Lil and Adrienne

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Lil and Adrienne run into each other at the pool while one is training and the other trying to decompress.


Since earning an official spot as a trainee, Lil had been hitting the gym hard in her off time. The machines, weights, sparring, everything and anything she could to maximize her strength and therefore her powers. And to cool down there was nothing like a few laps. Dressed in a dark green bikini, she dropped her towel then moved to the edge of the pool and looked up when she heard the door to the women's locker room open. "Heya, Adrienne," Lil greeted as she pulled her hair into a high ponytail. "How's the quitting coming? "

Giving Lil a polite smile, Adrienne adjusted her towel more securely around her waist as she adjusted her goggles on her head and dropped her water bottle on the side of the pool. "Very well, thanks," she answered. Failing so miserably at her resolution to cut back on alcohol had made her even more determined to succeed at her resolution to quit smoking. "The return of the kidnapped residents didn't exactly help my stress level," she added ruefully, "but the swimming's been a pretty good substitute for the smoking. How's the job hunt coming?"

"Got one," Lil beamed, rolling her head from side to side before stretching her arms over her head. "Working closing shifts at Harry's most nights." It had been going fairly well, too. No fights to break up so far and the tips weren't bad, either. She kept meaning to email Vikks and have her friend pass along her thanks to Garrison. "Glad to hear you're sticking to your guns with the smoking; my habit's gotten worse since I got here I think," Lil admitted.

"Oh yeah?" Adrienne asked, crouching down at the side of the pool and slipping in as she pulled off her towel, hiding the scar on her thigh from view. "Why's that? Things aren't nearly as bad around here right now as they usually are, at least since I've moved in." And how messed up was that?

Lil likewise slipped into the water that while standing in the shallow end barely reached her waist and shrugged. "Not exactly sure why. Moving's probably the biggest factor - the craziness of that and you know, no one hollering at me to put the damn thing out. Then work and now training... Not hugely stressed; just a way to relax a bit. Like swimming, as you said. Get to be alone in your head for awhile."

Adrienne nodded. "Moving's definitely stressful," she agreed, immersing herself in the water to get past the awkward half-cold to all-cold-and-then-not-cold point of swimming. "And yes, being away from people who disapprove is also a factor. Parents?"

"Husband," the blonde clarified, stretching her arms out again to loosen up a bit more. "Didn't like the smell. Or taste." The small smile stretched into a brighter one even as the tall woman shrugged one shoulder. "Nothing I've gotta worry about now, anyways, hence the more smoking."

"Did you kill yours too?" Adrienne deadpanned with a raised eyebrow.

Lil blinked at that; her smile falling instantly. She hadn't actually tried to kill Maddy but... too? "No... No, I didn't kill him. Thumped him pretty good though before I left, though. The kitchen won't ever be the same, even with his powers," she added, still frowning at the other woman. She wasn't serious... Was she?

"Well, I'm sure he deserved it. They all do." With a smirk, Adrienne kicked off from the edge of the pool and began her laps.

The taller woman continued to frown but as as she opened her mouth to reply found Adrienne already starting her swim. Slipping her own goggles on Lil shrugged and likewise kicked off; her long arms and legs bringing her to the brunette's side in no time.

Realizing that the blonde had caught up, Adrienne increased her speed a fraction, feeling competitive. She knew it was rather silly to take on a woman nearly a foot taller than herself, but exerting yourself until you dropped was a good way to alleviate frustration, and she was definitely feeling a lot of that lately. She reached the end of the pool, flipped, and shot off the way she'd come, but by now Lil was already beginning to outdistance her. By the time she'd done twenty-five laps, Adrienne had lost track of how many times Lil had lapped her.

Panting, Adrienne pulled herself up to the side of the pool. "I let you win, you know," she deadpanned.

"Course you did," Lil returned with a hardy laugh. She liked the brunette and her healthy sense of competition. "You should come down to Harry's sometime when I'm working and I'll buy your first round for going easy on me." Hoisting herself up out of the water, she sat on the edge and reached up to pull the elastic loose and shake out the long chlorine-saturated hair.

"I don't drink anymore," Adrienne retorted, still panting. She fell back against the pool deck, groping for her water bottle and struggling to regain her breath. "But if you make it a tonic water or some sort of virgin girly drink, I might be persuaded. I'll even let you win a round or two on the Wii if you keep offering to pay for things."

She laughed again then nodded. "Deal. You come down and whatever fruity, bubbly kiddie drink you want is on me. As for the Wii..." Lil'd heard things about that system but had never had the chance to play. It definitely sounded fun. "You got anything on that involves blowing shit up or just the regular sports games?"

"I have Lego Batman and the sports games and a game where you go around poking fish, and I accidentally downloaded some of the old fashioned 8-bit games a couple of weeks ago that I haven't really explored yet, so there may be some blowing shit up games in that package."

"In 8-bit? Doubt it. Unless you count Space Invaders where you shoot down the other ships. Or, Duck Hunt, but that was shooting ducks, not blowing things up," Lil said, far to seriously. Having a geek for a significant other meant lots of time spent playing video games over the years. "You need to invest in some first person shooters; that'll take the edge off more than smoking or swimming."

"Space Invaders wasn't 8-bit," Adrienne corrected, though she was unsure as to whether she was right. "And what's wrong with shooting ducks? And usually when people want me to get new games, they give them to me," she pointed out, breathing more normally now but still unable to get up. "I like poking fish for taking the edge off."

"It was totally an 8-bit," Lil declared, grabbing her towel to wring out her hair. "Or there was at least an 8-bit version. And Christmas is over, sweetie. I'm not buying you anything but a few drinks because I do not have the cash to blow on stuff like that right now. Still, you need some good shooters; poking fish can't be all that satisfying."

Though she was already beginning to ache, Adrienne forced herself into a sitting position to glare at the blonde. "I know Christmas is over, I just meant if you want to play my Wii you play the games I have or you buy me games you want to play. That's the way it works. You don't get to tell me which games I should be buying. And poking fish is very satisfying," she said with a smirk, enjoying how that could be misinterpreted.

"I'll have to take your word on that," Lil answered with a smirk of her own before she stood and stretched out her long frame. "I wasn't telling, I was recommending something I thought you'd enjoy, 'specially seeing as you asked me about shooting ranges before," the blonde pointed out when she looked back over her shoulder at Adrienne.

"Nothing really compares to the real thing," the psychometrist shrugged, getting to her feet. "But I suppose I could give the shooter games a chance."


"You'll love them... unless you're prone to motion sickness," Lil amended. "Then you might wanna skip it. I heard they can make people nauseous. But let me know how you like them and when you're coming to Harry's." She tossed the towel over her shoulder before picking up her bag. "Thanks for letting me win, Adrienne."