Jennie and Zanne - Sunday Night

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Away from all the drama, Jennie and Zanne celebrate her new promotion and get drunk, and discuss codenames, capes, and the kiss-that-wasn't.



The half-filled bottles of schnapps thunked onto the countertop, followed by a bottles of midori, goldschlager, and crown whiskey. "I think that's all of it," came Zanne's voice, muffled by the fact that she was half in the cabinet under the sink, "But I still can't find the blender. Did we loan it out to someone?"

Jennie was sitting on the counter, examining the spoils, peering intently at the label of one of the bottles of crown. "I don't think that we did, unless one of the boys came in and grabbed it. I haven't blown it up, I know that much." Due to the nature of Jennie's powers, she was often Death to appliances. "Anyhoo, we've got enough juice in the fridge to get creative. I think we can leave off the frozen drinks for now. We have enough to celebrate ten promotions," she added with a grin.

"If they did, there will be Words." Zanne stood with a vaguely murderous look in her eye. She'd bought frozen strawberries for the express purpose of making a pitcher of daquiris and had been looking forward to it. "I can't believe I got promoted already. I thought it would be at least a year."

"In all fairness, you were going into this with a little bit of experience. I can't believe I got promoted as fast as I did, since I basically started from scratch. I was just a kid with some idiot notion of becoming harder to fuck with, and boy look at me now," Jennie said, rolling her eyes slightly. "At least you're not like Miss Lauriekins, who will never see her way out of the grays if she doesn't remove her head from her ass." Jennie also thanks whatever gods were listening that her COs had the good sense not to promote Laurie until she was good and ready.

"Laurie's not that bad, she's just really sheltered." Zanne added a healthy pour of Midori to her fuzzy navel and gently swirled the glass. "I mean, not that she hasn't been through some terrible stuff here, but I think a year or two out on her own would be good for her. You're protected from a lot here, and it'd give her a chance to see how the world works without that buffer." Laurie didn't get to her like she did Jennie, but her naivete was going to get her in serious trouble at some point.

"Mmm," Jennie said, and then shrugged. She hopped off the counter to make her own drink. "It's hard to explain, when she goes after Kyle, I can't not get mad. Or if anyone goes after him. It's complicated," she added a healthy pour of Jack into her glass.

What wasn't complicated around here? Zanne sipped her drink to hide her smile. "I thought Marius was the one you were all protective about, not Kyle."

"It's, argh--" Jennie fought the urge to drink straight from the bottle. She walked right into that one. "It's in the team files, labeled 'Ahab' if you're curious as to why. Bits and pieces that are still stuck around. Marius is even doubly more complicated. And confusing. And hi, alcohol, my friend," Jennie said, finally taking a drink.

"All right, all right, we won't delve into the details of your relationship with Mr. Charming." Zanne laughed, setting down her own glass and boosting herself up on the counter next to the sink. "We'll pick a safer topic. Um." The problem with trying to pick a safer topic was that there really weren't any. Just when she thought she'd figured something out here, she'd step on another landmine. "You think it's ever going to snow?"

Jennie snorted. "Nah, ask away. I did bite him in front of everyone and all," she smiled around her glass and raised an eyebrow at Zanne. There was nothing to tell, so there was nothing to be afraid of, yes?

The infamous bite-that-wasn't-a-bite. "About that," Zanne began, deciding that directness would probably be more appreciated. "It seems pretty obvious that you care for him in more than friendly way, and that there's some issues there on his side," she'd read all of the team files and thought she had a fairly good idea of what those issues might be. "Is he worth eating your heart out over?"

Jennie choked and almost did a spit take. "Are you kidding me?" she said in-between coughing. "The only reason he didn't automatically recoil is because I was in the process of biting his lip. Marius has three unbreakable rules, no teammates, no friends, and absolutely NO mutants. Plus, I've seen what he sleeps with. An intelligent female wouldn't go near him with a hazmat suit." And he would never return any affection beyond the purely noncommittal. "I'm much smarter than that."

"So that was strictly business with a side of messing-with-his-head, then?" Zanne drained her glass and set it aside, adding the new information to her mental file. She wasn't quite sure she believed Jennie, but she wasn't willing to push too hard, either.

"There'd have to be stuff IN his head for me to mess with it in the first place," Jennie said dryly while taking another drink. "No we're strictly friends. Keep in mind the bitey bit was because the thought of frenching him repulses me." Though she did miss the days when they were fake married. People were less likely to think too hard about the pair of them that way.

"Noted." Zanne snickered while leaning over to grab the bottle of whiskey. It was closer than the vodka. "In the interest of fairness, you can ask me horribly piercing questions as well, you know. I didn't mean for this to be interrogate Jennie night."

"Nope, it's celebrate Zanne night!" Jennie said, offering Zanne a toast. "Cheers and congratulations. Given any thoughts to a new codename?" She smoothly pushed the conversation away from the deeper feelings that Jennie was constantly trying to bury or destroy. She was pretty much gutter trash that occasionally put on airs and pretended she was better than what she was. No way would any guy want to get near that.

"Thank you." Zanne clinked her bottle against Jennie's glass. Bullet dodged! "I'm thinking 'Sway', but I'm not sure yet. It's a little silly. Because I have sway over time, you know?" She poured herself a shot and threw it back. The liquor burned as it hit the back of her throat. "I feel like i should laugh maniacally whenever I say it. That's probably not a good thing out in the field."

"You should! I mean, hell, 'Ro's got her cape thing. I don't care what anyone says about it being 'aerodynamic'" Jennie replied cheerfully.

"Has that woman never seen the Incredibles?" Zanne asked, distractedly pouring herself another shot. "Aerodynamic aesthetic aside, it's dangerous! I know that was just a cartoon, that doesn't mean you can't learn a lesson from it."

"She had it before the Incredibles, if reports are accurate," Jennie said, pouring herself another generous helping. School was done for the year, so she could drink as much as she wanted. "I think now she's just trying to prove everyone wrong."

"Well, I wish her continued good luck," Zanne said, offering atoast to their absent colleague.

"I don't know, though," she mused, returning back to the previous topic. "What do you think? How did you pick your name?"

Jennie shrugged. "A lot of suggestions for my trainee name were Vegas-themed. they eventually went with Jackpot, but someone suggested Roulette, and I liked that one. It's a game all about luck, and you really never know what you're getting, and that seemed like me, y'know?"

Zanne nodded, envying the straightforwardness. "I guess I'm just going to have to try mine out and see. Promise to stop me if I start cackling mid-battle, though?"

"I promise, but I do that all the time, so you never know. Cheers," she clinked glasses with Zanne again.

"Fair enough. Cheers."