2009-10-01: Breakfast at the Bar

Starring:

Charlotte_V4icon.png Bryan_V4icon.png Sydney_V4icon.png

Date: October 1, 2009

Summary:

Charlotte is pulling a double shift and two patrons associated with the NYPD enter during the morning shift.


"Breakfast at the Bar"

Oldcastle Pub and Restaurant, Lower Manhattan

As it happens in these new jobs, the new girls are often made to do what the regulars will not. As such, Charlotte was asked to pull a double shift last night, and she did just that! But that leaves her here this morning, leaning on the bar of the near-empty place with cup 18 of coffee in front of her. She's resting her cheek on her fist and is slowly nodding off, her hair a bit frizzled after all that exhersion from a night of Irish-style drinking.

The weather here in New York is a tad colder in the fall, than it is from Bryan's neck of the woods, he enters the bar rather quickly, and rapidly closes the door behind him, slightly shivering he approaches a table, and sits down.

Never having actually entered the Oldcastle Pub, Sydney has been curious about it since she started consulting with the NYPD several months ago. And while it's not exactly the time of day most people would go to a Pub, the young woman knows she won't get any dissertation work done at home or the office. With a large stack of journal articles balanced in her hands and her laptop bag slung across her body, Sydney struggles to open the door to the pub. In fact, in doing so, she fumbles the articles, manages to walk inside, and then looses them to on floor. Frantically, she struggles to pick them up as quickly as possible.

Charlotte was already on her way to Bryan with a menu and a roll of silverware, but she sets them down without much of a word as she moves past him to quickly go to Sydney's side. "Just a minute, sir," she promises, smiling through the bags in her eyes as she reaches Sydney, bending down to help her pick up all the things. "Here, let me help you with that…" as she moves, the necklace with the large faux-ivory elephant charm sways on her neck. "You sure have an awful lot of paper!" Once there were days when Charlotte would have been equally buried. But not anymore.

Bryan turns around to see the lady struggling to pick up her paper work. He would have helped her himself, if the waitress wasn't already helping her. Figuring they have it covered he just smiles slightly, turns back around, and studies the bar menu.

An embarrassed chuckle escapes Sydney's lips, "Yup! That's the life of a grad student." She smiles weakly as she continues to collect her articles. "Unfortunately, I've never been graceful, balance certainly isn't one of my strengths." She collects most of the papers, sighs, and then looks up at Charlotte, "Thanks for the help." Her gaze naturally falls to the necklace, "That's beautiful. Real?"

Charlotte reaches instinctively for the necklace, touching it and glancing down. "What? Oh…no. It's not real ivory, no. It's illegal to hunt for it and all, and the idea of wearing some poor creatures bones around my throne seemed a bit 'cavewoman' to me. I certainly didn't want the next guy who asks me out to think that it was proper etiquette to do so by dragging me off by my hair." Making sure that Sydney has everything she dropped, Charlotte touches her arm once to make sure she's alright. "Just have a seat I'll be with you in a second," she says with a dimpled smile, turning toward Bryan once more as she pulls out her pen and pad.

"Sorry about that, would you like some coffee to get you started?" She asks, giving him a dimpled smile.

Looking up only a moment to meet the woman's eyes, He smiles and says, "That sounds fine, and there's no apology needed." He pauses a second, looking off, not at the menu more like in deep space somewhere, but then glances back, "She alright?"

"Thank-you," Sydney smiles back rather warmly as she pads towards a table adjacent to Bryan's. She plunks all of the journals onto the table top, and removes her laptop bag, placing it on the seat beside her. Wrinkling her nose, she glances at the pile of paper and frowns momentarily. With a sigh, she rummages through the articles and pulls the one she'd been reading on the subway to the top. "So much for filing," she scoffs.

Charlotte glances over her shoulder at the woman, then back to Bryan. "She seems alright. Let me get you that coffee." The waitress turns, disappearing behind the counter a moment. She pours two mugs, with creme and sugar on the side, and returns, offering one to Sydney and one to Bryan.

Looking over Sydney's mess of papers, Charlotte, tired though she is, wrinkles her nose a bit, but it's still in good humor. Poor girl, it says. "Do you need some help with that? Believe it or not I have a lot of experience pushing paper." Believe it or not she was a P.R. rep less than a year ago for a major biopharmacudical firm. Ah, how times do change.

