Vanessa & Adrienne | Monday evening

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Vanessa shows up with Chinese take out and wine to talk about boys as promised.

Vanessa had a bag with Chinese take out in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. Technically Adrienne was supposed to be bringing the wine but the metamorph figured that was to christen the penthouse and here she was knocking on her friend's suite door. It wasn't baptismal grounds. Then again, Adrienne had apparently finally gotten something that involved details so maybe it was. Thus, the bottle of wine. The hand with the wine carefully rapped on the door. "Love of my life! Where are you?"

"In here!" Adrienne called out in a sing-song voice emanating from the bathroom. "Just staring at my crooked nose," she lamented theatrically, emerging from the room and making a face. "Some of my execs at the agency think I should get it fixed. Rhinoplasty, you know? But I spent so long covering up my scars, I'm a little bit sick of it. They say looking human is not the proper image for a modeling agency. I fired their asses. How's the penthouse?" she smiled, setting aside her grumpiness and flopping down easily onto her couch.

"I like the crook, it adds character. 'Cause God knows you don't have enough of it already," she said with a roll of her eyes and three layers more sarcasm than she needed. Vanessa trailed up to the couch from behind and leaned over Adrienne's shoulder. She dangled the wine bottle by it's cork and the Chinese take out back by it's handles in front of the other woman. "I came bearing gifts." She kissed Adrienne's cheek. "But if you're so annoyed with your nose then get it straightened out. Just don't to anything else. Because I'd hold that against you." She waited until everything she'd brought was taken by the brunette before going back to the kitchen for forks, the corkscrew and a couple wine glasses.

"The penthouse is good. I'm avoiding it, obviously, until I sign a real lease that says I'm not a squatter," she called from the kitchen, smile evident in her tone.

Distributing the Chinese food around the table, Adrienne smirked at Vanessa's last comment. "I've got it here, don't have kittens on me," she assured her friend, tapping some papers she'd moved on the floor under the coffee table when the food had been unpacked. And thanks. I think the crook adds character too. It's getting checked out next week but if the passages aren't blocked or whatever they say, as long as I can breathe I'm leaving it." She quirked an eyebrow at the kitchen. "So, quid pro quo? Is that the name of the game?"

"Good, you should leave it. 'Cause you're still unendurably hot." Adrienne couldn't see it, but Vanessa stuck her tongue out at her friend after she said that. The wine glasses were set down on the table before Vanessa sat down and then she reached for the wine bottle. "Yeah, I guess that's the name of the game. Let's just try to not ask me anything I'm going to be squeamish about admitting, ok?" She wasn't sure Adrienne would actually ask her anything she didn't want to admit or admit on Lex's behalf, but it was possible. Then again, Adrienne didn't actually know they were a thing now. Well, a real thing anyway.

"Wait- am I asking you a question first or are you asking me a question first? How does this game actually work? I'm more used to video games like Wii Boxing."

"Because I'm the one with the practice at being a girl?" She pulled the cork out of the wine bottle and set it down to breathe. Vanessa didn't drink wine much but she knew it needed time to breathe before you drank it. Why it needed to breathe, she had no idea. A container of sesame chicken was nabbed along with a fork to distract her from the wine. "And you're the one who wanted all those details, cupcake."

Vanessa paused, eyes narrowing at her friend. "I'm not sure you're a cupcake anymore. I think you've grown beyond cupcake."

"Because of the broken nose?" Adrienne asked suggestively, intrigued. "Because I'm so badass now? Are you going to call me Tiger? Viper?"

"I was thinking black mamba," Vanessa joked. It was the first snake she could think of that wasn't a viper.

Adrienne's eyes lit up. "I like it! I wish I knew more snakes so I could suggest one for you." She opened a box of tofu with mushrooms and dates, digging in to it with a grin. "Well, I mean, I know a lot of snakes, but they all have two legs. But I think you're a Sassafras if I ever saw one."

