving. The chocolate on the mashed potatoes was especially good, and really, the Mac and Cheese was the only thing worth having here, besides the unique mixture of mashed potatoes and melted chocolate fudge. "Ah, yeah, that'd explain how you ended up here." He had no idea where she was from, or going to, but if she found herself here, she must have been desperate, as Eddie's other was. With the mention of P3, Eddie's ears perked up, "P3? I heard that place is great. Been meaning to go... I would have, had I not worked up such an appetite, and it been closer."

Andi Benton has posed:
"Never heard of it." Andi's response to the club in Bludhaven is markedly different from Eddie's, who gets another look from her. "You don't look like much of the club type to me," she points out. "More like an athlete or something." Regardless, they seem to be going for the mac and cheese, so she spoons some onto a plate as she stays within speaking range. "I was going to get off in Gotham City. I must have fallen asleep or something. It's a long way from Queens." A few other things are loaded onto the plate, then she stops in front of the chocolate fudge and squints at it.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper shrugs, "Avalon Heights is dangerous at times. But yes we're good. Now you know why I was out here scouting for bands. I ended up in here" Piper nods. She's pleasently shocked by the food. THe mac n cheese is good. "So you two are? I'm Piper. P3 owner" she points out, looking them both over, fork set down for a moment as she sips water. The punk girl Piper could absolutely see in P3's crowd. The fudge guy? Nah not so much. Piper though gets all sorts in her club.

Venom has posed:
"The name's Eddie, and," he looked around, making sure no one else was within earshot, which wasn't hard, but he still wanted to be sure, "I'm an investigative journalist. Though I'm not looking for anything in here, except to keep this down." He joked. Yeah, he looked like he could give Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime a run for his money, and he was supposed to be an investigative journalist? At least that explains the old phrase about coming in all shapes and sizes. When Andi returns, he adds, "at this hour, you'll probably need to cab it back to the city."

Andi Benton has posed:
"Andi," the young woman says, tonguing one of the lip rings. "It's not that late," she adds, though it's close to getting dark at this time of the afternoon. "But I work at a Hot Topic. You think I can afford a taxi anywhere that far?" Even to Gotham to hook back up with the bus and rail might be too much. She swears again, frowning around at the interior of the place. The chocolate fudge is left untouched. The man can have it if he really wants it that badly. "Investigative journalist, huh," she adds, a note of skepticism showing up in tone and expression.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper knows how expensive cabs are. She knows first hand, and looks to Eddie again. "You investigating mac n cheese?" she jokes. "I got a headline for ya. Food contains mac and cheese. More at 11" Piper says with a smirk. Snark's her stock in trade. "Nah, I can give you a ride to NY if you want?" she adds to Andi then glances to the fudge again. What has been seen...and with a glance to Eddie Piper's curious. "So what do you mostly write about, if you don't mind me asking?" she asks between forks of mac n cheese and mashed potatoes.

Venom has posed:
Well, Eddie's done with his meal, and has been eyed suspiciously by the two women, his food choices have been insulted, he's been propositioned by the staff, and really, the food isn't sitting terribly well with him. The chocolate fudge wasn't bad. But the Mac and Cheese only sort of tasted okay going down. He was now seriously worried about the rest of its journey. It was nice that Piper was able to offer the punkish girl a lift. Even though Piper tried to be nice afterwards, the damage had been done. Eddie reached into his wallet, pulling out money for the food, even being nice enough to pay for Andi's, since she did mention that she wasn't exactly swimming in cash. And despite the attitude, he was a sucker for a hard luck story. "Well, it's certainly not a food critic." He got up to leave, "it was nice meeting you both."

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton is left to rub the back of her head a little self-consciously, looking quietly between Eddie and Piper. Granted, the chocolate fudge over the food was pretty out there as far as unusual ways to eat are concerned, but now her mouth twists around toward one side as if she's reconsidering something. "Ahh, you really don't have to do that," she says of Eddie putting out extra money for the meal. "I'm not, like, 'stand on the corner with a sign' poor or anything like that. If I said something to piss you off, I didn't really mean it." The punkish, gothy exterior seems to have developed a small crack, Piper's offer momentarily forgotten. Suddenly the food doesn't look as appealing, and she didn't act like there was anything wrong with it either.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper's got questions but they're unasked as Eddie gets up to leave. She feels like she put her feet in it, the food's okay but Eddie's reaction put a damper on things. Instead she just looks to the plate, looking at it hard as if working out what it's missing. Piper looks to Eddie as he gets up. "Hey I didn't mean to make you leave" she says with a look from Andi to Eddie.

