Vanessa & Adrienne | Thursday afternoon

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Adrienne stops by Vanessa's apartment to find a squad of men doing work.

The sound of hammering, drilling and general construction-type work carried all the way down the stairwell from Vanessa's apartment. Honestly, she was surprised Bishop hadn't come down to glare about it or some such. The fleet of strangers were a necessary evil, but Vanessa was no less on edge about it than she was about most strangers these days. Being home helped, though. Home, where the weapons lived. She had changed the combinations on her money and gun safes since returning. She was also properly armed once again. Her back up gun was tucked into the back of her pants, a knife was hanging off her belt and several smaller throwing knives were strapped to her forearms. Overall, she felt a whole lot more secure and a whole lot less vulnerable now compared to when she had been in the mansion. Secure was the theme of the week it seemed. Which was why Vanessa was having her locks changed out, her windows replaced with security glass and better locks, bolts put into all the doors so they couldn't be taken off the hinges and a security system installed. None of it would stop someone who was really determined to get at her, but it would buy her enough time to react. Sure, she hadn't been taken from her apartment in the first place but if she had any hope of ever sleeping again she had to do something to give the place security that didn't rely on her.

There were trucks and vans outside of the X-Factor Investigations office, so Adrienne (who had reluctantly retired her motorcycle for the winter) had to park her signed-out mansion car a couple blocks away. She fed the meter with change she scrounged out of the pocket of her jeans and her brown leather jacket, grabbed the surveillance report she had wanted to drop off for Bishop in person, and headed into the office.

After a perfunctory greeting and the handing off of her report to Bishop, Adrienne clomped down the stairwell in the riding boots she was wearing to see what was going on in Vanessa's apartment. "Hey, you," she called out as she descended, "what are you building?" She grinned as she stepped into the apartment, sidestepped a workman approaching the stairwell, and because it was Vanessa her default position went to silliness. "Darn, this doesn't look like a pool."

Vanessa was perched on a counter in the kitchen with her back to the cupboards where she was generally out of the way. She was eating reheated take away chicken tikka masala and dipping more newly delivered naan into the sauce. Adrienne's presence wasn't precisely unexpected. The metamorph had been anticipating she would turn up sooner or later. She just hadn't been sure what the hell to say to Adrienne so she had avoided seeking out and initiating contact. Vanessa was being awkward enough with everyone else. Her eyes swept over the room and the various men working on stuff before they returned to Adrienne. "The pool's going in next week. I'm short on space here so I figured the roof would be a good place. Heated pool, party central. I really want to re-live my early twenties and do it right this time." She gestured to herself and the body which was clearly not her own she was still wearing. Lara the danger-loving adventure seeker. Vanessa had to work on getting her perky back up. Right now she was more on the dry and snarky side. Maybe that could work for Lara.

Adrienne fought back the urge to give the Laura form a hug, instead leaning against the counter casually as she took in the sight of the borrowed Laura body and the knife at her belt. "That implies that you think you did something wrong the first time, which is just... wrong," she smirked wryly. "But hey, if you come up with a Hot Pool Time Machine that takes you back to your early twenties, I totally want to book a spot and redo mine too."

Shrugging, Vanessa ripped off another piece of naan and dipped it into the sauce. Then she eyed it and Adrienne in turn. "The're no meat in the sauce itself but there is meat hanging out bathing in it. I don't remember if that's past the vegetarian line in the sand." She held the piece of tikka masala dipped flat bread out to Adrienne with a questioning look. "And my early twenties, well, we'll just say I was busy. Africa, South America, learning more guns and tactics...I didn't get to live it up like I suppose you're meant to. Alas, Laura doesn't get drunk easily so I'm going to have to live without that part of my wild oats."

Taking the offered food with a big grin, Adrienne nodded her thanks as she stuffed it in her mouth. "My line's pretty flimsy. I've even been thinking about straying completely thanks to this new pizza place in Salem called Fat Tony's. Their spicy pepperoni smells fantastic. The only thing keeping me on the straight and narrow is the fact their spinach and feta smells even better."

She chewed for a moment and watched the workmen, mumbling something about a cute butt on one of them. "That's a shame about the getting drunk thing, as there should be a case of Lagavulin around here somewhere for you. Can Laura still appreciate the taste of scotch though, maybe? Even if you can't get drunk easily?"

"I can't get drunk unless I want to chug hard liquor for an hour straight, I'm fairly certain." And every day Vanessa thought that was a terrible waste. Alcohol would have been a welcome respite from the thoughts circling her mind ceaselessly. "I found the case of scotch in the back hallway. I assume Warren put it there to keep it somewhere cool and dark since he wouldn't know when I would be about to drink it." He was that sort of guy, she reflected. The kind who knew where to store scotch so it wouldn't degrade. How on earth had he ever wound up with her? "I can appreciate the scotch, it's just not the same without that heady, slightly fuzzy effect that comes afterward. What good is alcohol that doesn't help turn your thoughts off?"

Vanessa dipped another piece of naan into her carton, this time managing to scoop some chicken out along with it. After she bit into it she raised an eyebrow at Adrienne. "Hang on, did you just tell me you're considering going back to meat for a pizza? Of all things a pizza makes you question your vegetarianism?"