"I probably am," she agreed with a nod. Then she looked a little perplexed. "Except I don't think I even know what sassasfras looks like. Hm..." Vanessa tapped a finger against her chin while she thought that over. "Maybe you should be a spice. You seem spicy more than deadly and fear-inducing. Cayenne? Clove?" No, those didn't really fit. She watched her friend, eyes steadily narrowing.

"Spicy is... appropriate," Adrienne mused, and broke into giggles. "Spicy is good. I think others would agree with you that I'm spicy."

Grinning, the metamorph leaned over and licked the first stretch of skin she found find. It was Adrienne's neck. "Mm...tastes like..." She tried to think up the first thing that sounded good with Sassafras. Salt? No. Sugar? Not a spice. "Saffron."

"Saffron? Okay, if you say so. Though maybe you should check with Kane, you two can discuss how I taste together," she grinned again, a goofy, proud grin.

Vanessa licked her lips. "Oh, my memory of that is just fine, Saffron," she told her. The woman took a bite of chicken and considered the new nickname. She liked saffron. It seemed to oddly fit while being odd enough to still make people pause. It was a nice evolution. Leaning over, Vanessa's shoulder bumped Adrienne's. "Saffron and Sassafras." Then what her friend had said sunk in. "Wait, he's tasting you now? I thought you were woefully under-orgasmed?"

"Sort of has a 'Batman and Robin-esque ring to it, doesn't it?" Adrienne knocked her shoulder back against Vanessa's and the grin seemed stuck to her face. "Not woefully under-orgasmed anymore. And that's my first quid pro quo. Are you still woefully under-orgasmed?" she inquired nosily, digging into her food greedily.

Vanessa cleared her throat and diverted her attention to fully focus on her chicken. "Not exactly." She really wasn't sure about this girlie sharetime thing. She'd never been a teenage girl with best friends to whisper to about the boys she liked or dated. This was the most normal friendship she'd had since she was thirteen, but she'd skipped all that time in between when she was supposed to develop the girl-code mores and the like.

"Okay, I understand gossip but I don't understand how this sort of sharing about boys thing works," Adrienne pointed out. She'd never developed normally either. When she spoke to other girls about her sexual conquests, it was to hurt them, to make herself feel more powerful. This, wanting to honestly share a story with her best friend because she was so happy about it, was something different. "Am I supposed to poke you for more details on what not exactly means?" She accentuated her comment with an actual poke to Vanessa's shoulder. "Or do we move on to the next quid pro quo?"

Pivoting where she sat, Vanessa laid her legs across Adrienne's lap. It helped keep her a little more out of poking range. "I don't know. It all seems odd. I think you shouldn't poke me for more details yet because I'm not sure how to do the sharing about boys thing either?" Wow, weren't they special. Two grown women who didn't even know how to gossip about their boyfriends. After she swallowed another bite of chicken Vanessa offered, "He's actually my boyfriend now. And really sucks at proposing that. It was kind of cute in all its amazing patheticness, though."

"Yeah, amazing patheticness is really cute sometimes. Which is just really wrong," Adrienne amended with a thoughtful frown. "I'm glad you two are defining the relationship. Things are so much easier when you know what you are to each other. Now you can move on to the orgasms!"

Vanessa nudged Adrienne lightly in the ribs. "It's not all about the orgasms. Some of us don't feel as deprived as you do. Besides, I was fine before he made it a thing. Or asked if I wanted it to be one or whatever. God, it's a good thing we don't leave this shit to me. I'd be all, 'So there's this thing we're doing and maybe it should be a more permanent thing. Y'know, like upgrading to waffles from toast or something.' And then he'd look at me like I'm nuts. I mean more than he already does."

"Some of us like nuts," Adrienne praised, squeezing Vanessa's knee. "I'm not all about orgasms. I'm not even making a big deal about the orgasm, just that I'm happy we moved on to that phase in our... whatever we have. I rarely get to this point with a man, where I'll think about what comes next after the orgasm and not think about where the exit ramp is." She set her food down on the table, a thought just hitting her. "Are you not fine now that it is a thing?"

