Lil and Adrienne - Backdated to the 29th

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

After this journal conversation, Adrienne and Lil both find themselves seeking to de-stress with cigarettes.


Adrienne took a long drag on her cigarette as she pounded her heels into the railing of the smoker's porch, struggling not to fume. Why had Morgan immediately assumed she was fine with the conversation in Lil's journal? She wasn't fine. She was thoroughly creeped out. The psychometrist knew it had been a joke, but the fact that Morgan could even say what she had, even in jest, made Adrienne very uncomfortable.

She was also uncomfortable because Morgan's immediate assurance that her 'partner in crime' was fine made Adrienne question why she wasn't fine. Why was this bothering her? It was a stupid joke. Morgan wasn't serious, she knew that. Morgan thought she was fine, so why wasn't she fine? She should be fine.

With a sigh, Adrienne continued to kick her heels against the porch railing and frowned when she spotted the woman whose journal had been the cause of this discomfort. "If you're after an apology, you're not gonna get one," she called out to Lil with false sweetness as the woman approached.

"I'm here for a cigarette," Lil returned, pulling one out of the pack her held before bringing it to her lips and lighting it. "Is that okay or do I need permission from Mommy first?" First the whole journal thing had set her off, then Manuel's teasing... all the giantess wanted was to smoke in peace, goddammit.

"It's bad enough getting it from Petrovic; at least she's young and has the whole innocent persona working for her," Adrienne snapped, clearly miffed about the misinterpretation people were getting over Morgan's stupid impregnation joke, "can you honestly not perceive a goddamn joke either?"

The tall blonde couldn't help but roll her eyes. "I don't give a fuck what you and your girlfriend do or talk about or joke about away from my journal but I've got my own shit to deal with right now." Lil took a long drag of the cigarette before continuing, her glare never leaving the short woman's face. "It got old real fast."

Adrienne left the 'girlfriend' remark- let the woman think what she wanted; there were worse things in life than to be mistaken for Morgan's significant other, after all- go unanswered and gave the blonde a smirk. "It amuses me how people like you think that these journals are your private sanctuary," she replied levelly, "like a secret diary you get to write your deepest thoughts in. It's a goddamned public forum, for Christ's sake. You can't privatize anything on it, you can't make sure that only your bestest friends respond in ways you approve of. I simply don't understand why you think that because you write something in it- something completely pointless in the first place, by the way- that entitles you to become some sort of censor on what develops in it." She was keeping her tone level, calm, curious. She really didn't understand why some people got so possessive over 'their' journals. Had she complained when Marie-Ange and Emma had gone off on a tangent with bestiality innuendos in her journal? Morgan's threads with Jan and Forge? No, because there was nothing Adrenne felt she had to protect in the journal. It was a ridiculous public forum. Ad space, basically. What did it matter who wrote what to whom in it?

"Well, next time, don't feel obligated to reply to pointless things written by people like me," she returned simply, crossing her arms defensively over her chest as she continued to stare Adrienne down. "You didn't seem too happy with the way the joke was going either so I really don't see why you're so pissed at me when all I did was try and stop it," Lil added, flicking the ash from the tip of her cigarette.

"I will reply to whatever I feel like," Adrienne responded coolly. No one told her what to do, not anymore. "I realize that you'd asked us to stop earlier and we did not so for that I apologize even if I don't think you should be censoring peoples' conversations. But my unhappiness is none of your concern. Nor am I 'pissed' at you."

Lil almost pointed out that Adrienne had apologized despite her earlier claims that the blonde wasn't getting one but held her tongue. She didn't want to fight with anyone else today. She just wasn't in the mood for it despite how 'grumpy' or 'cranky' she really was. "I don't give a rat's ass about your happiness or unhappiness; I'm just out here for a cigarette."

The psychometrist nodded in agreement. "Same here." She slipped into silence, smoking and musing to herself, before eventually asking "how's the job hunt going?"

The younger woman blinked hard at that. She hadn't expected Adrienne to make conversation, let alone about something about Lil. "Got fired from Elpis a week after I started temping. The paper shredder and I didn't get along so I had to take it out back and teach it a lesson." Another deep inhale of smoke and she released it on a long exhale, watching the little cloud it formed. "Merry Christmas to me and Happy New Year, huh? I'm gonna hit the clubs after the holidays, see if anything's open."

