LITD: Tandy and Adrienne

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

TRIGGER WARNING: Death/Mourning
This plot has some potentially distressing content

After her conversation with her uncle, Adrienne tries to comfort Tandy.


Adrienne was heading back to her suite after a workout in the gym when a blinding column of light shot around the corner and headed down the hallway towards her. She blinked a few times in surprise before remembering that Tandy could make herself glow. "Ms. Bowen?" she called out as the light passed her without acknowledgment. "Tandy, is that you?"
 
Tandy didn't see Adrienne until she heard her name being called. The glowing teen turned and looked at Adrienne, without a second thought she ran up and hugged her - needing the touch of something real. "Adri..." Tandy's voice trembled as she grew brighter as tears started to fall.

Uh oh. What the hell was happening? Why was there hugging? Why was there glowing and hugging? Why was there crying and glowing and hugging? "Uhh... are you okay? Sweetie, what happened?" Adrienne asked as she hugged Tandy back. 

"De....a..." Tandy's knees gave out a bit, saying it out loud was harder to do. Her skin was a the brightest she could glow, like a nightlight. "My uncle...he said they are...." Trying to get the words out. "M.....om...and d-d-dad."  

Adrienne was having a hard time looking at Tandy due to the glow, having to keep her eyes closed as she listened to what the girl was saying. "They're... what?" Had she said they were dead? "Oh. Oh, Tandy, that's terrible. I'm so sorry! What... what happened? What did your uncle say?"

"Murdered." Tandy said weakly through her tears. Her whole body was trembling, "Why...why would someone do that?"

"What?!" Adrienne was stunned, hugging Tandy more tightly. "Why... I don't know... Oh my God... I don't... why would someone do that?" she parroted, not having any semblance of an answer for Tandy. "Here, come in and sit down," she suggested, since they were closer to her suite than Tandy's. "I'll make you some tea." Tea was what was appropriate in this situation, right? Adrienne thought briefly of scotch or bourbon whiskey, but told herself that probably wasn't a good idea. "Unless you wanna go to your own room," she added, quite unsure of what she should do and suddenly thinking that maybe Tandy wanted to be closer to her roommate, though in that moment Adrienne couldn't even remember who it was. "I can make you tea there, too."

"I don't care." Tandy finally whispered lowering her head to hide her face behind her hair. 

Oh. Right. Yeah. Her parents were dead. Anything else probably wasn't super important right now. "Okay, c'mon Starlet," Adrienne coaxed, keeping an arm around Tandy's shoulders as she steered the girl into her suite and sat her down on the couch. She disappeared into the kitchen to fill and switch on the kettle, pulling a box of tea called Sleepytime down from a cabinet shelf. Adrienne didn't drink the stuff on a regular basis, as it worked wonders on knocking her out like a powerful pharmaceutical despite being completely organic, but it was great for when you felt ill and wanted to be knocked out. And she had a feeling maybe Tandy would appreciate being knocked out. 

She stayed in the kitchen while the water boiled, not wanting to return to Tandy and then leave again to make the tea. And maybe she was trying to take some time to digest what had happened and figure out what the hell to do, to say to the kid. But the water boiled before she'd really figured any of it out, and she still didn't have a clue how to deal with Tandy by the time she'd poured a regular tea for herself and the Sleepytime for Tandy and returned to the couch with both mugs steeping. "Did your uncle tell you anything else about what happened?" she prompted, putting an arm around Tandy's shoulders when she'd settled herself next to the student.

Tandy was lead into a suite and she sat down on the couch. Bring her legs up she wrapped her arms around them and buried her head. She was still crying but they were silent now, so many things she wanted to say to her mom that she could never do now. The pain in her chest intensified, no matter how much she hated her mom she didn't want that. Looking up slightly as Adrienne returned and took the cup of tea into her own hands and looked down. "No, they are still investigating it. It happened yesterday. Our house cleaner, Miss Riley found them this morning." Wiping away some tears before taking a sip of the tea.

"I'm so sorry, Sweetie," Adrienne said again, not sure what else to say. She stared at her hands as they gripped her own mug, opened her mouth to offer to go to the house in Ohio and use her powers to learn who had killed Tandy's parents, but closed it again without speaking. She couldn't do that. It wouldn't be admissible in court anyway, and what was the point in learning who had killed your parents if you couldn't see them brought to justice? Besides, officers of the law had been solving murders for hundreds of years. Pushing her way in while the local cops tried to do their job would only harbour bad feelings, possibly anti-mutant ones. "I'm sure they'll find who did it real soon, and put them in a cage for the rest of their lives," she said instead, stroking Tandy's hair.

Looking down at the cup of tea for a long time in silence, just letting Adrienne stroke her hair. Tandy opened her mouth to speak but closed it and lifted the cup to her lips and took a long sip. Placing the cup down she leaned against Adrienne and closed her eyes, she had stopped crying but she felt it starting to build again. "Adrienne...?"

"Yeah, Sweetie?" Adrienne was sipping her tea with one hand while playing with Tandy's hair with the other.

"Thank you." Closing her eyes as she started to cry again huddling herself into a ball.