xp_logs | Adrienne and Terry

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Adrienne arrives earlier than Terry expected and the roommates meet.

Trying to ignore the heavy, clomping footfalls of the man acting as her driver and porter dragging her bags up to the third floor, Adrienne paused in front of the suite that had been assigned to her, mentally exhausted from a full day of questioning at the police station. She had nothing more than the faintest idea of what she was supposed to expect when she opened the door. There would be a roommate, that much she knew. Probably arranged so that she could be monitored more thoroughly; so that the people investigating Steven's murder could catch her confessing to someone, catch her writing all her schemes for future murders in a diary she'd keep under her bed. The roommate probably worked for them. No one had told her anything of the identity of the person she would be sharing her living space with. Emma hadn't told her anything.

And now Emma was out of the country. Adrienne sighed, torn between being angry at Emma for leaving without giving her any information as to what she was getting herself into and relieved that she could delay a face-to-face meeting with the sibling she hadn't seen in twenty years for a few weeks longer.

Having built herself up to a righteous indignation over the fact that her roommate was probably a spy for the NYPD, Adrienne shoved the door to the suite open and stomped inside.

"Oh, hell you're early." The voice drifted out of one of the two rooms bracketing the living area, lilting faintly and sounding distinctly annoyed. "I'll have the rest of this out in just a minute, hang on." Following on the voice was a chair with a box on it and pushing that, a small redhead who hardly looked old enough to drive. She grinned at Adrienne and released the chair, bounding through the living room to offer her hand, "Hi, I'm Terry. They gave me notice a bit late on you moving in here, so I'm afraid your room's still a bit cluttered with my things. Been a while since I had to share."

The younger woman's energy seemed to drain Adrienne's further. She scowled at the redhead while looking her over, taking Terry in in her critical fashion. "Adrienne Frost," she answered with a sniff, taking the offered hand almost grudgingly, "and in case you haven't noticed, it's actually not early at all," she added with a quick glance at the late afternoon sun out the beaded-curtain-adorned window. "Unless you know something I don't know about what time I was supposed to arrive." She motioned for the porter/driver to set her bags down in the living area and passed him an envelope from her shoulder bag, causing him to disappear out the door and down the hallway. "So what have they told you about me?" she inquired of the redhead, narrowing her eyes accusingly.

Terry seemed to miss the implied insult and suspicion altogether, giving Adrienne a firm handshake, "That you're the new math teacher, I have Bobby's lesson plans for you, by the way, and that you'd be here at some point to move in. I was hoping for tomorrow really. I had a killer test today and was cramming until the last second. I apologize for the state of the place. Frost, you're a relation, aye? Emma was a teacher of mine a few years back before the company ate her up."

Adrienne continued to frown. Terry hadn't mentioned knowing that Adrienne was involved in a murder investigation, but that didn't mean she didn't know. "A rather distant relation, yes," she responded, still suspicious of the other woman and not wanting to bring up the fact that she and Emma were sisters, as it always seemed to lead to awkward questions she despised answering. "If you think I'm going to say I'm sorry for not arriving at the time you expected me to," she snapped, hoisting a piece of Prada luggage and dragging it towards the room Terry had just come from, "you're going to be disappointed. I wasn't informed that you had a 'killer test' or I might have delayed my arrival, but there's nothing I can do about that now."

Terry's sunny disposition wavered as she tilted in her head, wondering why she was being lied to. "Huh? Hardly your fault. I just wish they'd given me more warning is all. Do you need any help with that stuff?" There was a little list building in her head: Roommate, it was labeled, old, cranky, cute luggage.

Shrugging non-committal-y in response to the offer for help, Adrienne turned her back on her new roommate and entered the room that was in transition mode from office to bedroom. She blew out a tired breath- the grilling today had taken a lot out of her, and she wasn't looking forward to an evening of playing interior decorator. "I should've just stayed at the office," she mumbled, half to herself, though she didn't mean it. Her suite in the penthouse of 64 Square's Manhattan office was the place where she'd 'read' the sapphire ring she'd given Steven when he'd finished law school, realized the sapphire would slice into her flesh from future beatings, that he would be wearing it when he beat her to death. She hadn't stayed there since.

"So what do you study in school?" the brunette asked Terry, realizing that she had better keep on civil terms with the young woman or face having to finish setting up her room without help.

"I'm majoring in Criminal Justice at Pace." Terry hefted another of the bags, taking the shrug for 'yes, please', and followed Adrienne into the room. "Where's your office?"

