Warren and Adrienne

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Adrienne goes to Warren about loaning money to the fledgling District X clothing business.



Adrienne knocked on the door of Warren's suite, a bag of pastry in one hand. It was early evening which Adrienne figured would be the best time to catch Warren, but she was second-guessing herself now, wondering if he was out somewhere. Life of a playboy, and all that, right? Maybe she'd just have to eat all the pastries herself... 

Warren sometimes wished his life was everything it was rumoured to be. To be honest, his morning had been spent talking to new clients and the afternoon going through news reports from around the world as part of his X-Men work. He was sprawled on the couch, currently flicking through emails on his phone.  

"Come on in," he called, feeling a little bit too lazy to get up. 

Pushing the door open, Adrienne called out a greeting to Warren as she came into the suite and shook the pastry bag, dangling it in front of his face. "I come bearing edible gifts. Wait, that totally didn't come out the way I intended," she chuckled.

"Your presence is always a gift," Warren said, using his wing to corral Adrienne closer so he could make a grab for the bag. "But food-type edibles are always welcome as well." He grinned at her, opening the bag and taking a peek. 

"Why do I feel like I'm about to be bribed?"

"Umm... maybe because you're brilliant, with great instincts?" Adrienne gushed, holding her hand out for one of the pastries. "Does it count if I'm not actually bribing you for myself?" she inquired. "Well, okay, I guess it's a tiny bit for me, but not mostly. I mean, I don't need it, and I'm bribing you with pastries so I can help some other people."

Warren grinned, pulling out one of the pastries and placing it in Adrienne's outstretched hand. He also shifted, pulling his legs in closer so there was space for her to sit on the couch. 

"Sit. And tell me. I'm all for helping people."

Adrienne flopped down comfortably, chewing on the pastry he'd handed over and making him wait until she'd swallowed before she spoke. "There's this... project... that I've sort of gotten involved in. In District X. I was hoping you could help out by loaning some money." She kept it deliberately vague, and shady, just to see what kind of rise she could get out of Warren.

"What sort of project?" Warren asked, his interest caught immediately. Projects in general tended to catch his interest, combine that with District X and the involvement of a friend, and he was doubly interested. 

"What would you say if I told you it was cocaine smuggling because I'm a recovering drug addict?" Adrienne deadpanned, still wanting to yank Warren around a bit first, because she felt like now that Vanessa was back Warren had a much better sense of humour. To accentuate her point, she casually pulled her fifteen-year sobriety chip out of her pocket and flipped it off her thumb into the air, catching it as it spun back towards her hand.

"I'd kick you off the couch and call the police," he replied lazily, watching the chip rise and fall. Warren was all for being supportive towards people when they were trying to get their lives back together, but being involved in a drug smuggling ring wasn't exactly getting your life back together. He took a bite of the pastry he had, speaking against once his mouth was less occupied. 

"So what is the project really?"

Grinning, she put the chip back in her jeans pocket and took another bite of her pastry. "Clothing store," she said with her mouth full. When she'd swallowed, she added "a clothing business for mutants. In District X. There's this fashion designer, Veronica, who lost her business partner and financial backing. And so now there's a gal in HeliX who wants to intern at a shop that may not exist anymore. She's got me interested. I've met with them and agreed to put together a business plan, run the business end of things from the sidelines in my spare time. But... with my assets frozen, I can't do anything else for them. They still don't have the capital to start up the shop. And since I know you've given loans to District X businesses before..." She batted her eyelashes at him and gestured to the remainder of the pastry bag.

"Sure," Warren said with a grin. "Bring me the proposal and whatnot and I'll go over it with my accountant, but it definitely sounds interesting." Warren wasn't too hard to win over when it came to this sort of thing - whether there were pastries on offer or not. 

Adrienne pulled a legal pad out of her handbag on which there was a page of writing in her neat, tight block printing. "I've started working on the proposal... it's a draft of course, something I whipped up while I met with Veronica and Tangerine, but if there's anything that catches your eye here and now I can change it in the official proposal."

Warren nodded, taking the pad and glancing over it. "I have every confidence anything you put together would be fine. You know the industry and you've done this before." He smiled at her, handing back the pad. "The only reason you're not still there has nothing to do with your business acumen." 

"Well, that depends who you ask," Adrienne scoffed. "If you ask the Federal government, I'm sure they'd say it has everything to do with my business acumen. As far as they know, I did exactly what the fucking Black Court planted in my books." She tore off another piece of her pastry a tad violently. "So of course everyone believes it. My name's worse than mud to the industry now."

"I'm not asking the federal government," Warren replied easily. "I'm talking to you." He paused, getting serious for a moment. "I know this probably doesn't need saying, but if any of your involvement with Hellfire does start affecting the business, I will cut you out of it so fast your head will spin." Which wasn't fair on Adrienne - but would hopefully mean the store would be protected. 

Adrienne nodded, understanding. "I'm not in the Club anymore... Emma's protecting me by telling the Black Court I'm a member of her Inner Circle so I can't be touched, but I'm out. And if anything were ever to happen, I'd cut myself out. Hell, I did it once already," she added with a wry laugh, "I'm practically a pro at it now. But the business won't be affected. I guarantee you that."

"Good." Warren smiled, then pulled a second pastry out of the bag, breaking it in half and offering her the piece. "Then I think we can do business, Ms Frost."

Grinning, Adrienne took the pastry and held it out to Warren like it was a glass of wine she wanted him to clink with his own pastry. "Always a pleasure, Mr. Worthington. To the success of eVolution."