8139/The Most Best

The Most Best
Date of Scene:	02 July 2019
Location:	April O'Neil's Apartment - Brooklyn
Synopsis:	A lack of AC brings Vanessa to April's doorstep during a July heatwave
Cast of Characters:	April O'Neil, Copycat

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April O'Neil has posed:
So April had set Vanessa up with a key and rundown of the security system of her building. The Antique Store had had a tour-of and Vanessa had gotten a lot of stories about it out of April. Her fondest of which was how she got to sit on the counter and help take people's money from them as well as operate the register. And that the store itself 'Sunny Rose' was named after April, in a manner of speaking anyway. It was the name that her mother called her because she always said that April 'lit up her life like a summer sun and had the hair of a Valentines rose.' Now, today, its the name April goes by on her social media account and so forth.

Currently? April is upstairs, she's curled up on the sofa with her laptop on her lap, her television is on Channel Six News and she's watching those 'ass hats' at the anchor desk that she hates so much rundown the stories from the day, waiting for them to eventually get to the report she did for a criminal organization.

Dressed in a white teeshirt with the cast of the 90s sitcom 'Blossom' on the front, some exercise shorts in bright yellow and her red hair tied back into a loose ponytail, April's in ultra casual mode near the end of a long day.

Copycat has posed:
Outside the city is cloaked in a sweltering heat. A heat wave that decided to settle in over the most densely packed part of the nation, pinned in place a low pressure area offshore that just does not want to budge to make way for the warmer air to pass out to sea. The news is currently doing a human interest story, showing one of the parks with a myriad of fountain nozzles set in concrete, sending water into the air in fanciful patterns while children stream back and forth through the cooling spray.

Outside, the sun is down, but the heat still remains. The news is just about to get to April's story when her phone chimes. If she checks it she finds a text from Vanessa: "AC down. Any chance I can crash? I'll bring beer." A glance at the weather on her phone would reveal the day's low is supposed to be 85, and it won't fall that low until the wee hours of the morning, still a ways off. 91 outside right now. Ouch.

April O'Neil has posed:
April's phone is sitting on the sofa beside her and when it buzzes it lights up the whole of its front face, it shows off a picture of April and Vanessa cheek to cheek having taking the selfie together while they were out eating at a newrby pizza joint not too terribly long ago.

She reaches for it, reads the text and starts to tap to responds. "Of course. Come on over. I'm settled in for the night so its pretty chill here." And with that said she closes her laptop and leans forward to set it down on the coffee table in front of the sofa. She stands up and starts to pick up a bit so the apartment is cleaner for her guest, she doesn't like to look like a heathen after all!

When her news piece comes on, she listens to it and starts to periodically curse at the tv about how they've editted it all wrong!

Copycat has posed:
About 20 minutes pass, the time it would take for Vanessa to catch the subway over. Thankfully she lives just down a line, not requiring any transfers. There comes a soft rap at the door and the sound of a key going into the lock. And then the door opens and Vanessa comes in. "Didn't want you to have to get up," she says, as if explaining the use of the key.

Vanessa closes the door, locking it, unlocking it, and locking it again, then giving the door a little tug to make sure it's securely closed before she turns back, slipping her keys into her purse. She's wearing a pair of shorts and a faded t-shirt with a logo of a cartoon bulldog and the words "Dawg Pound" on it in orange and black. The t-shirt is clinging to her rather fetching, as she has been quite obviously perspiring.

As she moves into the air conditioning, Vanessa sets down a small overnight bag, and a paper bag that probably contains the beer from the sound it makes, and holds out her arms to either side. "Oh, sweet god," she says as the air conditioning hits her skin. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she tells April.

April O'Neil has posed:
April is seated on the coffee table when Vanessa comes in, rather then the sofa. She'd tossed a bunch of clothes into the bedroom and just thrown her trash away into the kitchen waste bin and was just sitting there staring at the news when Vanessa comes in, though they were wrapping up by then and the late night tv shows were coming on.

"Hey." April says with a sly grin before she watches the other soaking up the cooled air of the apartment. "Spared no expense on that damn central air system. Had it installed last year. I was so done with window units. God, the noises they make drives me insane while I was trying to focus on my writing."

April moves to stand anyway, since she wasn't seated on the sofa. "Here." She says as she steps over to the closet and pops it open to drag out a osculating fan. Its plugged in within moments and flipped on, standing up on a nice telescoping arm its chest level so its good to fan the whole room with cool air.

