Adrienne and Yvette - Fashionista to the Rescue!

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

Yvette comes to Adrienne with a request for help for a friend of hers.



Adrienne was in her classroom with the door open, grading chapter reviews with her feet on her desk, sipping at a beer and singing along with Christmas carols on her radio under her breath. She frowned at a paper suddenly, stopping mid-carol, and squinted at it. What was that word? Damn, she should start making the kids do their pop quiz chapter reviews on the computer. Or get glasses. But there was no way that was happening! "'Cows on the beach?' What?" she muttered aloud, staring at the incomprehensible phrase on the paper.

There was a distinctive clicking of Yvette's toes on the wooden floor and then the drumming of her long fingers on the door. "Miss Frost?" asked the small Albanian. "May I speak to you? If you are not too busy, that is?"

"Ooo! Younger eyes!" Adrienne's eyes widened and she looked around to make sure no one else had magically heard her. "If you tell anyone I said that I'll hurt you. But can you look at this for me? What does it say?"

Yvette smiled at the older woman and came in, reaching carefully for the paper. "This handwriting it very hard to read, yes," she agreed, squinting at it. "I think... 'colonies of Britain'?"

"Ahh, perfect," Adrienne muttered, making a notation on a legal pad she used for scrap paper and setting the paper aside. "So what would you like to speak to me about, Miss Petrovic?"

"Perhaps you should speak to Mr. Guthrie about teaching handwriting?" Yvette suggested with a small smile as she perched on one of the student chairs. "I was hoping for some advice, actually. For a friend of mine."

Adrienne nodded thoughtfully at Yvette's suggestion about the handwriting, making another note to harp about it to Sam asap. She sent the younger woman a curious look at hearing the purpose of her visit. "This isn't going to be one of those awkward conversations where your 'friend' is hypothetical and wants advice about their feelings, is it?" she inquired, tone a mix of amusement and fear.

Yvette's eyes flared brighter, a sign of her embarrassment. "Oh no, Miss Frost!" she hastened to clarify. "I have a friend in HeliX, Tangerine. She has a friend with a clothing business in District X that needs some advice and help. I knew you were in that industry, the fashion, so I thought maybe you might be able to help?"

"A clothing business in District X?" Yvette had caught Adrienne by surprise- she hadn't heard or seen anything to indicate there was a clothing business in District X. "Really? I... sure, I'm always game for providing advice and help when and where I can. Do you know anything about the business?"

"Tangerine's friend is, how you say? The creative side? She does the designing and such." Yvette relaxed, settling onto the chair. "She had the business partner for the other part, but they decided to leave and now it is just Tangerine's friend. She wants to make clothes especially for mutants who have problems with normal clothing, such as me." She held up a gloved hand to punctuate her words. "It would be sad if she had to close down because she cannot run the business alone. I was hoping that perhaps you would know someone to help?"

"Someone to help be a business partner in a clothing business that designs clothing for mutants?" Adrienne paused to reflect on that for a moment, sipping at her beer as a she tried to keep herself from grinning. Helping out with something like that was basically her dream hobby. But could she really recommend herself, what with having a job and working for X-Factor already, and the legal troubles she was in? X-Factor work would remain sporadic as long as she kept teaching at the mansion, she understood that, and it would be great to be working in business again in her still-plentiful free time... if she could, legally. And if this mutant clothing shop wanted her.

"Mutant fashion is a bit of a wilderness area right now," she mused aloud, "there isn't much on the market, honestly, which makes it a bit tougher to come up with someone in my Rolodex who'd be willing to get involved in a mutant clothing business from the financial end of things. Other than myself, of course," she shrugged, "though all I could contribute is a bit of time and business sense- and that's if your friend's friend wants to be associated with someone like me- but someone else would still need to provide the financial capital for a start-up..." She mused and sipped some more, and then felt rude and offered Yvette a bottle of water from the mini-fridge under her desk. "I know Warren Worthington has arranged grants for District X businesses in the past, though, so maybe we could get him involved. I mean, your friend's friend could," she added quickly.

"Would you? Get involved, I mean?" Yvette hadn't expected that and her eyes had lit up as she uncapped the water. "Tangerine is the fashion student and was supposed to be working for Veronica, who is the designer, but when the business side fell through... I know the Institute helps with the mutant projects also, but to have actual people involved would make it less risky, yes?"

"That's right, yes," Adrienne nodded, always pleased with Yvette's quick mind. "And yes, I would get involved if this Veronica wanted my help. Which isn't a given, what with the stupid rumours surrounding my integrity when it comes to bookkeeping." She wrinkled her nose. "But we don't know until we ask, right? Do you have contact information for this Tangerine?"

"To be honest, Miss Frost, I do not think the rumours will be a problem. As you said, there are not many people interested in this area and it is in District X also. No-one wants to invest in Mutie Town, it seems." Yvette sounded grumpy, having listened to her friend's woes in detail and realising most of it came down to basic prejudice. "If you like, perhaps I can arrange the meeting with Tangerine and Veronica? They would very much like to meet you, I think, even if you decide not to be involved. Tangerine mentioned wanting to, how you say? Eat your brains?"

"Sounds good." Wait, something wasn't right there. "Wait, what? Eat my brains? Oh Christ, please tell me this chick isn't some sort of zombie mutant who wants to eat my brains so she can absorb what I know instead of having to work with me on the business..." She said it with a smirk, assuming Yvette had meant to say that Tangerine wanted to pick her brain. But you could never tell with mutants!

"Oh, no, not anything like that!" Yvette clapped her hand over her mouth in mock-horror. "I meant that she wants to be able to ask you the questions, learn from your experience, yes? Is that not the saying, to eat one's brains?"

Adrienne was giggling. "Okay, good. I like my brains. I want to keep them. Nobody gets to eat my brains! Someone can 'pick my brain', maybe. I think that's the saying. To pick someone's brain. Tangerine can do that if she wants to."

"Oh! Pick your brain! Yes, that is exactly what she wants to do." Yvette laughed at her mistake. "I can talk to her and see when she and Veronica can meet up, yes? And let you know?"

Nodding, Adrienne finished the rest of her beer. "That sounds perfect, Miss Petrovic," she smiled.