xp_logs | Jessica and Adrienne

Finding herself mostly alone at X-Factor Investigations, Adrienne talks to Jessica about coming to work there.

Adrienne hesitated in front of Jessica's suite door. Suddenly, she wondered if she should have invited her out for a drink or food or called her on the phone or something. Maybe set up a meeting at the actual XFI offices to make her pitch. Damn Rogue. She'd talked about Jessica so much that Adrienne felt as if she knew the woman, which made her more inclined to be casual towards her. But she was a businesswoman and this was a business pitch and maybe she should do this thing properly. Standing back on her heels, she pondered the logistics of switching up her approach until the door opened in front of her and she was forced to jump back to avoid being hit.

Jessica pushed open the door to her suite. Namor was home and he was starting to grate on her nerves. She stepped out into the hallway, intent on finding something, anything, to do when she noticed a woman with luxurious brown hair standing in front of her. She was quite beautiful, Jessica thought.
"Ummm, hello. Can I help you?" She asked uncertainly. Perhaps this woman was a friend of Namor's. Jessica couldn't imagine that she'd be here to talk to her.

"You can!" Adrienne replied enthusiastically, glad that planning a proper meeting with Jessica was now a moot point. "I'm Adrienne Frost. I don't usually conduct business this way, but I'm a friend of Rogue's and I was hoping I could talk to you about a job opportunity?"

Jessica raised an eyebrow.
'A job opportunity? Adrienne Frost? I've never heard of her. Still, if she's a friend of Rogue's, then I guess I can hear her out. Plus, who know what she's offering. Come on Jess, be adult. You can always say no.' She thought. "It's nice to meet you Ms. Frost. I'd be happy to hear you out." Jessica stated aloud. She quickly closed the door behind her and moved to lean against the wall opposite Adrienne.

"Excellent. Did you want to go talk in a classroom or the sun room maybe?" As usual, hers and Tandy's suite was a disaster area, and since Jessica had just closed the door to her own, Adrienne guessed she didn't want to talk there.

"Either is fine. Namor's being, well, himself. And I'm not dressed for such a frigid environment at the moment. Lead the way." Jessica replied with a smile. She was starting to get excited about whatever this woman had to offer.

"You're a braver woman than I for rooming with Namor," Adrienne confessed conversationally, leading the way towards the sun room. This way she could check on some of her plants as well as try to recruit Jessica. "And a kinder one for not killing as of yet."

"Thanks. I figure if I try to knock him around, I'd only be ruining my own living space." She replied with a smirk. "So, tell me Ms. Frost, where do you fit into the equation around these parts?" She asked as she pulled her notebook from her pocket. If Ms. Frost was going to be someone she interacted with on a regular basis, she might as well take some notes for later filing.

Adrienne sat across from Jessica, crossing her legs at the ankles primly. "Funny you should ask," she prefaced, trying to decide if the fact that the other woman was preparing to take notes on her was impressive or really weird. She decided it was both, but slightly more impressive than weird. "I used to teach math here, but a couple months ago I decided to give it up in favour of using my powers to help people. For several years now, I've worked as a consultant to a private investigation firm called X-Factor Investigations. Have you heard of it?" she asked, pausing her own tale.

"I think so. Rogue was telling me about all of the, uh, teams that have been formed around here. I think it was so that I knew what I was getting into by living here." Jessica answered, her brow scrunched up as she thought.

Adrienne nodded. "It's partially funded by the Professor so it's technically a team I'd suppose." She'd never thought of XFI as a team before, though. That was interesting. "Their office is in District X. They cater to mutants. Cases for and involving mutants," she clarified. "Anyway, I decided to give up teaching and work there full time. My power set makes me useful there. Psychometry," she added for the benefit of Jessica's notes, since she didn't seem to know anything about Adrienne, which Adrienne would definitely be mentioning to Rogue later. "But their staff has... diminished over the past year or so. Their two primary investigators are quite preoccupied with cases that take them out of the country. It's pretty much just me left," she confessed with a sheepish chuckle. "And Rogue had mentioned to me that you're working for a PI office or something of that nature? So I was hoping I could recruit you."

