Winter's Night "What would you like?" Minagi asked the office lady with a smile. She was pretty good looking, if you liked a girl in a suit. Her face was a bit elven pointed, and her short hair was very butch. Her eyes, however, were dark and sad, as if they were carrying a deep regret. "Rum and eggnog, I think. For the season." the woman said with a smile. Minagi teleported, reappearing in an instant in front of a freezer not far down the bar. She mixed the drink quickly and carefully, only to reappear in front of the lady with the full glass. "Sip first," Minagi suggested with that same cheery smile. The woman took a small sip, and sighed in contentment. "Looks like I got it right," Minagi said with a smile. Down the bar another woman cried to her, "Hey, Minagi!" "Sorry, gotta go," Minagi said to her, and promptly disappeared again. Juri smiled a bit, noticing the new woman looking around her in awe. It loked like she was there alone, so Juri began to make her way to her side. As she got closer, she noticed the lady stop in surprise, saying out loud "Is that a library?" In an slightly amused tone of voice Juri said, "Yes, it is." She gave the woman a chance to look her over before she smiled down at Sonomi and said, "I'm Arisugawa Juri, and I'm the owner of this loony bin." "Daidouji Sonomi," she answered reflexedly, offering her hand. Juri took it, smiling at Sonomi warmly. She blushed, not really knowing why. "I noticed it's your first time here," Juri said with a smile, "and I just wanted to wish you a good time, tonight."Juri left the faintly blushing woman there, before moving off into the crowd for her hosting duties. Sonomi got up, skirting the busy dancefloor to reach the dining tables. She took a seat, and picked up a menu off the tabletop. A few moments to read, and a server appeared at Sonomi's side. She looked up to order, and had to smile at the girl's costume. "Can I take your order?" Cyberdoll May asked her pleasantly, her maid's uniform crisply neat and a small notepad in hand. "Sure," Sonomi answered, looking at the girl curiously. She noticed a descrete nametag reading 'May' on the front of her dress. "Miss May," she started to say. "You don't need to say Miss," May answered her with a sweet smile, "just calling me May is fine." She quickly jotted down Sonomi's order and then radioed it off to a kitchen before she had to trot off to answer another customer's eager wave. "She's a first timer," she added to Sasami a little while later, "so make sure everything's perfect. First impressions are important!" Sasami laughed in reply. "Is anything that comes out of my kitchen not perfect?" she asked her pointedly. May laughed, "Well, I do remember that time you let Ayeka help out..." They shared a short laugh at that little disaster and split up to get back to work. A little while later, Juri smiled a bit, noticing that Sonomi was sitting with another of the new customers, Mitsuki Kaho. It was good to see the two of them laughing together, occasionally bending over the table to whisper to each other. Bones came over to tap Juri on the shoulder and point at one of the tables. A little smile quirked her lips upward as she made her way to Haruka, first. "I think Ami got followed," she said softly, pointing out Rei, Usagi and Minako sitting nervously at a table. They both heard a quite nervous sounding Minako ask her pretty two friends, "Is this place what I think it is?" Haruka sighed softly, and to the sound of Juri's soft laughter went to tell Michiru first. "Gee, I guess this was a shock," Michiru said to her dryly. "I'd better go find Ami." Haruka said. She looked around the room, eventually spotting her talking to someone over in the book nook. "It figures." Haruka muttered. She walked over, rather regretfully interrupting Ami's conversation with an good looking if slightly older woman. "It seems you've been followed." Haruka said, pointing over her shoulder to where Usagi, Rei and Minako were nervously sitting. Ami didn't even look, keeping her back to them. "Let me guess, it's Minako, Rei and Usagi. Right?" Haruka nodded, slightly surprised. "Makoto's too private of a person to do pull something like this." she said somewhat harshly, and looked over at their table. Misaki Suzuhara looked over at the table where the three young woman sat thoughtfully. If there was just one girl, she wouldn't feel quite so nervous about walking over there. 