sun of a gun;

open starter : @bhqextras

"It was actually kind of impressive," she mused, though she wasn't necessarily talking about Angel's vocal performance or showmanship, "Second place for biggest karaoke bomb I've ever seen - first plays go to a dude in Hell's Kitchen who picked Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine. You don't realise how long that song is until you're in a room full of people begging for it to end," she noted. "To your credit, I enjoyed your Celine more than those assholes who do Tequila and act like they came up with the bit - like we've all seen it, that gag is over, it's not funny any more, move on," she added.

"Pardon?" Sydney uttered, hardly waiting a beat. If she had, she might have properly processed what the other girl had said despite her thick accent. "Subway station?" a moment later her brain had caught up and she had realised the question that had been posed to her. "Yeah, it's on Canal Street - that way," she pointed in the general direction of the Station's entrance, careful not to knock anybody walking by with her forearm in the process. "I'm actually headed that way, I can show you. Do you know which line you wanna take?" she assumed the other girl was a tourist rather than a local. Sydney was hardly a local herself, having lived in the City for less than a year but it was nice to feel like the knowledgeable one on this occasion.

"Canal street..." she softly repeated out loud, glancing in the direction the young woman motioned. Attention quickly back to her as she went on. "Oh, are you?", her eyes widened a little in surprise, the good kind, feeling relieved someone would keep her company for a bit on the ride back home. It was a bit later than what she was used to being out, blame it on the hour she lost just wandering around. "Well, I'm heading to the Bronx", she explained with a small smile. "What about you? I'm Harri, by the way" she offered her hand to shake, figuring it was best she introduced herself and made conversation if they were gonna be traveling together.

There was something so inherently charming about a French accent, though it admittedly made Sydney feel a little uncultured when she heard the somewhat grating twang of her own midwestern intonation. "Well, there you go," it was no longer a mysterious coincidence that they were headed in the same direction, "I'm heading that way too," she explained with a soft smile.

open starter: @bhqextras location: becky's martini bar (or somewhere similarly boujie), manhattan.

"It's happening" Sydney announced as she approached the bar, wedging herself between Xander and the person perched on the barstool beside him. "I'm developing telepathy, I knew you were going to be here," she elaborated, tapping her index finger lightly against her temple as the bartender's eyes met hers, "Hello, yes- I will have and old fashioned, please - orange peel, not lemon," she was not the intended target of Xander's random act of kindness but "she would be the benefactor of his tab now. She figured she'd earned it at the very least. "It was almost enough to convince me to step off the subway a station early, " she continued where she had left off before the bartender's arrival, teasing her boss lightly, "-but I thought you might like some company," and she thought that the sudden onset of good news followed by more good news might be a recipe for trouble, like the calm before the storm. Besides, there were a lot of eyes on Xander's family that week, she didn't like the thought of any of them seeing a target on the young man's back.

open starter @bhqextras

"Pardon?" Sydney uttered, hardly waiting a beat. If she had, she might have properly processed what the other girl had said despite her thick accent. "Subway station?" a moment later her brain had caught up and she had realised the question that had been posed to her. "Yeah, it's on Canal Street - that way," she pointed in the general direction of the Station's entrance, careful not to knock anybody walking by with her forearm in the process. "I'm actually headed that way, I can show you. Do you know which line you wanna take?" she assumed the other girl was a tourist rather than a local. Sydney was hardly a local herself, having lived in the City for less than a year but it was nice to feel like the knowledgeable one on this occasion.