Jennie and Adrienne - Wednesday Morning

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Jennie, as per Scott's request, gives Adrienne some beginner's X-Men training. Classic rock, snarking, and ass-slapping ensue.



"So I called up the captain, please bring me my wine. He said, we haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine. And still those voices are calling from faaaaaaaaaar away, wake you up in the middle of the night, just to hear them say... Welcome to the hotel caaaaaalifornia..."

Getting some practice in with the punching bag before Jennie arrived, Adrienne jabbed and uppercutted and danced around, absorbed in her own little world. She had her radio with her, but instead of sports commentary it was tuned to an oldies rock station and she was singing along absentmindedly. And awfully.

Without missing a beat, a clear high voice joined in. "Such a lovely place, wo-aoh, such a lovely place," Jennie crooned from the doorway. She had a small bag slung over her shoulder, which she deposited on the bench by Adrienne. Honestly, she had been stunned by Scott's request that she help train Adrienne, at first laughing in his face and then naming any number of more experienced X-Men that could be called upon to help out the older woman. Unfortunately, Fearless Leader being who he was, he stubbornly insisted that she was the right person for the job. She shook her head and smiled brightly at Adrienne. "Didn't peg you as the classic rock type."

Startled and embarrassed, Adrienne jumped and turned around guiltily. The punching bag swung back slightly and knocked into her, causing her to stagger. "I'm not," she answered once she found that glaring daggers at Jennie wasn't making her feel any less embarrassed. "I can only get a.m. on that thing and it's either classic rock or talk radio." Still bristling a little at being caught singing, she gestured towards the bag in attempt to change the topic. "What did you bring me?" she inquired with a raised eyebrow.

With an impish smile Jennie pulled an ipod speaker dock out of the pack, and plugged it into the wall. "Normally I'd have you meet me in the dance studio, but there's a class in there now. Most of my fight style comes from dance training," Thank you, Captain Pete, "So I'm going to show you some basic moves. I'll do my best to demonstrate, but I'm still recovering from that whole almost dying thing, so I'm going to just have to tug you into position." Jennie gestured for Adrienne to join her by the gym's floor-length mirrors.

Adrienne switched off her radio and followed Jennie to the mirrors after grabbing her water bottle and taking a swig, pulling off her gloves. "Dancing," she replied skeptically. "Munroe seems fond of that technique, too. Where did you all get that from? I seriously doubt it was Summers," she smirked. "The Professor, maybe? Does he like dancing as a training tool for developing fight style?" She looked Jennie over. "You don't look too terribly awful for someone who almost died," she smirked.

"Me? I am a dance student. It was just natural to play to my strength," Jennie said, ignoring Adrienne's attempts at pithy humor. When you and one of your friends made a game of wittily insulting one another on a daily basis, almost everything else was child's play. "And I'll take that last remark as a compliment," Jennie added, walking over to Adrienne and gesturing for her to stand up straight.

Anyone who knew Jennie well could see her movements were slow and stiff. Her professors at NYU had decided that surviving the George Washington bridge was excuse enough, so her final grades were dependent upon a few critical essays and completed physical therapy. Luckily for Jennie, she recovered quickly from injuries, so next semester wouldn't be a total wash.

"I'm a model," Adrienne said with a roll of her eyes in response to the gesture for her to stand up straight. "I always stand up straight." Except she might have been slouching a little from the toll the exercise with the punching bag had on her, so she took another swig of water and squared her shoulders, straightening up a little. "You're a dance student?" she asked for the sake of conversation. "Which programme? As it happens, I have a few dance students in my New York stable. I suppose modeling is preferable to waitressing or joining a crime-fighting superhero team for paying tuition," she smirked.

"Tisch, emphasizing both modern and ballet," said Jennie, who then demonstrated by taking one of the forms and then gracefully rising to en pointe and then back down. "And my father is Ari Niarchos, so my tuition is not much of a problem," Jennie added, circling Adrienne while eyeing her stance. Considering Jennie normally looked like she'd stepped out of a 1950's road movie (but with more tattoos), such a declaration normally warranted a double take. "Relax, arms at you sides, and stand with your feet shoulder length apart, this isn't modeling, so don't pose. Just relax," she circled behind Adrienne and adjusted her stance. "There, better. And I don't fight crime to get paid. That's why I work in the medlab."

Adrienne flinched out of surprise when Jennie touched her to adjust her stance but held back from saying anything about it. "I think I have a Tisch student on the payroll," she confirmed. "A Whitney, if I recall correctly?" She eyed Jennie again after learning of her parentage. "I also think I met your father once." She was definitely familiar with the name of the businessman, though they didn't exactly travel in the same circles. "So ballet is going to help me fight a Neandrathal-looking creature with a bomb tied around his neck next time?" she muttered, feeling a little silly. "Or do you have bombs to defuse in your bag?"