Adrienne raised an eyebrow. She couldn't tell if Lil was joking or not about the paper shredder. "You'd think the holiday season would have made it more likely for there to be jobs available," she commented, finishing up her cigarette and flicking the butt in the general vicinity of the tin where it was supposed to be deposited. "Have you tried Harry's?" The immediate association of the pub's name with Garrison had her spirits falling, and she played with her silver lighter absentmindedly.

"Not yet," Lil admitted, lifting one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. "Haven't checked out anywhere yet. Will, though, once I can get a ride to and from - don't have a car down here yet." Or motorcycle. "And you know, see what training's gonna be like. I don't wanna set hours I can't make." Lil was taking Nathan's advice - at least that part.

Flipping the lighter over her fingers, Adrienne pocketed it, still distracted. "Who are you training with?"

"Dunno yet. Last I talked to Scott, he said he was gonna look for volunteers." Lil's eyes went to the treeline, studying it just as absently. "Haven't heard back since. I figured with the holidays and all, I kinda got shuffled to the back burner. I'll pester him soon enough. Until then, I'm doing some unofficial weapons training."

"The holidays, the fact that three mansion residents were brutally attacked and probably killed," Adrienne mused. "What sort of weapons training do you do? Knife-throwing?"

"Could be that as well," Lil agreed, her face a mask of steel. She wouldn't talk about the loss; she wasn't comfortable with it. "Guns. Been out to the range once and am possibly going again this weekend if he ever emails me back."

"Where is there a range?" the psychometrist asked, head snapping over to Lil with interest.

"Not exactly sure, sorry," the blonde said, frowning a bit at the shorter woman. "If you want I can ask Bishop. Or you could email him yourself. He said something about making an appointment last time so I'm not sure if it's a private place or not." Lil had only been there once and she'd be damned if she could remember the address considering what else had been on her mind at the time.

"Hmm, perhaps I will email him. Of course, we didn't part on the most friendly of terms last time we met," Adrienne mused unabashedly. "I had too much to drink and shot my mouth off, if I recall correctly. I believe I called him an asshole. Of course, according to the NYPD and the FBI I'm not supposed to be touching guns anyway..."

Lil's brow arched when Adrienne spoke about the cops and FBI not allowing her to 'be touching guns.' "Even if you've got an ex-cop with you?" Depending on how things progressed: how he responded to her last email, what happened with Manuel, Lil was very much tempted to tell him she was bringing a 'friend' along on their next trip to the range. "I just told him I'd rip his balls off if he did something I don't want him to so I'm not exactly sure where he and I stand right now, to be honest."

"I never asked. If I could shoot with an ex-cop babysitting me. I... there was a cop around here," Adrienne said quietly, flicking her lighter open and staring at the flame, "I never asked him while he was here if I could visit a shooting range." That was really the least of her regrets right now, but it still stung. "Now he's... I should've asked." The lighter was beginning to heat up in her hand, and Adrienne flicked it closed irritably, scolding herself for dwelling on what she couldn't change. If Garrison was really dead, then she needed to stop dwelling on it and move on. "Rip Bishop's balls off?" she said in an entirely different tone, light and amused, grinning a false smile at Lil, "now that would be interesting to see. I take it you have super strength, or some such power?"

The blonde's jaw clenched when Adrienne spoke of the cop, her thoughts going immediately to Garrison and how she'd been excited to see him again then to find out his fate... Lil shook her head and let the thought pass; it was no time to get soft. "Some such power, yeah. Diamond-tough skin 'cause of the bio-aura thing that also gives my punches a wallop," she shrugged. it was no big thing; there were others who were stronger but she was still tough enough to take on those people. Taking a last suck of her cigarette, Lil dropped it onto the porch and stomped it out, still frowning to herself.

Adrienne hopped down from the porch and pocketed her lighter. Now that they were both finished their cigarettes there wasn't really much of a reason to stay out in the cold. "This may be the last time I come out here. I'm making it my New Year's Resolution to quit smoking," she mumbled, clearly not pleased with her own decision. "Maybe this year it'll actually stick, although with the stress that comes from living here I seriously doubt it. But I'm sure I'll see you around, if you're going to be training."


"Good luck with that," Lil wished her, opening her pack and pulling out a second. It was just that kind of day. "I've tried and even my husband's bitching couldn't get me to stop." She stuck it in her mouth then lit it, drawing in a calming puff. "But yeah, I'll probably see you around... I'm sorry for what happened in the journal. It was stupid, but you know," the taller woman shrugged. "It's just been a crappy day."