Graciously accepting the coffee, Sydney observes, "If I'd been smart enough to brew myself a pot this morning, this might not have happened. Thank you." She nods at the offer, "I really would appreciate the help. I had them all filed alphabetically by author so I could find each article but now…" she frowns slightly. "With so much paper a system's needed, you know?" She wrinkles her nose again.

Bryan turns around to try and be a part of the conversation, after receiving his drink. He takes a sip, ponders the girl's circumstances, and thinks back to his former life before 'the incident.' Blinking back a tear, he looks off before taking another sip.

Charlotte runs a hand over the waistband of her pants, nodding to Sydney. "Sure thing. My fingers used to bleed from all the filing I did," she explains, looking back to Bryan. "Did you decide on something?" She asks, eyebrows raised almost as though his answer were something she awaited with moderate curiosity. "Personally I recommend the bacon. I know it's bad for you but god…when is bacon ever a bad thing? Really? I say it wouldn't have been put on this earth if it weren't meant for eating. I mean…not that everything on earth is meant for eating, but.."

Sydney grimaces at the notion of the bleeding fingers, "Mine did that a few weeks back. It was terrible. I really did think my filing was done though." She purses her lips at the stack of articles, but her mood changes significantly at the notion of bacon. "Bacon is always a good thing! If you're going to die some way you may as well go out enjoying it," Sydney agrees emphatically beaming at Bryan. "I'll have an order of bacon."

Bryan chuckles slightly, "You always over explain the things you say?" not intending to insult, he then says, "Well, I reckon the Lord put it here to be eaten, so sure why not." Not in anyway covering his southern accent as he may have before.

Charlotte beams that there are two such bacon-lovers in the room. It makes her 14 hour shift a little bit brighter. "Two orders of bacon, sure," she walks to the bar, calling back into the kitchen. The orders taken, she gets her own cup of coffee and moves to sit across from Sydney and dig into the paperwork, flipping through the files as she adeptly begins to sort them. It's been awhile.

"Hey, where you from, anyway?" She asks of Bryan, turning her head and glancing at him even as her fingers fly over the pages.

"I like your accent," Sydney comments to Bryan as Charlotte walks towards the bar. "I don't have anything so exotic sounding." She smiles warmly as she thumbs through her papers once again. She sips at her coffee and grins at Charlotte once she's rejoined.

Bryan smiles to both of the ladies, "I'm from Alabama." thinking well that doesn't explain much, "From this little town in the Northwest Area of it." He then reaches for his mug, and takes another sip.

Charlotte nods, glancing down as she moves through the papers. "I did a brief stint in Mississippi, but that's as close as I ever got," Indeed, Charlotte is void of any accent. Northern, southern, eastern or western. It happens when you don't stay long enough in one location to get an accent.
Turning, the brunette smiles dimpled-ly to Sydney. "Alright, so did you want these done alphabetically by last name, or what?" As she flips, she makes a note to look over the material.

Sydney shrugs her shoulders, "I've never been to the South. Although I haven't actually been many places outside of New York and California." She smiles and then nods, "Yes, alphabetically by last name. It's the only way to keep the articles straight and make sure that I don't lose one. If my dissertation committee asks for a source, I'll be able to produce it, but only if the filing is good." She glances back at Bryan, "Have you been in New York long?"

Bryan shakes his head, "No, I just transferred from my hometown, to NYPD." Which he realizes sounds like a load of bull, but Bryan possesses a certain set of skills that any force is happy to have. Looking down at his watch, he whispers "shit" to himself. He looks at the kitchen hoping his bacon is on it's way.

Charlotte glances upward, hearing a bell ding. She's on her feet soon enough, and bringing out a plate of bacon for each of them. "Be careful," she warns in her kind, motherly voice. "It's hot."

Soon she's settled across from Sydney again, and she begins filing the papers with adeptness. "What's a dissertation committee?" She asks. Yeah, she never got far in school, and besides, she was only a PR rep for a huge company. Yeah, something doesn't add there.

"Well then, welcome to New York," Sydney chimes with a slight smile as she madly thumbs through the papers. "I consult on cases sometimes with the NYPD. It's a good department." She grins at the bacon and devours one piece rather quickly. After swallowing she observes, "It's as bacon ought to be, crispy enough to hold it out like a stick." She raises her eyebrows at the question as she keeps flipping through paper, "Well, I'm working on my PhD, my dissertation committee are those lovely professorial types that get to choose whether I pass or fail my really really large paper." She winks and keeps flipping.

