Hope, Maddie, Sue and Tandy: Girls Night In (Backdated)

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The girls decide to spend a night playing cards and getting to know one another.

"All right bitches," Maddie announced her return as she pushed the door to her suite open, leaning on it to allow the girl behind her to enter. As she moved, the muffled sound of glass bottles clinking against each other could be heard coming from inside the bag strapped to the redhead's back. Packing the liquor in a backpack had raised the clerk at the store's eyebrow, but there were enough people around who were focused on lowering carbon emissions and reducing plastic waste that Maddie figured it hadn't given her away.

"Sue, welcome to our humble abode. Thank you for joining us. Hope, you wanna help Tandy and me with the rest of the refreshments?"

Tandy walked in as Maddie allowed her to enter first, she carried more drinks, for chasers, in her own backpack. Taking it off gently and placing it on the floor gently. "There is one more in the hallway. I think we went a little overboard, but we can always stash it in one or both our closets for next time."

Hope watched the third backpack being carried inside with wide eyes, wondering what they were supposed to drink all of this. Nevertheless she stepped forward to accept the third backpack from Tandy and carefully put it besides the other one. "What did in the world did you buy? It looks like you emptied out an entire liquor store!"

"Don't worry. We have mixers and snacks too," Maddie reassured her, letting the door close behind them. She was almost skipping as she crossed over to the kitchen area and began lining bottles up on the counter. "But we got vodka, rum, tequilla, the staples. But Hope they had Birthday Cake flavored vodka!" She turned, holding said bottle aloft in one hand and in the other... "And alcoholic whipped cream! I mean, how awesome. Totally awesome."

"Alcoholic whipped cream?" Sue asked quizzically crossing over to help unpack the bags, now this she had to see. "A little overboard?" she asked Tandy as more bottle were lined up along the edge of the counter. "That's a tiny bit of an understatement now isn't it." she teased her friend with a laugh. "I don't think you're gonna be able to fit the leftovers in a closet," she pointed out "at least not if we're gonna avoid a massive hangover tomorrow.". She'd never seen this much alcohol in one place, and the 4 of them were meant to finish it?

"Yea food and sodas." Tandy confirmed what Maddie just said as she helped unload her own backpack. ""Yea alcoholic whipped cream...it taste really good with hot chocolate or anything that is really sweet." Moving away she took off her jacket and placed it on a nearby chair. "Do you want me to make you anything Hope? Sue? Maddie?"

"Just a soda for now, please." Hope still was not sure about this whole thing, especially with the alcohol. So she would stick to soda for now.

Sue took a moment to examine the various available drinks in front of her. She'd never seen half of the drinks Maddie and Tandy and acquired, "I'll have whatever you're having," she answered with a grin. Might as well start from there and see what else took her fancy later.

"Susan Severus Storm!" Maddie thought she had seen an extra blonde head bobbing around the kitchen area, but she had been preoccupied with shoving vodka in the freezer and shoving sodas in the fridge to be sure until now. "You go sit your skinny blonde ass down on a chair right this instant! You are a <i>guest</i> in this suite, I will not have you lifting a finger. And if you do, I will kick your ass."

Satisfied that her point had been sufficiently made, the redhead turned back to survey the drinks, eyes skimming over the bottles the flicking over to the fridge right next to it. "Well none of the sodas are that cold, but we have ice, and I'll put some in the freezer to cool faster, but yes Hope we have your Diet Caffeine Free Coke. So," she glanced over at Tandy, "that means our best bet is vodka and OJ since the juice is still cold. Right?"

"Right..." Tandy poured a cup of soda for Hope and got out more cups and poured a shot worth into each glass and poured OJ into the rest of the glasses. "Here Sue and Maddie."

"Thank you." Hope accepted the cup from Tandy and delicately sipped from the soda. "You said something about poker, Susan?"

Sue nodded as she took a sip of her drink, and pulling out a pack of cards, "Figured it'd be better than watching a movie," she replied dropping them on the table.

Hope took her seat at the table, setting her soda down next her. "I will warn you. I have never played poker before and I have no idea how it works. You will have to explain everything."

Bowls of chips and pretzels landed across from one another on the table, followed by a gigantic bowl of watermelon which Maddie set down next to her as she settled in. "Five-card draw," she asked, looking at the other three girls for agreement. "We'll play a few hands and explain it to Hope, then we can start for real. I found shit ton of random buttons in the art closet, so we'll play with those."

Taking a sip of her own drink and licked her lips, "Poker? You sure you want to lose all those buttons?" Tandy teased as she took a seat at the table. "Poker is pretty easy Hope. 2's or deuces or the lowest. A's are the highest card. Then there is the 4 suits, Spades, Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs, the rank in that order from highest to lowest. Makes sense so far?

"Yes, I am familiar with that. It works the same way in bridge." Hope nodded as she sipped her coke.

"Yes, just like bridge. But you don't put the cards down. Royal flush is the highest set you can make, followed by four of a kind. and so on and so forth. Shall we just play and explain it to you on the way?" Tandy asked with looked at who had the cards. "Deal em."

----

Maddie glanced across the table at the only other remaining player, starting intently at her trying to search for any tells that would give Tandy away. The redhead smiled as she studied her opponent with hazy before matching the bet and sliding more of her rapidly dwindling stash of buttons into the considerable mound located in the center of the table.

"Your move, Tandy," she said, as she picked up her cup and took a sip. "You have to go all in to match me. But if you want to fold, that's okay too."