"Hm? Oh, no! I didn't mean it like that. I'm fine with us being a thing. I was fine with us not being a thing thing." A blue hand waved dismissively through the air. "It's just...very different from Sam. Which is good, obviously, because I broke up with him for a reason. It's just...weird." Her lips pressed into a tiny O while Vanessa tried to figure out how to explain why it was weird. "I dunno, he fits. With Sam I was always trying to fit him and he was just the wrong shape and the wrong size and his angles were all wonky. Lex just fits. Like he was meant to be there. It's really odd. I think I realized that and that's what's fucking with me."

"Okay, maybe I am all about orgasms because that shape and size and angles and fitting thing is turning me on," Adrienne murmured, half to herself. "So what's fucking with you is the fact that you're really into him and think the two of you might have some longevity together?"

"I'd rather not think about the longevity thing," Vanessa admitted. "But yeah, I guess that's it. 'Cause I don't want to go and get too attached and be thinking there's something long term that could be there only then it turns out I was wrong. I don't wanna get attached to the idea of it. But it's hard not to think about it. He seems to understand me and get me better than he's got any right to."

"Kind of strange when you think you're a mystery and suddenly you wake up one morning and realize people have you figured out, huh?" She picked her food back up. "I'd think that if he suggested that you were boyfriend and girlfriend, it means he's in for some longevity so I don't think you're the only one who'd be getting too attached, which means you both would have a lot to lose and neither of you will enter into anything or exit the relationship without putting a lot of thought and work into it. And if things do go south, I'll be around to get you through it."

"You're right, but it's still weird." Vanessa didn't bring up that this was all of her second relationship ever. Unless you counted the ones she'd pretended to have when she was impersonating someone for Mag Ealga. It sounded off at her age to say she'd only dated one other person, even if it were true. Part of her would've been quite happy to take up with Lex and have him be the only man she was with ever again. That was probably the part of her that didn't like dating more than the part of her that was a little girl wanting a Happily Ever After. "Thanks though, I appreciate that whole you'd be around to pull my sorry ass through it thing."

"Where else would I be but pulling your sorry ass around? Of course, I don't know how effective I'll be," Adrienne mumbled sheepishly, staring down at her food. "I don't know a whole lot about dealing with break-ups. Counting Kane, I've dated two people, one of whom was about a month. I never even dated Steven, really," she admitted ruefully, "that was sex sex sex we should get married to make each other look better sex sex everything went to hell. Jake was really the first person I dated and that was dinner dinner sex me freaking out and us agreeing not to date anymore. I'm turning..." she made a coughing, mumbling noise, "-years old this year and I've never been in a healthy relationship before now. But hey, to pull your sorry ass through anything I'll try my best to muddle us both through it."

The former mercenary couldn't help but smile. Especially with all that mumbling since Vanessa was well aware of how old Adrienne would be turning this year. "Best mate a girl could have. Besides, I'm not sure my relationship with Sam counted as healthy. More...wish fulfillment? I think healthy would involve me bowing to what I thought I should be a lot less." She shrugged. "And so we discover why we're friends. Because we're fucked up in most of the same ways." Yet she grinned when she said that.

"Cheers to that," Adrienne laughed, pouring wine in both glasses and handing one to Vanessa. "And for the record, I think you should be bowing to what you already are, not what anyone says you should be. Sappy as that is, it's the truth."

"When did you get so sappy?" An amused smirk played across Vanessa's lips and she nudged Adrienne a little. "You're right, but you're starting to get deep and thoughtful. I'm not sure I can handle this."

"Well, I learned it from you, so it's your fault," Adrienne accused teasingly.

The metamorph narrowed her eyes at her friend. "You with the blame! Unfair blame, woman."