Bryan gobbles up the bacon literally as soon as it's set down, then downing the rest of his coffee, he stands saying, "Thanks Miss…" towards Sydney. Then straightening himself, "Maybe I'll see you at the station sometime." Then starting towards the door, he say, "It was lovely meeting both of you."

Charlotte nods politely to Bryan as he departs, looking back to Sydney for a moment as she continues filing. She's very quick at it - she wasn't lying when she said she had experience. "Wow, everyone here has such important jobs. I just serve the beer to the important people - which I guess is pretty important. I mean they have to get their juices flowing somehow, right?" She giggle,s with absolutely no malice. Indeed, she's happy with her place in life.

"Sydney. Sydney Falkland," she fills her name in where the … had been left. She smiles and offers him a wave, and the she asks (although it may be too late), "It was nice meeting you-" she frowns a bit as she doesn't know the gentleman's name. And then she nods with a giggle of her own, "Everyone needs their beer!" She tilts her head a bit and asks idly, "So where is your filing experience from, exactly?"

Bryan smiles, "Bryan, Nice to meet you Sydney," and exits the bar. Through the window one would see, him instantly brace up for the cold engulfing him. He then proceed along the street quite rapidly towards the Police station.

Charlotte considers a moment. Telling the truth might be bad, all things considered. "Oh, you know," she finally decides, non-commitally. "I did some work for a private company for awhile, thought about branching in that way, but they went under awhile ago. I've found I like waitressing better anyway. It's a lot simpler," More simple than erased memories, tortures, senators and experiments, kidnap and memory erasing. "And I like to think I'm good at it."

"Oh what company? Lots of companies have gone under-" Sydney notes, still distracted by her filing. "American company?" She purses her lips. "Were they based here in New York? I have to say I'm new to this whole working thing. So much education, but not enough experience."

It's really not in Charlotte's nature to lie, so even as she bumbles a bit, it doesn't occur to her to say anything but the truth. "American, based in New Jersey. But they put all the large manufacturing companies there, because that's what Jersey's for." And Jersey-ripping is still in style. Charlotte has a meek smile on her face, but then she goes back to filing. "At least, that's what I'm told. Other than work I didn't spend much time there. ARe you familiar with Jersey at all?"

Shaking her head, Sydney answers rather uncomfortably herself, "No, I've never been to Jersey. No reason to. I have to admit that my New York experience has revolved around the city itself. And the University." And then she adds, as if to provide explanation, "I was born and raised in California."

More comfortable now, Charlotte makes eye contact, her own doe brown shining through the light bags from an all-nighter. "I've never been that far west, no further than Tennessee. Which, I'll not say much for it. I mean it was nice, people there were very generous tippers and all," she giggles a bit at some fond memory as she slips another file quickly into place. "So…what exactly are you working on with the NYPD? Anything Law-and-Order-worthy?" She asks, playfully.

Relaxing at the eye contact and mirroring Charlotte's mood, Sydney's shoulders relax, and the woman smiles, "I'd like to see more of the world, but life's been too busy withwellschool." She giggles lightly and the shrugs about the police department, "I'm not working on anything too interesting at this moment. I'm mostly serving a counseling capacity. But they tend to call on me for mediation purposes, and sometimes negotiation. I seem to have a knack for viewing two different sides of a story." She winks. "I did a profile on a kidnapping case last month. I really enjoyed that and hope to be doing more soon." She shrugs. "But that's the joy of New York. Lots of adventure to be found.

Charlotte turns her smile from bright to polite a bit as she listens. "Kidnapping? I hope everything turned out okay. It must have, or you wouldn't be smiling or mentioning it," she nods her head, sure that things did, indeed, turn out all right. "Can I asked what happened? Am I allowed to?"

A slight frown plays on Sydney's face, "It turned out okay. They found the victim - a child - and arrested the kidnapper." She forces a smile and then adds, "I was called within an hour of the missing person's report. Helped them know what they were looking for, based on a series of patterns we understand about behavior and people." She shrugs. "They caught the kidnapper several hours later. Soon enough to prevent anything… foul… from… transpiring." She very selective with her words. "Can't provide any more detail than that, I'm afraid. The case hasn't gone to trial yet, and I have ethical boards above me, forcing me to be vague."