The redhead stands back then and puts her hands on her hips to grin at Vanessa. "I still got one of the window units, its downstairs if ya'd like to haul it home tomorrow. Happy to help."

Copycat has posed:
Vanessa gives a little mewl of delight as the extra fan comes out. She reaches in the paper bag to retrieve two bottles of light beer, opening them and passing one over to April, keeping the other for herself. "Wouldn't do any good, I'm afraid," she says of the offer of the window unit. "Electricity is out, which is why the AC is out," she says. "They said they don't know how long it's going to be before it's back on. I had to help some of the other people from the building get over to a shelter, some of the older ones," she says, shaking her head. "But I had to practically kick and claw to get them to let them all in. No extra room for me," she says.

"You're always bailing me out, April. I'm going to have find a way to repay you somehow," she says, pointing over to April with the neck of her beer before taking a sip from it. "How've you been? Oh, did your story come on? How was it?" she asks, noting the TV that April had been watching.

April O'Neil has posed:
April accepts the bottle of booze from her friend and just turns to waltz toward the kitchen. "I got some food if you're hungry." She says as she passes into the kitchen then and pauses in the doorway to turn and look back at Van.

"You're kiddin' me." April says. "Jesus christ, we gotta get you into a new place. A place that doesn't do that kinda shit to its tenants. You don't deserve to live in such a shit hole, Vanessa." She urges her... but then again, April has lived a comparatively different life, never really having truly 'gone without' and it might be something that that Vanessa likely notes about the redhead.

With a heavy inhale then a big exhale. "The report was butchered. All they do is censor me. I don't know why I still work for these fuckers." April doesn't curse boldly often, only when she's really annoyed.

Copycat has posed:
The rotating fan sends swirls of cold air flowing through the apartment, Vanessa making the most of them. Her skin is lightly tanned and the perspiration leaves her glistening in the lamplight. She works her fingers through her dark hair, itching at her scalp and then turning to let the air to the back of her neck.

"It's... tough," she says of her apartment. "It's rent controlled, and finding anywhere for the same price these days is just about impossible," she says. "But yeah, the landlord tries to do as little as he can because of it. I think he'd love to have the building empty so he could do something else with it. They've been refurbishing a few buildings in the area. Probably wants to do the same," Vanessa says with a sigh.

She moves over nearer to April, and looks like she wants to touch the other woman's shoulder, but doesn't want to do so while she's overheated like that. "I'm sorry, April. Your talent is so wasted on them," she says, showing her friend support.

April O'Neil has posed:
April leans on the doorframe into the kitchen and she just watches her friend cool off while she raises her new drink up for a sip from it. After sipping she just grins over to her. "I'm tellin' ya, I'll hire ya on even if just part time at the podcast studio. You can be a Show Manager if ya want. Just means greet guests, give them food and help make sure they're comfortable before and during shows. I mean, I got one already, but he's a bum. He does the bare minimum. I hired him because he's Casey's cousin and he begged me to."

Another sip is taken of the beer and the compliment to her talents is well received. "Thanks, Dollface." April says back to Vanessa then, paying her a little teasing nickname that a waiter at a restaurant called her once when they went out to eat together. The same day that phone picture was taken no less.

April starts to turn then back to the kitchen. "Want pizza? Breadsticks? The guys left mine here, pineapple pie. They don't go near it whenever I buy it, which... is why I buy it."

Copycat has posed:
"Oh, are they pizza fans?" Vanessa asks. "I hadn't really thought about what they eat. I mean, well I didn't give it any thought. I guess I assumed normal food but had I considered it, I don't know what I might have decided," she says with a chuckle. She looks over thoughtfully and says, "If you don't mind, I'm going to just jump in the shower fast and rinse off? And after, the breadsticks sound great," she says.

If that's good with April, Vanessa grabs her bag for a change of clothes, and heads over to the bathroom. Soon the sound of the water starts up, Vanessa not waiting for it to get warm, but hopping right and savoring the cooler water. By the time she's rinsed off, lathered up with soap and rinsed again, she's finally cooled off as well. She'll turn off the water and dry off, then dress again in some shorts and a different tee.

April O'Neil has posed:
"Of course!" April says then, motioning beside her where the bathroom is on the other side of the kitchen. "Have at it." She grins then. "And yeah, its pretty much all they eat, besides bags and bags of junk food." When Vanessa heads on into the bathroom, April just goes about getting them both some food heated up and ready.