Jennie's mouth twitched at the mention of Whitney's name. "Oh yes, Whitney. I know Whitney very well. She loves dogs, especially Pomeranians..." she said with an evil little smile. "And it doesn't surprise me. Dad gets around." She stepped back so the was facing Adrienne. "I can't exactly train you with your powers, since psychometry's not my thing. No, what we're going to learn is how to fight someone with superpowers." Jennie backed up and dropped into a relaxed stance. "Now then. Attack me."

"'Gets around' is an interesting term to describe your father," Adrienne pointed out with a grin. Niarchos was a decent man, so she meant it to tease Jennie rather than her father. "And psychometry's completely useless in training, anyway, so don't worry about it. I believe Summers just wants me to be able to stay alive if I'm thrown into another situation like New York. Or India." Her grin turned into a frown as she considered Jennie's request, however. "Do I have to? I've been training with Munroe and Morgan, but I'm much better at using a gun than actually attacking people." Mostly because she got nervous that she was going to be hit back.

"Unfortunately, you won't always have a gun. You have to think on your feet. I'm not actually going to hit you, instead I'm going to dodge. All I want you to do is catch me," Jennie quirked an eyebrow as a challenge. "I'm injured, so it shouldn't be too hard."

"Injured just makes it seem worse," Adrienne complained, but the fact that Jennie said she wasn't going to hit back, and the challenge Jennie had voiced about Adrienne catching her made her feel slightly better about the whole thing. "You hurt your ribs, right? So that's where I should be aiming?" she questioned, teasing. Before the question had died on her lips she lunged with her left, aiming for Jennie's shoulder while keeping her other arm up to protect herself.

Smooth as silk, Jennie stepped out of the way. Another attempted grab, another fast dodge.

"Slow, too slow," Jennie teased.

"Where's the gun when I need it?" Adrienne deadpanned, lunging again and again. "This is going to get old fast. Show me what to do so I don't flail around like an idiot?"

"Ah young padawan, stop trying to grab me and grab me." Jennie dodged again. "My advice? Try and think three moves ahead."

"Three moves ahead..." the psychometrist mused, trying to think of what Morgan would do. They'd had discussions about different boxing styles before and Adrienne was learning as an out-fighter, so she'd been maintaining her distance and going in for jabs, but Morgan had shown her other techniques and now she switched to swarming. She feigned right, dancing left as she came in close, attempting a combination of hooks and crosses.

Jennie dodged again, and since she couldn't help herself, she smacked Adrienne on the ass as the older woman went by. "Getting closer," the girl teased. She held up a hand to halt Adrienne. "Okay, you want to know what I've noticed about you so far?"

Adrienne huffed out an irritated breath and grabbed her water bottle, taking a long swig. "Christ, yes. Just end the torment," she muttered, corner of her mouth twitching up in a smile.

"You keep hiding your face, or trying to cover yourself as you come in. It sort of looks like this," Jennie covered her face with one hand and flailed a fist around with the other. "You have to be aware of your surroundings, yes, but you're never going to be able to catch me, or even really defend yourself if you keep being so timid."

"Timid?!" the psychometrist extolled in surprise. "I'm a Frost, in case you didn't know. Timid is not in my vocabulary. I'm just being... cautious." Timid was actually what she was, and she knew it, but Adrienne wasn't about to admit it. "Alright Karen Kain," she teased, "do you have any suggestions or did you just want to point out what I'm doing wrong?"

"Well, first of all," Jennie said, getting closer. "You need to stop worrying about getting hit. I hate to tell you this, but you will get hit. It's inevitable. I'm not all sure how to help you there, but I shall consult with my elders. The second thing is again, you're just attacking. You're not watching me or what I do. Sometimes all you can do is react, true, but you have to learn how to read your opponent."

"Don't consult your elders about that," Adrienne said quickly. She definitely didn't want Jennie and the other X-Men discussing why she was afraid to get hit. "I'll work on it." She frowned at Jennie's last comment, having always prided herself on being able to read people rather well. "I suppose reading people as they're attacking you is a situation I'm not used to, yet," she muttered. "I just started going to boxing matches with Morgan to watch and learn, but I admit I've been quite lax on my study of ballet dancers," she teased, then stared off into space for a second and said wistfully: "except for that one night in 1992..."

"Hey!" Jennie snapped her fingers in front of Adrienne's face. "Training now, reminiscing about sexual conquests later." Jennie straightened up, growing serious. "I know I come off very flippant, but this training's saved my life a few times. I take this seriously, and you need to as well, all right? Now, I'm going to demonstrate a couple of attacks and blocks, so you need to stay with me on this."

"I am with you," Adrienne muttered, setting down her water bottle. "And I do take it seriously, or I wouldn't have agreed when Summers asked me to do this." She rolled her shoulders and gestured for Jennie to go ahead. "You have my undivided attention, Karen Kain."