Charlotte finishes filing the pile in front of her, standing to collect the dishes, money and tip left by Bryan. She continues speaking while doing all of this. "I understand, still all that is really important is that the child is safe," She sighs, disappearing behind her own eyes for a moment in some private thought. "Life can be so hard for children…" She muses softly.

Sydney half-smiles as she nods, "Children have it rough - depending on their parents." She leans back in her seat and sips her coffee, "And it's incredible how childhood experience shapes the rest of our lives. Abusive, restrictive, or permissive parents have a lot more influence determining who we become than almost any other life circumstance."

"Or lack thereof," Charlotte explains as she comes back, wiping her hands on a rag before she does so. "I do a bit of charity work with orphanages and overseas organizations." Hell she founded one or two. "Just donate a little bit of money, all of that, you know?" She smiles softly. "I can't imagine how it must be for those children, anything I can do…it always helps, I think."

"Even the smallest thing can make a difference," Sydney agrees tucking her hair behind her ear. "And filling that parental role for a child makes a huge difference too. Assuming that the pseudo-parent isn't completely deranged." She presses her lips together. "So what orphanages and organizations are you connected with?"

Charlotte rattles off a few international organizations with practiced ease. She donates money, clothing, but most importantly - children. When she finds children who can't make it for themselves in some bad orphanage, she sends them to another. It's hardly an over burden, because she can send children to orphanages around the world, not just dump them all on one. "It's something, at least. I'm not a big person or anything, but I definitely do what I can."

"But if everyone did what they could, the world would be a much better place," Sydney interjects. "Besides, it's important to be socially conscience." And then wrinkling her nose, she tilts her head, "So your job here lets you travel a lot, then?"

Charlotte turns away from the woman for a moment to hide her amused little smile. "Well, my old one used to. I've just kept up old habits." True and true, at least. "It is the giving season, you know Ramadan just ended and most Muslims use this time to follow their religious tradition of giving away to the less fortunate. Which I think is a fabulous tradition." She explains, walking back to refill the woman's coffee cup. "I've done a lot of traveling in the past though."

"The one for the company that went under?" Sydney asks to clarify as her coffee cup is refilled. "Have you had many jobs that have allowed you to travel?" She nods at bit at the idea of Ramadan, "Yes, several of my students were fasting this year. Are you Muslim then? Or just familiar with Islam's traditions?"

Charlotte returns the pot to the heater, settling down across from the woman again. "No, I'm not Muslim. Just known a few," children, specifically. "And my previous job was the only one that let me travel. Other than that I've been doing this most of my life," she gestures to the surroundings, indicating her current position. "I've always thought about finishing school though. Perhaps history, or cultural studies."

"Well I'm a school-a-holic. There's this ongoing joke among the grad students that we just felt grad school was a better idea than getting a real job." Sydney shrugs and then adds. "I would like to travel though. See different people's points of view and learn from them. That has real appeal to me."

Charlotte leans down, rubbing her sore calf. Oh, her feet will need a hot bubble bath to get over this one! "It's easier than you might think," for some. "I didn't even finish high school, so it would take a lot for me to actually do that, and finish college. I'm probably getting too old for it anyway, everyone in the student game is so much younger!"

"Not that much younger," Sydney chides. "I still think you could do it. I bet you could even get life experience credit for high school or get mature student status at the university; means you might be able to skip the high school part." She half-smiles. "What airlines do you fly when you travel? I'd like to go somewhere, but I want to do it cheap-maybe I'll drive-obviously just within North America then."

Charlotte blanks. Uhhh, what? "Airline? Oh I flew whatever the company put me on. I haven't flown since they went under. I'm saving up to try and get another trans-sea vacation in, but I'll really be starting from scratch for it. I'm afraid I can't really help you." All true. Sort of. Kind of. She flew herself, okay! "Listen hun, I have to go cash out, but the next girl on duty will take care of you, okay?"

"Thanks anyways," Sydney grins and nods. "I'll have to try to get the university to pay for some conferences or something." She sips at her coffee and nods. "I need to get back to my work." She sighs and then opens her laptop bag. Back to the writing part. The part she doesn't like.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License