"It's really good pizza," Adrienne said with a laugh. "You could eat it for an hour straight. But I think chugging Lagavulin for an hour straight may be a crime in some countries. Definitely Scotland. The effect is what makes it so valuable." She nodded sagely. "So, y'know, it's smart of you to not drink it and have to go to Scottish court in Islay or wherever to defend yourself for chugging single malt for an hour straight. Unless you could see some goats there. Then it might be worthwhile. Do they have goats in Scotland?" She wasn't sure how to respond to Vanessa's question about alcohol that didn't help turn thoughts off, or whether she should ask about the possibility of changing back into her own form so Vanessa could drink, so she paused to watch the workmen some more.

She shrugged, "I assume there are goats. I would assume it would depend in part on where in Scotland you were going." Speaking of goats, Vanessa had found the pile of them on her bed when she had come back home. They were now scattered throughout the apartment, occupying cushions, end tables and bits of book shelves. A trio even sat on top of her DVD player.

Adrienne nodded thoughtfully at the answer. "Sorry I filled your bed with goats, by the way," she murmured in a somewhat distracted fashion, still watching the work that was going on. "Apparently hoarding plush goats and making a nest out of them was a coping mechanism I was employing to help me deal with everything that was going on. That and binge knitting, much like Jean-Paul's binge baking I suppose. I took a whole laundry basket of slippers and mittens to the homeless shelter the other day. And then there was, y'know, the naming of the goats thing, and fantasizing about their personalities in regards to each other."

As Adrienne spoke Vanessa went from nodding mildly as she ate to looking at the other woman like she was completely mental. "When I think of fantasizing goat personalities simply isn't where my mind wanders off. You're a bit disturbed, you know that? You might want to have that looked at. Seek professional help, perhaps." Which was funny coming from the person who probably needed professional help even more, and who would never accept it.

"Hey, if I'm only a bit disturbed I'll count that as a win. I figured it would sound even more crazy if instead of 'fantasizing' I just said 'thinking'," Adrienne smirked, "because at least 'fantasizing' implies I knew they didn't really have personalities? But hey, what can I say," she added with an easygoing shrug, "worrying about you makes me crazy, and I tried to take it out on the goats as much as possible instead of letting people around the mansion see it, because seeking professional help is not my idea of a good time."

Another bite of sauce-dipped naan kept an immediate reply from Vanessa's lips, but the look on her borrowed face conveyed her disbelief easily enough. "You were crazy long before you ever had to worry about me. Besides, what's to worry about? I always get myself out of tough spots. I was right on top of that before the troops stormed in to save the day." If by 'on top of that' she meant 'about to die' then Vanessa was painting a very accurate picture of things.

"I may have been crazy before," Adrienne conceded with a grin, "this is true. But at least I was rich so people looked the other way. Now that I'm broke, I have to force myself to be more sane, at least around people who don't know me or... see me or hear me. But yeah, clearly my crazy had nothing to do with you. I had faith in you, and in the troops. Nothing to worry about at all, right?" Adrienne wasn't sure whether they were joking or playing the denial game as she couldn't read the expressions of the Laura form very well, but at this point she was okay with either. Denial was... well, Adrienne used it a lot. "So what all are you doing to the place? Windows, alarm, new locks...?" She trailed off in a question since those were the only things she could see happening and wasn't sure what she was missing.

"The Boy Scouts of America tell me that preparation is vital in any situation," Vanessa chirped, her tone and demeanor instantly shifting from dry and snarky to perky and good-naturedly sarcastic. "With as many weapons as I have laying about or hanging on walls it seemed like a grand motto to embrace. I can't just have anyone coming in here and possibly cutting off their thumb, you know. I need to ensure only the thumbs which I wish to collect are severed!" She beamed at Adrienne and then took a sharp chomp out of her next bit of naan.

Laughing, Adrienne gave Vanessa a mock-hopeful look. "You're finally going to give me a bad guy finger after all this time?!" She even clapped her hands together for effect."Or do thumbs not count? Are you going to hoard all your thumbs for your own collection and not share?"

"I would think the distinction between thumbs or not-to-thumb would be up to you, as the desirer of digits." Vanessa sounded a lot less serious than she should have. If Adrienne really still wanted a finger she would get it off the next lowlife Vanessa really got into it with. She thought about the possibility that it would come from some New Son lackey and smiled. "I was thinking of stringing them all together and wearing them like a necklace. You know, really get into my tribal roots."

"The tribal look's coming back in a big way," Adrienne deadpanned with a nod and a pursing of her lips. "You could rock that."

Vanessa nodded, doing her best white-girl-trying-to-be-an-OG expression. She tore off another piece of naan, dipped it in sauce and offered it over. "I could. It'd be dope and the ladies would be all up on my shit."

The psychometrist took the saucy bread and gave another musing nod. "It's a good thing you have so many weapons laying about or hanging on walls to fend them off." Deadpanning seemed to come naturally to her in response to the Laura form.

"Right? Them bitches be gettin' rabid," Vanessa agreed with a completely straight face.