Tandy looked at her cards, Two Kings and three fives. She had a full house and she felt very confidant in her hand. Only thing that could bet her was either Maddie had another full house with higher than the three of a kind fives, a four of a kind, or a the really rare Royal Flush. And Tandy already had two of the kings so her odds felt pretty good.

Smirking at her suite-mate. "All in."

"Let's see those cards, then. Blondie."

Tandy showed her hand, "Full house."

"Nice!" Sue congratulated her friend as she poured herself another drink. The blonde was still a little annoyed that she'd been forced out of the game so early, but she could admit that both Maddie and Tandy were on fire today.

"Well. I guess that's," the redhead pulled out two red twos and set them face up on the table, "that," and two black twos in the same manner.

Tandy sat back in her chair in disbelief. "What! No way? That hand...." Her mind was blown that she was lost by a rare four of a kind. Throwing her hands up and looked down at her drink before finishing the rest and looked at Maddie and shook her head. "I can't believe it."

"What just happened?" Hope looked from the one to the other and her cards, a confused look on her face. "I am never going to understand this game fully." She muttered, putting down her cards.

Maddie giggled happily as she wrapped her arms around the pile of buttons and dragged them across the table toward her. "And that, ladies," she said with a smirk. "Is why you never, ever agree to play poker with a telepath. I just taught you all a very valuable lesson. You're welcome."

Tandy's eyes narrowed at Maddie as her skin started to glow, "You cheated! You were reading our minds all this time!"

"That's not cool Maddie," Sue complained, "Aren't telepaths supposed to sign the charter of not reading other peoples minds without permission or something."

"You were reading our minds?" Hope eyed Maddie rather balefully and pouted at her. "That is not nice, Madelyne. I know you are not supposed to do that." 

Maddie looked around at the table at the faces revealing various levels of unhappiness with what she had done. "I only read your surface thoughts," she explained with an exasperated sigh. "So all your deep, dark secrets are still safe. And we were playing for buttons, it's not like I let you guys lose money to me or anything, I wouldn't do that. Please." She rolled her eyes leaned in to gather the rest of the cards, idly shuffling them as she continued to speak.

"All y'all need to take a chill pill, especially you, Ms. Glow-worm. All future poker games I officially remove myself from. Y'all just needed to be made aware of the fact that in Mutantland, there are people who could totally have wiped out your entire trust funds before you even knew what was going on. Now. Would you rather that have happened or would you rather I win all the buttons?"

"Too late, I am doomed to glow for the rest of the evening!" Tandy looked at her arms and sighed, "Then next time I play poker with you, if I play poker with you again, I'll make sure my surface thoughts are not poker." The glowing blonde stood up, "I am going to make more drinks, anyone want anything." She was trying not to think about the game anymore. "Not just in mutant land," Sue pointed out, "there are plenty of normal people who would happily cheat you out of your money." She leaned back in her chair and looked over at Maddie, "Powers just make them more efficient, and I guess it's harder to get anything past a psychic who wants to con you." Reaching for her empty cup Sue turned a quizzical look on Tandy, "Didn't someone mention something about whipped cream?"

Hope eyed her own glass. She had tried orange juice with just a dash of vodka, but the flavor had been... well... not very nice. She hesitated for a moment before asking: "Did you get some wine by any chance? And something like sparkling water?"

"Listen. Sue, Hope, Tandy...." Maddie set the deck of cards down on the table, looking around at her compatriots. "Y'all, I swear I don't go around reading your thoughts. Or anybody else's. I honestly don't care what all y'all are thinking at any one moment in time. Like on my Nolan Ryan baseball.

"But Tandy," she rose and crossed over to the glowing girl. "With your real skill and my mind reading, we could totally take on bad guys James Bond style. But until then, I shall only use my skillz without you knowing in the event of an emergency. Like you're completely paralyzed and I need to punch in a key code that only you know and I have to read your mind in order to get it and save us all, deal?"

"Now. Hope you wanted wine. We got some "Bitch" wine because it has an awesome name. And Sue, alcoholic whipped cream is in our possession. How about I go whip us up some brownies downstairs cause I think we all could use some chocolate."

Tandy couldn't help but smile at the red head, "James Bond you say?" The blonde looked at the girl like she was trying to figure her out but she was thinking about cheese, "Deal."

Taking out a cup and pouring out wine for Hope and handing it to the girl, "Brownies with whip cream does sound amazing right now."

"Brownies would be nice." Hope quickly sipped her wine and stood up, heading to fridge and pulling out some bottled sparkling water. Taking it back to her place she quickly cut the wine with some water. At the surprised looks of the others, she explained quickly: "I rather not pop out my body and get stuck because I am tipsy."

Sue looked between Maddie and Tandy before nodding and smiling, after all it's not like it would have been any different if Maddie hadn't been using her powers, she'd still have lost. "Brownies are always amazing," she said happily, particularly glad that she didn't have to make them. "That's not going to happen is it?" she asked Hope, "you're not gonna just pop out of your body right?"

"I don't think so. My control has improved a little." Hope explained, quickly sipping from her now watered down wine. "I rather just not risk it." "I made her a playlist. And some guided meditations," Maddie explained to Sue. "Now," the redhead clapped her hands and began backing away towards the door. "I am going to make brownies. If I do not return in half an hour, assume I have been taken by some alien race and am now their queen. And I took the brownies with me. Any questions? Nope. Good.

"All right. Behave yourselves. Don't burn down the place without me. And don't do anything I would do."