By the time Vanessa is out, April is back on the sofa with her bare feet up on the edge of the table, there's a plate of food waiting with a paper towel over it in the chair beside the sofa and her own is in her lap with the food half finished, the bottle of beer nearly finished too.

April looks over to Van and just grins at her. "You look restored." She says before chewing on another bite. A swig of the beer later. "You're welcome to stay here until your power is back on too, of course." Sometimes she wonders if she's being TOO nice to the woman, but she doesn't have a lot of friends who aren't mutants living in sewers, so she might be trying too hard... She's never had many female friends though.

Copycat has posed:
Vanessa joins April on the couch, bringing the rest of the beer over and then settling in beside her and getting one of the breadsticks. She tears off small pieces to nibble as they talk. "Thank you, I feel so much better. You are the best, April," she says gratefully.

Vanessa looks thoughtful a moment and says, "I was thinking about your offer, and... you know I don't really have a lot of close friends. Girls tend to move on before too long, and... there's some people in the building, but not really anyone I'd want to hang around with that's around our age, you know?" she says. Not that they are the same age, but not too far off at least.

"I'd just kind of worry I'd screw up somehow. And you'd feel pressure and... I just don't want to risk that," Vanessa says. "I don't want risk you. Risk our friendship?" she says, in a tone that suggest she's asking, hoping, that April understands.

April O'Neil has posed:
The television is turned to a movie now, its Wall-E--one of April's childhood favorites. She's staring at it while mostly focused on listening to Vanessa speak and finishing off her own food before she dabs at her lips with the paper towel she'd torn off of the roll for herself.

"I get it." April says after hearing the other's reservations. She glance sover at her. "I totally do." She flashes a quick and short smile before she looks back to the tv, then leans forward to exchange the old beer for a new one... planning to burn these calories off in the morning when she rides her bike all the way to the C6 Goodman building in downtown Manhattan tomorrow morning.

"But... this job I'm offering?" She states as she opens the 2nd beer up. "Its all geared toward... Taking. Care. of. People. Except you get paid to do it."

April takes a drink from the new bottle and then glances again at Vanessa. "What would you describe what it is you do with all the girls you do help? And the people from your building you helped tonight find shelter? How would you put that to words, in lets say... Oh, I don't know. Four words total."

Copycat has posed:
Vanessa gets a warm and amused grin at how April makes her point. "No one said there was going to be a test," Vanessa protests, the woman's large, clear eyes flashing with a playful light towards April. "I don't know. Four words total. Vanessa can't butt out?" she suggests. "Or maybe something about fixing everyone else's life if you can't fix your own? Wait, that's more than four," she jokes.

She gets another breadstick, "Oh, these are good," she says as she starts on the second one. Vanessa turns on her side, drawing her legs up onto the couch, knees bent between herself and April. "I'm not in this line of work because I'm great at holding down other kind of jobs, ok? I just... screw up. This is were I deserve to be," Vanessa, says, shrugging. "I've made my peace with it," she says. "But I appreciate what you're offering, I do."

April O'Neil has posed:
April finishes her plate of food to a degree that she finds satisfying so she leans forward and sets the plate down, then leans back and just brings her own feet up to cross them together beneath her, sitting in the center of her big comfy sofa that she bought last year too to replace the one that had been in here since she was a kid, she called it the 'dust trap' because it was just... so bad.

"Its okay, its just an offer." April says then as she looks over to Vanessa and lays her head back on the sofa, then turns her gaze over to the other to look at her to smile all big and happy at her. "You do what makes ya feel most best about yourself. Most best." She repeats the bad phrasing, because she liked how it sounded in the moment.

"I got Return of the Jedi queued up too for when you're ready to sleep. Because I'm the bestest friend anyone could ever ask for." Now she's just grinning to the other woman before she tilts her head up again to take another sip of the fresh cool beer.

Copycat has posed:
Vanessa's smile grows into something beautiful. "You are. The most bestest friend," Vanessa confirms to April. She reaches over to squeeze the other woman's hand for a moment before letting to to get another breadstick. "I love your place," she says, glancing around it. "I love knowing the history you have here," Vanessa says. "Like I can imagine you in here with your family and all," the woman comments.

Vanessa leans back in the couch, leaning her head down against the cushion in the back. "So how much longer do you plan to stay at Channel Six?" she asks. "I know it's good exposure for you and all. You seem a bit irked at them though. I get the feeling it's a regular occurence?" she asks.