Criminal justice? Oh, shit. Definitely a spy. The math teacher examined the zipper of the bag she was holding until she had gotten her panicked feeling under control and had replaced the shock and sudden stab of fear that passed over her face with a mask of indifference. "I haven't seen it yet. I assume, since I'm inheriting 'Bobby's' class, that I'm also inheriting his office," she answered, then rounded angrily on the younger woman. "So, criminal justice? Let's just get this out of the way then, shall we? If the NYPD's put you up to this you can just tell your boss right now that I will not tolerate it. I'll insist on having a private room or I'll move into my penthouse in Manhattan. They can bug the place and monitor me that way, instead of sending some teenager to do it for them."
Terry blinked. Stared. Blinked some more and opened her mouth then shook her head before trying again. "Ms. Frost, to the best of my knowledge, the NYPD requires you to be a citizen of the US. I'm from Ireland. I'm hoping that I'll someday work for Interpol but I've got a ways to go with that." Her tone was careful, like she was trying to avoid startling the older woman. "I've not been put up to anything. They just asked if I'd mind having a roommate."

Scrutinizing Terry again, Adrienne held out her hand, waggled her gloved fingers in a 'give it here' gesture. "That ring on your ring finger. Let me see it, please. Just for a second." If Terry had been wearing her wedding band when she'd spoken to the investigators, Adrienne would be able to tell. She had managed to keep the nature of her mutation from becoming public knowledge within the investigation so far. Her powers, and her difficulty in controlling them, remained a private matter between herself and Emma. So it was unlikely that the investigators, if they had positioned Terry at the school to monitor her, would have known enough to have Terry remove any objects she'd worn to any meetings regarding Adrienne. Unless the redhead had been informed of Adrienne's powers by Emma or by one of the authorities at the school... "If you don't go to school here, why do you live here?" she asked as she waited to see if Terry would comply and give her the ring. "Are you a mutant who can't control her powers?"

Terry fingered her ring, frowning, "Why do you want it? You're not going to destroy it or anything, are you?" She drew it off her finger but kept it in her hand, wary. "I have very good control of my powers. I live here because it's convenient during the school year. University housing is noisy and small. Plus this has been my home since I was eleven. You ask a lot of questions."

With a roll of her eyes, Adrienne stalked from one end of the room to the other, restless after sitting in the interview room all day but too drained to do anything productive like moving the remaining office furniture out of the room. "I'm not going to destroy it. I'm going to see if you're lying to me. That's my power. And I ask a lot of questions because I like to know a lot of things. Why'd you end up landing me as your roommate, assuming you're telling the truth about not being hired to monitor me?" she asked, enjoying the fact that Terry had expressed her distaste for the questions. "Can't get along with anyone else?"

Terry gave Adrienne a considering look then held the ring out to her. "Yes, that's exactly right." If Adrienne could tell truth from lies based on her ring, then it would be trivial for her to figure out which that was. If not, well, it wasn't as though the woman could have a lower opinion of her. She already thought she was a particularly terrible spy. Honestly, who would be that obvious?

Adrienne yanked one glove off and took the silver ring between a thumb and forefinger. Immediately images exploded into her head with enough force to have her staggering back a step. She gritted her teeth through the onslaught, struggled to control what she was seeing, the way she'd once been able to in her younger days. Once, reading an object had been a little like reading a book with chapters divided up into neatly labeled sections, with dividers and tabs, and she'd been able to pick and choose the sections of the object's history she desired to know. Now, random bits and pieces flooded her brain, hammering into her in only the loosest chronological order; its rather boring life in a case before being bought by a fresh-faced young man, given to Terry on her graduation, used in their wedding ceremony, worn through many exciting and dangerous adventures...

She dropped the ring as if it had burned her after reading a few years into its future, surprised as always that she could be assaulted with years of history in the space of only a few seconds. Almost apologetically, Adrienne bent to pick up the ring, using the glove she'd removed to give herself a shield from another reading. "Alright, then," she announced with a nod in Terry's direction, holding the ring out to her, satisfied that there had been no glimpse of Terry having contact with the NYPD regarding herself in the ring's history. "So your husband lives in Ireland, and that's why you have- had- a room to yourself. His name's Bobby. The same Bobby who taught math here?" she asked, then strode out to bring another suitcase into the room.

Terry took back the ring, slid it back onto her finger, eyeing Adrienne speculatively, as she bustled around, "That's a fine trick. Aye, Bobby's my husband and he was the math teacher here before we moved. I take it that means you don't think I'm here to be your keeper anymore?" She was certainly an odd woman, and given where Terry had grown up, that was saying something.

With a laugh the brunette strode over to a desk and positioned herself at one end. "Sweetie, you shouldn't sound like you're relieved I no longer think you're my keeper. I might actually have respected you if I knew they'd sent someone who looks as young as you to keep me under their thumb. At least I'd have known you were smart. Give me a hand with your desk?" she inquired, still using her most syrupy sweet voice.

"So do I sound relieved then?" Terry asked amused and went to help. "I'll work on that, I meant to sound curious. You're a strange woman, Ms Frost."