Andi Benton has posed:
Frowning as the man leaves..it shouldn't bother Andi all that much, but apparently it does on some level even if he's a stranger. "Yeah, so the thing with the chocolate is weird as hell, but whatever. I wasn't trying to drive him off, though." She pulls the phone back out of her pocket and looks something up. "There's another bus that's supposed to come through in an hour or so. I can just take that one back. You don't have to worry about a ride." That, and she just met Piper. She picks at her plate with a fork, looking a little dejected.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper's sharing the dejection too. It's not her fault, she keeps saying. Not her fault, nope. Though she feels like it is, but hey....maybe. Just maybe, it's not. Maybe Piper walked in at the wrong time or something. There's a million reasons. But Piper shakes her head, "So what's up with you, aside from buses and things?" she asks with a look to andi, the food forgotten.

Andi Benton has posed:
"I was going to go to this music store because they had some stuff I wanted to check out," Andi explains, keeping her voice lower now, also maintaining an eye on the dancers around the place. Doesn't look as if she wants them to get too close to her. Then she fends off a yawn with a hand over her face. Maybe she really did fall asleep on that bus. An eyebrow lifts in Piper's direction, seeming to ask something of her in return without verbalizing it.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper nods, "You can't order it and have it shipped or look it up online?" Piper asks with a quiet tone to her voice. She's still in a funk about Eddie, but she shakes her head. Food's forgotten.

Andi Benton has posed:
Shaking her head, Andi says, "I like to get my hands on it first, and see if I really want it. You can't always find everything out online all the time." The plate of food is stared at, then she asks amid distraction, "What's your club like?"

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper shrugs, "Just your average nightclub in Avalon Heights. Not sure what you were expecting, music, alcohol, and people. Oh, and walls. Can't forget walls and a roof and a floor, and, yes, furniture" Piper says. With a straight face, too.

Andi Benton has posed:
"Yeah, most of those are all kind of important," Andi replies in a dry tone, taking her phone out again to look up where Avalon Heights is. "Damn, that's not even really close to where I usually go," she laments with a shake of the head.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
"Know what else is important in a nightclub?" Piper asks, "A bar. People" Piper says with a shrug, watching Andi. "You go from Queens to Bloodhaven...not that bad of a journey huh?" Piper adds with a look back to the food, then back to her. "You got a point about getting things from a store as opposed to online...but online has is benefits too" Piper nods, twirling her fork.

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton is clear to point out, "Well, I'm too young to drink, so a bar isn't important to me." But then, she doesn't run a nightclub, doesn't have a need to concern herself with things like that. Just a nod at the acknowledgment of doing some things in person compared to the alternative. "If we're talking clothes, you have to try everything on first unless you really know it's going to fit."

Piper Halliwell has posed:
"Yeah" Piper shakes her head, "Yeah but that's not a problem. I mean, I see enough horrifically made fake ID on a nightlybasis so...." she points out. She's not saying she doesn't care, mort she's not too bothered.She does though look amused. "If you want a ride, I'll give you a ride back to Queens" Piper offers looking to the door. Piper's got bands to scout.

Andi Benton has posed:
"Well...I don't usually ride anywhere with strangers, but I carry pepper spray and I know how to use it," Andi warns, raising a brow to see just how Piper reacts to that. "If it's not out of your way," the young woman adds.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper laughs gently, "I got my own tricks up my sleeve" Piper shrugs, sure, just don't let on you're a Charmed One, Piper. She does though nod. "Oh it's no problem. I can drop you wherever you want in Queens on my way back to Bloodhaven" Piper nods. "There's bands in the city I gotta scout anyway. Wait wait, you said Hot Topic? What if...?" Piper asks, leaning forward resting her elbows on the table, "I asked what you think my employees ought to wear given it's a casual dress code?" she muses.

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton doesn't look as if she suspects anything in particular as tricks are brought up. She seems entirely normal, except for her fashion sense. "Well, there are some places out there you might want to check out. And..yeah, at the big mall in Queens." Now she takes up at least a mildly curious attitude. "Casual? Ahh, how casual are you looking for?"

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper gets up and heads for the door with a nod. "Sure, let's head out then" Piper says, an unsaid 'this place sucks anyway' in her mind. She's got her jacket on, ready to get going out the door. Keys in hand, Piper's keen to get outta Newark. "Suree I'll drop you there, you want the lot or pull into a space and come to the doors with me or what you want?" Piper asks. "Oh and the dress code, think casual casual, not business casual. More like what you wear to go to the club. Though...in your case, not quite so hard to miss" Piper nods. "More blending in, you know? Though there's a goth chick who works keeping the lights on, and doubles as a bartender, smart girl" Piper says with a smile.

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton pays for the food, and given that Eddie seemed to leave his money regardless, that's what gets used for it. "Uhh, the apartment I live in is fine. I'm not scheduled to work today, and I really don't want to be around that place on a Sunday if I'm off." That said, she follows and zips the coat back up, hands stuffed into her pockets. "Depending on what they go for, you can do the basic bartender or server stuff, like a shirt and pants, or you could go for the more eye-catching. Leather, shiny stuff." She nods absently to the mention of the goth chick, offering a rolling of a shoulder in a shrug. "That's cool."

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper nods and heads out to her Jeep, waiting on Andi to follow. "Apartment it is, alrighty" she nods.