April O'Neil has posed:
April shoots a big smile back to the other and squeezes her hand in return before they part and she just grins lightly to the talk of the apartment here. "I won't tell you that I've been browsing places in Manhattan then. Part of me wants to move everything out there, just to get more centralized and so my guests don't have to come out to this part of Brooklyn. Some of them, I think, find it a bit odd to not be in Manhattan to go to a show like mine. I don't know..."

She shakes her head and looks away at the Channel Six question. "I... went back there because they hiked my pay so much. Once I sorta blew up online, they realized that having me was benefiting their ratings. But... its been weird there, ever since the attack."

Channel Six was attacked over a year ago by someone who wanted April dead for investigating him too deeply. A weird little... alien creature, he stormed the C6 offices with a mech suit and actually killed two people before a hero known as Power Girl arrived to put the little shit in his place and get him arrested.

"I should just cut it off, but it was always my childhood dream. To be a reporter. I used to watch them and demand to change the channel to the news broadcasts." She grins again softly. "Times have changed though. Its a dying way to deliver the news, and... I never realized how much 'Truth' they really do not tell the public."

Copycat has posed:
"How do they get away with that though? I mean, don't the other channels or news outlets say what the truth is and make their competitor look stupid?" Vanessa asks. It probably exposes a bit of naivete on her part. Or at least, a lack of worldliness at least in the circles in which April moves.

Vanessa's lips purse a little bit. "You should be the editor or whatever they are called. Producer? The one in charge, so you can make sure that they tell the truth," she says. "Though you probably wouldn't get to be in front of the camera. And you're much too beautiful to be hiding behind it," Vanessa tells April with a warm grin.

She's finished off the third breadstick and seems thoroughly sated now. Vanessa sips her beer while they talk, fingers picking at the label, slowly peeling a corner of it from smoked brown glass.

April O'Neil has posed:
The compliment about her looks makes April 'Awwww' audibly in response. The rest just makes her go through a myriad of facial expressions and emotional reactions. "Its some parts politics and some parts being that television broadcasting is still rooted in the culture of the twentieth century. Like legit nineteen fifties shit is still holding news broadcasters back. The whole fake presentation of a 'perfect American dream' and that 'everything is all smiles and all we care about is football and sunshine'. When something remotely 'controversial' is broadcast you see one of those vapid Breadstick Anchors react like they're a ninety year old woman clutching her pearls to her chest. 'Oh mai!'" April gets a bit worked up when she talks about this stuff, thats pretty clear.

"The rest is just corporations patting each other on the back to control the narrative and maximize their profits. 'Truths like this don't help anyone, Miss O'Neil'." She says that as though its been told to her before. "'The people just want to hear what they can understand, Miss O'Neil. Nothing shocking, only what they're used to hearing.' The internet is just the only way to get the truth out, if corporations aren't trying to censor us there too!"

She tries to relax a bit and exhales to let the tension out. She glances over to Vanessa and smirks. "Sorry. I'm crazy in my own ways... clearly."

Copycat has posed:
Vanessa has only a smile for April. And an approving smile at that. "You are. But it's my kind of crazy," she says with a soft little grin back for April. "Well, I hope you turn all of those corporations on their ear then," she tells the other woman, before pausing. "What does that even mean, turning something on their ear? It makes me think of an old mother grabbing her son by the ear when he's been bad," she muses before shaking her head and moving on.

"Well, I do like the football and sunshine part. But, yeah I guess I want to know the truth of what is going on," Vanessa says. She lets out a little bit of a yawn, covers it up with a sip of beer after, then sets the bottle down. "So, any late night Neighborhood Watch Turtles planning on dropping by tonight?" she asks, glancing over to the window. Oh yes, that thing is going to get triple-checked before she goes to bed.

April O'Neil has posed:
April laughs at the ear phrase and shakes her head side to side. "I don't know, but now I won't be able to sleep until I figure it out." She chides back before she glances to the television again. "I'll do my best, but... the world will change however it wants to change, ultimately. Just gotta do what we feel is right and hope for the very best." She glances back to Vanessa then. "The Most Best."

A sly grin is shown before she hears that last question and she shakes her head again and looks away. "Two of them were here last night. They had an internal group fight over who truly won at a sports video game, so they came here to get away from the other two. Thats why I had this pizza in house already." She takes another sip from her drink. "So nope, probably won't see them for another few days, till the weekend maybe."