Jessica's pencil scratched against her page as she took notes, while her ears remained keen on Adrienne's words.
"I'm surprised I haven't heard of you guys if you're based in District X. I have some contacts out there." Jessica mentioned offhandedly. "I'm actually apprenticing under a P.I. in Manhattan right now. I'm working toward getting my license. Still, I don't think he'd be too mad if I decided to move on to bigger and better things." She added. She quickly put her pencil and pad down. "What I'm try to say is that I'd love to come work for you. I could get the experience I need and we're both mutants, so I don't have to tell you how useful powers can be when you're trying to solve something. This way, I don't have to hide them, at least from my boss." She answered, crossing her legs as she looked Adrienne right in the eye. 'Confidence is key, Jessica.' Her father always used to say.

"Well, I'm sure I don't have to tell you that with the law being the way it is, all information we use our powers to get is inadmissible in court, but..." wait, had she said yes? Just like that? "Oh! Okay!" Adrienne was taken aback. Maybe she'd been around moody teens too much lately, but she hadn't expected Jessica to agree that quickly or easily. Excellent! "That's great, Jess... do you prefer Jess, or Jessica?"

"My friends call me Jess, Ms. Frost. And, seeing as we're going to be working closely together, I think that you should too. What would you like me to call you? Boss?" Jessica asked with a smile. Her smile quickly turned sheepish. "And uh, I know this might seem silly, but...if we're going to have code names or whatever, I'd like to be called Jewel. Hanging around with Rogue has really made me think about it, if I'm being honest."

"I'm not really the boss," Adrienne shrugged, trying to sound humble. "Not at XFI, anyway. I'm more just the last person left at the office and I'm in over my head. So, y'know. Adrienne's fine. We've never had code names," she admitted. And maybe it was a little silly. "But I don't think it would be a problem to use them." Maybe Jess didn't want her real name to get out there. Adrienne could understand and respect that. "When I work with the X-Men they call me Cover Girl," she told Jess with a smirk.

Jessica carefully examined Adrienne's face.
"Well, it's pretty obvious why." She replied. "A little more accurate than Jewel, gotta say." She added.

Flattered, Adrienne liked Jess instantly. "Well, thank you. Nice to know even though I'm retired from the modeling business the name wasn't just a funny joke Tandy gave me." She preened a little. "How did you get Jewel, if it's not accurate?" she questioned curiously.

"Well, I was adopted Adrienne. My parents died when I was thirteen, so there weren't exactly a lot of people willing to take me in. When my mom and dad came in to the group home, I overheard him saying that I was like a diamond in the rough, a real jewel. They adopted me a day later." She replied. "It's accurate, just not as obvious, I guess." She added.

"See? There you go. It makes total sense," Adrienne retorted sympathetically. "That's sweet that you picked it for your code name. I could never go by any nickname my parents had for me. Unless I was part of a team that didn't mind shouting four-letter words at me in the heat of battle or whatever. Oh wait... never mind," she joked. "At least they're all accurate names for me. So you really don't mind leaving an actual, accomplished PI to come slog through long hours of monotony with me at XFI?" She asked, changing the subject before she got too bogged down thinking about her parents. "Even knowing that our licence holder is one of the people who's out of the country and you're no doubt far more advanced than my very minimal training?" It was her way of saying that Jess would pretty much be on her own at XFI and as such she most likely wasn't going to learn any more about being a PI from Adrienne.

"I find that you learn a lot more when you put your skills to the test, with no one babying you. I think this is a prime opportunity for me to do just that, while also helping you out and doing a lot of good for other people out there." Jessica answered after a moment of thought, gesturing to an invisible place somewhere beyond the mansion walls.

Adrienne nodded, smiling. "I'm very glad you feel that way. I don't know what your time is like right now, but I was going to head over to the office shortly, if you wanted to come..."

Jessica gave Adrienne a smile in turn.
"I'd love to. Better check out the new digs, am I right? Lead the way." She replied enthusiastically.