'I can't go up to her in front of her two friends and ask her out! What if she says no?' she thought, gazing longingly over at the black hared girl. "We'd better go rescue them." Ami sighed to Haruka, who nodded reluctantly. They picked up Michiru and walked over to the table. Ami and Haruka detoured a moment to warn the butches that the new girls were straight, then sat with the very relieved trio. Upon hearing that bit on news, Misaki sighed to herself sadly and then went off in a search for greener pastures. She passed a chair and stopped, her eyes wide. She sat down with a thump. 'She looked a lot like a grown up Hatoko,' she realized. Haruka and Michiru quickly took their seats, but Ami remained standing, glaring down at her three friends. "Would you mind explaining?" Ami bit out. Haruka put her hand on Ami's arm. "Grab a seat, and drink your drink, O.K.?" she said to her quietly. Ami paused a second, then with a soft sigh sat down. "I'm sorry," Rei said quietly. "I started this, so if you want to be angry, be mad at me." she finished, looking steadily at Ami. Before Ami could say anything to her, the table was suddenly obscured by a long shadow. "Ah, it's break time!" the bouncer said to them happily. "Hey, Haruka, Michiru, Ami! How's the night been treating you?" She didn't wait for an answer, and turned and smiled down at Minako. "I'm Bones," she said, "would you like to dance?" Minako looked up at the tall woman for a moment, frozen, then slowly smiled back at her. "I'd love to." Minako answered, taking Bones' hand. It was a fast number, and in moments Minako and Bones were lost from sight in the midst of the dancing crowd. A soft clearing of the throat, and they noticed Hyatt standing nearby. The girl's face went awfully pale, and Haruka barely caught her before she fell right over. Leaning sideways, looking much like the Leaning Tower of Piza, she asked them, "Can I take your order?" "Pop for my four friends, whisky for me, and..." Haruka paused and looked over at Michiru enquiringly. "Tropical wine cooler," Michiru ordered. Haruka made a face at that, and Michiru laughed softly. Everyone sweatdropped as Hyatt continued her fall, only to snake crawl her way across the dancefloor and up to the bar. Ami sighed. "I guess because I was so mysterious when we talked at lunch, you and the others came up with this plan?" she asked the three of them. Rei nodded mournfully in reply. Ami tensed a bit. "So now you know," Ami said quietly, "that I'm a lesbian, I mean." Rei smiled warmly back at her. "If you're happy as a lesbian, then I'm happy for you." she answered softly. Usagi still looked like she was mildly stunned, as if she'd been hit on the back of the head. She suddenly hugged Ami, laughing aloud. "I was worried because you weren't dating boys! I'm so happy! Do you have a girlfriend?" Usagi eagerly asked. Rei laughed. "Slow down, meatball head! Give her a chance to breathe." Usagi blew her a loud raspberry. Conversation paused as Hyatt made her way back to their table, got vertical again, and passed out the drinks. Once she left, Haruka gently shook her head. "How does she do that?" she asked the others plaintively. Juri watched them, not too far away, noticing how the girls interacted. Ami seemed to hang on Rei's every word, her eyes lighting up happily. 'Guess Rei's the unrequited love Haruka had mentioned,' Juri thought just a bit regretfully. Ami really was the type that Juri usually went for, except for rare exceptions. Juri felt a soft hand come to rest on her arm, and turned to see who it was. Her mouth opened slightly in surprise as she gazed down at the beautiful young woman standing there before her. The passage of years hadn't harmed her beauty, instead it had seemed to merely smooth away the few rough edges of inexperience. Her eyes looked into Juri's own, and they seemed to see into Juri's very soul. "Hello, Juri-sama," Shiori said to her softly, a little smile on her pretty face, "It's been a long time." The Staff: The bar's owner is Arisugawa Juri, from Revolutionary Girl Utena. Minagi, Ryouko and Sasami are from the series Tenchi Muyo. Keiko is also from Utena. Cyberdoll May is from Hand Maid May. Excel and Hyatt are from Excel Saga. Hitomi is from Escaflowne, the movie. And finally, Tendo Nabiki is from Ranma 1/2. Our Cast This Episode: Daidouji Sonomi and Mitsuki Kaho are from Cardcaptor Sakura, Bones is from Cool Cat Studio (www.coolcatstudio.com), Ami, Haruka, Michiru, Minako, Rei and Usagi are from Sailor Moon, Misaki Suzuhara and Hotoko are from Angelic Layer, and finally Shiori is from Revolutionary Girl Utena. Parts of this episode , in a somewhat different form, have appeared previously in: Cardcaptor Sakura:Darkest Before the Dawn, and in Sailor Moon:Ice on Fire, both by me.
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