Doug, Jubilee, and Adrienne - at the Stoner Bakery (backdated)

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Backdated


Hellabuns ahoy! Doug and Jubilee meet Adrienne at Baked for midnight snacks and some conversation that ranges from Adrienne's return to plush goats.




Baked was best visited late at night in Adrienne's opinion, when there
were fewer, but more interesting, people around. Although she'd missed
the bakery during her time in Boston to the extent that she would have
tolerated it while packed to the rafters with people in order to get a
Hellabun. Luckily, it was not packed with people tonight, in fact, she
was currently the only customer in the place. She'd wandered over from
Vanessa's place in District X and ordered her long-awaited Hellabun and
some Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie before sliding into a booth to await
the arrival of her companions. She eyed the Hellabun as she waited,
knowing it was more polite to wait for guests before eating, but
eventually her longing for the pastry proved to be too great, her
willpower crumbled and she stuffed the Hellabun into her mouth.

"If only the corporate and fashionable could see this, Adrienne Frost
with an entire Hellabun in her mouth." Doug grinned as he slid into the
other side of the booth. There was a playfulness to the teasing, but
with an undertone that spoke to how he'd missed her while she'd been
gone in Boston.

"You mean I shouldn't upload this picture I just took with my phone onto
the school server?" Jubilee asked, having raised her cellphone and taken
a quick snap before putting ito back into her pocket and sliding into
the booth beside Doug. She picked up one of the menus and gave him her
best 'You love me, now feed me' looks.

In response to both of them, Adrienne made a face and stuck out her tongue, while her mouth was still filled with food. After she'd swallowed, she shrugged. "The corporate and fashionable have better things to gossip about regarding me than stuffing pastries in my face... like how my company's being investigated federally for illegal money transfers so all my assets are frozen and I am, in effect, penniless, and possibly on my way to jail." Her tone was light and joking. She wasn't sure if Emma had told Doug the circumstances that had led to her accepting Adrienne into the White Court, but Adrienne didn't see any point in hiding the truth from her friends. "Besides," she told Jubilee, "Hellabuns are always worth embarrassing pictures."

"It's good to have you back," Doug said simply. He knew first-hand
how the Hellfire Club could wreak havoc on relationships. He wasn't
sure what to say to the penniless and on the way to jail comment, but
he hoped she knew that he would do whatever it took to see that she
didn't.

"Ditto," Jubilee replied, before taking a large bite of her own hellabun, making noises of appreciation as she chewed vigorously. "Although it may have been totally worth it just to see Garrison descend into listenin' to Air Supply non-stop. It was hilariously tragic."

Adrienne's expression fell for a moment, becoming pained. She didn't think there was anything hilarious about what she'd done to Garrison, especially now that she'd spoken to him. But she still believed it had been worth it, the memory of the fire and what had nearly happened when she'd disobeyed the Black Court still fresh in her mind. "Well, I live to provide entertainment," she smirked at the couple in front of her, mask back in place. "It's the sole reason I returned, you know. Entertainment and gossip. Heard some stuff about you two already."

Doug could see that Jubilee's remark had scored. He suspected
Adrienne's departure hadn't exactly been her own idea, and had some
rather ambivalent feelings on unexpected departures. "Yeah, well,
Garrison wasn't the only one who got...left behind," he said, not
exactly accusingly, but with a roil of unresolved emotions under the
surface.

Adrienne nearly snapped at Doug with something along the lines of how she'd left Garrison behind so he wouldn't be killed and she hadn't exactly intended for any of it to happen, had she, but she bit her tongue. This wasn't the time or the place for that conversation. "Well, you're with Jubilee now," she said with a grin, guessing that the other woman wanted to talk about Doug being left behind by Marie-Ange just about as much as Adrienne wanted to talk about leaving Garrison, "so everything worked out in the end, yes?"

"Yeaaaah, this isn't a horribly awkward and distressing conversation," Jubilee muttered, taking another bite of her hellabun. "How about we just change the topic, hey? Like, maybe talk about what you're gonna be doing now you're back?"

"Gladly," Adrienne said enthusiastically to Jubilee. "I'll be teaching history, and engaging in a legal battle to get the charges the Black Court fabricated about my company dropped. Oh, and it seems as if I'll be doing some work for X-Factor until Vanessa and Jean-Paul... return, since not having a company to run for the forseeable future is going to make me bored. And since Emma wouldn't let me join the Trenchcoats," she joked.

"I think it's more that Remy can only deal with one Frost at a time,
so Emma's probably his limit," Doug quipped, with a wink to show he
was only marginally serious. "I'm worried about Vanessa," he
admitted. She had helped him when he'd needed it most, and now he
felt a little twitchy that he couldn't find much to do when she might
potentially be needing the same from him.

Adrienne's face fell. "Me too." She forced herself to smile. "But I don't believe there's anything the Trenchcoats can't find or anyone they can't rescue, so I'm sure you guys will turn something up soon and get her back."

"Don't know, dude," Jubilee replied, leaning back into Doug's shoulder, giving Adrienne a serious look. "We're good, ya know? But don't get cocky, we're not like, miracle makers. But if she's out there to find, we're gonna try our damn hardest to bring her home."

"Well now, I was trying to be positive and optimistic and have faith and all that jazz," Adrienne mumbled with a smirk. "Besides, cocky is my natural state. Until we get her back," she carried on, "I've decided to fill her apartment with plush goats. Someone needs to keep Warren from going crazy, and I think antagonizing him with my hare-brained schemes does that rather well. Except plush goats aren't all that easy to find... not as easy as I thought, anyway. I guess kids prefer cats and puppies and that sort of thing. But if either of you ever happen to come across any plush goats in your travels, could you help me out?"

"I could always crotchet you a goat," Jubilee noted, having realised early on that working on any one thing for long while doing surveillance was boring, multi-tasking always made her feel sharper, and less inclined to miss things.

"Really?!" Adrienne asked, eyes going wide, as if Jubilee had just promised her seasons tickets to the Sox. "Could you? That would be fantastic!"

"Totally, dude. Would not have offered if I couldn't," Jubilee said, grinning at her friend. "Now, what colour would you like your goat?"